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Some of the biggest U.S. hedge funds, including Steve Cohen’s Point72 and Ken Griffin’s Citadel, have been targeted by a wave of attempted cyber attacks. The hacking attempts featured phone calls in which ⁠cybercriminals tried to trick employees into granting them access or handing ​over other sensitive information, according to people familiar with the situation. Reuters notes that the phone call tactic is still widely used by hackers because of ​its effectiveness. Vinod Paul, president of Align Managed Services, which specializes in helping hedge funds with cybersecurity and information technology, said AI tools are helping bad actors launch attacks relatively cheaply and more broadly. “Before they could attack 50 entities in a targeted attack, now they can do 1,000 . . . Hackers can also listen into a phone call and mimic the voice, tone and phrasings of the speakers to create fake calls,” Paul said.

 

Bloomberg

Financial Times

Reuters

Kalshi has announced a partnership with compliance technology company Comply aimed at enhancing regulatory oversight for prediction markets. Comply will integrate Kalshi's trade data into its software, allowing employers to monitor employees' trades on event contracts. Jamila Mayfield, Comply's chief regulatory service officer, said: “Most firms are still figuring out what a reasonably designed prediction market compliance program looks like, and that's exactly where we come in.” The collaboration follows Kalshi's previous partnership with StarCompliance and reflects the growing need for compliance solutions as more firms explore institutional trading in prediction markets. Sudhir Jain, Kalshi's chief compliance officer, noted that technology like Comply's can help companies avoid outright bans on employee trading by providing necessary oversight.

 

CNBC

Bloomberg reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking ​a closer look at a proposed $3.5bn acquisition that would combine two of the leading national suppliers of veterinary ​products, Cencora's MWI Animal Health ​and privately held Covetrus. The antitrust agency sent ​information demands last month to customers ​and rivals of both suppliers. The ‌requests ⁠seek details on how the deal would affect the availability of veterinary products as well as practice-management software, ​which clinics ​use ⁠to keep track of patient records, prescriptions and payments.

 

Bloomberg

OpenAI and Statsig, a subsidiary which makes product development software, will pay $3.2m to settle U.S. government claims that they favored foreign workers with temporary employment visas and discriminated ​against U.S. job applicants when hiring. The Justice Department said various steps were taken to discourage U.S. ​workers from applying for positions, including requiring applicants to mail paper applications instead of ​submitting electronic ones, advertising jobs on the radio late at night, and ⁠not posting the openings on an external website. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said that "this substantial settlement ensures that OpenAI redresses harm and ​changes its recruitment practices ​so that U.S. ⁠workers receive a fair opportunity for highly sought-after technology positions."

 

Reuters

Apple has asked a U.S. judge for a preliminary injunction barring two former employees ​and OpenAI from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing alleged confidential information as ‌it moves ahead with its trade secrets case. The tech giant sued OpenAI last month, alleging that former Apple employees who went to work for the ChatGPT maker stole trade secrets. Quartz notes that the lawsuit marked a sharp deterioration in a relationship that had once produced a 2024 agreement to integrate ChatGPT into Siri, a partnership that has since collapsed.

 

Quartz

New Jersey has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the company unlawfully uses its dominant position in the market for delivery drivers to suppress competition, keep wages artificially low, and impose poor working conditions on contractors in its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) network. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, New Jersey charged that Amazon “orchestrated a deliberate and unlawful scheme” to harm thousands who were forced to work under “grueling and often inhumane conditions” through its creation and control over DSPs. Amazon has rejected the allegations, saying its delivery partners are independent businesses that control their own hiring and operations.

 

CNBC

NJ.com

Hackers have stolen data and patient health information from drugmaker Amgen in a ​cybersecurity incident involving cloud storage systems run by third-party ‌providers. “To date, the company has not identified any impact to its products, manufacturing operations, or financial reporting systems, or to the company’s ability to meet patient needs,” the company said in a filing. Bloomberg notes that Amgen is separately facing safety questions over its drug Tavneos, which is intended to treat a rare autoimmune condition, and is grappling with declining sales of its older medicines as they lose patent protection.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

The Trump administration will suspend exports of lithium-ion battery scrap and tungsten waste for one year beginning later this month, requiring the materials to be sold domestically to help strengthen U.S. supply chains and reduce reliance on China. The Commerce Department said the move is intended to bolster access to critical minerals used in defense, energy, and advanced manufacturing, while allowing limited exemptions for materials processed overseas and returned to the U.S. The export ban complements broader efforts to secure non-Chinese sources of critical materials and reduce the use of Chinese rare earths in U.S. defense supply chains.

 

Wall Street Journal

Chipotle shares fell nearly 10% after the company said it had removed jalapeños from its Minnesota restaurants following concerns that a batch may be linked to a salmonella outbreak affecting multiple food service operators. The chain said it quickly identified the potentially affected supply through its traceability system, replaced it with peppers from different growers, and emphasized that the action was precautionary, although the news revived investor concerns over the company's history of food safety issues.

 

Des Moines Register

Chicago Tribune

CNBC

The Trump administration has refunded about $100bn from the tariffs it collected before the Supreme Court ruled them illegal, according to the Financial Times. The figure, which represents 60% of the total $165bn collected from the so-called “liberation day” tariffs, was reported by customs officials to the U.S. court of international trade (CIT). The Financial Times reports that the speed at which the money has been refunded has surprised trade lawyers and analysts.

 

Euronews

Financial Times

The Guardian

Payroll and HR platform Deel has acquired Clarity, a Tel Aviv-based startup which specializes in deepfake detection and identity verification. The acquisition aims to enhance security measures for employers managing global workforces amid the growing AI-driven security threat posed by fake job candidates. Deel did not disclose financial details, but sources estimate the deal to be worth between $45m and $50m. “Deepfakes, identity fraud, and impersonation attacks are becoming more sophisticated, changing how companies hire and grow globally,” said French-Israeli entrepreneur Alex Bouaziz, co-founder of Deel. “Bringing Clarity and its world-class AI talent into Deel gives us the capabilities to build trusted identity security directly into our platform . . . This lets customers confidently hire, onboard, and manage verified teams globally, with continuous safeguards that evolve as threats get smarter.”

 

The Times of Israel

Ebola response workers at treatment centers in eastern Congo are protesting as they call for the government to pay salaries ​and allowances that they say are nearly three months overdue. "We are facing an unjust situation that seriously ​jeopardizes the continuation of the response effort," the health workers said in a letter to President Felix Tshisekedi. The outbreak has infected 3,802 people and killed 1,707 since it was declared ⁠on ​May 15.

 

Reuters

Southeast Asia can expect to see drier- and warmer-than-normal conditions from August through October as the El Niño climate phenomenon strengthens, according to an analysis of climate models by the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre. The analysis says that parts of the region have a high chance of receiving below-normal rainfall, and temperatures are forecast to be above average during a prolonged period of heat and dryness that threatens to exacerbate current difficulties for rice farmers. The dry spell comes on top of high fuel and fertilizer prices precipitated by the war in Iran.

 

Bloomberg

An Italian study of more than 5,000 school pupils, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, has found that children who opened their first personal social media account by the age of 11 or 12 had fallen behind by the equivalent of about six months of schooling by the time they sat national tests at 15 or 16, relative to peers who opened their first account at the age of 14 or 15. Professor Marco Gui said that while "most research on social media and minors has looked at mental health as an outcome, we looked at academic performance and we found clearer signs of this negative effect." Prof. Dennis Ougrin from Queen Mary University of London, who was not involved in the research, noted that "While the findings do not prove that social media alone causes poorer academic performance, they suggest that earlier, largely unsupervised use is associated with differences in later attainment, particularly in mathematics and language. The study also points towards plausible mechanisms, such as frequent phone checking and reduced attention, rather than simply screen time itself."

 

The Times