Flagship

Iran vows to avenge Hamas leader death

Iran vowed to avenge the killing of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, reportedly ordering a direct attack on Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country had dealt “crushing blows” to Iran-backed proxies, without claiming responsibility for the assassination. Haniyeh’s death, a day after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah leader in Beirut, has put the Middle East on tenterhooks as it awaits Iran’s retaliation, which could trigger the all-out war the region has feared since Oct. 7. But the twin killings could actually deescalate tensions, The Atlantic’s Graeme Wood argued. Israel’s “pinpoint strikes” are an alternative to destroying Hezbollah through a full-blown war, he wrote. For Iran to start one now would be “an extreme gamble, at a time when Israel has just given Iran reason to doubt that fortune favors it.”

Trump attacks Harris’ identity

Donald Trump attacked Vice President Kamala Harris’ identity, baselessly claiming she “happened to turn Black” after touting her Indian heritage. Harris, who is Black and South Asian, graduated from Howard University, one of the country’s most famous historically Black colleges. In Wednesday’s combative interview with panelists at the National Association of Black Journalists, including Semafor’s Kadia Goba, Trump implied without evidence that Harris was hiding something about her ethnic background. “I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?” he asked. The White House called the remark “repulsive.” His comments come as polling analysis by the Financial Times and Bloomberg showed Harris wiping out Trump’s lead a week into her presidential campaign. The two are neck and neck, most notably in swing states where Harris has reinvigorated Black and Latino voters.

Fed hints rate cuts are ‘on the table’

The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady Wednesday, but hinted that it could cut rates in the coming weeks as inflation cools. The Fed’s chair Jerome Powell said a rate cut “could be on the table” at the central bank’s next meeting on Sept. 18, adding, “we’re not quite at the point” where monetary easing would be appropriate. The decision irked Democrats who have called for immediate rate cuts, The New York Times reported. “The Fed is waiting for additional data — ummm just cuz,” one economist wrote. “Can they even articulate why inflation might reaccelerate?”

Myanmar extends state of emergency

Myanmar’s junta extended its state of emergency for six months as it struggles to contain a more than three-year armed rebellion. The country’s military government further delayed elections until next year, reportedly blaming “terrorist acts.” After the junta seized power in 2021, powerful ethnic minority militias joined forces with Myanmar’s main opposition, taking over wide swathes of territory in recent months; the government is now estimated to control less than half the country. The instability is frustrating China, which wants to protect oil and gas pipelines that run through northern Myanmar, The Diplomat wrote. Beijing wants an election as soon as possible to “shore up the junta as a viable, if weak, central government,” said one Myanmar specialist.

SE Asia struggles with Chinese imports

Southeast Asia is struggling to strike a balance between curbing cheap Chinese imports and attracting high-tech investment. Countries are mulling raising import taxes to stem the flood of low-cost Chinese goods like clothes and electronics as hundreds of factories in the region shut down, Nikkei reported. At the same time, governments have become increasingly reliant on Chinese investment — particularly in electric cars and solar panels — which boosts regional economies while helping Beijing circumvent Western trade barriers. However, Southeast Asian countries wary of China’s retaliation insist they’re not singling out Chinese goods for scrutiny. After Indonesia proposed imposing duties of up to 200% on imported fabrics, one official asserted that the move wasn’t targeting their “good friend” China.

Japanese carmakers join forces

Mitsubishi will join forces with Honda and Nissan, forming a group of Japanese car manufacturers that sells more than 8 million vehicles a year. Japan’s automakers can’t compete with Chinese companies and Tesla, and are reorganizing to enhance competitiveness. In 2023, Nissan and Honda sold just 159,000 electric vehicles between them, compared to 1.8 million for Tesla and 1.57 million for BYD, creating a “sense of crisis,” Nikkei reported. Toyota, Japan’s largest carmaker, has also been forming alliances with Daihatsu, Suzuki, Subaru, Mazda, and Hino Motors — a group with combined sales of 16 million. Honda and Nissan are expected to jointly develop in-vehicle software and share it with Mitsubishi, bringing development costs down, and possibly reduce direct competition in vehicle lineups.

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Refugee team close to first Olympic medal

The Refugee Olympic Team is just one victory away from winning its first ever medal. Its hopes rest on 25-year-old boxer Cindy Ngamba, who beat the 2022 world champion on Wednesday. Ngamba, who was born in Cameroon and moved to England at 11, is one of the 37 members of the Refugee Team — the largest cohort since its 2016 inception. Many see her triumph as a “message of hope at a time of record migration,” the Associated Press wrote, with more than 100 million people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide. The spotlight on the refugee team comes at a time of rising anti-immigrant policies in France and criticism over the government clearing migrant camps ahead of the Games. “This is a message that goes far beyond the Olympics,” a UN official said.

Antarctica sees historic heat wave

A vast swath of Antarctica is experiencing a near-record winter heat wave, in a disturbing sign of the polar temperature spikes brought by a warming world. Ground temperatures in East Antarctica are currently 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for July, The Washington Post reported. It’s the second extraordinary heatwave to hit the continent in the past two years, with the last causing the collapse of an ice shelf the size of Rome. While lack of sunlight always causes Antarctic temperatures to fluctuate in winter, the current deviation is much larger than the norm. “It is likely that having less sea ice and a warmer Southern Ocean around the Antarctic continent ‘loads the dice’ for warmer winter weather,” one atmospheric scientist told the Post.

Macron’s costly state dinners

The French president’s office spent $500,000 on a grand state banquet for the king of England. A court audit found the Élysée Palace was around $9 million in the red, with luxurious dinners — such as those for King Charles III and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — among the biggest expenses. Poor travel planning by Emmanuel Macron’s office meant it spent $900,000 on trips that were later canceled, including a loss of more than $500,000 on a single state visit to Germany. The menu for the king featured around $45,000 worth of wine, Politico reported, notably a bottle of 2004 Château Mouton Rothschild.

Shanghai’s booming cafe culture

Shanghai now claims to have more cafes than any other city in the world. The port city has long seen itself as international and cosmopolitan, and its coffee-drinking culture has developed over years. But the post-pandemic phenomenon of outdoor socializing has boosted the number of cafes to more than 8,000, per officials. Most of them are independent boutique venues rather than the big chains which dominate other Chinese cities, the BBC reported. However, the youth-driven buzz is threatened by increasing costs — coffee bean prices are way up — and high overheads; many shops now double up as live music bars at night.

August 1:

• Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance visits the US southern border in Arizona.
• Poland marks 80 years of the Warsaw Uprising.
• US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the eulogy for late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

A new art show illuminates the historical significance of the color red. Seeing Red at the North Carolina Museum of Art features ancient artifacts whose red hues have been “preserved against all odds,” Artnet wrote, including an Egyptian jar from 4000 to 3500 B.C. — the exhibit’s oldest item. “Humans have been using red pigments and dyes for almost two million years,” the museum’s conservation director said: Ancient Romans used the pigment on their military gear, and red dominated cave paintings in Asia and Australia. While the shade is commonly used to depict emotions like passion or anger, the most universal association of red is with blood, the director said, “and by extension, life, death and the spirit world.”

• Trump weighs in on the Sonya Massey shooting.
• Will the Fed rescue clean energy?
• Anyscale, software provider for OpenAI and other major firms, hires new CEO to boost sales.