REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi
1. One of the US' largest health insurers is ditching 70% of its Obamacare business. Aetna will now offer healthcare options through the public exchanges in just 242 of the 778 counties where it operates.
2. A national security expert thinks Americans won't have to wait long for an election-changing surprise. "I don't think we're going to have to wait until October," Peter Singer, a strategist at the think tank New America, told Business Insider. "There's clearly more to come."
3. A CNN correspondent who has reported on wars for more than a decade told the UN Security Council she has "never seen anything on the scale of Aleppo," a Syrian city that was recently under siege.
4. A hedge fund CEO may have written the darkest assessment of the market in a while. James Litinsky of JHL Capital said he would rather be investing back in the dark days of 2008 than in today's market.
5. US investigators probing Volkswagen's diesel emissions cheating scandal have uncovered evidence of criminal wrongdoing, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Justice Department is now negotiating a settlement which may involve significant financial penalties for the company.
6. China is poised to take the lead in a new space race, launching a virtually un-hackable quantum satellite into orbit around Earth.
7. A well-known journalist who frequently covers civil unrest across the US has decided to leave Milwaukee, Wisconsin because of "racial tensions." "For those who are perceivably white, it is just not safe to be here," Tim Pool said in a YouTube video.
8. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's approval rating has fallen to a nine-month low of 21.2%, while 93.6% of those surveyed saw the country's situation negatively.
9. Billionaire investor Peter Thiel has weighed in on the sale of Gawker Media, discussing why he chose to begin his battle with Gawker in a New York Times op-ed.
10. Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby has been sent home from the Rio Olympics as punishment for refusing to shake his Israeli opponent's hand. El Shehaby's gesture was reportedly politically motivated.
And finally ...