Good morning. Welcome to a new day, where the possibilities are as endless as the Fast & Furious franchise.

On the docket:

• 🍏👀 A sneak preview of Apple’s Wonderlust event
• 🚅 Kim Jong Un is on the move
• 💦 Microsoft is getting thirsty

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.98-minute read.

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“You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.”

–Carl Jung (1875-1961)

At 1 pm ET today, Apple’s Wonderlust event kicks off at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. And, much like Ron Burgundy, it’s kind of a big deal.

Here’s what the company is expected to unveil:

• The iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max.
• A new Apple Watch/upgrade to the Apple Watch (aka a better processor).
• A better look at the Vision Pro, the company’s mixed-reality headset it debuted earlier this year.
• And, since the new iPhone is expected to get rid of its Lightning charging port in favor of USB-C, rumors have been swirling about the company also unveiling a standalone AirPods USB-C charging case (if they don’t showcase a new AirPods model altogether).

The event comes as Apple is under some pressure

The company’s revenue has dropped for three straight quarters amid an industrywide slowdown in smartphone demand. And should sales slide again in Q4, it would be Apple’s longest losing streak in two decades.

The company blamed currency headwinds for hurting its most-recent financial results (Q3), but also admitted US shoppers aren’t spending on its products the way they used to, Bloomberg reports. Apple sales in the US paled in comparison with China, which CEO Tim Cook called out as a highlight of the quarter.

However – that was before news of the Chinese government banning its officials from using iPhones broke. China’s move wiped ~$200 billion off Apple’s market cap last week, and is expected to boost the country’s domestic smartphone makers, including Huawei, which was previously the world’s biggest smartphone seller before the US trade ban took effect.

But there are some bright spots for Apple. On the company’s Q3 earnings call, it cited advertising and Apple Music as two record-setting categories, and also added that its Apple TV+ partnership with Major League Soccer is performing better than anticipated.

Plus, the upcoming holiday season is typically Apple’s biggest sales period of the year. Meaning we should be able to tell over the next few months whether slowing demand for Apple’s hardware products is nothing more than a short-term blip, or just the new normal.

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🇰🇵 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will visit Russia in the coming days. The trip, which marks Kim’s first time stepping foot outside of North Korea since 2019, was announced yesterday by both countries. US officials released intelligence last week indicating Kim will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss supplying Moscow with millions of artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs. A State Dept. spokesperson said Washington will closely monitor the Kim-Putin meeting, and won’t hesitate to impose new sanctions if an arms deal is reached.

🇪🇸⚽ Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain’s soccer federation, resigned amid charges of sexual assault. Rubiales is facing a pair of lawsuits, filed by Spanish prosecutors and women’s soccer player Jenni Hermoso, accusing him of sexual assault and coercion for kissing Hermoso on the lips without consent following the teams World Cup victory last month (Rubiales claims the kiss was “consensual”). Jorge Vilda, the coach of the Spanish women’s national soccer team, was fired last week after he initially praised Rubiales for not resigning when Spanish officials first asked him to do so.

🇬🇧🇨🇳 A UK Parliamentary researcher was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. According to the Times newspaper, which reported the arrest, the man was part of an influential policy group on China that was co-founded by the UK’s current security minister. In a statement released by his lawyer yesterday, the accused researcher denied being a spy and said he was “completely innocent.” The arrest marks a setback for UK-China relations, which have been tense for years.

Update: American Mark Dickey was carried to safety yesterday, after falling ill more than 3,400 feet below the surface of a Turkish cave 12 days earlier.

Disney and Charter Communications, which owns and operates Spectrum cable, have reached an agreement that will restore Disney-owned channels like ESPN and ABC to the cable TV provider, ending a blackout that lasted for more than a week.

😡 Background: All Disney channels went dark for Spectrum customers on September 1, after Disney and Charter failed to come to terms over so-called carriage fees (payments that cable-TV operators pay to media companies to carry their networks).

According to a report published last week by The Hollywood Reporter, when the dispute was at its peak, the whole situation could only end in one of two ways: either Charter and Disney come to an agreement, which will force other streaming companies to link up with cable providers, or Charter – America’s second-largest cable provider with ~15 million subscribers – exits the industry, likely spelling the end of linear TV.

And, to roughly quote the great Elton John, Charter’s still standing.

📝📺 Deal points: Charter agreed to pay Disney higher rates to carry its TV channels, in return for being able to include the Disney+ and ESPN+ streaming services in some of its cable packages. And when Disney releases its much-anticipated direct-to-consumer version of its ESPN cable channel (which is separate from ESPN+), Charter pay-TV customers will be able to get it as well.

Home insurance companies operating in US states where expensive natural disasters have become more common are starting to reconsider how they do business.

A few notable examples:

• In Florida, average home insurance premiums currently stand at $6,000/year – a figure nearly 4x above the national average, and 42% higher compared to last year. Many experts attribute Florida’s increased premiums to more frequent and more costly natural disasters affecting the state since 2020.
• California’s three largest insurers – Farmers, Allstate, and State Farm – either completely paused or greatly limited new home insurance applications starting in late 2022, citing the state’s current laws and high wildfire risks.
• Louisiana saw average home insurance premiums rise 7% in 2021 and 19% in 2022, after the state was struck by four hurricanes over the previous two-year period that caused a collective $23 billion in property damages.

📸 Big picture: US insurers have paid out $295.8 billion in natural disaster claims over the past three years, setting a new all-time record, according to international risk management firm Aon and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

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💬 Quoted… “Well, then we’d be Chick-fil-A.”

When Sami Siddiqui, Popeye’s brand president for the US and Canada since late 2020, asked Popeye franchisees what would be possible if the food were hot and perfect every time – this was their response👆. So the corporate office started researching ways to make their kitchens more efficient, and are about to put some big changes into effect.

• Popeye’s new changes, which include a revamped layout, more efficient workstations, and automatic batter makers, will be applied to 30 restaurants nationwide by the end of this year before being rolled out more widely.

🤖📊 Stat of the Day: These days, Microsoft is like a Jersey-Shore bro getting bottle service out at the club – thirsty. The company’s global water consumption rose 34% from 2021 to 2022, equivalent to nearly 1.7 billion more gallons, per its latest environmental report. Experts say a majority of this increase is due to Microsoft’s investment in generative AI and its partnership with OpenAI, as ChatGPT uses an estimated 500 mm of water – about a 16-oz bottle – for every 5-50 user prompts.

🤔 Did You Know?... In 1907, waiters in Paris went on strike for the right to wear mustaches.

📰 Worth a Read: Inside the brand new White House Situation Room → (Associated Press)

• ☝️ Americans across the country gathered at memorials, firehouses, city halls, and more to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks yesterday.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Rasa

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board (S&P: +0.7%; Dow: +0.3%; Nasdaq: +1.1%). | 🤖🚗 Tesla shares increased ~10% on optimism around AI.
• 🤝 J.M. Smucker is buying Twinkies owner Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion.
• ⚖️ Google’s historic monopoly trial begins later today.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Scott Kemper Imagery

• 🦸💒 The Avengers assembled over the weekend to attend the wedding of Chris Evans (aka Captain America) and actress Alba Baptista, per multiple reports.
• 🏈 Monday Night Football: The Jets beat the Bills 22–16 on a punt return in OT; Jets QB Aaron Rodgers left with an ankle injury four plays into the game. | 🧸📺 An October 1 NFL game between the Jaguars and Falcons will be simulcast in real time on Disney+ and ESPN+ as a fully-animated contest taking place in the Toy Story universe.
• ⏸️ NBCUniversal and CBS Studios have suspended deals for some non-writing producers (including Dr. Phil) due to the ongoing writers strike, per multiple reports.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💉 The FDA approved updated Covid vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna yesterday, which target the omicron variant; the shots still need final CDC approval before they’re made publicly available.
• ☄️ A newly-discovered green comet, named Nishimura after the amateur astronomer who first photographed it, will pass nearest to Earth later today; the comet won’t be visible again for 435 years.
• 🦕 Ancient sea monsters in the dinosaur era grew extremely long necks in a relatively short period of time; a new peer-reviewed study found the ratio of their neck length to torso length went from about 40% to 90% within ~5 million years.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🇺🇸🇮🇷 The Biden administration agreed to a prisoner swap deal with Iran involving the release of five US citizens in exchange for $6 billion in Iranian assets frozen by US sanctions.
• 📊🏛️ More than three-quarters of Americans (77%) believe there should be a maximum age limit for elected US officials, per a new CBS News/YouGov survey. (Background)
• ⚖️ Lawyers for former President Trump asked the federal judge presiding over his election subversion case in DC to recuse herself, citing her past statements about Trump’s connection to the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 💼 Try hard, but not that hard: 85% is the magic number for productivity.

Yesterday, we covered the US government’s first monopoly trial of the modern internet era, which involves a Justice Department lawsuit against Google.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, do Google’s deals with smartphone makers to preload its search engine as the default option represent illegal monopolistic behavior?

• 👍 Yes: 35%
• 👎 No: 55%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 10%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 10,933 votes and 651 longform responses.

If you've ever been to the Starbucks on Marshall University's West Virginia campus, chances are you've met Karen Collinsworth. 

The beloved supervisor is admired by not only her barista employees, but by the students and professors who frequent the coffee shop as well. 

• "She's just so loving and caring... there's no other person I would want as my supervisor other than Karen, because she's just such a great person," barista Madelyn Witt said.

So when Karen's team heard her car had been broken into, they quickly got to work setting up a GoFundMe for their supervisor. They started with a goal of $10,000 to get her back on her feet.

Donations started quickly pouring in from across town, and it wasn't long before they had raised more than 4x their goal. 

🗯 What she's saying: "They set that goal and I was like, 'Guys, you're so silly,'" Karen recalled. "I love them so much and they were just being kind, and they are very kind, but they just don't realize what they did [for me]."

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

1. Basi
2. Celer
3. Decim
4. Fort
5. Hibern

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Basi = At the bottom (e.g., basic, basis)
2. Celer = Quick (acceleration)
3. Decim = Tenth part (decimal)
4. Fort = Strong (fortification)
5. Hibern = Wintry (hibernation)