Trump Media pitches fee for fast access to Trump's post | Reuters World News

Hi, I'm Peter Devon in London. It's Saturday, July 18th. Today, Iran launches renewed attacks on US Gulf allies. Trump media pitches Wall Street $100,000 a month feed of Trump's posts. Taco Bell linked to major foodborne illness outbreak. And La Mina Mal's Spanish neighbourhood rallies behind their own, head of the World Cup final. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, 7 days a week. Iran is hitting US Gulf allies with fresh attacks this morning, striking Kuwait's power and desalination infrastructure for the second time in two days, and suspending operation at Kuwait International Airport. Iran's Revolutionary Guards also claim they targeted a site where US combat aircraft were The attacks follow a seven-straight night of US strikes on Iranian military targets. Both sides are now targeting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global oil supplies. Oil prices jumped more than 4% on Friday. President Trump is blaming Canada for wildfire smoke choking parts of the US, and says he'll be adding the incalculable cost of the pollution to existing tariffs on Canadian goods. In a Truth Social post, Trump accused Canada of willful negligence in managing its forests. Though climate experts say warming temperatures and drier conditions are actually driving the increase in fires. Hundreds of blazes are burning in Ontario, forcing mass evacuations, and leaving at least one First Nation community completely destroyed. Here's Ontario Premier Doug Ford. We are throwing every single resource we can. When you have 191 infernals running right across our province, we're deploying it based on the firefighters' expertise. Staying on Truth Social, Trump's social media company is pitching Wall Street firms a new service that offers faster access to the president's Truth Social posts. Sources say Trump media has discussed charging some traders and investment firms as much as $100,000 a month for the data feeds. A discounted three-year plan runs $60,000 a month. The company says Truth API will provide the fastest access to posts from 10 influential Truth Social accounts, and has already signed up customers ahead of its August 1st launch. Democratic lawmakers are criticising the plan, saying it could allow firms to profit from quicker access to market-moving posts by President Trump. Apple has reclaimed its spot as the world's most valuable company, overtaking Nvidia on Friday with a market cap of $4.88 trillion. It's the first time Apple has held the top position since April last year, and it signals a broader shift in how investors are thinking about the AI boom. Rather than betting solely on chipmakers like Nvidia, money is now flowing to companies positioned to monetise AI through services and hardware upgrades. Federal health officials are investigating what could become one of the largest foodborne illness outbreaks in the US in recent years. More than 5,000 cases of cyclosporiasis have now been reported in Michigan alone, while the FDA has linked more than 1,644 infections across five states to Taco Bell restaurants. Health reporter Julie Steenhuizen says health investigators have traced shredded iceberg lettuce to a supplier using lettuce from Mexico, but are still working to find out more. The most we know is that some of these cases have been related to people who ate at Taco Bell. I'll just tell you a little bit about why this is a hard food outbreak to track. Most foodborne outbreaks are bacteria like E. coli. We know what that is. This is a parasite. It's related to the malaria parasite. With a parasite, they can't grow a parasite in the lab, so it's a lot more complicated. And what they have to do is, actually, they break it, they grind it down, they get a certain part of the genome that they try to match to other people who are sick. And then the hardest part about it is that they have to talk to everybody who is involved in the outbreak to see where they ate. And this particular parasite doesn't cause symptoms. It can be two weeks after you ate somewhere that you've got this really bad diarrhea. And while investigators continue that work, experts say consumers shouldn't panic. Most of the food safety experts I've talked to have said, you know, they're still eating lettuce. They're still eating fresh produce. And they recommend others do the same. The Mexican fast food chain Chipotle says it was not hit by the cyclosporiasis outbreak. And besides, it's got bigger fish to fry. This week, the chain, which brought Mexican food to the US masses, has opened its first restaurant in Mexico. And it's a bold bet. Taco Bell failed twice trying to crack the Mexican market. And 95% of Mexico City residents live within a five-minute walk of a taco shop. Reporter Sarah Moreland is in Mexico City. A lot of food you can find on the streets here are things like small tacos. Chipotle offers a lot bigger meals. So think American portions, think burrito bowls, think salad mixes as well, things you won't necessarily find on the street in Mexico. And I think the reason they think they'll be more successful is that their partner is Alsea. Alsea is a Mexican company. It's a large franchise operator. So what they do is they partner with big brands, like US brands. And they essentially operate franchises or operate branded stores across Latin America and Europe as well. So what analysts say is that they think that the fact that Alsea has a partner in this, that Alsea is committing its resources, is a good sign for Chipotle's prospects. You will have to wait and see to see how appetite for Chipotle's food goes over with the Mexican public. But American brands, according to some analysts, tend to have success internationally, including in Mexico, in part because of a certain mystique you get with American culture, seeing all these brands on TV shows. China is positioning itself as the champion of a new global AI order. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday spoke at the country's premier tech conference to promote open source technology and challenge US influence. Our China correspondent Lori Chen was there. So this year's World AI Conference is bigger than ever because President Xi Jinping has attended for the first time, delivering a keynote speech at today's opening ceremony, where he presented a vision of a new world order led by China without the US, where China marshals a coalition of global South countries with which it can export and share its open source AI models and provide AI training and capacity building, basically providing AI as what he calls a global public good to humanity instead of implementing, you know, export controls and proprietary closed source models like from open AI and anthropic. Xi is not only presenting a vision of China's global leadership over AI technology, but also China's leadership in terms of standards, governance and the norms in which everyone uses AI as an emerging technology. While countries fight for AI dominance, there's another fight happening on the ground. In communities in the US and around the world, there's a debate over where to put data centers. These mammoth operations which power the AI revolution. On this week's On Assignment, our reporters head to northwest Ohio to find out how a small rural community is reacting to a 100-acre data center for meta being built there. We'll put a link in today's show notes. I'm going to scream, I'm going to shout. I'm going to do all sorts of things. That's how Elamin Yamal's grandmother, Fatima Nazari, says she'll react if her grandson scores in the World Cup final on Sunday. In Rocafonda, the working-class multi-ethnic neighborhood near Barcelona where the 19-year-old was raised, Yamal is more than a football phenom. He's like a brother, says his cousin Rehan. I love him very much and I support him completely in everything he does. In the World Cup final, Yamal will take on another local legend, Argentina's Lionel Messi, who played 17 seasons for FC Barcelona. But if you ask 7-year-old Dylan who's better between Messi and Yamal, the answer is clear. For me, he says Yamal is the best, because he's from right here in the neighborhood. For more of any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.