Good morning. Today we’re covering:

• Iran’s message to western leaders

• Nasa’s discovery of liquid water on Mars

• The Pentagon’s embarrassing reversal on Chinese company Hesai

But first, former president Donald Trump lashed out at the “bad people in our government” who are “more dangerous” than foreign adversaries such as Russia and China in an interview he gave to billionaire Elon Musk on X yesterday.

Trump praised the leadership of Russia, China and North Korea, saying that “they are tough, they are smart and they are vicious”. 

He went on to accuse the Democratic party of staging a “coup” to replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris on the presidential ticket, later suggesting that the president was “close to a vegetable state”. Musk suggested that the party “took [Biden] out back behind the shed and basically shot him”.

Trump accused Harris of moderating on issues such as immigration, saying she was a “radical left, San Francisco liberal . . . and now she wants to be more Trump than Trump”.

Critics have suggested that the Trump campaign has failed to launch coherent attacks against Harris since she became the official presidential nominee, and that his rambling about her over the two-hour long interview was a case in point.

He also raged against the EU: “We have a deficit with [the EU] of $250bn, which people don’t know,” he said. “It sounds so nice — ‘the European Union’. But let me tell you: they’re not as tough as China, but they’re bad. And I let them know it . . . No, they don’t treat our country well.”

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: US publishes July producer price index inflation rate data.

• Results: CSL, HelloFresh, Henkel, Home Depot, Just Group, Porsche and
  Sun Life Financial report.

Robert Armstrong of Unhedged and other FT experts from London to Tokyo will break down the recent trading turmoil in a subscriber-only webinar tomorrow. Don’t miss it.

Five more top stories

1. Iran has condemned western leaders for urging it not to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas and Hizbollah leaders. The White House said it was preparing for “what could be a significant set of attacks” that could take place as soon as “this week”.

• Go deeper: Since Hamas’s political leader was assassinated in Iran, the Islamic republic has kept the region on edge, giving few clues on how it will retaliate.

2. Investors are piling back into bonds as recession overtakes inflation as markets’ main fear, and fixed income proves its worth as a hedge against the recent stock market turmoil.

3. Scientists have discovered a reservoir of liquid water deep in the crust of Mars, a breakthrough that suggests life could have existed on the planet.

4. China’s Hesai, the world’s biggest maker of laser sensors for EVs, will be removed from the Pentagon’s blacklist of Chinese military-affiliated companies, in an embarrassing reversal for the US defence department.

5. Nearly 80 Nobel prizewinners and former world leaders have hit out at the removal of a specific mention of fossil fuels from a draft UN climate pact. The new draft replaces a reference to “accelerating” a “transition away from fossil fuels” with a call for climate action “on the basis of the best available science”. 

News in-depth

The Paris Olympics are over, giving athletes some well-deserved time to decompress after a long summer of shattering records and pushing the limits of human potential. But often, the biggest challenge comes in the weeks and months after the Games, when the glow of the competition starts to fade. So how do Olympians combat the post-Games blues?

We’re also reading . . . 

• Defence: Russia has trained its navy to target sites deep inside Europe with nuclear-capable missiles in a potential conflict with Nato, according to secret files seen by the FT.

• Rise of branded games: Companies moving onto platforms such as Roblox discover that balancing brand building with entertainment for a community that is wise to ad trickery remains a tough task.

Chart of the day

About half of all jobseekers are using artificial intelligence tools to enhance their applications, inundating recruiters with low-quality CVs and cover letters in an already slack labour market. A recent survey suggests that those who used the free version of ChatGPT were less likely to pass psychometric tests, while those who used the paid-for version were highly likely to.

Take a break from the news

AI influencers have become a flashpoint for conversations about inclusion in fashion media, raising tough questions around what real representation looks like.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Irwin Cruz