Author: Akshara Das

Portugal: Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has married his longtime partner, model and influencer Georgina Rodríguez, in a civil ceremony in Portugal. Ronaldo announced the marriage on Instagram on August 11, sharing an image of two hands wearing wedding rings. Portuguese media reported that the couple married in the coastal town of Cascais, near Lisbon, with their five children attending the ceremony. The couple have been together for 10 years, after meeting at a Gucci store in Madrid where Rodríguez was working while Ronaldo was playing for Real Madrid. Ronaldo and Rodríguez announced their engagement on August 11, 2025, when Rodríguez…

New Delhi: India is considering wide-ranging reforms to its health insurance sector, including benchmark treatment rates and a nationwide claims exchange, as authorities seek to improve transparency and control rising healthcare costs, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. Medical inflation in India is estimated at around 12 percent to 14 percent a year, putting increasing pressure on households and prompting policymakers to explore ways to standardise healthcare pricing and insurance coverage. A panel comprising regulators, industry leaders, hospitals and the Confederation of Indian Industry is expected to submit recommendations by the end of the year, with implementation of…

Canberra: Delivery drivers across Australia will receive a minimum hourly rate of $31.30 under new workplace standards approved by the Fair Work Commission, in a landmark decision that will also provide workers with insurance protection for injuries sustained on the job. The Fair Work Commission (FWC), Australia’s industrial umpire, issued the new minimum standards order on August 11 covering gig workers who provide on-demand delivery of food, drinks and groceries, as well as the digital platforms that engage them. The new conditions will come into effect on August 17 and are expected to apply across the sector, including platforms beyond…

Dakar: The Democratic Republic of Congo’s confirmed Ebola death toll has surpassed 2,000, marking another grim milestone in an outbreak that health officials have described as one of the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreaks on record. Congo’s public health institute reported 2,011 confirmed deaths and 4,381 confirmed cases across five provinces, according to the latest government data seen by Reuters on August 11. The outbreak is Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak and is being driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments specifically available for this strain. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak…

Brussels: Western Europe experienced its warmest June-July period on record, with extreme heat and drought contributing to severe wildfires across the region, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The average temperature across Western Europe during June and July 2026 reached 21.62 degrees Celsius, 2.79 degrees Celsius above average. The figure surpassed the previous record set in 2022. The extreme heat was accompanied by exceptionally low rainfall and soil moisture, worsening drought conditions across parts of Europe. Low water levels were recorded in major rivers, including the Seine, Rhine and Danube, creating additional pressure on transport and energy…

Menlo Park:  Meta has launched a new open-weight artificial intelligence model as CEO Mark Zuckerberg called for the United States to reduce barriers facing domestic developers, arguing that American companies need stronger support to compete with Chinese rivals in the growing open-weight AI market. The new model, Muse Glimmer, is significantly smaller than leading models developed by rival AI companies. Meta said it is designed for agentic tasks and can run directly on a Mac or PC using a single graphics card. The approach reflects growing interest in AI models that can operate directly on users’ devices rather than relying…

Washington: Songs by Taylor Swift have been removed from social media videos posted by Donald Trump’s campaign and the White House after the pop star’s music was used in several posts in recent months. The removals were reported on August 9, with no immediate explanation from either the White House or Swift’s representatives. The Trump campaign had used two of Swift’s songs on its TikTok account during the previous week. One of the videos used references to several of Swift’s well-known songs while promoting Trump and criticising the previous Biden-Harris administration. The post included altered titles and captions linked to…

Paris: Paris has introduced stricter safety requirements for electric scooter riders, making helmets and high-visibility equipment mandatory on public roads as authorities respond to a sharp rise in accidents involving the vehicles. Under the new rules, riders who fail to wear an approved helmet can be fined €135, while those without a high-visibility vest or required retro-reflectors face a €35 fine. The measures also apply to other motorised personal transport devices, including electric unicycles and hoverboards. Police said 79 people were killed in e-scooter accidents in Paris last year, compared with 45 deaths the previous year. Around 1,100 people were…

Kinshasa: Health officials are investigating whether the Ebola virus behind a rapidly expanding outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could be mutating, as confirmed infections have surpassed 4,000 and authorities prepare to significantly scale up containment efforts. The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola and was officially reported on May 15, although health authorities suspect transmission may have begun as early as January. DRC’s national public health institute recorded 3,973 cases and 1,801 deaths as of August 4. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director-General Jean Kaseya subsequently said the number of cases had…

California: Artificial intelligence has been successfully used to design complete genomes for new functional viruses for the first time, marking a significant advance in synthetic biology while prompting fresh concerns about biosafety and security. Researchers at Stanford University used AI models known as Evo1 and Evo2 to generate designs for bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria rather than people. The resulting viruses were capable of functioning and replicating under laboratory conditions. The researchers selected 302 of the most promising AI-generated designs and synthesised them in the laboratory. Of those, 16 successfully killed E. coli bacteria, demonstrating that generative AI could design…