News

George Russell delivered when it mattered most to secure Sprint pole for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. The Mercedes driver triumphed in a breathless final segment of Sprint Qualifying to pip McLaren’s Lando Norris by a mere 0.041 seconds.

Margins of a hair’s breadth

The transition to the mandatory soft tyres for SQ3 saw the front-runners hold their nerve in the garages until the final four minutes. With track temperatures cooling down drivers opted for a double warm-up lap strategy to bring the red-marked rubber into the optimal operating window.

When the times finally tumbled it was...

Gaza’s aid agencies have enough supplies to provide new emergency shelter for only 35,000 families as another autumn-winter season approaches, while nearly 1.98 million Palestinians lack proper housing, aid agencies have warned. 

«Barely any Palestinians are present in the approximately 70% of Gaza under complete Israeli control, including the entirety of Rafah,» Shaina Low, the communication adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Palestine, told Kursiv Uzbekistan on Friday.  

The geographical squeeze is colliding with a shelter response that cannot match the need. 

The Shelter Cluster, a humanitarian coalition led by the NRC and supported by...

Formula 1 returned from its summer break with a bang at Zandvoort, kicking off the fifth Sprint weekend of the 2026 season. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli set the pace in a busy Free Practice 1 session, edging out McLaren’s Lando Norris on a drying track.

Driver shuffles and contract extensions

Plenty of news broke before a wheel was even turned in the Netherlands. Red Bull made headlines by confirming Max Verstappen has signed a contract extension keeping the home hero at the team until 2030. Furthermore, Liam Lawson stepped in for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull...

Meghan Markle could be preparing to add acting back to her professional portfolio as she and Prince Harry get ready for a major change in family life.

The Duchess of Sussex is reportedly considering taking on a new acting project, according to Variety, as the couple prepare to return to Britain with their children.

No details about the potential project have been made public and it is unclear whether Meghan has received a formal offer or is simply exploring opportunities. The report does not identify a film or television production attached to her possible return.

Any full acting role...

Uzbekistan will put a future nuclear plant on emergency alert if monitors outside the site detect a rise of only 0.1 microsievert an hour above the natural background.

A reading of 20 microsieverts an hour would trigger a facility-level emergency — a level recorded tens of kilometres from Fukushima during the 2011 disaster, although it was far below the worst onsite spike.

The limits appear in a new nuclear safety instruction that took effect on 20 August. The document draws a sharp line between heightened readiness and an accident response. On the plant site and in its protected...

Elon Musk says Starlink can link India’s «least served» rural communities, where internet access lags far behind the country’s cities. The promise has its limits. Satellite capacity, regulatory hurdles yet to be cleared and a projected monthly price tag of about 3,000 Indian rupees, or $31, could keep the service out of reach for many rural households.

«Starlink would help the least served in India, especially in rural areas,» Musk wrote on X.

He was replying to a post that said over 11,000 listed Indian villages were without 4G coverage as of May. India had 1.093 billion internet subscriptions...

Uzbekistan has approved the transfer of the Samarkand region’s electricity distribution networks to Turkish company AKSA Elektrik Perakende Satış A.Ş. under a public-private partnership, with the operator expected to invest heavily in modernising the system over the next three decades.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved the results of an international tender supported by the International Finance Corporation, formally clearing the way for AKSA to take over management and operation of the distribution network across the Samarkand region, including the city of Samarkand.

The infrastructure itself will remain state-owned. AKSA will operate the infrastructure through its Uzbek subsidiary, AKSA Samarqand Electricity...

Tottenham has agreed a deal to sign Manchester City winger Savinho for an initial £75mn fee.

The transfer includes a further £10mn in potential add-ons. The 22-year-old Brazilian is scheduled to undergo a medical before finalising a long-term contract with the north London club.

Spurs head coach Roberto de Zerbi secured the forward after the club failed in a bid to sign him last year. Savinho elected to stay at the Etihad Stadium last season but struggled for game time under Pep Guardiola, making just seven Premier League starts.

The acquisition shifts Tottenham’s focus to attacking reinforcements after the...

A court in Seoul has sentenced a Chinese man to 20 years in prison for leading an international hacking operation that targeted BTS member Jungkook and other wealthy South Koreans.

The Seoul Central District Court found guilty on Thursday a Chinese indictee, identified by his surname Jeon, of fraud and violations of South Korea’s information network laws. The court linked the operation to more than 38bn won ($27.2mn) in stolen assets.

Judges said the group, led by Jeon, deliberately targeted wealthy people and described the crime as particularly serious because victims lost their assets without having done anything to...

Indian cricketer Rinku Singh scored 26 runs from just five balls, pushing his team ahead moments before heavy rain stopped the game. Cricket’s rain rules then gave the Meerut Mavericks a five-run victory. 

The Mavericks were chasing 184 against the Lucknow Falcons in India’s Uttar Pradesh T20 League when rain began threatening the match in Lucknow. They had lost three players inside the first two overs and still needed 59 runs from the final five when their captain took control, according to SportsTiger.

In the 17th over, Singh hit Navneet Kumar for 26 runs in five balls. Then heavy...

Nothing OS 5 will start rolling out to supported phones on 25 August, moving its major update schedule forward by almost three months. The move places the British challenger among the first users of Android 17, although owners still lack a confirmed list of eligible devices.

Nothing has uploaded a 25 August teaser on social media, promising «more joy, every day» without revealing the update’s features or rollout order. The company did not begin the stable release of its Android 16-based operating system until November 2025. 

Releasing Nothing OS 5 in August would bring its annual software cycle...

Stray Kids have released a new music video for «After You», a B-side from their latest mini-album THIS & THAT, with Spotify premiering the visual exclusively on its platform.

The video, released Friday, follows the eight-member group as they confront emotional struggles and find a way forward through empathy, mutual support and inner strength. Spotify said the visual connects the song’s themes with a more cinematic narrative, giving fans a new interpretation of the track.

«After You» is the third track on THIS & THAT, which arrived on 7 August through JYP Entertainment. The eight-track mini-album also features...

A Swiss tourist has been sentenced to one year in prison in Bali after violating restrictions during Nyepi, the Hindu Day of Silence, and posting a video that triggered widespread anger among residents.

Luzian Andrin Zgraggen, 26, was arrested in March after footage of him walking to an empty beach during Nyepi circulated on social media. The video was later removed.

Zgraggen’s actions had offended Balinese people, hurt their religious beliefs and caused public outrage, the presiding judge said, according to the Associated Press. The tourist told the court he had not understood the extent of the restrictions imposed...

Uzbekistan is preparing a second nuclear power station before its first has generated any electricity, signalling a shift from one flagship project to a wider reactor programme. The government would not be drawn on whether the proposed station would occupy another site, extend the Jizzakh facility or use Russian technology.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev disclosed «large-scale preparations» for a second station during an investment ceremony in Khorezm Region earlier this week. It was his first public confirmation of the project, but he provided no location, capacity, cost or delivery date.

«Let me share a little secret...

Woody Harrelson has said the dystopian world of The Hunger Games now looks like reality. He did not name a policy or a conflict, but the setting in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, where his 1997 movie about reporters under siege was being screened again, gave the wide-ranging rebuke unusual weight.

An audience member asked Harrelson during a 90-minute masterclass on 18 August whether Suzanne Collins’s fictional Panem resembled the present. The actor answered emphatically before adding: «I think what’s going on in the world and the American government’s participation in that is shameful,» Variety reported.

Harrelson played Haymitch...

Despite the lingering confrontation with the West, membership in the world’s leading economic institutions provides invaluable avenues for dialogue, a high-ranked Kremlin official has said. 

«In terms of the NATO partnership, Russia’s participation in the WTO or in international financial organisations — the IMF and the World Bank — the relevant ministries oppose terminating our participation,» Garry Minkh, president Vladimir Putin’s parliamentary envoy, told state news agency TASS.

Minkh added that the respective framework agreements and memberships «have not exhausted their potential» for maintaining dialogue with other countries. «The agreements I have mentioned are still...

Max Verstappen has ended months of speculation over his Formula One future by signing a new Red Bull contract through 2030. The four-time world champion is remaining with the team despite one of its toughest seasons in years.

Verstappen’s previous contract ran to 2028 but included performance-related exit clauses that could have allowed for an early exit. Red Bull has struggled under the new Formula One regulations, and both Mercedes and McLaren have had talks with the Dutch driver.

The extension now takes Verstappen off the market and gives Red Bull a long-term cornerstone around which...

Kyrgyz passport holders can now visit the resort island of Hainan for up to 30 days without a visa and transit through much of China for 10 days. A wider transit waiver comes with one important condition: the journey must continue to a third country or region.

China added Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam to both schemes from 20 August, according to the country’s National Immigration Administration.

Regular passport holders of Kyrgyzstan may enter Hainan through any of the international ports of the island province and stay there visa-free for up to 30 days. The travel exemption applies to tourism, business...

Apple has accidentally shown its camera-equipped AirPods Pro in action, raising hopes that a launch was close. The footage is genuine, but the timing it appeared to reveal is not.

In a developer version of macOS 26.7, a hidden video showed the earbuds using Visual Intelligence, Apple’s system for recognising objects and providing real-world information. MacRumors first noticed the file just weeks ahead of Apple’s expected September iPhone event.

It seemed like it was going to be unveiled, but a Bloomberg report confirmed the earbuds are still not on Apple’s 2026 release...

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly preparing to return to Britain with their children, six years after leaving royal life for California. Archie and Lilibet are expected to begin school in the UK in September.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to move later this month for an extended period, according to The Telegraph. A source close to the couple confirmed the reports, although Buckingham Palace and Harry’s spokesperson have not commented.

The family will be expected to live in a private home outside of London, not a royal residence. Harry and Meghan...

Uzbekistan is creating a distinct business jurisdiction for technology companies, allowing rules based partly on English common law while locking in key investor protections until 2100. This opens the door to foreign bank branches, regulatory sandboxes and tax-free treatment for certain activities. 

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed the law on the Enterprise Uzbekistan International Digital Technology Centre after it cleared the Senate on 7 August. The Senate had earlier said the project could help Uzbekistan raise digital-services exports to $5 billion by 2030 and support more than 300,000 high-paying jobs.

Regulations may incorporate English and Welsh common law, as well...

Two separate earthquakes, both of just over magnitude 4, hit Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan about 12 hours apart. The Kyrgyzstan quake caused no reported damage or injuries, and the US Geological Survey reported no casualties from the tremor in Tajikistan.

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck Kyrgyzstan at 1:08am local time on Thursday, according to the Institute of Seismology of Kyrgyzstan. Its epicentre was located in the Jumgal district of Naryn region, near the village of Min-Kush, at a depth of 21km.

Kyrgyz authorities said the intensity at the epicentre was about four points. No damages or injuries...

Kazakhstan’s government has mandated offshore oil and gas companies to free up space for counter-terrorism teams to deploy near their Caspian facilities. This adds a new layer of physical protection around some of the country’s most valuable energy assets. 

Oil and gas companies operating in Kazakhstan’s Caspian waters will have to provide the country’s maritime anti-terrorism headquarters with a deployment site near their production facilities. A relevant order signed by Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov on 6 August takes effect on 17 October.

Such a site must accommodate at least 10 rapid response team operators, have...

Tashkent city administration has moved to calm fears over the future of Yangiobod, one of the capital’s best-known flea markets, after it was included in a sweeping plan to privatise 35 markets and trading sites. Officials now promise to preserve its traders, specialisation and character, although the privatisation decision is still on the table.

Yangiobod – also commonly known as ‘Yangiabad’ among Russian speakers – was one of 35 markets and commercial sites earmarked for open online auctions under a presidential resolution signed in July. The proposal is designed to reduce direct state involvement in Tashkent’s markets and bring private...