Thanks for joining me this weekend. I recommend this story about the business empire of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and how they stand to gain if the U.S. and Iran reach a peace deal. Also: free soda refills and chicken wings dipped in ranch dressing are doing their best to make World Cup fans visiting the States worry less about visa worries and gun violence.
Connections: Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon will test the chances of any interim agreement to end the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran. Israel will keep forces in southern Lebanon, an official said, challenging the terms of the putative peace deal. Locals are returning to find their villages destroyed.
Segues: Hard work vaulting countless roadblocks went into getting the interim U.S.-Iran deal together, and there’s a lot more to accomplish to turn it into a permanent agreement. While its backers call it the deal of the century, Tehran’s adversaries say it’s a curse.
Unprecedented death rate: At least 30 people have died in a camp for displaced civilians since the beginning of May. More than 70 medics in the Democratic Republic of Congo have caught the deadly virus. The World Health Organization lacks personnel, ambulances and construction supplies for building isolation wards.
Love on the rocks: Donald Trump used to call her “a fantastic leader and person” and a “beautiful young woman.” Now ties have deteriorated. In their latest salvo, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denied that she had begged the president for a photo of them together, leading Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a visit to the U.S.
Cad on the tracks: Prosecutors are investigating a WhatsApp group in which tram drivers in Milan exchanged comments on images of female passengers captured by onboard security cameras.
Feed me: The federal energy regulator ordered electric-grid operators to consider new protocols to quickly connect large energy users such as artificial-intelligence data centers without raising costs and the risk of blackouts. It also said it would no longer automatically consider cumulative environmental impacts in its rulemaking.
I need you, the bots need you: AI will lead to labor shortages rather than replacing human workers, Jeff Bezos said. His remarks come as companies cut thousands of jobs while investing in AI. Space companies are talking with insurers about covering AI data centers on satellites orbiting the earth, a way to bypass earth’s power constraints.
Get off their backs: Turkey’s coach said harsh criticism of the team’s World Cup defeat at the hands of Australia is demoralizing younger players and that “they have been affected by how overboard some of the reactions have been.” Paraguay’s coach said much the same thing. “You can shoot at me but not at them.”
Thailand wants to create a corridor between two new deep-sea ports as an alternative to the Strait of Malacca. Logistics, irritated locals and the $30 billion estimated cost stand in the way.
Saudi Arabia’s Sindalah island luxury resort proved to be a real dog and has never opened to the public. They’re turning to another developer to fix it.
