Today is Tuesday, July 20th, and you're listening to The Morning Announcement is presented

by Betcha's media, I'm Sammy Sage.

The Dow fell 700 points yesterday, and its worst one-day decline in 2021.

Oil prices also fell 7%, as investors grow increasingly anxious over the rise in COVID

cases, and its potential to derail the economic recovery.

I'd be insane.

This comes as markets have been showing signs of increased concerns about their recovery.

You know, if only we had some sort of magical scientific breakthrough that could stop the

virus from affecting the markets.

Yesterday, the Biden administration formally accused the Chinese government of hacking

into Microsoft email systems, which are used by many of the world's largest companies,

governments, and military contractors.

The US specifically accused China of paying criminal groups to conduct large-scale

hackings, including ransomware attacks, and extorting companies for millions of dollars.

All the members of NATO and the European Union joined the United States in condemning

the attacks, which is significant because many of these countries have been reluctant

to aggressively criticize China in the past.

Earlier this week, a bombshell report conducted by 17 media organizations revealed that military

grades spyware was used to hack the smart phones of dozens of journalists and activists

in a number of countries.

The software, which is called Pegasus, was created by an Israeli firm called the NSO Group,

to allow military and intelligence agencies to track terrorists.

...