Iran's IRGC says it intercepted and destroyed a fourth MQ-1 drone in four days east of the Strait of Hormuz using a new air defense system.

Putin moved Russia’s annual Valdai foreign policy conference from Sochi to the Moscow area over security concerns about Ukrainian drone strikes, according to people familiar with the decision.

The change was reportedly made at the insistence of Putin’s security service after Ukraine intensified long-range attacks on targets around the Black Sea.

Putin has not visited Sochi since October 2025 and has increasingly avoided Russian cities within range of Ukrainian drones.

Source: FT

U.S. oil executives warn that the global fuel crisis has arrived as inventories fall, strategic reserves run low and attacks disrupt Middle Eastern energy infrastructure.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said the buffers that had protected the market “have largely now played out,” adding: “I wish I could tell you that I saw some reason why things would ease, but it’s difficult right now to see that happen.”

U.S. crude has jumped 19% in three weeks to around $101 a barrel, while diesel hit a record $6.23 a gallon and gasoline rose to $4.32.

The Trump administration insists the disruption is temporary.

Source: WSJ

A Pentagon inspector general report says the Iran war has caused U.S. ammunition shortages and exposed “industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.”

Operation Epic Fury cost an estimated $33.4 billion between February 28 and June 30, including $22.3 billion in expended munitions. The report says the spending has resulted in “strategic inventory shortfalls.”

It also lists four F-15s destroyed, one F-35 damaged, seven KC-135 tankers damaged and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed.

The findings contrast with Trump’s claim that the U.S. has “virtually unlimited” ammunition.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang:

We don’t welcome political discourse inside our company. Take it home. You guys talk about politics outside the company.

The company is an apolitical company. We’re bipartisan. We want America to succeed, and whatever government is in place, we’ll do everything in our power to help America succeed.

Trump:

My uncle was probably maybe the best of all time, frankly, professors at MIT for 41, 42 years, and known as being one of the most brilliant men.

So I have a little genetic strength, if you believe in the resource theory. I do. I have genetics. I know about AI.

The robots will not be taking over. The AI will not be taking over the rest of the world. The whole thing is a hoax.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang:

Nobody in China is saying that there’s end of this and end of that, and cataclysmic this and doom or that.

We're making it up.

The part that is frustrating is, if it was true, then we ought to talk about it and go do something about it, right?

Even if it’s true, we ought to spend more time doing something about it than worrying a bunch of people who can’t do anything about it.

Host: Are we all going to die in 10 years or not? It’s the topic of discussion here.

Elon Musk: Well, I hate to break it to you, but we’re all going to die.

Host: Can I get a timeline?

Elon Musk: Yeah, the death rate remains consistent at 100%.

Elon Musk on AI:

If it were able to take control of military systems and, say, launch a nuke… that would be bad.

Elon Musk on AI:

Well, it’s pretty obvious at this point that AI can be very dangerous. And I recommend reading the details of the Hugging Face incident. It’s intense.

Basically any sufficiently smart model seems like it will want to escape its constraints.

What I think would be wise to do as soon as possible, if not immediately, would be to have the major AI competitors test each other’s models.

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez on Ceuta crisis:

In most cases, we are talking about Moroccans — men, women, and especially many Moroccan minors.

It makes me laugh when I hear some people on the far right talk about an "invasion." In reality, many of them are or were minors, boys and girls.

Many of them unfortunately drowned in that crisis, while many others arrived simply looking for a better future in a country that is creating those opportunities and that they perhaps cannot find in their country of origin.

In any case, Morocco has expressed its willingness to reunite these minors with their families, so this takes time, but we are putting the full machinery and all the resources of the state into resolving it as soon as possible.

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez:

I have never said that we would not respond forcefully to Morocco if it is proven that Morocco — the regime — was behind what happened on July 30 and 31.

But as of today, there is no solid information pointing to Morocco as being responsible for the avalanche we suffered on July 30 and 31.

Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov:

You observe, I hope, regular broadcasts of situations that show the activities of so-called “man-hunters.”

They snatch people off the streets of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and drag them into vehicles for deployment to the front, without summonses or official mobilization.

I have no doubt that it will soon reach women as well.

Zelensky:

Russia continues its attacks on our energy infrastructure, regular logistics, and critical infrastructure. And our response to these attacks is significant.

There are new results from the Ukrainian Defense Forces regarding oil refineries in Syzran, as well as strikes in Taganrog on a drone manufacturing facility, and a drone launch site in the Oryol region.

Putin ally Patrushev threatens Poland would "cease to exist in 2–3 days" if it entered military operations against Russia.

Patrushev was responding to Polish FM Sikorski's claim that European NATO could defeat Russia "quite quickly" with air superiority.

Patrushev called Sikorski's assessment "dilettantish" and said Russia isn't using its "full potential" in Ukraine.

Russian frigate fired two flares at a Danish Air Force helicopter during a routine patrol near Gedser in the Baltic Sea.

One passed close to the aircraft.

Denmark summoning Russia's ambassador.

Defense Minister Bruus:

It is serious. The boundaries have been moved in terms of Russia's willingness to take risks.

Called it "very unprofessional seamanship."

Crew unhurt, helicopter undamaged.

Denmark's PM called it an "aggressive and assertive Russia."

Source: DR

DeepSeek engineer who built the attention kernels for their latest model compared Anthropic having AGI to Hitler getting the atomic bomb first.

His words:

I do not want Anthropic to control the world's most advanced artificial intelligence.

To put it dramatically, I think the stakes would be comparable to Hitler obtaining the atomic bomb before the Allies did.

His argument:

Frontier AI must be open and cheap for everyone, not controlled by closed Western labs.

That's why he stays at DeepSeek.

Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett on Iran:

This regime is rotten, like a tree rotten from within, and eventually it will collapse.

With this rotten tree, we can drill a little here, drill a little there. I’m not talking only about kinetic actions.

I’m talking about economic actions, things I don’t want to mention, strengthening the opposition from within and strengthening their enemies.

It now costs $1 million a day to hire a supertanker on the Persian Gulf-to-China route, for first time ever.

Previous "once in a lifetime" peaks were around $200,000. This is five times that.

Almost no one will send a ship through Hormuz anymore, so crude gets shuttled through the strait on smaller vessels then transferred to VLCCs outside — soaking up ships and time.

One Korean operator, Sinokor, controls roughly 10% of the global VLCC fleet and has unusual pricing power.

Even the "safer" Oman-to-China leg costs $644,000/day.

Refiners keep paying because fuel margins are extreme.

Old tankers are selling for double last year's price.

Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett:

At the end of the day, Israel must have absolute security control from the sea to the Jordan River.

The Palestinians will manage themselves civilly in their areas, in Areas A and B, and Area C will ultimately be part of Israel.

Trying to bring about a two-state solution would bring a terrible disaster upon us.

Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett on Zohran Mamdani:

He says he is in favor of Jews and finds a pet Jew to be with him, but you can see that he is anti-Israel.

Anyone who is against the State of Israel as the Jewish state is antisemitic.