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A town in Utah is watching the country's largest wildfire crawl closer, and every wind shift is being tracked like a live weather instrument. One of the biggest AI companies just quietly told its bankers to line up an IPO for October — before the rival everybody assumed would go first.

A face nobody has documented has stepped out of the DRC's forests, this one with orange lips. And a new report puts something into a single document that nobody had put together before.

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American forces struck multiple Iranian cities overnight and disabled a ship attempting to run a naval blockade, pushing the four-month conflict into a volatile new phase. Tehran warned that the Strait of Hormuz remains a "red line" it will defend to the end, according to the latest from inside Iran.

Iran said it retaliated by targeting military bases in Kuwait and Jordan, widening the fight across the region as explosions rang out near several Gulf capitals. Trump warned Tehran it had "better behave," even as allied governments braced for further escalation, as detailed in this account of the fresh strikes.

Residents of Monticello, Utah, have been tense and preparing to evacuate since shortly after the Babylon fire started on June 26th. Fire has grown to become the largest active wildfire in the US, and containment lines built over the last two weeks are being tested by wind shifts each afternoon.

Federal fire crews from three regions have surged into the containment perimeter, and the state has requested additional FEMA cost-sharing for evacuation shelters. Officials warn the burn footprint could double in the next 96 hours if forecast dry-lightning cells materialize.

Federal grant disruptions are reshaping cancer research across the country, with disparities-focused researchers reporting the sharpest hit. Canceled grants span NIH, NCI, and CDC funding streams and cover work on prostate cancer, cervical cancer screening, and childhood-cancer surveillance.

Universities running mid-cycle trials are quietly redirecting endowment funds to keep enrolled patients on protocol, though administrators say that stopgap approach is not sustainable past a single fiscal year. Congressional appropriators from both parties have asked NIH leadership for a written accounting of which programs have been terminated and why.

Hong Kong police raided several independent bookstores and detained five people in the latest sweep under the national security law. The crackdown has steadily thinned the city's once-vibrant publishing scene, with booksellers repeatedly targeted over the past year.

Wildfires burning across Ontario pushed Toronto's air quality to the worst in the world at points on Wednesday, with plumes drifting south into New York and beyond. It's the second straight summer Canadian smoke has blanketed the U.S. Northeast, and fire season still has two months to run.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet Zelensky in Kyiv to reaffirm what he calls "cast-iron" UK support for Ukraine, on what may be his final foreign trip as prime minister ahead of an expected leadership handoff. The meeting agenda covers air-defense transfers, financial support, and reconstruction planning.

President Trump said he'll pursue a plan to replace immigrant commercial truck drivers with military veterans, continuing his push to curtail CDLs held by immigrants including legal residents. The trucking industry has warned of driver shortages for years, and the shift would reshape a supply-chain workforce during a tariff-heavy quarter.

The Federal Highway Administration quietly stripped bike lanes and other safety measures from a key list of best practices. Critics say the removed measures have been proven to reduce crashes and save lives, and pedestrian advocacy groups have already asked DOT for a written explanation.

President Trump described TrumpRx as the biggest thing in healthcare in decades, but an analysis of the underlying agreements finds drugmakers are only offering discounts on a few of their medicines. Pfizer and Gilead lead the participating companies, and consumer-advocacy groups have called for a fuller list.

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Taiwan Semiconductor reported second-quarter profit up more than 77%, blowing past analyst estimates as demand for cutting-edge AI chips shows no sign of easing. The result confirms TSMC's grip on the high end of the chip supply chain and lifted Asian tech shares in early trading.

Anthropic is lining up investor meetings ahead of a potential IPO as soon as October, in a schedule that would beat rival OpenAI to the public markets. Bank pitches focus on the API-and-safety-work revenue mix that distinguishes the company from its peers.

NextEra and Dominion Energy filed to merge into a utility serving 10 million customers across the Southeast, seeking approval from regulators in three states and a federal agency. The combined company would rank among the largest power providers in the country at a moment when data-center demand is straining regional grids.

Scientists have identified a new monkey species with distinctive orange lips hidden in a remote forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Researchers described the moment of first contact as an "amazing feeling," a reminder that Earth's biodiversity still has surprises left to offer.

Ofcom opened a formal investigation into TikTok's child-age-check systems, citing evidence that the platform's default settings fail to identify under-13 users at meaningful scale. The case will test the UK's new Online Safety Act framework in ways US regulators are watching closely.

NASA officials say preparations for the Artemis III crewed lunar landing are advancing on schedule for launch in 2027. It would be the first American moonwalk since 1972, though SpaceX's Starship lander must clear several major milestones first.

Argentina sealed a dramatic semifinal comeback against England at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with two goals in the final five minutes to book a World Cup final clash with Spain on Sunday. Match now sets up the biggest Spain-Argentina men's final in a generation.

The 2026 ESPYS handed out awards to Jalen Brunson, A'ja Wilson, and Fernando Mendoza among others, closing a ceremony that mixed the usual tribute reels with a heavier-than-usual set of speeches on mental health. The show ran long and drew the highest social-media engagement in the awards' recent history.

The Astros traded right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., their longest-tenured pitcher, and lefty Colton Gordon to the Brewers for minor-league outfielder Jadyn Fielder. The deal is a signal move for a Houston roster reshaping around the trade deadline.

Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens will play the 2026 season under a $27.3 million franchise tag after Wednesday's deadline passed without a long-term deal. Dallas keeps its top receiver for now, but sets up a potentially messy renegotiation next offseason.

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Actor Sam Neill died in Sydney on Monday of pneumonia, his agent confirmed, with family calling the death "sudden and unexpected." The New Zealand-born star of "Jurassic Park" and "The Piano" was 78.

Director Matt Reeves shared a brief first-look teaser of Robert Pattinson suited up for "The Batman Part II," which has been pushed to 2028. The clip is short on plot and long on atmosphere, which is roughly what fans have come to expect from Reeves' Gotham.

A Cold War-era bunker has been reimagined as luxury "doomsday" condos marketed to wealthy buyers, joining a small but growing US market for high-end shelter developments. Developer says the buildout combines an air-filtration system, private-water infrastructure, and a wine cellar.

What it is: America's largest automakers have pulled back sharply from electric vehicles even as global EV sales keep booming. The retreat raises the possibility that Detroit ends the decade dependent on gas-powered trucks while the rest of the world drives something else. Executives argue they're responding to weaker-than-expected consumer demand, but critics say the industry risks falling behind just as the global transition accelerates.

The detail: GM, Ford, and Stellantis have scaled back EV investments, delayed model launches, and shuttered battery projects over the past year. Meanwhile, Chinese automakers led by BYD are expanding aggressively into Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, building factories on the continents where the U.S. Big Three used to sell cars. European manufacturers continue investing heavily in electrification despite softer sales, betting the slowdown is temporary rather than structural. The result is an increasingly uneven competitive landscape, with American firms focusing on profitability while overseas rivals chase scale and market share.

Why it matters: The concern isn't just about climate policy. It's about whether U.S. automakers will still make competitive cars in ten years. If the domestic auto industry cedes the EV market entirely, it risks becoming the equivalent of the U.S. consumer electronics business: technically alive, mostly irrelevant. Auto manufacturing supports hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and falling behind in next-generation vehicles could ripple through suppliers, battery makers, and regional economies built around the industry.

What to watch: Coming quarters will reveal whether Detroit is genuinely retreating or simply repositioning. Watch battery plant announcements, joint ventures with foreign firms, and what the next round of federal policy does to the economics of building EVs on American soil. Sales trends in the U.S. and overseas will also show whether consumers are merely pausing EV purchases or whether global demand continues leaving American automakers further behind.

That's today's Five Minute Daily. Forward it to someone who wants the biggest stories without wading through the feed.

—The Five Minute Daily Team