FIVE MINUTE DAILY

A court in Shenzhen sentenced Hui Ka Yan to life in prison Thursday and fined Evergrande and its real-estate arm a combined $2.3 billion for large-scale financial fraud. Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, was convicted of inflating assets and concealing liabilities at the developer that collapsed in 2020 with more than $300 billion in obligations.

Beijing's crackdown on excessive borrowing in the property sector triggered a downturn that has weighed on China's broader economy ever since. Several other senior executives were sentenced to up to 18 years for illegal deposits and fraud alongside the founder.

Federal Reserve officials voted 9-3 in July to hold rates at 3.5-3.75%, with regional presidents Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie Logan dissenting in favor of a quarter-point increase. Minutes released Wednesday said "many participants" agreed policy tightening "would likely be necessary if inflation did not decline."

Some officials also said financial conditions may not be "sufficiently restrictive" to bring inflation back to 2%. Chair Kevin Warsh separately floated cutting the FOMC calendar to six meetings a year from eight.

A late-Tuesday filing from the Kennedy Center laid out the proposed new signage: "The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump, Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund." Board also plans to rename the physical grounds "President Donald J. Trump Plaza" and told the court no name will go back on the building before September 8.

Rep. Joyce Beatty's lawyers asked the judge for a speedy ruling and argued the tarp covering the facade is hiding damage from an earlier unauthorized attempt to add Trump's name. Board countered that the tarp is a "necessary element" of construction, protecting marble panels during the renovation.

Japan's prime ministerial office detected a suspected ballistic launch on Thursday, shortly after South Korean media reported a projectile off the North's east coast. Pyongyang's timing arrives one day after Seoul and Washington abruptly scaled back their Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises on Trump's orders.

Israel's military opened criminal investigations into the February 2024 killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab and her relatives as they fled Gaza City. Investigators are also examining the deaths of 15 paramedics shot in March 2025, whose bodies troops later bulldozed into a mass grave.

Zambian security forces fatally wounded Mutotwe Kafwaya during a raid in Lusaka, one day after the country's presidential election. Police described an exchange of fire at a house linked to opposition leader Brian Mundubile, where 11 people were arrested.

California is requiring homeowners in fire-prone areas to strip vegetation within five feet of their homes, after more than 57,000 structures burned in the state over the past decade. Rules will be enforced during annual local fire-department inspections; critics say compliance will cost homeowners "tens of billions."

Hospital nurses in multiple states have gone on strike demanding stronger workplace-violence protections, with ER staff describing surging attacks by patients and visitors. Butler Hospital mental-health worker Andrew Kimball-Mirzaie told NPR he was assaulted just six weeks into the job.

A Cessna 150 and a state police Bell 407 collided at a Carlisle airport in central Pennsylvania, killing the plane's pilot on Wednesday evening. Both troopers aboard the helicopter survived, and acting commissioner George Bivens said the aircraft was cut into a lot of pieces.

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told employees Wednesday that Anthropic could file its confidential S-1 "in the coming weeks" and hit the public market in September, while OpenAI is "running our own race" toward a potential 2027 listing. The company was last valued around $852 billion, with revenue run rate up 35% quarter-to-date.

Marvell shares climbed on news of a chip design deal with Google, which will also get an option to purchase about $12 billion of Marvell stock — while Broadcom fell on fears of losing custom silicon work. A rare reshuffle inside the small club of companies that design chips for hyperscalers.

Analysts expect 74 cents on $186.77 billion when Walmart reports Thursday morning, following a rare first-quarter earnings miss. Bernstein expects comparable sales to slow as last year's tariff-driven price increases lap out of the numbers, leaving refunds as the swing item.

HIDDEN TAX BREAKS

Capital gains taxes can take a bigger bite out of your profits than expected.

Fortunately, some deductions may help reduce the impact — including:

Because rules and eligibility vary, many investors turn to fiduciary financial advisors for guidance.

Find an Advisor Match.

_{Please support our sponsors!}

Urban vegetation produced 52% of ozone-forming chemicals in Beijing while accounting for only about a tenth of the city's total emissions. Heat multiplies the effect sharply, and researchers measured vegetation's share of chemical reactivity climbing from 21% at 20C to 74% at 35C.

Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, researchers tracked a star orbiting the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the closest range yet observed. Lead scientist Stefan Gillessen said the object lets astronomers "visualize how gravity is acting on space and time" in the Milky Way's most extreme neighborhood.

A decades-long survey filmed humpback and fin whales feeding along the East Greenland coast, where none of those species historically appeared. Sea ice once locked them out entirely, and researchers tie the arrival directly to its summer disappearance from the region.

Olivia Miles scored 20 on 8-of-10 shooting in Minnesota's 77-66 win at Golden State, moving to third on the WNBA's all-time rookie scoring list. Miles turned her left ankle on Napheesa Collier's foot in the fourth quarter and never returned, with Cheryl Reeve offering no update afterward.

Cade Cavalli struck out 11 in Texas, throwing six scoreless innings in Washington's 6-0 win one start after a near no-hitter. Cavalli is 11-5 with a 17-inning scoreless run, and he has gone 7-1 with a 2.36 ERA across his last 10 outings.

Seattle scored seven in two innings off Dustin May, one night after a 22-0 defeat that matched the modern era's largest shutout. Logan Gilbert allowed three runs over five innings, and Andrés Muñoz closed it out for his 23rd save of the season.

The Cavaliers, Nuggets and Clippers have agreed on a multi-team trade sending Peyton Watson to Cleveland and Max Strus to Los Angeles, with Watson signing a new four-year, $88 million deal. Cleveland adds athletic wing defense, Denver clears money, the Clippers get shooting.

Two-time Oscar nominee Naomi Watts will receive the Golden Eye Award at Zurich Film Festival for her role in Ben Shirinian's The Housewife, in which she plays the wife of a suspected Nazi. The honor lands as the film heads into an autumn awards run.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are moving back to the United Kingdom later this month, marking their first sustained return since stepping back from royal duties in 2020. Details on their residence and timing were not immediately public.

Josh Radnor said he is not even a little bit close to the actors he spent nine seasons and 208 episodes with. Radnor texts Jason Segel occasionally, sees Cobie Smulders mostly on Zoom, and last saw Alyson Hannigan at his 2024 wedding.

What it is: A bond market sell-off is pushing long-term U.S. interest rates higher, and the fallout could prove more enduring and globally consequential than previous episodes of market turbulence. When yields rise, everything financed with borrowed money — homes, cars, cards, corporate expansion — quietly gets pricier. Unlike a stock-market drop, higher bond yields can linger in the background for months, steadily tightening financial conditions even when the Federal Reserve leaves its benchmark rate untouched.

The detail: The move-in yields reflect investor doubts about U.S. deficits, sticky inflation, and the Federal Reserve's political independence. Foreign buyers, once reliable absorbers of Treasury supply, have grown pickier. Washington is paying more to fund itself. Rising debt-service costs can create a feedback loop: larger interest bills widen deficits, which in turn require more Treasury issuance, potentially forcing the government to offer even higher yields to attract buyers.

Why it matters: Higher long rates flow straight into mortgage rates and consumer credit, which means the housing affordability squeeze from the last rate cycle could return without a single Fed hike. Businesses facing higher borrowing costs tend to postpone hiring and capital spending. Growth slows even as prices climb. Long-term yields also influence valuations across financial markets, meaning sustained pressure can weigh on stocks, commercial real estate and other assets whose prices benefited from years of relatively cheap money.

What to watch: The 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields, mortgage applications, and any signal from the Fed on whether it plans to step in and calm the long end. If yields stay elevated into the fall, expect the political conversation about deficits — largely dormant for a decade — to come roaring back. Another key test will be Treasury auctions: weak demand or unusually high yields could suggest investors increasingly want compensation for holding American debt, turning a market story into a broader economic constraint.

That’s the world in five minutes — enough to know what changed, why it matters and what deserves another look. Forward Five Minute Daily to someone who’d rather start informed than catch up later.

—The Five Minute Daily Team