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Real-time News
On August 13th, the U.S. Treasury Department reported on Wednesday that the U.S. budget deficit has surged to its highest monthly level in more than five years, driven by soaring Medicare costs and continued pressure from federal debt interest payments. In addition to the significant single-month increase, the cumulative deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2026 has approached $1.8 trillion, exceeding the figure for the same period in fiscal year 2025. The total deficit in July reached $432.3 billion, an increase of approximately 48% compared to the same period last year, marking the largest single-month deficit since March 2021 and setting a new July record. Medicare spending reached $174 billion that month, up from $103 billion in June, bringing the total for the year to $955 billion. This was the largest single expenditure in July, far exceeding Social Security spending of $141 billion and net interest payments on national debt of $104 billion. Furthermore, tariff rebates also impacted the budget by $33 billion. Additionally, U.S. fiscal revenue was negatively affected by a calendar factor of $99 billion, as the first day of the month was a non-working day. For years, Trump has urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to ease debt costs. Since his nominee, Warsh, took over as chairman in May, he has ceased criticizing the Fed.On August 13th, Reuters, citing sources, reported that Alphabet, the parent company of Google (GOOG.O), is undergoing a major leadership reshuffle at Google DeepMind, with some teams moving from DeepMind to the Google corporate system, further weakening DeepMinds autonomy. Sources said that Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been urging core AI employees in recent months to "fully commit" to the Gemini model and push for AI research in areas such as "recursive self-improvement." Following this reshuffle, DeepMind head Demis Hassabis will become chairman, with his deputy Kolai Kavukuoğlu taking over leadership responsibilities. Google stated that Kavukuoğlu will have final say on major decisions at DeepMind. Sources said that Google has postponed the release of the new flagship Gemini model by two months because internal testing showed it still lags behind competitors in areas such as programming. Analysts believe that Alphabets restructuring aims to accelerate AI commercialization and regain a competitive edge in model development, but some employees worry that DeepMinds long-term research autonomy may further decline.On August 13, according to a statement from the Iraqi Prime Ministers Media Office, Iraqi Prime Minister Mullah Zaidi met with visiting U.S. Central Command Commander General Robert Cooper on August 12. During the meeting, Zaidi reiterated Iraqs commitment to the established timetable, namely, September 30th is the final date for the international coalition forces to end their military mission in Iraq and complete their withdrawal. Zaidi stated that October 1st will be a new day in Iraqi history, when Iraq will completely rid itself of all foreign military presence, realize its territorial sovereignty, continuously enhance its national security and military capabilities, and safeguard its own security and stability.According to Saudi media Alhadath: Yemeni government armed forces launched drone attacks on Houthi gathering points in Yemens Jawf province.Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Alimi: The Houthi movement in Yemen will not go unchallenged. There is no contradiction between the governments continued deterrence operations and its pursuit of peace.
