Asia stock markets plunge as grim jobs data fans fears of US recession

The Tokyo Stock Exchange index nose-dived over 13% on Monday amid disconcerting data on rising US unemployment. The decline is the sharpest since the Black Monday stock market crash of 1987.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which incorporates shares of the country's largest companies (including Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Panasonic, and Nintendo), shed over 3,000 points during trading. As of 05:38 GMT, the Nikkei had dropped 13.7% day-on-day, reaching 31,030 points. The broader TOPIX index fell 11.5%. Monday’s bear market also saw South Korea's Korean Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plummet 6.5%, with Samsung's shares sinking 7.7%.

The market convulsions follow a much weaker-than-anticipated US jobs report for July. Hiring fell, with the unemployment rate surging for the fourth straight month to reach 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday. The data fueled fears that the economy could be falling into a recession amid high interest rates intended to curb inflation. Goldman Sachs analysts have lifted the US recession risks in the coming year to 25% from 15%. Meanwhile, JPMorgan predicts a 50% slowdown for the US economy.

As Asian stocks were down across the board, cryptocurrencies started tumbling too, with Bitcoin shedding 12% value to reach $53,000.

Stay tuned - later we will share our take on what's going on with Asian stocks and global economy.

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❗️The Israel Defense Forces reported the elimination of the Hamas economic minister in the Gaza Strip

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Donald Trump blames Biden and Harris for stock market crash

"Stock markets crashing. I told you so!!! Kamala doesn't have a clue. Biden is sound asleep. It's caused by inept US leadership!" he wrote on social media.

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🎥Protesters in Bangladesh managed to enter the residence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka. By that time, she had apparently already left the country.

Video: social media

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Plans changed? Official Democrat page uploads photo of Kamala Harris with 'Michelle' signs in background

On July 26, Barack Obama stated he and his wife Michelle were supporting Kamala Harris' candidacy a full five five days after Harris confirmed she was running for president on July 21.

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Russian Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu arrives in Iran for working visit

Shoigu, the former Russian defense minister, will hold series of talks and will be received by new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian in the country's capital Tehran, Russian Security Council stated.

Shoigu will discuss wide range of issues of cooperation between Russia and Iran, including security and economics.

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❗️The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 125 militants, a Vampire MLRS launcher, and six ammunition depots in the Russian Sever Battlegroup's combat zone – Russian Defense Ministry

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️ Ukraine lost up to 115 militants and a tank to the Russian Vostok Battlegroup;

▪️ Losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone amounted to up to 325 militants. The group struck formations of eight Ukrainian brigades and repelled eight Ukrainian counterattacks;

▪️ The Russian Yug Battlegroup repelled a counterattack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the enemy losing up to 620 militants and two ammunition depots;

▪️ The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 495 militants in the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone;

▪️ Russian forces hit two Ukrainian fuel and lubricant depots;

▪️ Russian air defenses shot down four SCALP-EG air-launched cruise missiles and 43 Ukrainian drones.

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Bangladesh PM resigns after weeks of violent protests: what you need to know

◾️ Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and left Dhaka, the capital, after nearly two months of violent unrest. At least 93 people were killed in the violence, including 14 police officers, according to local media. Thousands have also been injured, including over 1,100 police officers.

◾️ In an address to the nation on Monday, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, until now the Chief of Army Staff, said an interim government would be formed, and that representatives “from all major political parties” have been invited to participate.

◾️ Zaman asked protesters to give the military "some time" and called on them to "stay calm and go back home," and said there were no plans to introduce a curfew or state of emergency at the moment. Some protest leaders have warned that they would not accept "military rule."

◾️ Indian media reports suggest Hasina landed in the northeastern Indian city of Agartala after leaving Dhaka.

◾️ The unrest in Bangladesh began in early June, triggered by changes to the country’s quota-based government job recruitment system, but quickly straddled by the opposition into large-scale anti-government demonstrations hailed by Western media as “pro-democracy” protests.

Serving as PM from 1996-2001 and then again from 2009 on, Sheikh Hasina had a history of strained relations with the United States.

🔸 In April, she blasted US foreign policy misadventures in Muslim-majority countries under the guise of “democratization.”

🔸 In May, she accused the US of seeking to create a “Christian state” by partitioning pieces of Bangladesh and Myanmar, Hindustan Times reported.

🔸 Hasina also said she had been offered an easy reelection victory in general elections in January in exchange for permission to a foreign power to set up an airbase on St. Martin’s Island in the south of the country. However, the state's name wasn’t disclosed, according to HT.

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🎥 Footage shows protesters in Bangladesh trying to tear down a statue of Mujibur Rahman. Rahman was the first head of Bangladesh and father of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned on Monday and was swiftly replaced by a military junta.

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How do contenders to be Kamala Harris’ running-mate match up on top foreign policy matters?

After Kamala Harris interviewed potential running mates over the weekend in Washington, the initial list of half-dozen candidates has since been whittled down to Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

▪️ Former Navy combat pilot Mark Kelly visited Ukraine twice in 2023, and met with Ukrainian pilots training in Arizona. He has been the Senate’s leading voice urging supplemental funding for both Ukraine and Israel.

▪️ He told CNN that defeating Russia in Ukraine was critical to US national security, claiming that if Russia won, it might “target a NATO ally, like a Baltic country or Poland.” In such a case it would entail the US “committing combat troops” to help allies.

▪️ On the Gaza war, Kelly – who sits on the Intelligence and the Armed Services Committees – has argued that it would be "appropriate" to condition future aid to Israel if its leadership doesn't "do better" at preventing civilian deaths in Gaza.

▪️ Josh Shapiro has made public remarks in support of Ukraine, but his stance on the conflict has been relatively muted.

▪️ Shapiro, who is Jewish, has drawn criticism from the left of the Democratic Party and was dubbed “genocide Josh” for his uncriticial support of Israel in its war on Hamas.

▪️ When other Democratic governors called for a ceasefire in Gaza in April, Shapiro caught flack for his refusal to do so. Shapiro has also vehemently condemned pro-Palestine rallies on student campuses as ‘antisemitism’.

▪️ Tim Walz took part in a video meeting with Zelensky in April 2023, offering him “unwavering support.”

▪️ Walz has shown tolerance towards those in the Democratic Party who want support for Israel dialed down.

▪️ In April, he condemned hostility toward Jewish students at campus protests, while expressing sympathy for their message on Gaza.

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📹 Russian Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu held a meeting with Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian

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🎥 RFK Jr. admits his part in Central Park dead bear cub mystery

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed in a video posted on X on Sunday how he drove a dead bear cub from upstate New York and dumped it in New York City’s Central Park 10 years ago – as a grotesque prank.

“I pulled over and I picked up the bear and put him in the back of my van because I was gonna skin the bear,” after seeing it run down by another driver, he boasted. “It was in very good condition and I was gonna put the meat in my refrigerator."

But he changed his mind when he needed leave his car at the airport. Not wanting to leave the carcass rotting inside, he thought it would be funny to ditch it in Central Park.

Kennedy said the bear’s discovery appeared on “the front page of every paper,” prompting media speculation and a police probe, which he said “worried” him because he’d left behind fingerprints. But the heir to the Kennedy dynasty has never been officially charged over the bizarre incident.

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❗️ A landing airfield for F-16 fighter jets received by Ukraine has been hit in Ukraine's Nikolaev region, an underground group told Sputnik

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🎥 A futuristic accident became a modern reality in the center of Moscow

A delivery robot collided with a car right on a pedestrian crossing in the center of Moscow. The robot itself is reportedly unharmed, as there is no visible damage, according to social media

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London's police chief snatched a microphone from a journalist after a government meeting when asked about “two-tier” policing of riots across Britain

Metropolin Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley snatched the reporters microphone as he stormed past, throwing it on the ground, Sky News reports.

Anti-immigration protests have been going on for several days, triggered by the murders of three little girls in a knife attack by Axel Rudakubana, a 17-year-old Rwandan origin, at a dance class in Southport.

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