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Betting firms respond to claims made by anti-gambling campaigners Tim Costello and Luke Bateman at parliamentary inquiryBetting giants Sportsbet and Tabcorp say there is no evidence to substantiate allegations that account managers sourced drugs and sex workers to incentivise vulnerable people to bet more, calling for information about the claims to be provided to regulators.Anti-gambling campaigners Tim Costello and Luke Bateman used a parliamentary hearing into Labor’s legislation to curb gambling advertising to allege problem gamblers had been supplied him with cocaine, alcohol and sex workers, alleging companies exercised no duty of care to their customers. Continue reading...

• Leopold Aschenbrenner, a 25-year-old investor, has been forced to unwind most of his hedge fund's public equity positions following a sharp market reversal. • The fund, Situational Awareness, had focused its $16 billion strategy on the continuous growth of AI infrastructure. • Citadel, the hedge fund founded by Ken Griffin, has stepped in to purchase a portion of the fund's trading portfolio.

• Best Buy is transitioning toward smaller store formats and integrating new technology to drive growth under the leadership of incoming CEO Jason Bonfig. • The strategic shift comes as the company faces significant headwinds, including challenging sales figures and mounting margin pressures. • By optimizing its physical footprint, the retailer aims to reduce overhead costs while maintaining a competitive presence in the electronics market.

• The Federal Reserve maintained current interest rates and kept its official statement largely unchanged during its most recent meeting. • Economist Jason Furman analyzed the implications of Fed Chair Warsh’s news conference, framing the decision as a potential test of the central bank's credibility. • Separately, Johnson & Johnson highlighted its strategic expansion and investment into the growing field of robotic surgery.

• Major AI-linked stocks experienced significant volatility, with Alphabet falling 15%, Meta dropping 10%, and Micron plunging 41% from its peak. • Conversely, Microsoft surged 8%, supported by Samsung's reports on chip shortages and Amazon's advancements in cloud computing. • European markets, specifically the DAX and STOXX, remained stable and did not panic despite the intermittent volatility and concerns over $255 billion in annual capital outlays.

• Marvell Technology has announced a $250 million investment in India over the next three years to expand its engineering and semiconductor research operations. • The funding will specifically target the growth of AI research and development, leveraging India's technical talent to advance semiconductor design. • This strategic move underscores the growing importance of India as a global hub for AI innovation and high-tech hardware development.

• Eurozone borrowing costs have increased due to a combination of escalating tensions in the Middle East and expectations of a hawkish Federal Reserve. • The rise in yields reflects growing market volatility as investors react to geopolitical instability and the potential for prolonged high interest rates in the U.S. • This trend matters as it increases the cost of debt for European governments and could pressure economic growth across the region.

• Nvidia is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint by investing $1 billion in Naver Corp., a South Korean internet and cloud service provider. • The funding is earmarked for an AI data center currently under construction in South Korea, a project developed jointly with the US private equity firm Brookfield Corp. • This investment will enable Naver to more than triple the size of the facility, accelerating the deployment of AI capabilities in the region.

• Eurozone borrowing costs have increased due to a combination of escalating tensions in the Middle East and market expectations of a hawkish Federal Reserve. • The rise in yields reflects growing investor anxiety over geopolitical instability and the potential for prolonged high interest rates in the U.S. • This trend matters as it increases the cost of debt for European governments and could pressure economic growth across the region.

• Tel Aviv-based startup Mate Security raised $35 million in a Series A funding round led by Canaan Partners, with participation from Insight Partners, Team8, and Microsoft’s M12. • The funding follows a $15.5 million seed round closed just eight months prior, signaling rapid growth for the company's AI-driven security approach. • Mate Security is introducing a "Security Context Graph" to provide AI agents with deeper enterprise context, aiming to replace traditional "copilot" additions to SIEMs with a context-first architecture.

• Sports betting firms have launched a $72 million political influence campaign in the United States to shape industry regulations. • The spending is primarily aimed at fighting predatory tax rates and establishing "regulatory moats" to protect market share. • This strategy prioritizes corporate growth and regulatory stability over the implementation of responsible gaming laws.

Official declines to say whether Gabriel Perez, who allegedly bet on prediction market Kalshi, resigned or was fired A White House teleprompter operator who reportedly used inside knowledge to make bets about Donald Trump’s speeches on the online prediction market Kalshi is no longer in his post, according to a White House official.The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the personnel matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that Gabriel Perez, “no longer works in the federal government”. Continue reading...

• Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are now allowing users to wager money on the outcomes of drug approvals. • Kalshi is further expanding these offerings by planning to enable betting on the specific results of clinical trials. • Experts and reporters, including Rebecca Robbins, warn that financial speculation on medical data could undermine public trust in clinical research.

• Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif warned that Pakistan would go to war against India if its water security is threatened. • The threat is tied to the potential suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, which governs the sharing of river waters between the two nations. • This escalation highlights the volatile nature of the long-standing territorial dispute over the Kashmir region and the critical role of resource security.

• Tensions exist between Armenia and Azerbaijan over a disputed border region. • A joint declaration of peace has been agreed upon, along with a request to dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group. • The agreement grants the United States development rights over a transit route, known as the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” from the Nakhchivan exclave through southern Armenia to Azerbaijan.

• Beelzebub has raised €3m in a Seed round from United Ventures to develop AI-powered cyber defence technology. • The startup's technology uses AI decoys to trap AI-powered attackers, and it is also developing new tech to protect AI agents. • This funding round brings Beelzebub's total funding to €3.3m, following a €300k pre-Seed round.

• With only 99 days remaining until the November 3 midterm elections, Democrats and Republicans are finalizing their core campaign strategies to mobilize voters. • Democrats are focusing their messaging on economic affordability and the cost of living to attract a broad coalition of voters. • Republicans are leaning into the popularity and influence of Donald Trump to drive turnout and support their candidates.

• Wall Street analysts have issued new upgrades, downgrades, and initiations for a diverse range of companies, including Alphabet, Ford, Rivian, and Rocket Lab. • These shifts occur ahead of the quarter's busiest earnings week, with over 150 companies (more than 30% of the S&P 500) scheduled to report. • Market attention is focused on upcoming reports from four of the "Magnificent 7" tech giants, which will likely drive volatility and trend direction.

Leading assemblage artist was known for reclaiming Jim Crow-era memorabilia as images of Black liberationArtist Betye Saar, the pioneering figure of the Black arts movement, died on Sunday morning in her home town of Los Angeles. She was 99.Saar, a famous practitioner of assemblage, an artistic style that builds sculpture from everyday objects, was best known for reclaiming Jim Crow era memorabilia such as dolls and washboards and recasting them as images of Black liberation. Saar also worked in genres including printmaking and film, exploring themes from family to spirituality. Continue reading...

• Stripe is reportedly in talks to acquire OpenRouter, a company that serves as an intermediary routing layer between AI model providers and developers. • OpenRouter optimizes AI requests based on cost, latency, and capability, and was previously valued at $1.3 billion during a May 2026 funding round. • This move follows a surge in physical AI and infrastructure investment from July 21-27, including Atoms raising $1.7B and Etched reaching a $10.3B valuation.

• South Korean venture capital firms are aggressively investing in local semiconductor material startups to capitalize on the escalating global AI chip race. • This surge in funding is driven by the intensifying competition for dominance in artificial intelligence hardware and the critical need for advanced materials. • The trend highlights South Korea's strategic effort to strengthen its domestic supply chain and reduce reliance on foreign semiconductor components.

• Goldman Sachs has identified the South Korean won as the top foreign exchange bet in Asia for the next three months, driven by an AI-fueled boom in exports. • The bullish outlook for the won, Taiwan dollar, Chinese yuan, and Malaysian ringgit contrasts with a bearish stance on the Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah. • Regional pressures include falling gold prices and low interest rates in Thailand, as well as policy uncertainty in Indonesia and oil price sensitivity in the Philippines.

• Goldman Sachs has increased its 12-month target for Japan's TOPIX index from 4,400 to 4,500, suggesting a potential upside of approximately 12%. • The firm's optimistic outlook is driven by expectations that a weak yen will significantly boost Japanese corporate earnings. • This move comes as the TOPIX remains only 2% below its all-time high set in June, outperforming other Asia-Pacific markets with a stable forward P/E ratio of 16x to 17x.

• A youth-led movement in India, dubbed the ‘cockroach’ protests, has rapidly expanded from a massive online presence to a potent political force, eclipsing the BJP's social media reach. • The movement follows a broader South Asian trend where digital outrage translates into mass street mobilizations, similar to recent government-toppling protests in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. • Despite these parallels, analyst Namita Singh suggests a crucial difference exists that makes a similar regime-change outcome far less likely within the Indian context.

• Houthi rebels, supported by Iran and Hezbollah, have launched missile and drone strikes against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. • These attacks target the nations for their support of the UN-recognized government that the Houthis previously ousted from Sanaa. • The situation is critical as Red Sea strikes threaten to open a new front in the broader Middle East conflict, though the US and Iran avoided new strikes overnight.

• A deepening conflict has emerged between Han Dong-hoon and Jang Dong-hyuk, key figures within South Korea's main conservative People Power Party (PPP). • The tension follows Han Dong-hoon's victory in a parliamentary by-election for a northern Busan district on June 3. • The resolution of this internal squabble is considered critical as it will likely determine the future direction and stability of the PPP.

ICE will pay Canadian media giant US$125m to use its investigative database to identify ‘immigration fraud’A Canadian federal opposition party leader is calling on the Mark Carney government to block the latest data-sharing deal between US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Canadian media giant Thomson Reuters.Avi Lewis, the federal leader of the New Democratic party (NDP), demanded on Tuesday that Ottawa address the contract and further restrict Canadian corporations from doing business with ICE, after Canada’s National Observer reported on the deal. Continue reading...

• Alphabet's stock price declined following the company's announcement of increased spending on AI infrastructure. • The financial dip is attributed to investor concerns over the rising costs associated with scaling artificial intelligence capabilities. • This move highlights the immense capital expenditure required for tech giants to remain competitive in the global AI race.