Flagship

US stocks plunge on tech selloff

A tech selloff fueled the US stock markets’ biggest drop in almost two years. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell by more than 3%, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in recent gains for investors. Despite interest rates being at their highest level in more than 20 years, the S&P 500, an index of the biggest US companies, has reached multiple record highs this year. Other assets such as gold and house prices have also reached record levels, leading some to worry over an “excessive exuberance” from investors, many of whom are already pricing in a rate cut when the Federal Reserve meets in September.

China slowdown’s global fallout

China’s economic slowdown is increasingly hitting the bottom lines of global companies. European firms have been particularly affected, with businesses from industrial giants like ABB to automakers such as Porsche or Daimler reporting poorer results in part due to lagging demand from the world’s second-biggest economy. “We are concerned about the exposure to China,” one analyst told Bloomberg. Luxury retailers worldwide have also been badly affected, with demand for high-end goods suffering as a result of malaise in the property sector, high youth unemployment, and trade tensions. The question industry executives are asking, according to The Wall Street Journal, is whether the downturn is a temporary blip or a longer-lasting shift.

Biden calls for youth in wistful farewell

US President Joe Biden called for “new voices, fresh voices — yes, younger voices” in his first address to the nation since exiting the presidential race. Handing the Democratic candidacy to Vice President Kamala Harris, a comparably fresh-faced spring chicken at 59, the 81-year-old president said, “I revere this office [but] I love my country more.” His tone was “wistful,” The New York Times reported. He gave no explicit reason for dropping out, but said he wanted to “unite” his party after losing support post his concerning performance in last month’s debate against Donald Trump. Ironically, it was perhaps pressure from one of the few politicians older than Biden, Nancy Pelosi, which was crucial in pushing him to step down.

Murdoch seeks to cement legacy

Media titan Rupert Murdoch is seeking to outmaneuver his children in order to ensure his empire remains a conservative political force, The New York Times reported. Citing a sealed court document, the outlet said the 93-year-old refashioned the trust governing his estate after his death, handing more power to his anointed successor, Lachlan, over his other children, triggering a legal battle with Rupert and Lachlan on one side and the rest of the family on the other. The political stakes are considerable: Murdoch owns heavyweight outlets including Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, as well as broadcasters and newspapers in Australia and the UK. “Politics and power are at the root of the struggle,” the Times noted.

Africa’s unregulated cooling industry

Rising temperatures in Africa are fueling record demand for cooling systems, a largely unregulated industry that could become one of the continent’s worst polluters. Homeowners in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, increasingly rely on outdated equipment that use refrigerant gases, some of which are 1,800 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide. However as climate change and El Niño, a warm-weather pattern, drive up temperatures, emissions are becoming an afterthought to many. Authorities in Abuja said they are struggling to enforce restrictions on cooling systems: “Enforcement is a known challenge, but we are moving gradually,” the head of Nigeria’s environmental agency told the Associated Press.

Venezuela crackdown widens

Just 69,000 of the almost 8 million Venezuelans living abroad will be able to vote in Sunday’s presidential election, as the country’s authoritarian regime cracks down on the opposition. More than a quarter of Venezuela’s population has fled the nation in recent years as the economy collapsed: The latest figures showed more than 90% of Venezuelans living below the poverty line. The crisis has increased support for the opposition, which polls show would easily beat President Nicolás Maduro in a free vote. The ruling party’s drop in support has been so steep that even popular former President Hugo Chávez’s hometown has turned against the government.

UAE presses for Gaza ‘day after’

Emirati officials are pressing Israel and the US for “day after” planning in Gaza even as the conflict there shows little sign of relenting. Abu Dhabi recently hosted talks on the issue, Axios reported, and sent a proposal to the White House calling for a multinational stabilization force, The Washington Post’s David Ignatius said. The war in Gaza has exacted a terrible cost — claiming more than 39,000 lives after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack killed 1,100 — but its longer-term consequences could be even greater: An Indian scholar argued the fighting “will come back to haunt the global system,” while the war itself has offered “a useful smokescreen for authoritarian leaders across the Middle East,” the historian Kim Ghattas wrote.

IOC threatens US over doping probe

The International Olympic Committee said it could revoke Salt Lake City’s successful bid to host the 2034 Winter Games if a US probe into alleged Chinese doping continued. Washington has been investigating nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers, 11 of whom are expected to swim at this year’s Paris Olympics. IOC officials demanded that the US respect the World Anti-Doping Agency’s authority as a condition for winning the right to host the 2034 event, a deal the US agreed to. Still, a US anti-doping chief said Russia and China were seen as “too big to fail” and that WADA gave them “a different set of rules.”

Pharma races for next Ozempic

Pharma companies are rushing to get the next generation of weight-loss drugs to market. Semaglutide, aka Ozempic, has made its manufacturer Novo Nordisk Europe’s most valuable company, and similarly functioning rivals are already available. But now three firms are working on weight-loss drugs that can be taken as pills, rather than injections, which should be easier to take and store, and others are developing drugs that target different biochemical pathways, which they hope will be even more effective. More competition — plus the fact that Ozempic will come off patent in 2026 — should bring the relatively high cost of weight loss drugs down. “It’s an extraordinarily exciting and busy time in the field of obesity,” one doctor told WIRED.

The unsung tequila cocktail

A 1930s tequila cocktail that has largely been forgotten in North America is increasingly popular in Australia. The toreador — tequila, apricot liqueur, and lime juice — is now a “standard entry in the mental recipe book of most professional Aussie bartenders,” according to Punch. The cocktail was first recorded in 1937, more than a decade before the first known English-language reference to a margarita, but was displaced by the latter in part because oranges are cheaper and more easily obtained than apricots. “But the case for the Toreador is still a strong one, and in Australia,” Punch continued, “the drink commands considerable respect.”

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet US President Joe Biden at the White House.
• Vietnam begins two days of mourning for Nguyen Phu Trong, the late leader of its ruling Communist Party.
• San Diego Comic-Con opens.

The value of the Uber Eats gift cards offered to CrowdStrike customers whose computers were crashed by last week’s faulty update. An estimated 8.5 million Windows machines were rendered unusable by the error: An email from a CrowdStrike executive, seen by TechCrunch, said that “to express our gratitude, your next cup of coffee or late night snack is on us!” The crash is estimated to have caused at least $5.4 billion in economic damage, meaning that a mere 540 million vouchers should make up the shortfall.

Far, by Rosa Ribas. A “dark, satirical and very Spanish love story,” Ribas’ English-language debut — Far was first published in her native Spanish almost two decades ago — follows a small community of neighbors living on a half-built housing estate whose miniature society starts to crumble under the weight of economic malaise, while an unlikely affair begins between two unnamed protagonists. The well-off residents’ insistence that everything would be fine if only the squatters stayed away is “a metaphor… for this need to always create community that’s against other people; it can be against immigrants, but there always has to be an ‘other,’ and there always has to be a fear,” Ribas told The Guardian.

• Here’s what JD Vance told Semafor’s Dave Weigel about his ‘childless cat ladies’ attack on Democrats.
• Wall Street money machine whirs back to life for Harris.
• Kenya’s Ruto ropes opposition into his cabinet amid protests.