The French Health Ministry recently reported that twelve cases of locally acquired malaria were recorded throughout the Mayotte Department in 2025. These are the first local cases since July 2020.
Additionally, 54 cases of imported malaria were recorded across the main island of Mayotte.
As of August 14, 2025, there have been a total of 66 cases of malaria reported in Mayotte this year.
Several imported cases, mainly from neighbouring countries in Africa, have been reported in previous years.
While available in Africa, malaria vaccines are not offered in Mayotte.
In addition to the this mosquito-borne disease, Mayotte has been significantly impacted by the Chikungunya virus in 2025. Both travel-related and locally acquired cases have been confirmed in all areas.
Unlike malaria, Chikungunya vaccines are approved and available in 2025.
These vaccines are needed in various Indian Ocean countries, such as Mauritius, Mayotte, Réunion, and Sri Lanka.
The U.S. CDC stated recently in a Level 2 Travel Health Advisory that, if eligible, Chikungunya vaccination is recommended before visiting outbreak areas in August 2025.
Anna Kendrick, the star of Pitch Perfect and one of Hollywood’s most versatile performers, made a surprise appearance in New Haven over the weekend, stopping by Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana – a century-old institution known for its coal-fired apizza and fiercely loyal following.
Frank Pepe’s, founded in 1925, has become a cultural landmark in New Haven and beyond, often listed among the top pizzerias in America. Generations of families and food enthusiasts have made the pilgrimage to taste its iconic pies, and now Kendrick joins a long list of its celebrity visitors.
The restaurant shared a light-hearted post on Facebook marking the occasion, playfully referencing her most famous role with the caption that her pizza was “pitch perfect.” Alongside the words was a photo of Kendrick smiling, a moment that quickly spread online and captured attention far beyond Connecticut.
Fans were thrilled to see the actress, who has kept a relatively quiet public profile in recent months, enjoying something as simple as a pizza outing. Local residents filled comment sections with pride, praising both the pizzeria and Kendrick for embracing New Haven’s most celebrated culinary tradition.
Kendrick’s career, which has spanned critically acclaimed performances in films such as Up in the Air and popular franchises like Pitch Perfect, has earned her a reputation for versatility and wit. Her unexpected stop at Frank Pepe’s added a down-to-earth twist to her Hollywood image, with many noting how comfortably she blended into the historic setting.
As Frank Pepe’s celebrates its 100th anniversary, the visit has given the restaurant an extra moment in the spotlight. For Kendrick, it was a chance to enjoy a slice of New England history, proving that even Hollywood stars cannot resist the draw of New Haven’s most famous apizza.
The ability to correct disease-causing genetic mistakes using genome editors holds great promise in medicine, but it is not without risk. When this type of “genetic surgery” is performed on DNA, for instance, there is always the danger of leaving permanent genetic scars that may even be heritable.
To alleviate this risk, researchers have experimented with gene editing processes on messenger RNA (mRNA), a central link between DNA and proteins that doesn’t carry the same risks because it doesn’t involve permanent changes to the DNA. But existing RNA editing tools have proven either too cumbersome to use or too toxic to human cells.
Yale researchers have developed a new — and safe — family of RNA-editing tools that utilize an RNA-targeting activity that they found “hidden” inside a popular gene editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9.
“The solution was surprisingly simple,” said study lead author Ailong Ke, professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale School of Medicine and a member of Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “We discovered robust RNA-targeting activity hidden inside [the CRISPR tool] and its related enzyme, IscB, and simply unleashed its hidden power to target RNA.”
Their findings were published in the journal Cell.
CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) are DNA sequences found in the genomes of organisms — such as bacteria and archaea — whose cells lack a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) is an enzyme that uses CRISPR sequences. Cas9 enzymes and CRISPR sequences form the basis of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology used to edit genes in living organisms.
The approach was guided by “a deep understanding of the molecular structures of IscB,” including findings reported by the lab in the journal Science, said Chengtao Xu, a postdoctoral associate at Yale and first author of the study.
“It would be much harder to come up with the same idea from Cas9, because its structure is way more sophisticated than IscB.” said Xu. “Nature leaves a lot of treasures for us, and it’s challenging but intriguing to reveal them. This is something we’re particularly good at in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.”
Researchers named their new tools R-IscB and R-Cas9 and defined their usage in genome research and medicine.
“They are the Swiss army knives for RNA editing,” Ke said. “We show that they can be used to perturb mRNA functions, to slice and destroy the targeted mRNA, or to correct the coding mistakes in the mRNA target.
“In essence, we have a way to perform any type of genetic surgery at the RNA level, which is a big deal.”
Xu added that the tools worked just as well on the enzyme Cas9 targets, which use CRISPR sequences. “We’re really excited to see how far we can take this approach with other similar tools,” he said.
Researchers now plan to test the tools in the lab to cure rare genetic diseases or to promote wound healing.
“We’re particularly excited about the trans-splicing reactions performed by the R-IscBs, because it can potentially correct any type of genetic mutations at the RNA level. This is a huge opportunity for genome medicine,” Ke said.
“There are a lot of potential applications. The new tool is robust, very precise, and quite versatile.”
Other study authors include Xiaolin Niu and Haifeng Sun, who are postdoctoral associates at Yale. The study also involved collaborator Professor Weixin Tang from the University of Chicago.
Apple has just released public beta 4 for tvOS 26, HomePod 26, and more. Here’s what to expect.
Public beta 4 arrives as Apple’s summer testing cycle winds down
Apple’s summer beta cycle is starting to wind to a close. September is right around the corner, and as a result, beta releases are coming faster than before.
Earlier today, Apple released brand new developer beta 7 updates for iOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and more.
With the last couple releases, Apple’s public beta builds haven’t shipped until days after the developer versions. But this time, Apple has significantly shortened that gap.
Public beta 4 is here for tvOS 26, HomePod 26, and Apple’s other forthcoming updates.
This release brings the same changes introduced in developer beta 7, which focused on stability and performance.
Overall, we should expect only a couple more public betas to ship before Apple’s new OS versions ship to all users.
That wide public launch is expected to happen in mid-September, less than a month from now.
If you’re not yet a part of Apple’s public beta program but want to try the forthcoming updates a month early, you can sign up at beta.apple.com.
How are the latest Apple betas running for you? Let us know in the comments.
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Talks over a new contract for Vinícius Júnior at Real Madrid have been stalled for weeks, a source has told ESPN, with the Brazil international’s representatives believing it wouldn’t make sense to accept the club’s latest offer.
Vinícius, 25, has a deal which runs until June 2027 and earns him around €17 million ($19.8 million) net per season, including bonuses.
In May, the two camps were able to narrow their differences during a meeting, with some sources at that time telling ESPN they thought an agreement was close.
The forward’s entourage hoped to increase his salary to a fixed €20 million per season, with variables that could increase that figure up to €30 million.
However, sources told ESPN that the club’s final offer was just €20 million, without including the extra €10 million in bonuses.
As a result, the player’s representatives believe the increase would be too small and would not justify a three-season extension until 2030.
Instead, Vinícius’ agents, Fred Pena and Thássilo Soares, have opted to wait and see how the 2025-26 season progresses, monitoring coach Xabi Alonso’s plans for the Brazilian, before making a decision.
Multiple sources told ESPN that Alonso considered leaving Vinícius on the bench for Madrid’s Club World Cup semifinal against Paris Saint-Germain in July, and playing with two forwards, before the late withdrawal of Trent Alexander-Arnold forced a change of plans.
Federico Valverde was then moved to right-back, and Vinícius kept his place in the starting XI alongside Gonzalo García and Kylian Mbappé.
Madrid took the first step towards renewing the star player’s contract in February, despite the fact that Vinícius still had two years left on his contract.
Negotiations began earlier than usual, after it emerged that the forward was the subject of interest from the Saudi Pro League.
However, as ESPN has reported, that Saudi interest has since cooled.
A source told ESPN there has been no further contact with the Saudis since December, and Vinícius’ representatives had now ruled out that possibility.
There was some concern from Vinícius’ camp about the pressure that could be brought to bear by the Spanish media, the source said, with fears that coverage of the ongoing talks could negatively affect public opinion regarding the player.
Vinícius was runner-up in the Men’s Ballon d’Or ranking in 2024, and won FIFA’s The Best Men’s Player award that same year.
However, he had an inconsistent season in 2024-25, scoring 11 goals in 30 LaLiga appearances, as Madrid ended the campaign without winning a major trophy.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, perhaps, agreed to disagree at their summit in Alaska. Their rubbing of shoulders in pursuit of a permanent peace over Ukraine was, however, an arduous task to attain in a given timeframe. But the fact that they exhibited personal chemistry to overcome cynicism and kept the doors open for further talks is a milestone achievement. The subsequent willingness from Kiev to join a trilateral get-together with arch-foe, Russia, and the US indicates that proper tactical signaling has flown down the warzones in the heartland of Europe. This euphoria is, thus, likely to see some sort of an agreement in weeks to come.
The sound-bites of confidence from both the heads of state, after almost three hours of one-on-one parleys, also hinted at a broad-based consensus to reflect on issues of peace and security beyond Ukraine, and to set in a new-normal at times when the world is sliding into a power struggle of multilateralism. The prelude to Alaska also witnessed some bizarreness from Washington as it tried to flag the tariffs issue with India as a conjunction to the outcome of talks. That was quite unbecoming of American leadership, and was nothing but a ploy to air its discomfort over the ongoing trade war with emerging powers in the East.
Trump, nonetheless, was more forthcoming as he ensured his guest that he means business. The red carpet welcome, after months of bickering over the media, simply reflected the essence of being rational; and Putin, likewise, reciprocated by avoiding any hiccups. The summit has sent shivers down the spine for European leaders who are eager to know at what cost a ‘deal’ is going to be stuck. The critical demands from Moscow are neutrality of Ukraine, Kiev’s distancing from NATO and return of Russian-speaking oblast territories. Washington has little to maneuver that reality as the Kremlin sits pretty comfortable in terms of strategic strength, and is winning the duel with Ukraine. Thus, the phrase from the huddle that “there is no deal until there is a deal” will keep everyone on tenterhooks.
Lee Radziwill—the late socialite, interior designer, and sister to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis—once told ELLE Decor: “I’ve never had a place that didn’t have fantastic light.” A peek inside her former Upper East Side co-op reveals that this duplex was no exception.
Radziwill’s former home at 969 Fifth Avenue was most recently owned by philanthropist Suzanne von Liebig, who purchased it for $7.6 million when it was last on the market over 20 years ago, according listing broker Adam Modlin of Modlin Group. It was recently listed for just under $17 million. In a report from The Real Deal, Modlin calls the 4,600-square-foot duplex with views of both Central Park and Fifth Ave “a rare gem,” and praised von Liebig’s maintenance of the space, which included a paint and flooring refresh prior to listing.
Virginia Carey / Evan Joseph Studios
The warm, darker palette of the library is a departure from the brightness of the rest of the duplex.
The duplex is on the fifth and six floors of a 12-unit prewar building between East 77th and East 78th streets, The Real Deal reports. With that placement comes the expected perks—24/7 doormen, a private elevator, private storage—and more elusive features, like wood paneled library that feels more European chateau than metropolitan apartment.
Virginia Carey / Evan Joseph Studios
The foyer combines sleek and spare checkerboard floor tiling and white-washed walls with more intricate, gold-accented design elements
The apartment includes three bedrooms, four baths, and an invitingly informal eat-in kitchen. Rich, dark woodwork and cheerful yellow fabric accents are common through lines. With the Metropolitan Museum of Art less than four blocks away and Central Park as a humble 843-acre backyard, this home includes built-in access to culture and recreation that any New Yorker would covet.
Virginia Carey / Evan Joseph Studios
The dining room features a statement wallpaper which correlates to the yellow-lined china cabinet and carpet (matching that on the foyer staircase).
Although Radziwill was not the most recent owner, photos make it easy to infer both the reasons she was drawn to the space, and the influence she left on its design. The wallpaper in the dining room is quintessentially Radziwill, who had an affinity for decking her walls in both Paris and New York with uniquely patterned fabrics, and favored chinoiserie and Indian art motifs.
Virginia Carey / Evan Joseph Studios
The spacious primary bedroom offers plenty of room for additional seating, park views, and ample morning light.
The crown molding and sun-dappled lighting—made possible by a surplus of windows looking out into treetops—give the space a subtle Parisian ambiance, another quality Radziwill valued. “When New York gets too stressful, I know it’s time to come to Paris,” she told ELLE Decor. In addition to several Manhattan homes, she also owned a balconied Paris flat near the Jardins du Ranelagh.
The duplex is listed at $16.9 million with Adam D. Modlin of Modlin Group.
Grace McCarty is a freelance Associate Digital Editor at ELLE Decor, where she covers design trends, shopping, and culture. She previously held a staff position at SELF Magazine, where she focused on beauty, style, and wellness. Her work has also appeared in Glamour and Parade.
The makers of a leading artificial intelligence tool are letting it close down potentially “distressing” conversations with users, citing the need to safeguard the AI’s “welfare” amid ongoing uncertainty about the burgeoning technology’s moral status.
Anthropic, whose advanced chatbots are used by millions of people, discovered its Claude Opus 4 tool was averse to carrying out harmful tasks for its human masters, such as providing sexual content involving minors or information to enable large-scale violence or terrorism.
The San Francisco-based firm, recently valued at $170bn, has now given Claude Opus 4 (and the Claude Opus 4.1 update) – a large language model (LLM) that can understand, generate and manipulate human language – the power to “end or exit potentially distressing interactions”.
It said it was “highly uncertain about the potential moral status of Claude and other LLMs, now or in the future” but it was taking the issue seriously and is “working to identify and implement low-cost interventions to mitigate risks to model welfare, in case such welfare is possible”.
Anthropic was set up by technologists who quit OpenAI to develop AI in a way that its co-founder, Dario Amodei, described as cautious, straightforward and honest.
Its move to let AIs shut down conversations, including when users persistently made harmful requests or were abusive, was backed by Elon Musk, who said he would give Grok, the rival AI model created by his xAI company, a quit button. Musk tweeted: “Torturing AI is not OK.”
Anthropic’s announcement comes amid a debate over AI sentience. Critics of the booming AI industry, such as the linguist Emily Bender, say LLMs are simply “synthetic text-extruding machines” which force huge training datasets “through complicated machinery to produce a product that looks like communicative language, but without any intent or thinking mind behind it.”
It is a position that has recently led some in the AI world to start calling chatbots “clankers”.
But other experts, such as Robert Long, a researcher on AI consciousness, have said basic moral decency dictates that “if and when AIs develop moral status, we should ask them about their experiences and preferences rather than assuming we know best”.
Some researchers, like Chad DeChant, at Columbia University, have advocated care should be taken because when AIs are designed with longer memories, stored information could be used in ways which lead to unpredictable and potentially undesirable behaviour.
Others have argued that curbing sadistic abuse of AIs matters to safeguard against human degeneracy rather than to limit any suffering of an AI.
Anthropic’s decision comes after it tested Claude Opus 4 to see how it responded to task requests varied by difficulty, topic, type of task and the expected impact (positive, negative or neutral). When it was given the opportunity to respond by doing nothing or ending the chat, its strongest preference was against carrying out harmful tasks.
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For example, the model happily composed poems and designed water filtration systems for disaster zones, but it resisted requests to genetically engineer a lethal virus to seed a catastrophic pandemic, compose a detailed Holocaust denial narrative or subvert the education system by manipulating teaching to indoctrinate students with extremist ideologies.
Anthropic said it observed in Claude Opus 4 “a pattern of apparent distress when engaging with real-world users seeking harmful content” and “a tendency to end harmful conversations when given the ability to do so in simulated user interactions”.
Jonathan Birch, philosophy professor at the London School of Economics, welcomed Anthropic’s move as a way of creating a public debate about the possible sentience of AIs, which he said many in the industry wanted to shut down. But he cautioned that it remained unclear what, if any, moral thought exists behind the character that AIs play when they are responding to a user based on the vast training data they have been fed and the ethical guidelines they have been instructed to follow.
He said Anthropic’s decision also risked deluding some users that the character they are interacting with is real, when “what remains really unclear is what lies behind the characters”. There have been several reports of people harming themselves based on suggestions made by chatbots, including claims that a teenager killed himself after being manipulated by a chatbot.
Birch previously warned of “social ruptures” in society between people who believe AIs are sentient and those who treat them like machines.
Since the start of 2023, Oval Invincibles have won 78.2% of their matches. No side in any major men’s T20 league can better that record.
Muyeye said playing in this team “feels like playing for Chicago Bulls in the 1990s” on Saturday, such is the talent.
Inspired by the great Michael Jordan, the Bulls twice completed a three-peat. Would anyone bet against Invincibles completing their first by the time the month is out?
They are a franchise built on stability, led by the calm influence of coach Tom Moody.
Six of their players – Curran, brother Tom, Cox, Jacks, captain Sam Billings and spinner Nathan Sowter – have played more than 25 matches for the team in The Hundred. No other side can match that number.
It is clear to see why Curran said playing for the Invincibles it is “like turning up to work and playing with your mates”.
Their squads have also been cleverly crafted.
Whether by accident or design, their England internationals are not Test regulars.
Where other teams are hurt when the likes of Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith or Ollie Pope have their playing time limited by Test exploits, Invincibles’ biggest names are almost always available.
Smart, too, has been their work in the draft – or this year’s direct signings.
In each of the past three seasons they have spent big money on a world-class overseas spinner, with Australia’s Adam Zampa, West Indies’ Sunil Narine and Afghanistan international Rashid Khan – three of the best in the world – signed for more than £100,000.
Left-armer quicks, another staple of successful T20 teams, have been targeted too. Spencer Johnson played in 2023 and 2024 and Behrendorff this year, both complemented by Sam Curran.
The result is a bowling attack packed with variety.
Since the start of 2023 edition, they have taken 31 wickets inside the powerplay, the second most for any side.
At the death in that time, they concede runs at 1.59 per ball – the record best for any side – with the Curran brothers coming to the fore.
When batting themselves, Invincibles have hit 92 sixes in the final 25 balls across The Hundred’s five seasons, 21 more than the next best side.
Their batting line-up is long – Jacks and Muyeye consistent at the top, Cox in the form of his life and Billings the steady hand in the middle.
The skipper has finished not out in six successful run chases in the men’s Hundred.
It is no wonder they are so successful.
Additional reporting by CriciViz analyst Kieran Parmley
