The world’s rainforests have shrunk dramatically in recent decades due to the expansion of land for growing cash crops, like cocoa. The European Union is trying to limit destruction with a new law which aims to track where cocoa is grown. Farmers who want to sell to Europe— the world’s largest cocoa market— are racing to meet the law's requirements, or lose out. WSJ’s Alexandra Wexler details how the law will impact millions of cocoa farmers in West Africa. Further Reading: - Chocolate Prices Have Soared. A New Law Threatens to Keep Them High.  - Your Sweet Tooth Is Getting Expensive  Further Listening: - How Indonesia Tamed Rainforest Destruction  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Ackman has pressed pause on the initial public offering of a new fund aimed at everyday investors after a lack of demand. Ackman originally aimed to raise around $25 billion in the offering, hoping to capitalize on his social-media celebrity but his fund goals shrunk dramatically. WSJ’s Peter Rudegeair unpacks what happened.  Further Reading: -Can Bill Ackman Turn Social-Media Stardom Into a Blockbuster IPO?  -What Bill Ackman Got Wrong With His Bungled IPO  Further Listening: -The Life of One of Wall Street’s Greatest Investors  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a historic decision this week, a federal judge ruled that Google acted to illegally maintain a monopoly in online search. The case was the first of several antitrust lawsuits the U.S. government has brought against some of the nation’s leading tech companies, and the ruling marks a major victory for its efforts to reign in big tech. WSJ’s Miles Kruppa explains how this decision could shake up Google’s business and potentially change how we search the internet.  Further Reading: -Google’s Antitrust Loss Set to Reshape Search and Mobile Industries  -Google Loses Antitrust Case Over Search-Engine Dominance  Further Listening: -Why the DOJ Is Suing Google Again  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slow job growth in the U.S. and interest rate cuts in Japan triggered a global stock market sell off on Monday. WSJ’s Nick Timiraos breaks down how it happened, what it says about the economy, and what it means for the Federal Reserve’s long-term goal of a soft landing. Further Listening: -Live from Seattle: A Weird Economy + Election = ??  -Why the Fed Is Steering Away From Rate Cuts Further Reading: -Market Selloff Upends Fed Rate-Cut Calculus  -Lousy Jobs Report Forces Fed to Reckon With Hard Landing  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, businesses are supposed to make their websites accessible to the visually impaired. WSJ's Ruth Simon found that this requirement has led to an explosion of lawsuits, many of which are against small businesses. Further Reading: - The Law Firm Hitting Businesses With Thousands of Disability Suits  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign gets underway, Democrats and Republicans are rushing to define her. And Democrats are shifting the way they talk about the GOP. WSJ’s Molly Ball explores the strategies behind how both sides are framing each other.  Further Listening: - The Week That Changed the Presidential Race  - Takeaways from the RNC: Trump Is in Control  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia freed wrongfully convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and more than a dozen others on Thursday as part of the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War. WSJ’s Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw report on the effort to bring Gershkovich home.  Further Listening: -Russia Tries a WSJ Reporter in a Secret Court  -Two Parents on a Crusade to Free Their Son  Further Reading: -Inside the Secret Negotiations to Free Evan Gershkovich  -WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich Is Free  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After ten years of sales, 500 million Amazon smart devices have found their way into homes around the world. But the company is losing billions of dollars on the devices. WSJ’s Dana Mattioli discovered an accounting tool that’s kept the huge losses under wraps.  Further Reading: -Alexa Is in Millions of Households—and Amazon Is Losing Billions  Further Listening: -Amazon's Secret Operation to Gather Intel on Rivals  -What Is Amazon's Secret 'Project Nessie'?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Olympics officials in Paris postponed the men’s triathlon because of elevated E. coli levels in the River Seine, where the event was set to take place. WSJ’s Joshua Robinson reports on how decades of trying to clean up the river may not have been successful.  Further Reading: - Paris Olympics Postpones Triathlon Because of Pollution in River Seine  - Yes, They’re Actually Doing Olympic Swimming in the River Seine. Gulp.   - Herculean Feat in Paris Olympics: Make the Seine Safe to Swim   Further Listening: - Simone Biles and the Power of Saying No  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever thought about who is behind your scam texts? WSJ reporter Feliz Solomon spent months investigating and discovered that many of these texts are coming from slaves trapped in scam dens in Southeast Asia. She talked to one person who had been imprisoned there and learned how he became ensnared in a growing criminal empire. Further Listening: - Pig Butchering: A Texting Scam With A Crypto Twist  Further Reading: - Posing As ‘Alicia,’ This Man Scammed Hundreds Online. He Was Also A Victim.  - ‘She Hooked Me’: How An Online Scam Cost A Senior Citizen His Life’s Savings  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2024 presidential election has taken a major turn after Biden dropped out of the race. WSJ’s Molly Ball charts how the 2024 political election has hit a reset and what Harris’s candidacy could mean for her party and the country.  Further Listening: - Takeaways from the RNC: Trump Is in Control  Further Reading: - Biden Withdrawal Caps Weeks of Epic Political Turbulence  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

USAntibiotics's plant in Tennessee is one of the last plants in the United States that makes amoxicillin, the crucial antibiotic that has been in shortage in some forms since 2022. But the plant isn’t breaking even, financially. WSJ’s Liz Essley Whyte reports on why it is so hard for American-made generic drugs manufacturers to survive. Further Listening: - Will Florida’s Plan to Get Cheap Drugs From Canada Work?  - Trillion Dollar Shot  Further Reading: - Drug Shortages in America Reach a Record High  - Drug Shortages Trigger FTC Probe  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats are rallying around Vice President Kamala Harris as she takes over President Biden’s campaign. WSJ’s Tarini Parti discusses some key moments in her political career and explores what they reveal about her as a candidate. Further Listening: - Biden Taps Out. Harris Taps In.  - Takeaways from the RNC: Trump Is in Control  Further Reading: - Inside the Slow-Building Biden-Harris Relationship  - How Kamala Harris Views Policy  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last Friday, 8.5 million computers around the world stopped working. All kinds of businesses were impacted, from airlines to banks to hospitals. The cause was a routine update sent out by a software company called CrowdStrike. WSJ’s Robert McMillan explains how the meltdown happened and why Microsoft’s software was especially vulnerable. Further Reading: - Blue Screens Everywhere Are Latest Tech Woe for Microsoft  - CrowdStrike Made Its Name Fighting Technology Problems. Now It Has Caused One.  Further Listening: - The Computer Glitch That Caused Nearly 1,000 Convictions  - Hacking the Hackers  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Sunday, President Joe Biden ended his bid for re-election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Annie Linskey reports on Biden’s big decision and what lies ahead for Harris and the Democratic Party.  Further Listening: - Takeaways from the RNC: Trump Is in Control  - Will Biden Stay in the Race?  Further Reading: - How the Bet on an 81-Year-Old Joe Biden Turned Into an Epic Miscalculation  - Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race, Endorses Harris  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican National Convention came to a close Thursday night with a speech by presidential nominee Donald Trump that called for unity while also returning to familiar rhetoric. WSJ’s Molly Ball says it’s a remarkable turnaround for a candidate who was once an outsider, and has now remade the party in his image. Plus, Jessica Mendoza and Jacob Gallagher give the convention a fit check. Further Reading: - Trump Hasn’t Changed, but the GOP Has  - Crypto Dads, Trump Suits and Four-Letter Words: Scenes from the Cultural Frenzy at the RNC  Further Listening: - Elon Musk and Silicon Valley Turn Towards Trump  - Trump Courts the Union Vote  - The Secret Service’s Failure to Protect Trump  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon Musk has said he is committing around $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super PAC, according to people familiar with the matter. He is the biggest name in tech now turning Donald Trump’s way. WSJ’s Emily Glazer reports on how Musk and others in Silicon Valley are throwing their support and money behind Trump’s campaign for president.  Further Listening: - Tesla’s Multibillion-Dollar Pay Package for Elon Musk  - Money, Drugs, Elon Musk and Tesla’s Board  - Trump Courts the Union Vote  Further Reading: - Musk Turbocharges Silicon Valley Support for Trump  - Elon Musk Has Said He Is Committing Around $45 Million a Month to a New - Pro-Trump Super PAC  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich has been held in Russia for more than a year on an espionage accusation that he, the U.S. government and The Wall Street Journal vehemently deny. Gershkovich will appear in court Thursday for another hearing. WSJ’s Matthew Luxmoore explores what we know about the secret trial and why even the Gershkovich’s defense lawyers are restricted from publicly discussing it. Further Reading: - The Shadowy Judicial System That Controls the Fate of WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich  Further Listening: - A WSJ Reporter Arrested in Russia  - Russian Court Upholds WSJ Reporter’s Detention  - Two Parents on a Crusade to Free Their Son  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last night at the Republican National Convention, Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, spoke. O’Brien was the first Teamsters president to ever speak at an RNC and his presence represents a shift in union voters away from the Democratic Party. WSJ’s Paul Kiernan reports on why some union voters are interested in voting for former President Trump this election. Further Listening: -‘We’ll Strike All Three’: The UAW’s Historic Walkout  Further Reading: -For Embattled Biden, Union Members Aren’t the Reliable Support They Used to Be  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Saturday, a shooter attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Now, the Secret Service is coming under scrutiny for failing to prevent it. WSJ’s Sadie Gurman and Ryan Barber on what we know about the shooter, and about what went wrong for the Secret Service. Further Reading: - Trump Rally Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks Said to Have Been Loner Who Rarely Voiced Politics  - Trump Shooting Is Secret Service’s Most Stunning Failure in Decades  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices