Ukraine strikes major Russian rocket factory with cruise missiles
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on Saturday that his country struck the Progress Rocket Space Center deep within Russia using ground-launched cruise missiles.
“In Russia’s Samara region, one of the key enterprises within Roscosmos—the Progress Center, which was involved, among other things, in electronics production–was hit,” Zelenskyy said on the social media site X. “Flamingo missiles were used. A good achievement.”
The largest city in the Samara Oblast, about 900 km from the Ukrainian border, Samara is home to Russia’s most important manufacturer of rockets. The Progress center assembles the workhorse vehicle for Russia, the Soyuz-2 vehicle, as well as the newer Soyuz-5 rocket. The facility also builds military satellites.
Russia uses the Soyuz-2 rocket, which has a lift capacity of about 8 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, for a variety of civil and military purposes. Notably, it is the principal rocket used for Russia’s human spacecraft launches to the International Space Station.
Already a shortage of Soyuz rockets
It was not immediately clear which facilities at the sprawling Progress facility were damaged. There were some open-source reports that a missile struck a building that houses a clean room for avionics—perhaps a reference to the electronics production Zelenskyy referred to.
Ukraine used the FP-5 “Flamingo” missiles for the attack, which have a range of several thousand kilometers. The “FP” stands for Fire Point, the Ukraine-based defense group that developed the missile. The missile has previously been used to target energy infrastructure, military production facilities, and other strategic targets. It seems unlikely that Ukraine sought to target Russia’s civilian space infrastructure, but the civil and military space efforts in Russia are closely aligned.
Any lasting damage to Soyuz rocket production would be crippling for Russia’s space programs. Of the more than 120 Russian rocket launches since 2020, more than 85 percent have involved the Soyuz-2 family of rockets. This has become the country’s key launch vehicle with the Proton booster aging out, and the newer Angara rockets being so slow to reach a decent launch cadence.
Even before the attacks, Russian space officials said demand for Soyuz rockets were exceeding the production capacity, Russian Space Web reports. This demand was as much as 30 to 50 percent higher than capacity for the period from 2027 to 2030.
3 Palestinians injured in Israeli drone strike in central Gaza despite ceasefire
Three Palestinians were injured on Saturday in an Israeli drone strike targeting a motorcycle in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.
The attack was the latest Israeli violation of a ceasefire agreement in effect since Oct. 10, 2025.
A medical source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza said that three injured people were brought to the facility, one of them in serious condition, after an Israeli drone struck a motorcycle on Salah al-Din Street, east of Deir al-Balah.
Early Saturday, the Israeli army carried out large-scale demolitions in areas under its control in Rafah in southern Gaza and east of Gaza City in the north.
Witnesses told Anadolu that they heard powerful explosions caused by Israeli forces blowing up buildings and other structures.
Israeli artillery also fired several shells toward areas east of the Zeitoun neighbourhood in southeastern Gaza City.
Israeli ceasefire violations have killed 1,262 Palestinians and injured 4,168 others since the agreement took effect.
With US support, Israel has waged a war on Gaza since Oct. 8, 2023, killing more than 73,000 Palestinians and injuring over 174,000, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian sources.
The war has also caused widespread destruction, damaging around 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure.
Oil steadies after US threatens indefinite blockade of Iran
Oil prices inched up on Friday after the United States threatened an indefinite naval blockade of Iran, reviving concerns about supply of crude after the previous session’s fall on a weaker outlook for demand and a large build in U.S. stocks.
Brent futures rose 1 cent, or 0.1%, to $87.08 a barrel by 0247 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 6 cents to $81.31 a barrel.
The benchmarks were on track for weekly rises of about 4% after the prior session’s fall of more than 2%, paring gains following Brent’s six-session rally and a five-session rise for WTI.
“Despite the bearish crude stock data, the broader geopolitical backdrop is preventing a sharper price decline,” Susan Bell, senior vice president for oil commodity markets at Rystad Energy said in a note.
On Thursday, the United States warned that it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely and ramp up economic pressure on Tehran as ceasefire talks have stalled.
“Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation of a country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” programme in an interview.
The latest U.S. threats come as Iran curbs traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried 20% of the world’s oil before the conflict, driving up fuel prices and putting pressure on President Donald Trump to end a war that is unpopular at home.
The strait is “under the management and control of the Islamic Republic”, however, the recently appointed head of Iran’s Basj paramilitary unit, Hossein Taeb, has said, according to the semi-official Fars news.
The prospect of a longer war constraining supply was offset this week by forecasts from OPEC and the International Energy Agency lowering outlooks for demand growth, while data showed the largest weekly gain in U.S. crude stocks for more than 3-1/2-years.
KCM chief market analyst Tim Waterer said the two forces were acting as counterweights.
“The result is a market that remains supported but struggles to break meaningfully higher while these opposing pressures remain in place.”
Two vessels from the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, said UAE state news agency WAM, an incident the United Arab Emirates government condemned as an Iranian attack.
So much solar: Digging into the list of every US power plant that went online this year
It’s been a wild first half of the year in the US power sector, with announcements of gigantic natural gas power plants and some long-awaited renewable energy projects coming online.
At times of rapid change, forecasting is difficult. So I feel a measure of comfort focusing on something concrete like the list of 368 utility-scale plants that began operation from January to June, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. The group is dominated by utility-scale solar.
This is a top-heavy list, led by SunZia Wind South and SunZia Wind North in New Mexico, which went online this spring and are the largest wind farms in the country, with a combined generating capacity of 3,650 megawatts. SunZia has been in the works for about a decade and arrives at a time when US onshore wind power development has dwindled for a host of reasons related to regulations and public opinion.
In other words, the SunZia is not indicative of an onshore wind-energy boom. It is more like an echo from a past boom.
Next is Trumbull Energy Center in Ohio, a 900-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas plant that is part of an expansion of natural gas power in the PJM Interconnection grid region, which covers parts of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and South.
The fourth-largest new power plant—if we’re counting SunZia as two—is Vineyard Wind, the offshore wind project near Massachusetts, which, much like SunZia, has been in development for a long time and whose completion doesn’t reveal much about future trends.
It isn’t until the fifth-largest new plant that we see one that is connected to the broader trend in the data: Green River Energy Center in Utah, with 800 megawatts that includes 400 megawatts of solar and 400 megawatts of batteries.
Indeed, the story of power plant completions in the first half of 2026 was mainly about utility-scale solar and batteries.
Utility-scale solar led in the number of projects coming online, with 207, followed by batteries, with 95.
Next were natural gas combustion turbines, with 22, and natural gas internal combustion engines, with 21.
Onshore wind had nine projects.
Combined-cycle natural gas, despite having massive amounts of announced capacity in development, had just 3 projects that went online. The high tide of new gas plants won’t arrive for another few years.
If we look at projects in terms of generating capacity, utility-scale solar led with 11,458 megawatts, followed by batteries, 8,207 megawatts, and then onshore wind, mostly because of the SunZia projects, with 5,473 megawatts.
The three largest types of natural gas plants added a total of 2,707 megawatts of new capacity.
Small-scale solar, including rooftop solar, is not part of this database.
A perpetual caveat: Power plant technologies have important differences to keep in mind when comparing generating capacity. The most obvious one is that solar doesn’t produce power at night. Another is that many gas plants only run a few days or weeks per year, when they’re needed to handle peak demand.
What do these numbers tell us? I asked Eric Gimon, a senior fellow at Energy Innovation, a San Francisco-based think tank.
Gimon explained that the bulk of new projects are small and mid-size utility-scale solar. They are not attention-grabbing. But they’re almost everywhere. Many of the solar projects are paired with batteries.
“These kinds of smaller-size projects are just easier to build, and the site possibilities are much more diverse and easy to find,” he said.
Now, let’s look at the new power plants in terms of where they were built. Three states account for about half of the country’s new generating capacity: Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
Texas was the leader, with a power mix that leaned more heavily on batteries and gas than other states. The leading category in Texas was batteries, with 3,067 megawatts, followed by utility-scale solar, with 2,311 megawatts, and then natural gas combustion turbines or natural gas internal combustion engines, with 1,154 megawatts.
Texas’ policies have prioritized gas and battery plant construction to help bolster the power grid’s reliability at times of high demand.
Also, Texas illustrates how challenging the market is for new onshore wind. The state is the national leader in onshore wind, but brought no new projects online in the first half of the year.
One of Gimon’s takeaways is that we’re firmly in the era of utility-scale solar, with batteries playing a supporting role.
“The real underlying workhorse is solar plus battery,” he said.
Some other observations from this data:
Illinois ranked first in the number of new utility-scale solar projects, with 36, ahead of California, with 22, and Texas, with 16. Illinois’ projects tended to be on the small side, which is why it could lead in the number of projects but barely cracked the top 10 in overall generating capacity coming online. This is policy-driven and shows that state laws encouraging small and medium-size solar are leading to completed projects.
The “other” category of power technologies almost always has something interesting, with some tiny plant that isn’t indicative of anything, but is probably a good story. One that caught my eye is the 4 megawatts of hydropower that went online in Dakota County, Minnesota, which is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. The project at the Byllesby Dam is a replacement of hydropower turbines that have operated on the Cannon River since 1910, and got local media coverage when the county government announced the project a few years ago.
A 2.8-megawatt biomass power plant went online just a few miles from my house in Ohio, operated by the Columbus city government. It’s fueled by methane captured from waste at a sewage-treatment plant. I was unaware of this project and now want to take a closer look.
Looking ahead, the Energy Information Administration’s list of planned power plants shows that the utility-scale solar boom is likely to continue, and the final years of this decade are shaping up to bring a boom in natural gas power plants.
But it’s tough to pin down the size of the solar and gas booms because of uncertainty about many factors, including how much electricity demand will grow and what share of the growth will be driven by AI data centers.
So take some comfort in what we know for sure, which is the stuff that’s actually built, and realize that just about everything else comes with a question mark.
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.
Thousands stranded at Japan’s Narita airport after record rain kills four
Record rainfall left thousands of travellers stranded at Tokyo’s Narita airport on Friday as flooding in the surrounding area disrupted transport, knocked out power to homes and claimed at least four lives.
More than 360 millimetres of rain fell in 24 hours in parts of Chiba prefecture, which adjoins the capital Tokyo, inundating roads and railways during one of Japan’s busiest holiday weeks.
Heavy rain is hitting the Tokyo area today: thunderstorms are so severe that alerts are being automatically sent to residents’ phones. This is a scene from Ichikawa, a city that borders the east side of Tokyo.pic.twitter.com/EXkKgBJtVX
Authorities said four deaths have been confirmed so far, including one person trapped in a submerged vehicle, while another person is missing. Soldiers have been dispatched to the area to help with relief efforts.
“This case was an extremely unusual situation,” Chiba Governor Toshihito Kumagai told reporters on Friday morning. “I have responded to many disasters in the past, but I have never experienced a case like this.”
More than 22,000 households remained without power on Friday at 11:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), according to utility provider Tokyo Electric Power. In Chiba city, one of the worst hit areas, hundreds of people spent the night under foil blankets at government buildings serving as temporary evacuation centres.
Current visuals from Chiba City (千葉市), Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
The transport disruption left around 7,000 people stranded at Narita, an airport spokesperson said, adding that all flights are scheduled to operate normally on Friday. Japan Airlines said some flights may experience delays but no cancellations are currently expected.
Some major highways in Chiba were shut, forcing drivers onto alternative routes and causing heavy traffic, according to highway operator NEXCO East.
Several rail services also remained suspended on Friday morning, though some trains connecting Narita to Tokyo had resumed operations, easing congestion at the international transport hub.
【✈️Domestic/13:00】≪Bad weather forecast on Aug 14≫ Tokyo Narita : thunderstorm Please check your flight status at https://t.co/tZ6uS3S1H9
Overnight, hundreds of passengers queued to collect blankets, water bottles and snacks from airport staff before bedding down across the terminal building, footage on public broadcaster NHK showed.
“We are never going to forget this trip,” one American traveller stranded with his family at the airport told NHK.
The cast of Nickelodeon’s beloved ’90s sketch comedy show “All That” is mourning one of their own after the sudden death of former star Christy Knowings.
Knowings died this week in California at just 46 years old, her father, Charles Dunn, confirmed to ABC News on Friday.
The actress and comedian became a familiar face to a generation of Nickelodeon viewers after joining “All That” in 1997. She remained on the hit series for three seasons through 2000, sharing the screen with future stars including Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Amanda Bynes, Lori Beth Denberg, Josh Server and Nick Cannon.
News of her death quickly prompted emotional tributes from her former castmates.
Thompson, who later became one of the longest-running stars of “Saturday Night Live,” said the loss hit him especially hard.
“Man this one hit hard!!! Rest well Christy!!! Never could have imagined this day!!” Thompson wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of Knowings.
He remembered her as “a real one” and “one of the funniest people out here,” while sending his love to her grieving family.
“Gonna miss you buddy!!!” he added.
Mitchell also shared an emotional tribute, calling Knowings “truly one of a kind.”
Alongside clips highlighting some of her funniest “All That” moments, Mitchell remembered his former co-star as naturally hilarious, talented and completely fearless when it came to comedy.
“She had a gift for creating characters that were big, memorable, and completely her own,” he wrote.
Mitchell said he would always treasure the laughs and memories they shared as members of the “All That” family.
“Christy, thank you for sharing your incredible gift with all of us,” he continued. “Your talent, your characters, and the joy you brought to so many will never be forgotten.”
Knowings’ manager, Al Hill, also remembered her as a woman whose creativity extended far beyond acting.
“Christy was a multi talented lady,” Hill told ABC News. “Whether it was singing, acting, dancing, she was always creating. Always professional and dedicated to her work.”
Knowings previously spoke fondly about her Nickelodeon years, revealing in a 2019 interview with Bustle that one of her favorite memories involved creating the outrageous character Gloria Bankhead during Season 6.
Knowings described the character as an over-the-top version of Martha Stewart and said she became so immersed in the role that she stayed in character throughout the day.
“Everybody loved it!” she recalled.
Knowings also believed the diverse cast of “All That” played a major role in the show’s popularity and lasting cultural impact.
A Bronx native who described herself as Native American and Afro-Latina, Knowings said she and her castmates were able to bring their own backgrounds and cultural touches into the comedy.
“We would bring cultural nuances and it was celebrated,” she said.
For Knowings, the show represented something bigger than laughs.
“‘All That’ showcased the unity that we all wanted, needed and still need in a very humorous way,” she said.
Now, more than two decades after her time on the Nickelodeon staple, the stars who grew up performing alongside Knowings are remembering the woman whose larger-than-life characters helped define an unforgettable era of kids’ television.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra review: The ultra foldable with an ultra price
Samsung has largely defined the foldable phone category, but it’s no longer alone in releasing flexible devices. Google, Motorola, and a raft of Chinese OEMs have their own take on this form factor. Is the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra really “ultra” enough to remain on top?
This phone doesn’t have the wide frame of the new Z Fold 8, instead matching the approximate size and shape of the company’s last few tablet-style foldables. The Z Fold 8 Ultra is not a big leap, but it continues Samsung’s pattern of iterative foldable improvements. At this point, there’s very little left to improve. The compromises of going with a foldable over a regular flat phone have largely been erased with the Z Fold 8 Ultra. Well, except for the price.
Flatter and a little better
Foldables used to be real pocket-busters, almost like carrying two phones glued together. Samsung has successively shaved a few millimeters off every year, taking a leap last year with the Z Fold 7. The Z Fold 8 Ultra is even a bit slimmer than that phone, but the difference is basically imperceptible. It still has the same buttons in the same places, including a fingerprint sensor in the power button.
5,000 mAh, up to 63% charge in ~30 min with 45W Adapter, 20W Wireless Charging
Connectivity
5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth v6.0, SIM+eSIM
Measurements
Unfolded: 158.4 × 143.2 × 4.1 mm Folded: 158.4 × 72.8 × 8.9 mm, 215g
Colors
Violet Shadow, Graphite, Cream, Green Shadow (online)
The 2026 Samsung flagship foldable is barely thicker than the average flat phone when folded, which is impressive considering the powerful hardware inside. The two halves come together with no gap, and the hinge feels smooth and springy. The phone almost seems to “leap” into the unfolded configuration when you pry it open, and it ends up flatter than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which didn’t quite reach 180 degrees. It’s structurally solid in this state, even though it’s barely 4 mm thick. It feels like a small tablet, not a phone that folds in half, but somehow, it is. You can fold it back up, and it fits in your pocket like any regular phone. It’s a very cool piece of hardware.
The Z Fold 8 Ultra is about the same thickness as a non-folding phone.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The Z Fold 8 Ultra is about the same thickness as a non-folding phone. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The 6.5-inch 1080p cover OLED is about the same size and shape as any non-foldable smartphone on the market today. It has the latest Gorilla Glass Ceramic coating, and it’s plenty bright for outdoor use. The real star of the show is the 8-inch internal foldable screen. Its resolution is 2256 x 2504, a bit higher than last year’s phone, and its peak brightness has increased to 3000 nits.
Even very bright foldable screens can be hard to read in bright light because the plastic top layer is so reflective. Samsung has addressed that somewhat with the Z Fold 8 Ultra with its new anti-reflective layer. Reflections aren’t gone, but like the treated glass on Samsung’s flat Ultra phones, the intensity of reflections is much reduced. This makes the big internal screen more legible outdoors.
It’s like a regular phone when closed.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
It’s like a regular phone when closed. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The other screen update tackles the classic foldable crease. Early on, foldable screens had a veritable chasm running down the middle. That has been minimized to varying degrees, with some phones showing almost no crease at all. Samsung is now in that group with the Z Fold 8 Ultra thanks to its “Titanium Flex” technology. This metallic layer apparently supports the OLED better, eliminating the crease. If you look from the right angle in the right lighting, you may be able to see a bit of distortion, but you can’t really feel it while using the screen.
Samsung’s foldable hinge feels very solid.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
Samsung’s foldable hinge feels very solid. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The only truly clunky aspect of the phone’s design is the camera module. Because the internals are so tightly packed, the camera hardware pokes way out past the rear glass. It stands out in the wrong way and can get snagged on your pocket when you try to put the phone away. The three modules are lined up in the corner in usual Samsung fashion, which makes the phone a wobbly mess when you set it down.
Just call it One AI
Samsung’s One UI is a known quantity at this point. It comes loaded with some duplicative apps and junk you may not want, like Facebook and LinkedIn. The interface can be a little cluttered, and there are features buried in the settings that you’ll probably never touch. But Samsung doesn’t change much year-to-year, so if you’ve used a Samsung phone in the past few years, the learning curve will be minimal.
Samsung makes a big deal out of multitasking on its foldables, offering robust window management that goes beyond what you get from Google or Motorola. It’s a snap to move apps around, break them out into floating windows, and save configurations. You can also have three apps running live in split-screen on the Fold, whereas most other foldables limit you to two.
Samsung’s multitasking is still great.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
Samsung’s multitasking is still great. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
Android itself has more foldable optimizations than it once did, and Samsung has taken full advantage of that. For example, the taskbar on the Z Fold 8 Ultra is easy to bring up while using the phone, and you can pin it to the screen. It also shows more recent apps than the standard Google version of this feature.
And then there’s the AI. Samsung has been all-in on Galaxy AI for the last couple of years, and it’s expanded that feature set even further with the 2026 foldables. Samsung does at least still offer the option to run its AI features solely through on-device processing. This keeps your data from going to the cloud but limits the AI features that are available.
Samsung is again pushing its Now Brief feature, and it’s one of the most perplexing AI features I’ve seen on a phone. It’s all over the device—the home screen comes with a widget, it appears on the lock screen, and it sends you notifications. But it still does almost nothing. The pitch is that Samsung uses on-device AI to ingest your data and produce actionable suggestions. More often than not, all you get are links to anxiety-inducing news stories, your calendar, the weather, and maybe some videos. I feel like I’m living in the “c’mon do something” meme every time I open Now Brief.
Samsung’s Now Nudge feature offers proactive suggestions powered by on-device AI. For example, you may see a suggestion to add an event to your calendar based on a text conversation. In general, this feature seems better at completing tasks correctly, but it still doesn’t show up very often. It is, however, nice that nudges now open apps in split-screen instead of taking you away from the content you’re viewing.
Samsung also gets even deeper Gemini AI integration with this release. Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) is preloaded, and it’s optimized for drag-and-drop and split-screen usage. That’s cool if you are a fan of Google’s AI research tool, which is admittedly one of the better things the company has done with LLMs.
More questionable is the expanded support for app automations, which debuted earlier this year on the Galaxy S26 series. The idea is that you can ask Gemini to complete a task for you, and it will use the appropriate app to get it done in the background. The list of supported apps has expanded to more than 40, including DoorDash, Temu, Airbnb, Delta, and Best Buy.
One UI can feel a little claustrophobic, but Samsung gets some things very right.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
One UI can feel a little claustrophobic, but Samsung gets some things very right. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
Unsurprisingly, having Gemini operate even simple apps is very slow and fraught with errors. It gets there most of the time, but it’s nowhere near good enough that I’d trust the results without a thorough double-check. And at that point, why not just do it myself?
It’s not all AI retreads, though. Samsung has added something genuinely fantastic to its Galaxy AI portfolio, but it’s not the kind of AI it wants everyone talking about. As of the last version of One UI (and continuing in the version on the Fold), Samsung’s phone app does Google-style call screening. This is one of the biggest selling points for Pixel phones in this age of endless phone spam, and Samsung is finally on board.
As on Pixel phones, you have the option of directing a robot to answer a suspicious call. It transcribes what the caller says, giving you the option of answering or getting more information before picking up. This alone almost makes up for the issues I have with One UI.
Flagship performance
Like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung’s new flagship foldable runs on a version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 optimized specifically for its devices. This is functionally the fastest mobile processor in the world, featuring eight high-speed Oryon CPU cores and an Adreno GPU that can rival some laptop chips.
You won’t find yourself waiting on the Z Fold 8 to get things done (unless you ask Gemini to use an app). It’s a snappy experience, even when running multiple apps side by side. Games also run flawlessly on this device, as long as you don’t mind a toasty phone.
In benchmarks, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra scores very near the top of all current phones (see below). While the chip is identical to the one in the S26 Ultra, it doesn’t quite match that phone’s scores. This is most likely due to thermal constraints in the foldable.
The Snapdragon chip has a great GPU.
Ryan Whitwam
The Snapdragon chip has a great GPU. Ryan Whitwam
Samsung’s foldable is among the fastest phone available.
Ryan Whitwam
Samsung’s foldable is among the fastest phone available. Ryan Whitwam
The Snapdragon chip has a great GPU. Ryan Whitwam
Samsung’s foldable is among the fastest phone available. Ryan Whitwam
Heat is a problem in all smartphones—the benchmark scores you see bandied about are all based on full performance for short periods. When you stress a device for more than a minute or two, such as when you play a high-end game, performance will drop dramatically. In the past, some Samsung phones have throttled by more than half when heating up. The Z Fold 8 Ultra isn’t that bad, but you can expect to lose about 30 to 40 percent of that peak speed. However, that still leaves the Z Fold 8 with higher overall performance compared to, for example, a Google Pixel.
Samsung’s new foldable still comes with 12GB of RAM in the base model. You can upgrade to 16GB with more storage, but the phone is already very expensive. Overall, apps remain in memory long enough, and I haven’t noticed issues with multitasking. Still, at this price, 16GB of RAM would make more sense. Perhaps if we were not in the midst of the great AI RAM shortage, Samsung would have stepped up to 16GB.
The Z Fold 8 Ultra (left) is basically indistinguishable from the Z Fold 7 (right).
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The Z Fold 8 Ultra (left) is basically indistinguishable from the Z Fold 7 (right). Credit: Ryan Whitwam
There aren’t many hardware improvements in this year’s Fold, but the battery and charging did get some attention. Having finally gone the silicon-carbon route, Samsung has increased the capacity of the traditional lithium polymer cells to 5,000 mAh (up from 4,400 mAh last year). That’s on par with most non-folding flagship phones. It’s not a night-and-day difference in longevity, and you can still drain it quickly by using only the big internal display, but you don’t have to worry about whether the Z Fold 8 Ultra will make it to bedtime most days.
If the Z Fold 8 Ultra doesn’t quite make it all the way to bedtime, you won’t be terribly inconvenienced. Samsung has boosted the charging from the measly 25 W peak speed of past foldables to a much more reasonable 45 W. That’s nothing compared to what you get with certain Chinese smartphones, but it’s much more livable. Samsung says you can go from empty to 67 percent in about 30 minutes with a compatible USB-PD charger.
Ultra cameras
One of the main selling points of the Z Fold 8 Ultra over the Z Fold 8 is the camera setup. While the wide-body foldable only has two rear cameras (both 50 MP), the Z Fold 8 Ultra has an upgraded triple setup with a 200 MP primary, a 10 MP 3x telephoto, and a new 50 MP ultrawide.
The cameras dominate the back.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The cameras dominate the back. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The 200 MP camera is the same as last year’s foldable, and the sensor is identical to what’s in the Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, the aperture is narrower (less light collection) due to the constraints introduced by foldables. Photos are binned to 12 MP, showing good dynamic range and brightness, although Google does have Samsung beat there. They still have that distinctive vibrant and sometimes too contrasty look we associate with Samsung cameras.
Capture speed has always been a challenge for Samsung phones, which seem to lean toward being brighter, even at the expense of some blur. Things are better than they once were with the Z Fold 8 Ultra, but you should take a few snaps of any subject that is moving around to make sure you get one that’s crisp. Luckily, Samsung’s burst mode is quick and reliable.
Main camera, bright outdoor light.
Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, bright outdoor light. Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, fast movement.
Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, fast movement. Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, bright outdoor light.
Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, bright outdoor light. Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, fast movement. Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, bright outdoor light. Ryan Whitwam
Night mode.
Ryan Whitwam
3x telephoto.
Ryan Whitwam
Macro.
Ryan Whitwam
Ultrawide.
Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, overcast.
Ryan Whitwam
Ultrawide.
Ryan Whitwam
3x telephoto.
Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, bright light.
Ryan Whitwam
Night mode.
Ryan Whitwam
Main camera, mixed indoor light.
Ryan Whitwam
Macro.
Ryan Whitwam
3x telephoto.
Ryan Whitwam
You don’t get a telephoto camera with Samsung’s wider foldable, but this sensor increasingly feels like an afterthought for the Ultra. It’s still just 10 MP, and the sensor is tiny at 1/3.94 inches. it will get you a bit closer to your subject, but the results often look overprocessed. That’s doubly true if you zoom beyond 3x and count on Samsung’s processing to clean up the image.
The new 50 MP ultrawide does offer a nice upgrade over last year’s Fold, though. The field of view is wide enough that it offers a different perspective than the main camera but not so wide that the edges look distorted. The boosted resolution speeds up captures in low light and results in slightly better detail with the expected pumped-up Samsung colors. This sensor is also used for macro shots on the Z Fold 8 Ultra, and the detail you get close up is noticeably better than the last Fold.
While the still photos may have some foibles, Samsung’s video recording on the Z Fold 8 with the main sensor is a step up from almost any other phone. It can handle up to 8K resolution at 30 fps, and the enhanced stabilization available at lower resolutions is great for recording on the move. Video is crisp across the board, with great range and colors.
The foldable niche
In some ways, it’s amazing that a device like this exists. It’s hardly any more bulky than a traditional smartphone, but it’s a tablet that fits in your pocket. There’s almost no crease in the screen, and the hinge is rock-solid. Heck, you can even drop it in a pool, and it will keep ticking (IP48). The cameras, battery life, and performance aren’t as compromised as they were with past foldables, either.
The slow pace of change in mobile technology has prompted many of us to become a bit jaded, but if foldables of this caliber were somehow remarkably cheaper, they would be in everyone’s pocket. But that’s the problem—they’re not cheaper. In fact, all computing devices are getting more expensive.
The Z Fold 8 Ultra (top) is a fraction of a millimeter thinner than the Z Fold 7 (bottom), but you’d never know.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The Z Fold 8 Ultra (top) is a fraction of a millimeter thinner than the Z Fold 7 (bottom), but you’d never know. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
The $100 price bump is quickly becoming a 2026 tradition, but that’s a bigger chunk of the price when you’re talking about a flat phone that used to cost $800 or $900. At $2,100, the Z Fold 8 Ultra is only a little more expensive than last year’s version. If you were willing to spend $2,000 on a foldable, $2,100 is not a big leap.
The dream of foldable mass adoption may be slipping away, but that doesn’t mean these devices don’t have a place. If you do most of your computing on a phone and could benefit from the added screen real estate, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is a killer device. It won’t weigh down your pocket, and it lets you easily multitask and use apps with tablet-style interfaces. You’ll pay handsomely for that ability, but enough people are willing to do so that Samsung’s 2026 foldables are seeing record sales—though they still trail flat phones by a wide margin.
It’s a tablet that fits in your pocket.
Credit: Ryan Whitwam
It’s a tablet that fits in your pocket. Credit: Ryan Whitwam
For people who would consider spending two grand on a phone, this is a good option. But it’s not so much better than the Z Fold 7 that you need to rush out and get the new model. For Z Fold 6 owners who like the experience, though, this is a worthy upgrade.
22 oxygen stations out of service in Gaza amid Israeli blockade: Health Ministry
At least 22 of the Gaza Strip’s 34 oxygen stations have been forced out of service, the Palestinian Health Ministry warned Saturday, saying the remaining facilities also risk shutting down amid the Israeli blockade and a severe shortage of spare parts, Anadolu reports.
The ministry said in a statement that the 12 stations still operating are working under “extremely complex technical and mechanical conditions,” making it increasingly difficult to meet the oxygen needs of health facilities and medical service providers.
It added that the stations’ operational capacity has been “completely depleted” and that they are running beyond maximum capacity amid increasingly frequent breakdowns.
Only four of the 30 devices used to fill oxygen cylinders remain operational, the ministry said, warning that they “could stop at any moment” because engineering teams cannot carry out emergency maintenance.
“The availability of oxygen is not a medical luxury; it is a lifeline for many vital and life-saving departments,” it stressed.
The ministry warned that the remaining stations face “complete paralysis,” threatening oxygen supplies to hospitals and patients receiving treatment at home.
It called for the “immediate and direct opening of channels” to bring in spare parts and technical equipment needed to repair the stations, as well as the urgent delivery of new oxygen stations.
The warning came after Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Aug. 12 that Israeli authorities continued to restrict the entry of engine oils and spare parts needed to operate hospital generators, ambulances, and other vital facilities, putting thousands of lives at risk.
In its latest report Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Kerem Shalom crossing remains the only operational entry point for goods into Gaza, while restrictions continue on several essential supplies and types of equipment.
The latest World Health Organization data, published on Aug. 11 and covering the period through July 31, also showed major gaps in the availability of health resources and services across Gaza’s medical facilities.
A ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since Oct. 10, 2025, following an Israeli war that caused widespread destruction to the enclave’s health system and infrastructure.
Former Syrian General’s Detention Tests Beirut-Damascus Relations
A routine visit to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut has turned into a legal and political test for two neighboring countries adjusting to the fall of Bashar Assad’s government. Rizik Alabi reports that Lebanese authorities detained former Syrian Maj. Gen. Adel Issa, 67, after learning that Syria had issued an arrest warrant accusing him of murder and crimes against humanity.
Issa, a former commander of the Syrian army’s 17th Division, remains in Lebanese judicial custody. His arrest carries implications far beyond one man: A Syrian source told The Media Line that Damascus asked Lebanon months ago to surrender more than 200 senior security and military officers who fled after the Assad government collapsed in late 2024.
No extradition decision has been made. Lebanon’s public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Ahmad Rami al-Hajj, has requested the Syrian case file, arrest documents and supporting accusations. Issa’s family denies wrongdoing, saying he retired years before Assad’s fall and left the country after an armed group raided his home.
The legal machinery is slow by design. A Lebanese judge explained that Syrian authorities must supply a formal request detailing the suspect, alleged offenses and evidence. Prosecutors then examine jurisdiction, whether the conduct is also punishable under Lebanese law and whether the request may be political. Concerns about human rights or a possible death sentence could block a transfer.
Even judicial approval would not finish the process. Extradition requires a state decree recommended by the justice minister and signed by Lebanon’s president, prime minister and justice minister.
Legal expert Amine Bashir stresses that Damascus cannot treat more than 200 names as one package. Criminal liability is personal, meaning every former officer requires an individual warrant, evidentiary record and review. Finding and arresting the others would also pull Lebanon deeper into domestic politics, changing relations with Damascus and raising questions about Hezbollah’s influence.
Recent talks between Syrian and Lebanese interior officials suggest security cooperation is expanding. If Issa becomes the first prominent Assad-era officer extradited to Syria’s new authorities, his case could establish the path—or expose the obstacles—for hundreds more.
Read Alabi’s full article for the legal steps, political pressures, and unresolved questions behind a detention that may reshape accountability across the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Taylor Farms’ connections to Trump admin spurs probe into Cyclospora response
As Americans cook their vegetables to at least 158°F to kill a diarrheal parasite that has sickened over 24,000 people and killed two this summer, one US Senator is turning up the heat on Health Secretary Robert F. Kenney Jr. over the government’s “calamitous response” to the record outbreak.
In a letter sent Thursday, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the federal response to the Cyclospora outbreak “botched” and “marred by missteps.” She pointedly questioned whether corruption and incompetence within the Trump administration and its clear ties to Taylor Farms—the mammoth produce distributer that sold Mexican-grown iceberg lettuce linked to the outbreak—played a role in the federal government’s failures.
“[P]olitical contributions and direct White House lobbying from Taylor Farms… raise urgent questions about the role this influence-peddling may have played in loosening federal food safety oversight and hampering the federal government’s response to the outbreak,” Warren wrote in the letter.
As Ars Technica has previously reported, Taylor Farms made a $1 million donation to a Trump-backing super PAC, MAGA, Inc, in March 2025. That donation came just days after the Food and Drug Administration announced it was delaying implementing a food traceability rule that would have made it easier to trace and respond to outbreaks, like the Cyclospora outbreak.
Warren’s letter noted other donations to Trump-aligned entities from Taylor Farms and said the contributions totaled into the millions. She further pointed out that Taylor Farms has hired former Trump White House official Trent Morse to lobby on behalf of the company. Morse reportedly brokered a direct call between Taylor Farms and the White House after the FDA had linked the company’s lettuce to the outbreak. In the call, Taylor Farms allegedly made an “urgent plea” to delay a recall of the tainted lettuce.
Clear delay
Warren also noted a significant lingering question about the federal government’s response. Local media outlets reported that Taco Bell restaurants in Michigan and nearby states began pulling iceberg lettuce from their menus as early as July 7. Notices at the restaurant said they were unable to sell the produce “due to a nationwide recall.” But at the time, no recall had been reported by federal agencies.
On July 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the outbreak as being from an “unknown source.” The CDC and the FDA did not identify lettuce at certain Taco Bell locations as a source until July 17. The same day, Taylor Farms issued a recall, and the FDA published the recall notice on July 18. The recall notice did not include details or clear information about how much lettuce was being recalled or where it had been shipped. An FDA report identified this week found that Taco Bell’s parent company received just 2.5 percent of the tainted lettuce, with the rest going elsewhere. Walmart received 46 percent of the recalled cases.
Warren’s letter also questioned confusion about the FDA reporting that Taylor Farms’ lettuce had tested positive for Cyclospora, only to retract the claim the next day, calling it a false positive. Taylor Farms then claimed the FDA had apologized to it, which the FDA quickly denied.
Warren posed a series of questions to Kennedy, including whether Taylor Farms or a Trump political appointee pressed the FDA to reevaluate the test result, leading to the retraction. She is also seeking transcripts, summaries, and notes from communications between federal agencies and Taylor Farms.
“[T]he specter of corruption—and quid pro quo politics—casts a darker shadow” over the outbreak response than simply dangerously bad food safety policies from the Trump administration, Warren wrote.
In a statement to The Hill, a Taylor Farms spokesperson said that the company “acts in the interest of science and consumer health, not politics. We categorically reject suggestions that we attempted to receive or received favorable regulatory treatment due to political contributions or other improper influence. Any such allegations are false.”
A Health Department spokesperson told the outlet that the federal government’s investigations into the outbreak “were not impacted by staffing changes or reductions in force. Political contributions or relationships have no bearing on FDA or CDC outbreak investigations.”
