Good morning and welcome to Monday. In this weekend’s unexpected good news, a newly released report indicates there are 40% more tigers in the wild than previously thought.

Driving much of the increase? According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, who released the report, we’ve just gotten better at finding them.🤯🐅🔍

In today’s edition:

• 🚫🚢 Why protestors are blocking an important California port
• 🦠 The WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency
• 🏗 Saudi Arabia is building the biggest modern structure in the world

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.86 minutes to read.

“The best revenge is to be unlike the person who performed the injury.”

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

Independent trucker protests against AB5 – California’s “gig-worker” law, not a newly discovered planet or galaxy – are set to resume at the Port of Oakland later today, after demonstrators effectively shut down the third-busiest seaport on the West Coast for all of last week.

🚛 More deets… Since last Monday, hundreds of protestors have prevented dockworkers from reaching their posts for loading and unloading ships. They’ve also stopped trucks from carrying cargo in or out of the port, which handles more than $40 billion worth of goods each year.

Driving the protests (😉) is a state law called AB5, which requires companies hiring independent contractors to reclassify them as employees, with some exceptions.

• AB5 was originally passed in 2019. But in 2020, nearly 60% of California voters passed a referendum exempting app-based gig companies like Lyft, Uber, and DoorDash from having to classify their drivers as employees.
• Court challenges have meant the original law only came into effect recently for the ~70,000 independent owner-operator truckers located in California.

💬 What they’re saying: Supporters of AB5 say it’s designed to prevent companies from misclassifying their employees as independent contractors, a position typically receiving lower pay and fewer (or no) benefits.

• Independent truck drivers opposing the law say it forces them to either give up their independence or spend thousands of dollars on permits, insurance, and equipment rentals.

👀 Looking ahead… CA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said on Thursday that he won’t give in to truckers’ demands to pause implementation of AB5, while the protesters have given no indication they’ll stop blockading the Port of Oakland anytime soon.

+Flash poll: Do you think California’s gig-worker law (AB5) is a good idea?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

The WHO declared the monkeypox outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday, its first time using the designation since the start of the Covid pandemic.

🦠 A deeper dive… The move is effectively the WHO’s call to arms for its member states around the world to coordinate resources and improve their responses to the ongoing outbreak – though the agency can only issue guidance and recommendations, not mandates.

• More than 16,000 monkeypox cases have been reported across 75 countries so far this year, resulting in a total of five deaths (all in Africa). The number of confirmed infections has risen 77% from late June through early July, per WHO data.
• The virus is spread through close contact with an infected person – or materials that have touched infected skin – and causes a rash that can spread over the body, with most people recovering within two to four weeks. Men who have sex with men are currently at the highest risk of infection, per global health authorities.

📝 One thing to note: The WHO’s decision goes against the majority view of a committee it convened to advise on the topic. 9 of the 15 members expressed concerns over the weekend that declaring a public health emergency might cause undue alarm among the general public, where the risk is still very low.

+More news: The CDC on Friday announced the first two recorded cases of children infected with monkeypox; they’re believed to have caught the disease through household transmission.

+Dive deeper: Vaccines (though limited) and treatments for monkeypox are already in circulation, which the WSJ reports is unusual for an emerging disease.

🌾🇺🇦 Ukraine grain, explained: On Friday, Russia and Ukraine signed separate UN-backed agreements to resume exports of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain that were trapped due to Russian blockades as part of its broader invasion of the country. The deal appeared in jeopardy hours later after Russia launched missiles at the port city of Odesa in violation of its commitments – but Ukrainian officials indicated they still intend to move ahead with the agreement.

🇮🇹 Italy’s headed to the polls: President Sergio Mattarella accepted the resignation of PM Mario Draghi after rejecting his first attempt last week, but asked Draghi to stay on as caretaker until snap elections are held on September 25.

🇹🇳 Tunisia preps for constitutional changes amid debt crisis: President Kais Saied plans to overhaul the country’s political system in a constitutional referendum held later today. Tunisia is dealing with large amounts of outstanding public debt and one of the world’s highest public sector wage bills compared to the size of its economy. Along with Ukraine and El Salvador, Tunisia is one of Morgan Stanley's top three countries most likely to default on its public debt.

The global fast food market is valued at $962B and projected to grow 50% by 2028 – and things are about to get interesting. 🍔📈

Right now, pizza is America’s #1 food with a market size of $155B. But it isn’t technically "fast food," so it misses out on almost a TRILLION dollars worth of business.😳

🤖🍕 Until now… Piestro has developed robotic kiosks that prepare gourmet-quality pizza in a matter of minutes. The kiosks eliminate labor/real estate costs, resulting in tripled profit margins for pizza restaurants.

• They’ve already secured $580M in preorders, including 3,600 units for pizza chain 800 Degrees!🔥

Technically speaking, there is fast-food pizza... but to be able to facilitate fast service, they sacrifice a LOT when it comes to ingredient quality, and it shows.😝

Restaurants using Piestro kiosks will be different, since they'll save so much on overhead costs that they won’t have to compromise on quality ingredients.

There are only 3 days left to invest in Piestro, so hurry before you miss your piece of the pie.

Summer nights gather, and now the watch project begins.

Saudi Arabia recently unveiled plans to build the largest modern structure in the world: two 1,600-foot tall buildings that run parallel for 75 miles, connected throughout via walkways (and feasibly manned by the Night’s Watch).

🏗 More deets… Called the Mirror Line, the project is expected to cost up to $1 trillion and will house some five million people when fully completed, multiple sources told the WSJ.

Among other things, it’ll feature:

• A high-speed rail system,
• Vertically-integrated farming,
• A marina for yachts,
• And (our favorite) a sports stadium located 1,000 feet off the ground.

The project faces a 2030 completion deadline under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s national transformation plan – but urban planners say it's unclear if they can complete the first-of-its-kind structure by then.

🇸🇦📸 The big picture: This is just one of a series of ambitious projects comprising Neom, a futuristic eco-city the size of Massachusetts conceived by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a bid to attract foreign investment and diversify the kingdom’s economy from its reliance on oil. But getting significant buy-in has been… difficult so far.

• Many Western countries and companies cut ties with Saudi Arabia over its record on human rights after the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

+Closer to home: Last year, former Walmart exec and billionaire Marc Lore announced plans to build a futuristic 234-square-mile city called Telosa (planned pop. 5 million) in a yet-to-be-determined US state.

• ☝️ More than 100 million Americans will be under heat warning advisories over the next few days for the third week in a row, according to the National Weather Service.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🚘🔌 Tesla currently owns 66% of the US EV market, per new data from LMC Automotive shared with CNBC, down from 70% last year.
• 👔 Volkswagen’s board of directors fired CEO Herbert Diess; he’ll be succeeded by Porsche CEO Oliver Blume.
• 📱⚖️💰 T-Mobile agreed to pay $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from a 2021 hack the company says exposed the data of ~76.6 million US residents.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🤼 WWE CEO Vince McMahon announced his retirement after decades of leading the company; the move comes after the WSJ reported McMahon paid more than $12 million to four women formerly affiliated with WWE to cover up claims of sexual misconduct and infidelity.
• 🍿 Marvel revealed a slate of films and series set to be released through 2025. | Disney+ began streaming a handful of R-rated movies – Deadpool, Deadpool 2, and Logan – for the first time on Friday. (Background)
• 🚴🏃‍♀️ Results: Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard captured his first men’s Tour de France title yesterday. | American Sydney McLaughlin won the women’s 400M hurdles final at the World Athletics Championships; she ran it in 50.68 seconds, setting a new world record for the fourth time in 13 months.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚁 Aerial drones capable of shooting nets to capture other drones will be used in Qatar this November to increase the security of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
• 🚀 China’s space agency successfully launched the second component of a three-module space station currently under construction.
• 🤖 Google fired Blake Lemoine, the engineer who claimed the company’s LaMBDA AI technology was sentient, saying he “chose to persistently violate clear employment and data security policies.” (Background)

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 📰 Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly had an affair with the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin while the two were separated but still living together; the couple is currently going through a divorce; Musk is the world’s richest person ($240 billion) while Brin ranks eighth ($95 billion).
• 🚨 A NY man was arrested twice in three days last week following two separate attempts to stab gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.
• 🔥 California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Mariposa County on Saturday in response to one of the state’s biggest wildfires this year; as of Sunday afternoon the blaze had consumed over 22 square miles and wasn’t contained at all.
• 🗝️🐶 Never lose your keys or pet again... Introducing 'The Snitch' from Smartish. This protective AirTag case is available for keychains and pet collars! Want to get sneaky? There’s also a stick-on mount version!*

*Sponsored post

💬 Quoted… ​​“This is of course bad.”

• A Russian chess-playing robot reportedly grabbed and broke the finger of its 7-year-old opponent during a match at the Moscow Open last week (video).

🏈 Stat of the Day: Nearly half of college football’s starting QBs (44.3%) will be transfers this season, per new research from On3 Sports.

🤯 Did You Know?... Charles Darwin’s personal pet tortoise, named “Harriet,” is one of the longest-lived known tortoises in the world. She died in 2006 at an estimated age of 150–255 years old.

📖 Worth a Read: The 30-year-old who conned a high school into believing he was 16 → (Mel Magazine)

📊 Poll results: On Friday, we asked what you all thought of a proposed measure that would reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887.

• 65% of y’all think Congress should pass the measure, 17% think it shouldn’t be enacted, and 18% were unsure or had a more nuanced opinion.

See the full 360° view here.

Monday: National Hot Fudge Sundae Day (on a Monday???)

Tuesday: The Traverse City Film Festival kicks off, while France’s Festival d'Avignon concludes

Wednesday: 69th anniversary of the Korean War armistice

Thursday: US government reports Q2 GDP numbers; Lollapalooza starts

Friday: Islamic New Year; NASA’s 64th birthday

When ten-year-old Ukrainian Valeria Yezhova wanted to find a way to thank her country's army for their protection, she turned to what she knows best: checkers.

She set up a small folding table outside a local shopping center with two chairs, a checkerboard, and a shoebox for donations. Anyone who wanted to play her was welcome. 

• But little did her opponents know, they casually playing the world champion for her age in checkers. 

♟ Which is probably why... Valeria didn't lose a single game in her ten days sitting outside the shopping plaza, raising more than $700 for a foundation that provides humanitarian aid and equipment for the Ukrainian military.

Guess the definitions of the following Latin or Greek root words.

1. Ov
2. Ped
3. Serp
4. Tri

(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.

1. Egg
2. Foot (Latin) or child (Greek)
3. Crawl/Creep
4. Three