🇻🇪 Venezuela Starts US-Backed Talks on Future Democratic Elections

Venezuela’s government and some opposition members formally launched a US-backed political dialogue that could establish the terms for future democratic elections. Representatives of the government-controlled National Assembly and members of the 2015 opposition-led National Assembly had a phone call on Saturday.

The parties established technical working groups that are expected to begin in-person meetings next week in Caracas. The groups will discuss the response for the victims of the recent twin earthquakes, strengthening democracy and political rights and guarantees.

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📱 Grok can watch and analyze any video

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🇺🇸🇲🇦Morocco Says Trump Highway Naming Is Mark of ‘Deep Appreciation’

Moroccan King Mohammed VI said his decision to give US President Donald Trump’s name to a $1 billion highway that crosses into the disputed Western Sahara expresses his “deep appreciation” of the American leader.

In a letter reported by state news agency MAP, the North African monarch confirmed the 1,055-kilometer (660 miles) expressway between Tiznit and the Western Sahara city of Dakhla will be called the Donald J. Trump Highway.

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🛢OPEC+ Agrees in Principle to Small Quota Hike, Delegates Say

Major OPEC+ nations have agreed in principle to another token increase in their production quotas for September, a move that would complete the theoretical revival of supplies halted in 2023 and give them scope to add more barrels once the Middle East war ends.

Seven members led by Saudi Arabia and Russia are likely to agree to boost their collective target by a further 188,000 barrels a day next month, two delegates said.

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🕵🏻‍♂️🇨🇳 Chinese police AI algorithm tracks bitcoin money laundering with 90% accuracy

Researchers from China’s national police academy have developed an AI framework that can detect illicit cryptocurrency transactions with nearly 90% overall accuracy, according to a recent study.

In an article published in the peer-reviewed Chinese publication Journal of Intelligence, corresponding author Dr Sun Jingchao wrote that the study “provides a precise, generalisable and interpretable solution for detecting illicit cryptocurrency transactions”.

It also “provides an innovative technological pathway for regulatory authorities to combat illicit cryptocurrency transactions and economic crimes”, Sun, a researcher specialising in criminal investigation and cybersecurity, wrote.

The study was conducted by experts from the People's Public Security University of China, an institution affiliated with China's Ministry of Public Security.

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🤖 Over 99.99% of oil removed from seawater with higher evaporation rate using new membrane

Growing populations and expanding industries are worsening freshwater shortages across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, increasing demand for sustainable water supplies. Solar desalination uses sunlight to produce freshwater efficiently, but oil contamination in seawater can clog desalination membranes and reduce their performance.

In an effort to overcome this limitation, researchers at Pusan National University developed a multifunctional hydrogel membrane that combines oil separation and solar-driven desalination in a single system. The study was published online on June 1, 2026, and will appear in the October 15, 2026, issue of Desalination.

Testing showed that the membrane removed more than 99.99% of oil from contaminated seawater while maintaining stable performance across different oil droplet sizes and repeated cycles. It represents a broader strategy for designing next-generation water treatment technologies.

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🧠 A Massive Study Reveals the Brain Is Far More Flexible Than We Thought

“We have to move away from this image of the brain as a machine made of gears, with every gear having an exact purpose that we can attach a label to,” — said Stefano Fusi, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, a member of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science.

“The brain doesn’t work like that. Instead, most neurons can display a huge diversity of responses, and this can help the brain solve a huge number of different tasks.”

Most neurons may be far more versatile than scientists once thought. In a major study published in Nature, researchers analyzed more than 14,000 individual neurons across 43 regions of the mouse cortex and found that most didn't perform one clearly defined job. Instead, they responded to shifting combinations of sensory information, movement, and decision-making.

A neuron that appears devoted to one feature under certain conditions may also encode several other pieces of information. That flexibility could help explain how the brain handles new situations without requiring a separate group of cells for every possible experience.

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🚀 SpaceX will report its first public earnings on August 4

The Q2 results come after market close, followed by a webcast, the first detailed look at SpaceX's finances since it went public under the ticker SPCX. The report also triggers SpaceX's first major insider share unlock, with roughly 911 million shares set to free up about 2 days later, near double the current public float.

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⚡️🇺🇸🇯🇵Trump Says Yen Intervention Is Signal of Friendship With Japan

President Donald Trump said the US joined a currency-market intervention that lifted the yen last week as a sign of friendship with Japan and to help the global economy.

"They wanted a little bit of help, and we're always there for Japan," — Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, citing the "good relationship" with the US ally. "More than anything else, it was a signal of friendship." 🤝

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🧑‍⚖️🇺🇸 California Democratic Party endorses billionaire tax

The controversial billionaire tax won the backing of the California Democratic Party, the latest twist in the drama surrounding a measure that has roiled the left and its allies. The party’s executive board voted Sunday to endorse Proposition 40, which, if approved by voters in November, would impose a 5% one-time tax on billionaires’ assets to pay for healthcare.

The measure has proved divisive. Although it has support from progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), others including Gov. Gavin Newsom, gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, and a growing list of labor unions have come out against it, arguing the one-time nature of the tax and billionaire flight could cause more harm than good to California’s state budget.

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💊 AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Consider Combining Into One Company

AstraZeneca, valued at £196 billion, and Bristol Myers Squibb, worth $133 billion, would form the fourth-largest drugmaker globally. This merger could expand AstraZeneca's presence in the U.S. market.

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🤖 2000-MW US solar project achieves key milestone to meet high-tech power demands

Origis Energy, one of America’s leading renewable energy platforms, today announced the successful start of commercial operations of three additional phases of its Rockhound Solar complex in Ector County, Texas — bringing the total operating capacity at the site to nearly 1 GWdc.

The newly completed phases, representing roughly 500 MWdc of solar capacity, mark a major milestone in the buildout of one of the largest renewable energy infrastructure complexes in the country. Upon full completion, the Rockhound complex is expected to exceed 2 GW of solar and storage capacity by 2029, positioning it as a cornerstone energy hub serving long-term industry demand.

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🤑 Ripple Strengthens Digital Capital Markets Infrastructure with Investments in ZILO and Licuido

Deepening its push into capital markets, Ripple today announced strategic investments in ZILO, which specializes in global transfer agency asset technology solutions for asset managers and wealth, and Licuido, a tokenization solution and FCA-regulated trading platform for digital ownership and asset liquidity.

Ripple’s investments in ZILO and Licuido build on existing partnerships between the companies. Together, these deals are bringing regulated transfer agency, issuance, and collateral mobility to Ripple’s infrastructure on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). 🤝

📌 Ripple’s infrastructure for institutional investors and issuers is combining issuance, custody, collateral utility, multi-currency enabled investment, and atomic settlement - with RLUSD as the regulated cash leg for delivery-versus-payment transactions.

Tokenized funds can be used as collateral from the point of issuance, and trades settle atomically on the XRPL. This provides institutions with a single, consistent operating model, available anytime, anywhere. 💫

🔜 ZILO’s transfer agency and fund administration technology provides asset managers, custodians, and transfer agents with modern, digital record-keeping that supports tokenized share classes as funds move onchain, giving institutions the regulated record they need to run lending and collateral markets with confidence.

🔜 Licuido’s platform gives traditional financial assets, including fund shares, the same portability and utility already available to other asset classes. It manages the issuance, distribution, and execution of these assets, so they can move freely as digital collateral through onchain atomic settlement infrastructure.

"Tokenization of assets is only the starting point: the real value lies in what can be done with a token, including buying, selling, and settling trades instantly, or using it as collateral to borrow, lend, or post margin,” — said Nigel Khakoo, SVP, Trading and Markets at Ripple. 🚀

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🇺🇸 Trump posted on Truth Social

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🇨🇳 Alibaba Adds to China AI Breakthroughs With New Qwen Model

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. released its biggest ever AI model, claiming performance on par with global leader Anthropic PBC in the latest Chinese breakthrough to challenge US rivals.

The new Qwen3.8-Max is built on 2.4 trillion parameters and ranks higher on several benchmarks than the headline-grabbing Kimi K3 from Moonshot that was recently unveiled. Alibaba shared results showing it delivering comparable or sometimes better scores than Anthropic’s Fable 5.

#BRICS

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⚡️🇺🇸The Trump administration has invited OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and other AI companies to the White House to review a new voluntary AI oversight framework

The framework will establish a voluntary process for AI labs to submit their models to the government before releasing them to partners and the public. The Office of the National Cyber Director, an agency within the executive branch, will host the meeting.

The meeting is scheduled for several days after the initial Aug. 1 deadline for completing the framework, which was set by an executive order issued in early June. It remains unclear whether the White House will accept feedback at the meeting or present a final version of the framework.

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🔥 Robinhood wins UK crypto registration before new regulatory regime kicks off

Crypto-friendly trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) is now registered to offer cryptocurrency services in the U.K. 🇬🇧

❗️Robinhood’s U.K. arm was added to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) list of registered cryptoasset companies as of July 31.

The company’s existing FCA registration means it meets the regulator’s requirements where it comes to anti-money laundering (AML). A regime for crypto firms has been in effect since 2020 and now numbers over 50 approved companies, including Ripple, Kraken and traditional finance (TradFi) giants like BlackRock and BNY.

Winning the regulator’s permission to offer crypto services has added significance ahead of the inception of the more comprehensive framework for crypto regulation in the U.K. The authorization process opens at the end of September and closes at the end of February next year, ahead of the full regime coming into force in October. 🚀

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🇨🇳🇭🇰China’s Wu Vows Further Expansion of Market Links to Hong Kong

China is working closely with Hong Kong authorities to expand the Stock Connect cross-border trading link by adding yuan-denominated stock counters and real estate investment trusts, according China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing.

Wu reiterated Beijing’s commitment to opening mainland markets and facilitating international investment through the city. Regulators on both sides are actively preparing technical frameworks to enable mainland investors to trade dual-currency counters and REITs via Southbound Stock Connect.

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📺 Samsung bans smart TV apps that share users’ internet connections with strangers

The security research by Norwegian cybersecurity company Mnemonic describes a perfect storm of problems that allows low-quality apps to proliferate across Samsung’s app store, containing code that puts users at risk of having their internet connections tapped by a rogue app. One of the smart TV apps was a simple Pac-Man game.

These apps contain software that funnels outsiders’ web traffic through ordinary home and office internet connections, known as residential proxy networks (or “resproxies”), which are increasingly being linked to cybercrime. When opened, apps with resproxy code can turn the smart TV into an always-on tunnel for outsiders to funnel their web traffic through, known as an exit node — even when the app is no longer open.

“We have already restricted new app registrations that incorporate such proxy functionalities on our Smart TV platform,” — said a Samsung spokesperson.

“We are currently implementing strict platform-wide developer policies explicitly banning residential proxy SDKs, and we are working to identify and remove all apps currently available in our store that contain these components.”

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⚡️🤑 Introducing the Stellar Ambassador Program

Today marks the launch of the Stellar Ambassador Program — a global program for the builders, educators, and community leaders growing the Stellar ecosystem from the ground up.

We built the program to solve a crucial problem. A developer who discovers Stellar at a local workshop and a team preparing to raise need completely different things, yet most ecosystem programs treat them the same.

The Ambassador Program is structured as a progression instead, with four tiers that match the support to the stage.

🧱 The Four Tiers:

🔜 Explorer is the entry point. Complete onboarding, join a local Chapter, and learn the ecosystem through open workshops and educational resources.

🔜 Contributor is for members producing real work: delivering workshops, creating technical content, mentoring newer members. Contributors unlock structured bootcamps, speaking opportunities, and advanced technical tracks.

🔜 Builder is where projects take shape. Deployed smart contracts, a working MVP, or contributions to an SCF-funded project qualify. Builders gain access to builder retreats, product integration support, milestone-based incentives, and conference representation. Via their chapters, Builders can also earn Instawards, awards of up to $15K that fund early experimentation and prototyping.

🔜 Ecosystem Leader is for members whose impact extends beyond their own projects: leading hackathon tracks, mentoring teams that ship, and running regional initiatives. Ecosystem Leaders take on leadership mandates and acceleration pathways, including founder-readiness support for teams preparing to raise.

📌 One Pipeline

The Stellar Ambassador Program is designed to help builders progress through the Stellar ecosystem as they grow. Chapter referrals and Instawards can lead eligible projects into the Stellar Community Fund Build Award pipeline, where they may receive up to $150K in XLM to go from validated concept to mainnet launch. A builder who starts at a chapter workshop and ends up running a funded company has moved through one continuous system.

🌎 Global Reach

Building the new global financial system starts locally.

Ambassador Chapters are live in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with builders participating from communities worldwide. Each chapter runs local events and mentorship with a regional community working on shared problems.

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