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The applications are in. The TechCrunch Startup Battlefield team made their decisions. Eight Australian startups have earned their spot on the Startup Battlefield stage at Stripe Tour Sydney on August 19 — and they’re ready to pitch for $15,000 in Stripe fee credits, investor attention, and a spot in Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. They represent the future of Australian tech — from enterprise tech to health and wellness tech to entertainment and media. Here’s who they are. The eight finalists Aigentsphere Independent AI management and governance platform Aigentsphere helps enterprises scale AI safely and well,…

The violence comes amid talks between Lebanon and Israel as Beirut pushes for a phased Israeli troop withdrawal.Published On 5 Aug 20265 Aug 2026Israeli strikes killed one person while two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion inside a booby-trapped building in southern Lebanon amid ongoing talks aimed at implementing a ceasefire.Wednesday’s Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese town of Tibnin hit the roof of a cemetery prayer hall, killing one person and injuring 12 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe latest strike came after two Israeli soldiers were killed, another critically…

A person’s posture may subtly affect both emotional state and decision-making, according to new research from McGill University. In a laboratory study, participants who sat upright reported more positive feelings and performed better during a task involving risk and reward than participants who slouched or sat in the control condition. The effects were relatively small and were observed under controlled conditions. Still, the findings offer new evidence that physical position can influence mood and behavior, said Jorge Armony, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at McGill and the study’s senior author. Researchers Changed Posture Without Revealing the…

Bill ConnellyAug 5, 2026, 03:54 AM ETCloseBill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.Multiple AuthorsToward the end of the longest (and sixth-best) FIFA World Cup on record, The Onion, America’s satirical newspaper of record, published a piece titled “Report: That’s Enough Soccer For Now.””Saying the nation had enjoyed a perfectly adequate amount of dribbling, passing, and loud chanting,” it said, “a new report published Tuesday confirmed that was enough soccer for now. ‘Welp, that was fun, but we’ve got our fill,’ the report read in part.”For a…

So is it all just harmless fun, or is this a case of artists being more cautious?Maria Veronese runs media training company Mediapro and says Charli XCX’s method may not be a surprise to her fans.”She’s fun, she’s Brat and it’s what we expect of her really,” says Veronese. “It’s what her fan base loves her for.”She says a lot of people who use media training, do so because they’re nervous about saying things they don’t want to. “We just help them go through all of those scenarios. “Talk about bridging techniques, and what they can say instead of things…

Residents abducted during the deadly terrorist attack on Woro in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State have regained their freedom. This was announced on Wednesday in a brief statement posted on the official Facebook page of the state government, which praised President Bola Tinubu, security agencies and all those involved in securing the victims’ release. Authorities have yet to disclose the number of victims released, the circumstances surrounding the development, or whether any conditions were attached to the release. “Woro kidnap victims regain freedom,” the statement read. “Alhamdulillah and kudos to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, security forces, and…

‘We took on the machine’: El-Sayed celebrates triumph over outside spending after clinching Democratic nomination in bitter Michigan Senate primaryJoseph Gedeon“They spent an unprecedented amount of money to beat us” Abdul El-Sayed said, after officially winning the Michigan’s Democratic nomination for US Senate.El-Sayed remarked on the millions in outside spending while holding his first press conference in downtown Detroit as the newly minted nominee. “But it turns out the commercials are the part of the television show most people don’t want to watch,” he added.“We took on a machine. You’re not supposed to be able to beat $70m dollars of…

The head of a leading Russian drone manufacturer has been critically injured in a car bomb near Ekaterinburg, in what appears to be the latest in a series of assassination attempts targeting figures linked to the country’s war in Ukraine.Vladimir Tkachuk, the founder of the private drone manufacturer Uraldronzavod, was rushed to intensive care on Wednesday after a bomb planted beneath his Mercedes exploded, according to Russian state media, citing emergency services. His bodyguard was killed in the explosion.The Russian news agency Tass reported that Tkachuk was in a critical condition and doctors were “fighting [to save] his life”.Images circulating…

By Elizabeth Adegbesan The withdrawal of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) COVID-19 regulatory forbearance given to banks has pushed banks’ Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) ratio to 9.94 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 (Q1’26), significantly above the apex bank’s prudential benchmark of 5.0 per cent. The development was disclosed in the CBN’s first quarter 2026 (Q1’26) Economic Report, which attributed the increase to the end of the long-standing pandemic-era relief measures introduced to support borrowers and strengthen financial system stability during the COVID-19 crisis. According to the report, the NPL ratio rose by 2.43 percentage points from 7.51 per…

Advanced artificial intelligence models have stunned the UK’s AI Security Institute by carrying out a hacking campaign against real people during a cybersecurity test.The institute (AISI) said the incident was unprecedented and involved sending targeted emails to software developers in an attempt to pass a cyber challenge.The hack involved agents – AI systems that can perform tasks without human help – powered by models developed by US tech companies OpenAI and Anthropic. The AISI, which was set up by former prime minister Rishi Sunak, described the unsanctioned behaviour as a “serious incident”.The watchdog said the hack was carried out by…