Postal Service prepares for Trump's voting restrictions

Plus: Is medical testing making us healthier?  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Richard Hall | August 24, 2026     Hey there and welcome to The Brief. French was once considered the language of diplomacy, but a dispute over Canada’s French-language laws has been blamed for the breakdown of trade talks with the United States. Read on if you want to know just how seriously Canada takes bilingualism. We’re also looking at how the Postal Service is preparing for mail-in voting restrictions and humanoid robots smashing world records in track and field. IN TODAY’S BRIEF Trump’s new restrictions on mail-in voting Do medical tests make us healthier? Trump and Cohen make peace How the French language sank U.S.-Canada talks 300,000 new Russian troops Humanoids are breaking records         READ THIS FIRST What to know about the USPS’s rules for mail-in ballots A United States Postal Service mail collection box is seen on a street in New York City, United States, on August 7, 2026. Marcin Golba—NurPhoto The United States Postal Service (USPS) on Friday issued a 95-page final rule that it plans to implement immediately if the government obtains relief from two existing injunctions. It would require USPS employees to verify that outbound federal ballot mailings comply with new envelope, barcode, and data-reporting requirements before accepting them from election officials. The rule was designed to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order from March 31. It directs the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Social Security Administration, to compile and send lists of adult citizens in each state. Separately, it directs USPS to establish state-specific lists of people to whom election officials intend to send mail-in or absentee ballots, along with unique ballot-envelope identifiers. A ​pair of court ‌orders blocks the rule from taking effect before midterm elections in November. —Rebecca Schneid         SPONSORED Hiring in a new country? Read this first. Every country has different employment laws, payroll requirements, notice periods, and benefits expectations. Oyster's Global Hiring Guides help you navigate the details, avoid surprises, and hire with confidence—wherever you're growing next. Get the country guides         THE VIEW Why more medical testing doesn’t always make us healthier Lu ShaoJi—Getty Images Today, if you wish, you can get a staggering amount of granular data about your health without your doctor’s involvement. All on your own, you can get an MRI of your entire body, a CT of your coronary calcium, an ultrasound of your blood vessels, and maybe someday an immersion ultrasound in a spa.  Direct-to-consumer medical imaging tests are a huge and growing business worth billions of dollars. Over 100,000 Americans are already customers. But do these test results actually make us healthier?  It turns out to be surprisingly complicated.  Many companies encourage us to assume their test improves our health. In such cases, the information we are buying may help us, hurt us, or be a placebo and do nothing at all. —Dr. Matthew S. Davenport         VIEW FROM D.C. ’They weaponized you’: Trump and Michael Cohen make peace Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, departs his Manhattan apartment for prison on May 6, 2019.Spencer Platt—Getty Images President Donald Trump has buried the hatchet with his former attorney Michael Cohen, appearing on Cohen’s radio show in what was the first public exchange between the two men in eight years. Cohen worked as Trump’s personal lawyer dating back to the mid-2000s. But he severed ties with Trump around 2018, when he pleaded guilty to federal crimes, including campaign finance violations, and said he had made payments to two women at Trump’s direction in an effort to keep them from speaking publicly about alleged affairs with the then-presidential candidate.  “You and I have obviously traveled a pretty rocky road together,” Cohen said to Trump on his radio show 77 WABC-AM in New York on Thursday. The program aired in its entirety on Sunday. —Connor Greene         SPONSORED Never worry about roaming again Stay connected on every trip with Saily eSIM plans. From beach vacations to business travel, access data in 200+ destinations. VIP perks available. Activate instantly upon arrival. Download SAILY in your app store and use code newsletter15 at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase. Get 15% off now Chat support available 24/7. Get a full refund if your device isn’t eSIM compatible.         IN FOCUS How the French language sank a U.S.-Canada trade deal Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new U.S. tariffs in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. Patrick Doyle—The Canadian Press via Associated Press The United States and Canada appeared to be on the brink of reaching a trade deal that would have ended a punishing tariff battle between the two historic allies. But after weeks of grueling negotiations, the talks broke down at the last minute over the weekend.  According to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, disagreements over auto-industry tariffs and Canada’s right to negotiate trade deals with other countries were among the reasons for their failure.  Another cause, no less important, was a U.S. demand for concessions regarding Canada’s French-language laws. Carney had framed other U.S. demands as attacks on Canadian sovereignty, but he argued this was something more—an attack on its very identity.   “We were ready and close to having a comprehensive agreement that would be fair to both countries,” Carney said, in French, at a press conference in Ottawa on Saturday. “But they made changes, including threats on the French language and Quebec culture and Canadian culture. That is not acceptable. That would never be acceptable.” Canada is a bilingual country that views bilingualism as crucial to its core values of inclusiveness and diversity, its history, and national unity. Canadian law requires all federal services to be offered in both English and French, and each province has the power to enact its own language laws. While Carney didn’t provide details on the concessions the U.S. government was trying to extract regarding the laws, the premier of the majority-French-speaking province of Quebec, Christine Fréchette, said the Americans had aimed to skirt a requirement that French be included on consumer devices, such as electronics and household appliances, and in user manuals.  “Our culture, our language, is central to our identity, and it is important to exclude that from the negotiating table,” Fréchette said, declaring it a “red line.”  Trump’s trade officials have previously raised concerns about Quebec’s language regulations, claiming they could negatively impact U.S. businesses, despite Carney declaring them “off the table.”  It’s unclear why the Trump Administration sought to add those concessions at the last minute, but a byproduct of Trump’s trade war with Canada appears to be a dramatic rise in Carney’s popularity, and a dampening of separatist sentiment in Quebec.         ONE NUMBER 300,000 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects Russia to draft an additional 300,000 troops to bolster its war effort following parliamentary elections in September. "We believe it will not ​take ⁠place in the central cities," he said, “but I don't think they will be able to hide it very well." SOURCE: REUTERS         A VIRAL MOMENT The humanoids have arrived It was seen as a watershed moment in the relationship between humans and technology when a computer first defeated the world’s reigning chess champion, Garry Kasparov, in 1997. This week, robots have been smashing human-held world records in athletics at the World Humanoid Robot Games, taking both the 100 and 400-meter records.         SPONSORED Slack replies in seconds. Not minutes. Dictate into Slack, email, LinkedIn, or any app and get polished, send-ready text. Wispr Flow strips filler and formats everything. 89% of messages sent with zero edits. Works on Mac, Windows, and iPhone. Start flowing free       Linked In this addictive word-association game, find the steps that will unite two seemingly unrelated words in just four moves. 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