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Good morning, here's what we're going to cover today:
Iran's message to Western leaders
NASA discovers liquid water on Mars
Embarrassing Pentagon policy shift toward Chinese company Hesai
But first, former President Donald Trump interviewed billionaire Elon Musk on X yesterday, slamming “bad people in our government” who he called more “dangerous” than foreign adversaries like Russia and China.
Trump praised the leaders of Russia, China and North Korea, saying they were “tough, they're smart and they're brutal.”
Musk also accused Democrats of staging a “coup” to replace presidential candidate Joe Biden with Kamala Harris, later suggesting the president was in a “near vegetative state” and that the party had “taken him out behind a shed and essentially shot him.”
Trump criticized Harris for being a moderate on issues such as immigration, saying, “She was a far-left San Francisco liberal and now she wants to be more Trump than Trump is.”
Critics have said the Trump campaign has failed to mount a coherent attack on Harris since she officially became the presidential candidate, citing Trump's ramblings about her during the two-hour interview as a prime example of that.
He also lashed out at the European Union. “We have a $250 billion deficit with the EU and people don't know that,” he said. “The 'European Union' sounds really nice. But frankly, they're not as tough as China, but they're bad. And I've let them know that… No, they're not treating our country well.”
Other things I'm focusing on today are:
Economic Data: US releases Producer Price Index inflation data for July.
Results: CSL, HelloFresh, Henkel, Home Depot, JustGroup, Porsche,
Sun Life Financial Report.
Don't miss tomorrow's subscriber-only webinar where Unhed's Robert Armstrong and FT experts from London to Tokyo will analyse the recent trading turmoil.
Five more top stories
1. Iran has criticized Western leaders for urging them not to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. The White House said it was preparing for a “series of significant attacks” that could be carried out as early as “this week.”
Learn more: Since the assassination of a Hamas political leader in Iran, Iran has kept the region on edge and given few clues about how it might retaliate.
2. With a recession surpassing inflation as the market's main concern, investors are flocking back to bonds, which have proven their value as a hedge against the recent stock market turmoil.
3. Scientists have discovered a reservoir of liquid water deep in the Martian crust, a groundbreaking discovery that suggests life may have existed on Mars.
4. China's Hesai, the world's largest manufacturer of laser sensors for EVs, is set to be removed from the Pentagon's blacklist of Chinese military-related companies, in an embarrassing reversal for the Pentagon.
5. Around 80 Nobel laureates and former world leaders have spoken out against the removal of specific references to fossil fuels from a draft UN climate agreement. The new draft replaces language about “accelerating” the “transition away from fossil fuels” with a call for climate action “based on the best available science.”
News Details
Simone Biles celebrates winning gold on the vault at the Paris Olympics © Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
With the Paris Olympics over, athletes have had plenty of time to decompress after a long summer of breaking records and pushing the limits of human potential. But for many, the biggest challenge comes in the weeks and months after the Games, when the luster of competition begins to fade. So how do Olympians combat the post-Olympic blues?
We are also reading…
Defense: Russia is training its navy to attack bases deep in Europe with nuclear-capable missiles in preparation for a potential conflict with NATO, according to secret files obtained by the Financial Times.
The rise of branded games: Companies moving onto platforms like Roblox find that balancing brand building and entertainment for the community with clever advertising remains a challenge.
Today's Chart
Nearly half of job seekers are using artificial intelligence tools to improve the quality of their applications, overwhelming recruiters with a flood of poor-quality resumes and cover letters in an already sluggish labor market. A recent study found that people who used the free version of ChatGPT were less likely to pass a psychological test, while those who used the paid version were more likely to pass.
Take a break from the news
AI influencers have sparked conversations about inclusion in fashion media, raising difficult questions about what authentic representation looks like.
Etro's spring '24 campaign was created by feeding detailed text prompts into an imagery AI platform.
Additional contributions by Benjamin Wilhelm and Erwin Crews
