Flagship

West casts doubt on Venezuela election

Venezuela’s disputed presidential election results sparked protests and invited skepticism from much of Latin America and the West. Demonstrations in Caracas intensified Monday after President Nicólas Maduro, who claimed victory, accused the opposition leader of alleged electoral sabotage. The US voiced “serious concerns” with the results, and Panama suspended diplomatic relations until a full audit of the vote is conducted. The Maduro-friendly governments of Colombia, Brazil, and Chile also expressed doubts, while Mexico, Russia, China, Cuba, and Iran congratulated him. If Maduro manages to outlast the political turmoil, it will offer “a green light to other budding autocrats” in Nicaragua and El Salvador to act with near-impunity, a political scientist argued in The New York Times.

Prison protests after Israel soldiers arrested

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for calm following a riot at a military prison where nine soldiers were arrested for their alleged involvement in severely abusing a Palestinian terror detainee. Right-wing politicians and activists on Monday broke into the Sde Teiman IDF base — where Hamas operatives are imprisoned — to protest the soldiers’ arrests. Former Palestinian prisoners have long complained about routine physical and psychological abuse in Israel’s overcrowded prisons, conditions that rights groups say have worsened since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, The Washington Post reported: At least 13 Palestinians have died in Israeli jails since the war began. One advocate blamed the rise in abuse on “an atmosphere of revenge,” the Post wrote, backed by Israel’s policymakers.

Bitcoin price surges after Trump pledge

Crypto stocks rallied, then retreated, after Donald Trump vowed to make the US the world’s cryptocurrency leader and create a national “stockpile” of bitcoin. In a familiar volatile pattern, bitcoin’s value rose to nearly $70,000 on Monday following Trump’s speech at a bitcoin conference, before plunging to just under $67,300. The former US president — who once called crypto a “scam” — is now positioning himself as the pro-crypto candidate, just as the White House spooked investors by reportedly moving $2 billion worth of seized bitcoin to a new digital wallet. But some are skeptical about Trump’s commitment: A few of his policy proposals, including his call for all bitcoin mining to be confined to the US, counteract the currency’s “anti-government, libertarian bent,” TIME magazine wrote.

McDonald’s quarterly sales decline

McDonald’s global sales fell for the first time in nearly four years as inflation-weary customers looked for cheaper options. The amount of food and drink sold at restaurants open for at least a year fell 1% compared with Q2 last year though the company’s stock rose nearly 4% because the “results were better than feared,” one analyst told Bloomberg. Inflation is not just an issue for McDonald’s, the Associated Press reported: Customer traffic at US fast-food restaurants fell 2% compared to the same period last year. McDonald’s also previously acknowledged that the Gaza conflict has “meaningfully impacted” sales in France and the Middle East, as customers there boycotted the chain over perceptions that it supports Israel.

Gen Z embraces cheap cruise vacations

Younger travelers are keeping cruise lines afloat after years of rejecting the “geriatric-focused industry.” Half of Royal Caribbean’s passengers are either millennials or Gen Zers, the company’s CEO told Bloomberg, and the average age of cruisers has been falling for the last two years. While cruises have drawn a wider audience with upscale dining options and adult-only areas on board, the real draw for younger travelers is cost: A cruise in 2023 was 40% cheaper than a land-based vacation, according to Norwegian Cruise Line. One cruise blogger, who visited 30 countries on 20 cruises in the past decade, said, “Social media has put cruising more on people’s radar as something that’s not just for old people.”

SpaceX prepares for ‘riskiest’ test flight

The fifth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, and the first one in which it is intended to land safely on the launchpad, could happen as soon as this week. Each launch has been more successful than the last, from exploding on takeoff in November to successfully orbiting the Earth and splashing down in the Pacific in June. An exact date has not been set, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hinted at an early August launch. Starship “is highly unlikely to complete its mission flawlessly,” New Scientist reported, but even failure would provide data and experience for the sixth launch. That said, landing back on the launchpad risks impacting the craft and ground hardware, so this flight “is perhaps the riskiest to date.”

SK slams Olympic blunders

South Korean social media users are accusing the Paris Olympics organizers of discrimination after a series of embarrassing errors. It began when Olympic announcers introduced the country as North Korea during the opening ceremony, prompting a swift apology from the International Olympic Committee. But in further gaffes, the official Olympics Instagram account misspelled the name of Oh Sang-uk — South Korea’s first gold medalist at the 2024 Games — and uploaded a photo of the country’s delegation which critics said showed the flag out of focus. One Instagram user wondered if France has “a personal grudge against South Korea.” But the blunders amused some Chinese social media users who attributed them to the French’s “casual and chill attitude,” China’s state tabloid the Global Times wrote.

China is rewriting history

China is striving to assert its “geocultural power” through archaeology aimed at connecting ancient Chinese civilization to pivotal points in global history, The Wall Street Journal reported. Beijing is now undertaking more than three dozen overseas archaeological digs, including in Uzbekistan, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia, to determine how Chinese nomadic tribes and seafarers influenced culture through trade. It’s part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s efforts for the West to acknowledge the significance of the country’s civilization. While scholars said the scope of the findings could change “China’s place in the sweep of history,” the Journal wrote, Beijing might use ancient shipwreck searches in the South China Sea to boost its disputed maritime claims.

Jurassic fossil reveals lifespan surprise

Ancient mammals lived longer and grew more slowly than today’s species, new discoveries suggest. A modern mammal’s size predicts its lifespan quite effectively — large animals like elephants live a long time, while smaller ones die younger. But an analysis of the only known fossil of a juvenile Jurassic mammal, a squirrel-sized Krusatodon found in 2016, showed that it could have been as old as two years, while an adult one lived to around seven — a lifespan comparable to that of a modern mammal 20 times larger. Researchers said mammals’ growth process could have sped up in later eons as they became warm-blooded and their metabolism accelerated.

Thailand sees huge tiger increase

The numbers of tigers in Thailand rose 250% over the last 15 years. Tigers used to live across Southeast Asia, but now cling on only in isolated populations in Sumatra, mainland Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand, where there were only an estimated 40 left in 2007 after logging and illegal hunting cut their numbers. But Thai conservation authorities imposed anti-poaching patrols in 2004, using cameras to monitor the population. Key prey species have doubled in numbers in Thailand’s western forests, and the tigers — which as apex predators are a key signal of the ecosystem’s overall health — have steadily made a comeback. There are now believed to be 140.

July 30:

• Germany’s constitutional court rules on electoral law challenges brought by opposition parties.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meet with their Filipino counterparts in Manila.
• The US artistic gymnastics women’s team competes for gold at the Olympics.

Attendees at a Chinese film festival were stunned when the jury announced that the best feature film would be awarded to… no one. The FIRST International Film Festival recognizes fresh talent in independent Chinese cinema, but this year the jury decided there was “no single outstanding work” and a “lack of those who have raised new horizons.” The decision was “somehow a fittingly enigmatic ending to a festival that prides itself on introducing the latest trends — and talent — in Chinese cinema,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote. They did, however, award the Grand Jury Prize to Chen Yanbin’s Sailing Song of June, praising it for its “powerful sensory impact.”

• A more media-friendly Kamala Harris runs for president.
• US high rejections of African student visas “steadily rising”.
• San Francisco arrives on the “late freight” to surveillance tech.