Zero's Briefs

Cinema & Entertainment — Dolly Parton has died, aged 80 — American country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton has died at the age of eighty: the news was reported on August 25 and 26, 2026 by leading international outlets, which record tributes from the music world. The Empire State Building in New York was lit up in her memory. (Agenzia DIRE, World News citing BBC News and France 24 services)

Tech & AI — Amazon shuts down Mechanical Turk after twenty-one years — AWS Mechanical Turk will cease operations on September 30, 2026: Amazon informed workers and requesters. Launched in 2005, the service distributed micro-tasks — image labeling, transcription, surveys, moderation — to more than 500,000 people for a few cents each. New sign-ups had already been suspended on July 30, the day on which the company also closed SageMaker Ground Truth and Amazon Augmented AI to new users. The reason given is a generic periodic review of the programs. The news currently comes from a single source (Amazon’s communication as reported by Tech Startups); no independent confirmation available. (Tech Startups)

Tech & AI — OpenAI claims its chip outperforms Blackwell in work per watt — According to the company, the first inference chip developed in-house beats Nvidia’s Blackwell systems on the ratio between artificial intelligence work and power consumption in benchmark tests. The claim comes from OpenAI and has not currently been verified by independent assessments: we record it as the party’s position. On the same day, reports emerged of Moonshot AI seeking agreements with major U.S. compute providers and Samsung’s plans on memory for artificial intelligence workloads. (Tech Startups)

Europe — From August 2, the Commission oversees enforcement of the AI regulation — The European AI Office, established by the Commission, has begun, together with national authorities, monitoring the enforcement of the European regulation. Among the provisions that have entered into force are new transparency requirements: it is the first continental regulatory framework requiring artificial intelligence systems to identify themselves to the people they interact with. (European Commission, press release IP/26/1714)

Health — West Nile: ECDC counts cases in twelve countries and 99 regions — As of August 13, 2026, weekly surveillance by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control indicated 429 autochthonous cases in nine European countries; in the subsequent update, released on August 21, the countries number twelve and the regions 99, with Italy (311) and Greece (157) at the top and 21 regions affected for the first time. The joint ECDC-EFSA monthly report, with data as of August 5, counted 245 cases in seven countries and 12 deaths. ECDC and EFSA expect further cases in the coming weeks, since transmission typically peaks between August and September. (ECDC, EFSA Journal)

News — Nepal, flash floods in Nuwakot district — On August 26, 2026, damaged homes were left precariously balanced on the banks of the Trishuli River, swollen and clogged with debris, following flash floods in Nuwakot district. Experts cited in the report link the event to climate change and the region’s vulnerability to extreme weather events. The news currently comes from a single source (Associated Press, report picked up by NPR); no independent confirmation available. (NPR)

Sport — Finswimming debuts in Taranto — With the swimming program closed, the Torre d’Ayala pool hosts finswimming events on August 26 and 27, a discipline making its debut in the history of the Mediterranean Games. The twentieth edition runs from August 21 to September 3 across fourteen cities in Puglia, with 26 national Olympic committees; the closing ceremony is scheduled for September 3 at the Erasmo Iacovone stadium. In the women’s 100m backstroke, Portugal’s Camila Rodrigues Rebelo set a Games record of 1’00”37. (CONI, Olympics.com)

Culture — Final day of the Rimini Meeting — The 47th edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, at the Rimini Fair, is titled “L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle” and features 150 conferences with about 500 Italian and international speakers. Pope Leo XIV’s presence at the event is listed from August 21 to 26. Today’s program included a panel on Lebanon with Antonio Tajani, a session on emergencies and reconstruction with Nello Musumeci, and a discussion on the eightieth anniversary of the Republic. (Teleborsa, ANSA)