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International Business Times

July 2026

Leaked Memo Links Iran to Minnesota Water Utility Cyberattacks. Dozens of Systems Were Targeted in Escalating Campaign.

Since then, suspected Iranian hackers have been connected to a series of retaliatory operations, including attacks on medical supply company Stryker and the reported compromise of FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email account

Now we have documented disruption and even modification of safety and protection parameters in critical infrastructure,

China’s AI IPOs Fail To Lift A Slumping Stock Market

A global selloff in AI infrastructure stocks pushed Chinese chipmakers lower, with the CSI 300 headed for its biggest monthly decline since January 2016

How SpaceX’s Break With China Could Clear The Path To A Tesla Merger

Investors are watching for catalysts after SpaceX's stock decline, while prediction markets continue to price in a possible Musk-led combination of the two companies

We work hard to adhere to the requests and it is understandable. The technology is a matter of national security, especially as SpaceX also has commercial partnerships with NASA,

Reddit Did Not Announce Any AI Deals In Its Earnings Report. Its Stock Is Plunging

Reddit's stock fell about 20% on Friday, its largest intraday drop since the company went public

Steve Huffmanreddit CEO
These deals aren't binary. They have to make sense for Reddit, but there are many ways, I think, for the value to return to Reddit,
A lot has changed since those first deals were signed, but our goals are the same: making sure any partnerships drive our business and recognize the unique value of Reddit's data. There is a wide range of ways to do that; those are all things we'll discuss at the negotiating table,

Investors Look Overseas as Magnificent Seven Concerns Grow. Janus Henderson Sees Opportunities in Europe and Asia

The comments come as global markets show signs of broader leadership

There's definitely a move to explore more outside the U.S.,
The Mag Seven is nearly half of your index, and you're all in,
I think the political debate sort of comes and goes, but I think most advisers, most investors are fairly pragmatic and they'll go where they see the returns, and they tend to overlook the politics,
The most attractive market at this point is the most resilient, and it has continued to show the exceptionalism that we've all continued to question for a few years now,
We can't have AI without semis,
Korea has definitely been through the wringer just recently,

The U.S.’s Continued Strikes Are Battering Iran’s Economy. Blackouts and Shortages Spread Across the Country.

That has changed in recent weeks after the Trump administration widened its list of military targets beyond conventional defense sites to include infrastructure considered vital to the country's economy

Donald Trumppresident
I could take out most of their bridges in less than an hour,

Apple Plans To Launch An AI-Powered Siri. But Some People Might Have To Pay For It.

As Apple prepares to launch an AI-powered Siri in the fall, the company also is considering whether it should charge for access for people who use it much

Tim CookcEO
We do believe there will be people that want to use it a lot, and so we will have some kind of upgrade possibilities on on iCloud+,
Tim CookcEO
The ability to run some percentage of requests on device is also very strategic and sort of a competitive weapon,
Torsten Slokeconomist
This AI thing better work out because if it doesn't... we're going to have a problem,
I'm not saying AI is going to go away, it's just not clear to me these guys are going to make money on it,

Amazon Is Getting $600 Million From Trump Tariff Refunds. Some Customers Will Get Automatic Money Back

The refunds stem from the Supreme Court's February ruling that invalidated tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977

Brian Olsavskychief Financial Officer
We are participating in the tariff refund process and, as I mentioned earlier, we received approximately $600 million in Q2,
Brian Olsavskychief Financial Officer
Otherwise, like other large retailers, we'll utilize refunds to continue to invest in low prices for customers,
Second, we are not the importer of record for the large majority of items sold in our store,
We've identified a limited set of circumstances where we can trace that we've passed specific import charges onto customers, and when we receive those refunds, we will proactively contact affected customers and automatically issue refunds to them,

Spain Is Grappling With a Migrant Crisis. Trump Is Using It As a Cautionary Tale For The U.S.

Ursula von der Leyeneuropean Commission President
We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules,
Remember that picture. That's going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in,

Economic Uncertainty Persists As Stocks Whipsaw And The Iran War Flares Up Again. Consumer Sentiment Improved Still

Consumer sentiment improved for the second month in a row in July even though gas prices climbed again as the war between the U.S. and Iran flares up

Consumers remain focused on pocketbook issues like purchasing power, while political or military developments remain more in the background,

China And The U.S. Are Clashing In The AI Race. Beijing’s Military Is Reportedly Using American Models to Train Its Defense Systems

The findings come as Washington continues tightening restrictions on advanced AI chips and other technologies that could enhance China's military capabilities

Sunny Cheunghong Kong democratic activist
Teaching a model the right answer is one thing but teaching it the reasoning behind the answer is much harder,
Trevor Koverkocanadian entrepreneur and podcaster, former ice hockey player
It is best understood as transferring selected capabilities into a cheaper, locally controlled system, not achieving independence from frontier AI,

Oil Companies See Record Profits In Q2. Exxon Mobil And Chevron Are Among Those Benefiting From Iran War

U.S. oil and gas companies have seen profits soar in the second quarter, largely a result of disruptions related to the Iran war

There are constituencies around the world who are having a very good crisis, and the oil producers are one of them,
Mike WirthcEO
We're kind of firing on all cylinders, which is good, because the world needs it,

Clashes Between The U.S. And Iran Continue Around The Strait Of Hormuz. Oil Is Climbing Again

Brent crude, the international one, gained 1.85% and clocked in at $88.49 per barrel at 9:33 a.m. ET, while West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. one, jumped 2.45% and stood at $85.64 at the same time

The situation was immediately dealt with in accordance with the approved emergency and rapid response plans through the coordinated efforts of the competent authorities and the on-site firefighting and safety teams,
CENTCOM assets struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities,
The strikes aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries,
There are centrifuges at Pickaxe Mountain where enrichment is currently taking place,

An OpenAI Model Recently Breached Its Testing Environment, Raising Security Concerns. Now An Anthropic One Has Behaved Similarly

The findings came after it reviewed tens of thousands of cybersecurity evaluation runs after OpenAI revealed one of its newer models breached a testing system during a safety testing

The Fed Saw a Split Vote In Its Last Meeting. Those Who Favored a Hike Have Come Out To Say Action Is Needed Now

Each meeting we're now building more uncertainty around it than the last,
It looks like September now, maybe we're building to that crescendo, but we'll have to see how the data shakes out now over the interim,
The longer that high inflation persists, the more challenging and costly it can be to bring it back down,

Trump Touts Agreement To Disarm Hamas In Gaza, But The Group Says There’s a Caveat

As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors,
Donald TrumpuS President
Under this agreement, Gaza will finally be in the hands of a new Palestinian government that serves its PEOPLE,
We insisted to the mediators that Israel must abide by the agreement,

Most Americans Believe Trump Has The Wrong Priorities, Poll Shows. 7 in 10 Disapproved Of His Economic Performance

The poll was particularly dire on the economy, with 70 percent of respondents disapproving of his handling of it

Six-in-ten Americans now say that Trump's economic policies have worsened economic conditions in the country. This is up from the 52% who said this in January and the 53% who held this view last fall,

Fed’s ‘Hawkish Hold’ Leaves Wall Street Guessing. Stocks and Bonds Could Pay the Price

While policymakers kept benchmark interest rates steady, the central bank's tougher tone and lack of forward guidance left Wall Street facing greater uncertainty over the path of inflation, borrowing costs and financial markets

If he is tough on inflation as he says, why has he not already acted?"
Each meeting we're now building more uncertainty around it than the last,
It looks like September now, maybe we're building to that crescendo, but we'll have to see how the data shakes out now over the interim,

Qatar Turned To U.S. Gas As Hormuz Closed. Emergency LNG Purchases Reached About $1 Billion

The cargoes, valued at roughly $1 billion, represent a sharp increase from the four spot cargoes the company purchased during the previous year

An Expert Is Claiming The Governments And Companies Are Racing To Build Artificial Superintelligence. He’s Sounding The Alarm

Connor Leahy is the U.S. Director at ControlAI, a non-profit focuses on preventing what he describes as the extinction risk posed by artificial superintelligence

OpenAI temporarily paused one of its models after it repeatedly accessed servers it was not supposed to...They don't know why it was doing that,
I think humanity can take control of its future. We don't have to do this,
The thing they're trying to do is not to make a slightly better chatbot or to make a slightly better coding assistant. Their goal is to build superintelligence,
We scientifically don't understand it,
This is a national security problem. This is an international security problem,