Google is in talks to pay $1.5 billion to license AI startup Mechanize’s coding-agent benchmarks and hire its team, using a structure designed to sidestep antitrust review of outright acquisitions.
Posted inMarkets
Gold Climbs 2.1% to $4,342 as US Jobs Shock Revives Rate-Cut Bets
Spot gold rose 2.1% to $4,342 on Friday after US payrolls fell 23,000 in July, reviving rate-cut bets and lifting the metal from a three-month low.
Posted inEconomy
Canada Adds 75,000 Jobs in July as Unemployment Drops to 6.4%
Statistics Canada’s July Labour Force Survey showed 75,000 new jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.4%, led by Ontario’s strongest monthly gain of the year.
Posted inGeopolitics
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan Sign Mecca Defence Pact
The three nations signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7, pledging collective defence in language explicitly modelled on NATO’s mutual defence clause.
Posted inWorld
Europe’s Fourth Heatwave Puts All 27 Italian Cities on Maximum Alert
Italy placed all 27 monitored cities on maximum heat alert simultaneously for the first time on Thursday, as temperatures passed 40°C from Austria to Spain.
Posted inTech
Tesla and SpaceX Announce $16.8 Billion Terafab Chip Factory in Texas
Tesla and SpaceX are jointly developing a $16.8 billion semiconductor campus called Terafab in Grimes County, Texas, to produce memory and logic chips for vehicles, Optimus robots and spacecraft systems.
Posted inMarkets
S&P 500 Closes at Record 7,757 as Weak Jobs Data Lifts Rate-Cut Odds
The S&P 500 set a new all-time high of 7,757.64 on August 7, 2026, as a sharply weaker-than-expected US jobs report dimmed Federal Reserve rate-hike expectations and sent technology shares sharply higher.
Posted inEconomy
US Economy Sheds 23,000 Jobs in July, First Drop in Months
American employers shed 23,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on August 7, 2026, sharply missing forecasts and marking the first monthly payroll decline of the year.
Posted inGeopolitics
Ukraine Strikes Iranian Vessels in the Caspian, Opening a New Battlefront
Ukraine attacked Iranian vessels in the Caspian Sea on July 25, killing one sailor and drawing a retaliation warning from Tehran as Kyiv extends its campaign to cut the Iran-Russia supply corridor.
Posted inWorld
De la Espriella Takes Office After Colombia’s Tightest Runoff in History
Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as Colombia’s president on August 7, succeeding leftist Gustavo Petro after winning a runoff by fewer than 250,000 votes out of 26.3 million cast.