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Daily Briefing

By Claire Beers

Hello. There is hope for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, but Iran reiterates US concessions must come first, how the hard reality of climate change hit Europe's economy this summer and millions of burnt books show how the 'war of endurance' is hurting Ukraine.

Plus, scientists turn to sharks to improve hurricane predictions.

Today's Top News

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Oman on August 3, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the US must meet other conditions before the strategic waterway is reopened.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery, two days after the kingdom signed a defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the US-Israeli war on Iran.
A gunman killed a Thai official inside a ‌local government office on the outskirts of Bangkok, days after a teenager's shooting spree at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control.
Torrential rain and storms in the wake of Typhoon Dolphin inundated several provinces, including Shanghai, where around 40% of flights were grounded. Beijing Bureau Chief Ryan Woo tells the Reuters World News podcast what may lie ahead as the storm pushes inland.
Taiwan slowed the mobile internet in a large swath of the central ‌part of the island for the first time during annual war games, simulating communication disruption in the event of a Chinese attack or natural disaster.
Police said they used water cannons to disperse thousands of youth protesters as they marched on the state legislature in the eastern Indian ‌state of Jharkhand to protest against alleged wrongdoing in the state's civil services examinations.
Taylor Farms said it was recalling prepared food items containing jalapeños from retailers over concerns about potential salmonella contamination, a few weeks after removing lettuce from Mexico ‌that US authorities linked to the cyclospora parasite.
Alleged Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan was charged with directing a criminal organization by ‌prosecutors in Dublin on Sunday amid tight security at a special court sitting following his extradition from the United Arab Emirates.

Business & Markets

Firefighters work on a burning area near Loumpa, as wildfires hit West Attica, Greece. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

For anyone in Europe who still thought climate change was a problem for future generations, this summer's sweltering heatwaves have brought home the reality that its costly and life-altering economic impacts have already arrived.
J.P. Morgan raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 index to 8,000 from 7,800, citing prospects of solid corporate earnings and rising confidence that ‌AI investments by large hyperscalers would drive faster revenue growth.
Shein is sharply scaling back operations in Vietnam a year after leasing a huge logistics hub, sources say. The end of the US's de minimis loophole weakened Vietnam's role as an export base.
Chinese robot maker Unitree has priced its Shanghai initial public offering at 150.8 yuan per share, with ‌subscriptions to start on Monday, as it seeks to raise $904 million in a deal that would see it become the first mainland-listed humanoid robot manufacturer.
A North Korean hacking group built large language model tools and collected software that could help automate cyberattacks, analyse stolen material and produce more convincing phishing ‌campaigns, a South Korean cybersecurity firm said.

Millions of burnt books show how 'war of endurance' is hurting Ukraine

A firefighter works at the site of a book warehouse hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine. REUTERS/Volodymyr Pavlov

A Russian drone strike on Ranok's warehouse in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on August 1 destroyed about 8 million books, the biggest blow yet to Ukraine's publishing industry during ‌the four-year-old war.

Publishers say more than 10 million books have been destroyed in attacks on warehouses in recent months, threatening an industry that initially benefited from rising demand for Ukrainian-language literature at the start of the conflict.

"This was a deliberately planned attack against the book warehouse," said Viktor Kruhlov, director of Ranok, one of Ukraine's largest children's publishers, whose company prints around one-third of the textbooks used in Ukrainian schools.

Read more

And Finally...

Researcher Aaron Carlisle grasps a white shark alongside a boat off the coast of Delaware, US. REUTERS/Andrea Leontiou

From the killer shark of "Jaws" to the tornado-tossed predators of the "Sharknado" movies, films long have portrayed sharks as objects of summer fear. But when a shark cuts through the waters off the US East Coast, it now may be doing more than hunting. It may also be gathering data that helps ‌scientists understand the potential intensity of a hurricane before it makes landfall.