Morning Briefing #136 — August 20, 2026

Morning Briefing #136 — August 20, 2026Your daily briefing connecting world events, technology, and education.No political slant. Just facts.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📋 IN TODAY'S EPISODE━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🌍 WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD──────────────────────────────────_Here's what's shaping the world today._DR Congo's Ebola Outbreak Tops 5,000 Cases, Now the Second-Deadliest on RecordThe World Health Organization's Africa office reported that the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak has surpassed 5,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,378 deaths, making it the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded and one of the fastest-moving in history. Ituri province remains hardest hit, with more than 4,000 cases spread across 28 of 36 health zones, while responders say the lack of an approved vaccine or treatment for the rare Bundibugyo strain has hampered containment. Uganda's linked outbreak has already been declared over after 20 cases and two deaths, but Congo's epidemic continues to outpace the international response. Health officials warn the outbreak is on track to eclipse the 2014-2016 West African epidemic if transmission isn't brought under control soon.Landmark Child Safety Trial Against Meta Opens as Four States Accuse It of Hooking KidsOpening arguments began this week in a landmark trial pitting four state attorneys general against Meta, which they accuse of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram features to be addictive to children despite internal warnings about the harm. The states are seeking damages that legal experts estimate could reach as high as $1.4 trillion, roughly the company's entire market value, drawing comparisons to the 1990s tobacco litigation that reshaped an entire industry. Meta has denied the allegations, arguing it has invested heavily in parental controls and teen safety features in recent years. The case is being watched closely as a potential turning point for how courts treat platform design choices aimed at young users.India's Government Rethinks Its Approach to Gen Z After 'Cockroach' Protests(continued in YouTube show notes)