SatStats

On this day:

1533
Atahualpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro’s Spanish conquistadors. His death marks the end of 300 years of Inca civilization.
1581
Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration): the northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II.
1863
American Civil War: Morgan’s Raid ends – At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
1941
World War II: in response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
1944
The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.
1944
World War II: the Soviet army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, liberating it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.
1945
The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.
1945
The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.
1953
Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement
1956
Following the World Bank’s refusal to fund building the Aswan High Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
1989
A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

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Belling the Cat Dept.:
The Europeans can't help being themselves. French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state is wonderful. And charming.
Like holding the door for a bloodied Charlie Manson.

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In China's large cities, spaces have begun to spring up: companies that allow people to pretend to work.

For a daily fee of between 30 and 50 yuan ($4-$7), these companies offer desks, Wi-Fi, coffee, lunch, and an atmosphere that mimics any work environment. According to a report in Beijing Youth Daily, although there are no contracts or bosses, some firms simulate them: fictitious tasks are assigned and supervisory rounds are even organized. For a fee, the theatricality can reach unimaginable levels, from pretending to be a manager with his own office to staging episodes of rebellion against a superior.

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De Gaulle was the target of about thirty serious assassination attempts, two of which — in September 1961 and August 1962 — nearly succeeded. For some anti-Gaullists, the fixation on de Gaulle became so incorporated into their personality that their original reasons for wanting to kill him were eclipsed by the hatred he inspired.

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The White House is weighing initiatives to boost the number of births, ranging from a $5,000-per-baby bonus to awarding "National Medals of Motherhood" to mothers with six or more children.

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SatStats

The national median existing-home price in June was $435,000, a record high and 2% increase from a year earlier

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There is about $2.3 trillion in cash in circulation. But more than 80 percent of that is $100 bills, which are almost unusable in daily life, and are presumably being hoarded, largely outside the United States, rather than used in transactions.

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The dollar had its worst first 6 months in 50 years

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Los Angeles wildfires, Midwest tornadoes, and Mississippi floods caused over 100 fatalities and $125 billion in losses.

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America’s big internal market means only about 13% of overall corporate profits come from abroad.

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Former President Joe Biden sold his presidential memoir to the Hachette Book Group for an advance in the range of $10 million. Penguin Random House acquired the rights to books by former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in 2017 for a price widely reported then as being in the $60 million range, and Alfred A. Knop paid $15 million for former President Bill Clinton’s 2004 memoir “My Life.”

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New York’s education spending per student is highest in the country, at about $35,000. Florida spends about $13,000 per student. Florida fourth-graders rank third in the country in reading and fourth in math. New York fourth-graders rank 36th and 46th.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) has raised $15.4 million for her campaign committee this year, the most of any House member.

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Official government data show that renewables are subsidized 30 times more than fossil fuels. Most of the subsidies are in the tax code, where 94 percent of the fiscal cost goes to green energy technologies.

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$2 trillion went into clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels, and up almost 70% in ten years.
And new data released today from the International Renewable Energy Agency shows that solar – not so long ago four times the cost of fossil fuels – is now 41% cheaper.

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Europe has more heat deaths per year than the United States has gun deaths.

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Nearly 90% of companies are privately owned.

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Over 24,000 drones have been launched at Ukraine by Russia since the beginning of this year.

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Over the past decade, the excise rate per cigarette has tripled from 46c to $1.40. The excise now accounts for $28 of the average $40 price for a packet of 20 cigarettes.
For some time, a rising tax was associated with the twin benefits of falling smoking rates and rising revenue, but after peaking at $16.3bn in 2019-20, federal excise receipts have plunged.