• ☝️ The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest organizers shared a preview of some of the Highly Commended images in this year’s competition; the full list of winners will be revealed next month.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Beam

• 💰 US markets fell across the board (S&P: -2.1%; Dow: -1.5%; Nasdaq: -3.2%); all three major indexes recorded their worst days since August 5. | 📉 Nvidia shares fell 9.5%, wiping ~$300 billion off the chipmaker’s market cap; the DOJ also reportedly sent the company a subpoena related to an antitrust investigation. | ✈️ Elliott Management, an activist investment firm, now owns 10% of Southwest Airlines’ common stock, or enough to call a board meeting.
• 🍻 Molson Coors becomes the latest company to rollback DEI initiatives; last week, Ford, Lowe’s, and Jack Daniels all announced similar moves.
• 🚕 American Transit Insurance Co., NYC’s largest taxi insurer (~60% of the city’s taxi industry), is reportedly insolvent.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🚫🎮 Sony is shutting down its team-based PlayStation 5 shooter Concord and offering refunds to all players; the move follows underwhelming sales over its first two weeks of release (~25,000 copies total); the game took eight years to develop, with unconfirmed reports placing its cost at $100+ million.
• 🍿 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the Tim Burton-directed sequel to the 1988 film, is projected to earn $100+ million at the domestic box office this weekend; if achieved, it would be the first film to break nine figures in a September opening weekend since 2017.
• 🏈💰 Americans will bet ~$35 billion on the NFL this season, a 30% increase over last year, according to the American Gaming Association. | 🏟️ The Cleveland Browns reached a 20-year agreement to rename the team’s stadium to Huntington Bank Field.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Commons

• 📱🧠 Mobile phones are not linked to brain and head cancers, per a WHO-commissioned analysis of 63 observational studies that represents the largest such research to date.
• 🫄 Accidental pregnancy can occur in more than 5% of people who undergo tubal sterilization – aka having their fallopian tubes “tied” – according to a new study.
• 🪨🪙 The Earth has a Midas touch – it can turn your countertop into gold; a new study details how earthquakes can cause quartz deposits to form into giant gold nuggets.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🗳️ Trump campaign officials “abruptly pushed aside” an Arlington Cemetery official who was attempting to ensure adherence to federal law prohibiting political activities on cemetery grounds, per an Army statement; the Army said it considers the matter closed after the employee declined to press charges; Trump’s campaign spokesperson said they had received permission to photograph in the area.
• 🥵🌡️ Phoenix, Arizona, has recorded a high temperature of at least 100°F in each of the past 100 days, marking its hottest summer on record. | ⚖️ Oregon ended its first-in-the-nation law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of heroin, fentanyl, meth, and other hard drugs; the law was enacted in 2020 via ballot measure.
• 🇨🇳🗽 A former deputy chief of staff for New York Governor Kathy Hochul was arrested yesterday and charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government; federal prosecutors say she used her position to subtly advance Beijing’s agenda in exchange for financial benefits worth millions of dollars. | ⚖️ The Justice Department filed charges against six senior leaders of Hamas, including its political head Yahya Sinwar, accusing them of terrorism and other crimes in connection with the October 7 attacks on Israel.

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🐻 How Did the Teddy Bear Get Its Name?