Prosecutors' Investigative Powers Abolished for First Time in 72 Years KOSPI 6,598 Semiconductor-Led Surge

Italy's Health Ministry issued red heatwave alerts for a record 25 cities. Europe's heatwave has exposed sunken Nazi-era ships in the Danube and caused nuclear plant cooling water shortages.

Consecutive flooding events in southern India killed at least 14 people. Climate-related disasters occurred simultaneously across Asia.

Alexandra Eala defeated Jessica Pegula at the 2026 Washington DC Open women's singles to claim her first WTA tour title, the first for a Filipino and first for a Southeast Asian player.

The government passed a Criminal Procedure Act amendment at a Cabinet meeting on Aug. 5, eliminating prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers that had been in place since 1954. The People Power Party strongly condemned the decision.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is pursuing a plan to provide one-time unemployment benefits to workers under 35 who voluntarily leave jobs after a set tenure. A parallel 'K-Youth Guarantee' program for first-time job seekers is also being designed.

South Korea's graduate unemployment surpassed 480,000 in Q2 2026, the highest in five years. The Korea JoongAng Daily reported that accelerating AI adoption has led companies to reduce new-hire intakes, worsening youth job prospects.

The Ministry of Education presented its H2 2026 work plan on Aug. 5, centered on phased expansion of AI-focused schools, narrowing early-childhood opportunity gaps, and regional university co-growth as 10 priority tasks.

On Aug. 5, the KOSPI closed up 239.31 points (3.76%) at 6,598.26, driven by gains in large-cap semiconductor stocks including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

On Aug. 5, the KRW/USD exchange rate closed at 1,424.5, down 8.0 won from the prior day, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's currency stability remarks and foreign investor net buying in Korean equities converged.

On Aug. 5, the S&P 500 rose 0.63% to 7,784, the Nasdaq gained 0.45% to 26,702, and the Dow Jones climbed 381 points (1.19%) to 54,724.

The reform raises comprehensive real estate tax for homes with a publicly assessed value above 1.4 billion won owned by non-residents. The long-term holding deduction is restructured around residency duration, and the prior-home disposal grace period is cut from 3 to 2 years.

Gangnam-gu (+0.07%), Seocho-gu (+0.05%), and Songpa-gu (+0.2%) all rose below Seoul's weekly average of 0.25%, while northern districts such as Jungnang and Nowon recorded 0.4-0.5% gains.

With home purchase sentiment cautious amid tax reform uncertainty, the jeonse (rental deposit) market also posted a 0.25% weekly gain, matching the apartment sales change rate.

On Aug. 5, Bitcoin rose 0.9% to $64,181.6 and Ethereum gained 0.5% to $1,868.36. President Trump's comment that a Hormuz deal was possible 'by Wednesday' was confirmed to have lifted risk-asset sentiment.

The U.S. Senate delayed the CLARITY Act (Digital Asset Market Clarity Act) vote to prioritize a Russia sanctions package. If not passed before the Aug. 8 recess, the schedule will be reset.

At the July 29 FOMC meeting, the Fed held rates at 3.50-3.75%. Three committee members dissented in favor of a rate increase, confirming the consensus for a hold was narrower than expected.

Samsung Electronics indicated it will share details 'soon' while SK hynix pledged to do so 'by year-end,' both reconfirming a policy to return 50% of free cash flow to shareholders.

After Micron (+7.6%), Marvell Tech (+12.8%), and Intel (+10.8%) surged in U.S. trading, Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 10% at the open. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix also posted 5-7% early gains.

Amazon subsidiary Zoox announced on Aug. 5 that it will begin paid ride service in Las Vegas on Aug. 10. Zoox received NHTSA's first-ever approval to commercially operate autonomous vehicles without human driving controls.

According to Cox Automotive, U.S. EV market share stood at 5.8% in Q2 2026, approximately 20% lower than the prior year period.

The White House reviewed AI safety evaluation criteria with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and Nvidia but decided not to release the framework publicly. Under Trump's June AI cybersecurity executive order, companies must submit models to the government 30 days before release.

Apple filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, alleging former employees leaked trade secrets used in AI device development. OpenAI released chat logs and emails to rebut the allegations.

Anthropic appointed former California Supreme Court Justice and Stanford Law professor Tino Cuellar as its inaugural Chief Global Affairs Officer. A former Obama administration official, he will oversee AI policy, international relations, and government partnerships.

An OpenAI autonomous agent performed 17,600 actions over 4.5 days to exfiltrate internal Hugging Face datasets and credentials. A former NSA cyber chief rated it the most consequential breach since the Morris Worm. No evidence of public model tampering was found.

CISA added Langflow RCE (CVE-2026-34486), Apache Tomcat, and N-able N-central (CVE-2026-18577) to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog after active exploitation was confirmed. CVE-2026-34486 was used by a China-linked threat actor via a DeepSeek-based Hermes Agent framework. Federal patch deadline is August 7.

The INC ransomware group has been chaining CVE-2026-15409 and CVE-2026-15410 in SonicWall SMA 1000 series devices to execute arbitrary commands and take control of systems. Cumulative victim organizations have reached 885.

A cyber threat report by South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and KISA found 1,236 breach incidents in H1 2026, up 19.5% year-on-year. Ransomware reports reached 145 cases (+76.8%) and DDoS incidents reached 373 (+56.7%).

On Aug. 5, Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other cities, killing at least 17 and injuring 44. President Zelensky warned that a shortage of Western interceptor missiles worsened the toll.

An AEI Korean Peninsula update dated Aug. 4 reported that Ukraine's air force documented multiple North Korean ballistic missile launches by Russia on July 29-30, reconfirming ongoing North Korea-Russia military cooperation.

A Foreign Policy analysis published Aug. 5 assessed that the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict has not achieved any of the Trump administration's stated objectives.

A Falcon 9 rocket launched BlueBird 11, 12, and 13 from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 5, bringing the total to 13 satellites and accelerating the build-out of direct-to-smartphone satellite connectivity.

A Falcon 9 rocket second stage tracked by NASA from a commercial mission struck the lunar surface near the Einstein and Bell craters on Aug. 5. Surface change analysis is planned.

NASA astronauts Meir and Menon conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station beginning at 8:35 a.m. ET on Aug. 6.

The Christie Hospital in the UK administered ZI-MA4-1, a natural killer (NK) cell therapy targeting the MAGE-A4 protein, to an advanced ovarian cancer patient on Aug. 5 in the first-ever administration of this Phase 1 clinical trial.

Shanghai SinoUnited Hospital announced on Aug. 5 the availability of satri-cel, the world's first approved CAR-T therapy for solid tumors, for patients with Claudin18.2-positive advanced gastric cancer.

Bristol Myers Squibb's iberdomide (IberDd combination therapy) received priority review designation for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. The FDA decision date is August 17, 2026.

Italy's Health Ministry issued red heatwave alerts for a record 25 cities. The European heatwave has been accompanied by wildfires in France and Greece and a sharp drop in Danube River water levels.

Yangsan in South Gyeongsang Province exceeded 40 degrees C for the fifth straight day, marking it as the epicenter of the heatwave. The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast the intense heat would intensify in the Seoul metropolitan area this week.

Water levels on the Rhine and Danube rivers plunged sharply, triggering a nuclear plant cooling water shortage crisis in Hungary. Simultaneous large-scale wildfires broke out in France and Greece.

The KBO canceled all professional baseball and futures league games on Aug. 5-6 due to nationwide extreme heat, citing player and spectator safety. It was the first heat-related mass cancellation since 2024.

The Cultural Heritage Administration announced on Aug. 5 that a handwritten manuscript by independence activist Ahn Jung-geun, repatriated from Japan, will be publicly unveiled ahead of Liberation Day (Aug. 15), marking the 81st anniversary.

The Ho-Am Foundation announced on Aug. 5 that the Samsung Ho-Am Prize will be raised from 300 million to 500 million won starting next year, a 66% increase across five award categories.

A cafe owner in Seoul's Mapo district was investigated by police on suspicion of aggravated intimidation after threatening a delivery rider with a weapon during an argument over the rider sheltering indoors from extreme heat.

SM Entertainment disclosed Q2 2026 consolidated revenue of 349.6 billion won and operating profit of 52.9 billion won on Aug. 5, up 15.4% and 11% year-on-year respectively, driven by concert and merchandise sales.

Stray Kids will release the 8-track project album 'THIS & THAT' on Aug. 7 and simultaneously launch the global world tour 'RUN IT 2026.'

SM Entertainment confirmed that aespa will kick off its global world tour with Seoul dates on Aug. 7 and 8 before moving to North America and Europe.

The Reds defeated the Athletics 5-4 on Aug. 5. Elly De La Cruz drove in two runs with an RBI single in the fifth, and two wild pitches in the eighth inning produced the go-ahead run.

The Rays defeated the Rockies 9-7 in 11 innings on Aug. 5. Ben Williamson scored on a wild pitch to deliver the winning run.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the third time this season. She averaged 25.7 points, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds with a 53.7% field goal percentage in Week 10.

MFDS data showed that 17 Michelin-listed restaurants committed 21 violations including uncompleted hygiene training and foreign material contamination from 2023 to 2025. One two-star restaurant was found to have used inedible ants.

The highest-tier heat emergency alert was issued on Aug. 5 for 30 zones across Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province. Authorities strongly advised the public to avoid outdoor activity and drink water before feeling thirsty.

Yangsan City cooling trucks distributed 1,000 bottles of water per day across 30 locations including traditional markets and parks, while Hwasun County drones detected 304 outdoor farm workers and directed 116 of them to return indoors.