Know someone who would like this newsletter? Forward it to them.
The World
The White House has warned of “actively advancing” arms talks between Russia and North Korea after Vladimir Putin’s defence chief travelled to Pyongyang on a mission to secure ammunition for the invasion of Ukraine. Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s minister of defence, was last month dispatched on the diplomatic mission to secure artillery munitions and an agreement to deepen military co-operation. (Financial Times)
North Korea said it has conducted a tactical nuclear strike drill simulating strikes on South Korea's command posts and airfields in a "warning" against the United States' deployment of strategic bombers to the region, state media reported. "The missile unit fired two tactical ballistic missiles northeastward at Pyongyang International Airport and correctly carried out its nuclear strike mission," news agency KCNA said. (Reuters)
A new nuclear arms race looms: From offices in America’s State Department and Russia’s Ministry of Defence, officials take turns “pinging” each other every couple of hours to check the line is working. Then, almost always, silence. It is the dying heartbeat of global nuclear arms control. Until March the direct link between the Nuclear Risk Reduction Centres (nrrcs) of the world’s two biggest nuclear powers was alive with messages informing each other about the movement of missiles and bombers. Under New start, which came into force in 2011 and which includes caps on long-range nuclear weapons, there were 2,000-odd such notifications in 2022. No longer. The half-yearly updates on warhead numbers have stopped, too. And there have been no on-site inspections since March 2020. (The Economist)
Prigozhin’s Life on the Run: Wagner Chief Used Jets to Evade Tracking for Years: Mercenary leader moved around Russia, blocked surveillance and eluded sanctions until assassination in plane crash. Prigozhin would sometimes shuffle between two or three different jets for a single one-way journey to the African countries where Wagner has contracts to protect leaders and national military juntas. Before landing he would question his crew on how closely ground staff would interact with the aircraft. He frequently conducted meetings in disguise or on runways in his jet in case he was threatened with capture and had to make a swift exit. Last October, Prigozhin landed at an air base in eastern Libya to meet Libyan militia leader Khalifa Haftar, dressed in a military uniform, sporting dark sunglasses and a bushy fake beard and flanked by a security detail. Gleb Irisov, a former Russian air force officer, said he regularly bumped into Prigozhin at the Chkalovsky air base, boarding flights to Africa surrounded by bodyguards. (Wall Street Journal)
US Approves First Arms Sale for Taiwan Under Program for Nations: The US for the first time approved the transfer of weapons to Taiwan under a program usually reserved for sovereign states. The State Department said the transfer under the Foreign Military Financing mechanism didn’t reflect a change in policy on the island’s status. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has repeatedly protested American arms sales. (Bloomberg)
Get Out of Haiti as Soon as You Can, US Tells Its Citizens: The US government urged its citizens to leave Haiti as soon as possible, as escalating gang violence makes it harder to travel. In a statement, the US embassy in the country said commercial flights are filling up so quickly that seats may only be available days or weeks in advance. (Bloomberg)
Female surgeons have lower rates of long-term adverse outcomes than their male peers: A new study published in JAMA Surgery suggests that patients treated by female surgeons have lower rates of adverse postoperative long-term outcomes including death compared to similar patients treated by male surgeons. Long-term is defined as any outcome within 90 days or within a year. The new study builds on previous research that had similar findings about patient outcomes related to the sex of the surgeon, but within 30 days, the traditional time period used to examine surgical outcomes, including in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. (STAT News)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made a round of calls to his allies in and around the GOP leadership following a second public appearance in which he appeared unable to speak. McConnell called Senate Minority Whip John Thune and Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso, as well as Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), both close allies. A Thune aide said McConnell “sounded like his usual self and was in good spirits.” A Cornyn spokesperson said McConnell told the Texas Republican he was doing well. Thune, Cornyn and Barrasso – the “Three Johns” – are seen as likely candidates to be the next Republican leader if and when McConnell steps down. Thune would be the favorite. (Punchbowl News)
Emperor penguins flee melting ice: Last year was catastrophic for Emperor penguin breeding in Antarctica because of the record-low extent of winter sea ice. Satellite images revealed that penguins abandoned all but one of their breeding colonies in the Bellingshausen Sea. “This one event is not going to doom the species,” says seabird ecologist Annie Schmidt. But for these colonies — about 10,000 breeding pairs in total — “I think we’re past the tipping point”, says ecologist Gerald Kooyman. Climate change is the key cause, but scientists recommend limiting fishing and tourism so that penguins are at least well-fed and less stressed. (Science)
Hurricane Idalia plowed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday with fierce winds, torrential rains and pounding surf before weakening but turning its fury on southeastern Georgia, where floodwaters trapped some residents in their homes. Hours after Idalia slammed ashore as a powerful Category 3 hurricane at Keaton Beach in Florida's Big Bend region packing winds of about 125 mph (201 kph), authorities were still trying to assess the full extent of damage in the hardest-hit areas. (Reuters)
Economy
Restaurant managers, store supervisors and millions of other salaried workers would be eligible for time-and-a-half pay if they log more than 40 hours a week, under a rule proposed by the Biden administration. Workers who make around $55,000 a year or less would be eligible for overtime by default under the plan—extending eligibility to 3.6 million more workers, the Labor Department said Wednesday. The proposed rule would raise the annual salary threshold from the current $35,568 a year, set at the start of 2020. The median full-time worker in the U.S. makes around $57,000 a year, according to separate Labor Department data. (Wall Street Journal)
Fed Ramps Up Demands for Corrective Actions by Regional Banks: US regulators are quietly demanding that regional lenders shore up their liquidity planning, part of a ramp-up in efforts to tighten supervision in the wake of three bank failures earlier this year. The Federal Reserve has issued a slew of private warnings to lenders with assets of $100 billion to $250 billion, including Citizens Financial Group Inc., Fifth Third Bancorp and M&T Bank Corp., according to people with knowledge of the matter. The wide-ranging notices have touched on everything from lenders’ capital and liquidity to their technology and compliance, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential supervisory information. (Bloomberg)
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo talked up American firms' desire to do business in China and her hopes for further engagement with Chinese officials on market access, after earlier comments over China being "uninvestible." (Reuters)
McDonald’s must face racial discrimination lawsuit tied to CEO texts over Chicago shooting deaths, judge rules. The former head of McDonald's corporate security alleges he was retaliated against after pushing back on comments Chris Kempczinski made during a town hall the CEO held discussing the text messages. (Chicago Tribune)
Visa and Mastercard are planning to increase fees that many merchants pay when they accept customers’ credit cards. The fee increases are scheduled to start in October and April, according to people familiar with the matter and documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Many of the increases are for online purchases. The changes could result in merchants paying an additional $502 million annually in fees, according to CMSPI, a consulting company that works with merchants. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Google is selling broad access to its most powerful artificial-intelligence technology for the first time as it races to make up ground in the lucrative cloud-software market. Thomas Kurian, chief executive officer of Google Cloud, outlined the offerings to thousands of customers at Google’s annual cloud conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, while making widely available a number of tools that can help draft emails or summarize lengthy documents stored in the cloud. The new products will intensify competition with Microsoft, the second-largest cloud provider, and OpenAI, the ChatGPT creator it has backed with billions of dollars. Both companies already sell access to the latest AI technology behind the popular ChatGPT bot, but Google’s launch puts it ahead of Microsoft in making AI-powered office software easily available for all customers. (Wall Street Journal)
‘They would not listen to us’: inside Arizona’s troubled chip plant: Taiwanese microchip manufacturer TSMC blames struggle to build Phoenix plant on skilled labor shortage but workers cite disorganization and safety concerns. The Phoenix microchip plant – the centerpiece of Biden’s $52.7bn US hi-tech manufacturing agenda – is struggling to get online. The plant’s owner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the largest chip maker in the world, has pushed back plans to start manufacturing to 2025, blaming a lack of skilled labor. It is trying to fast-track visas for 500 Taiwanese workers. Unions, meanwhile, are accusing TSMC of inventing the skills shortage as an excuse to hire cheaper, foreign labor. Others point to safety issues at the plant. (The Guardian)
Google now tells you the cheapest dates to book a flight: Google will let you know when the lowest prices for the trips are, compared with the average, and the cheapest dates to book between. (CNBC)
The US government just helped dismantle a massive network of computers infected with one of the world’s most notorious pieces of malware. According to the FBI, a multinational effort led by the US took down Qakbot, a malware that made its way into over 700,000 computers around the globe. Hackers typically target victims with Qakbot by sending them spam emails containing malicious attachments or links. As soon as a victim downloads the attachment or clicks the link, Qakbot infects their computer, which then becomes part of a botnet — or a network of infected computers controlled remotely by hackers. From there, bad actors can install additional malware on their victims’ devices, such as ransomware. To take down the network, the FBI routed Qakbot through FBI-controlled servers, where it instructed infected computers in the US and elsewhere to download software that uninstalled the Qakbot malware. The installer also separated infected computers from the botnet, “preventing further installation of malware through Qakbot.” As noted by the DOJ, the action was only limited to the malware installed by Qakbot actors and “did not extend to remediating other malware already installed on the victim computers.” (The Verge)
Smart Links
US Health Officials Urge Moving Pot to Lower-Risk Category. (Bloomberg)
Governments have put $1 billion toward making better meat alternatives. A lot more is needed. (Vox)
Salesforce shares jump as price increases underpin outlook upgrade. (Financial Times)
DOJ, SEC Investigate Tesla Over Secret Glass House Project. (Wall Street Journal)
France’s Pinault Nears $7 Billion Deal for Talent Agency CAA. (Bloomberg)