🕵️♂️ Handwritten Signals
If you see the list, you’re not on it.
Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française
Good morning!
Scott Bessent walked into last Friday’s Camp David cabinet meeting with a notepad angled toward the photographers, on which a man who knows exactly where cameras stand had written: « To Do: Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil. » The most powerful finance ministry on earth now conducts monetary policy by stationery leak, somewhere between a hostage note and a grocery list. The staging worked. Tokyo torched roughly $52.8B in a single Thursday, the largest one-day intervention ever recorded, part of an $88B two-day salvage of a yen that had sagged to 163 per dollar, its worst level since the Plaza Accord era. The currency bounced. Kazuo Ueda’s BOJ, still serving 1% rates while inflation overshoots its target, then returned to doing nothing, which remains its most consistent policy.
Washington’s first joint yen purchase since 1998 was funded, of all things, in euros. The New York Fed rang Goldman and Morgan Stanley and sold European currency to buy Japanese currency on America’s behalf, an arrangement roughly as natural as settling a Tokyo bar tab in Deutschmarks. The reason is not diplomacy but plumbing: raising dollars would have meant selling Treasuries, and the long end of the bond market, already queasy after Fed chair Kevin Warsh’s press conference, could not be asked to swallow more paper. Hence the invitation for Japan to use the Fed’s FIMA facility, a pawnshop for central banks where Treasuries can be hocked for dollar liquidity on the strict understanding that nobody actually sells anything.
A reserve asset has exactly one job description: sellable, in size, at speed, without a phone call first. Dollars occupy 57% of global reserves, down from above 70% in 2000, precisely on that promise. Washington has now demonstrated that it would rather liquidate its euros and lend against its own bonds than watch an ally exercise the option. Grant Bessent this much: reallocating euros is subtler statecraft than the house style, which tends to arrive with a tariff schedule. The same stabilisation fund bailed out the Argentine peso before last autumn’s midterms, so at least the generosity is consistent. Trump called the operation « a signal of friendship. » Friendship, in this arrangement, is the privilege of not being punished for selling what one owns.
Japan is the gentlest possible test case, an ally so loyal it asked permission to spend its own savings. The next large holder wanting out of Treasuries may not call ahead, and there will be no notepad, no facility, no communiqué about disorderly movements. There will simply be a bid that Washington cannot politely decline. A reserve system survives on the belief that the exit exists. Last week, for the first time in a generation, the doorman was photographed standing in front of it.
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🗞️ Top Story
- 🇩🇪 Terminal Suspicion. US sources point to Russian involvement in the Leipzig airport drone incident, while Germany hesitates to name names and escalate tensions. (Le Parisien)
- 🇭🇺 Baka to the Future. Hungary’s parliament appoints András Baka, ex-Supreme Court chief ousted by Orbán, as transitional president to oversee the country’s post-Orbán political reboot. (El Pais)
- 🇪🇺 Total Eclipse of The Heart. Europe braces for its first total solar eclipse in decades as crowds flock to the path of totality, hoping for a midday blackout. (New York Times)
- 🇷🇺 Draft Expectations. Volodymyr Zelensky claims Russia is preparing to mobilize several hundred thousand more troops by the end of 2024, citing leaked Russian documents and warning Ukraine will try to disrupt the plan. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 Friendly Firepower. The Trump administration finally admits its Yemen strikes killed 153 civilians and injured almost 250 more, according to a newly released Pentagon report. (Washington Post)
- 🇧🇷 Poll Position. Lula’s lead over Flavio Bolsonaro narrows to 9 points in the latest CNT/MDA poll, as Brazil’s October presidential race tightens. (Boursier)
- 🇨🇴 Counting Losses. The official number of deaths from Colombia’s deadly earthquake has been adjusted down to 216, while over 1,600 remain injured and rescue efforts persist. (France Info)
- 🇰🇷 Spy Hard. South Korea arrests two Chinese nationals accused of spying on US-South Korean military communications, with both facing possible life sentences for enemy assistance. (Die Zeit)
- 🇵🇭 Running Mates. Sara Duterte is indicted for making death threats against President Marcos Jr, her former election partner, turning Philippine politics into a high-stakes grudge match. (Le Monde)
- 🇳🇿 Staying Alive. Prime Minister Luxon secures enough support in a party confidence vote to remain at New Zealand’s helm, at least until the next round of intrigue. (Bloomberg)
- 🇱🇧 Dead End. The Lebanese parliament votes to end the death penalty, making history in a region where capital punishment is still the rule, not the exception. (France Info)
- 🇸🇾 Trial and Error. A Syrian court has sentenced ex-president Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for war crimes after his December 2024 escape to Moscow, closing a chapter on 13 years of civil war. (Libé)
- 🇿🇦 Shaft End. Fourteen illegal miners died and eight were injured after a disused mine near Rustenburg collapsed, highlighting South Africa’s deadly shadow mining economy. (Le Figaro)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Heat Repeat. The UK breaks its record for 30C days in a year, as the Met Office warns of even higher temperatures and fresh health alerts this week. (Bbc)
- 🇬🇧 Tapped Out. After the driest July since records began, nearly all of England and Wales are in drought, prompting fears that running water may not be guaranteed. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Return to Sender. Trump’s push to tighten mail-in ballot rules is halted again by a federal court, which expands the ban to all 50 states just months before midterms. (Die Zeit)
- 🇺🇸 Cabin Pressure. While Trump escaped Turkey via covert route, Rubio, Bessent, Miller, and White House staff remained on the decoy flight, mostly unaware of the real threat. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Past Imperfect. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed wiped over 160 YouTube videos and numerous social posts supporting « defund » and radical policy swaps, hoping voters forget what Google remembers. (New York Times)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇩🇪 Cloud Atlas. Nearly 90% of German companies rely on US digital services, with one third admitting to heavy dependence and many seeing serious risk if cut off. (Die Zeit)
- 🇪🇺 Yuan Direction. China designates Deutsche Bank 🇩🇪 as the first foreign yuan clearing bank in Europe, giving Frankfurt a new role in cross-border payments. (Bloomberg)
- 🇨🇭 Risky Business. Despite a drop in natural catastrophe losses, Swiss Re Institute flags wildfires as the insurance industry’s most rapidly escalating threat this year. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Hawk Talk. Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack calls for more than a modest rate hike to control inflation, warning that 25 basis points just will not cut it. (Boursier)
- 🇵🇦 Water Mark. Daily auction prices for Panama Canal passage hit $1.1M, up 16-fold in a year, with El Niño and Iran war bottling up supply. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Chicken Little. poultry companies like Tyson Foods face falling profits as a glut of chicken floods the market and drives prices down, just as new food rules are floated. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Yield Hunters. CLO exchange-traded funds attracted $2.3B last month as investors sought higher returns in a market hooked on floating-rate risk. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Fuel Circle. Phillips 66 🇺🇸 once fled California’s tough climate but now leads a $5B pipeline project to bring Texas fuel straight to the Golden State. (Wall Street Journal)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇩🇪 Deficit City. Burkhard Jung says German municipalities are running €30B short each year, with morale in local government at a record low. (Die Zeit)
- 🇬🇷 Silver Surfers. Trikala, famed for its early smart city moves, now bets on tech to keep pace with its increasingly elderly residents. (Les Echos)
- 🇺🇸 Tower Defense. Donald Trump vows to fight New York City’s new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes, exploring whether federal power can block it entirely. (Cnbc)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Stamp Out. Andy Burnham is considering scrapping stamp duty and overhauling property taxes to fund social care and defence, putting homeowners on notice. (The Guardian)
- 🇬🇧 Artificial Grievances. UK property managers face a wave of AI-assisted tenant complaints, many citing inaccurate laws and turning minor issues into major paperwork. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 House of Cards. Mat Ishbia’s United Wholesale Mortgage 🇺🇸 lost $600M on a risky bet, suspended dividends, and needed a bailout from Oaktree Capital as shares collapsed 35%. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Home Alone. Invitation Homes CEO Dallas Tanner says the new ban on institutional homebuying will eventually lower prices, but buyers should not expect relief anytime soon. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Mansion Fog. A looming NYC tax on luxury second homes over $5M triggers widespread confusion among wealthy owners and their advisors about the rules. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Sale Away. Existing home sales in the slipped 1.7% in July, as the market’s summer debut matched its spring slump. (Wall Street Journal)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇬🇧 Bank Blockers. Parliamentarians are pressing UK banks to explain why crypto and digital asset firms face routine rejections and strict payment limits. (FinExtra)
- 🇺🇸 Betting on Order. With the NFL and elections looming, Polymarket brings in ex-Bird and Robinhood execs to clean up its act before the boom. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Odds in the Air. FlightAware has filed suit against Kalshi, claiming the prediction market is profiting from unauthorized use of its flight cancellation data. (Wall Street Journal)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇸🇪 Artificial Labeling. Spotify 🇸🇪 plans to tag AI-created tracks with an « AI Persona » badge, making it clear when the singer is silicon, not human. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 Cloud Nine. CoreWeave 🇺🇸 shares soared after the company reported $2.58B in quarterly revenue, doubling last year’s figure and boasting a $104B sales backlog. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Chip Shot. Nvidia’s $2.3T market cap and surging profits calm credit markets, showing that even Wall Street needs a little silicon reassurance. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Billion Dollar Baby. Sundar Pichai announces Gemini has crossed 1B monthly users, giving Google a much-needed headline as rivals outpace its AI tech. (Le Parisien)
- 🇺🇸 Crude Awakening. Oil prices briefly hit $90 a barrel as the US-Iran standoff chokes the Strait of Hormuz and fuels fears of renewed inflation. (New York Times)
- 🇯🇵 Disconnected. Rakuten 🇯🇵 stock plunged as its mobile division rang up bigger losses, reminding investors that not every call pays off. (Bloomberg)
- 🇰🇷 Chip Shot. Shares of SK Hynix 🇰🇷 and Samsung 🇰🇷 jumped after a bullish Temasek report fueled fresh optimism for Korea’s semiconductor giants. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Star Exit. Paramount is threatening to leave California if the state does not drop its antitrust suit blocking the $81B Warner Bros. Discovery merger, making Hollywood itself negotiable. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Margin Call. Super Micro Computer 🇺🇸 surprised investors with a 17.5% gross margin in Q4, blowing past its own guidance as profits soared. (Wall Street Journal)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- Fondazione Giorgio Armani 🇮🇹 to sell 15% of Armani 🇮🇹. Sale process may be delayed beyond the March 2027 deadline, with priority given to LVMH, L’Oréal and EssilorLuxottica, timeline and valuations still preliminary.
- GameStop 🇺🇸 may withdraw its $56B bid for eBay 🇺🇸 and could propose a partnership or JV instead.
- Nvidia 🇺🇸 will invest up to $3B for a 30% stake in Lancium 🇺🇸, a Blackstone-backed power infrastructure developer.
- Newmont 🇺🇸 pays Barrick 🇨🇦 $1.95B as both contribute assets to their Nevada JV, paving way for Barrick’s planned IPO of its North America gold assets.
- Safe Harbor Marinas 🇺🇸, backed by Blackstone, is nearing a deal to acquire MarineMax 🇺🇸 for $1.5B including debt at a 45% premium.
- Morgan Stanley 🇺🇸-backed PNE 🇩🇪 is struggling to fetch bids at its desired $1.5B valuation.
- Amkor Technology 🇺🇸 considers sale of its China business for $1B-$1.5B.
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals 🇺🇸 acquires Actio Biosciences 🇺🇸 in a $1.3B deal. Epilepsy-focused biopharma.
- Teledyne Technologies 🇺🇸 acquires Varex Imaging 🇺🇸 for $1.1B including debt, a 50% premium.
- I Squared Capital 🇺🇸 acquires oOh!Media 🇦🇺 for $635M equity valuation after a bidding war with Pacific Equity Partners, Bain Capital, and Oaktree.
- Flowers Foods 🇺🇸 seeks to divest Tastykake 🇺🇸 for $350M.
- Archer Aviation 🇺🇸 acquires Wisk 🇺🇸, SkyGrid 🇺🇸, and Insitu 🇺🇸 from Boeing 🇺🇸 in exchange for a 20% stake.
- Beyonce 🇺🇸 acquires full control of SirDavis 🇫🇷, a whisky brand, two years after acquiring it from LVMH.
- Uber 🇺🇸 sells its entire stake in Serve Robotics 🇺🇸, disclosed in a regulatory filing after reductions began in 2025 and reportedly surprising Serve when it learned of the final selloff.
- Mari Group 🇺🇸 acquires ATG Entertainment 🇬🇧 for $6B, buying the theater giant from Providence Equity Partners.
- Amex Ventures 🇺🇸 invests in Fazeshift 🇺🇸, an AI-native platform deploying autonomous agents for end-to-end accounts receivable workflows. Builds on Fazeshift’s $22M Series A earlier this year.
- Nasdaq 🇺🇸 acquires LeveL Markets 🇺🇸, an ATS off-exchange equity execution venue processing hundreds of millions of shares daily and serving 2,500+ clients. Terms not disclosed.
- Francisco Partners 🇺🇸 acquires Moneris 🇨🇦 for C$2B cash from Royal Bank of Canada 🇨🇦 and Bank of Montreal 🇨🇦. Payments processor handles ~1/3 of Canadian transactions, ~2,000 employees, banks reach long-term referral agreements, Jeff Sloan to join as chairman.
- a Venezuelan party 🇻🇪 acquires Bluewave Properties 🇺🇸 for $300M after sanction pressure from US
- National Gas Company 🇹🇹 acquires the Venezuelan portion of the Cocuina-Manakin natural gas field 🇻🇪 from BP 🇬🇧, taking a 20% stake.
- Guotai Haitong Securities 🇨🇳 offers to take Guotai Junan International 🇭🇰 private at a $3.65B valuation, a 45% premium.
- Samsung SDI 🇰🇷 acquires GM 🇺🇸’s 50% stake in their $3.5B EV battery JV in Indiana.
- Webtoon Entertainment 🇰🇷 acquires RI Games Holdings 🇰🇷 for $100M, taking a 60% stake.
- Samsung SDI 🇰🇷 acquires a 49.99% stake in SynergyCells 🇺🇸 from General Motors 🇺🇸, a $3.5B U.S. battery JV for batteries and energy storage systems.
- Purvah Green Power 🇮🇳 acquires some solar from ReNew Solar Power 🇮🇳 at a $510M enterprise valuation.
- Tabcorp 🇦🇺 acquires BetMakers Technology Group 🇦🇺 for $190M valuation.
🇺🇸 United States
- Blackstone 🇺🇸 and La Caisse 🇨🇦 acquire Air Canada’s Aeroplan loyalty program 🇨🇦 for about $2B, taking a 25% stake.
- Curaleaf 🇺🇸 acquires Aurora Cannabis 🇨🇦 for $272M ($4 a share) in an unsolicited takeover bid.
- Amberjack Capital 🇺🇸 acquires PMV Automation 🇺🇸 from Flowserve 🇺🇸 in partnership with industry veterans Joseph Jobe and Micah Floyd, establishing PMV as an independent provider of valve automation solutions.
- Hanwha 🇰🇷 offers to buy Austal USA 🇺🇸 for $1.05–$1.2B, a builder of ships and submarine parts for the U.S. Navy.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇬🇧 Class Action. Private equity groups like Galileo Global Education are circling struggling UK universities, seeing opportunity where students see crisis and fees keep climbing. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Family Plan. Phia, the e-commerce app led by Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe, secures $43M in funding, reminding everyone that connections always check out. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Exit Strategy. Brad Lightcap, who helped build OpenAI’s business backbone, departs to “start something new,” adding to the company’s string of high-profile exits. (TechCrunch)
- 🇺🇸 Ghost in the Text. Anthropic unveils a hidden statistical watermark for every Claude AI output, promising undetectable tagging for regulators and visible headaches for content copiers. (Le Parisien)
- 🇨🇳 Unfriended. Meta 🇺🇸 must unwind its $2B acquisition of AI startup Manus after Chinese regulators blocked the deal, sending Manus back to independence. (Cnbc)
Fundraising
- OpenAI 🇺🇸 (AI): $7B (secondary)
- Erebor Bank 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $1.5B (8VC, Lux Capital, Valor Equity Partners, a16z)
- River AI 🇺🇸 (AI): $1.1B (General Catalyst, AMP PBC, Nvidia, AMD Ventures, Y Combinator, Temasek)
- Lumilens 🇺🇸 (Networking): $900M (Atreides Management, Bain Capital Ventures, Meritech, Seligman Ventures, Spark Capital, Addition, Alkeon, Harbourvest, J.P. Morgan Private Capital, Mayfield, MVP Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Peak XV, Redpoint Ventures, Seifdune)
- H&MV Engineering 🇮🇪 (Engineering): €750M (Exponent, Apollo S3, Pantheon, SQ Capital)
- Cambridge Aerospace 🇬🇧 (Aerospace): $300M (DFJ Growth)
- Neros Technologies 🇺🇸 (Defense): $250M (Sequoia Capital, American Strategic Technology Fund, Interlagos, Valor Equity Partners, Allen & Company, Thiel Capital, Spark Capital, Dylan Field)
- Vaderis Therapeutics 🇨🇭 (Biotech): $152M (Medicxi, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, TCGX, Omega Funds)
- Yulu 🇮🇳 (Mobility): $93M (GEF Capital Partners)
- Epicrispr Biotechnologies 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $90M (Octagon Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Cormorant Asset Management, Duquesne Family Office, Sanofi Ventures, abrdn Inc., Angelini Ventures, Readout Capital, existing investors)
- Obsidian Security 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $85M (Crescent Cove Advisors, Greylock Partners, Menlo Ventures)
- Infinimmune 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $75M (Regeneron Ventures, Playground Global, RA Capital Management, Goldcrest Capital, Forge Life Science Partners, Godfrey Capital, Wild Tree Ventures, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Everbright Biofund, Civilization Ventures, Pear VC)
- Corma 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $60M (Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Coatue)
- Vedanta Biosciences 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $60M (AMR Action Fund, BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts, BARDA)
- Flagler Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $50M (Bessemer Venture Partners, SignalFire, Alumni Ventures, Streamlined, 186 Ventures, Proof VC, Tribeca Venture Partners, Offscript)
- Silicon Data 🇺🇸 (AI infrastructure): $30.5M (Valor Atreides AI Fund, CME Group, DRW, F-Prime, Samsung, VanEck, Further, Jump, Tectonic, Wintermute, Breed, Hack, Blank VC, Sancus Ventures, SoGal Ventures)
- Bios Life 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $25M (Redmile, Vsquared Ventures, Kindred Capital)
- VibeIQ 🇺🇸 (Retail): $22.5M (Volition Capital, Venture Guides)
- Baselayer (Identity): $20M (Koro Capital, M13)
- Axle 🇺🇸 (Insurance): $17.5M (Base10 Partners, Y Combinator, Gradient, Stage 2 Capital, founders of Cover Genius, early team at Plaid)
- Pro Padel League 🇺🇸 (Sports): $15M (Rick Schnall)
- RWX 🇺🇸 (DevTools): $12M (Hyde Park Venture Partners, Quiet Capital, The O.H.I.O. Fund, R1 Capital, DV, Bryan Johnson, Kohsuke Kawaguchi)
- Discovered Materials 🇮🇳 (Materials): $9M (Lightspeed India Partners)
- Soctera 🇺🇸 (Semiconductor): $4M (Anorak Ventures, Multiball Capital, 9Yards Capital, Mana Ventures, Red Bear Ventures)
- House of Student 🇺🇸 (Proptech): $2M (Saltwater Sutra, Nirmitsu Inspirational Ventures, Gautam Verlekar, Glen Fernandes, Richard McCallum, Ali Moosa, existing investors from Unilodgers, other strategic investors)
- WashWise 🇺🇸 (Consumer): $1.2M (FJ Labs, Singh Capital, Alex Jekowsky, Jack Abraham, Brian Tate, Gigi Howard, Nina Farran, Mia Tonelli, Taylor James, Brown Girl Angels, executives from Pickle, The Business of Fashion, Dior, SoulCycle, Soho House, Apple, J.P. Morgan)
Fund Watch
- Accel 🇺🇸: $550M (India fund, oversubscribed, part of $3.5B global raise)
- Mido Capital 🇺🇸: $100M (debut VC fund, raising)
🔔IPO
- Intel 🇺🇸 (Semiconductors): plans to raise $20B in an upsized share sale, its first since listing 55 years ago.
- Duke Energy Corp 🇺🇸 (Energy): plans to raise $1.75B in a share sale.
- Lyntris 🇺🇸 (Sensors): seeking to raise $530M in an IPO at a $2.5B valuation.
- Unitree 🇨🇳 (Robotics): retail tranche was over 5,500x oversubscribed as its IPO raised about $900M, valuing the company at $9B.
- Turing 🇯🇵 (Self-driving): targeting a $10B valuation in a potential U.S. IPO within the next five years.
- Shein 🇭🇰 (Retail): plans a Hong Kong IPO from Aug. 19 targeting a $30–40B valuation.
- DayOne Data Centers 🇸🇬 (Data centers): planning a US IPO as soon as next quarter to raise about $5B, potentially valuing the company near $20B.
- DatVietVAC 🇻🇳 (Media): pursuing a local IPO at a $232M valuation.
🧳 Debt
- Apollo 🇺🇸: in talks to help back a $500B AI infrastructure investing package for Nvidia.
- Cloudflare 🇺🇸: seeks to sell $2.2B of convertible notes.
- IBM 🇺🇸: raised $2B in a Canadian bond sale.
- TCP Capital Corp. 🇺🇸: selling a $523M portfolio of private-credit stakes to shore up its balance sheet.
- Global AI 🇺🇸: raised $440M in debt financing led by JPMorgan.
- Gabriel India 🇮🇳: talks for a local-FX bond sale to fund two acquisitions totaling $330M.
🇺🇸 United States
- Undisclosed precision metal coating company 🇺🇸: raised $2.5M in receivables financing from Republic Business Credit and a family office.
❌ Failures
- The Italian Sea Group 🇮🇹: launched a sale process as part of its restructuring efforts.
- Glencore 🇨🇭: part of a consortium that proposed a rescue deal for troubled Canadian miner Sherritt International.
- 777 Partners 🇺🇸: fraud-marred, sports-focused PE firm filed for Chapter 11 after creditors moved to liquidate its remaining assets.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇩🇪 Family Feud. In their Bavarian hometown, Adidas and Puma’s rivalry turned the World Cup into a fresh chapter of the Dassler brothers’ legendary grudge. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 Help Button. After a stranded boat claimed Zuckerberg’s yacht failed to assist off Alaska, his spokesperson says he was absent and the Coast Guard handled it. (Le Parisien)
- 🇰🇷 Shark to Idol. Park Geon-roung, the seven-year-old star of the « Baby Shark » video, is set to debut as a K-pop singer with backing from Pinkfong. The company hopes lightning can strike twice for its viral sensation. (Bbc)
- 🇸🇱 Kush and Effect. In Sierra Leone, a cheap synthetic drug called kush is devastating young lives, causing instant addiction and deadly wounds for just $0.40 a hit. (Le Temps)
- 🇿🇼 Gift Economy. Zimbabwe’s elite outdo themselves as the son of mogul Kudakwashe Tagwirei weds with $20M in gifts and a guest list that includes the president, turning a wedding into a masterclass in clientelism. (Le Monde)
- 🌍 Dark Omens. Religions across history have viewed solar eclipses as powerful signs, with interpretations ranging from divine warnings to apocalyptic fears. (Le Monde)
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