‘This is a death cabinet.’ Thousands of Israelis have marched in Tel Aviv to demand an end to the war on Gaza and the return of captives, a day after Israel’s security cabinet announced plans to occupy Gaza City.
Published On 10 Aug 2025
HYBE launches search for new girl group in Japan following KATSEYE
Banking on the recent commercial success of KATSYE, HYBE and Universal Music Group‘s Geffen Records are launching a new talent search for their second global girl group.
The collaboration, which produced the six-member global act through The Debut: Dream Academy in 2023, is now expanding operations with World Scout : The Final Piece, with Japanese auditions already underway and exclusively streaming on Japanese platform ABEMA.
KATSEYE‘s performance metrics suggest the strength of HYBE and Geffen’s partnership. The group’s EP Beautiful Chaos appeared on both Billboard and UK Official charts while their 13-city North American tour sold out completely.
The group’s singles Gnarly and Gabriela also saw multi-week runs on the Billboard Hot 100.
KATSEYE were among the performers during the recent Lollapalooza in Chicago. In an interview with The Korea Times on Saturday, KATSEYE’s Manon said: “It’s our first festival ever… We’ve worked so hard for it, and now we’re at a point where we’re just ready to take over the stage and let Chicago know who we are.”
According to HYBE’s latest earnings report, just 1% of the group’s Spotify listeners are based in Korea. Over 20% are in the United States, 17% in Europe, and 12% in the Philippines. The data supports HYBE’s strategy of developing acts for international markets rather than exporting Korean-developed groups.
Back in March, HYBE CEO Jason Jaesang Lee said: “The group has received so much attention and affection from listeners and music critics worldwide. The success of KATSEYE demonstrate[s] that the K-pop system can work in the U.S.”
The first round of auditions for the new girl group has kicked off in Japan.
The Japan-based auditions target women and “non-binary” individuals aged 15 to 24 through nationwide auditions running from August 6 through September 22. Selected candidates will undergo training in Japan from October through December, followed by a Los Angeles-based training ahead of a US debut in 2026.
The selection process involves document review, three rounds of Tokyo-based screenings, and final judging in the US.
According to the upcoming show’s website: “A top-tier scouting team with a proven track record of discovering global stars such as BTS will come to Japan to hold a nationwide, large-scale audition.”
The website for the HYBE and Geffen partnership stated that only one person will be selected from the Japan leg of auditions.
The website said: “A scouting project that is attracting attention from all over the world has been launched to find that one person who will inspire the world.”
Music Business Worldwide
Thieves wearing masks steal $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls in California
CCTV footage has been released showing the moment masked thieves broke into a store in the Los Angeles area and took $7,000 (£5,204) worth of Labubu dolls.
The break in happened on Wednesday morning at a store in La Puente, some 18 miles east of Los Angeles. The LA County Sheriff’s Department said it was investigating the incident.
The dolls have become hugely popular worldwide, with many being resold online for far more their original list price.
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Russia-Ukraine conflict: Important events on day 1,263 | Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine war
Here are the key events on day 1,263 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is how things stand on Sunday, August 10:
Fighting
- Russian forces launched a drone attack on a bus in Ukraine’s Kherson region, killing at least two people and wounding 16 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Another drone hit the bus as the police were responding to the attack, injuring three officers, the police added.
- Russian forces also launched 36 other attacks on settlements across the Kherson region through Friday and Saturday, killing at least one more person and injuring three, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
- Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region killed two people travelling in a car in the Bilenkivska community on Saturday morning, and a 61-year-old woman who was in her home in the Vasylivka district, a local official reported.
- In Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian attack killed a 56-year-old woman and wounded a 62-year-old man in the city of Nikopol, while in the Donetsk region, other Russian attacks killed four people and wounded nine, according to officials.
- A Ukrainian drone attack on a house in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine killed one person, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported, while another assault on a car in the Borisovsky district of Russia’s Belgorod region killed a husband and wife.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that its forces had taken control of another Ukrainian village in the Donetsk region. The TASS news agency identified the village as Yablunivka.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry also said that Moscow’s forces shot down 224 Ukrainian drones on Friday night into Saturday.
Politics and Diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected concessions of land in any peace deal with Russia as United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to meet in Alaska on August 15. Trump has said that his meeting with Putin could see “some swapping of territories” between Russia and Ukraine, “to the betterment of both”.
- Zelenskyy said that “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier”, and that “decisions without Ukraine” would not bring peace.
- The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Finland, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, issued a joint statement welcoming Trump’s efforts, while stressing the need to maintain support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia. The leaders said “they remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force”.
- The US’s NBC News broadcaster cited an unnamed US official as saying that the Trump administration was considering inviting Zelenskyy to join the US and Russian presidents at their Alaska meeting.
- The Wall Street Journal also reported that European officials who met US Vice President JD Vance in the UK on Saturday had presented a counterproposal for peace, which included demands that a ceasefire must take place before any other steps are taken. The proposal also said that any territory exchanges must be reciprocal, with firm security guarantees.
- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke on Saturday and pledged to find a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine, while welcoming Trump’s efforts to end the fighting, a Downing Street spokesperson said. The two leaders also pledged “their unwavering support to President Zelenskyy”, the spokesperson said.
FT reports that China is pushing for the US to ease chip-export restrictions as part of trade negotiations.
China wants US to relax chip-export controls as part of trade deal, FT reports
Protests erupt as plans to occupy Gaza City spark outrage
Protesters in support of hostages took to the streets of Jerusalem and marched towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence to voice their anger over his government’s plan to fully occupy Gaza City.
Former soldier, Max Kresch, marched holding a sign that read “I refused”.
“We’re over 350 soldiers who served during the war and were refusing to continue to serve in Netanyahu’s political war,” he told the BBC’s Emir Nader.
Protests took place across Israel in cities including Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Israel’s decision to expand its war in Gaza – a major escalation in the conflict – sparked condemnation from the UN and many countries including the UK, France, Australia, Turkey, Germany, Finland and Canada.
The UN has warned that a complete military takeover would risk “catastrophic consequences” for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The plan, approved by the Israeli security cabinet, lists five “principles” for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.
The AI Talent War: Sam Altman Believes a Few Key Individuals Will Drive Superintelligence Breakthroughs
- Amid the cutthroat war for AI talent, tech giants are offering astronomical sums to lure a tiny pool of top engineers from rivals. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expects the market for these geniuses to remain intense, but estimated there are “many thousands of people” capable of making key discoveries in superintelligence who could conceivably be found.
The amounts of money being offered to hire AI geniuses is mind-boggling, as tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, Google and OpenAI fight over a tiny talent pool in their race to achieve the next breakthrough.
And the cutthroat competition doesn’t look like it will ease anytime soon.
“Definitely this is the most intense talent market I have seen in my career,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told CNBC on Friday. “But if you think about the economic value being created by these people and how much we’re spending on compute, you know, maybe the market stays like this. I’m not I’m not totally sure what’s gonna happen, but it is a crazy intense comp for a very small number of people right now.”
Exactly how small is that group of people, and what do they know that others don’t, CNBC’s Andrew Sorkin asked.
“The bet, the hope is they know how to discover the remaining ideas to get to superintelligence—that there are going to be a handful of algorithmic ideas and, you know, medium-sized handful of people who can figure them out,” Altman replied.
That would help explain the astronomical amounts companies are willing to spend to poach AI talent, with one offer reportedly topping $1 billion.
Altman said in June that Meta had been making “giant offers to a lot of people on our team,” some totaling “$100 million signing bonuses and more than that [in] compensation per year.”
Meta is also investing $14.3 billion in Scale and hired the startup’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, for a superintelligence team.
While immense fortunes are being thrown at a handful of top engineers, Altman estimated the number of people smart enough to make superintelligence breakthroughs is actually much, much larger.
“I bet it’s much bigger than people think, but you know some companies in the space have decided that they’re going to go after a few shiny names,” he told CNBC. “I think there’s probably many thousands of people that we could find and probably tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in the world that are capable of doing this kind of work.”
Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world. Explore this year’s list.
Day 4 Recap: Charlotte Davis and Rick Colella Break More Records at USMS Masters Nationals
By Keith Dunlap on SwimSwam
2025 U.S. Masters Summer National Championships
- Wednesday, August 6 – Sunday, August 10, 2025
- Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, WA
- Start Times
- 8:00 AM Pacific (12 PM Eastern)
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Stream
The fourth day of the 2025 Masters Summers Nationals in Federal Way, Washington saw more records fall, thanks mainly to Charlotte Davis and Rick Colella.
Charlotte Davis of the Puget Sound Masters set her eighth record of the week in the women’s 75-79 age group, this time setting an AQUA Masters world record and USMS record in the 200 individual medley with a time of 3:14.64.
Earlier in the week, Davis also set AQUA Masters and USMS records in the 400 free (5:53.72) and 100 free (1:13.13), and USMS records in the 50 breast (46.54) and 50 free (32.96).
Also setting another record was Rick Colella of Puget Sound Masters in the men’s 70-74 age group. Colella clocked a time of 2:16.51 in the 200 free to set an AQUA Masters world record and USMS record.
An Olympian at the Montreal Games in 1976, Colella earlier in the week set AQUA Masters world and USMS records in the 100 free and 400 IM.
In addition to Davis and Colella, two new relay records were broken.
In the mixed 240-279 medley relay, the team from Lone Star Masters set an AQUA Masters world record and USMS record with a time of 2:07.10.
In the mixed 320-359 200 medley relay, the team from Oregon Masters set a USMS record with a time of 3:01.58.
The meet will conclude on Sunday with the fifth and final day of competition.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Charlotte Davis, Rick Colella Set More Records At USMS Masters Nationals — Day 4 Recap
How Afghan Cultural Heritage Will Be Preserved Through Virtual Art
Artistic heritage defines the memory of humankind and its own nature. Unfortunately, the passage of time or armed conflicts often wreak havoc on that legacy. The deliberate or accidental destruction of these works is a historical constant. However, in parallel with a greater sensitivity towards this heritage, new technologies offer powerful tools to create an immune testimony to deterioration: virtual art. MIT is using virtual reality techniques to generate exact recreations of four Afghan monuments that will be available for future generations to explore.
What will you read in this article?
Exotic temples, mosques, and minarets visited from home
The “Ways of Seeing” initiative will immortalize four historical buildings in different parts of Afghanistan. These include the Green Mosque of Balkh, a Buddhist dome known as the Parwan Stupa in southern Kabul, the 15th-century tomb of Queen Gawhar Saad, and the imposing Jam Minaret, a 12th-century structure standing over sixty meters tall, located in a remote area of western Afghanistan.
These buildings, chosen to represent different religions, will have virtual replicas as a safeguard since they are located in high-risk areas. Additionally, this artistic metaverse project aims to enable displaced Afghans living anywhere in the world, as well as anyone else, to visit these examples of virtual art at any time. The initiative will be available during the summer of 2023 and has involved various technologies to achieve its goals.
Technology empowering virtual art
MIT researchers have collaborated with a digital production team based in the Middle East, training them in aerial 3D scanning using drones. Between 15,000 and 30,000 images were captured at each location, which were then used as textures for developing 3D models using point cloud technology to create accurate digital twins.
Interestingly, these virtual art technologies have been combined with a more traditional ink drawing approach as part of the VERNADOC movement, spearheaded by Finnish architect Markku Mattila, which seeks to represent monuments with exact measurements through manual drawing. As one of the researchers explains, they have created this complementary material following the MIT motto “mens et manus” (mind and hand).
The full experience can be enjoyed with a virtual reality headset, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in these unique monuments. For example, in the case of the Green Mosque, one can stroll through the interior and admire its dome. At the same time, the Jam minaret offers a balloon tour to appreciate its position amidst the surrounding landscape.
Later on, the goal is to combine autonomous drones, satellite and historical imagery, as well as neural networks, to create new virtual art replicas of monuments worldwide. For now, you can get an approximate idea of the project by watching this video:
A Romanesque arch preserved through 3D printing
Virtual reality is not the only way to preserve artistic heritage. There are other, more tangible, methods to address its protection. This is the case of the Arch of San Pedro de Dueñas, a Romanesque arch from the 12th century that can be visited in the Archaeological Museum of Madrid courtyard. How did it end up there? Well, it is an exact replica created with a 3D printer after scanning the original, which is safely kept inside the museum.
The structure, measuring 2.2 meters in height and 3.3 meters in width, was created using additive printing with a concrete mixture, layer by layer. For the project, the two columns and the arch were printed separately and then assembled on-site. Thus, far from its original location, visitors can see and touch the figures that adorn its capitals, as well as admire its architectural qualities, without fear of deterioration.
If you want to learn all the details of this initiative, which includes scanning, digitization, and printing of dozens of sculptures and art pieces, check out this article.
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