• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from the 2024 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year award, with first place (top left) taking home a $6,800 cash prize.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Beam

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +0.4%; Dow: +0.6%; Nasdaq: +0.6%). | 📈 US GDP rose 3% in Q2, according to a final gov't estimate. | 🏡 Mortgage refinance applications rose 20% last week.
• ✈️ Southwest Airlines held its investor day; the company raised its Q3 revenue forecast and unveiled a host of business model changes.
• 📝 Super Micro Computer is being probed by the DOJ following a critical report by an activist short-selling firm; shares fell 12% on the day.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 Derrick Rose, the high-flying guard and former NBA MVP whose career was marred by injuries, announced his retirement after 16 seasons with six teams. | 🏟️⚾ The Oakland A’s yesterday hosted their final game at the Coliseum, a stadium where they’ve played since 1968, ahead of a planned move to Sacramento (and later, Las Vegas).
• 🏎️ F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo – a regular on Netflix’s Drive to Survive – was dismissed by the Red Bull Racing junior team yesterday. | 🥊⚖️ The UFC agreed to pay $375 million to settle a class-action antitrust lawsuit brought by a group of former fighters.
• 💰📰 CNN will introduce a “metered” paywall for online readers early next month that kicks in after a set number of articles, per the NY Times.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Cornbread Hemp

• 👓 One-third of all children and teens worldwide are nearsighted, a figure more than 3x higher compared to 1990, per a new study; the rate is projected to hit 40% by 2050.
• 🐟🦵 Some types of sea robins, a species of bottom-dwelling ocean fish, use legs covered with taste buds to sense and dig up prey along the seafloor, per a new study.
• 🐋 Wild orca whales were recently spotted hunting and eating dusky dolphins off the coast of Chile for the first time.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌀 🌀 Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida last night as a Category 4 storm, the strongest to ever hit the state’s Big Bend; as of 5 am ET, the storm has weakened to a Category 1 as it’s moved to Georgia; ~2.5 million customers are without power across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. | 🎓🗽 Nashville-based Vanderbilt University has signed a 99-year lease for a new campus site in New York City, per the WSJ; Vandy is also reportedly considering another new campus site in West Palm Beach, Florida.
• 📬📈 The US Post Office announced plans to hike stamp prices five times through 2027, with the next increase coming in July 2025. | 🦠🥩 A 10th death has been linked to a listeria outbreak connected to recalled Boar’s Head deli meat, per the CDC; congressional lawmakers have asked federal regulators to determine whether Boar’s Head should face criminal charges.
• 🏛️ Congress overwhelmingly approved a short-term bill to fund the government at current levels through December 20 in bid to avoid next week's shutdown deadline; President Biden signed the measure into law yesterday afternoon.

CLICKBAIT

• ✈️🌍 How to Fly to Europe for Under $100 One-Way.