Kaiserslautern – September 03, 2026 -- Public broadcaster SWR handed out its 2026 "Ehrensache" awards live from Stiftsplatz in Kaiserslautern, honoring volunteers from Rhineland-Palatinate during the regional Volunteer Day on August 30. The ceremony aired live on SWR television starting at 6:15 p.m. as the centerpiece of the day's events.

Viewers picked Karina Peters as the public favorite

Karina Peters from Bleialf won the audience-voted prize for her work supporting the Alftal Blasorchester, a youth-heavy brass band in the Bitburg-Prüm district. Viewers of SWR Landesschau Rheinland-Pfalz and SWR4 radio listeners chose her from a field of ten candidates in an online vote.

Gdansk – September 03, 2026 -- Germany's men's basketball team needed overtime to beat previously unbeaten Poland 96:94 in a World Cup qualifier in Gdansk, closing out a summer window with four wins from four games.

Captain Dennis Schröder sealed the win from the free-throw line

With the extra period nearing its end, Schröder drew a foul himself and converted the resulting free throws to put Germany ahead for good. The win came at a cost: in the fourth quarter, Isaac Bonga's elbow caught teammate Oscar da Silva in the face during a rebound attempt, leaving da Silva with a cut that required treatment.

BEIJING – September 03, 2026 -- Chinese electric and hybrid vehicles are pulling ahead of established rivals across Europe, Southeast Asia and South America, with buyers increasingly choosing brands like BYD over legacy automakers.

At the 47th Bangkok International Motor Show, crowds lined up at BYD's booth to view its lineup. In Europe, five Chinese automakers sold a combined 138,000 vehicles across 31 countries in May, up 64 percent year-on-year, marking the first time Chinese brands outsold Japanese carmakers in monthly European registrations. Brazil has become the top destination for Chinese new-energy vehicle (NEV) exports, and BYD's Brazilian plant rolled its 100,000th vehicle off the line in July.

Los Angeles – September 03, 2026 -- Parking marketplace Parksy has counted its listed spots within five miles of twelve major U.S. stadiums and arenas, revealing a stark divide between downtown and suburban venues.

Madison Square Garden tops the list with 1,986 listed parking options nearby, followed by Chicago's Soldier Field at 1,583 and Boston's Fenway Park at 587. The numbers drop sharply for stadiums built outside city centers: AT&T Stadium has 107 listings, Allegiant Stadium 96, MetLife Stadium 58, and Miami's Hard Rock Stadium just 18. SoFi Stadium falls in between at 277, out of more than 32,000 spaces Parksy lists nationwide.

Downtown venues inherit existing city infrastructure

Arenas built in urban centers benefit from garages and lots already serving the surrounding city. Suburban stadiums, by contrast, are typically surrounded by residential streets with little to no commercial parking supply nearby.

NEW YORK – September 03, 2026 -- Gaming peripheral maker ATTACK SHARK will release its R86 HE Carbon Fiber Magnetic Switch Gaming Keyboard on September 7, 2026, an 82-key, 75% layout board aimed at competitive players who also want desktop-friendly proportions.

The R86 HE pairs a carbon fiber composite top case with anodized CNC aluminum alloy side accents, and its keycaps are also made from carbon fiber composite for a firmer, more consistent typing feel during fast gameplay.

Rapid Trigger tuning claims 0.005mm precision

The keyboard's Rapid Trigger system allows key reset and actuation control down to 0.005mm, intended to help players execute precise counter-strafes in FPS titles. A custom esports chipset adds 256K scanning and an 8000Hz polling rate, with response times as low as 0.08ms according to ATTACK SHARK.

Unterföhring – September 03, 2026 -- German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 has extended its exclusive partnership with journalist Jenke von Wilmsdorff for several more years, launching a dedicated "JENKE." Thursday programming block starting in October 2026.

Von Wilmsdorff has been ProSieben's face for in-depth documentaries and reportages since 2020, producing 29 films covering topics from everyday drugs to shopping addiction, organized crime and immortality. His programs have drawn market shares of up to 18.1 percent among viewers aged 14 to 49, the broadcaster's key demographic.

Seven new prime-time films air this fall on the new Thursday slot

ProSieben will broadcast seven new "JENKE." prime-time films this autumn, kicking off with "JENKE. Experiment. Schlaflos -- Wie uns schlechter Schlaf krank macht" on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 8:15 p.m.

Speyer – September 03, 2026 -- A Mercedes EQA electric vehicle caught fire and burned out completely while charging in a parking lot in Speyer, Germany, on August 16, 2026, according to a report by regional newspaper RHEINPFALZ and confirmed by law firm Dr. Stoll & Sauer. No injuries were reported, but firefighters had to cool the high-voltage battery for an extended period. It is the first publicly documented EQA fire in Germany, and it lands amid mounting legal and regulatory pressure on Mercedes over battery fire risks in its EQA and EQB models.

Similar charging-related fires involving Mercedes models have also reportedly occurred in Austria, though it remains unclear whether the Speyer incident is technically linked to the known recalls.

LOS ANGELES – September 03, 2026 -- Bandai Namco Entertainment announced a major camera overhaul for DRAGON BALL GEKISHIN SQUADRA during a "SQUADRA Talk" livestream, shifting the free-to-play team fighter from a top-down view to a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective by year's end.

The change, dubbed the Year-End Overhaul, aims to bring players closer to the action while simplifying win conditions. Chief Producer TOSHI and Producer KEN said the redesign builds on player feedback collected since launch, with strategic teamwork remaining central to the 4v4 battles.

Tillamook, Ore. – September 03, 2026 -- Tillamook cheese has landed a permanent spot on Route 66, unveiling a roadside landmark shaped like a massive cheddar loaf outside Flagstaff, Arizona.

A cheese sculpture roughly 32,000 times the size of the real thing greets road trippers

The new Cheeseside Attraction, a giant replica of Tillamook's Medium Cheddar Baby Loaf, now stands among the pines at the Americana Motor Hotel in Flagstaff. Tillamook says the piece is about 32,000 times the size of a standard loaf, joining other oversized roadside stops along the Route 66 Cheese Trail. The brand notes that Route 66 doesn't actually pass through Oregon, making the installation its way of bringing the state's cheddar to the historic highway.

Richmond, BC – September 03, 2026 -- Jukebox has added free 4x HD image upscaling to its online background remover, letting users enlarge and sharpen photo cutouts before downloading them as full-resolution transparent PNGs with no account, no signup and no watermark.

The tool now handles bigger files and bigger batches

The update raises the maximum upload size to 25MB per photo and allows batches of up to 50 images processed at once. Files can be uploaded in JPG, PNG or WebP format.

Free full-resolution exports remain the core offer

Most background removal tools cap free downloads at reduced resolution and reserve full-quality exports for registered or paying users. Jukebox exports every image at full resolution as a transparent PNG at no cost, with no locked download quality.