Last week, a video of Florence Welch screaming into a hole in the ground sent fans into a frenzy. In the clip Welch – front person of Florence + the Machine – posted on her Instagram profile, she furiously digs a pit in the ground and lets out a blood-curdling yell.
Now it all makes sense. On Tuesday morning (Aug. 19) Welch announced the release of Florence + the Machine’s upcoming album, Everybody Scream, which will drop right in time for Halloween (Oct. 31). She confirmed the release in a new post on her social platforms alongside the LP’s artwork, which you can see below.
At press time, only limited information for Everybody Scream has been shared. Pre-orders for the record – the Machine’s sixth studio LP – are now live and include a number of variants across physicals. The website says the LP will feature 12 new songs, though a tracklist and lead single have not yet been released revealed.
Florence + the Machine released their last studio album Dance Fever in 2022, which included production from Jack Antonoff and Kid Harpoon. The record peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
Fans have been expecting a new release from Welch after a period of relative quiet. In 2024 Welch appeared on Taylor Swift’s “Florida!!!” from the record-breaking The Tortured Poets Department, and earlier in 2025 she had a spot on The Weeknd’s “Reflections Laughing,” from his Hurry Up Tomorrow LP.
In recent weeks fans had noticed changes to the Welch’s website and Spotify profiles. Another teaser shared on Friday featured a video of Welch walking across a field in blood red shoes and matching dress.
Earlier this summer, Welch shared a selection of pictures on her social profile which included a shot with IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen in the studio and a whiteboard with the message “You can have it all,” followed by the list of terms: “Clarity — Power, Purpose, Vocals!!!, Space, Dynamics, Beauty, Swans vs. Adele.”
In October 2024, Florence + The Machine shared a live album taken from their performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall earlier that year. The performance for the BBC Proms saw them remodel their 2009 debut Lungs with the Jules Buckley Orchestra.
After finishing rock bottom in P10 for the 2024 season, Kick Sauber currently hold seventh place in the Teams’ Standings at the midway point of 2025, a season in which they have improved drastically on the disappointment of last year. With the brand new line-up of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto delivering so far, after replacing Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, a tight battle awaits in the midfield positions. Can Sauber find more points and podium finishes in the second half of the campaign? Let’s take a look at their half term report…
Hulkenberg – 3rd in Britain
Hulkenberg’s podium finish at Silverstone was one of the fairytale stories of the year as he secured a place in the top three for the first time on his 239th Grand Prix start. It said it all as the experienced German later revealed he had over 700 messages of congratulations to wade through afterwards.
The 38-year-old perfectly navigated the treacherous wet-dry conditions that hit the British Grand Prix, rising from a P19 start on the grid to a place on the rostrum, as he also held off home hero Lewis Hamilton in the latter stages of the race.
“It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?” Hulkenberg said afterwards. “I always knew we have it in us, and I have it in me somewhere.”
Hulkenberg 6-8 Bortoleto
The more experienced Hulkenberg, known for his prowess over one lap, is behind his rookie team mate Bortoleto in the Qualifying battle so far this year, with the Brazilian’s eye-catching P7 in Hungarian GP Qualifying a particular high point – it was his best of the season so far.
In contrast, Hulkenberg’s best grid start was 11th at the Canadian Grand Prix in Monaco, with the German enduring something of a rollercoaster season when it comes to his Qualifying results.
Hulkenberg* 8-5 Bortoleto
While last year’s F2 champion Bortoleto has edged the Qualifying stats this season, Hulkenberg leads the race head-to head stats between the Sauber pair.
Much of that has come down to some truly brilliant rises up the order from the German. From Round 9 in Spain he embarked on a consistent run of top-10 finishes such as P5 in Barcelona (having started 15th on the grid), P8 in Canada (having started P11) and the aformentioned podium at Silverstone.
Bortoleto has had some impressive race results of his own, however, particularly in the run-up to the August break. Eighth in Austria, ninth in Belgium and a stunning sixth last time out in Hungary demonstrates how much the Brazilian has improve of late.
*Hulkenberg was disqualified from the Bahrain Grand Prix due to excessive skid block wear on his Kick Sauber
Once again we have to mention Hulkenberg’s podium finish in Silverstone – unsurprisingly that has to be Sauber’s best moment from the season so far. Not only did it end Hulkenberg’s 15-year wait to reach the rostrum but it was Sauber’s first podium since Japan 2012 with Kamui Kobayashi.
Looking back on his podium just a few weeks later in Belgium, Hulkenberg said the reaction to his P3 was “overwhelming” but he also explained that he hoped it would give the team the push to keep up momentum.
Bortoleto’s sixth-place finish in Hungary also deserves a mention, as it showcases the step forward both the rookie and the wider team have made this year.
It feels like a long time ago, but Sauber did not enjoy the easiest start of the season with the squad enduring a point-less run between Rounds 2 and 8. The low point of that stint was Hulkenberg’s disqualification from the Bahrain Grand Prix after stewards found his car had excessive skid block wear. No one wants to have a disqualification on their record for the season.
Bortoleto has also had low moments of his own this season, with three DNFs to his name – in Australia, Miami and in Silverstone. While his team mate went on to secure that famous podium, Bortoleto’s own British Grand Prix ended after he “made a mistake” in opting to pit for slick tyres at the start of the race before spinning off a few laps later.
Sauber have made impressive progress this year and are well in the mix to be best of the midfield – they’re just one point behind sixth-placed Aston Martin and 19 points behind fifth-placed Williams.
With their transformation into Audi coming next season, this bodes well for what’s to come, and Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley appears to have the squad on the right path after joining the team on April 1.
With 10 races left to go in 2025, the Hinwil-based team need to keep showcasing the progress they have already demonstrated ahead of next season with the car and a chance to finish fifth is a wonderful goal to have considering how 2024 panned out.
In Hulkenberg and Bortoleto they also have an ideal blend of youth and experience, and continuing to get the best out of that pairing ahead of 2026 will be top of the agenda with a new era beckoning.
LambdaTest has announced the private beta launch of its Agent-to-Agent Testing platform, developed to validate and assess AI agents.
The platform is targeting enterprises that increasingly deploy AI agents to support customer experiences and operations, as organisations seek reliable automated tools designed to handle the complex nature of AI-powered systems.
Need for new testing approaches
AI agents interact dynamically with both users and systems, resulting in unpredictability that challenges traditional software testing methods. Ensuring reliability and performance in these contexts has proven difficult, particularly as conventional testing tools fall short when the behaviour of AI systems cannot be easily anticipated in advance.
LambdaTest’s Agent-to-Agent Testing aims to address these challenges by using a multi-agent system that leverages large language models for rigorous evaluation. The platform is designed to facilitate the validation of areas such as conversation flows, intent recognition, tone consistency and complex reasoning in AI agents.
Multi-modal analysis and broader coverage
Teams using the platform can upload requirement documents in various formats, including text, images, audio, and video. The system performs multi-modal analysis to automatically generate test scenarios, aiming to simulate real-world circumstances that could pose challenges for the AI agent under test.
Each generated scenario includes validation criteria and expected responses. These are evaluated within HyperExecute, LambdaTest’s test orchestration cloud, which reportedly delivers up to 70% faster test execution when compared to standard automation grids.
The platform also tracks metrics such as bias, completeness, and hallucinations, enabling teams to assess the overall quality of AI agent performance.
Integration of agentic AI and GenAI
Agent-to-Agent Testing incorporates both agentic AI and generative AI technologies to generate real-world scenarios, such as verification of personality tone in agents and data privacy considerations. The system executes these test cases with the goal of providing more diverse and extensive coverage compared to existing tools.
Unlike single-agent systems, LambdaTest’s approach employs multiple large language models. These support deeper reasoning and the generation of more comprehensive test suites, aiming for detailed validation of various AI application behaviours.
“Every AI agent you deploy is unique, and that’s both its greatest strength and its biggest risk! As AI applications become more complex, traditional testing approaches simply can’t keep up with the dynamic nature of AI agents. Our Agent-to-Agent Testing platform thinks like a real user, generating smart, context-aware test scenarios that mimic real-world situations your AI might struggle with. Each test comes with clear validation checkpoints and the responses we’d expect to see,” said Asad Khan, CEO and Co-Founder at LambdaTest.
Impacts on testing speed and team resources
LambdaTest says that businesses adopting Agent-to-Agent Testing will benefit from more rapid test creation, improved evaluation of AI agents, and decreased testing cycles. The company reports a five to ten-fold increase in test coverage through the platform’s multi-agent system, providing a more detailed picture of how AI agents perform in practice.
Integration with the HyperExecute system is designed to offer development teams fast feedback from test results, helping to reduce the interval between testing and product iteration. Automated processes also aim to reduce the reliance on manual quality assurance, with implications for cost efficiencies.
The platform includes 15 different AI testing agents, covering areas such as security research and compliance validation. LambdaTest states that this is intended to ensure deployed AI agents meet requirements for robustness, security and reliability.
The company’s Agent-to-Agent Testing technology reflects ongoing efforts within the software testing sector to cope with the dynamic and evolving risks introduced by the increasing use of AI in business-critical systems.
Majesticks GC Co-Captain Lee Westwood and Sungjae Im will be two of the star attractions at this year’s SJM Macao Open – which will take place at Macau Golf & Country Club from Oct. 16-19.
The announcement came at a press conference in Macau on Monday, when SJM also announced they will extend their title sponsorship for two more years.
Westwood claimed the title in 1999, a year after the event was launched, and will be bidding to win his 10th title in Asia.
“I am thrilled to be playing at the SJM Macao Open this October,” Westwood said. “I have fond memories from my win 26 years ago. The course always brings out the best in me, and I am looking forward to performing well this year and hopefully bringing home a second Macao Open crown.”
The former world No. 1 beat American Andrew Pitts in a sudden-death playoff to win in Macau and also played in the event two years later. His most recent victory in Asia came at the Indonesian Masters in 2015 – an event he has won on three occasions.
Korean Im, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, will be making his debut in Macau.
“I am excited to be part of a very competitive field at the SJM Macao Open this year,” Im said. “I have heard excellent things about the SJM Macao Open and the city. Fellow players have told me about the beautiful but challenging course at Macau Golf & Country Club and I cannot wait to make my first trip to Macau a successful and enjoyable one.”
The tournament is jointly organised by the Sports Bureau of the Macao SAR Government (MSB), SJM Resorts, S.A. (SJM) and IMG. It is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Macau Golf Association.
Ms. See Lei, Acting Vice President of the Sports Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, said: “Since its inception in 1998, the Macao Open has grown to become a hallmark championship on the Asian Tour, and an event that has come to epitomise Macau’s capability to host major international sporting events.
“The Sports Bureau will continue its mission to advance the development of Macau’s sports culture, and to ensure that visitors from around the world who come to watch some of the world’s top golfers receive the best experiences both on and off the course. Leveraging the unique synergy between sports and tourism, we aim to attract athletes and tourists to Macau through this sporting platform, and to bolster Macau’s reputation as a global centre of tourism and leisure.”
Ms. Daisy Ho, Managing Director of SJM, added: “SJM has long been a dedicated supporter of both national and local sports development, and we remain firmly committed to advancing the integration of ‘Sports + Tourism’ in Macau.
“In 2023, we proudly assumed the title sponsorship of the Macao Open, supporting its revival through a three-year partnership. Over the past two editions, we have worked closely with the Sports Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, IMG, the Asian Tour, and the Macau Golf Association to elevate the tournament and bring new vitality. Today, we are pleased to announce that, building on this strong foundation, we will be extending our collaboration for two further additions, continuing our shared efforts to support the long-term development of golf in Macau.”
Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO of the Asian Tour, added: “The SJM Macao Open is one of the premier events on the Asian Tour – boasting an outstanding reputation. The tournament was launched in the late 1990s and has been ever present on our schedule since. Our relationship is now set to continue further following today’s wonderful news that SJM has extended the partnership for two more years. We are truly grateful to them, the Sports Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, Macau Golf Association, IMG, and all the event partners.”
Joining Westwood and Im in the 144-player field to challenge for the coveted title will be defending champion Rattanon Wannasrichan, who delivered a wire-to-wire victory in 2024 to claim his second Asian Tour title. The 30-year-old Thai will look to emulate the achievement of Chinese golf pioneer Zhang Lianwei by successfully defending his title.
“I am delighted to announce my return to the SJM Macao Open,” said Rattanon. “The tournament is one of my favorite weeks on the golfing calendar, and I am even more excited to be returning as the defending champion and to perform in front of the fans in Macau in October.”
Researchers in Madagascar have reported the first randomised controlled trial for the treatment of bubonic plague. Published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the study found that “oral ciprofloxacin monotherapy for 10 days was non-inferior to an aminoglycoside-ciprofloxacin sequential combination for the treatment of patients with bubonic plague.”
The bubonic plague remains endemic to Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Peru. In Madagascar, cases occur almost every year during the epidemic season from September to April.
Current treatment guidelines are based on weak evidence, and until now, no randomised controlled trial has directly compared therapeutic options.
According to Madagascar’s national guideline, adults are treated with 3 days of injectable aminoglycosides, such as streptomycin or gentamicin, followed by 7 days of oral ciprofloxacin. Oral ciprofloxacin monotherapy is recommended as the first-line option for children aged less than 15 years.
“The lack of higher-quality evidence supporting treatment regimens and the shortcomings of aminoglycosides (eg, delivery by injection, unacceptable side effects, and poor intracellular penetration) prompted us to design this randomized controlled trial to compare the two treatment options,” wrote lead author Rindra Vatosoa Randremanana, PhD, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
The open label, noninferiority IMASOY study, conducted between 2020 and 2024, enrolled 450 patients with suspected bubonic plague. Of these, 220 were laboratory-confirmed, and two had probable infection. The participants were 2-72 years old, with a median age of 14.
The bubonic plague, known as the “Black Death” in the Middle Ages, has claimed millions of lives over centuries. It is caused by the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis, which circulates mainly among rodents and their fleas. Although rare, the disease persists. In 2018, the World Health Organization reported 248 cases worldwide, mostly in Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Sulfonamides were the first treatment in the 1930s, effective only for bubonic plague and not for pneumonic plague. A major advance was made in 1948 with streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against severe pneumonic plague.
Studies in India and Madagascar have confirmed its efficacy, and streptomycin has remained the standard for decades.
In 2015, the US FDA approved ciprofloxacin for plague under the “Animal Rule,” allowing approval based on animal data when human trials are not feasible. There are no comparable regulations in the European Union where ciprofloxacin is used off-label for plague infections.
In 2017, a major outbreak of bubonic plague occurred in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, with over 2400 suspected cases. At the time, the standard treatment was twice-daily streptomycin injections for 7 days, a regimen difficult to implement widely. The outbreak highlighted the challenges of applying this treatment across the population. The new study suggests that a fully oral ciprofloxacin regimen could offer an even simpler and effective alternative.
The study compared the two treatments included in the national plague guidelines: oral ciprofloxacin for 10 days (ciprofloxacin monotherapy) or injectable aminoglycoside for 3 days, followed by oral ciprofloxacin for 7 days (aminoglycoside-ciprofloxacin).
The primary endpoint was treatment failure on day 11, with treatment failure defined as death, fever, secondary pneumonic plague, or alternative or prolonged plague treatment.
Ciprofloxacin monotherapy was non-inferior to aminoglycoside-ciprofloxacin therapy among patients with confirmed or probable infection.
Treatment failure occurred in 9.0% of patients (10 of 111) receiving 10 days of oral ciprofloxacin and 8.1% (9 of 111) in the control group, which received 3 days of injectable streptomycin followed by 7 days of oral ciprofloxacin, confirming non-inferiority.
The mortality rate was approximately 4% in both the groups. Secondary pneumonic plague developed in three patients per group. Subgroup analyses confirmed the non-inferiority of ciprofloxacin monotherapy.
Adverse events were similar between the groups (18.0% vs 18.9%), with serious adverse events in 7.2% and 5.4%. No severe events were classified as drug related.
The authors concluded, “In patients with confirmed or suspected bubonic plague, 10 days of oral ciprofloxacin was an effective alternative to a regimen involving an injected aminoglycoside.” They noted that this approach can be more practical and cost-effective in resource-limited settings.
This story was translated from Medscape’s German edition.
AI-native Multi-Agent System Delivers Smarter, Faster, and More Comprehensive Software Testing
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — LambdaTest, the leading AI-native testing platform, has launched the private beta release of its Agent-to-Agent Testing, the world’s first platform designed to validate and assess AI agents. With the rise of AI agents in developer workflows, the platform is set to revolutionize the way organizations test and validate their AI agents across conversation flows, intent recognition, tone consistency, complex reasoning, and beyond.
As enterprises increasingly rely on AI agents to power customer experiences, a critical challenge has emerged: no standard way of testing various AI Agents. These agents interact with users and systems in ways that are dynamic and unpredictable, making it hard to ensure their reliability and performance. Traditional testing methods fall short when the system under test is inherently unpredictable.
Organizations need a new, smarter way to test AI applications at scale, which is where Agent-to-Agent Testing comes in. LambdaTest’s Agent-to-Agent Testing platform is the first of its kind. The platform uses a suite of specialized AI testing agents to rigorously validate chat and voice AI agents..
Teams can upload existing requirement documents in various formats, such as text, images, audio, and video, and the system automatically handles multi-modal analysis to generate relevant test scenarios, simulating real-world challenges that could break the AI agent under test. Each scenario includes precise validation criteria and expected responses, evaluated within HyperExecute, LambdaTest’s next-gen test orchestration cloud, delivering up to 70% faster test execution than standard automation grids.
The platform highlights different key metrics like Bias, Completeness, Hallucinations, etc., to help teams analyse the quality of their AI agent
By integrating agentic AI and GenAI technologies, it generates real-world scenarios such as tone of personality agents, data privacy considerations, and executes test cases with unparalleled accuracy. This ensures much broader and more diverse test coverage compared to traditional testing tools. Unlike single-agent systems, LambdaTest’s Agent-to-Agent Testing leverages multiple large language models (LLMs), which the agents use for reasoning and test generation. This multi-agent approach results in a much more comprehensive and detailed test suite, enabling deeper, more robust testing of AI applications.
“Every AI agent you deploy is unique, and that’s both its greatest strength and its biggest risk! As AI applications become more complex, traditional testing approaches simply can’t keep up with the dynamic nature of AI agents,” said Asad Khan, CEO and Co-Founder at LambdaTest. ” Our Agent-to-Agent Testing platform thinks like a real user, generating smart, context-aware test scenarios that mimic real-world situations your AI might struggle with. Each test comes with clear validation checkpoints and the responses we’d expect to see.”
Enterprises using Agent-to-Agent Testing will experience faster test creation, evaluation of Agents, reduced testing cycles, and significant improvements in test coverage. The multi-agent system can generate a 5 to 10-fold increase in test coverage, providing a more comprehensive view of AI agent performance.
Furthermore, the integration with HyperExecute means teams receive rapid feedback, reducing the time between testing and iteration. By automating much of the testing process, companies also reduce their reliance on manual QA efforts, resulting in significant cost savings. With 15 purpose-built AI testing agents ranging from security researchers to compliance validators, LambdaTest Agent-to-Agent testing ensures every deployment is as robust, safe, and reliable as possible. Helping teams ship their AI agents with confidence.
Learn more about Agent-to-Agent Testing by LambdaTest here: https://www.lambdatest.com/agent-to-agent-testing
To watch the live unveiling of the platform, join the Testμ Conference 2025 on 20th August, 2025: https://www.lambdatest.com/testmuconf-2025
About LambdaTest
LambdaTest is a GenAI-powered Quality Engineering Platform that empowers teams to test intelligently, smarter, and ship faster. Built for scale, it offers a full-stack testing cloud with 10K+ real devices and 3,000+ browsers.
With AI-native test management, MCP servers, and agent-based automation, LambdaTest supports Selenium, Appium, Playwright, and all major frameworks. AI Agents like HyperExecute and KaneAI bring the power of AI and cloud into your software testing workflow, enabling seamless automation testing with 120+ integrations.
LambdaTest Agents accelerate your testing throughout the entire SDLC, from test planning and authoring to automation, infrastructure, execution, RCA, and reporting.
For more information, please visit https://lambdatest.com
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