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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

The presidents of Poland and Ukraine, Karol Nawrocki and Volodymyr Zelensky, have held talks for the first time since a diplomatic crisis broke out between the two countries and their leaders.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ongoing NATO summit in Turkey, with Nawrocki saying that it was important to “remain in dialogue” given that Poland and Ukraine “share a common enemy, Russia”.

Prezydent RP @NawrockiKn w #Ankara : Wczoraj kurtuazyjnie dyskutowaliśmy również z Prezydentem @ZelenskyyUa . Stanowisko w kwestiach, które dotyczą naszych bilateralnych napięć dla mnie jest niezmienne: Polska – i myślę, że cała Europa – nie może akceptować odwoływania się do…

— Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (@prezydentpl) July 8, 2026

The crisis began in late May, when Zelensky named a military unit after the “heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)”. In Ukraine, the UPA is remembered primarily for its role in fighting for Ukrainian independence from Moscow-imposed Soviet rule during and after World War Two.

In Poland, however, it is associated with the Volhynia massacres , in which the UPA led the slaughter of around 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians, mostly women and children. Poland has officially recognised the massacres as a genocide, but Ukraine rejects that label .

In response to Zelensky’s decision, Nawrocki stripped him of Poland’s highest honour . That then prompted Zelensky to cancel plans to attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference that took place in Poland last week and declare that “no one will dictate which heroes we honour”.

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On Wednesday morning, Nawrocki’s office announced that the two presidents had held “bilateral talks” on the sidelines of a dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday evening at the NATO summit in Ankara.

“It seems natural to me that neighbouring countries, which share a common enemy, Russia, remain in dialogue with each other, regardless of certain bilateral tensions,” said Nawrocki.

The Polish president added that his “position on our bilateral tensions remains unchanged: Poland, and I believe all of Europe, cannot accept the reference to UPA soldiers who are responsible for the deaths of 120,000 Poles. However, this does not preclude dialogue and discussion.”

Subsequently, Zelensky’s communications advisor, Dmytro Lytvyn, confirmed that the two presidents had held a “short conversation” on Tuesday evening and would try to hold another meeting today, reports news agency Interfax-Ukraine. Nawrocki likewise said he may speak with Zelensky again today.

In a group photo of leader attending the NATO summit released on Tuesday evening, Nawrocki and his wife, Marta Nawrocka, were standing next to Zelensky and Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.

The NATO Summit in Ankara – and, as our partners say, Ukraine rightfully belongs here. Our main tasks are to secure more air defense and stronger diplomatic positions. All meetings planned for today have taken place, along with some additional important ones that were not on the… pic.twitter.com/T9tlERfjbS

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 7, 2026

The developments come after Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha last week visited Warsaw to propose an “anti-crisis package” of measures to de-escalate the dispute. However, Poland has made clear it expects a “correction” of the decision to name a unit after the UPA.

On Tuesday this week, Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, warned Poland against issuing any ultimatums.

“The last one who tried to give us an ultimatum was Russia,” he told RBC-Ukraine. “No offence to Poland, but [Russia] is somewhat more powerful than Poland – and we didn’t accept its ultimatum either.”

Budanov also claimed that Poland will take “a whole series of immature escalatory steps” this week given that it will be marking the anniversary of the start of the Volhynia massacres on Saturday. However, he also said that he “hopes we move towards de-escalation”.

🚨 Budanov to Poland: “The last country to issue Ukraine an ultimatum was Russia”

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said Kyiv would not bow to pressure from any country.

“We did not accept Russia’s ultimatum. So why does anyone think we would accept… pic.twitter.com/ny2wwq44pD

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 7, 2026

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: President of Ukraine (under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 )

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Looking for the best of the best when it comes to comics? Then you’ll want to read your way into this year’s 2026 Harvey Award nominees. These represent some of the best of the best in comics over the last year.

The Harvey Awards were founded in 1998 and named after writer and artist Harvey Kurtzman. Nominees are judged by a host of comics publishing professionals, including publishers, retailers, librarians, and educators across seven categories, including Book of the Year, Digital Book of the Year, Best Children’s Book, Best Young Adult Book, Best Manga, Best International Book, and Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel.

Anyone who has attended a ReedPop comic convention between 2016 and 2026 with a Professional or Artist Alley badge is eligible to vote in each category to select winners. Eligible voters can apply to vote here , and voting ends August 28. Comics fans will be able to watch the announcements live or via livestream from New York City Comic Con on October 9.

Take a peep at a handful of the categories and nominees this year.

Best Children’s Book

A Fishboy Named . . . Sashimi by Dan Santat

Inbetweens by Faith Erin Hicks

The New Girl: First Crush by Cassandra Calin

Night Chef by Mika Song

Young Shadow & the Watchdogs by Ben Sears

Best Manga

Billy Bat by Naoki Urasawa & Takashi Nagasaki

He Rolled Me Up Like a Grilled Squid by Yoshiharu Tsuge

Land by Kazumi Yamashita

Miss Ruki by Fumiko Takano

My Gorilla Family by Iijima Ichiro

My Life in 24 Frames Per Second by Rintaro

Best Young Adult Book

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen

Flip by Ngozi Ukazu

Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit: A Graphic Novel by Kim Hyun Sook & Ryan Estrada

Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki & Nicole Goux

Book Of The Year

Absolute Batman Volume 1: The Zoo by Scott Snyder & Nick Dragotta

Absolute Martian Manhunter Vol 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp & Javier Rodriguez

Black Arms to Hold You Up: A History of Black Resistance by Ben Passmore

Cannon by Lee Lai

Drome by Jesse Lonergan

The Ephemerata: Shaping the Exquisite Nature of Grief by Carol Tyler

A Garden of Spheres by Linnea Sterte

More Weight: A Salem Story by Ben Wickey

The Once and Future Riot by Joe Sacco

The Weight by Melissa Mendes

Check out the full list of 2026 Harvey Awards finalists .

Keep up with all the latest book news by signing up for the Book Riot Newsletter .

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The patient: A woman in her early 50s in Canada

The symptoms: The woman started occasionally hearing her name being called when she was alone, usually in quiet surroundings. Later, the sounds evolved into indistinct murmurs. These voices seemed to come from outside her head rather than from her own thoughts. They never spoke directly to her, commented on her actions or gave commands.

What happened next: In the next two years after she began hearing voices, the woman made several trips to emergency departments and had brief psychiatric admissions. Because hearing voices is commonly associated with psychosis — symptoms that occur when people experience a disconnect from reality — doctors diagnosed her with "unspecified psychosis" and attempted various treatments.

They first tried the antipsychotic risperidone, gradually increasing the dose, but the voices did not go away. Doctors then switched the patient to aripiprazole, but the hallucinations remained unchanged. Next, they tried haloperidol, and although the woman said the medication made her feel calmer and less distressed, the voices persisted.

As they conducted further psychiatric evaluations, the doctors noticed that the woman frequently leaned forward during conversations, cupped an ear and asked people to repeat themselves. About four to six months after her first contact with a psychiatric team, she was referred for hearing tests. These tests revealed hearing loss in both ears, ranging from moderate to severe in one ear and mild to profound in the other.

About two months later, the woman was fitted with hearing aids in both ears, which improved her hearing. The voices did not go away, however.

Brain scans showed no abnormalities, and blood tests came back normal. Neurological evaluations turned up no evidence of other explanations. Meanwhile, the woman continued working full time, managing her household and maintaining an active social life. She showed no signs of paranoia, delusions, disorganized thinking or the decline in daily functioning that doctors would typically expect to be associated with a psychotic disorder.

The diagnosis: Based on the woman's stable functioning, hearing impairment and lack of other clinical abnormalities, the doctors concluded that her auditory hallucinations stemmed from sensory deprivation caused by hearing loss.

Reduced sound input from the ears can make auditory regions of the brain unusually active, causing them to "fill in" missing sounds, the doctors explained in a report of the case . A related phenomenon is known as musical hallucinosis , in which people with hearing impairments hear songs, melodies or other forms of music that are not actually playing.

The treatment: Because neither antipsychotic medications nor hearing aids eliminated the patient's hallucinations, doctors shifted their focus toward helping the woman cope with them.

They taught her about the connection between hearing loss and hallucinations and advised her to pursue psychotherapy aimed at reducing the distress associated with the voices and improving her coping strategies for dealing with their persistence. At the time the report was published, in May 2026, she was waiting to begin this therapy.

Other Dilemmas

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After taking a medicine for years, a man suddenly had weird changes in his taste that made food disgusting

Viral infection caused woman not to recognize her own father

What makes the case unique: In their report, the doctors noted that most published accounts of this phenomenon have described patients' hallucinations improving or resolving after their hearing impairment was treated. Persistent hallucinations after treatment are rare. In the woman's case, however, the voices persisted despite the use of hearing aids.

The doctors suggest that prolonged hearing loss may cause lasting changes in the brain that do not immediately reverse once hearing improves. (The case report does not note how long the woman's hearing had likely been impaired.)

The case also serves as a reminder that hearing voices does not always indicate psychosis, the doctors concluded. Because the woman's hearing loss was recognized only after years of symptoms and several unsuccessful medication trials, the report authors argued that doctors should consider running hearing assessments early in patients with isolated auditory hallucinations, especially when their insight and daily functioning remain intact.

For more intriguing medical cases, check out our Diagnostic Dilemma archives .

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

Can you guess the diagnosis in these strange medical cases? Find out with our diagnostic dilemma quiz!

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From the outside looking in, it would appear that Undead Labs is a victim of mismanagement. The team was acquired by Xbox Game Studios in 2018, just weeks after the release of State of Decay 2. A sequel is set to land in 2027 after navigating a turbulent trajectory – revealed before it was ready for public consumption, development stalling during pre-production , challenges in shifting to Unreal Engine 5. The survival shooter finally opened its doors to public alpha testing earlier this spring .

Undead Labs didn't contribute any new games to the ecosystem in eight years. That's an irrefutable fact, which may speak to why Xbox just sold the studio as part of an internal reset . Although that doesn't mean the team hasn't been busy.

State of Decay 2 was a quiet success – amassing 10+ million lifetime players by its fourth anniversary. Undead supported this community with an expansion, multiple updates, new features, and years of refinements. Given how starved PS5 is for new co-op titles, it's shocking SoD2 wasn't part of the first wave of Xbox games to abandon platform-exclusivity . Another error from the prior Xbox administration.

Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios Xbox Game Studios Xbox has historically done a poor job of drawing attention to collaborations across XGS. The Coalition is an Unreal Engine 5 center of excellence. Other teams have made use of Ninja Theory's high-end motion capture studio. Rare provided the networking know-how for Double Fine's Kiln. Blizzard lent its cinematics expertise to Playground for Fable. Obsidian's proprietary dialogue editor is used by various in-development RPGs at Xbox. There's countless other examples.

Just like State of Decay helping bring Grounded to life. Operating with a small budget, Obsidian sought a novel way to achieve its co-op ambitions. And so it turned to Undead Labs, who had developed a system to store world-data as a shareable save file in the cloud. It's what allows multiple players to independently drop into the same persistent world without requiring a community's host to be online.

"It's almost like a pseudo-dedicated server space," Marcus Morgan, Obsidian's VP of operations, told me last year. "It's effectively just a shared cloud save, but you don't need any of the dedicated server infrastructure – or the cost that goes with it."

"The intention behind that was, because we were a small team (there were only like 20 people working on it, and the cost of making it was relatively small) this was a good way to satisfy player's needs," he says, adding: "That stemmed from a collaboration between us and Undead Labs. I have to give a big shout out to that team. They built this tech initially, and then we built upon it."

This 'Shared Save' technology helped Obsidian scale quickly to build more vibrant and collaborative backyards. Eventually, Undead received an expanded 'Shared World' system in return – allowing State of Decay 3 to support far larger communities, no longer constrained by the co-op tethers that plagued its predecessor. It'll be interesting to see whether the tech evolves again in the future.

Still, it's an interesting example of the sort of value that Undead Labs brought to Xbox, and the way the XGS group has been able to leverage wider expertise to bring concepts to life. Eight years without releasing a new game clearly isn't enough for this next era of Xbox, but the legacy of Undead Labs and State of Decay will live on through Grounded 2's ever-expanding Brookhollow Park forever.

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Undead Labs could pull State of Decay 3 from Game Pass after the studio sale

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Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creator Bryan Konietzko has revealed that more top-secret projects from the animated franchise are on the way – if the appetite is there from fans.

"The [Avatar] Aang movie was just one of a whole slate," Konietzko told Entertainment Weekly . "I'm working on another thing, which we'll announce when the time's right."

Right now, Avatar is in a precarious position. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender suffered an unprecedented leak earlier this year, with the entirety of the movie being available to watch on social media for almost 24 hours. That followed the feature being pushed from a theatrical release to a Paramount Plus drop.

From there, Avatar Aang – which follows the adult Gaang as they encounter a surviving airbender – was shifted to a July 25 release , in line with an Avatar Hall H panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con.

Konietzko added of his current feeling after a tumultuous period for the series, "I think if we had just been kicked to the curb and felt like no one cared about us anymore, it would be harder to deal with. But they are really excited not only for this but for [upcoming show] Seven Havens – and for the other projects that we’re working on."

Seven Havens, a sequel to The Legend of Korra, is an upcoming series that has – unfortunately – also been the target of leakers in recent months.

A live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently airing, though its second season has seen a significant dip in viewership on Netflix compared to its first season.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender hits Paramount Plus on July 25.

For more, check out all the big movie release dates still to come this year.

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Google has sent out invites for an event on August 12

It says we'll see “the next generation of Pixel” there

We expect the brand to launch the Pixel 11 series and the Pixel Watch 5, along with some price rises

It’s official — the Google Pixel 11 series will be launching on August 12, as Google has started sending out invites for an event on that date, promising to unveil “the next generation of Pixel.”

The launch starts at 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 11pm BST, which is 8am on August 13 for those in Australia’s AEST time zone. The event will be held in New York, but we fully expect it to be streamed online too.

But what will Google actually unveil? Well, while no specific models were mentioned in the invite, we have a very good idea of what to expect.

1. The Google Pixel 11

The Google Pixel 10 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future) The Google Pixel 11 itself will almost certainly be announced at this event, with this phone rumored to have a new ‘Pixel Glow’ feature , which could take the form of colored lights on the back that can alert you to notifications.

Beyond that, the design might be similar to the Google Pixel 10 ’s, but there are sure to be changes to specs, with leaks pointing to a new Tensor G6 chipset, a new 50MP camera, and a new M16 OLED panel, which could improve the quality of the screen.

That might be about it for notable upgrades — though some new colors are likely to be offered too — so the Pixel Glow feature could be the standout change.

2. The Google Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL

The Google Pixel 10 Pro XL and Pixel 10 Pro (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future) Alongside the vanilla Pixel 11, Google will almost certainly launch the Pixel 11 Pro and the Pixel 11 Pro XL.

These phones should have many of the same upgrades — including Pixel Glow, a Tensor G6 chipset, and an M16 screen. But additionally, we’re hearing that they could also get two new camera sensors, and possibly a boost in charging power for the Pixel 11 Pro, bringing it up to 45W, in line with the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL (and likely the Pixel 11 Pro XL).

Less promisingly, there might be both 12GB and 16GB models of these phones, where the Google Pixel 10 Pro series came with 16GB of RAM as standard. But this might be necessary to keep the starting prices palatable in the face of rising RAM prices.

3. The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold

The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future) We’re also expecting a new foldable phone, in the form of the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold. And this phone, as with the rest of the Pixel 11 line, will probably have a new Tensor G6 chipset and an M16 screen, though it’s unclear whether it will get the Pixel Glow feature rumored for the rest of the line.

What it might get, though, is a removable battery — but while this feature has been quite widely reported, the only evidence for it seems to be a patent, so we wouldn’t count on it, since patents often don’t turn into anything.

Beyond all that, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold could be similar to last year’s model, with the same screen sizes and a similar battery capacity, but we’ll know for sure soon.

4. The Google Pixel Watch 5

The Google Pixel Watch 4 (Image credit: Blue Pixl Media) It’s not just phones we’ll see on August 12, as we’re also expecting to see the Google Pixel Watch 5.

Key rumored upgrades here include a Tensor chipset in place of its predecessor’s Snapdragon one, a brighter screen, smaller bezels, and potentially better battery life — though the latter will probably come as a result of optimizations rather than a higher capacity battery.

Some new AI and fitness tracking features may also be offered, but it’s likely that the Pixel Watch 5 will largely retain its predecessor’s design, so expect a circular screen and both 41mm and 45mm sizes.

5. Higher prices

The Google Pixel 10 Pro (Image credit: Future) That’s probably all of the products we’ll see at Google's upcoming event, but one other notable element could be their prices, as unfortunately, they may well be higher than we’ve seen from current models.

According to Dealabs , all four Pixel 11 series models will start at €100 more than their predecessors in Europe. Now, in the case of the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro, Google is apparently doing away with the 128GB starting capacity of their predecessors and starting them at 256GB of storage instead, with this new price being the same as what you’d already pay for a 256GB model of those phones.

So, in other words, the price of a 256GB model might be the same as last year; you just apparently won’t have the option to get a cheaper 128GB one.

But for the Google Pixel 11 Pro XL and the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, that €100 price increase isn’t offset by a storage bump, with these phones reportedly starting at 256GB, just like their predecessors.

So, what will that mean in other regions? Well, if this information is accurate, then it likely means an $899 / £899 / AU$1,499 starting price for the Pixel 11 and a $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 starting price for the Pixel 11 Pro, since that’s what their 256GB predecessors launched at.

For the Google Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, we have to take more of a guess, but based on how Google tends to adjust its pricing for different configurations, it could mean a starting price of $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,149 for the former and $1,899 / £1,849 / AU$2,849 for the latter — which would be $100 / £100 / AU$150 more than their predecessors.