Morning Skim

AI

Anthropic ships Claude Opus 5, edging out GPT-5.6 on a key benchmark

Anthropic released Claude Opus 5 on July 24 with a 1 million token context window and low, medium, and high effort settings, priced at $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output, the same as Opus 4.8. The model scored 43.3% on the FrontierBench v0.1 coding test, ahead of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol at 37.5%, and jumped to 30.2% on the ARC-AGI-3 reasoning benchmark from Opus 4.8's 1.5%.

Why it matters: It pulls Anthropic back to the front of the frontier model race, holding pricing flat while posting big gains on agentic coding and abstract reasoning.

Dive deeper → Anthropic

AMD bets up to $5 billion on Anthropic to challenge Nvidia

AMD and Anthropic unveiled a partnership on July 22 to deploy up to 2 gigawatts of AMD Instinct MI450 series GPUs, with AMD taking a strategic equity stake of up to $5 billion in the AI lab. The first gigawatt starts rolling out in the first half of 2027, housed in AMD's Helios rack systems.

Why it matters: It hands Anthropic a badly needed second chip supplier beyond Nvidia and gives AMD its biggest AI customer win yet in the fight over data center accelerators.

Dive deeper → CNBC

Tech

Hackers are poisoning hotel Wi-Fi to hijack Microsoft 365 logins

Researchers at ReliaQuest found attackers altering DNS settings on Wi-Fi gateways at hotels and conference centers to silently reroute guests to fake Microsoft 365 sign-in pages. The campaign, running since at least June, has hit gateways across US cities plus India and Saudi Arabia, harvesting corporate credentials from travelers in finance, law, health care, and energy.

Why it matters: It turns any compromised venue network into a credential trap, opening a path into corporate email and documents without a single phishing email being sent.

Dive deeper → BleepingComputer

SpaceX flies the upgraded Starship for the first time, deploying 20 Starlink satellites

SpaceX launched Starship Flight 13 on July 24 after an earlier scrub, deploying all 20 of its first V3 Starlink satellites and splashing the upper stage down in the Indian Ocean. The Super Heavy booster returned for a controlled water landing but hit harder than planned when some engines failed to relight.

Why it matters: It is the first successful flight of the taller V3 Starship, a step toward the rapid reuse and heavy payloads the rocket was built for.

Dive deeper → Space.com

Business

Airbus aims to nearly double profit by 2029 and launches a 5 billion euro buyback

Airbus shares jumped more than 7% after the planemaker set a 2029 adjusted operating profit target of 12 billion to 13 billion euros, up from 7.13 billion last year, and unveiled a 5 billion euro (about $5.7 billion) share buyback. The company plans to lift narrowbody jet output to 70 to 75 a month in 2027 from around 60 now.

Why it matters: It signals Airbus believes its supply chain snarls are easing just as rival Boeing struggles to keep pace, and rewards shareholders with its biggest one-day gain since April.

Dive deeper → RTE

3M jumps after a Q2 beat and a raised profit outlook

3M reported adjusted earnings of $2.40 a share for the second quarter, up 11% and ahead of the $2.24 consensus, on $6.5 billion in revenue with organic sales up 5.4%. Shares rose about 9% as the company lifted its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $8.80 to $8.95, from $8.50 to $8.70.

Why it matters: It is fresh evidence the industrial giant's turnaround is holding, with demand from electrical, data center, and semiconductor markets offsetting a soft auto business.

Dive deeper → Investing.com

Science

Venus may be tearing itself apart from the inside

New 3D simulations suggest some of Venus's giant rift valleys formed relatively recently, a sign the planet's interior is still churning and reshaping its surface. That cuts against the long-held view of Venus as a geologically dead world.

Why it matters: It adds to evidence that Earth's scorched twin is far more active than assumed, sharpening the puzzle of why two similar planets ended up so different.

Dive deeper → ScienceDaily

A daily prebiotic fiber eased knee arthritis pain in a small trial

In a six-week study, older adults with knee osteoarthritis who took a daily prebiotic fiber supplement reported less pain and showed better grip strength and lower pain sensitivity than a placebo group. Researchers tie the benefit to shifts in gut bacteria that may dial down inflammation.

Why it matters: It points to the gut as an unexpected lever for arthritis, a condition usually managed with drugs that carry real side effects.

Dive deeper → ScienceDaily

World

The ICC votes out its chief prosecutor for the first time ever

Member states of the International Criminal Court voted 82 to 13, with 15 abstentions, to dismiss chief prosecutor Karim Khan after the court's oversight body found serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty tied to sexual misconduct allegations he denies. It is the first time a chief prosecutor has been removed in the court's history.

Why it matters: It throws the world's top war crimes court into turmoil while it juggles high-profile investigations, and leaves open who will steer them next.

Dive deeper → NPR

A van rams a crowd at Berlin Pride, killing one and injuring 16

A van drove into people gathered near Tiergarten park for Berlin's Christopher Street Day celebrations on Saturday night, killing one person and injuring at least 16 before police called off the festivities and a concert. Authorities identified a 21-year-old suspect and opened a manhunt.

Why it matters: It struck one of Europe's largest LGBTQ+ events at its peak, reviving fears about vehicle attacks on packed public gatherings.

Dive deeper → CNN

Culture

Tyla returns with her sophomore album A*Pop

Two-time Grammy winner Tyla released her second album, A*Pop, on July 24 through Epic Records, a 14-track set that pushes her popiano blend of pop, R&B, and amapiano further into global pop while keeping her South African roots. It features the singles Chanel, Is It Love, and She Did It Again with Zara Larsson.

Why it matters: It is the make-or-break follow-up to the breakout that turned Water into a worldwide hit and made the South African singer pop's newest crossover star.

Dive deeper → The Citizen

Marvel storms Comic-Con with a new Avengers: Doomsday trailer

At its Saturday Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios debuted footage of Avengers: Doomsday showing Doctor Doom raising an army of Sentinels against the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. The studio also set a theatrical re-release of Avengers: Endgame for September 25 and brought out Ryan Coogler for Black Panther 3.

Why it matters: It was Marvel's biggest Comic-Con moment in years, rallying fans behind a crossover event meant to reset the studio's wobbling box office.

Dive deeper → Variety

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