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PANNONHALMA, Hungary (AP) — Tens of thousands of centuries-old books are being pulled from the shelves of a medieval abbey in Hungary in an effort to save them from a beetle infestation that could wipe out centuries of history.The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary’s oldest centers of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site.Restoration workers are removing about 100,000 handbound books from their shelves and carefully placing them in crates, the start of a disinfection process that aims to kill the tiny beetles burrowed into them.The drugstore beetle, also known as the…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Love Island USA” will crown the winning couple of its seventh season Sunday evening, culminating a tumultuous summer full of explosive breakups and shock exits.The finale will air on Peacock at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern, following a chart-topping run since the season premiered on June 3. The show brings young singles together in a remote villa in Fiji to explore connections with the ultimate goal of finding love. The show, an American spinoff to the UK series, has shaken up reality TV, becoming Peacock’s most watched entertainment series on mobile devices, according to NBC Universal.…

A research institute connected to the United Nations has created two AI-powered avatars designed to teach people about refugee issues. 404 Media wrote about an experiment conducted by a class at the United Nations University Center for Policy Research that resulted in the creation of two AI agents or avatars — Amina, a fictional woman who fled Sudan and is living in a refugee camp in Chad, and Abdalla, a fictional soldier with the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary force in Sudan. Users are supposed to be able to talk to Amina and Abdalla on the experiment’s website, though I…

Hong Kong CNN  —  Since US President Donald Trump – just days into his second term – began imposing tariffs on China for its role in the flow of deadly opioids like fentanyl into the United States, Beijing’s message has been clear. The fentanyl crisis is the “US’s problem,” Chinese officials have repeatedly said, and China has already done “tremendous work” to address the issue. “We stand ready for practical cooperation with the US based on equality and mutual respect. That said, we firmly oppose the US pressuring, threatening and blackmailing China under the pretext of the fentanyl issue,” a…

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Friday the company is delaying the release of its open model, which was already pushed back a month earlier in this summer. OpenAI had planned to release the model next week, however Altman said the company is pushing it back indefinitely for further safety testing. “We need time to run additional safety tests and review high-risk areas. we are not yet sure how long it will take us,” said Altman in a post on X. “While we trust the community will build great things with this model, once weights are out, they can’t be pulled…

Taipei, Taiwan CNN  —  Silwanus Tangkotta was working aboard a Taiwanese fishing boat in the remote Pacific last year, when a heavy wave slammed a rolling metal door onto his hand, crushing his middle and ring fingers. The Indonesian migrant fisherman needed medical attention, but the captain refused to return to port, saying they hadn’t caught enough fish to justify the trip. For over a month, Tangkotta endured the searing pain, forced to wrap the wound in tape and pick at exposed bone with a toothpick to prevent infection. “I did whatever I could… I took nail clippers and toothpicks…

There is a time-honored crisis management strategy, wherein one says nothing and waits for the outrage to pass. For Sequoia Capital, the strategy worked pretty well this week. While partner Shaun Maguire initially weathered criticism over an inflammatory social media post, that initial indignation cooled quickly. Now, some seem to think that Maguire’s defiant stance may even be strengthening his position. Business Insider actually called it “good for deal flow” — controversy as competitive advantage. Sequoia’s calculated gamble carries real risk, though. Another provocative post from Maguire that hits the wrong nerve, a shift in political winds, or escalating consequences…

In only 3 days, founders, investors, and operators will flood into the SoWa Power Station in Boston for TechCrunch All Stage 2025 — and if you haven’t grabbed your pass yet, this is your final window to lock in the lowest prices available and save up to $475. Whether you’re a first-time founder or a scaling-stage exec, TC All Stage delivers the real-world strategies and connections that move the needle. It’s not theory — it’s the stuff that drives traction. This single-day founder summit is built for momentum. You’ll leave with tools, frameworks, and connections that push your startup forward:…

Solo adventurers looking to explore the ends of the Earth now have a new incentive to book with Aurora Expeditions. The Australia-based expedition cruise company is waiving the dreaded single supplement across all its 2025/26 Antarctica sailings and all Arctic and Global Discovery voyages through September 2026.Typically, solo travelers pay extra to have a cabin to themselves—a fee known as the “single supplement.” By eliminating this charge across the board, Aurora is making its trips more accessible for those flying solo. This move marks Aurora’s most inclusive offer for solo travelers to date, opening up its immersive small-ship experiences to…

In a series of posts on X, the AI chatbot Grok apologized for what it admitted was “horrific behavior.” The posts appear to be an official statement from xAI, the Elon Musk-led company behind Grok, as opposed to an AI-generated explanation for Grok’s posts. (xAI recently acquired X, where Grok is prominently featured.) Grok’s latest controversy comes after Musk had indicated he wanted to make the chatbot less “politically correct,” then declared on July 4 that the company had “improved @Grok significantly.” In short order, the chatbot was making posts criticizing Democrats and Hollywood’s “Jewish executives,” repeating antisemitic memes, and…