Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🇨🇦🇪🇺 EU offers Canada partial membership
• 🍿 Spider-Man sets all-time record
• 🧠 Digital fly brain trades bitcoin

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.12-minute read (1,095 words).

Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here for free.

"It is far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness."

–William L. Watkinson (1828-1925)

Canada and the EU are exploring a friends-with-benefits arrangement, geopolitically speaking.

Yesterday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed making Canada the EU’s first-ever “associate member,” potentially creating a new level of partnership between Ottawa and the 27-member bloc.

So, is Canada joining the EU?

In short: not exactly. Canada isn’t seeking to become a full EU member, which would require giving up some national sovereignty, but is instead exploring an arrangement that would bring Canada as close to the EU as possible without full membership.

The EU has never had an associate member before, meaning there’s no established rulebook for what Canada would gain, what obligations it would take on, or how the arrangement would be approved.

• Their proposed partnership would build on the existing CETA free-trade agreement, under which EU-Canada trade has grown by 75% in less than a decade.
• Von der Leyen says the expanded relationship could include closer cooperation on advanced manufacturing, AI, critical minerals, cybersecurity, defense, quantum computing, and more.
• Canada is also exploring an agreement that would allow its citizens to live and work in Europe without visas.

Looking beyond its neighbor

Canada currently sends ~70% of its exports to the US, making America by far its largest trading partner. But relations between the neighbors have deteriorated amid a series of recent tariff disputes and repeated talk from President Trump of making Canada the 51st state, accelerating the country’s broader push to reduce its economic dependence on the US.

That pivot is already underway, with Canada this year becoming the first non-European country to join the EU’s ~$172 billion SAFE defense procurement program.

Looking ahead…Officials say the shape of Canada’s proposed associate membership should become clearer ahead of a planned Canada-EU summit in late October.

Alumni Ventures is giving readers early access to high-potential startup opportunities across today’s most active sectors, co-invested alongside name-brand VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Bessemer, & Y Combinator.

You get:

• Curated deal flow of high-potential startups
• Invest alongside well known lead venture firms in these deals
• No cost to see deals
• No obligation to invest

The Renaissance had Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. This one has Auntie Anne’s and the Cheesecake Factory.

After years of trailing the broader commercial real-estate recovery, enclosed malls are suddenly outperforming every other property type.

• Mall values have risen by 13% over the past year, according to real-estate analytics firm Green Street.
• That figure marks the largest increase among all 10 commercial property sectors it tracks, and more than double the rise in overall commercial real-estate prices.

So what changed?

While investors have seen lackluster returns from sectors like offices and apartments, malls have benefited from a lack of new construction, resilient consumer spending, and relatively few retailer bankruptcies.

Successful mall owners have also evolved beyond the traditional department store and food court formula and leaned into businesses which are harder to replace with online shopping, like luxury retailers, trendy restaurants, and entertainment venues.

Investors are taking notice. Shares of Simon Property Group, America’s largest mall owner, surpassed their previous record high in July for the first time since 2016, and have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year.

Meanwhile, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which four years ago planned to ditch the US market, has reversed course and committed nearly $1 billion this year to take full ownership of two US malls.

But…Despite the recent rebound, mall values remain far below their decade-ago peak. An estimated 200 US malls have closed since 2008, leaving around 900 operating in the US today.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏦 Federal Reserve unanimously votes to raise baseline interest rates by a quarter-point to a range of 3.75%–4%, marking the first interest rate hike in three years; 16 of 18 Fed officials also pencil in at least one more rate hike this year.
• 🛢️ ExxonMobil is reportedly nearing a preliminary deal to explore investments in several Venezuelan oil fields, nearly 20 years after exiting the country.
• 💰 Forbes 400 List, the publication’s annual ranking of America’s wealthiest individuals, is published; Elon Musk ($908 billion) earns top spot for fifth straight year, followed by Jeff Bezos ($378B) and Larry Page ($278B).

SPORTS, MEDIA, & ENTERTAINMENT

• ​​🕸️ Spider-Man: Brand New Day overtakes Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) as the highest-grossing domestic release of all time, earning $936.8 million across 47 days in theaters.
• 🎙️ Joe Buck reportedly signs contract extension that will keep the play-by-play announcer at ESPN—and on Monday Night Football—into the 2030s, with an annual salary between $15 million–$18 million.
• 🏒 Heated Rivalry Season 2 announces six new cast members as production begins.

Choosing project management software means comparing more than logos, it means comparing real costs. Software Advice’s free 2026 pricing guide breaks down what Asana, monday.com, ClickUp and other top-rated tools actually charge, from entry plans averaging $16 per user, per month to premium tiers averaging $44.

You’ll see exactly what each pricing tier includes, plus the hidden fees to watch for. 

SCIENCE, SPACE, & EMERGING TECH

• 🌾 Eating lots of whole grains (60-100 grams/day, or 4-6 servings/day) is linked to improvements in obesity, blood pressure and cholesterol, per new meta-analysis.
• 🧠 Mice with half-human brains created by scientists as part of effort to develop new treatments for brain disorders, including schizophrenia, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, dementia, and intellectual disability.
• 💊 FDA launches pilot program to speed up approval process for new drugs and help them reach human trials faster, in bid to keep early research from moving to China and Australia.

US, WORLD, & POLITICS

• 🚁 NBC Los Angeles news helicopter crashes while covering a deadly bus crash in San Fernando Valley, killing three people; the cause remains under investigation.
• 🏛️ House impeachment vote for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, introduced by outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), is postponed until after the midterms after Speaker Johnson sends House into early recess; vote was considered a long shot in GOP-controlled Congress.
• 💥 Rep Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, comes out against the Trump admin’s plans for a $2.8 billion weapons sale to Israel using US funds for the purchase.

☝️ Scientists recently discovered a new crater on the Moon that's bigger than the Roman Colosseum. An unknown powerful impact created the 728-foot-wide crater roughly two years ago, in an event researchers say occurs about once every 132 years.

🤔 Did you know? The Chicago Bears are the only professional sports team to score both a Billboard Hot 100 hit and a Grammy nomination, thanks to their 1985 song “The Super Bowl Shuffle”—released seven weeks before their win in Super Bowl XX.

📰 Worth a read: The volatile finances of airline pilots, America’s unpredictable millionaires.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Digital fly brain plays video games and trades bitcoin
• Which birdsong is the most beautiful?
• How to fight with the people we care about

Sell safely without settling for less…Worthy puts your diamond ring or luxury watch in front of professional buyers, creating competition for your piece, with expert support and fully insured shipping from start to finish. See how much it’s worth.

Yesterday we covered how the Pentagon this week acknowledged for the first time that it has deployed weapons in Earth’s orbit, opening space as the next potential global battleground.

❓ Our question to you: Which statement comes closest to your view? A) America should deploy space weapons to proactively defend national security; or B) America should try to avoid placing weapons in orbit to help prevent an accelerating global space arms race?

• Deploy space weapons: 32%
• Avoid space weapons: 49%
• Unsure/other: 19%

Read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 582 votes and 39 longform responses.

🧳🏍️ Pack it up, folks: A YouTuber rebuilt Mazda’s infamous 1991 suitcase motorcycle.

🎸 A breath of fresh air: Experience the 2026 Air Guitar World Championships, held last month in Finland. (1 min video)

📲 Stop the scroll: 5 great games to keep you from doomscrolling.

💼🎯 What do 310,000+ professional women know that you don’t? They’re reading The Assist—a 4x-weekly newsletter packed with leadership insights and career strategies from women executives. Subscribe free.*

*A message from our partners

Which country has the most pyramids? (Hint: It’s not the first that comes to mind)

(keep scrolling for the answer)

🦊 Nashville singer-songwriter Jerry Vandiver, 78, has spent thousands of volunteer hours over the past seven years rescuing local red foxes suffering from mange, a treatable but potentially deadly skin disease. Posting his efforts online has earned him the title: "The Fox Whisperer."

Sudan, with 200-255 known pyramids

Advertise with us: Want to reach other smart and inquisitive readers like you? Become a DONUT partner.

Made it this far? Let us know what you think:

👍 👋 👎