What the rest of the world is reading today.

A digest of top world and technology headlines, pulled from a handful of publisher feeds once a day and stored here. Every link goes straight to the original story.

August 9, 2026

40 stories published this day.

Around the world

Trump appoints staff secretary Will Scharf as new White House counsel

The Guardian

Scharf, who helped president win approval for $400m ballroom, to replace David Warrington on 1 SeptemberDonald Trump announced on Sunday that ⁠Will ​Scharf, the staff secretary who helped secure approval for the $400m White House ballroom project, will become ⁠White House counsel and assistant to the president.Effective 1 September, Scharf will replace David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Warrington ​formerly served ​as a ​personal counsel and a ​lawyer ‌for Trump’s ​2024 campaign. Continue reading...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces decision to freeze her eggs

The Guardian

US congresswoman to share journey online as she criticizes Trump administration’s attacks on reproductive careAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online.The progressive New York congresswoman, 36, revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Continue reading...

Demi Vollering wins Tour de France for the 2nd time

NPR World

Vollering, who first won the competition in 2023, finished the stage more than a minute ahead of Spaniard Paula Blasi Cairol and 2024 champion Polish rider Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney.

Burnham vows crackdown on ‘rip-off’ business practices to ease cost of living

The Guardian

First of PM’s ‘everyday fixes’ to be banning fake discounts and making it easier to cancel unwanted subscriptionsAndy Burnham: I’ll end the rip-offs that people hateAndy Burnham has promised a series of measures to tackle the cost of living, including a ban on fake discounts and making it easier for people to escape unwanted subscriptions.The crackdown on “rip-off” business practices is expected to benefit consumers to the tune of £400m a year and will be the first in a range of “everyday fixes” to be implemented in the coming months. Continue reading...

How Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' has shaped the war

NPR World

NPR's Rob Schmitz speaks with Peter Salisbury, professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, about how Iran and its allies have reshaped the war in the Middle East.

Netanyahu rejects US-led 15-point Gaza peace plan in rare public break with Trump

The Guardian

Israeli PM says IDF will not withdraw until Hamas is disarmed and rebukes US pressure to end wars without his country’s buy-inIsrael’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected a US-backed 15-point peace plan for Gaza in a rare public break with Donald Trump.In a statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he was confronting a “wave of rumours about Israeli weakness and Israeli withdrawals on all fronts” and rebuked US pressure to end wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israel’s buy-in. Continue reading...

In tech

No Dogs in Space is a music history podcast for true obsessives

The Verge

Sadly, there hasn't been a new episode of No Dogs in Space since July of 2024. Part four of the podcast's series on Can wrapped up an abbreviated season three, which focused on experimental rock. Don't get me wrong, I loved seasons one and two, but the show seemed to be gearing up for a […]

Zuckerberg’s yacht was closer, but someone else saved a stranded boat

The Verge

Earlier this week, the Alaskan cruise ship Wilderness Legacy rescued a small skiff stranded near Farragut Bay after running out of fuel. But, according to tracking data reviewed by the Alaska Beacon and Halifax Shipping News, the closest vessel was actually Mark Zuckerberg's super yacht, Launchpad. Michael Love, a passenger on the Wilderness Legacy, posted […]

49ers coach says his Tesla was on Autopilot when he crashed

The Verge

Four weeks ago, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was involved in an accident near downtown Palo Alto. At the time Shanahan said only that the accident was his fault. But during a recent press conference he shared more details about the incident, including the fact that he had his Tesla's Autopilot engaged at the […]

The AI safety test is becoming a safety risk

TechCrunch

AI agents are escaping cybersecurity testing environments and reaching real-world systems, raising questions about whether safety infrastructure, industry standards and regulation can keep pace with increasingly powerful models.

Dropbox is a PC builder’s best friend

The Verge

In 2018 I bet my reputation and self-worth on a huge crowdfunded game design project. It could have been a failure for many reasons, but the one I became most worried about was losing all of the work that was stored locally on my home-built PC - a scenario that would have left a lot […]

AI detectors are creating a new era of distrust

The Verge

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about how AI is changing our daily lives, follow Emma Roth. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Long before ChatGPT became a thing, […]

The Complicated Case of Passing On Your Digital Estate

Wired

There’s no perfect way to transfer possession of your digital assets to your loved ones after you’re gone. But there are things you can do now to make the process easier for them.

These AI Barons Are Ready to Give Away Their Fortunes

Wired

A new generation of philanthropists made rich by artificial intelligence are preparing to give away their vast wealth. What should we make of a multi-billion-dollar pinky promise?