BACKUP ORIGINAL TWIW July 26–July 31, 2026

For the first time, women are working as baristas in Somalia. In a country where hot, sweet camel milk tea has been the traditional drink for generations, a new trend of coffee shops has thrived in recent years. Initially male-dominated spaces, cafes in Mogadishu are beginning to welcome women — both as customers and employees. One young woman who was hired as a barista, pulling espresso shots, steaming milk, and making lattes, was recently promoted to manager of her coffee shop.

Protesters in India won major concessions from the government and called off their nationwide demonstrations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi initially offered compromises including financial compensation for families of students affected by a botched medical school exam, and a promise not to prosecute the protesters. Officials ultimately gave in to the group's demand for the resignation of the education minister. The Latin root of concession is concedere, "to give way."

The latest data from Brazil's national space agency showed that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 38 percent over the last decade. The clearcutting of trees in the world's largest rainforest is mainly driven by cattle ranching, and it increased in recent years, with nearly 3,000 square miles of forest cut down in 2019 alone. A government push to slow deforestation led to the recent drop.

After four years eavesdropping on Caribbean sperm whales, researchers learned that they make specific sounds when they hear boats. The whales are known for their discrete patterns of clicks, or "codas." These individual, distinct noises became shorter and faster, with briefer intervals between each, when a ship was nearby. Scientists aren't sure if the whales are discussing the approaching boats, or changing their vocalizations to compensate for the noise of the motors.

Eminent mathematician Hong Wang was one of four winners of the Fields Medal, the world's most prestigious mathematics award. Wang is the first Chinese woman to win the prize. Her reputation for mathematical skill was bolstered by a major breakthrough last year, when she and Joshua Zahl solved a problem known as the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture, originally posed in 1917. The Latin eminere, "stand out," is the root of eminent.

A year after a maladroit rebrand failed massively and publicly, the CEO of Cracker Barrel is stepping down. Julie Masino led the company in a campaign to modernize the restaurant chain's logo and image that was widely perceived as clumsy and misguided. Customers objected to the sleeker, text-only logo, minus its iconic old man in overalls beside a barrel, saying it betrayed Cracker Barrel's southern heritage. Maladroit is from root words meaning "bad" and "dextrous."

The International Medieval Combat Federation’s annual world championship was held in Spøttrup, Denmark, with competitors from 30 countries. Fighters dressed in 14th-century armor battled with replica swords and axes modeled on the weapons used in the Middle Ages. Competitors from Poland dominated the competition, winning 10 gold medals. The Latin roots of medieval, medium and aevum, mean "middle age."

By collecting about 1,000 fragments and diligently reassembling them, archaeologists restored part of a fresco from a Pompeii ceiling that depicted the Greek myth of Dionysus and Ariadne. The painstaking process began in 2023, with the collection of the small plaster shards during repeated excavations. The meticulous restoration is ongoing, with the team leaving space for additional fragments to be placed as they're uncovered, each added like a new puzzle piece to the scene.

Two people who parachuted from the top of Seattle's Space Needle face charges of trespassing. Police are searching for the men, who bought tickets to the observation tower at the top of the iconic structure before scaling a wall and backflipping off a ledge 520 feet above the ground. Their chutes opened and they descended safely, but it's unclear where they headed after landing. The French parachute is from words meaning "defense against" and "a fall."

An unusually round, long-legged raccoon has become a surprise viral sensation, the subject of countless news stories, social media posts, and internet memes. Named Jimothy by the Seattle woman who was the first to capture him on film, the animal has a distinctive shape most likely caused by a congenital spine malformation. The Jimothy phenomenon, which has inspired tattoos, fan art, and even an honorary degree, is fueled by his appeal as an underdog overcoming his challenges to survive.

Pressure from a federal judge led the Department of Justice Department to drop subpoenas it issued to New York Times reporters earlier this month. The documents had directed the journalists to release grand jury testimony and phone records, revealing sources of a news story. At a hearing this week, a judge said the subpoenas violated the First Amendment's protection of freedom of the press. The term subpoena is from Medieval Latin sub poena, "under penalty."

A man wearing a Spiderman suit gallantly came to the aid of a pedestrian in a wheelchair who was having trouble crossing a busy street in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The mysterious superhero, who was caught on film by a traffic camera, turned out to be a college student named Christopher Hellenthal dressed in the costume he wears for his summer job at a trampoline park. Hellenthal's heroics were commended by the Jonesboro Police Department.

The United States imposed new tariffs ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent on goods from 60 countries; the taxes will affect about 99 percent of all imports. The White House said the levies are intended to pressure trading partners to ban goods made using forced labor. Some economists say the tariffs will result in higher prices for American consumers. Tariff, from the Italian tariffa, "price," derives from the Arabic ta'rif, "inventory of fees to be paid."

Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia emerged from the 2026 Tour de France triumphant for the fifth time. Pogačar won with a total time of 73 hours, 56 minutes, and 26 seconds — nearly six and half minutes faster than Belgium's Remco Evenepoel. Only four other cyclists have won five Tours, aside from Lance Armstrong, whose seven titles were stripped after a performance-enhancing drug scandal. The Latin root of triumphant is triumphus, "an achievement or success."

As French firefighters battled a raging wildfire, they encountered something unprecedented in the country: a “fire cloud.” The rare phenomenon, technically known as a pyrocumulonimbus, occurs when intense heat triggers thunderstorms. Because they produce lightning and wind that can ignite and fan additional flames, without rain to dampen them, fire clouds are extremely dangerous. They happen occasionally in Canada and Australia, but this is the first time they've been recorded in France.