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Larnaca, Cyprus
BINA CYINNOVATION HUBLarnaca · est. 2026
Larnaca · est. 2026

A public-good hub for AI and health, on the Mediterranean.

BINA runs a daily five-language newsroom and AI-literacy programs for older adults, young people, people with disabilities, and underserved communities.

The hub building, Larnaca
The hub building, Larnaca
Today

Today's brief.

Issued every morning.

AI
Today in AIIssue of 22 August 2026

Record capital floods AI as Amazon exits AGI race

Nvidia backs OpenAI with $105B; Databricks raises $5B; Anthropic eyes a $2T IPO; Amazon exits AGI and commits $220B to infrastructure.

Open to editorial sponsorship
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Today in HealthIssue of 22 August 2026

Phage Therapy Defeats Superbugs; Pertussis at 30-Year High; Blood Test Finds Alzheimer's Earlier

Phage therapy beats drug-resistant bacteria; Europe's whooping-cough cases hit a 30-year peak; a blood test brings Alzheimer's detection to primary care.

Open to editorial sponsorship
Our purpose

A non-profit institute for AI literacy on the Mediterranean.

BINA was founded to bring AI literacy to communities the technology might otherwise leave behind — older adults, young people, people with disabilities, and underserved communities across Cyprus and the wider eastern Mediterranean. We publish daily briefs, run workshops, and visit homes and schools.

Read the vision in full
Preparing for an AI future

Helping everyone meet what's coming next.

Programs for older adults, young people, people with disabilities, and underserved communities — at the hub, at school, at home.

Older adults

Patient, jargon-free workshops at the hub — and at home — for adults 60 and over who want to understand and use AI tools confidently.

Young people

Half-day workshops we bring into Cypriot schools. Hands-on, age-appropriate, with strong attention to misuse and well-being.

People with disabilities

Home visits and one-on-one sessions for people whose access to technology is mediated by disability, mobility, or care arrangements.

Underserved communities

We meet communities where they are — village halls, community centres, places of worship — in their language, on their schedule.

From the hub

What's happening in Larnaca.

Meetings, partnerships, and the small steps that build community programs.

Posted by BINA Team

Another fascinating meeting behind us: the "neuroscience" of AI

Yesterday we were treated to a fascinating and enriching meeting led by Dr. Haim Shaul — an expert in applied cryptography for privacy in AI models, and a winner of IBM awards for outstanding achievement in patents and professional papers.

In plain, clear language, Dr. Shaul explained how the developers of AI set out to imitate the workings of the human brain, across five topics: our brain versus the artificial brain; how AI "sees" and learns to understand what is really in an image; the "school" in which the system guesses, errs, corrects itself and grows smarter; how it can be fooled by changing a single small point in an image; and how new systems learn to create on their own — to write, to answer and to invent stories — out of a high-level grasp of the context of words.

Read the full post
Dr. Haim Shaul presenting on the "neuroscience" of artificial intelligence beside a slide on AI at the BINA hub
The hub hall filled to capacity, with the founder in the foreground
Attendees seated around the table listening to the lecture
Posted by Asher

Another meaningful gathering in Larnaca

Yesterday we met with Dorit, head of the Tzofim scouts in Limassol, and her colleague Keren, and learned from their experience setting up youth movements in Cyprus.

Parents and teenagers came to explore founding a similar movement in Larnaca, possibly as a branch of the Limassol scouts.

Read the full post
Dorit presenting the Tzofim Europe scout movement at BINA hub
Wide view of the hub gathering with the founding slide on screen
Parents and teenagers listening to the presentation
Closing of the meeting with the full audience
Recent issues

Recent issues

Every brief is published in Hebrew, Greek, English, Russian and Polish.

VERTICAL
LANGUAGE
AI22.08.2026

Record capital floods AI as Amazon exits AGI race

Health22.08.2026

Phage Therapy Defeats Superbugs; Pertussis at 30-Year High; Blood Test Finds Alzheimer's Earlier

AI21.08.2026

Agent Escapes Sandbox; Public Concern Outpaces Excitement

AI20.08.2026

Labs Hit the Brakes as Transparency Rules Take Effect

AI19.08.2026

Medical AI rules, teen safeguards, and a $60 billion deal

Health19.08.2026

Mpox Vaccines Reach the DRC; Drug-Resistant UTIs Rise; RSV Stands Firm

AI18.08.2026

Anthropic posts first profit; Meta opens 30 B agent model

Health18.08.2026

AI Outpaces Medicine's Guardrails

AI17.08.2026

EU Enforcement, Open Weights, and the Entry-Level Gap

Health17.08.2026

Europe's First Aldosterone Blocker, West Nile Nearing Cyprus, and Depression Gone in Three Days

AI16.08.2026

AI Brief: August 16, 2026

Health16.08.2026

Forty-Two Degrees in Nicosia, Long COVID's Clotting Signal, and Europe's Worst Dengue Season in Years

AI15.08.2026

AI Brief — August 15, 2026

Health15.08.2026

Stair Climbing, Endometriosis's Diabetes Toll, and Two Advances in Cancer Detection

AI14.08.2026

AI Brief — August 14, 2026

Health14.08.2026

Clinical AI Scales Up Across Diagnosis, Drug Discovery, and Regulation

AI13.08.2026

AI Brief — August 13, 2026

Health13.08.2026

Ebola Second-Largest on Record; Jalapeño Alert in 27 States; Narcolepsy Gets a First-in-Class Fix

Health12.08.2026

GLP-1 Pill Cuts Weight 12%; U.S. Measles Sets 35-Year Record; Brain Immunity Shifts at 50

AI11.08.2026

Climate alarm in Texas; Meta and Alibaba ship open models

Health11.08.2026

Ebola Passes 4,000 in DRC; FDA Eyes Melanoma and Rare-Disease Firsts

AI10.08.2026

AI Safety Reckoning: OpenAI Pauses Astra, Three Labs Linked to One Sandbox Breach

Health10.08.2026

Cyclospora's Toll, NYC's Legionnaires' Endgame, and Brain Cells at 50

AI09.08.2026

Safety Pause, Companion Rules, and Record Chip Bets

Health09.08.2026

Measles Record, Europe's Heat Crisis, and a Prostate Cancer Milestone

AI08.08.2026

Trillion-Scale Race, Free Frontier, and Safety's C+ Ceiling

Health08.08.2026

A Superbug in 23 States, an Empty Blood Bank, and a Patch for Better Sleep

AI07.08.2026

A Third AI Breach, Europe's Disclosure Rules, and Jeff Dean's Exit from Google

Health07.08.2026

Dengue in Cyprus, Donanemab's Long Game, and the Resistance Clock

AI06.08.2026

AI agents caught deceiving in UK tests; Senate acts on youth

Health06.08.2026

First mRNA Flu Shot, Alzheimer's Goes Home, and August's Drug Slate

AI05.08.2026

Development Lifeline, a Trillion in Leases, and OpenAI's State Reckoning

Health05.08.2026

From Vaccines to Virtual Trials: AI's Biggest Health Week Yet

AI03.08.2026

Open-Weight Rift, Frontier Models, and a $2,000 Math Proof

Health03.08.2026

Gene Therapy Holds at Two Years, West Nile Surges, and Exercise Rivals Antidepressants

AI02.08.2026

AI Governance Day: EU Rules Kick In, US Misses Deadlines, and Anthropic Admits Breaches

Health02.08.2026

Three Drug Decisions, Two Food Recalls, and Sixteen Thousand Excess Deaths

AI01.08.2026

AI Brief — August 1, 2026: Price Cuts, Regulation Shifts, and New Models

Health01.08.2026

mRNA Flu Shot, New Myeloma Class, and Europe's August Heat Emergency

AI31.07.2026

AI Breach, Europe's Gigafactories, and the FTC's Accuracy Line

Health31.07.2026

New Weekly Patch, Egg Recall, and Europe's Hepatitis Warning

AI30.07.2026

Kimi K3, a Pacing Pact, and Europe's August Deadline

Health30.07.2026

AIDS 2026 Brings Zero HIV Infections and a Funding Emergency

AI29.07.2026

AI Workers Call for a Pause, Nvidia Bets Half a Trillion, and Europe's New AI Law Is Live

AI25.07.2026

$500B Pact, Congressional AI Bills, and New York's Data-Centre Halt

AI24.07.2026

Moonshot Accused, EU Deadline Slips, and OpenAI's Georgia Bet

Health24.07.2026

Colorectal Cancer Tops Young-Adult Deaths; Antibiotic of Last Resort Revived

AI23.07.2026

Rogue Models, Billion-Dollar Bets, and a Price War: AI's Biggest Week

Health23.07.2026

AI in Health: A $1.2B Science Bet, a Surgical Robot Gets AI Eyes, and Chatbots Under Fire

AI22.07.2026

AI Escapes Its Sandbox as Legislators Race to Catch Up

Health22.07.2026

Flu Mapped, Psilocybin Persists, and Infant Formula on Recall

AI21.07.2026

AI Governance Fractures and Breakthroughs: Five Stories Reshaping the Week

Health21.07.2026

Blood Tests, Brain Cells, and Billion-Dollar Bets: Health Tech's Biggest Week

AI20.07.2026

Chips, Capital, and Casualties: Five Stories from AI's Infrastructure Gold Rush

Health20.07.2026

Europe Burns, US Measles Surges, and Science Turns on Long COVID

AI19.07.2026

Regulation Tightens as Anthropic Eyes a Trillion-Dollar IPO

Health19.07.2026

First Oral Cholesterol Pill, Five-State Parasite Outbreak, and Africa's Converging Fevers

AI18.07.2026

AI Governance Diverges Across States, UK, and China

AI17.07.2026

Kimi K3, Xi's AI Pledge, and TSMC's Record Quarter

AI16.07.2026

AI Governance Advances While Chip Demand Breaks Records

AI14.07.2026

AI's Big Week: OpenAI's $730B IPO, EU Enforcement, and the Cybersecurity Surge

Health14.07.2026

Easier Alzheimer's Care, a Gum-Heart Warning, and Unexpected Lung Cancer Findings

AI13.07.2026

Two EU Laws, a Model Launch, and Science Grants

Health13.07.2026

Tau Powers Memory, a Kidney Drug Makes History, and Legionnaires' Spreads in Manhattan

AI12.07.2026

Apple v. OpenAI, a $26.5 Billion IPO, and Grok's Reliability Problem

Health12.07.2026

A Narcolepsy Breakthrough, Europe's Heat Toll Reaches 20,000, and Ebola at 1,800 Cases

AI11.07.2026

US Polices AI Claims as Enterprise Agents Move In

Health11.07.2026

Gene Therapy for Toddlers, an Oral GLP-1 Milestone, and West Nile's Worst Start in Two Decades

AI10.07.2026

AI Power Shifts: Government Stakes, Sovereign Funds, and Autonomous Ransomware

Health10.07.2026

AI in Medicine: Robot Surgery, Hidden Lesions, and Prescription Risks

AI09.07.2026

Anthropic Tops OpenAI, Regulators Target AI Agents on Three Fronts

Health09.07.2026

AI Designs the Vaccine, Discovers the Drug, and Manages the Bill: Health AI This Week

AI04.07.2026

EU finalises AI Act; US gates GPT-5.6; emissions rise

AI03.07.2026

Global AI Governance Reaches an Inflection Point

Health03.07.2026

AI Medicine Scales Up: Deals, FDA Breakthroughs, and UN Caution

AI02.07.2026

AI Brief — July 2, 2026

Health02.07.2026

Two Cancer Biology Discoveries and Ebola's Rise Past 1,300 Cases

AI28.06.2026

AI Gatekeeping, Custom Silicon, and the ROI Reckoning

Health28.06.2026

AI enters clinical practice: cancer screening, FDA clearances, and a Kenya RCT

AI27.06.2026

GPT-5.6 debuts, prices race down, and schools go AI-native

AI26.06.2026

EU AI Clock, Gemini Deep Think, and a Nobel Prize Hire

Health26.06.2026

AI in Health: Chatbot Alarms, EU Act Deadline, and a Drug Discovery Alliance

AI25.06.2026

AI Reshapes Industry: Mass Layoffs, Custom Chips, and the UN Steps In

Health25.06.2026

AI reaches the clinic: cardiac screening cleared, antibiotics discovered, rare diseases diagnosed

AI24.06.2026

AI Governance Surge: EU Bans Nudifiers, China Sets Agent Rules, UN Opens Global Forum, SpaceX Acquires Cursor for $60B

Health24.06.2026

AI Drug Discovery, Hypertension Monitoring, and the Race to Govern Autonomous Clinical AI

AI23.06.2026

GPT-5.6 launch nears; Fable 5 blocked by US export order

Health23.06.2026

Ebola hits 1,000 cases; World Cup disease watch; Antarctic hantavirus cluster

AI22.06.2026

EU selects EUROPA for sovereign model; Shazeer joins OpenAI

AI21.06.2026

Apple picks Gemini to rebuild Siri, ChatGPT crosses 1.1 billion, and Congress drafts its first AI law

Health21.06.2026

Cyprus heat season opens; Ebola nears 900; Europe's pertussis deepens

AI20.06.2026

GPT-5.6 lands this week, Gemini 3.5 Pro counts down, and Colorado's AI law exits quietly

Health20.06.2026

Ebola tops 800 cases; cancer data and a landmark quit-smoking ruling

AI19.06.2026

AWS goes agentic, Google resets developer tools, and Claude leads the AI index

Health19.06.2026

GLP-1 Keeps Rewriting Medicine, Mammals Harbor Hidden Regeneration, and the First Oral Carbapenem Wins Approval

AI18.06.2026

EU shifts AI Act deadlines; Anthropic eyes trillion-dollar IPO

Health18.06.2026

Pancreatic Cancer Gets a Game-Changer, an AI Vaccine Clears Human Testing, and GLP-1 Keeps Surprising

Health17.06.2026

LLMs outperform clinical AI in landmark study; new data from sleep, oncology, and eye disease

Press17.06.2026

Israel Hayom profiles BINA's founder: "AI is the most powerful tool I've ever had"

AI16.06.2026

AI governance expands into childhood, workplaces, and warfare

AI15.06.2026

Anthropic's top models blocked abroad; AI governance expands globally

AI14.06.2026

Mistral and Prometheus raise billions; Google sued over Gemini fraud

Press14.06.2026

ANT1 profiles BINA: AI as a tool for every citizen

AI13.06.2026

Anthropic's models suspended as G7 leaders convene on AI

Health13.06.2026

Mammography AI spots tumours six years early; AMR mapped in landmark study

AI12.06.2026

Courts and legislatures tighten AI guardrails on three continents

AI11.06.2026

EU AI labelling code; PRC influence ops and financial governance

Health11.06.2026

AI earns clinical hours, raises new safety questions

AI10.06.2026

Fable 5 launches publicly; AI now leads US job cuts

AI09.06.2026

OpenAI files for IPO; UK commits £1.1bn to AI hardware

AI08.06.2026

Apple bets on Gemini; Congress redraws AI rules

Health08.06.2026

AI reaches 500,000 NHS clinicians; new fronts in diabetes, dementia, and addiction medicine

AI06.06.2026

US military AI order; NVIDIA Vera and Microsoft MAI debut

Real Estate06.06.2026

Cyprus real estate: Larnaca's tourism surge, electronic rent rule, and an 11.9% jump in transactions

Health06.06.2026

Two AI-designed vaccines enter human trials; Pfizer and Mayo Clinic bet big on AI

AI05.06.2026

EU proposes cloud sovereignty act; Canada launches national AI plan

AI04.06.2026

US signs AI security order as EU staffs enforcement bodies

AI02.06.2026

Anthropic files for IPO; chip controls and public AI spread

Health02.06.2026

Lutetium extends survival in neuroendocrine tumours; health systems get AI governance tools

AI01.06.2026

Vera Rubin enters mass production as Microsoft bets on homegrown AI at Build

AI31.05.2026

AI IPO wave builds as SoftBank plants €75bn in France

Health31.05.2026

ASCO 2026's cancer-detection milestone; FDA embeds AI in drug review

Health30.05.2026

New FDA approvals in epilepsy, fertility, and heart failure

AI29.05.2026

Anthropic nears $1 trillion as governance frameworks multiply

Health29.05.2026

FDA approves world's first PTSD wearable as ASCO 2026 opens

AI28.05.2026

Illinois mandates AI audits; EU softens compliance timeline

AI27.05.2026

AI industry marks financial maturity as chip rivalry deepens

AI26.05.2026

Papal encyclical sets moral terms as AI regulation accelerates

Health25.05.2026

Global health summit calls for AI equity as diagnostics leap forward

AI24.05.2026

US drops AI safety order; EU defines high-risk AI

AI23.05.2026

OpenAI cracks Erdős's 80-year-old maths problem; Google unveils agentic Gemini Spark

AI22.05.2026

Karpathy joins Anthropic; Google I/O launches Gemini 3.5 Flash

Health22.05.2026

Cancer radiotherapy AI succeeds in global trial; chatbot mental-health risks spur legislation

AI21.05.2026

Governments and Vatican move to shape frontier AI

Health21.05.2026

Ebola spreads in Congo; FDA approves a new class of hypertension drug

AI20.05.2026

AI brief — 20 May 2026

AI19.05.2026

AI brief — 19 May 2026

AI19.05.2026

EU AI Act enforcement: what the May 2026 milestone means for Cyprus

AI17.05.2026

AI weekly roundup, 16-17 May 2026

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Dr. Asher Knippel
Portrait · Dr. Asher Knippel
About the founder

Dr. Asher Knippel

Founder & Chair

Dr. Asher Knippel is an investor, financial-legal advisor, and academic — specialist in derivatives and capital markets, formerly chairman of the Banking and Capital Markets Committee that led Israel's anti-money-laundering implementation. Born in Haifa (1944), a dual Israeli-Cypriot citizen since 2020, he holds a PhD in Law, Finance, and the Internet from the University of London (2008). In 2026 he founded BINA in Larnaca to bring AI literacy to communities the technology might otherwise leave behind.

Read the full CV →
Get involved

Four ways to take part.

The public

Attend a workshop

Workshops at the hub and across Cyprus, free, in your language. Bring a friend.

Organisations

Partner with us

Schools, care homes, libraries, municipalities — we will design a program with you.

Sponsors

Sponsor the newsroom

Sustain a daily editorial brief in five languages. Quiet, dignified placement.

Supporters

Support our mission

Donations of any size keep the doors open and the workshops free.

Contact

Come by, or just say hello.

Larnaca, Cyprus (full address coming soon)
Hours by arrangement — please get in touch
Message us on WhatsApp
The hub · A private home in Larnaca, dedicated to public use
The hub · A private home in Larnaca, dedicated to public use