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Meta is staring down one of its biggest courtroom losses yet, Thailand is reeling after a deadly school shooting, and a government audit is challenging the numbers behind DOGE's promised savings. Meanwhile, record copper prices, AI breakthroughs, and a tightening NL MVP race round out today's biggest stories.

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A state judge in New Mexico tacked on a $567 million fine against Meta, stacked on top of a $375 million jury award that found the company misled users about platform safety. The combined $942 million bill is one of the steepest state-level hits Meta has ever taken.

The judge's order followed a trial where jurors sided with New Mexico's attorney general, agreeing Meta downplayed the harms younger users faced on Instagram and Facebook. Meta says it will appeal. But the ruling hands other state AGs a fresh template to run with.

A student killed at least six people at Debsirin Nonthaburi School northwest of Bangkok early Friday. Royal Thai Police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan said three teachers and three students died, with 15 more injured.

Health Minister Pattana Promphat put the injured count at 22, nine of them critical. Investigators believe the teenager took a gun from a family member and shot his two grandparents at home before walking to class.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that DOGE overstated its cost cuts, disputing Elon Musk's claim of $110 billion in savings and noting the program fell nowhere near its promised $2 trillion. Auditors flagged double-counted contracts, canceled deals that were never active, and "savings" booked years into the future.

Musk left the effort earlier this year after a public break with the White House, and this is the first independent look at DOGE's actual ledger. It lands as Congress debates whether to lock in some of those cuts in the fall spending package.

Ukrainian drones struck a Wildberries warehouse in the Ural Mountains, more than 2,000 kilometers from the border. Kyiv has hit the Urals repeatedly this year, including a Siberian refinery nearly 2,500 kilometers out.

The Iranian-backed Houthis attacked Yemeni government forces in two resource-rich provinces, escalating violence that could shatter the country's fragile truce. A return to full-scale civil war would undo one of the region's few de-escalation stories and reopen a humanitarian crisis affecting millions.

President Lee designated South Korea's ongoing heatwave a national disaster, with airports doubling as cooling shelters and drone warnings blaring across cities. The country has logged some of its highest temperatures on record this week, straining power grids and killing livestock across the peninsula.

A White House push to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp products snarled final passage of a bipartisan spending bill just hours before the Senate's monthlong recess. Lawmakers wanted a clean pass. Instead, the hemp carve-out turned into a proxy fight over the booming THC beverage industry.

New Jersey improperly added as many as 6,600 noncitizens to its voter rolls, and those residents could now face deportation — because registering to vote disqualifies applicants from permanent residency. State officials blame a glitch in the motor vehicle system, but federal immigration law leaves little room to fix it.

The Trump administration will pay German utility RWE to walk away from its offshore wind leases, the fifth such buyout aimed at unwinding Biden-era clean energy contracts. It's a fast reversal for an industry that just two years ago was pitched as a pillar of US decarbonization.

Nielsen is acquiring ad-measurement firm DoubleVerify in a $2.15 billion all-cash deal, paying $13.60 per share. DoubleVerify jumped nearly 14% in after-hours trading as investors bet the tie-up will reshape how digital advertising is measured across streaming and social.

Trade Desk shares dropped sharply after an earnings miss and soft forward guidance, extending a rough stretch for the ad-tech company. The stumble points to shifting dynamics in programmatic advertising, where retail media and connected TV are eating open-web spending.

Copper surged to a record high, extending a rally powered by AI data centers, electrification, and tight supply. Once nicknamed "Dr. Copper" for its ability to diagnose the economy, the metal is now sending mixed signals — growth or scarcity, take your pick.

A Novo Nordisk drug that targeted inflammation to prevent heart attacks failed a major trial, stunning cardiologists who've spent decades building the inflammation theory of heart disease. The result forces a rethink of one of the most influential ideas in modern cardiology.

Researchers unveiled a new antivenom strategy built on proteins snakes use to neutralize their own venom, proving ten times more potent than current treatments in early tests. The approach could reshape how the next generation of antivenoms are designed.

Grindr's chief executive said the company's AI investments are paying off, with a new $350-per-month premium tier drawing surprisingly strong uptake and boosting engineering productivity. It's a small data point in the bigger question of whether consumers will actually pay premium prices for AI features.

Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs signed a three-year extension that makes him the highest-paid running back in NFL history, just days after Bijan Robinson's own record deal in Atlanta. The back-to-back contracts suggest the position's long-declining market may finally be bouncing back — at least for elite talent.

Kawhi Leonard reportedly had an undisclosed sponsorship deal worth millions with Daktronics, the company that designed the Clippers' videoboard. The revelation, first aired on Pablo Torre's podcast, could draw NBA scrutiny over potential salary cap circumvention.

Caleb Durbin's 13th-inning single drove in the winning run as Boston beat the White Sox 12-11 after multiple comebacks. The win pushed the Red Sox streak to eight and tightened the AL East race heading into a weekend series.

Lionsgate's film unit posted a $105 million profit, its best June quarter on record, as overall losses narrowed to $29 million. Michael Jackson biopic "Michael" has passed $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing biopic ever.

Adam Sandler posted a set photo marking the start of production on Grown Ups 3 for Netflix, reuniting the original cast more than a decade after the last one. The streamer announced the sequel in May as part of its expanding Sandler pipeline.

Joan Jett scrapped September tour dates in California and Kentucky while recovering from surgery on a fractured vertebrae. Her team says the rock icon plans to return to the road once doctors clear her.

What it is: The National League MVP race — long treated as a Shohei Ohtani coronation — has become a real two-man contest as the Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong closes the gap in futures odds. What once looked like one of baseball's easiest awards to predict is suddenly drawing genuine debate, with analysts and sportsbooks reassessing whether Ohtani's remarkable season is enough to keep challengers at bay.

The detail: Ohtani is still the betting favorite thanks to his usual two-way production for the Dodgers. But Crow-Armstrong has surged on elite center-field defense, base-stealing, and a power breakout that has him among the league leaders in home runs. Sportsbooks have narrowed his odds sharply over the past month as Chicago hangs on to a playoff spot. Advanced metrics increasingly favor Crow-Armstrong's all-around impact, with his defensive value and baserunning helping close the gap despite Ohtani's offensive dominance. If both players finish strong, the final vote could hinge on which skill set voters ultimately value more.

Why it matters: An Ohtani upset would be one of the biggest MVP surprises in recent memory, given he entered the season as a heavy favorite and is again posting historically rare numbers. It would also mark a shift in how voters weigh defense and baserunning against pure hitting. A Crow-Armstrong victory could signal that elite all-around play is regaining influence in an award that has increasingly leaned toward offensive production and eye-popping statistical milestones.

What to watch: The final six weeks of the regular season — especially head-to-head Dodgers-Cubs series — and whether Chicago holds its playoff position. Voters tend to reward MVPs on teams that make October, which could still tilt the ballot back to Ohtani if the Cubs slip. Individual milestones will matter too, as every stolen base, defensive highlight, and late-season home run could shape one of the closest MVP races the National League has seen in years.

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—The Five Minute Daily Team