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Gaza ceasefire talks to resume

Ceasefire talks over the war in Gaza will resume next week. Israel agreed to attend after the leaders of the US, Egypt, and Qatar said they would present a “final” proposal to end the more than 10-month conflict which has left tens of thousands dead, sparked fears of a widening regional conflict, and hammered global trade. Huge obstacles remain, though: The National reported that Hamas’ new leader has maintained “an uncompromising stance,” while much of the Middle East remains on tenterhooks for fear of an imminent Iranian attack on Israel, which one US official said would result in a devastating response targeting Iran’s new government and economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Sudan truce talks near

The Sudanese government will consult US officials ahead of ceasefire talks aimed at bringing to an end the country’s 16-month civil war. The conflict between the Sudanese army and a rival paramilitary force has displaced more than 10 million people and led to the world’s first confirmed famine since 2017. A January survey showed that on average, in one refugee camp alone, one child died from malnutrition every two hours. Experts have little confidence the peace talks will be successful given that the conflict has been fueled by external actors — including Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia — with conflicting objectives. “Sudan is caught in a massive political tussle,” an expert told the Financial Times.

Venezuela expands crackdown

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro blocked X after accusing the social media site’s owner Elon Musk of attempting to meddle in the country’s disputed election. The order came after Maduro theatrically deleted WhatsApp off his phone on live TV amid a wider crackdown on social media as protests against his regime grew. In response, authorities have deployed Operation Knock Knock, in which government critics are arrested after opening the doors to their homes. Experts fear rising repression will force many to flee, joining the almost 8 million who have left the country in recent years. “If Maduro chooses to stay by force, we can only be seeing a wave of migration like never before,” the head of the opposition said.

Trump wants say on rates

Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the US presidency, suggested he wanted a voice in the country’s monetary policy. The remarks ran counter to the longstanding independence of the Federal Reserve, and came after The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s advisers drafted reforms that would subject the central bank’s regulations to White House review and require presidents be consulted on interest-rate moves. Trump has also been critical of the current Fed chair, but told Bloomberg in June that he would let him serve his full term. Any changes in the Fed’s independence would have far-reaching consequences, affecting not simply US monetary policy but borrowing worldwide: Many countries, for example, issue bonds in dollars to court risk-averse Western investors.

BA drops London-Beijing flights

British Airways will drop all flights to Beijing from October as a result of low demand and restrictions on flight routes. Since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Western carriers have had to route around Russia, leading to higher costs; Chinese airlines are not subject to the same restrictions. London-Beijing was a major BA route before 2020, but since the easing of pandemic-era restrictions last year it has faced “weak demand,” according to its CFO. BA will also drop one of its two daily Hong Kong flights, while Virgin Atlantic will cancel flights to Shanghai. Beijing has tried to boost tourism since the pandemic by lowering visa barriers and simplifying payment systems, but while domestic numbers are up, foreign visitors have largely stayed away.

Electric and robot cars take off in China

China’s auto industry is changing faster than the rest of the world’s. New electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles outsold gas-powered ones in July for the first time — 50.7% of all car sales had “new energy” drive trains, up from just 7% three years ago. Autonomous vehicles are also on the rise: Beijing has rapidly greenlit trials, with 19 cities running some sort of robotaxi service, in contrast to the US which “is quick to launch investigations and suspend approvals after accidents,” Reuters reported. Autonomous-vehicle firms expect to be operating in over a hundred cities by 2030, and China’s 7 million ride-hailing drivers are increasingly concerned about the impact on their work.

How allies hurt Kyiv’s rebuild

Kyiv’s efforts to rebuild its decimated energy system are being held up by, among other things, its Western allies. Russia has for months hammered Ukrainian infrastructure, forcing the country to “run its energy transition in reverse,” Semafor’s Tim McDonnell wrote, by dumping much-needed funds into restoring coal-fired power plants, but Ukrainian officials complain that Western public and private curbs on financing coal are hampering that effort. “We need to comply [with European Union energy policies], that’s clear,” one lawmaker said. “But… we need to survive.” Ukraine is facing an extreme version of a dilemma familiar to many developing countries, who find that their donors’ climate concerns sometimes take precedence over the near-term requirements of energy access.

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Drilling deep into Earth

The deepest-ever sample of rock was taken from the Earth’s mantle. The warmer, softer layer makes up 80% of the Earth’s bulk, and is usually hidden below miles of hard crust. In one region of the Atlantic Ocean, though, it has pushed up. A drill ship took a 1,268-meter (0.8 mile) core sample of greenish marble-like rock. “We… only planned to drill for 200 meters,” one scientist told Nature, but the drilling was surprisingly easy, “so we just decided to keep going.” Life may have started near deep-ocean vents, so the rock’s mineral content could help explain our origins. It’s not the deepest hole ever drilled: That is a 7.6-mile hole in the Kola Peninsula, Russia.

Table-tennis robot plays at human level

DeepMind unveiled a ping-pong-playing robot capable of competing with human amateurs. Researchers said it was the first robot agent to play a sport with humans at human level, representing “a milestone in robot learning and control.” The robot achieved a 100% win rate against beginners and 55% against intermediates. It consists of a robot arm powered by a two-part artificial intelligence system that is trained both to execute specific skills, such as backhand returns, and to assess the game and adapt to opponents’ play style, although it struggles against high balls and spin. The research has implications for robotics in areas that require “quick reactions and adaptation to unpredictable human behavior,” such as manufacturing and health care, Ars Technica reported.

Pakistan-India Olympic bonhomie

Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem set a new Olympic record in the men’s javelin throw, a widely anticipated contest where Neeraj Chopra of India finished second. The two countries’ heated rivalry drew thousands of supporters from the subcontinent to the Stade de France. Although sporting events between the two countries have occasionally flared into violence — notably ahead of high-stakes cricket matches — the bonhomie between the Olympic athletes cooled passions. “People back home in Pakistan and even in India, they were eager to see us both throwing the javelin and beating each other,” Nadeem said. “I’m happy to see Chopra earning silver.”

• Ola becomes the first EV company to list on India’s National Stock Exchange.
• SpaceX launches its latest batch of satellites from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
• Italy is bracing for what forecasters say will be its hottest weekend of the year.

The fatality rate among air passengers between 2018 and 2022. Flying has never been safer, a new study found: The number of deaths per passenger boarding has roughly halved every decade since the infancy of commercial air travel: Between 2008 and 2017, one passenger died for every 7.9 million boardings, compared to one in 350,000 from 1968-1977. “Aviation safety continues to get better,” one academic told AFP, comparing the regular halving of death rates to Moore’s law which predicts the growth in computing power.

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• Ukraine pushes into Russia in surprise offensive.