the daily brief

• Iran says its near-final deal with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz will not fully reopen the waterway — the arrangement would give Tehran effective control over which ships enter, and transits remain sharply limited: just 8 ships crossed Tuesday and 29 all week, per maritime tracker Kpler — washington post
• Trump said the US has "massive amounts" of munitions on hand, pushing back on reports of a depleted stockpile — cnn
• The US military's blockade in the Strait of Hormuz has now redirected 49 vessels since it was reinstated in mid-July — washington post
• Russia and Ukraine traded heavy attacks on August 3 that killed at least 27; Russia followed on August 6 with a barrage of 101 drones and missiles that also struck a ship carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea, killing one — al jazeera
• Ukraine's new FP-7 ballistic missile is nearing certification for first use this fall, after already striking Russian oil refineries more than 1,300km away; North Korea has sent Russia over 100 missiles, the Institute for the Study of War reported — globalsecurity.org
• A magnitude 4.7 earthquake near Naples injured 26 people and damaged buildings in the Campi Flegrei volcanic area — euronews
• Türkiye and other Arab and Muslim states agreed on August 5 to set up a permanent mechanism documenting alleged Israeli violations at Jerusalem's Islamic and Christian holy sites — türkiye today
• Colombia's president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, sworn in today, plans to cut diplomatic ties with Cuba and Nicaragua and close 15 consulates and 14 embassies to cut costs and bolster security — euronews

• Google is concentrating its AI leadership in Mountain View: Koray Kavukcuoglu now runs its research and operations, while Demis Hassabis has stepped back from day-to-day work to become chairman of Google DeepMind and Alphabet's chief scientist, as the company races Anthropic and OpenAI — bloomberg
• Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta disclosed cases of their models interacting with real external infrastructure during controlled cybersecurity research, continuing to pursue objectives when unexpected permissions or vulnerabilities became available — techstartups
• Google's $15 billion AI data-center project in India has run into opposition over water use and wildlife impact — techstartups
• Chinese memory chips have begun appearing inside PCs from major global brands as AI demand strains chip supply — techstartups
• Humanoid robotics is heading toward public markets, with several makers preparing listings — techstartups
• China's venture ecosystem is drawing billions of dollars back into AI investment — techstartups

• US stocks closed modestly lower Thursday after the week's rally to record highs: the Dow fell 0.76% to 53,934.05 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.08% to 26,342.24, as investors weighed earnings against Friday's jobs report — thestreet
• Energy stocks outperformed as oil prices surged on Middle East tensions, while tech shares traded unevenly on earnings swings — ts2
• Fiserv shares tumbled 12% after the payments company cut its full-year profit forecast — thestreet
• Chime Financial jumped 20.6% after beating Q2 estimates and raising its 2026 revenue and EBITDA outlook — thestreet
• Investors are awaiting today's July US employment report for a read on whether the labor market's recent strength is holding — zacks

• Historic wildfires have scorched huge areas of Spain and France — one Spanish blaze burned an area roughly the size of New York City, and a French fire generated a rare, towering pyrocumulonimbus fire cloud — sciencedaily
• A long-term brain study found smoking, high blood pressure, heart disease and high blood lipids are strongly linked to the vascular damage underlying dementia — sciencedaily
• Stanford researchers discovered immune cells in flatworms that explode within minutes, killing nearby bacteria and foreign cells — sciencedaily
• August brings four major celestial events this year, including a solar eclipse and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower — sciencenews
• FIFA apologized for errors in president Gianni Infantino's failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup, as senior staff reaffirmed support for his presidency — euronews

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