pixabay ## Saudi Arabia backs away from ‘Deal of the Century’ Haaretz said in a report that: “Saudi Arabia has informed US President Donald Trump’s administration that it will not be able to support its peace plan between Israel and Palestine, known in the media as the ‘Deal of the Century’, if it does not state that East Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian state.”....[read more](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180801-saudi-arabia-backs-away-from-deal-of-the-century/) ## This Is the Weapon NATO Hoped to 'Ride' To Victory If Russia Ever Launched Nuclear Weapons Fortunately for both, neither the Soviet Army nor the U.S. Army had to test the infantry fighting vehicle concept on a nuclear battlefield. It’s a testament to the shifting challenges of warfare that a vehicle designed in Moscow in 1955 could indirectly affect a vehicle serving in Iraq in 2009. We don’t know what will replace the M2 Bradley, and we know even less about where such a replacement might be called upon to fight. One thing’s for sure: whatever it is, it can probably do without port-firing weapons....[read more](https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/weapon-nato-hoped-ride-victory-if-russia-ever-launched-nuclear-weapons-27402) ## Trump claims ID cards required to buy groceries President Donald Trump wrongly claimed that shoppers need to show photo identification to buy groceries and accused Democrats of obstructing his agenda and his Supreme Court nominee during a raucous rally aimed at bolstering two Florida Republicans ahead of the state's primary....[read more](https://www.stripes.com/news/us/promoting-voter-id-trump-says-id-needed-to-buy-groceries-1.540413) ## IS fighters surrender to Afghan forces after Taliban assault More than 150 Islamic State fighters surrendered to Afghan government forces on Wednesday in the face of an onslaught by the Taliban in the northern Jawzjan province, officials said....[read more](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/is-fighters-surrender-to-afghan-forces-after-taliban-assault/2018/08/01/cefb18d2-9552-11e8-818b-e9b7348cd87d_story.html) ## Chinese Tech Isn’t the Enemy On a recent tour of an enormous, impressive set of artificial intelligence labs in Beijing, I saw a scene straight out of Silicon Valley : Bright 20-something Chinese researchers with hipster glasses and pink streaked hair sat at row after row of open tables, headphones in, working hard. Projects ranged from innocuous applications like the AI-enabled bicycle share Mobike or the online education portal VIPKid, to ones the U.S. government may find worrying, like Face ++, which is widely believed to be the world’s most powerful facial recognition software. It can be used to sort photos, but the Chinese security services also use it to ensure they can find any potential “troublemakers” on any street corner in Beijing....[read more](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/america-needs-china-in-tech/566516/) ## Three dead in Zimbabwe as president blames opposition The military has swept into the capital Harare to disperse protesters after the Zanu-PF won a parliamentary majority in the vote. The United Nations has urged political leaders and Zimbabweans to reject any form of violence after troops opened fire on opposition demonstrators....[read more](https://news.sky.com/story/three-dead-in-zimbabwe-as-president-blames-opposition-for-election-violence-11456676) ## U.S. lawmakers demand firms do more to fight fake social media U.S. lawmakers demanded that technology firms do more to fight “shocking” foreign efforts to influence U.S. politics on Wednesday, a day after Facebook Inc identified a new influence campaign tied to November’s elections and despite President Donald Trump’s denunciation of the issue as a “hoax.”.....[read more](https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-election-security/u-s-lawmakers-demand-firms-do-more-to-fight-fake-social-media-idUKKBN1KM552?rpc=401&) ## U.S. sanctions two Turkey officials over detention of pastor The United States sanctioned Turkey’s Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Wednesday over the country’s imprisonment of Pastor Andrew Brunson.....[read more](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-usa-sanctions/u-s-sanctions-turkish-officials-over-pastors-detention-idUSKBN1KM5S9?rpc=401&) ## Iran: Neither Bread nor Freedom On July 31, the Islamic Republic was once again shaken by rallies beginning in Gohardasht, in Alborz province, and Isfahan, the third largest city in Iran, as Iranians took to the streets to protest rising prices. Bread riots alone, however, are not likely to shake the foundations of the regime. But should the protests spread to other major population centers, and, more importantly, if those demonstrating over prices are joined by upper middle class Iranians demanding freedom, the regime in Tehran is likely to face serious peril.....[read more](http://www.agsiw.org/iran-neither-bread-freedom/) ^{THANKS FOR READING...} *** *** *** CRYPTO MARKET UPDATE ![image](https://img.esteem.ws/4z8qilk6q5.jpg) STATE OF STEEM STEEM ![image](https://img.esteem.ws/xbdjl6fhwr.jpg) STEEM DOLLARS ![image](https://img.esteem.ws/hhw6jdy5e2.jpg)