Pakistan Supreme Court orders jailed former PM Imran Khan to be moved to hospital
Pakistan’s top court has ordered imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan to be moved to a hospital amid intensifying concerns about his health.
Morning Digest
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
35 stories from 10 sources, 66 more held back.
RT
DR Congo Ebola outbreak becomes deadliest in country’s history
Ebola outbreak reaches grim new record. The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with the number of fatalities surpassing the toll recorded during the major 2018-2020 epidemic.
Somali troops secure South West regional capital after killing 30 attackers
Dozens killed in attack on Somali regional capital (VIDEO). Somali federal troops have driven armed groups out of the administrative capital of the country’s South West State following hours of fierce fighting that killed 30 attackers, the Defense Ministry has said.
Tornado tears through Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod
Tornado tears through western Russian city (VIDEOS). A tornado swept through the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday as a powerful storm brought torrential rain and flooding. Footage shared online showed a dark funnel descending from storm clouds and hurling debris into the air.
Ukrainian drone attack injures civilians in Moscow Region
Hundreds of Ukrainian drones target Moscow overnight – mayor. At least three people, including a child, have been injured, dozens of homes damaged, and 5,000 left without power after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow Region. Governor Andrey Vorobyev said drones targeted multiple districts outside the Russian capital.
Kanye West set to perform in Russia after European concert cancellations
The rapper, also known as Ye, will perform at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11, his producer Joseph Karre and local organizer SAY Agency confirmed on Monday. The shows will be part of the Ye Live Concert Tour 2026 in support of his 12th album, Bully.
Cubs — MLB.com
Podcast: From start to finish, PCA electrifies in epic Crosstown Showdown
Crosstown Classic or WS preview? | Morning Lineup.
PCA secures 2nd straight 30-30 season -- boosts MVP case -- in epic way
CHICAGO – The chants began before the Cubs could even hit play on the hype video ahead of the bottom of the 10th inning on Monday night. The fans inside Wrigley Field already knew who was due to bat and they sent his famous initials echoing through the old ballpark in anticipation of what could come next. Pete Crow-Armstrong did not let them down.
Key takeaways: Cubs 7, White Sox 5
CHICAGO – With roughly six weeks remaining in the regular season, fans on Chicago’s North and South Sides can realistically dream about October baseball. The Cubs are in the thick of the National League Wild Card race, while the White Sox currently sit atop the American League Central.
After latest trip to IL, could Cabrera shift to Cubs' 'pen?
CHICAGO – The Cubs swung a blockbuster deal to land Edward Cabrera over the offseason due to his top-of-the-rotation potential. His first season with the North Siders has featured frustratingly mixed results and multiple trips to the injured list. The latest setback arrived on Monday, when Cabrera was placed on the 15-day IL due to a second recurrence of a blister issue on his pitching hand.
How do Power Rankings look with just 6 weeks(!) left in season?
Some might call these the dog days of summer, but with as much activity and excitement as there has been in baseball for the last week — Field of Dreams! A wild Brewers-Dodgers series featuring the best pitchers on earth — we’ll confess to not feeling particularly dogged down right now. If these are the dog days, sheesh, wait until things get really exciting.
ESPN
Transfer rumors, news: Galatasaray offer Bruno Fernandes double his salary
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes could double his money by moving to Galatasaray, while Coventry City are leading the race for Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe. Transfers home page | Men's summer grades | Women's grades.
Dodgers' offense breaks out behind Shohei Ohtani's 2-HR game
DENVER -- Maybe just as encouraging for the Los Angeles Dodgers as their bats finally waking up Monday night was the status report on Shohei Ohtani's knee after his most recent bullpen session. "Felt good the next day," Ohtani said through an interpreter after the Dodgers' 11-5 win over the Colorado Rockies. Ohtani is slated for another bullpen session Tuesday.
Pete Crow-Armstrong's two homers fuel Chicago Cubs' victory
CHICAGO -- The milestones keep piling up for Chicago Cubs centerfielder and MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong after he hit two home runs -- to lead off the game and to walk it off -- against the Chicago White Sox on Monday night in a wild 7-5, 10-inning victory over their crosstown rivals.
WNBA playoffs 2026: Which teams have clinched berths
The 2026 WNBA regular season wraps up Sept. 24, but teams are already clinching spots in the postseason. Here's a look at the teams that have clinched playoff berths. We'll add seeds as they are determined.
Serena, Venus team for 'fun' return to doubles despite loss
CINCINNATI -- Serena and Venus Williams played their first doubles match together since the 2022 U.S. Open and lost a thriller, 2-6, 6-1 (10-8) to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns on Monday night at the Cincinnati Open.
Reports: WR Keenan Allen agrees to one-year deal with Colts
A third-round pick in the 2013 draft from the University of California, Allen spent his first 11 seasons with the Chargers before the team traded him to the Chicago Bears in 2024 following a contract dispute. Allen returned to L.A. ahead of last season and was one of Chargers' most targeted receivers.
The Rundown AI
Cursor's Origin hits GitHub on its worst day
If you were picking a day to launch a GitHub competitor, you couldn't script a better one than the morning the legacy platform suffered a massive outage. Cursor just managed to hit that window, launching Origin as an alternative to the place the world has held its code for two decades.
Dario Amodei logs on to answer the critics
AI has a trust problem, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei doesn't think a marketing campaign can fix it. Amodei just made a rare X appearance to answer claims that his AI safety talk is backfiring, framing the warnings as honesty rather than doom and pitching real breakthroughs in areas like medicine as the only route back for public opinion. P.S. — We’re hiring for seven open roles at The Rundown!
Simon Willison
Qwen 3.8 27B scores 52 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Qwen 3.8 27B scores 52 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (via) That's the same score as GPT-5.6 Luna (max), and just one point behind GLM-5.2 (max) and DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (max) - that GLM is 753B and that DeepSeek is 1.6B parameters, and Luna is size unknown but presumably a whole lot bigger than 27B. Qwen 3.8 27B is a truly astonishing model.
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility. Excellent piece of reporting from 404 Media.
Raw America
Breaking: Trump DOJ to Deploy Army of 1,000 ‘Election Observers’ Ahead of Midterms
Maggie Haberman comes up with viral nickname for Natalie Harp, Trump DOJ to send 1,000 election observers to polling places, sailors adrift for 4 days without power. U.S. President Donald Trump's executive assistant Natalie Harp disembarks Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 16, 2026.
Breaking: Senator Makes Shocking Accusation About Trump and Young Blonde Staffer
A new report confirms that Donald Trump has stacked his administration with more centimillionaires and billionaires than the last three presidents combined. New polls shows that even the most hardcore Trump supporters are turning on him with less than three months to go before the midterms.
Cubs — Sun-Times
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s walk-off homer gives Cubs win over White Sox in back-and-forth Crosstown clash
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a walk-off win at Wrigley Field. For the 12th time this season, the Cubs won in walk-off fashion, topping the White Sox on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning Monday, grabbing a 7-5 victory in the first of this week’s three Crosstown games.
Cubs and Sox fans swarm Wrigley Field for Crosstown Classic
This site is free thanks to our community of supporters. Voluntary donations from readers like you keep our news accessible for everyone. Cubs and Sox fans swarm Wrigley Field for Crosstown Classic.
Crosstown begins with mutual love for Chicago contenders, but what if Cubs, White Sox meet in World Series?
Crosstown in the thick of a playoff race is interesting enough. Could you imagine Crosstown in October? “Sign me up,” Cubs skipper Craig Counsell said before the first of three games with the White Sox on Monday at Wrigley Field.
Cubs send Dansby Swanson, Edward Cabrera to IL as key injuries pop up in middle of playoff race
Things were feeling a lot like May and June on Monday at Wrigley Field, with ample injury news and the Crosstown-rival White Sox on the schedule, challenging for intra-city supremacy.
Cubs' game Saturday will air on Fox Chicago+ because of Bears conflict on Fox 32
Fortunately, the local Fox affiliate has an over-the-air sister station for such occurrences. WPWR-Channel 50, branded as Fox Chicago+, will carry the Cubs’ game, with pregame coverage beginning at 6 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 p.m., with Aaron Goldsmith and John Smoltz on the call for a regional audience.
The Robot Report
Five years of operation shape Diligent Robotics rollout of Moxi 2.0 - The Robot Report
With the new robot, Diligent is also launching its learning flywheel. The Austin, Texas-based company claimed that the proprietary world model learns from the experience of its robot fleet and improves continually with every hospital deployment. “Today, we’re deploying our most sophisticated physical AI platform yet,” stated Andrea Thomaz, founder and CEO of Diligent Robotics.
Surgeons use da Vinci surgical robot to perform common cardiac surgery - The Robot Report
Coronary artery bypass grafting, or CABG, is the most common type of cardiac surgery in the world. Despite this, and the heavily invasive nature of the surgery, only 1% of these procedures are performed with the help of robots. At the El Camino Health Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI), surgeons are now performing CABG with Intuitive Surgical‘s da Vinci robotic system.
How Generalist uses human demonstration data for robot learning - The Robot Report
Summer is about creating memories. And for robots, that translates into generating lots of data. It’s also a time to catch up on reading.
Gravis Robotics raises $200M for autonomous construction - The Robot Report
The construction industry has been slow to automate, but demand for infrastructure repairs, AI data center buildouts, and U.S. reshoring and defense needs could change that. Gravis Robotics today announced that SoftBank is investing $200 million in its Series A round, which it claimed is the largest in construction robotics history.
IEEE Spectrum — Robotics
Inside Persona’s Bold Bet On Humanoid Welders In Shipyards
Humanoids desperately need to stop making YouTube videos and get a job already, and Persona AI is one of the few humanoid companies which seems to be entirely focused on making that happen. Persona’s approach has been to carefully select a job that is economically viable for robots right now, and they’ve found one that was also the job of one of the very first industrial robots ever sold: welding.
Manufacturing Dive
Trump inks MOU allowing US Navy ships to be built overseas
The MOU also orders DOD to replace the aircraft carrier-based Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems and the Advanced Weapons Elevators with “traditional steam and hydraulic systems” during the construction of the aircraft carrier CVN 81, or the USS Doris Miller.
How to navigate background screening for the manufacturing workforce
Despite the U.S. economy losing 23,000 jobs last month, employment in manufacturing didn’t see much change according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, underscoring the sector's persistent demand for talent.
RT
Pakistan Supreme Court orders jailed former PM Imran Khan to be moved to hospital
Pakistan’s top court has ordered imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan to be moved to a hospital amid intensifying concerns about his health.
DR Congo Ebola outbreak becomes deadliest in country’s history
Ebola outbreak reaches grim new record. The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with the number of fatalities surpassing the toll recorded during the major 2018-2020 epidemic.
Somali troops secure South West regional capital after killing 30 attackers
Dozens killed in attack on Somali regional capital (VIDEO). Somali federal troops have driven armed groups out of the administrative capital of the country’s South West State following hours of fierce fighting that killed 30 attackers, the Defense Ministry has said.
Tornado tears through Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod
Tornado tears through western Russian city (VIDEOS). A tornado swept through the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday as a powerful storm brought torrential rain and flooding. Footage shared online showed a dark funnel descending from storm clouds and hurling debris into the air.
Ukrainian drone attack injures civilians in Moscow Region
Hundreds of Ukrainian drones target Moscow overnight – mayor. At least three people, including a child, have been injured, dozens of homes damaged, and 5,000 left without power after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow Region. Governor Andrey Vorobyev said drones targeted multiple districts outside the Russian capital.
Kanye West set to perform in Russia after European concert cancellations
The rapper, also known as Ye, will perform at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11, his producer Joseph Karre and local organizer SAY Agency confirmed on Monday. The shows will be part of the Ye Live Concert Tour 2026 in support of his 12th album, Bully.
ESPN
Transfer rumors, news: Galatasaray offer Bruno Fernandes double his salary
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes could double his money by moving to Galatasaray, while Coventry City are leading the race for Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe. Transfers home page | Men's summer grades | Women's grades.
Dodgers' offense breaks out behind Shohei Ohtani's 2-HR game
DENVER -- Maybe just as encouraging for the Los Angeles Dodgers as their bats finally waking up Monday night was the status report on Shohei Ohtani's knee after his most recent bullpen session. "Felt good the next day," Ohtani said through an interpreter after the Dodgers' 11-5 win over the Colorado Rockies. Ohtani is slated for another bullpen session Tuesday.
Pete Crow-Armstrong's two homers fuel Chicago Cubs' victory
CHICAGO -- The milestones keep piling up for Chicago Cubs centerfielder and MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong after he hit two home runs -- to lead off the game and to walk it off -- against the Chicago White Sox on Monday night in a wild 7-5, 10-inning victory over their crosstown rivals.
WNBA playoffs 2026: Which teams have clinched berths
The 2026 WNBA regular season wraps up Sept. 24, but teams are already clinching spots in the postseason. Here's a look at the teams that have clinched playoff berths. We'll add seeds as they are determined.
Serena, Venus team for 'fun' return to doubles despite loss
CINCINNATI -- Serena and Venus Williams played their first doubles match together since the 2022 U.S. Open and lost a thriller, 2-6, 6-1 (10-8) to Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns on Monday night at the Cincinnati Open.
Reports: WR Keenan Allen agrees to one-year deal with Colts
A third-round pick in the 2013 draft from the University of California, Allen spent his first 11 seasons with the Chargers before the team traded him to the Chicago Bears in 2024 following a contract dispute. Allen returned to L.A. ahead of last season and was one of Chargers' most targeted receivers.
Raw America
Breaking: Trump DOJ to Deploy Army of 1,000 ‘Election Observers’ Ahead of Midterms
Maggie Haberman comes up with viral nickname for Natalie Harp, Trump DOJ to send 1,000 election observers to polling places, sailors adrift for 4 days without power. U.S. President Donald Trump's executive assistant Natalie Harp disembarks Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 16, 2026.
Breaking: Senator Makes Shocking Accusation About Trump and Young Blonde Staffer
A new report confirms that Donald Trump has stacked his administration with more centimillionaires and billionaires than the last three presidents combined. New polls shows that even the most hardcore Trump supporters are turning on him with less than three months to go before the midterms.
Cubs — MLB.com
Podcast: From start to finish, PCA electrifies in epic Crosstown Showdown
Crosstown Classic or WS preview? | Morning Lineup.
PCA secures 2nd straight 30-30 season -- boosts MVP case -- in epic way
CHICAGO – The chants began before the Cubs could even hit play on the hype video ahead of the bottom of the 10th inning on Monday night. The fans inside Wrigley Field already knew who was due to bat and they sent his famous initials echoing through the old ballpark in anticipation of what could come next. Pete Crow-Armstrong did not let them down.
Key takeaways: Cubs 7, White Sox 5
CHICAGO – With roughly six weeks remaining in the regular season, fans on Chicago’s North and South Sides can realistically dream about October baseball. The Cubs are in the thick of the National League Wild Card race, while the White Sox currently sit atop the American League Central.
After latest trip to IL, could Cabrera shift to Cubs' 'pen?
CHICAGO – The Cubs swung a blockbuster deal to land Edward Cabrera over the offseason due to his top-of-the-rotation potential. His first season with the North Siders has featured frustratingly mixed results and multiple trips to the injured list. The latest setback arrived on Monday, when Cabrera was placed on the 15-day IL due to a second recurrence of a blister issue on his pitching hand.
How do Power Rankings look with just 6 weeks(!) left in season?
Some might call these the dog days of summer, but with as much activity and excitement as there has been in baseball for the last week — Field of Dreams! A wild Brewers-Dodgers series featuring the best pitchers on earth — we’ll confess to not feeling particularly dogged down right now. If these are the dog days, sheesh, wait until things get really exciting.
Cubs — Sun-Times
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s walk-off homer gives Cubs win over White Sox in back-and-forth Crosstown clash
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a walk-off win at Wrigley Field. For the 12th time this season, the Cubs won in walk-off fashion, topping the White Sox on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning Monday, grabbing a 7-5 victory in the first of this week’s three Crosstown games.
Cubs and Sox fans swarm Wrigley Field for Crosstown Classic
This site is free thanks to our community of supporters. Voluntary donations from readers like you keep our news accessible for everyone. Cubs and Sox fans swarm Wrigley Field for Crosstown Classic.
Crosstown begins with mutual love for Chicago contenders, but what if Cubs, White Sox meet in World Series?
Crosstown in the thick of a playoff race is interesting enough. Could you imagine Crosstown in October? “Sign me up,” Cubs skipper Craig Counsell said before the first of three games with the White Sox on Monday at Wrigley Field.
Cubs send Dansby Swanson, Edward Cabrera to IL as key injuries pop up in middle of playoff race
Things were feeling a lot like May and June on Monday at Wrigley Field, with ample injury news and the Crosstown-rival White Sox on the schedule, challenging for intra-city supremacy.
Cubs' game Saturday will air on Fox Chicago+ because of Bears conflict on Fox 32
Fortunately, the local Fox affiliate has an over-the-air sister station for such occurrences. WPWR-Channel 50, branded as Fox Chicago+, will carry the Cubs’ game, with pregame coverage beginning at 6 p.m. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 p.m., with Aaron Goldsmith and John Smoltz on the call for a regional audience.
The Robot Report
Five years of operation shape Diligent Robotics rollout of Moxi 2.0 - The Robot Report
With the new robot, Diligent is also launching its learning flywheel. The Austin, Texas-based company claimed that the proprietary world model learns from the experience of its robot fleet and improves continually with every hospital deployment. “Today, we’re deploying our most sophisticated physical AI platform yet,” stated Andrea Thomaz, founder and CEO of Diligent Robotics.
Surgeons use da Vinci surgical robot to perform common cardiac surgery - The Robot Report
Coronary artery bypass grafting, or CABG, is the most common type of cardiac surgery in the world. Despite this, and the heavily invasive nature of the surgery, only 1% of these procedures are performed with the help of robots. At the El Camino Health Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI), surgeons are now performing CABG with Intuitive Surgical‘s da Vinci robotic system.
How Generalist uses human demonstration data for robot learning - The Robot Report
Summer is about creating memories. And for robots, that translates into generating lots of data. It’s also a time to catch up on reading.
Gravis Robotics raises $200M for autonomous construction - The Robot Report
The construction industry has been slow to automate, but demand for infrastructure repairs, AI data center buildouts, and U.S. reshoring and defense needs could change that. Gravis Robotics today announced that SoftBank is investing $200 million in its Series A round, which it claimed is the largest in construction robotics history.
IEEE Spectrum — Robotics
Inside Persona’s Bold Bet On Humanoid Welders In Shipyards
Humanoids desperately need to stop making YouTube videos and get a job already, and Persona AI is one of the few humanoid companies which seems to be entirely focused on making that happen. Persona’s approach has been to carefully select a job that is economically viable for robots right now, and they’ve found one that was also the job of one of the very first industrial robots ever sold: welding.
Simon Willison
Qwen 3.8 27B scores 52 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Qwen 3.8 27B scores 52 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (via) That's the same score as GPT-5.6 Luna (max), and just one point behind GLM-5.2 (max) and DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (max) - that GLM is 753B and that DeepSeek is 1.6B parameters, and Luna is size unknown but presumably a whole lot bigger than 27B. Qwen 3.8 27B is a truly astonishing model.
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility. Excellent piece of reporting from 404 Media.
Manufacturing Dive
Trump inks MOU allowing US Navy ships to be built overseas
The MOU also orders DOD to replace the aircraft carrier-based Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems and the Advanced Weapons Elevators with “traditional steam and hydraulic systems” during the construction of the aircraft carrier CVN 81, or the USS Doris Miller.
How to navigate background screening for the manufacturing workforce
Despite the U.S. economy losing 23,000 jobs last month, employment in manufacturing didn’t see much change according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, underscoring the sector's persistent demand for talent.
The Rundown AI
Cursor's Origin hits GitHub on its worst day
If you were picking a day to launch a GitHub competitor, you couldn't script a better one than the morning the legacy platform suffered a massive outage. Cursor just managed to hit that window, launching Origin as an alternative to the place the world has held its code for two decades.
Dario Amodei logs on to answer the critics
AI has a trust problem, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei doesn't think a marketing campaign can fix it. Amodei just made a rare X appearance to answer claims that his AI safety talk is backfiring, framing the warnings as honesty rather than doom and pitching real breakthroughs in areas like medicine as the only route back for public opinion. P.S. — We’re hiring for seven open roles at The Rundown!