Connect with us

News

Private astronauts in space and Nvidia reports Q2 earnings

Published

on

Private astronauts in space and Nvidia reports Q2 earnings

This article is an on-site version of our The Week Ahead newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Sunday. Explore all of our newsletters here

Hello and welcome to the working week.

One event worth keeping an eye on is set to happen high above our heads on Tuesday when the Polaris Dawn space mission is set to launch with billionaire Jared Isaacman and three others on board. The mission, privately funded by Isaacman and operated by SpaceX, is using the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and spacesuits.

The spacecraft’s crew are planning to attempt a spacewalk during their mission, which is predicted to last five days. If they pull it off, the crew will be the first non-government astronauts to complete a spacewalk. While mainly symbolic, the feat would be a sign of the increase in private companies that are making more ambitious plans for space.

Already this year we have had the first commercial space flight to successfully land on the moon. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also an integral part of Nasa’s Artemis programme to return to moon as the global space race gathers pace.

Advertisement

Back on solid ground, there are some headline acts to watch out for in this week’s company results, including chipmaker Nvidia reporting its second-quarter results on Wednesday. In the group’s first-quarter results it reported a staggering 262 per cent increase in revenue. At the time the company’s boss Jensen Huang told investors that Nvidia would see “a lot” of revenue from its new Blackwell chips that power generative AI models that the company unveiled in June.

Since then the chipmaker has become the world’s most valuable company, lost about $750bn in value, and then gained it all back. No matter what happens, Nvidia’s results will be one to watch. It will also be worth catching the results for CrowdStrike, the first since a software update by the cyber security group caused an outage for large companies including Delta. This will be the first chance for investors to see in detail how the outage affected the company’s bottom line.

One more thing . . . 

In the UK it has been a surprisingly pleasant summer with only a few dull days. But as August winds down this week, our weather is set to take a turn from better to wetter. The UK Met office is aware of this and on Thursday will announce storm names for 2024-25. Names can be suggested by the public but cannot start with the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z so that they are aligned with the US National Hurricane Center naming conventions. So, sadly, we will never see a storm Zane.

Key economic and company reports

Here is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.

Monday

  • Sweden: The central bank publishes the minutes from its monetary policy meeting

  • UK: summer bank holiday. Markets closed (not Scotland)

  • Philippines: National Heroes Day holiday. Financial markets closed

  • Spain: PPI for July

Tuesday

  • Hungary: Central bank interest rate decision

  • UK: British Retail Consortium Shop Price Index, giving a picture of the inflation rate of 500 of the most commonly bought high street products for August

  • UK: Britvic shareholders vote on acquisition by Carlsberg

  • Results: BHP FY preliminary, Bank of Nova Scotia Q3

Wednesday

  • Israel interest rate announcement

  • UK: Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Catherine Mann participates in the Central Bank Research Association annual meeting in Frankfurt

  • UK: Q2 GDP estimate for Scotland

  • Results: Bath & Body Works Q2, Prudential HY, Lego interim results, Nvidia Q2, Woolworths FY 2024, Royal Bank of Canada Q3, HP Q3, CrowdStrike Q2, Salesforce Q2

Thursday

  • UK: Resolution Foundation annual Living Standards Audit

  • US: Revised growth figures for Q2 2024

  • Sweden: Q2 GDP data

  • Results: Qantas FY preliminary results, Autodesk Q2, Gap Q2, Best Buy Q2, Dollar General Q2

Friday

  • India: GDP for Q1

  • Peru: Santa Rosa of Lima Day. Financial markets closed

  • Czech GDP Q2

  • Turkey: Victory Day. Financial markets closed

  • Kazakhstan: Constitution Day. Financial markets closed

World events

Finally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones this week.

Advertisement

Monday

Tuesday

  • US: Scheduled launch of Polaris Dawn mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on board a Falcon 9 rocket

  • US: Two-day Intelligence and National Security Summit is held just outside Washington DC. Speakers include FBI deputy director Paul Abbate and the CIA deputy director David S Cohen

Wednesday

Thursday

  • UK: The Met Office announces its names for storms for the 2024-25 season

  • 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union testing it first atomic bomb. The same day is also the international day against nuclear tests

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

  • Azerbaijan parliamentary elections

  • Germany: Parliamentary elections in Saxony and Thüringen state

  • First day of autumn by the UK Met meteorological calendar

Recommended newsletters for you

One Must-Read — The one piece of journalism you should read today. Sign up here

US Election countdown — Money and politics in the race for the White House. Sign up here

News

Parts of Florida receive rare snowfall as freezing temperatures linger

Published

on

Parts of Florida receive rare snowfall as freezing temperatures linger

A protective coating of ice clings to a strawberry plant in sub-freezing temperatures at a field on Friday in Plant City, Fla.

Chris O’Meara/AP


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Chris O’Meara/AP

A rare snowfall covered parts of the Sunshine State on Sunday for the second year in a row, while freezing temperatures will continue to grip parts of Florida into early this week.

A storm system brought up to 2 inches of snow to southern portions of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, including Pensacola, on Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The snowfall occurred almost a year to the day after parts of Florida received record snow in mid-January 2025 — when Pensacola received between 6 to 8 inches of snow.

Advertisement

And while Sunday’s snowfall is over in Florida, a blast of arctic cold that has been felt across parts of the state since Friday is not.

Orlando and other areas will face a freeze warning Sunday night into Monday morning, with temperatures falling to at least 25 degrees and wind chills in the low 20s in some places, according to the NWS. Further south, Naples and surrounding areas will be under a cold weather advisory Sunday night into Monday morning, where 29-degree wind chills are expected.

Cold temperatures coupled with snow are abnormal for Florida but the cold weather will be “short-lived,” said Joe Wegman, a NWS meteorologist.

“We’re only expecting this level of cold for tonight. And then, even by tomorrow night, we’ll have lows in the upper 30s. So, just still cold, well below normal,” Wegman told NPR on Sunday. “By Tuesday night, lows are back up into the upper 40s.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Did Hunter S. Thompson Really Kill Himself?

Published

on

Did Hunter S. Thompson Really Kill Himself?

Almost from the moment Hunter was laid to rest, his widow and his son began to feud, over everything from the future of Owl Farm to Juan’s belief that his father had been mistreated by Anita in his last days.

The estrangement deepened with time, and now, Anita’s suspicions have taken the feud to a more pointed place, revealing a long, bitter fight over the legacy of the man who pioneered the personal, participatory style of reporting known as gonzo journalism.

Advertisement

But they were all together the weekend Hunter died.

Juan wrote in his memoir that he was in another room and heard a thump that sounded like a book hitting the floor. Anita was at a health club in Aspen waiting for a yoga class to start. She later told the news media she was on speakerphone with her husband before he shot himself, and heard the “clicking” of the gun.

Advertisement

Looking back, there were signs from that last weekend that Hunter had planned to take his own life, Juan and Jennifer said in interviews.

He insisted on watching one of his favorite movies, “The Maltese Falcon,” with his 6-year-old grandson, Will. He gave away gifts — an old clock that had belonged to his mother and a signed copy of “Fire in the Nuts,” a short book with his frequent collaborator, the artist Ralph Steadman.

Advertisement

Ralph Steadman spoke about Hunter’s suicidal ideations in an interview after his death in 2005. ITN, via Getty Images By Itn

“So there is nothing new to know about Hunter’s actual death,” said Juan, 61. “So I do not know why she raised this. And I can’t imagine that the C.B.I. would find anything to act on.”

Advertisement

He and Jennifer said they did not have any role in Hunter’s death. “This is really shocking,” Jennifer said. “It’s been disruptive to our family. It’s obviously been very traumatic to be revisiting this.” She said she believed Anita knew that her husband took his own life, and added, “we hope this brings her closure.”

Jennifer Winkel

Advertisement

Anita had been an assistant to Hunter, and was 35 years younger than him. At the time of his death, they had been married for less than two years — it was Hunter’s second marriage — and that last weekend they fought constantly. In his memoir, Juan wrote that Hunter shot a pellet gun at a gong in the living room the night before he killed himself, just missing Anita, prompting her to threaten to call the police and have him put in a nursing home.

Hunter was also in poor health. He had difficulty moving and suffered occasional seizures, the result of decades of heavy drinking.

Advertisement

“Hunter’s body was giving out,” said Debra Fuller, who worked as an assistant to Hunter and helped manage Owl Farm for almost 20 years before Hunter married Anita. “He was having more difficulty writing as well.”

Hunter had often talked of suicide. Like many of Hunter’s friends, Joe DiSalvo, who was undersheriff of Pitkin County at the time of his death, had conversations with him about how his life would end. He recalled that Hunter would demonstrate his intentions by pointing a loaded gun at his head.

“Hunter talked about suicide,” Mr. DiSalvo said. “He talked about the way he was going to kill himself.”

Advertisement

Continue Reading

News

U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota

Published

on

U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota

Federal law enforcement agents confront protesters during a demonstration outside the Bishop Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday.

Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Up to 1,500 U.S. active-duty troops in Alaska are on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota, a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly has confirmed to NPR.

The move comes days after President Trump again threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to control ongoing protests over the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis as well as clashes between federal agents and residents. Trump later walked back that threat.

The troops on standby are from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which specializes in cold weather operations, according to the division’s website.

Advertisement

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Sunday in an emailed statement to NPR that the “Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.”

Over the weekend, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz directed the Minnesota National Guard to prepare for possible deployment to assist local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, though they have not been deployed yet.

The Guard said in a Facebook post that these “Minnesota National Guardsmen live, work, and serve in our state, and are focused on protecting life, preserving property, and ensuring Minnesotans can safely exercise their First Amendment rights.” If activated, members would wear yellow reflective vests to “help distinguish them from other agencies in similar uniforms.”

The developments follow days of rising tensions, confrontations and violence stemming from what the Department of Homeland Security has described as its largest operation in history, involving thousands of federal agents, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that it would be a “shocking step” if Trump sent the military into the city, too.

Advertisement

“To those that are paying attention, you’ve got to understand how wild this is right now,” Frey said. “In Minneapolis, crime is dramatically down. We don’t need more federal agents to keep people safe. We are safe.”

Joseph Nunn, an attorney at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, said the Insurrection Act is a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency type of tool.” It is meant to be used when civilian authorities are overwhelmed by a crisis, he said, and not simply to quell protests — even violent protests.

“It would be a flagrant abuse of the Insurrection Act” if Trump invoked it now, Nunn said, “unlike anything that’s ever happened before in the history of the country.”

Continue Reading

Trending