1.Hindenburg Report: Silence from Government and Absurd Statements Further Erode India's Credibility: Sucheta Dalal in The Wire

Sucheta’s views always worth reading whether you agree with her or not.

“As one of the top-5 capital markets in the world and a key resource mobiliser for the Indian economy, restoring confidence in the independence of our regulatory mechanism is of paramount importance today. What we are witnessing, instead, is a textbook example of how not to handle such a situation.” Read on

2.Apple exceeds PLI scheme target, ships 85% iPhones by production value

Apple Inc has hit a milestone by exporting 85 per cent of the freight-on-board production value, or Rs 40,145 crore, of its iPhones in April-July FY25. By doing this, Apple has for the first time exceeded its target given to the government to export 81 per cent of its iPhones by value by the end of the production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) in FY26.

In FY25 the company has committed an export target of $9 billion, or Rs 74,900 crore. It has completed 45 per cent of the target in the first four months.

3.MSCI Aug rejig: India weight on equity index at record; $3 bn inflows eyed

India's weight on the MSCI Global Standard index, which tracks emerging market stocks, has risen to another record high, which is likely to attract inflows of about $3 billion into its equity markets.

India has further narrowed the gap with China on the key MSCI index. While China's weightage on the index will fall to 24.2 per cent from 24.8 per cent, India's weight will rise to 19.8 per cent from 19.2 per cent, according to Abhilash Pagaria, head of Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research.

4.The US’ Olympics-leading medal tally at the Paris Games was propelled largely by success at the collegiate level.

 Stanford University took home 39 medals — more than the Netherlands, Germany or South Korea — which would have ranked it the eighth in the medals rankings by country. The US’ success underscores a “remarkable fact,” the Financial Times’ Simon Kuper wrote: The next 14 countries in the medals table after second-place China are all high-income democracies, suggesting sporting success is a proxy for broader strengths, including in education. “A country that’s good at providing sports fields and coaches for everyone, as most democracies are, tends to be good at providing healthcare and schools for everyone.”

5.Ukraine’s shock raid deep inside Russia rages on

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said that the war “is coming home” after Ukrainian troops reportedly seized around 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory and captured hundreds of enemy soldiers. Russian authorities evacuated some 180,000 people from Kursk, the border region targeted by Ukraine’s army, and Belgorod, an adjoining region. Mr Zelensky suggested that the offensive sought to draw Russian soldiers away from other positions in northern and eastern Ukraine, calling it “purely a security issue for Ukraine”.

6.China’s Great Wall of Villages; New York Times

China has moved thousands of its people to new settlements on its frontiers in disputed territories. It calls them “border guardians.”

In China’s west, they give its sovereignty a new, undeniable permanence along boundaries contested by India, Bhutan and Nepal. In its north, the settlements bolster security and promote trade with Central Asia. In the south, they guard against the flow of drugs and crime from Southeast Asia.

A local government document reviewed by The Times indicated that some villagers may be receiving around 20,000 Chinese yuan a year for relocation, less than $3,000. One resident reached by phone said he earned an extra $250 a month by patrolling the border.

But it is unclear whether the villages make economic sense.

The residents become dependent on the subsidies because there are few other ways to make a living, according to Mr. Akester, the independent expert.

China’s relocation policy is also a form of social engineering, designed to assimilate minority groups like the Tibetans into the mainstream. Tibetans, who are largely Buddhist, have historically resisted the Communist Party’s intrusive controls on their religion and way of life.

7.Scientists hail ‘smart’ insulin that responds to changing blood sugar levels in real time; The Guardian

People with type 1 diabetes may in future only need to give themselves insulin once a week, say experts.

Scientists have developed a “holy grail” insulin that responds to changing blood sugar levels in real-time and could revolutionise treatment for millions of people with type 1 diabetes worldwide.

Patients currently have to give themselves synthetic insulin up to 10 times a day in order to survive. Constant fluctuation between high and low blood sugar levels can result in short- and long-term physical health issues, and the struggle to keep levels stable can also affect their mental health.

Scientists have found a solution that experts say comes as close to a cure for type 1 diabetes as any drug therapy could: smart insulin that lies dormant in the body and only springs into action when needed. Researchers in the US, Australia and China have successfully designed novel insulins that mimic the body’s natural response to changing blood sugar levels and respond instantly in real time.

Standard insulins stabilise blood sugar levels when they enter the body, but once they have done their job, they typically cannot help with future fluctuations. It means patients often need to inject more insulin again within just a few hours.

8.Donald Trump lashes out at ‘inside’ enemies in two-hour Elon Musk interview; Financial Times

Donald Trump told Elon Musk that internal “enemies” were “more dangerous” than foreign adversaries such as Russia and China in a rambling, two-hour conversation on X that was delayed by glitches on the social media platform.

The discussion on Monday, billed by Trump as the “greatest interview ever”, was heard at times by more than 1mn people, according to X, though Musk had prepared for 8mn people to join the talk with the former president, which began 42 minutes later than planned.

Trump has been trying to adjust to a newly competitive race for the White House after vice-president Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic party candidate last month.

The discussion underscored Trump’s appeal to Musk, a self-declared “free-speech absolutist” who has moved sharply to the right in recent years and used his social media platform X to promote his ideas on immigration and regulation.

He then accused Democrats of engineering a “coup” to replace Biden on the presidential ticket. Musk suggested that the party “took [Biden] out back behind the shed and basically shot him”.

Trump also accused Harris of shifting towards the middle on issues such as immigration, saying she was a “radical left, San Francisco liberal . . . and now she wants to be more Trump than Trump”.

The former president has been struggling to find a coherent line of attack on Harris in recent weeks — including questioning her race — as she has gained ground in the polls. His criticism remained scattered on Monday, and he rarely mentioned Harris by name.

He also raged against his political opponents, declaring that he had “enemies on the outside and enemies on the inside” and that “bad people in our government” were “more dangerous” than foreign adversaries.

The former president praised the leaders of Russia, China and North Korea as “at the top of their game”.“They are tough, they are smart and they are vicious,” he said.

Trump falsely claimed that it was “impossible” to sell US cars in Europe and that it was “very difficult” for American farmers to sell agricultural products overseas. He also greatly overestimated how much aid the US gave to Ukraine in its war against Russia and underestimated aid from Europe.