For now, though, the ammunition deficit does not appear particularly widespread, officials said. But it may be particularly acute for select types of high-caliber multiple launch rocket systems, low caliber artillery systems and precision guided weapons, said Michael Kofman, the director of the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses. Kofman added that it will take time for Russia to meaningfully ramp up its production to meet the high volume of ammunition expenditure in the war, which the Russian defense industry clearly did not anticipate.

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In another signal that Moscow may be struggling to maintain the needed resources for its now six-month war, Russia has also been reallocating both manpower and equipment from far-flung military districts in both the east and the north, according to two sources familiar with US and western intelligence.

And Russia moved earlier this year to restrict public access to information about its budget, including import and export figures. According to one of these sources, that blackout is a key indicator that Russia has been forced to aggressively redirect funding and other resources towards the conflict -- a fact that it would want to hide from its public. The Kremlin continues to insist that it is not waging a war, but only a limited "special military operation."

Economic data published Monday for July was much worse than expected.

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Retail sales grew 2.7% in July from a year ago, slowing from June's 3.1% growth, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. That number widely missed the 5% increase forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. Industrial production was up 3.8% in July from a year earlier, down from the 3.9% growth in June. It also missed the market expectation of a 4.6% rise.

In addition, the real estate slump has intensified further. Property investment by developers contracted 6.4% in the first seven months of this year, accelerating from the 5.4% decline in the first half, data from the NBS showed. Meanwhile, new home prices in 70 major cities dropped for an 11th consecutive month in July.

"The July data suggest that the post-lockdown recovery lost steam as the one-off boost from reopening fizzled out and mortgage boycotts triggered a renewed deterioration in the property sector," said Evans-Pritchard from Capital Economics.

The company also continues to claim that the issue of bots is not, and has never been, germane to the completion of the acquisition deal. "Musk has received massive amounts of information from Twitter, for months, and has been unable to find a valid excuse to back out of the contract," Twitter's response states.

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In a letter to Twitter employees that was included in Friday's regulatory filing, Twitter General Counsel Sean Edgett said that while Twitter had the opportunity to request redactions in Musk's answer, it chose not to. (Twitter had previously sent a letter to the judge overseeing the case asking her to ensure Musk's team would not file the public answer early so they would have enough time to review it for potential redactions.)

"We chose not to redact any information--we fully stand behind our SEC filings, the methodologies we use to calculate mDAU, and our statements about the percentage of spam accounts on our platform," Edgett said in the letter.

China's top leadership has gone quiet on the growth targets it had set for the year as the world's second-largest economy battles an economic slowdown that's largely self-inflicted.

In early March, China's government had said that the country would aim for gross domestic product to rise by about 5.5% this year. It was China's lowest official target for economic growth in three decades. Even so, economists have said it looks increasingly out of reach.

See here: Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for GDP growth in China to just 3.3% this year as Covid-19 lockdowns and a crisis in the real estate sector weigh on its expansion.

Now, the country's leadership has fallen silent on growth targets altogether, my CNN Business colleague Laura He reports. At a key meeting of top leaders on Thursday, there was no mention of GDP targets.

According to analysts, this is a sign that the government thinks it might not be able to meet its goals after all.

"In today's meeting, policymakers used the new phrase: 'Strive to achieve the best result.' It means that they no longer view 5.5%, or even 5% as achievable for this year," said Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Capital.

GDP contracted at an annual rate of 0.9% in the second quarter, but a slowdown in inventory accumulation removed a whopping 2 percentage points from output. That means the economy would have grown if companies weren't culling their stockpiles. It also signals that consumer demand could be weakening, another sign of a recession.

Jobs

But for now, they'd rather the Fed indicate that it plans to keep its resolve rather than adopt a more accommodating stance. In unstable times, the argument goes, consistency is key.

"The last thing the Fed wants to do now is to allow the market to think it's about to embark on a dovish pivot, despite increasing evidence that the economy is slowing," Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, told clients on Wednesday.

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That's because the Fed has worked hard to bolster its inflation-fighting credentials after they were called into question earlier this year. By the time the central bank started raising interest rates in March, core inflation — as tracked by the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index — was already at 5.2%, well above its target of near 2%.

"The Fed is obliged to really tighten because according to many observers, they started this cycle too late," Marco Pirondini, head of US equities at Amundi Asset Management, told me.

Musk's relationships, family affairs and legal trouble have become a growing part of the public conversation lately.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss is currently embroiled in a bitter legal fight with Twitter (TWTR) over his $44 billion acquisition deal. Musk had sought to buy the company but backed out earlier this month, accusing the social media company of failing to turn over vital information relating to the number of bots on its platform — a claim Twitter denies.

In May, Musk denied allegations that he sexually harassed a SpaceX flight attendant in 2016. In June, one of Musk's children petitioned a California court to recognize her new name and gender, saying she no longer wishes to be related to her famous and wealthy father "in any way, shape or form." And last month, Insider reported Musk welcomed twins last year with an executive at one of his companies, Neuralink.

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Musk said Monday a tweet that "the character assassination attacks have reached a new level this year."

"Fast forward to this year, and we've seen a bear market in equities and even if you hold a lot of bonds in your portfolio, the value of that has had one of its worst years on record. The script has flipped pretty quickly," said House.

And falling investment prices aren't the only problem. When it comes to planning for retirement, there are many unknowns and risk factors to consider -- including inflation. But a 9.1% annual increase in consumer prices is hard to predict and takes a toll on those living on a fixed income.

The recent rises in inflation have been a lot higher than the average financial planner is going to use in their modeling, according to Kyle Newell, a certified financial planner in Florida. "Typically for just your general living expenses you see maybe a 2% to 3.5% inflation assumption in that planning."

He also insists he was realistic about his goals. "We always underpromise," Poonawalla told CNN Business, when asked whether the company pledged more than it could deliver.

Still, he's been dogged by other controversies that have dented his reputation. As India's Covid-19 cases were skyrocketing in April, Poonawalla lowered the price of his vaccine and referred to the move as a "philanthropic gesture" — leading to heavy criticism, with activists pointing out that even a small profit is still a profit for SII.

"AstraZeneca has pledged that it won't make profits from low income and middle income countries during the pandemic, but that does not seem to apply to SII," Aisola said.

Hosts must "uphold correct political values and social values," according to the rules. They should also self-regulate and avoid "illegal and harmful" content during the show, and must not publish anything that "undermines the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. "

Those who seriously violate the rules will be put on a blacklist and permanently banned from the business, the regulation said.

The new regulation is a latest move by Beijing to intensify its crackdown on the the country's booming livestreaming industry.

"There probably is a need for some regulation of livestreamers whose content falls within the 'professional' areas mentioned in one section of the regulations," Wallis said, referring to one of the rules that requires livestreamers to have the right qualifications when talking about topics such as law, finance, medicine, and education.

"But the overall emphasis on harmony, promoting socialist values, correct outlook, etc. throughout the new code of conduct really speaks to tightening ideological control," she said.

That marks the first time since 2011 that the ECB has raised rates, and takes Europe's main rate back to zero. Rates in the region have been negative since 2014.

The move, which takes effect on July 27, comes as Europe battles record inflation fed by surging energy prices. Annual inflation in the European Union jumped to 9.6% in June. It reached 8.6% for the 19 countries that use the euro.

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The central bank had previously indicated that it would increase rates by a smaller margin, but decided it needed to be more aggressive based on an "updated assessment of inflation risk."

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"Inflation continues to be undesirably high and is expected to stay above our target for some time," ECB President Christine Lagarde said at a press conference.

The central bank declined to commit to a definitive trajectory for rate hikes moving forward, seeking to keep its options open.

"Musk has been and remains contractually obligated to use his best efforts to close this deal," said William Savitt, Twitter's lead counsel. "What he's doing is the exact opposite. It's sabotage."

Musk lawyer Andrew Rossman pushed back, saying that Musk "doesn't have an incentive to keep this hanging for a long time." He noted that the billionaire remains one of Twitter's largest shareholders. Musk's team had proposed the case go to trial early next year, which it said was still "an incredibly rapid and sensible schedule."

Investor insight: Twitter shares climbed almost 3% on Tuesday. They're up almost 16% in the past week, though they're still well below the price of $54.20 apiece that Musk agreed to in April.

Up next

Alcoa (AA), CSX (CSX), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), SL Green Realty (SLG), Tesla (TSLA) and United Airlines (UAL) report results after US markets close.

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Also today: Existing US home sales for June arrive at 10 a.m. ET.

Coming tomorrow: The European Central Bank is expected to begin raising interest rates for the first time in 11 years.

The auction house's global head of science and popular culture, Cassandra Hatton, described the collection as "the reflection of a man of incredible strength and drive, a man who has faced times of adversity with determination and perseverance, and who remained logical and level-headed, even in moments of great peril."

Original Buzz Aldrin moon walk photo sells for $7,700 at auction

Another notable lot from the Apollo 11 mission is a systems activation checklist, containing diagrams and flight data, which Aldrin was supposed to discard on the moon's surface. Sotheby's estimated that the manuscript will sell for between $150,000 and $250,000.

Elsewhere in the sale is a hand-stitched banner reading "Go Army Beat Navy" -- a reference to the annual Army-Navy football game -- that Aldrin unveiled on spacewalks during 1966's Gemini 12 mission. The item is expected to fetch $20,000 to $30,000.

A cold winter lies ahead if prices continue to rise. But some help, temporary at least, may have just touched down in Paris.

The president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, landed in the French capital Monday to discuss the "future of energy" between the two nations with President Emmanuel Macron. It's the first visit by a UAE leader to France since 1991, according to the Elysee, and is Sheikh Mohammed's first trip to a western nation since taking office as President, underlying the strength of relations between the two countries.

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An intense low-pressure system off Australia's east coast is forecast to bring more heavy rain through Monday across the southern regions of New South Wales even as several places in the state were hit with about a month's rain over the weekend.

About 100 millimeters (4 inches) of rain could fall in the next 24 hours over a wide swathe of regions in New South Wales, from Newcastle to the south of Sydney, a distance of more than 300 kms (186 miles), the Bureau of Meteorology said.

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"If you were safe in 2021, do not assume you will be safe tonight. This is a rapidly evolving situation and we could very well see areas impacted that have never experienced flooding before," New South Wales emergency services minister Steph Cooke said in a televised media briefing on Sunday evening.

THE QUESTION: Issue importance (for instance "How important is this issue to you?" or "How important is this issue to your vote?")

What it can tell us: Voters tend to be pretty magnanimous about deeming individual issues worthy of their attention. In a CNN poll earlier this year that asked about 11 different possible issues that might come up in the midterm elections -- ranging from inflation to Covid-19 to climate change -- each topic was considered "very" or "extremely" important by a majority of voters. (That's also a tendency frequently exploited by advocacy groups to make the case that the public is deeply invested in whichever specific policy they're hoping to enact.) But comparing the numbers between issues can help shed light on relative priorities. In that CNN poll, for instance, 59% of registered voters called the economy extremely important to their vote, while just 30% said the same of climate change.

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The question can also expose meaningful divides or trends on an issue, revealing, for instance, that people who support a policy care much more about it than those who oppose it do, or that the share of people who care deeply about a topic has risen sharply in a short period of time.

Berlin (CNN)One of postwar Germany's most publicized terrorism trials concluded Friday as a former German soldier was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for plotting a far-right attack on senior politicians while posing as a Syrian refugee.

The 33-year-old former army officer -- identified as Franco A. in accordance with German privacy laws -- was charged with posing under a false identity as an asylum seeker in 2017 and planning an attack that he apparently hoped would be blamed on refugees and migrants.

Trump's comment to the Proud Boys came during a 2020 presidential debate, after Joe Biden called for Trump to condemn the group. "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Trump said, adding that, "somebody has to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing."

The former Twitter (TWTR) employee, who was on the company's content moderation team through 2020 and 2021, according to the committee, said their "concern was that the former President, for seemingly the first time, was speaking directly to extremist organizations and giving them directives," according to an interview aired during the House committee hearing Tuesday. Twitter did not end up imposing the policy — the details of which were not shared during the hearing — following Trump's comment, the employee said.

@POTUS

on July 11, it shows galaxies once invisible to us. The full set of

@NASAWebb

's first full-color images & data will be revealed July 12: http://nasa.gov/webbfirstimages