Morning Digest

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

35 stories from 10 sources, 61 more held back.

RT

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.

RT 7:48 AM

14 indicted over alleged cocaine ring at Penn State fraternities

A US grand jury indicted 14 people for allegedly operating a drug ring inside two fraternities at Pennsylvania State University (PSU), where pledges were allegedly forced to cut and package cocaine as part of their initiation. According to Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, 13 of the defendants were students in 2023 and 2024, when the crimes allegedly occurred.

RT 3:31 AM

US won’t allow Gaza reconstruction until Hamas disarms – Kushner

The US would not allow the reconstruction of Gaza until the Palestinian enclave is fully demilitarized, President Donald Trump’s peace envoy Jared Kushner said following meetings with Hamas officials and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, held a rare meeting with Hamas officials in Cairo on Sunday and spoke with Netanyahu the following day.

RT 2:03 AM

Kentucky family rejects $26.5 million offer for AI data center

Kentucky farmers take on AI data-center boom – WSJ. A farming family in rural America has rejected a multimillion-dollar offer to sell their land for a data center development, joining opposition to a rapid buildout of such facilities driven by the AI boom in the US.

RT 11:34 PM

Ukraine’s mobilization authorities operate like organized crime – MP

Ukraine’s press gangs function like organized crime – Zelensky party MP. The government body overseeing Ukraine’s mobilization drive has all the hallmarks of an “organized criminal group,” with some officials allegedly paying bribes of up to $150,000 to secure senior positions, Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksandr Kachura has said.

RT 10:45 PM

Cubs — MLB.com

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.

Cubs — MLB.com 6:12 AM

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.

Cubs — MLB.com 3:49 AM

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.

Cubs — MLB.com 11:44 PM

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 — MLB.com 2:17 AM

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.

ESPN 3:55 AM

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.

ESPN 2:10 AM

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.

ESPN 1:37 AM

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.

ESPN 12:26 AM

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.

ESPN 11:54 PM

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.

ESPN 11:28 PM

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.

Simon Willison 11:58 PM

Raw America

Cubs — Sun-Times

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.

Cubs — Sun-Times 12:45 PM

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.

The Robot Report 9:15 PM

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.

The Robot Report 8:56 PM

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.

The Robot Report 1:00 PM

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.

IEEE Spectrum — Robotics 3:33 PM

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.

Manufacturing Dive 12:44 PM

The Rundown AI

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!

The Rundown AI 12:00 AM