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The World
China fired 11 ballistic missiles into waters close to ports in Taiwan and conducted other military drills, in an attempt to punish the country for hosting a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Taiwan’s defence ministry said China fired the Dongfeng missiles between 1.56pm and 4pm towards waters north, north-east, south and east of Taiwan, in an “irrational action destroying regional peace”. (Financial Times)
USS Ronald Reagan carrier retreats as mainland China set for day 2 of drills around Taiwan. (South China Morning Post)
Airlines cancel, reroute flights during Chinese military drills near Taiwan. (Reuters)
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi followed her high-profile trip to Taiwan with a visit to South Korea’s border with its nuclear-armed neighbor North Korea. Pelosi is the highest-ranking US official to visit the demilitarized zone (DMZ) since Donald Trump met the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un there in 2019 during unsuccessful denuclearization talks. (The Times)
North Korea has tested explosive devices and begun digging new underground tunnels at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which "paves the way for additional nuclear tests for the development of nuclear weapons," according to a draft U.N. report obtained by Nikkei. The report, which covers the first seven months of this year, details tactics used by Pyongyang to dodge sanctions. It was submitted Wednesday to the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee, and will be released after discussion among the council's permanent members. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Three ships carrying a total of 58,041 tonnes of corn have been authorised to leave Ukrainian ports as part of a deal to unblock grain exports, as a Russian offensive forced Ukraine to cede territory in the east. (Reuters)
Survey: 66% of adults say college doesn’t meet needs of today’s students. Adults across party lines are concerned about the high tuition, student debt and time commitments they associate with getting a college education, according to polling results released in July by Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization. Two-thirds of respondents said they see colleges as “stuck in the past” and not serving the needs of today’s students. Respondents were only moderately supportive of increasing public funding for higher ed generally. But they strongly supported specific state initiatives to expand college access and affordability, and 89% said all high school graduates should have an equal opportunity to get a college education, regardless of race, ethnicity or income. (Higher Ed Dive)
Heat Wave Bakes East Coast, Central U.S.: Boston broke a record set in 1928, while cities in Oklahoma and Texas have seen highs of 100 degrees or more for 20-plus days. (Wall Street Journal)
Just 2 Minutes of Walking After a Meal Is Surprisingly Good for You: A new paper suggests that it takes far less exercise than was previously thought to lower blood sugar after eating. Walking after a meal, conventional wisdom says, helps clear your mind and aids in digestion. Scientists have also found that going for a 15-minute walk after a meal can reduce blood sugar levels, which can help ward off complications such as Type 2 diabetes. But, as it turns out, even just a few minutes of walking can activate these benefits. In a meta-analysis, recently published in the journal Sports Medicine, researchers looked at the results of seven studies that compared the effects of sitting versus standing or walking on measures of heart health, including insulin and blood sugar levels. They found that light walking after a meal, in increments of as little as two to five minutes, had a significant impact in moderating blood sugar levels. (New York Times, Sports Medicine)
Economy
Britain faces a protracted recession and the worst squeeze in living standards in more than 60 years after the Bank of England raised interest rates sharply and forecast inflation would hit 13 per cent by the end of the year. The Bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75 per cent on Thursday, the biggest increase in 27 years. (Financial Times)
Argentina’s inflation rate for July and August will be at the highest levels since President Alberto Fernandez took office in late 2019, according to an Economy Ministry official, as prices spiked significantly further amid political turmoil. (Bloomberg)
Indonesia's economy expands 5.44% in 2nd quarter. (Nikkei Asia Review)
Carvana Cuts Costs as Used-Car Demand Remains Under Pressure: The online used car dealer said reducing expenses is its top priority after focusing for years on aggressive sales growth. (Wall Street Journal)
BlackRock is partnering with Coinbase Global Inc. to make it easier for institutional investors to manage and trade Bitcoin, taking the world’s largest asset manager into a cryptocurrency market hammered by plunging prices and government investigations. Coinbase surged 15% to $92.61 at 1:20 p.m. in New York. The partnership with BlackRock provides some relief for the biggest US crypto-trading platform, whose stock had lost more than two-thirds of its value this year. (Bloomberg)
Mortgage rates sink below 5 percent for the first time in four months: Fears of a recession have caused the 30-year fixed-rate average to reverse course. (Washington Post)
Technology
Why Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai Are Worried About Productivity: Executives at Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Google parent Alphabet are feeling the pressure, so they’re giving employees a kick in the pants. After years of rapid hiring, productivity at the tech giants is suffering, as revenue and free cash flow per employee decline. The reason for falling productivity: Both companies have continued to add employees this year as revenue growth has slowed at Alphabet and reversed at Meta. Alphabet added more than 17,000 employees in the first six months of this year, and Facebook more than 11,000. (The Information)
Warner Bros Discovery calls time on ‘spend, spend, spend’ streaming model: Warner Bros Discovery has called time on Hollywood’s all-in bet on streaming, as it renounced a growth-at-any-cost strategy in favour of a more traditional approach to selling its films and shows for “maximum value”. The strategy shift came as the group warned of a difficult economic outlook and reported a net loss of $3.4bn in its first full quarter as a merged company, highlighting the integration challenges facing the sprawling media group. Warner’s executive team outlined plans to establish a combined streaming service bringing together HBO Max and Discovery Plus, but pointedly described the platform as only “one part” of a broader approach. (Financial Times)
Twitter has accused Elon Musk of creating a “new set of excuses” to avoid honouring his $44bn agreement to buy the social media company, calling his recently filed objections “implausible and contrary to fact”. (Financial Times)
Microsoft starts testing an Xbox Game Pass family plan in Colombia and Ireland, letting users add up to four people in the same country to their subscription. (The Verge)
Researchers repaired cells in damaged pig organs an hour after it died: A new system called OrganEx stopped the deterioration of cells in pig organs one hour after the animal’s death, a finding that suggests cells don’t die as quickly as previously understood. The technology successfully restored blood circulation and repaired damaged cells in the pigs. Why it matters: Experts have called the research “truly remarkable,” adding that if scientists are able to intervene and prevent permanent cell failure, it raises serious questions over how we define a biological death. The study could pave the way to making human organs more viable for transplantation by making them last longer, and in better condition, post-removal, and could also help towards developing methods to treat strokes and heart attacks. (MIT Technology Review)
Virgin Galactic again delays space tourism flights, to second quarter 2023. (CNBC)
Smart Links
Food Delivery Wars Heat Up as 7-Eleven Quietly Acquires a Delivery Startup. (The Information)
DoorDash shrugs off inflation worries with record delivery orders. (Financial Times)
Goldman credit card business under investigation by consumer finance watchdog. (Financial Times)
Zillow Sees Slowing Demand for Ads in Housing Downturn. (Bloomberg)
Beyond Meat Plans to Lay Off 4% of Global Workforce. (Wall Street Journal)
LinkedIn’s 20 most popular courses in 2022 are all free to take right now. (CNBC)