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The World
The U.S. Embassy warned Americans to stay away from the Kabul airport and told anyone outside the perimeter to “leave immediately,” citing unnamed security threats. The British and Australian governments issued similar warnings, with Australian officials describing “an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack.” The warnings came as the last of the estimated 1,500 Americans and countless other foreigners still in Afghanistan try to make it to the airport to leave before the U.S. withdrawal on Aug. 31. Thousands of Afghan nationals are camped outside the perimeter of the airport in desperate attempts to escape on the last flights out, some with documents allowing them to leave. (New York Times)
Taliban takeover is a boon for cash-strapped Iran: Iran this week restarted fuel exports to Afghanistan that had been disrupted by fighting between the Taliban and forces under the now deposed Afghan government, traders in Tehran and former U.S. officials say, with the Taliban now providing critical dollars to the sanctions-crushed Iranian economy from its lucrative narcotics operations. The burgeoning trade relationship between Tehran and the Taliban threatens to undermine key U.S. pressure campaigns against both. (Wall Street Journal)
Voters are increasingly OK with the Taliban takeover as a consequence of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan: 47% said they support withdrawing U.S. military forces from Afghanistan even if the Taliban controls Afghanistan; 45% said the same of creating an opening for terrorists to establish operations. Further, most U.S. voters support relocating Afghans to the U.S. – but more would send them elsewhere: 55% said they support the relocation of Afghans to the U.S., but GOP voters are divided. (Morning Consult)
More people in Florida are catching the coronavirus, being hospitalized and dying of Covid-19 now than at any previous point in the pandemic, underscoring the perils of limiting public health measures as the Delta variant rips through the state. This week, 227 virus deaths were being reported each day in Florida, on average, as of Tuesday, a record for the state and by far the most in the U.S. right now. (New York Times)
Delta Airlines pivoted to a more-punitive approach toward getting its workforce vaccinated against Covid-19, saying unvaccinated workers will pay a $200 monthly health insurance surcharge and could lose pay protection for missing work due to the disease. (Wall Street Journal)
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul revealed 12,000 more people died of Covid-19 than was reported under her disgraced predecessor. (U.S. News & World Report)
Vice President Kamala Harris began her visit to Vietnam by pledging Washington would continue to keep a robust footprint in the South China Sea and would donate 1 million more vaccine doses. (Nikkei Asian Review)
With only a month until voters determine Chancellor Angela Merkel’s successor, her party has lost what had seemed a near certain path to victory, breaking open the German election and raising the chances of a government led by the centre-left Social Democrats. Armin Laschet, candidate for Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats, is now under pressure to step up his campaign and prevent what could become his party’s worst electoral outcome in 70 years. Germany watchers are also for the first time in this campaign considering the possibility of not only a left-leaning coalition, but a government that excludes the CDU entirely. For the first time in 15 years, the SPD has squeaked ahead in polls. The latest Forsa survey has the SPD at 23% compared to the CDU’s 22%. In betting markets, the SPD has a 50-50 chance of leading the next government after the September 26 vote. (Financial Times)
Canadian election gamble by Justin Trudeau backfires: Justin Trudeau’s political future is on a knife-edge after his party’s five-point lead in the polls evaporated within days of calling next month’s snap election. Most polls now have the Canadian prime minister’s Liberal Party and the opposition Conservatives neck and neck, and one shows the Tories ahead by two points. (The Times)
Europe breaks record for hottest year: Europe experienced its hottest year on record last year by a large margin and with the average temperature almost 2C higher than the period from 1981 to 2010. Many countries reported their highest annual average temperatures, including France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine. The UK had its third hottest year on record in 2020, after 2014 and 2006, with the average temperature 0.78C above the 1981-2010 baseline. Across Europe the increase on the same baseline was 1.9C. (The Times)
Economy
Business leaders in sectors ranging from tech to insurance committed billions of dollars to beefing up cybersecurity efforts at a meeting with President Biden. The White House said Apple would create a program devoted to making security improvements across their technology supply chains. Google said it would invest more than $10 billion over five years to strengthen cybersecurity and pledged to train 100,000 Americans in technical fields. Microsoft committed $20 billion over five years to deliver more advanced security tools. IBM said it would train more than 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills in three years, while partnering with historically Black colleges and universities to help diversify the workforce. (CNBC)
The U.S. has leapfrogged Australia as the leading exporter of frozen beef to China, with Chinese trade data further highlighting the fallout from ongoing tensions between Canberra and Beijing while helping further the progress of the phase-one trade deal. Australia has traditionally exported more frozen beef to China, but since April its exports have plunged, with the gap between the two widening quickly in favor of the U.S. (South China Morning Post)
South Korea’s central bank raised interest rates in a decision that was expected as financial risks heat up despite the virus threat. The Bank of Korea raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.75% for the first time in nearly three years, becoming the first developed economy to raise interest rates during the pandemic era. (CNBC)
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to push a tax deal on an Irish visit. The Elysée Palace says there are ‘signals’ Irish politicians are ready to work on increasing corporate tax to 15%. (Politico)
U.S.-based Western Digital Corp is in advanced talks on a possible $20 billion stock merger with Japanese chipmaker and partner Kioxia Holdings Corp.The companies could reach an agreement as early as mid-September, and Western Digital Chief Executive Officer David Goeckeler would run the combined firm. (Reuters)
Technology
Canalys released its quarterly U.S. PC sales, and while the news was quite good with sales overall up 17% YoY, the growth slowed significantly from the prior quarter when sales soared to 74% pushed by the pandemic. HP retained top spot for the second straight quarter with 21.9% of the market, up over 20% from the previous year. Apple remained in the second spot with a 20.6% share. It’s worth noting, however, that Apple’s growth fell -2.8% for the year. Dell was in third place with 15.6%, followed by Lenovo with 12.4%. (TechCrunch)
A new GAO report found that 19 of the 24 US government agencies surveyed are using facial recognition in some way, illustrating how commonplace the controversial technology has become within the federal government. The list of agencies includes agencies like the Department of Defense and DHS that maintain in-house systems, alongside smaller agencies that use the system to control access to high-security locations. (The Verge)
A recent survey of more than 22,000 LinkedIn users found that the software and IT sector was the only one where most employers were allowing for permanent hybrid work. (Protocol)
How Big Tech Secretly Secured $800 Million In Tax Breaks For Data Centers: Local governments are dangling hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to persuade companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft to build server farms in their backyards. But the deals are shrouded in secrecy and the average cost of $1 million per job raises questions about their value. (Forbes)
Smart Links
Desperate U.S. cities pitch Wall Street-style sign-on bonuses. (Bloomberg)
Wall Street stocks hit highs ahead of Jackson Hole. (Financial Times)
Salesforce sales jump on pandemic-fueled demand for cloud services. (Wall Street Journal)
UK car manufacturing collapses to 65-year low. (The Times)
Toll Brothers CEO says the drop in ‘crazy high’ lumber prices will save $40,000 per home. (CNBC)
How chronic stress leads to hair loss: Study. (Harvard Gazette, Nature)
Cerebras Systems claims its hardware can now run a neural network with 120 trillion parameters, targeting a nascent market for massive NLP AI algorithms. (Wired)