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Dave Daniel, 43, survived a bloody attack by a 7-foot nurse shark in Florida after nearby boaters with medical training rushed to save his life.

Quinn Ewers is in for a quick trip up I-95 come next season.

Most pitchers need one pitch at 103.6 mph to create a career highlight. Edgardo Henriquez is starting to treat it like an appointment.

Carsynn Meyer had played in Lamade Stadium before. The lights weren’t quite as bright then.

Meta Tests Robots That Can Swap Cables And Reset Servers At Its Data Centers

Kiss those data center technician jobs goodbye...

Meta is testing robots that can swap network cables, restart servers, reseat components, and perform other physical tasks traditionally handled by data center technicians. The experiments come as the company rapidly expands its AI infrastructure and seeks to operate facilities more efficiently, according to Wired.

Some employees worry about job security. One Meta worker estimated that a successful cable swapping robot could eventually take over as much as 80 percent of certain workloads. “We thought those of us performing the physical tasks were safe for a while, but not anymore,” the worker said.

Meta says automation does not mean it needs fewer people. Spokesperson Francis Brennan cited a shortage of skilled tradespeople and the company’s investments in training and hiring workers. Meta has launched programs teaching electrical, mechanical, and plumbing skills and partnered with trade unions on apprenticeships.

Still, robotics is part of Meta’s longer term strategy. Robotics manager Eric Xu has said robots could eventually assist with incident response, environmental monitoring, and preventive maintenance.

The company is experimenting with equipment from several manufacturers. A Kinova Gen3 arm is being evaluated for power cycling servers, while other machines are being tested for cable replacement. Some facilities already use a simple remotely controlled device resembling a mechanical finger to press power buttons and reboot equipment.

At its Altoona, Iowa, campus, Meta is testing dual arm Watney robots for cabling. At its newer Prometheus campus in New Albany, Ohio, ABB robots mounted on four wheel platforms are being used to reseat components and could eventually perform more work with less human supervision.

These projects build on simpler automation already deployed in Meta facilities. Self driving tugger robots transport heavy server racks, while wheeled inventory robots scan equipment and assist with inspections. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have also explored robotics for data center operations.

Wired writes that the economics are attractive. Robots could provide consistent labor where qualified technicians are scarce and handle repetitive or hazardous work. They could also operate in hotter, darker, or otherwise less hospitable environments.

But current systems remain far from replacing technicians entirely. Meta’s inventory robots struggle with cables and corners, require humans to move them between buildings, and cannot reliably interpret some equipment indicators. Other robots need substantial charging time and remain slower than people.

Data centers were also designed around human dexterity. Complex cabling, particularly around advanced AI systems such as Nvidia’s GB300, remains difficult for robots. As one former Meta employee put it, “Things have been designed for human hands forever to make everything a five-minute repair.”

Even so, the experiments are changing how some Meta workers view their future. Employees have reportedly discussed fears that automation could eliminate jobs or shift remaining positions toward lower paid workers who mainly follow AI generated instructions.

That could also affect the politics surrounding data centers. Communities often justify tax incentives partly through the jobs these facilities create. If robotics significantly reduces employment, governments may reconsider those economic tradeoffs.

For now, humans remain faster and more adaptable. But as robotic hardware gets cheaper and AI improves, Meta is preparing for a future where machines perform considerably more of the physical work inside its data centers.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/29/2026 - 21:35

USC gave its fans everything they could have wanted from a season opener.

Firefighters scrambled to battle back the fast-moving Plaskett Fire as it exploded to more than 8,200 acres early Saturday evening, threatening homes in scenic Big Sur.

One of the big questions facing USC entering its most pivotal season of the Lincoln Riley era was who would replace star wide receivers Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50. He would have been 68 on Aug. 29.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50. He would have been 68 on Aug. 29.

Echo Park was crawling with musicians, shoppers and characters Saturday as the neighborhood’s biggest free street party roared to life.

California hospice fraud is not just fleecing taxpayers.

Five days. That’s how long Curt Cignetti allowed Indiana’s returning players to bask in the program’s fairy-tale perfect season.

US Steps Up Africa Push As China Expands Economic, Security Footprint

Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times,

The Trump administration says it has helped close 37 commercial deals worth $25.67 billion in Africa as Washington moves to compete with a much larger Chinese economic footprint across the continent.

"China continues to flood Africa with exports," Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia told Fox News in an interview published Aug. 27.

Garcia said Chinese state-subsidized overcapacity threatens local industries and has left African countries exposed to debt and economic coercion.

China's General Administration of Customs recorded approximately $348.1 billion in two-way goods trade with African nations in 2025. Chinese exports accounted for about $225 billion, while imports from Africa totaled about $123 billion.

U.S. goods trade with Africa was about $83.35 billion last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Pressure on African Manufacturers

Chinese imports have already hurt manufacturers in parts of Africa.

A 2025 study published in Energy Economics found that Chinese import competition reduced productivity among African manufacturers, with particularly pronounced effects on small and medium-sized firms facing financial and electricity constraints.

Research published in International Affairs in November 2025 found that more than 400 Chinese-owned manufacturers registered operations in Ghana between 2004 and 2024 as some private Chinese companies shifted from trade toward local production.

In South Africa, Chery Auto inaugurated the former Nissan plant in Rosslyn in July after acquiring it. The Chinese automaker plans to begin production there in mid-2027.

Chinese investment has also generated resentment in some communities. Chinese rights activist Jie Lijian, who spent more than seven months traveling overland through Africa in 2019 while fleeing the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution en route to the United States, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times in October 2020 that he repeatedly encountered complaints about Chinese companies.

In Ethiopia, Jie said police officers who initially mistook him for a Chinese company employee complained that Chinese businesses had polluted water and air and harmed livestock.

Local resistance has also at times turned violent.

In October 2024, residents of Konkoï in Guinea protested against Chinese-owned Hongxing Mining Guinea SARL over alleged damage to farmland and the local environment. Guinean and regional reports said two people died after security forces intervened, including a young man who was shot and a child who inhaled tear gas. The local prefect said at the time the company was operating legally and paying taxes, according to Guinea-based online news platform Guineematin.

Minerals Become a US Security Issue

Critical minerals are an area where China's dominant control directly impacts U.S. national security.

U.S. Africa Command's (AFRICOM) 2026 posture statement states Beijing is using investments in African mining, infrastructure, and transportation to secure critical minerals and strategic infrastructure.

The command singled out graphite.

"Beijing dominates 90 percent of battery-grade graphite processing," AFRICOM said.

The command called that concentration a "structural vulnerability" for the U.S. defense industrial base.

Separately, a 2026 U.S. Geological Survey report put China at 79 percent of natural graphite production, along with 98 percent of primary refined gallium, 83 percent of mined tungsten, and 68 percent of mined rare earths.

The United States is trying to build alternative supply routes.

The Washington-backed Lobito Corridor is designed to link the copper belt in Congo and Zambia to Angola's Atlantic port at Lobito.

Bernard Swanepoel, chairman of South Africa's African Exploration Mining and Finance Corp., told The Epoch Times in July 2025, "Judging from how often he mentions it, copper is central to Trump's ambitions."

He pointed to the Washington-backed Lobito Corridor.

Former Zambian Mines Minister Paul Chongo Kabuswe also told The Epoch Times at the time that China had pledged to invest $5 billion in Zambia's copper industry by 2031, including $800 million in one mine. He said Zambia was also discussing more U.S. investment with the Trump administration.

"Just because we have Chinese interest here doesn't mean we don't want United States companies here," Kabuswe said.

Armed Groups and Mining Security

In some mining regions, Chinese-linked operations have also become entangled with armed groups.

In the Central African Republic, the mining minister revoked three exploitation permits held by Chinese mining company Daqing SARL in June 2024. A 2025 U.N. Panel of Experts report said government sources found that the company had mined without authorization, interacted with armed group members, and brought unauthorized foreign workers to the site.

A July 2016 Global Witness investigation found that Chinese-owned Kun Hou Mining paid $4,000 and supplied two AK-47 rifles to Raia Mutomboki, armed factions in eastern Congo, in 2014 and 2015 to secure access to gold deposits.

Global Witness said a February 2015 letter from four Raia Mutomboki factions confirmed receipt of the money and rifles. The group also reported that Kun Hou supplied armed factions with communications equipment and food.

Chinese companies have also used overseas security contractors to protect commercial operations.

A Chinese security contractor in Sudan told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times in April 2023 that his work included preparing security plans and supervising foreign security personnel.

Huaxin Zhong'an Security Group, a Beijing-based Chinese private security company, stated in a corporate news release in March 2022 that retired military personnel accounted for 100 percent of its overseas security employees.

Huaxin Zhong'an has hired more than 1,000 armed guards in host countries for overseas projects, and its overseas Communist Party organization helped select, vet, train, and manage security personnel sent abroad, according to a separate March 2022 statement.

Beijing Expands Military and Political Training

China is also expanding military, police, and political training in Africa.

Under the Forum on China - Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan for 2025-2027, Beijing pledged a 1 billion yuan ($140 million) military grant, training for 6,000 African military personnel and 1,000 police and law-enforcement officers, and visits to China for 500 young African officers.

At least 50 African countries regularly take part in Chinese professional military education, according to Paul Nantulya of the U.S. Defense Department's Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

In an October 2023 analysis, Nantulya wrote that African officers attending Chinese military schools are exposed to the CCP model of political control over the People's Liberation Army, including political commissars and the principle that the armed forces answer to the ruling party.

In a May 2023 report, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, an institution under the U.S. Department of War and part of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., said a South African police unit sent to China's People's Armed Forces Academy for training in 2016 was later illegally deployed into the country's top security agencies as a "hit squad" to intimidate and assassinate political rivals.

The CCP has expanded political training as well.

The Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School in Tanzania trains cadres from six Southern African ruling parties. In a November 2023 report, the Africa Center said CCP Central Party School instructors participated in the school's programs, which included party recruitment, management, administration, mass mobilization, leadership, and propaganda systems. The center said in 2025 that the school remained part of Beijing's expanding party-training network in Africa.

Ports and Strategic Access

AFRICOM is also watching Chinese-built and Chinese-controlled infrastructure for potential military use.

China operates its overseas military base in Djibouti, near the entrance to the Red Sea.

AFRICOM's 2026 posture statement said Beijing's investments in transportation infrastructure can support a persistent security presence.

In a response to The Epoch Times, a U.S. Africa Command spokesperson said AFRICOM leadership has "consistently warned" that Beijing is trying to expand its military footprint beyond Djibouti and establish a permanent naval presence or dual-use port facility on Africa's Atlantic coast, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea.

The spokesperson said AFRICOM is also tracking Beijing's efforts to gain access to African natural resources and to control critical minerals, infrastructure, and key sea lines of communication.

"The United States delivers enduring value as a partner of choice with capabilities only we can provide," the spokesperson said, adding that Washington's approach is based on transparency, respect for sovereignty, and mutual prosperity.

The State Department and the African Union did not respond to inquiries for further information by publication time.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/29/2026 - 21:00

George Lombard Jr. left the second game of a doubleheader vs. the Red Sox Saturday night at the Stadium with what appeared to be a right knee injury. 

Thirteen hostages — including six children and seven women — have been freed by a Haitian gang following a murderous rampage that left 47 dead and more than 50 others abducted in a once-tranquil farming community outside Port-au-Prince.

Democrats’ House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and ­adviser has led to a political firestorm across social media.

A woman was found stabbed to death inside a home in San Jose, police said.

The cup may have looked regulation-size to everyone else at East Lake. Viktor Hovland’s confidence, however, appeared to have changed its dimensions.

The measure is now headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. He has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto it.