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The World
The first detailed results of the 2020 census show a diversifying nation where the total white population shrank for the first time in its history and where large metropolitan areas, especially in the South and Southwest, saw the strongest growth. The populations of people who identify as Hispanic and Asian surged and the number of people who said they were more than one race more than doubled. The nation’s population grew just 7.4% during the decade, the second slowest on record for a decennial census. Only the 1930s—the era of the Great Depression—saw slower growth. 51% of the total U.S. population growth in the latest period came from increases among Hispanic or Latino residents. (Wall Street Journal, New York Times)
Booming Latino populations are helping GOP states like Texas gain new seats in Congress: The release of new census data kicks off a redistricting process that will test the clout of Latino activists and the ability of Republican leaders to hold on to power in the face of changing demographics. (Washington Post)
The Biden administration will send thousands of troops to Afghanistan to help airlift American personnel and local allies out of Kabul, U.S. officials said Thursday, as rapid advances by the Taliban intensified the existential threat facing the Afghan state. Approximately 3,000 combat troops will deploy to the international airport in Kabul. A UK deployment will include 600 troops for speeding up evacuations of some diplomatic personnel and Afghans who worked with British forces. (Washington Post, Financial Times)
Two more major cities in western and southern Afghanistan were on the verge of collapse to the Taliban, as the insurgency’s race to seize control of the country accelerated. With the Taliban’s sudden gains in Kandahar, in the country’s southern Pashtun heartland, and Herat, a vital cultural and economic hub, the insurgents appear to be nearing a complete military takeover. Only four major cities — including the capital, Kabul — remain under government control, and two of them are under siege by the Taliban. (New York Times)
Migrant border arrests in July surged to the highest level in 21 years. Nearly 200,000 people were arrested as tens of thousands of families and unaccompanied minors crossed the border. (Wall Street Journal)
Wildfires, US winter storms and tornadoes in Europe helped deal an estimated $40bn blow to global insurers in 1H21, marking the worst start to a year for natural catastrophe insurance in a decade. Reinsurance group Swiss Re said extreme weather caused by climate change and rapid urban development in disaster-prone areas had driven “ever higher natural catastrophe losses.” It represented the biggest insured first-half loss since earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand in 2011, and the second biggest on record for the period. (Financial Times)
San Francisco became the first major U.S. city to mandate full vaccination for indoor activities. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Texas warns Austin restaurants that their liquor licenses could be revoked for requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccinations. (Texas Tribune)
The Supreme Court allowed Indiana University to require students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who oversees the federal appeals court in question, turned down the students’ request for emergency relief without comment, which is the court’s custom in ruling on emergency applications. She acted on her own, without referring the application to the full court, and she did not ask the university for a response. Both of those moves were indications that the application was not on solid legal footing. (New York Times)
Mississippi will open a 50-bed field hospital and the federal government will send medical professionals to help treat patients as COVID-19 cases continue surging in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S. (Associated Press)
Economy
Home prices surged in almost every corner of the U.S. in 2Q21 as robust demand continued to overwhelm the supply of homes for sale. While the homebuying frenzy has shown signs of a slowdown in recent months, home-price growth has yet to cool. The median sales price for single-family existing homes was higher in 2Q21 compared with a year ago for 182 of the 183 metro areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors. In 94% of those metro areas, median prices rose by more than 10% from a year earlier. (Wall Street Journal)
U.K. exports of goods to the European Union were above pre-Brexit levels for a second month in June, half a year after the country severed trade ties with the bloc. Exports to the EU rose to £14.3 billion and imports increased to £19.1 billion. Still, that widened the U.K. merchandise deficit with the 27-member group by 7.4% compared to May. Exports of live animals, meat and dairy products to the EU grew 14% in June compared to a year before. U.K. producers in the food and agriculture industries have been facing the burden of checks and regulations the bloc put forth. Exports of fish and shellfish, another key exporting industry, increased 17%, while exports of iron and steel jumped 61% from the year before. (Bloomberg)
Office opening delays:
Facebook delays its office reopenings in the U.S. until January 2022; Facebook originally hoped for 50% office capacity by September and 100% by October. (Bloomberg)
McDonald’s Corp. said that all of the company’s U.S. corporate workers must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 27 and postponed the official reopening date of its headquarters and other domestic offices to Oct. 11 from Sept. 7 to allow time for U.S. workers to get vaccinated and build up immunity. (Wall Street Journal)
Capital One also delayed the reopening date for its offices from Sept 7. to Nov. 2. NBCUniversal, which had been planning for a large-scale return to the office after Labor Day, is moving that date to Oct. 18 at the earliest. (Wall Street Journal)
The bipartisan infrastructure deal could unlock a new stream of private funding for climate tech — and Bill Gates wants in on the action. Gates’ climate investment fund says that if the infrastructure bill moves forward, it will match $1.5 billion in government funds and put that money toward projects that are developing green technologies. Breakthrough Energy, Gates’ climate fund, laid out four different uses for the money: developing green hydrogen fuels, sustainable aviation fuels, energy storage, and technologies that take carbon dioxide out of the air. (The Verge)
Crypto giant Circle has announced its intention to become a bank, fully regulated by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC. We're still a very long way from this happening. But if it does, Circle's USDC stablecoin could become a de facto central bank digital currency. (Axios)
Technology
Workers increasingly steal company data during ‘turnover tsunami’: Employees are taking sensitive computer code from their own companies at three times the rate they were a year ago, according to new research into so-called insider threats, as record numbers of disgruntled workers quit their jobs with pandemic restrictions easing. (Financial Times)
Reddit raised $410 million in Series F funding at a valuation of more than $10 billion led by Fidelity. It expects to raise up to $700 million. Reddit raised $250 million at a $6 billion valuation just six months ago. (Pro Rata)
Disney outpaces streaming rivals as it doubles subscribers in a year: Disney signed up 12m subscribers to its flagship streaming service in the most recent quarter, doubling its customer base from a year ago and outpacing rivals such as Netflix. The company reached 116m subscribers in the quarter ending on July 3, double the 58m it had drawn a year ago. In comparison, Netflix added just 1.5m subscribers during the same quarter, losing some 430,000 customers in the US and Canada and fueling concerns that it is vulnerable to new competition. (Financial Times)
Discovery, the US media group, said it would take legal action against Poland’s government, accusing the country of a “discriminatory campaign” against its Polish business, TVN. (Financial Times)
Streaming media intelligence specialist Conviva published its latest quarterly "State of Streaming" report this week. Tidbits that stood out: 1) Streaming grew 13% in Q2 compared to the same quarter last year. 2) Most of that growth happened elsewhere. North American viewing hours were up 2%, but streaming in South America grew by a whopping 192%. 3) Minutes per streaming session were down 3% globally, which Conviva attributes to a slow shift away from TV viewing back to mobile video. 4) 73% of global viewing hours happened on smart TVs and TV-connected streaming devices, with mobile accounting for just 11%. (Protocol, Conviva)
A backlash over Apple's move to scan U.S. customer phones and computers for child sex abuse images has grown to include employees speaking out internally, a notable turn in a company famed for its secretive culture, as well as provoking intensified protests from leading technology policy groups. Apple employees have flooded an Apple internal Slack channel with more than 800 messages on the plan announced a week ago, workers who asked not to be identified told Reuters. Many expressed worries that the feature could be exploited by repressive governments looking to find other material for censorship or arrests, according to workers who saw the days-long thread. (Reuters)
Smart Links
Office cliques created by hybrid working could trigger major company culture issues. (Wired UK)
Mailchimp is exploring a sale at $10 billion-plus valuation. (Bloomberg)
Messi joins crypto craze as gets part of PSG fee in fan tokens. (Reuters)
Adidas sells Reebok for up to €2.1bn to Authentic Brands. (Financial Times)
Despite digital focus, more direct-to-consumer brands see value in TV ads. (The Information)