🇬🇧 ‘Warm banks’ may appear in UK amid cost of living crisis

UK Councils are looking at organizing public “warm banks” for those residents who will not be able to pay their electricity bills in the coming winter, according to The Daily Telegraph.

▪The idea of public heating places was supported by the municipalities of Birmingham, Bristol, Dundee, Glasgow and Aberdeen;

▪According to the initiative, public centers and libraries can become places of heating;

▪This comes after local authorities expressed concerns about rising energy prices

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🇷🇺 Scientists from the National University of Science and Technology MISiS (NUST MISIS) have made a coating meant to protect metals from corrosion and high-temperature oxidation. It is one and a half times more resistant than base coats.

📹 Watch our video to find out the details about how it is created

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📹 “The explosion was so powerful that the trees doubled over”: A pensioner from Donetsk describes how Ukrainians shelled a neighboring house

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🇦🇫🇺🇸 1 year since US troop pullout from Afghanistan

The Taliban* declared August 31, the date when US troops withdrew from Afghanistan, a public holiday. Let's remember what happened a year ago, when the developments in Kabul really tarnished the US’ reputation among its partners.

*under UN sanctions for terrorist activities

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💬Estonian Foreign Minister says his country "with allies" plan to ban entry to most Russians within next few days or weeks - report

“She survived a concentration camp only to die from hypothermia in March 2022”: In Rubezhnoye, LPR, a pensioner suffering from dementia froze to death in her apartment after the retreating Ukrainian military smashed her windows.

⚡Syrian air defense forces reportedly hit targets in sky over Damascus

🇷🇺 "One day we will have to negotiate as we live next to each other", Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says

🇮🇶🇺🇸 Joe Biden in call with Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi offers full support for efforts to de-escalate tensions in region through dialogue - White House

🐵 A monkey called Caesar who escaped from its owner in Magnitogorsk, Russia has been caught, authorities say

💉 US clears updated COVID boosters targeting newest variants

The US on Wednesday authorized its first update to COVID-19 vaccines, booster doses that target today’s most common omicron strain. Shots could begin within days. “These updated boosters present us with an opportunity to get ahead” of the next COVID-19 wave, said FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf.

The newest boosters contain half that original vaccine recipe and half protection against the newest omicron versions, BA.4 and BA.5, that are considered the most contagious yet. This boosters are only for people who have already had their primary vaccinations, using the original vaccines.

The US has purchased more than 170 million doses from the two companies. Pfizer said it could ship up to 15 million of those doses by the end of next week. Moderna didn’t immediately say how many doses are ready to ship but that some will be available “in the coming days.”

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US Moving Into Third Stage of Military Aid to Ukraine - Danish Defense Chief

The nations in the NATO alliance are now moving into the third phase of their flow of military aid to Ukraine against Russia, Denmark's Minister of Defense Morten Bodskov told a meeting at the Atlantic Council.

"Security for weapons donations, training initiatives and de-mining initiatives will be on the third phase," Bodskov said on Wednesday.

The first stage of NATO military aid to Ukraine was a spontaneous and unplanned flow of military equipment and supplies from the inventories of NATO member nations, the Danish defense chief said.

The second stage was the Ramstein format which had been lead and organized by the United States and had resulted in an enormous flow of equipment, he said.

A senior US military official on Monday denied reports that US security packages for Ukraine are depleting certain American ammunition stockpiles and affecting its military readiness. The Wall Street Journal, citing US military officials, reported that certain US stockpiles of ammunition, specifically 155 mm shells for the howitzers, were running uncomfortably low because of the Ukraine aid packages and that there are concerns about US military readiness.

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🚀 NASA moves next Artemis I rocket launch attempt to September 3rd

The space agency moved the date for the next Artemis I rocket launch attempt to Saturday, September 3rd, after determining that the initial plan for Friday was going to run into bad weather.

There was a 60 percent chance that the launch would have been delayed for weather on Friday, officials said during a media briefing. The two-hour launch window opens at 2:17PM.

This will be NASA’s second attempt this week at launching its massive next-generation rockets. The first attempted launch on Monday was scrubbed after one of the four RS-25 engines failed to reach the appropriate temperature to allow for liftoff.

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💳 Meta* is planning more paid features for Facebook* and Instagram*

The company is setting up a product organization to identify and build “possible paid features” for Facebook*, Instagram*, and WhatsApp, according to an internal memo sent to employees last week.

The new division is Meta*’s first serious foray into building paid features across its main social apps, all three of which boast billions of users. It’s being set up after Meta*’s ads business was severely hurt by Apple’s ad tracking changes on iOS and a broader pullback in digital ad spending. The group, called New Monetization Experiences, will be led by Pratiti Raychoudhury, who was previously Meta’s head of research.

In June, Mark Zuckerberg said the company wouldn’t take a cut of transactions from paid features and subnoscriptions until 2024.

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*Meta, Facebook, and Instagram are banned in Russia over extremist activities.