the daily brief

• Iran's Supreme National Security Council says the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the US "corrects its behavior," issuing new demands that threaten to derail the near-final deal with Oman — nbc news
• The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has privately said Washington needs an off-ramp from the Iran war, warning that the remaining escalation options on the table could backfire — cnn
• Russian drone attacks killed three people, including a child, in the Kyiv region, followed by a ballistic strike on the capital; President Zelensky credited Patriot air-defense systems with protecting lives — pravda romania
• Ukraine's Defense Intelligence confirmed a strike on Russia's Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar; between August 1 and 8 its Unmanned Systems Forces hit 12 more vessels of Russia's shadow fleet in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov — rbc-ukraine
• Ukraine's grain exports may fall 53% as Russia targets its ports, Bloomberg reports — rbc-ukraine
• Trump demanded answers from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth about munitions shortages at a cabinet meeting at Camp David — euronews
• Türkiye has begun restricting commercial vessel passage through the Dardanelles into the Black Sea amid increased attacks on shipping — pravda turkey

• Internal tests of OpenAI's new Astra model show cybersecurity capabilities so strong the company says it can no longer rule out triggering the highest risk tier in its own safety framework — llm-stats
• Anthropic spent $1.97 million on US lobbying in Q2 2026, up 26% quarter-over-quarter — outspending Nvidia and nearly matching Oracle — aiweekly
• The EU's AI Act took full effect on August 2, empowering the European Commission to review AI models before release — aiweekly
• The White House met with OpenAI, Anthropic and other leading AI firms on August 3 in its first major push on AI regulation — cnn

• Equities surged last week on a weak jobs report read as easing Fed rate-hike risk, plus strong Big Tech earnings; Nvidia gained 11.6% and was a major contributor to the S&P 500's advance — seeking alpha
• Wall Street's attention turns to this week's inflation data — Wednesday's CPI report (expected to stay above 3%), Thursday's PPI, and Friday's retail sales — seeking alpha
• Oil rose Friday after Iran published a restrictive draft plan for the Strait of Hormuz, with Brent crude gaining 1.25% to $83.52 a barrel — thestreet
• Boeing is on track for its best week since early April, with shares up around 7% week-to-date — thestreet
• A BTCPay software vulnerability has been draining funds from LND Lightning node wallets, though standard on-chain BTCPay wallets are unaffected — seeking alpha

• Wildfire smoke has blanketed central and eastern Washington state, with helicopters dropping water and crews reinforcing containment lines around the blazes — euronews
• A study of 6.5 million children in Brazil found higher temperatures were associated with worse nutrition outcomes, especially among vulnerable groups — sciencedaily
• Oak trees keep absorbing carbon dioxide long after their annual growth ends, suggesting photosynthesis and wood production are less tightly linked than scientists previously believed — sciencedaily
• Analysis of a 120-million-year-old fossil suggests at least one pterosaur species shimmered in iridescent greens and magentas — sciencedaily
• Türkiye's Environment Ministry confirmed 92 residential units were severely damaged or destroyed by recent wildfires across five provinces — pravda turkey
• Mohamed Salah has signed for Turkish club Trabzonspor — pravda turkey

full archive →