Belarus Tech & Society: Belarus’s inland waterways are getting a scientific upgrade: the Dnieper–Bug Canal’s eastern-slope facilities and Prypiats River hydraulic infrastructure will be reconstructed as water levels keep falling, with plans to improve navigation depth to at least 2.5 meters for most of the season. Cybersecurity & Privacy: Citizen Lab reports that a former Greek MEP who investigated Pegasus was himself repeatedly hacked with Pegasus while serving on the EU’s PEGA committee, using zero-click methods tied to Apple HomeKit/iMessage—another reminder that spyware can hit the people studying it. Digital Infrastructure & Censorship: A new look at Telegram in 2026 shows how state blocks are increasingly met with everyday workarounds, as filtering shifts from simple IP blocking to traffic-pattern scrutiny. Tech Policy & Governance: Wikimedia is ramping up lobbying and advertising while tightening access controls for scrapers, as it battles over who gets to use the world’s biggest encyclopedia and how harassment/surveillance risks are handled. Security & Geopolitics: NATO’s eastern flank remains in focus as reports claim Russia may stage a limited “provocation” on Poland (including drone or simulated strikes) to test alliance resolve—raising the stakes for regional defense readiness.