Fact-Checking 3 Competitive Senate Races in Maine, Michigan and Ohio - The New York Times

• U.S. Senators adjourned in the early morning hours without passing the SAVE America Act, a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill pushed by President Donald Trump. • President Trump urged the Senate to abandon its traditional filibuster rules to bypass the 60-vote threshold required to advance the legislation.

• Iran reports it is nearing a deal with Oman to manage the Strait of Hormuz, though it demands concessions from the US before reopening the waterway. • UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg warned Friday that Yemen faces its highest risk of renewed conflict since the April 2022 truce.

• Boris Pervushin argues that the current "coalition of willing" European politicians supporting Ukraine is operating against domestic public sentiment. • The support structure faces significant pressure in the coming year as voters in Italy, Poland, Spain, and Germany prioritize their own standard of living over the conflict in the East.

• Pakistan has introduced sweeping new regulations requiring mandatory registration and accreditation for all journalists working with international news organizations. • The government has also imposed strict restrictions on the specific geographic areas where foreign media are permitted to report.

• OpenAI has paused certain internal activities for its Astra AI model after testing suggested it may have crossed a critical cybersecurity threshold. • The model is under scrutiny because OpenAI cannot rule out "critical cyber capabilities," specifically the ability to identify and develop functional zero-day exploits in hardened, real-world systems without human help.

• Meta has introduced Muse Code, a new coding agent featuring a highly affordable "contributor tier" for developers. • This specific pricing tier is over 10 times cheaper than the standard pay-as-you-go option, according to Meta's Wang.

• Republican Representative Andy Ogles lost his primary election in Tennessee on Thursday night despite receiving an endorsement from Donald Trump. • Opponent Charlie Hatcher, the former state Agricultural Commissioner, secured victory with endorsements from Governor Bill Lee, former Governor Bill Haslam, and former Secretary Sonny Perdue.

• Iranian leaders have expressed confidence that a victory is within reach, believing that time is currently on their side. • Texas has implemented a new rule requiring content creators to include clear compensation disclaimers on their social media posts.

• Vermonters are preparing to cast their ballots in the upcoming primary election this Tuesday. • The editorial emphasizes the necessity of citizen participation in democracy, especially as voting rights face intense national debate.

• A source close to the Saudi army stated on August 7 that the coalition will not "stand idly by" in response to ongoing Houthi attacks in Yemen. • The United States has imposed sanctions on an unlicensed multi-state cryptocurrency exchange for allegedly processing millions of dollars for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

• Anthropic is transitioning "Auto Mode" to be the default setting in Claude Code, moving away from requiring manual human approval for most actions. • The decision follows research indicating that the tool's internal classifier is more effective at identifying and blocking dangerous commands than human developers.