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The catch of the year in professional baseball might have come in the Double-A Southern League on Friday night.

North Korean state media is promoting dog-meat soup for locals as a way to combat the sizzling, record-high temperatures currently plaguing parts of the country.

A California mom’s disappearance took a horrifying turn when cops found her butchered inside her ex-boyfriend’s home, after the suspect allegedly skipped town before finally surrendering to police. Tatiana McIntyre, who also used the name Alison Riley, 29, vanished Tuesday after going to Jeffrey Vernon Michaels’ Fresno home to visit the two children they shared....

Stefon Diggs has never shied away from confidence, and after more than a decade in the league, that mindset isn't changing.

Over the last week, momentum has been at an all-time high regarding a potential reunion between Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams and whether Donald can still play at the level he once did.

Digging Deeper Inside Physical AI's Hardware Stack Powering Humanoids

Building on our "Physical AI Faces One Critical Chokepoint, and Here's How to Profit" report earlier this week, Barclays analysts are closing out the week with a comprehensive map of the humanoid value chain.

As readers look beyond flashy Chinese Unitree robot demonstrations, attention is shifting toward the critical hardware stack, including motors, actuators, sensors, and batteries, and the deep supply-chain players positioned to reap the rewards before global humanoid deliveries begin to ramp up.

Anatomy of a humanoid robot

"While the humanoid market remains small today, at roughly $2-3bn, forecasts range from $10-25bn by 2030, with more optimistic scenarios reaching ~$200bn by 2035, as detailed in (open in new tab)Global Macro - AI gets physical: Ten things to know about humanoids(open in new tab)," Barclays analyst William Thompson wrote in a note on Thursday.

Within the hardware stack, reducers - high-precision gearing systems embedded in actuators - have been high barriers to entry and are led by Japanese players such as Harmonic Drive Systems and Nabtesco, while rare earth materials - particularly magnets used in high-performance motors - create strategic dependencies, with supply chains heavily concentrated in China.

Actuators are the biggest hardware prize. A humanoid may require 40 to 70 actuators, representing roughly 30% to 50% of the material bill. This makes motors, reducers, bearings, and motion-control systems  critically important.

The current supply chain for humanoids is mostly dominated by China.

The supply chain will likely be shaped by geopolitics as much as technology. China currently leads in humanoid deployment volumes and holds strong positions across several parts of the value chain, including rare earth processing, motors, batteries, and robot manufacturing.

However, growing U.S. and European scrutiny of Chinese technology and industrial supply chains could influence market access, procurement decisions, localization requirements, and ultimately the geographic distribution of production and deployment. As a result, humanoid supply chains may become increasingly regionalized over time, with parallel hardware, software, and manufacturing ecosystems emerging across China and Western markets.

Thompson provided a deep understanding of how to profit from the humanoid robotic value chain by subcategory.

Earlier this week, Bernstein analyst Dien Wang warned about "critical chokepoints" in the humanoid robotic supply chain, outlining high-performance motors, robotic actuators, and rare-earth minerals that are mostly dominated by China.

"A humanoid robot can consume more than twice as much magnetic material as an EV motor (Exhibit 3), highlighting the growing strategic importance of rare-earth magnets," Wang said.

He outlined that China's dominance in rare earth magnets is troubling in an "increasingly multipolar world."

Taken together, both Barclays and Bernstein notes suggest the humanoid robotics value chain remains dangerously exposed to China and concentrated Asian supply chains. The Trump admin must accelerate the development of domestic production for motors, rare earth magnets, precision reducers, semiconductors, and other critical actuator components.

If Beijing moves on Taiwan, U.S. robot manufacturers could lose access not only to advanced chips but also to the motion-control systems needed to build humanoids at scale. In that scenario, America's physical-AI ambitions could grind to an instant halt

Professional subscribers can read a whole lot more on humanoids here at our new Marketdesk.ai portal. 

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 23:00

New York’s pro-death community must have celebrated Wednesday when the state’s Medical Aid in Dying law kicked in.

Nico Iamaleava’s coaches didn’t have any gripes about his play last season … well, maybe one. The UCLA quarterback tended to take too many hits while running, in part because of his resistance to sliding. UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava will try to protect his body better this season. But times change and self-preservation may be...

ADNOC Reports 15 Vessel Attacks As Hormuz Risks Mount

Submitted by Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said attacks on its vessels and employees are having a significant impact on operations as the company tries to keep crude, gas and refined products moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fifteen ADNOC vessels have been hit by missiles or drones since the war began, including three this week, the company said Friday. One crew member has been killed and 20 others injured.

The Strait of Hormuz carried roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran expanded into a broader regional conflict. Repeated attacks on commercial vessels have disrupted traffic through the waterway, driven freight costs sharply higher, and made some shipowners reluctant to enter the Persian Gulf.

ADNOC said it is working with authorities to protect personnel and assets while meeting customer requirements “as much as possible” in what it called an exceptionally challenging operating environment.

The attacks are hitting one of the few Gulf producers that has managed to restore exports close to pre-war levels. The UAE has relied on crude loading points outside Hormuz, including Fujairah, while continuing to move some barrels through the strait despite the security risk.

ADNOC is expanding its own shipping capacity even as those risks increase. Its logistics arm announced Friday that it had acquired six very large crude carriers and five very large gas carriers for about $1.3 billion.

Nine of those vessels are scheduled to enter service this quarter, with two newbuild gas carriers due in the fourth quarter. ADNOC Logistics & Services already owns more than 340 vessels and operates another 600 chartered ships.

The fleet additions are intended to support higher crude and LNG exports as ADNOC expands production and trading volumes. The company also ordered four new LNG carriers last month in a $900 million deal.

“Freedom of navigation and the safe, uninterrupted passage of commercial shipping through international waterways must be respected and protected,” ADNOC said Friday.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 22:35

The expectations have never been higher for Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in what will be a make-or-break year for them.

Despite his lack of productivity this season, Marcus Semien still has occasional bursts that offer the Mets hope his bat still has life.

White Sox pitcher Noah Schultz got yanked early from his start on Friday — but it had little to do with his performance.

As if we needed more evidence that (some) homeless nonprofits take egregious advantage of LA taxpayers. Here it is: Per media reports, Carol Adelkoff, the CEO of 1736 Family Crisis Center, collected more than $1.6 million in pay over the past two years. While luxuriating in Hawaii. Where she’s apparently lived for more than decade,...

The "Legally Blonde" actress' father was found face down on the concrete by the pool of his Nashville condo, Page Six exclusively reported.

The "Legally Blonde" actress' father was found face down on the concrete by the pool of his Nashville condo, Page Six exclusively reported.

DHS Hiring "Bounty Hunters" For Overseas Tracking Of Deported Migrants

The Trump administration is planning to hire private investigators to track down deported immigrants in their home countries, verify where they live, and deliver notices seeking payment of U.S. immigration fines, according to Wired.

The proposed program, budgeted at up to $9 million over two years, would cover countries including Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Rather than collecting money directly, contractors would be paid to confirm a person's location using evidence such as photographs of their residence, public records, utility bills, employment information, or other documentation accepted by the government. They would also hand-deliver notices listing any outstanding penalties.

Wired writes that the initiative comes as DHS says it has assessed more than $84 billion in civil immigration fines, including "failure-to-depart" penalties that can accumulate to hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars. Although the administration has encouraged migrants to self-deport by promising to forgive many of these fines, legal advocates argue the new overseas tracking effort undercuts that message because some penalties can still remain.

Immigration attorneys and civil rights groups describe the program as a major expansion of enforcement, saying it targets people who have already left the United States and raises due process and privacy concerns. CBP, meanwhile, maintains that the effort is intended to enforce existing legal obligations and notify individuals of debts owed to the U.S. government.

Legal experts say the initiative represents a major escalation. NYU law professor Alina Das called it a "significant escalation in tactics," while attorney Charles Moore described it as "part and parcel" of the administration's broader immigration crackdown. Hasan Shafiqullah, who is challenging the fines in court, questioned the effort's purpose: "What’s the point of this?"

The proposal builds on ICE's growing use of private "skip-tracing" contractors inside the United States, extending similar investigative practices to people living abroad.

Tyler Durden Fri, 08/07/2026 - 22:10

The nine skiers killed in a horrific avalanche near Lake Tahoe in February all died of asphyxiation — as police  wrapped their investigation into the devastating disaster.

The injury bug continues to bite Reds ace Hunter Greene.

Heart-pounding surveillance footage shows three heroic civilians firing back at Idaho In-N-Out gunman Chad Williams – helping to stop the mass shooter from carrying out more carnage.

They also took great care in emulating the titular character's signature braid.