Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. On this day in 1804, Alexander Hamilton died after being shot by his longtime political rival, Aaron Burr, during a duel that originated from disparaging remarks made at a dinner party.

Did he insult the cooking? We bet he insulted the cooking.

(In reality, Hamilton reportedly called Burr “a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government.” So basically your average Twitter post.)

Some other things you’ll know after reading this email:

• 🌌👀 What the first full-color James Webb photo looks like
• 🤔 How many BNPL users are Gen Z and millennials
• 🟨 The ingredients in American cheese

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.74 minutes to read.

P.S. It’s day #2 of our exciting week of announcements (well, at least we’re excited). Read on to see what’s changing!

“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."

–Marcus Aurelius (121 A.D. – 180 A.D.)

​​President Biden revealed the first full-color scientific image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on Monday, showing off one of the deepest infrared images of the universe ever taken.

📸 More deets… The above picture covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground... and it contains thousands of galaxies.🤯

• To get technical, what you're looking at is a snapshot of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared roughly 4.6 billion years ago – the amount of time it took the light to travel the distance to Earth.

🔭 The first of many: Launched by NASA this past Christmas Day, the $10 billion JWST is the most powerful telescope ever put into space (where interference from Earth’s atmosphere is minimal). It’s tasked with advancing scientists’ understanding of how our universe evolved from the earliest galaxies to today.

• By using infrared light, the JWST is able to cut through cosmic dust and see further into the past than any other scope, revealing the first-ever cosmic objects that formed during the early days of the universe.

🌌👀 Looking ahead… NASA will reveal the rest of the JWST’s first images later this morning at 10:30 am ET (livestream); this batch will reveal the fine details of star formation, an exoplanet's atmosphere, a cluster of galaxies, and a planetary nebula.

Prime Day, Amazon’s annual mega shopping event, kicked off early this morning. The two-day affair is set to feature lowered prices on some of its most popular products and devices, as well as “flash sales” that’ll pop up on its website from now through Wednesday.

• The blowout sales event, which was first launched in 2015, is back to its original July date after being pushed to different dates each of the past two years (Covid and the Olympics).

⭐️💰 Welcome to Prime time… Prime Day has grown to become more lucrative for Amazon than either Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The retail giant sold an estimated $11.2 billion worth of goods over a 48-hour period last year, good for a company record.

• Last year wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. Average spending fell for the third straight year to $47 per customer (from $55 in 2020).

🏷 Zoom out: Cue Christmas in July comparisons, cuz it’s the time of shop, shop, shop. Many of Amazon’s competitors are running counter-sales featuring major deals of their own, including Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Samsung, and Lowe’s.

+It’s a free-for-all out there: Prime members can enjoy a free $10 Amazon credit for purchasing at least $10 worth of products from small businesses through July 11. A three-month free trial of Audible Premium Plus and four months of free Amazon Music Unlimited (with three months free for non-Prime members) is also included.

Buy-now-pay-later firm Klarna announced a new round of funding yesterday valuing it at $6.7 billion – just a teeny tiny downgrade from the $45.6 billion valuation the Swedish startup commanded in June 2021.

😬 Driving the drop… According to market analysts, Klarna’s ‘downround’ – aka when a private firm raises money at a lower valuation than previous funding rounds – is a reflection of ongoing market turmoil, particularly among tech stocks, and indicates that the rest of the BNPL industry is also in trouble (and not just because Apple is entering the market).

• If that is the case, someone should probably tell Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. He referred to the round in part as “a testament to the strength of Klarna's business.”

📈📉 The big picture: Overall, the BNPL industry has been growing at a fast clip. Global transaction volumes reached $120 billion in 2021, up from $33 billion in 2019… but this year has hit industry players hard.

• Affirm, which debuted on public markets in early 2021, has seen its stock fall more than 77%.
• Likewise, shares of PayPal and Square-parent Block – which recently acquired Australian buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay – are down 64% and 61%, respectively.

+In the know: Nearly 75% of BNPL users in the US are Gen-Z or millennials.

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As we covered yesterday, protestors stormed the houses of both the Sri Lankan president and prime minister over the weekend, swimming in the pool, cooking in the presidential kitchen, setting the prime minister’s house on fire, and even sleeping in the president’s bed.

The overarching catalyst for the unrest? Dire economic circumstances.

🌏 Around the world, they’re not alone…

• Pakistan’s new government, which came to power in April, narrowly averted a debt default in recent weeks that was driven by a soaring fuel-import bill. It’s currently seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
• Turkey (73.5%), Russia (17%), and Chile (13%) are currently dealing with annual inflation rates at or near historic highs.
• Afghanistan’s economy is still in shambles nearly a full year after the Taliban assumed power.

✂️ Big picture: The World Bank recently cut its forecast for growth in developing economies to 3.4% this year from 4.6% previously, citing the effects of spiraling prices for food and energy and rapidly rising borrowing costs following interest-rate increases in the US.

• ☝️ A growing wildfire near Yosemite National Park is endangering a grove of giant sequoia trees that includes the famous Grizzly Giant; the fire had burned nearly 2,500 acres as of Monday morning and wasn’t contained at all.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🚘 Uber secretly lobbied politicians across the globe – including the current leaders of the US, France, and Germany – to relax local regulations that the company’s business model violated, according to a recently-leaked trove of 124,000+ internal documents from 2013 to 2017.
• 👚 Gap CEO and President Sonia Syngal stepped down yesterday effective immediately; the retailer said executive board chairman Bob Martin would serve as interim president and CEO while an official replacement is found.
• ✈️ The saga continues: Frontier said it has already submitted its “last, best, and final” offer to acquire Spirit, but asked the rival airline to once again postpone a final vote on the deal to allow Frontier more time to convince skeptical shareholders they should choose them over JetBlue. (Background)

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏌️ The DOJ is investigating whether the PGA Tour engaged in anticompetitive behavior as it battles the Saudi-backed LIV golf series over the game’s top players, per the WSJ.
• ⚖️ Johnny Depp’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss efforts by Amber Heard's legal team to persuade the judge in their defamation case to declare a mistrial.
• 🏈🏟️ Goodbye Heinz Field: The Pittsburgh Steelers’ home venue will be known as Acrisure Stadium beginning this season, the team announced yesterday.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌙 Japanese scientists have proposed bringing Earth-like artificial gravity to the Moon using 1,300-foot-tall structures that rotate about three times per minute.
• 💊 The FDA received its first application for an over-the-counter birth control pill, a drug called Opill from French firm HRA Pharma; the agency is expected to give a yay or nay in the first half of 2023.
• 🤖👶 UK scientists have created an AI that can think like a human baby, per a new peer-reviewed study.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🇨🇳🏦 Chinese authorities employed plainclothes security teams to violently break up one of the country’s largest public protests in recent memory, according to social media videos.
• 📊 President Biden’s job approval rating hit a record-low 33% in a new NYT/Siena College poll, with 64% of Democratic voters saying they’d like a new presidential candidate in 2024. (From the Left | From the Right)
• 🏥 The Biden administration published new guidelines yesterday saying all US doctors and hospitals must provide an abortion under federal law if a pregnant woman in emergency medical condition needs the procedure to be stabilized, even if it's illegal under state law. (From the Left | From the Right)
• 🤖🍕 Piestro = pizza game-changer. The company is making robotic kiosks that triple pizzeria profit margins, and you can invest. Learn more here (only open until July 27th).*

*Sponsored post

💬 Quoted… ​​“They said I couldn’t buy Twitter… Then they wouldn’t disclose bot accounts… Now they want to force me to buy Twitter… Now they have to disclose bot info in court.”

• In response to Twitter’s lawsuit aiming to force him to complete a $44 billion takeover of the company, Elon Musk tweeted out a meme late Sunday featuring four images of himself laughing with the above captions.

👥 Stat of the Day: ​​India is expected to surpass China as the world's most populous country by 2023, according to a new UN report on population trends. (Background)

🌎 Around the World: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s replacement will be announced on September 5 following a country-wide vote among members of his Conservative Party.

🤯 Did You Know?... American cheese is a processed food that’s made from combining several different types of cheeses, including Cheddar cheese, washed curd cheese, Colby cheese, and granular cheese.

📖 Worth a Read: How Artists Get Paid From Streaming → (The Pudding)

📊 Poll results: Yesterday, we asked what you thought about California’s decision to start its own pharmaceutical company with the aim of producing affordable insulin.

• 64% agreed with the move, 10% disagreed, and 26% were unsure or had a more nuanced opinion. See the full 360° view here. 

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Transparency is core to what we do here at the DONUT… I mean, how many other news orgs put the secret sauce behind their entire editorial process on the front page of their website? (Answer: none.)

But we can always be better. Which is why we’re launching a brand-new section that’ll hit your inbox every Tuesday: the time-tested reader mailbag.

We can’t help you reconcile with an ex or get your cat out of a tree – but we can answer questions related to the DONUT, money, the workplace, and the world around us (or even beyond it🚀).

You can think of this section like a Reddit AMA featuring Hank Green, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Adam Smith. Toss in an F-16, and wallah! There you have the perfect recipe for a knowledge bomb.🤯

Just reply to this email with your questions or submit them here.

In 2020, a stray dog took a liking to the employees at a Brazilian Hyundai car dealership.

The employees figured the dog would eventually move along – but then, on one stormy day, the dealership's manager invited the pup inside... and the rest was history.

🐕 Am doggo, pls buy this car... The team named the pup Tucson Prime and hired him as a 'pawfessional consultant'; he even has his own adorable employee name badge, and has proven to be quite popular with local car-buyers.

After all, who could say no to that face?!

Disclosure: This story first appeared in last week’s Positive DONUT, a weekly newsletter delivering awe (and awww) inspiring stories you won't hear in the news. Sign up for free here.

❓ Trivia: What did the person chained to the wall in The Goonies want?

👽 True or False?... E.T.’s favorite candy was a Baby Ruth chocolate bar.

 🤔 Riddle Me This… I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have nobody, but come alive with wind. What am I?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone you think would like the DONUT.

❓ Trivia: A Baby Ruth chocolate bar.🍫

👽 T/F: False. His favorite was Reese’s Pieces.

🤔 Riddle: An echo.