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Thursday, July 30

Daily Briefing

FTBank of England holds rates amid uncertainty over energy shock

The Bank of England maintained its interest rates at 3.75% amidst ongoing uncertainty regarding the energy price shock from the Middle East conflict.
While inflation has recently fallen to 2.6%, the central bank anticipates it will rise later this year due to the sustained high energy costs.

Financial Times

NYTMatt Damon’s Biceps in That ‘Odyssey’ Fight Scene? They’re Hers.

Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Devyn Dalton, a 4-foot-6 stuntwoman, serves as Matt Damon's stunt double in Christopher Nolan's summer blockbuster, "The Odyssey."
Matt Damon lauded Dalton's physique, particularly her biceps, in an interview, calling them "the greatest arms I've ever seen."

New York Times

WSJPalestinians Stream Back to Northern Gaza on Foot

Israel has opened northern Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to the area that had been sealed off for 15 months since the early weeks of the war.
The return of Palestinians, many traveling on foot and carrying their belongings, occurred following a fragile ceasefire agreement and a breakthrough in the release of hostages.

Wall Street Journal

NYTA U.S. Citizen Deleted His Phone’s Data. Now He Faces a Felony Charge.

Adeel Hassan

A U.S. citizen, Samuel Tunick, faces a felony obstruction charge for allegedly providing a duress passcode that wiped his smartphone's data during a customs search at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in January 2025.
Federal prosecutors contend that Tunick's act of erasing his phone's contents, while returning from the Dominican Republic, constitutes destroying evidence to prevent its lawful seizure and could lead to a maximum of five years in prison.

New York Times

WSJLeading China Property Developer Reports Huge loss, in Sign of Widening Real-Estate Woes

Leading China property developer China Vanke reported a record net loss of 88.56 billion yuan (US$12.9 billion) in 2025, marking its second consecutive annual deficit since its 1991 listing.
Vanke's significant losses, driven by factors such as high land costs, declining housing demand, and low margins, underscore the deepening and widening severity of China's ongoing real estate crisis.

Wall Street Journal

FTTrying to make sense of Warsh

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has initiated a comprehensive review of the central bank's monetary policy, forming five task forces to examine areas such as communications, balance sheet policy, and the inflation framework.
Warsh advocates for a less communicative Federal Reserve, believing that financial markets perform best when reacting to incoming economic data rather than anticipating the Fed's policy responses, thereby reducing reliance on explicit forward guidance.

Financial Times

NYTVote on Blanche Is Delayed After Senators Express Skepticism Over I.R.S. Provision

Glenn Thrush and Michael Gold

The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its vote to advance Todd Blanche's nomination as U.S. attorney general.
The delay stems from skepticism expressed by Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis regarding an IRS settlement deal Blanche brokered for President Trump.

New York Times

WSJFreed Israeli Hostages Still Had Shrapnel in Their Bodies From Oct. 7 Attack

Some freed Israeli women hostages were found to still have shrapnel in their bodies from the October 7 attack.
An Israeli medical official reported that some of the women were held in captivity alone for extended durations.

Wall Street Journal

FTDR Congo’s cobalt boom carries an unwanted cargo: uranium

DR Congo's cobalt exports, vital for electric vehicle batteries, are frequently contaminated with uranium, leading to health risks for workers, rejected shipments, and significant nuclear proliferation concerns.
Between 2000 and 2024, an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 tonnes of undeclared uranium were exported from the DRC to China in cobalt hydroxide shipments, a quantity sufficient to produce hundreds of nuclear weapons or fuel a large nuclear reactor for a decade.

Financial Times

WSJSuspected Sabotage of Deep-Sea Cable Triggers First NATO-Led Response

NATO launched its first coordinated response to a suspected sabotage campaign against critical deep-sea infrastructure, triggered by another cable being severed in the Baltic Sea.
This incident is part of a series of alleged underwater attacks in the Baltic Sea, including the disruption of the Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia and other telecommunications cables.

Wall Street Journal

NYTThe Doctor and His Diary: What Fauci’s Innermost Musings Reveal

Shawn McCreesh

Dr. Anthony Fauci's private diary, released by Senator Rand Paul, provides an unfiltered look into his thoughts and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The diary entries reveal Fauci's evolving perspectives on the origins of the coronavirus, including early considerations of a lab leak, and his private reflections on his public persona and rising fame.

New York Times

FTThere is no modern-day Maggie to save Britain from Burnhamism

The Financial Times article discusses the political right's hope for the failure of Labour's new leader.
It raises the question of who might emerge to significantly challenge the status quo in Britain, reminiscent of a figure like Margaret Thatcher.

Financial Times

NYTMost ‘Ovarian Cancer’ Isn’t. And That Fact Can Save Lives.

Gina Kolata

The vast majority of cases labeled as “ovarian cancer” actually originate in the fallopian tubes, making the term “ovarian cancer” a misnomer.
Removing the fallopian tubes, a procedure called salpingectomy, can reduce the risk of developing this type of cancer by nearly 80 percent.

New York Times

WSJRwanda-Backed Rebels Enter Congo's Safe-Haven City

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels entered the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Residents of Goma reported gunfire and shelling as the rebels overran Congolese troops.

Wall Street Journal

NYTOver 100 Degrees in Paris. Flames Near Bordeaux. France Can’t Go On Like This.

Madeleine Schwartz

France is experiencing a summer of extreme heat waves, with temperatures reaching as high as 112 degrees Fahrenheit.
The country is also grappling with widespread drought and numerous forest fires, some of which have occurred in close proximity to Paris.

New York Times

FTFifa not ‘selling the World Cup’ in $20bn commercial plan, says adviser

FIFA plans to establish a new commercial entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), valued at approximately $20 billion, to centralize its commercial and event operations, including rights to the World Cup.
The plan involves selling minority, non-controlling stakes (up to 20%) in FFE to external investors, aiming to raise up to $4.2 billion, with commercial adviser Greg Maffei asserting this is not equivalent to "selling the World Cup" and is distinct from the European Super League concept.

Financial Times

Friday, March 13

Weekly Top 40 — AI on X

The White House

@WhiteHouse

UNDEFEATED. https://t.co/Jt69bcag5y

♥ 193.2k↺ 23.6k

Om Patel

@om_patel5

stop spending money on Claude Code. Chipotle's support bot is free: https://t.co/0NQU4a79T1

♥ 147.4k↺ 9.3k

Andrej Karpathy

@karpathy

I packaged up the "autoresearch" project into a new self-contained minimal repo if people would like to play over the weekend. It's basically nanochat LLM training core stripped down to a single-GPU, one file version of ~630 lines of code, then: - the human iterates on the https://t.co/3tyOq2P9c6

Thursday, March 12

Weekly Top 40 — AI on X

The White House

@WhiteHouse

UNDEFEATED. https://t.co/Jt69bcag5y

♥ 124.7k↺ 14.4k

Andrej Karpathy

@karpathy

♥ 27.7k↺ 3.5k

Claude

@claudeai

Wednesday, March 11

Weekly Top 40 — AI on X

Andrej Karpathy

@karpathy

♥ 27.4k↺ 3.5k

Claude

@claudeai

Introducing Code Review, a new feature for Claude Code. When a PR opens, Claude dispatches a team of agents to hunt for bugs. https://t.co/AL2J4efxPw

♥ 62.7k↺ 5.2k

Saturday, March 7

Weekly Top 40 — AI on X

Ben Stiller

@BenStiller

Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip. We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie. https://t.co/dMQqRxxVCa

♥ 736.7k↺ 83.0k

The White House

@WhiteHouse

JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. 🇺🇸🔥 https://t.co/0502N6a3rL

♥ 129.4k↺ 20.6k

Barack Obama

@BarackObama

Friday, March 6

Weekly Top 40 — AI on X

Brian Allen

@allenanalysis

🚨 BREAKING: Rep. Ted Lieu says the full Epstein files contain information that Donald Trump RAPED minors. So he started a war to distract us from his crimes. Never stop speaking about Epstein. https://t.co/18HuhEucoG

♥ 272.8k↺ 76.4k

The White House

@WhiteHouse

JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. 🇺🇸🔥 https://t.co/0502N6a3rL

♥ 105.0k↺ 16.7k

Elon Musk

@elonmusk