Germany said to plan €800 billion rearmament borrowing

 Germany plans to borrow more than €800 billion by 2030, marking a historic shift from decades of fiscal restraint as Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government ramps up defense spending, Financial Times reported on Monday.

According to projections seen by the media outlet, the borrowing push would help fund Germany's rearmament drive, with the defense budget set to rise to €109 billion next year and €183.6 billion by 2030.

Berlin also plans to provide €11.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine next year. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil defended the shift, saying Germany could not defend itself against Russian President Vladimir Putin with the "Schwarze Null," the country's balanced-budget doctrine.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Germany-said-to-plan-euro800-billion-rearmament-borrowing/66639371

'Rutte: US nuclear umbrella key to NATO'

 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday the United States' nuclear umbrella remains "the ultimate guarantor of our freedom and security" across the alliance, including in Europe, ahead of the NATO Summit in Ankara.

Rutte said nuclear policy within NATO is determined by individual member states, describing it as "decisions by countries to lift restrictions they had in the past." He stressed that "the US nuclear umbrella is the ultimate guarantor of our freedom and security in the whole of NATO, particularly also when it comes to the European part of territory."

Rutte said, "We are really in a good place when it comes to nuclear." He also reaffirmed the United States' central role in NATO, saying the alliance now knows "much more exactly what Americans can provide," giving it a clearer picture of what members "can count on."

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Rutte:-US-nuclear-umbrella-key-to-NATO/66639458

'UKMTO: Security risk level in Hormuz strait 'substantial''

 The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre stated on Monday that, according to the information it received from the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), the maritime security risk level in the Strait of Hormuz remains substantial.

In the statement shared by the UKMTO, the JMIC urged all vessels that the southern route of the Strait of Hormuz remains open for traffic. It added that the ships could transit that route with "their AIS [automatic identification system] on, radars radiating, running lights on, and normal use of VHF [very high frequency] in accordance with best management practices for maritime security."

The JMIC also advised the vessels to engage with the Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS), but noted that it was not mandatory.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Security-risk-level-in-Hormuz-strait-'substantial'/66637353

Hamas government in Gaza resigns

 The Hamas Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday the dissolution of the Emergency Committee, headed by Mohammed Abdul Khaleq Al-Farra, as part of preparations to hand over the governance of the Palestinian enclave to the new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a body composed of independent Palestinian technocrats, as part of US President Donald Trump-tailored plan to end the war and rebuild the Strip.

Hamas said in a statement that current civil servants will remain in place to ensure that services continue. The transition will be overseen by Abdul Hadi al-Agha, the outgoing undersecretary of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, until the technocratic committee, which has been awaiting Israel's approval for months, assumes control.

The Palestinian organization described the move as a "strategic step" that shows its readiness to transfer its governing responsibilities and serves the best interests of the Palestinian people.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Hamas-government-in-Gaza-resigns/66637506

BridgeBio touts kidney benefits for Attruby over amyloidosis competitors

 

BridgeBio’s Attruby preserves kidney function in patients with transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy, an effect that is “distinct” from other drugs in this space, according to Jefferies.

BridgeBio’s protein stabilizing therapy Attruby appears to protect kidney function in patients with transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy—a key clinical benefit that analysts say could help the drug stand out in a crowded market for this indication.

The findings come from a posthoc analysis released Thursday that drew data from a Phase 2 study of Attruby, as well as the Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM trial, results from which led to the drug’s approval in November 2024.

The posthoc evaluation found that patients on Attruby saw an initial but reversible decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a common measure used to quantify kidney function, with decreasing values suggesting worse filtering. At 30 months of follow-up, however, the slope of eGFR changes showed sustained and significant placebo-adjusted improvements, according to BridgeBio, suggesting “direct kidney-protective effects” in patients.

“The acute dip in eGFR following initiation of [Attruby] may represent a beneficial kidney effect,” the biotech said on Thursday. Alongside these eGFR changes, BridgeBio documented significant and sustained reductions in urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio, an indicator of kidney damage, though 30 months.

Jefferies was positive on the news, telling investors in a Thursday note that the posthoc assessments “point to cardiorenal protective benefits” for Attruby. “The degree of kidney function protection”—as measured by the positive changes in eGFR slope—“looks competitive to kidney-targeted therapies,” the analysts added. “Ultimately, slowing down kidney progression could improve hospitalization/mortality outcomes.”

More broadly, the posthoc analysis “adds differentiation” to Attruby in transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), Jefferies said, noting that the “cardiorenal protective effects seem distinct from other therapies” in this space. In particular, the firm pointed to Pfizer’s Vyndaqel/Vyndamax, which was approved in 2019 and last year grew 16% to $6.4 billion in worldwide sales.

Also looking to compete in ATTR-CM are AstraZeneca and Ionis, which are testing their antisense oligonucleotide Wainua, currently approved to treat polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR-PN), for a possible expansion into ATTR-CM. The partners are expected to release Phase 3 data for the asset in late August, Jefferies said Thursday.

For BridgeBio, the posthoc data come after a late-stage win in achondroplasia last week. The company’s oral drug infigratinib not only boosted growth in children but also significantly improved body proportionality. As in the case of Attruby, analysts see this achondroplasia outcome as a key differentiator for BridgeBio in the space.

“Other players do not seem to hit stat-sig” in body proportionality, Jefferies told investors in a June 28 note. “We think proportionality drives meaningful outcomes in daily activities and mobility,” the analysts wrote. “We are optimistic proportionality will be included in the label.”

https://www.biospace.com/drug-development/bridgebio-touts-kidney-benefits-for-attruby-differentiating-from-amyloidosis-competitors

Reddit Says Cracking Down on AI Marketing Slop With Its Own AI

Reddit Inc. is battling a new kind of spam: stealth marketing content created by brands that want to get mentioned by popular artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini.

OpenAI and Alphabet Inc., whose AI tools formulate responses and recommendations by drawing on vast amounts of internet information, have content deals with Reddit to pull from the site's forums. Reddit is considered a trustworthy source where people share their unfiltered perspectives about various topics, making it one of the most common sources cited by AI chatbots, according to company executives and third-party studies.

That has also made the discussion forums a prime target for marketers looking to plant posts and comments that could get repeated by chatbots as genuine opinion.

Reddit is using AI to get ahead of these stealth marketing tactics. It announced Monday that improved automated systems caught 25,000 "spammy posts and comments" a day during the first quarter, reducing exposure for users by 20% over the same period one year ago. The company attributed the growth in spam it detected to its tools becoming more effective, rather than a meaningful increase in spam on the platform overall.


"We look at signals right when an account is created to stop suspicious actors before they ever get the chance to post," Reddit said Monday in a blog post. The social media site is using large language models "to catch the highly subtle, coordinated patterns of fake behavior and artificial hype that older systems once missed."

The move highlights the nascent but growing practice of generative engine optimization, or GEO. The term, which evolved from "search engine optimization," has been gaining traction in the marketing industry as brands vie for online attention from consumers turning more than ever to chatbots for information. Venture capitalists are paying attention, too, as they invest in AI-focused marketing firms like Profound, which saw its valuation top $1 billion after a February funding round.


GEO tactics are still evolving, but a recent study by Cornell Tech researchers found that it's possible for user-generated content to manipulate results of AI research tools.


Reddit's crackdown has already had an impact on marketers like Shanzila Ahmed, whose startup ReachLLM works with brands to boost their citations in AI responses by creating content on the social media site, among other techniques. She said her agency has had success getting posts cited by ChatGPT — some within a day of creation — but also said that some of the same posts have already been taken down by Reddit.

The cat-and-mouse game between Reddit and marketers will likely continue as they find ways to outmaneuver each other while the technology evolves. Reddit, for its part, relies heavily on its user community to remove content that violates its rules. Community moderators were responsible for more than 52% of post and comment removals from July 2025 to December 2025, Reddit said.

Ahmed said becoming a community moderator by creating new, topic-specific channels known as "subreddits," has helped some of her customers in niche industries get cited by AI. But she acknowledged the increased risk of account suspensions as Reddit ramps up moderation around bots and spam.


"That is just something that we have to work around," she said. "We just need to keep pushing out good new content at regular intervals so that even if it gets removed, there's new content that can get cited."

https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/reddit-cracking-down-ai-marketing-115000368.html

Innovative Eyewear prelim Q2 2026 net sales rise 71% YoY, supported by new wholesale deals

 

Innovative Eyewear prelim Q2 2026 net sales rise 71% YoY to $0.99M, supported by new wholesale deals

• New wholesale deals include initial order from a 345-store Canadian optical chain and 50-store U.S. test.

https://finviz.com/stock?t=LUCY&p=d