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The World
President Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in remarks at the White House, blaming the Taliban’s takeover on the unwillingness of the Afghan army to fight the militant group and arguing that remaining in the country was not in the U.S. national interest. “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves,” Biden said. (Washington Post)
China is ‘willing’ to work with U.S. on Afghanistan, but calls for easing of other pressures. In a flurry of diplomatic calls, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken secured Beijing’s support for cooperation, but not at any price. Blinken has also spoken to Russia’s foreign minister and discussions have also been held between Moscow and Beijing. (South China Morning Post)
Taliban won't have access to central bank reserves held in U.S. (Axios)
The Biden administration has decided that most Americans should get a coronavirus booster shot eight months after they completed their initial vaccination, and could begin offering the extra shots as early as mid-September. The first boosters are likely to go to nursing home residents and health care workers, followed by other older people who were near the front of the line when vaccinations began late last year. Officials envision giving people the same vaccine they originally received. Among other worrisome signals, Biden administration officials are particularly concerned about data from Israel suggesting that the Pfizer-BioNTech’s protection against severe disease has fallen significantly for elderly people who were vaccinated in January or February. (New York Times)
Pfizer and partner BioNTech have submitted data to U.S. health regulators needed to clear a Covid-19 booster shot among the general public. The companies sent to the FDA results from a small, early-stage study showing a third dose of their vaccine generated higher levels of neutralizing antibodies against the original virus and against the Beta and Delta variants than the standard two-dose regimen. The addition of the third dose also appeared safe in the trial, the companies said. (Wall Street Journal)
Five states broke records for the average number of daily new Covid cases over the weekend as the delta variant strains hospital systems across the U.S. and forces many states to reinstate public health restrictions. Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, Oregon and Mississippi all reached new peaks in their seven-day average of new cases per day as of Sunday. (CNBC)
Rescue workers and doctors with little equipment worked feverishly to save victims of the massive earthquake in southwestern Haiti as a powerful storm threatened to unleash flooding and further snarl aid efforts. Heavy rains started dousing the country, creating yet another crisis for exhausted, newly homeless people who needed shelter. Officials estimated that Tropical Depression Grace would dump five to 10 inches of rain on the region by Tuesday. “We’re pleading for help,” Marie-Helene L’Esperance, mayor of the harbor town of Pestel, told Haiti’s Pacific Radio. (Washington Post)
The federal government declared a first-ever water shortage on the Colorado River, announcing mandatory cutbacks next year that will bring major challenges for Arizona farmers and reduce the water allotments of Nevada and Mexico. The declaration of a shortage by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been anticipated for months and was triggered by the spiraling decline of Lake Mead, which stores water used by Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico. The reservoir near Las Vegas has fallen to its lowest levels since Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s and is continuing to drop after years of chronic overuse and drought intensified by climate change. It now stands at just 35% of full capacity. (AZ Central)
The U.S. incarceration rate in 2019 dropped to its lowest since 1995, according to new data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The dip reflects a decline in violent and property crimes in recent decades, as well as a decrease in the nationwide arrest rate. (Axios)
Economy
‘Lay out the strategy’: Corporate America grows impatient on President Biden’s China trade review. American companies were glad to see Biden review Trump’s trade policies toward China, but eight months later, they have seen little change on tariffs or other issues bedeviling their business in the world’s second-largest economy. (Politico)
The market cap for all cryptocurrencies hit $2 trillion for the first time in three months after recoveries by bitcoin, ethereum and, yes, dogecoin. (The Information)
They ditched the office for the farm: More young Americans are joining the agriculture sector and changing what it means to work as a farmer. Only 8% of farm producers were under 35 in the 2017 USDA census, the most recent available, compared with 34% over 65. Though the workforce skews much older—their average age was 57.5 in 2017—youth representation is growing. From 2012 to 2017, the number of producers under age 35 grew 11% to about 285,000, while producers age 35-64 had shrunk by 2%. The median annual wage for farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers was about $68,000 in May 2020. These younger farmers often don’t have a family background in farming and are more comfortable using high-tech methods and software. (Wall Street Journal)
In the UK, traditional high street banks have been left behind by their online rivals for customer service standards during the pandemic, the Competition and Markets Authority has found. (The Times)
For senior managers at many firms, the shift to remote work came with a huge concern: Would the loss of in-person conversations keep them from mentoring or simply establishing rapport with employees, especially rookie workers? New research, based on a first-of-its-kind field experiment at a large North American company, provides plenty of reassurance, showing that regular Zoom chats with managers fosters solid career-building connections for new workers. In fact, informal “virtual watercooler” sessions in which interns chat with managers regularly online significantly improve the performance and satisfaction of workers and boost the chances of hiring them permanently, according to a new study. (Harvard Business School)
Year-to-date global M&A activity has already topped the total for FY2020. (Axios)
Technology
T-Mobile confirmed hackers gained access to the telecom giant's systems. The move comes after Motherboard reported that T-Mobile was investigating a post on an underground forum offering for sale Social Security Numbers and other private data. The seller told Motherboard that 100 million people had their data compromised in the breach. In the forum post, they were offering data on 30 million people for 6 bitcoin, or around $270,000. (Vice)
Google and Facebook say they will participate in a subsea cable system linking Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, and Indonesia, launching 2024. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. government has opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot partially automated driving system after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles. The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles, almost everything that Tesla has sold in the U.S. since the start of the 2014 model year. Of the crashes identified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of the probe, 17 people were injured and one was killed. (Associated Press)
Instacart is forecasts to lose market share to DoorDash, Uber. In 2020, Instacart held an estimated 84% share of the U.S. market for the companies that operate as delivery intermediaries for grocers such as Wegmans and Kroger, according to eMarketer, which is part of the research firm Insider Intelligence. But by 2023 that share is projected to drop to 68%. Uber and DoorDash, meanwhile, are among those expected to divvy up most of the remaining market. The forecasts—which don’t include grocery retailers like Walmart and Amazon that handle their own deliveries—underscore why Instacart recently held merger discussions with DoorDash and partnership discussions with Uber. (The Information)
Smart Links
U.S. stocks double from March 2020 pandemic closing lows. (Financial Times)
Discovery of rare mutation in a brain protein adds fuel to debate over cause of Alzheimer’s disease. (STAT News)
Swiss researchers calculate pi to new record of 62.8tn figures. (The Guardian)
Nearly a third of U.S. workers under 40 considered changing careers during the pandemic. (Washington Post)
Walmart is the latest Fortune 500 Company hiring a cryptocurrency expert. (CNBC)
ViacomCBS sells CBS’ iconic New York skyscraper, Black Rock. (Los Angeles Times)