Flagship

Niger leader demands coup reversal

Niger’s president called on the U.S. and its allies to reverse last week’s military coup, in an op-ed in The Washington Post. Mohamed Bazoum began his piece, “I write this as a hostage,” and framed the putsch as “a tragedy for Nigeriens” which would also have “devastating consequences far beyond our borders.” The remarkable op-ed — published by a democratically elected leader imprisoned by his own armed forces — came as diplomatic efforts to end the coup stalled: West African mediators left the country without meeting the junta’s leaders, who scrapped a security pact with France and ended the mandates of the French, American, Nigerian, and Togolese ambassadors.

Oceans hit record temperature

The world’s oceans reached their highest recorded temperature, the latest sign of worsening global heat. The new figure of 20.96 degrees Celsius (69.73 degrees Fahrenheit) is significantly above average for this time of year, and topped a prior record set in 2016. It has huge implications for the warming climate: Hotter oceans are less able to absorb carbon dioxide, can accelerate glacial melting, and upset the food chain by disturbing marine migratory patterns. The timing of the record also troubled researchers, who noted that ocean temperatures have historically tended to be highest in March.

Promising new malaria discovery

A newly discovered naturally occurring bacteria helps stop the transmission of malaria, according to recent research. The chance discovery was made by scientists at a GlaxoSmithKline laboratory in Spain who found the mosquitoes they were testing were becoming harder to infect. It “has great potential” in helping fight the disease, a top malaria researcher who was not involved in the discovery told Science. Malaria kills upwards of 600,000 people a year, most of them children under 5, but some progress is being made in combating it, with a dozen African countries due to receive 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine over the next two years.

Trump rails against ‘persecution’

Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges he sought to overturn the 2020 election result, later railing against the case as “a persecution of a potential political opponent.” Only a smattering of people were in attendance to protest his arraignment in Washington, D.C., indicating the sight of a former president appearing in court “was another normal day, by recent standards,” as Semafor’s Benjy Sarlin put it. The political impact of this latest case appears unclear, but Trump’s strategy is coming into focus: He and his legal advisers are mulling using the trial against him to continue falsely arguing that the 2020 election was stolen from him, The Washington Post reported.

Chinese leaders begin summer break

A top Chinese official signaled the Communist Party leadership had begun their summer break, a two-week period in which they escape Beijing for the coastal resort of Beidaihe. The Beidaihe sojourn, begun by Mao Zedong in the 1950s, has historically been where top party leaders jockeyed for power. But its contemporary relevance is much debated among Western China watchers who variously argue there is “scant evidence” the meeting exists as perceived, and that even if it does, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power has rendered it impotent. That such a debate takes place over a conclave described by the China-focused think tank MacroPolo as China’s Camp David points to the remarkable opacity of the country’s politics.

Kyiv draws criticism

Western security officials raised concerns over Ukraine’s performance in its counteroffensive against its Russian invaders. The Biden administration had hoped 36,000 Western-trained troops would showcase U.S.-designed warfare as superior to Russian tactics, but the limited progress thus far has thrown that into doubt, according to The New York Times. It came after Bild reported that German officers were concerned Kyiv’s forces were not correctly following NATO’s training program. Analysts dismissed those criticisms, though, noting Ukrainian troops had only received a few months’ of support. “Why can’t Ukraine fly to the moon? I mean, the U.S. went there more than 50 years ago, so it can’t be that hard,” the security expert Phillips O’Brien asked sarcastically.

Colombia starts ceasefire with rebels

A six-month truce between Colombian authorities and the country’s largest armed militia began. Colombian President Gustavo Petro, himself once a member of a leftist guerrilla, had made achieving “total peace” with the nation’s rebel groups a priority in last year’s campaign. “Hopefully it will bear fruit,” Petro said, referring to the accord with the National Liberation Army. “It will depend more on them than on us.” Several previous attempts to reach a ceasefire with the Marxist-Leninist group failed. More than 450,000 people have been killed since the conflict started six decades ago.

Bud Light sales fall after trans backlash

Bud Light brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev reported a 10% drop in U.S. revenue for the second quarter, thanks in large part to a conservative backlash in the U.S. to an ad featuring a transgender influencer. Once America’s best-selling beer, Bud Light sales plummeted after a marketing collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney led to boycotts. In response, AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, ended the partnership and put two executives on leave. CEO Michel Doukeris said the firm will now focus its marketing efforts on American football, music, and the U.S. military. “Beer is about relaxation,” Doukeris said. “People do not want to enjoy their beer with a debate.”

Commonwealth Games in doubt

The Canadian province of Alberta withdrew its bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, the latest blow to the embattled sports event. The decision means there are currently no confirmed bids to host it that year, and comes weeks after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 Games. Officials from both said cost concerns were the overriding factor, spurring questions over whether the Commonwealth Games, which includes dozens of countries largely from the former British Empire, can survive. The tournament features far less star power than competing events — Usain Bolt reportedly said the 2014 Games were “a bit shit” — and the latest withdrawals “could be a death knell,” one sports historian told the BBC.

Coppola: Cinema’s golden age

Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Godfather, said that viewers flocking to Barbie and Oppenheimer could signal a new “golden age” for standalone, non-franchise films. In an Instagram ask-me-anything session, Coppola said, “The fact that people are filling big theaters to see them and that they are neither ‘sequels’ nor ‘prequels’… is victory for cinema,” adding that the Marvel films are “despicable … one prototype movie that is made over and over.” Barbie’s actual makers drew the exact opposite conclusion, planning a Mattel franchise including Polly Pocket, Hot Wheels, and Barney the Dinosaur movies. As of press time there is no indication that Oppenheimer will lead to a Manhattan Project Extended Cinematic Universe, with films about John von Neumann or Edward Teller.

• Lebanon marks the third anniversary of the Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people.
• The U.S. cryptocurrency platform Coinbase is expected to formally oppose the lawsuit brought against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• The Hyundai World Archery Championships finals will be held in Berlin on Sunday.

The percentage by which deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon fell in July compared to the same month last year. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had made stemming deforestation of the Amazon — which grew sharply during the presidency of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro — a priority for his administration. In the first seven months of the year, and of Lula’s term in office, deforestation has fallen by 42%, according to Brazil’s space agency. Lula is also reportedly considering a plan worth hundreds of billions of dollars to accelerate his country’s net zero targets and stop deforestation by 2030.

An ultra-rare trading card based on Lord of the Rings was bought by U.S. rapper Post Malone for $2 million. The sale makes the One Ring “the most-expensive known” card from the Magic: The Gathering game, reported The Wall Street Journal, while noting it was still worth less than other coveted cards such as vintage baseball ones. The “Magic” card was discovered in a pack in late June, drawing multiple seven-figure offers from collectors. The 36-year-old finder, a forklift operator and cashier who lives in Toronto, said meeting Malone, a high-profile Magic fan, and him buying the card was “a moment straight out of a fairytale.”

• The company formerly known as Twitter is seeking a new financial data partner to power a social trading app — and wants them to pay for it.
• Donald Trump is ignoring anti-abortion activists and winning anyway.
• U.S. federal prosecutors are considering fraud charges against Binance, but the fate of customers after FTX went bankrupt is weighing on the Justice Department.