Good morning. For the fans of the musical Hamilton, today marks the day Aaron Burr shoots Alexander Hamilton in a duel, leading to Hamilton’s death.

Watch the cast masterfully perform the musical’s opening in front of Barrack Obama at the White House.

Local News

⚛ Powering Up: The US-Philippines Nuclear Pact Goes Live

By Tobias Bautista

It's a nuclear deal, baby! The US-Philippines Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, aka the 123 Agreement, went live on July 2. This deal, inked last November, lets the US send nuclear fuel, reactors, and all the radioactive goodies to the Philippines. Think of it as Amazon Prime for nuclear tech.

So what? This agreement is about more than just swapping atoms; it's setting the stage for future nuclear power projects and keeping everything safe and sound according to international standards. Plus, it promises to smooth out the red tape for businesses looking to dive into nuclear ventures.

Money Up. US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson and President Marcos Jr. are all in on this partnership, seeing it as a big step toward hitting their energy and climate goals. With around 40 companies ready to jump in, it's looking like a nuclear renaissance. First up: a virtual meetup on July 31 to kick things off and start plotting out the nuclear-powered future.

CONCERNING: Chinese Aircraft Carrier located by AFP in the West Philippine Sea

by Tobias Bautista

It begs the question: When will the intimidation stop? And hopefully it stays as nothing more than intimidation.

Tech

☄ China’s AI Powerplay Leads the World

By Tobias Bautista

China is acing the generative AI game, with a new survey revealing 83% of Chinese companies are already on board. This blows the global average of 54% out of the water and leaves the U.S. (at 65%) in the dust. The survey by SAS and Coleman Parkes Research covered 1,600 industry bigwigs across 17 regions, spanning banking to retail.

China's rapid ascent in GenAI started post-ChatGPT's debut in late 2022, and now they’re patent champions too, clocking in over 38,000 filings since 2014. Meanwhile, the U.S. managed just over 6,000. Despite curbs on international GenAI services, China’s homegrown tech scene is booming with giants like ByteDance and upstarts like Zhipu.

But wait, there’s more. And it's not just GenAI; China is also leading in continuous automated monitoring (CAM) tech, sparking some serious privacy concerns. But hey, in the AI race, China's gunning for gold and they're not slowing down.

👚China’s Cotton Conundrum: Recycling Takes on Fast Fashion

by Tobias Bautista

At a factory in Zhejiang province, piles of discarded cotton clothing and bed linens, sorted by color, await their fate. Jacket sleeves, collars, and labels peek out as workers feed the garments into shredding machines. Welcome to Wenzhou Tiancheng Textile Company, one of China’s largest cotton recycling plants.

China, the world’s top textile producer and consumer, discards over 26 million tons of clothes annually. Despite the urgent need for recycling, only 20% of textiles are recycled in China, and most of that is cotton. Fast fashion, dominated by synthetics, complicates things.

Wenzhou Tiancheng tackles the issue, but a ban on using recycled cotton for new garments within China means their product is mostly for export. Meanwhile, Chinese consumers still prefer new clothes.

But there's hope! Designers like Da Bao and Zhang Na are championing sustainable fashion, transforming old clothes and materials into trendy new items. Yet, with higher costs and a consumer base addicted to cheap fashion, the road to sustainable fashion in China is a long one.

Sports

🇵🇭 “Good Strides”: The “Michael Jordan” of Philippine basketball gives his two cents on the state of Gilas Pilipinas

By Koby del Rosario

After getting bounced out of a potential drought-ending Olympic berth, Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player, Justin Brownless, is optimistic that the country’s basketball program has been making good strides.

In an article by Inquirer, the 36-year old detailed how the improvements being shown by Gilas Pilipinas is due to the foundation that former head coach Chot Reyes laid out and is now being banked on by current head coach Tim Cone. 

Whatever the case may be, it’s been nothing short of successful ever since both Cone and Brownlee took over the reins of the national team in their own roles. Besides reaching the semifinals of a heavy Olympic Qualifying Tournament, they and the team also won last year’s Asian Games after a staggering 61 years. Lead by Brownlee, of course. 

Nevertheless, the Gin Kings superstar has plenty of time to represent the country on the world stage. Despite him adding to his age, the veteran scorer constantly proves that he can go toe-to-toe with father time. 

Gilas Pilipinas now looks ahead for next year’s Asia Cup.

News Roundup

• Spain’s 16 year old Lamine Yamal becomes youngest European Championship scorer

• LTO collects almost P1 bln in fines, penalties for the first half of 2024. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

• Travel app AirAsia Move offers up to 15% discount on domestic flights booked today, for travel from July 15 to Nov. 30,

• Alice Guo cited for contempt, along with 7 others.

Games

🎯 Fun Brain Teasers

• Wordle: guess the random five letter word

• Connections: match four words of the same category

• Strands: word search but it depends on the category

Referral

Enjoying Araw Araw? Share the sunshine by sending out the link below! Rewards for referrals coming soon 👀

Join the Community

Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn!