According to the Experts Club information and analysis centre, Harvard University has once again topped the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), known as the Shanghai Ranking. It is followed by Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Cambridge came fourth, and the University of California, Berkeley, fifth.
The top ten also included Princeton in 6th place, Oxford in 7th, Columbia University in 8th, the University of Chicago in 9th, and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 10th. Thus, eight of the world’s ten best universities are located in the United States, with the other two in the United Kingdom.
The composition of the top ten did not change compared with 2025, although there were some shifts in positions. Princeton rose from seventh to sixth place, overtaking Oxford, while the University of Chicago moved from tenth to ninth, swapping positions with Caltech. Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Cambridge, and Berkeley retained the top five positions.
The best university outside the United States and the United Kingdom was France’s Paris-Saclay University, ranked 13th. Asia’s best university, China’s Tsinghua University, rose to 18th place. ETH Zurich ranks 19th, Peking University 22nd, while the University of Toronto and Zhejiang University share 24th place.
Despite the dominance of American universities at the top of the ranking, the most notable long-term trend remains China’s strengthening position.
In the ARWU 2026 top 100, the United States is represented by 37 universities, mainland China by 16, up from 13 a year earlier, and the United Kingdom by eight. They are followed by Australia and Switzerland with five universities each, France and Germany with four each, and Canada with three.
In total, universities from 18 countries and territories are represented in the top 100. At the same time, China’s position is strengthening rapidly: in ARWU 2025, mainland China had 13 universities in the top 100, compared with 16 now. Southeast University, Tianjin University, and Harbin Institute of Technology, in particular, entered the new top 100.
But the situation across the entire published top 1,000 is even more revealing. Mainland China is represented by 234 universities, compared with 187 from the United States. Thus, China already significantly surpasses the United States in terms of the breadth of its representation in ARWU, although American universities still maintain an enormous advantage at the very top of the ranking.
France has 27 universities in the top 1,000, four of which are in the top 100. In addition to Paris-Saclay in 13th place, PSL University ranks 33rd, Sorbonne University 55th, and Université Paris Cité 57th.
ARWU evaluates more than 2,500 universities worldwide but publishes only the top 1,000. Unlike rankings that take into account reputation among students and employers, internationalization, or the quality of the educational environment, the Shanghai Ranking is focused almost entirely on research activity.
Its methodology takes into account alumni and staff who are Nobel Prize and Fields Medal laureates, Highly Cited Researchers identified by Clarivate, publications in Nature and Science, the number of research papers indexed in Web of Science, and academic performance per capita. Therefore, ARWU is essentially primarily a ranking of universities’ research strength rather than the quality of education as such.
Not a single university from Ukraine appeared in this ranking.
The original source is ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, Academic Ranking of World Universities 2026, published on August 15, 2026.
EDUCATION IN CHINA, EXPERTS CLUB, SHANGHAI-RANKING, WORLD UNIVERSITIES
In July 2026, Ukraine received medical humanitarian aid from international partners totaling nearly 67 million UAH, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health reported on August 13. This is nearly double the amount received the previous month, when the volume of aid exceeded 34.2 million hryvnia.
Humanitarian supplies in July were provided by partners from Norway, Georgia, Finland, and Switzerland, as well as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Ukraine received ambulances, medicines, diagnostic supplies, medical furniture, and other equipment.
The Norwegian government donated four Mercedes-Benz Sprinter ambulances to Ukraine, with a total value of over 2 million UAH. The vehicles are intended to strengthen the capabilities of Ukrainian medical facilities and emergency medical services.
Ukraine received rabies immunoglobulin worth more than 358,000 UAH from the Georgian government. The medication is used to prevent rabies following possible human contact with an infected animal. Finland donated medical furniture and supplies for healthcare facilities.
A significant portion of the July shipments consisted of aid provided under the Global Fund’s program “Sustainable Response to HIV and TB Epidemics in the Context of War and Recovery in Ukraine.”
Ukraine received test kits for detecting tuberculosis infection, blood collection tubes, and antibacterial and antituberculosis medications. The shipments also included amphotericin B, used to treat severe fungal infections, as well as isoniazid and isoniazid/rifapentine for the preventive treatment of tuberculosis in people living with HIV.
A separate shipment of humanitarian aid was provided by the Swiss company Abbott Products Operations AG. The company donated the drug Physiotens for the treatment of hypertension, with a total value of over 2.7 million UAH.
Compared to June, the value of medical humanitarian aid increased by approximately 96%—from more than 34.2 million UAH to nearly 67 million UAH.
Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine has received more than 18,700 metric tons of medical humanitarian aid through the Ministry of Health’s channels of cooperation with international partners and organizations.
According to Serbian Economist, the Serbian city of Kragujevac organized a summer camp for 19 children from Zaporizhzhia, aged 13–16, who stayed at a children’s health resort in the city of Kopanik from August 1 to 10.
A sports, recreational, and cultural program was prepared for the Ukrainian children. They took part in walks and group activities, learned about Serbian traditions, and studied elements of Serbian folk dances alongside choreographers from the “Abrasevic” Center for Traditional Culture in Kragujevac.
The trip was part of a humanitarian initiative to organize recreational stays in Serbia for children from Ukrainian regions affected by the war.
Kragujevac is located in central Serbia and is one of the country’s largest industrial and university centers. Thanks to its location in central Serbia, the city has convenient connections to Belgrade, Kopaonik, and other tourist and business centers in the country.
https://t.me/relocationrs/3464
Nearly 60% of all State Statistics Service rulings for violations of statistical reporting requirements issued in Ukraine between 2020 and 2025 were issued in 2021 alone. According to Opendatabot, 136 of the 228 rulings—or 59.6% of the total for the six-year period—were issued in 2021.
The trend is as follows: in 2020, the State Statistics Service issued 41 rulings; in 2021, 136; and in 2022, 21. There were none at all in 2023 and 2024, while in 2025 the number rose to 30.
In monetary terms, the peak also occurred in 2021. That year, fines totaling 21,777 UAH were imposed, compared to 7,140 UAH in 2020, 4,845 UAH in 2022, and 5,100 UAH in 2025.
The sharp change after 2022 is due to the relaxations introduced amid full-scale war. Businesses were allowed to defer the submission of statistical and financial reports without incurring the usual penalties. The government reinstated the mandatory submission of reports effective July 5, 2025.
Businesses were also required to submit the accumulated reports for 2022–2025 by October 5, 2025. After that, the statistical system effectively returned to its normal operating mode. In 2026, the State Statistics Service will once again follow the standard schedule for submitting statistical and financial reports.
Source: Opendatabot and the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian engineering and construction company Rauta has received the “Ukrainian Construction Olympus” professional award in the category for leadership in Ukraine’s reconstruction. Information about the award has been published on the award’s website.
The organizers recognized Rauta for its projects involving the rapid reconstruction of buildings damaged as a result of military operations. According to the company, since 2022, it has participated in the restoration of more than 10 commercial and social facilities.
The “Ukrainian Construction Olympus” award is presented to companies, projects, and specialists in the construction, architecture, and real estate development sectors. Among the evaluation criteria, the organizers cite professionalism, reliability, the quality of completed projects, innovation, and contributions to the development of the construction industry.
Rauta provides building design and renovation services, supplies building frames, sandwich panels, and facade systems, and handles installation, general contracting, fire protection, and the commissioning of facilities. The company has also developed a range of solutions for accelerated construction and reconstruction, including a technology for a rapidly deployable mobile hospital for 72 patients, which, according to the company, can be erected in 14 days.
Rauta owner Andriy Ozeychuk stated: “The reconstruction of Ukraine today requires not temporary solutions, but buildings that will last for decades. It is particularly important for us to combine the speed of reconstruction with energy efficiency, safety, and modern European standards. The experience of the past four years has shown that Ukrainian construction companies are capable of implementing complex projects even in wartime. Once the war ends, the scale of reconstruction will be significantly greater, so it is essential to develop the technologies, expertise, and supply chains now that will enable us to build faster and with higher quality.”
Rauta is a Ukrainian engineering and construction company that works on commercial, industrial, residential, and infrastructure projects. The company provides a full range of services—from design and supply of structural components to general contracting and commissioning of buildings. Rauta is the exclusive supplier in Ukraine of commercial products from the Finnish Ruukki Group.
The company is a member of the “Ukrainian Center for Steel Construction” association, and Andriy Ozeychuk has chaired its board of directors since 2017. Rauta is also a member of the Finnish Business Group and the Finnish-Ukrainian association UkraineOffice.
“RAUTA GROUP” was registered in Kyiv in 2014; Andriy Ozeychuk is the founder, ultimate beneficiary, and head of the company.
https://rautagroup.com/uk/rauta-viznana-liderom-vidbudovi-ukrayini/
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the United Kingdom an “Islamic republic” and reiterated his claim that it could become “the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons.” The British government called his statements “absolutely unacceptable” and said it had raised the issue with Israeli authorities.
This statement was made on an Israeli Army Radio podcast, an episode of which was published on August 13, 2026. Speaking about the shift in attitudes toward Israel in the United Kingdom, Netanyahu used the phrase “Islamic Republic of Britain.” The host then asked him whether something similar was happening throughout Europe. The prime minister answered in the affirmative and cited a phrase previously used by someone else describing Britain as the future “first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons.”
However, the widely held interpretation that Netanyahu himself predicted Britain’s transformation into an Islamic nuclear republic is not entirely accurate. He did not present this phrase as his own prediction but explicitly stated that “someone had said” it. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer later told the BBC that Netanyahu was referring to current U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who made a similar statement back in 2024.
Vance said at the time that the United Kingdom could become the first “truly Islamist country with nuclear weapons.” However, he himself made a caveat regarding Pakistan.
The very claim about the “first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons” is historically inaccurate. Pakistan is officially known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and has possessed nuclear weapons since the late 1990s.
London’s reaction was harsh. A British government spokesperson stated that Netanyahu’s comments were unacceptable and that this issue had already been raised during discussions with the Israeli side.
The remarks came amid deteriorating relations between Israel and a number of European countries. In the interview itself, the host broadened the question to include Europe as a whole, to which Netanyahu responded in the affirmative.
According to the latest assessment by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook 2026, as of January 2026, nine states possessed or, as in the case of Israel, were considered to possess a total of approximately 12,187 nuclear warheads. About 9,745 of these were in military stockpiles and could potentially be used.
In order from the largest arsenal to the smallest:
Russia — about 5,459 warheads
United States — about 5,083
China—about 620
France—about 290
United Kingdom—about 225
India—about 190
Pakistan—about 170
Israel—about 90
North Korea—about 60
These are estimates of the total number of nuclear warheads, not just those deployed. The exact sizes of the arsenals are state secrets, so SIPRI emphasizes that the figures are approximate. Russia and the U.S. together continue to control about 86% of all nuclear warheads in the world.
China’s arsenal is growing particularly rapidly at the moment: SIPRI estimates it at approximately 620 warheads, up from 600 a year earlier. India has increased its estimated stockpile to 190, and North Korea, according to the institute’s assessment, may have assembled about 60 warheads and possesses fissile material for at least several dozen more.
The United Kingdom, at the center of the current diplomatic scandal, is estimated by SIPRI to have approximately 225 nuclear warheads. London has stopped publishing detailed data on the size of its operational nuclear stockpile, and British strategy provides for the possibility of increasing it.
ISRAEL, Netanyahu, nuclear weapons, PAKISTAN, UNITED KINGDOM
