Drones From the Ukraine War Are Spilling Into Europe

[MUSIC] NATO jets down a Russian drone over Romania, as fears rise that the war in Ukraine is spilling into Europe. Plus, the Colorado River's water crisis worsens with lake Powell joining lake need at record lows. We'll look at the race to reach bigger resumes for AI. A lot of jobs that can do feel like you have to run the Kotlet and maybe by putting in AI keywords, you will get more notice and you won't get filtered out. But at the end of the day, you still have to be able to show up and do the job. It's Monday, August 17th. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. [MUSIC] For the second time in recent days, NATO warplanes have shot down a foreign drone entering the alliance's airspace. On Sunday, jets were dispatched to the skies above Romania in response to a drone that appeared to be Russian in origin. Separately, jets on Friday responded to a drone that entered Latvian airspace. That country's defense ministry didn't immediately identify its origin, but said that the incursion occurred, quote, "as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare." Daniel Michaels is the journal's Brussels bureau chief and joins us today from Eastern Poland. Dan, you report that this sort of incident has become practically commonplace this summer. What are some of the possible explanations for what we're seeing here? What we're seeing here is happening because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are each sending drones and missiles into each other's airspace, trying to hit all sorts of targets. And to defend against this, they're both using electronic warfare, essentially microwaves in the air, things like that to mess with drones and missiles. And in the process of doing this, they are sending the drones and missiles off course in a lot of instances. So that's, I guess, the more benign explanation for some of these events. There is a more worrying explanation that this is purposeful, perhaps. Yes, indeed. There is a very deep suspicion that Russia is probing air defenses in Europe. Most of the countries bordering Ukraine and Russia in Europe are members of NATO. NATO has put a lot more defenses along that border. And Russia would like to understand how those defenses work. So while some of the drones and missiles and other things entering NATO airspace from the east may be there as a result of electronic warfare, some of them may be there deliberately that Russia has sent them in to see how NATO responds. Dan, if that is the case and Russia is probing those air defenses, what might they be learning? These drones, at least in these two most recent incidents, were shot down. But does that mean NATO airspace and its assets within it are secure? Against drones these days, probably nobody is secure. Drones are very hard to spot, especially small ones. We had an example of this recently at an airport in Leipzig in Germany, where a drone was discovered on the tarmac by an airport employee in the middle of the night. It apparently had been sent from somewhere nearby, not all the way from Russia, but there is evidence that it is Russian in origin. It does seem that Russia or people working for Russia are not only sending drones into NATO airspace from the outside, but trying to launch them from within Europe to see what they can get away with and potentially cause damage. Dan Michaels is the Wall Street Journal's Brussels bureau chief. Dan, thanks so much for the update. Good talk with him. President Trump has said he'll substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea. In a social media post, Trump played up his very good relationship with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, which the journal's Docile Yoon says came on the eve of an 11-day exercise between American and South Korean forces to prepare for a potential North Korean attack. President Trump posted on Truth Social that these joint drills with South Korea, which are annual, are costly and provocative. He also said that North Korea has been unthreatening and respectful while pointing to South Korea's lack of assistance with the Iran conflict. So this is an old playbook. Back in 2018, Trump suspended the joint drills during his summit with Kim Jong-un as a concession to move forward Indian organization talks. On South Korea's front, they have said that they've noted President Trump's social media post and that they hope that the great relationship between Trump and Kim will actually lead to dialogue. Trump's comments could come in odds with ongoing U.S. efforts to dissuade South Korea from trying to develop its own nuclear weapons by remaining committed to its defense. And Docile says that experts outside the government believe that Trump's message is likely to alarm South Korea at a time when it's emerged as an important ally. So officials in Seoul and Washington have said that there's an increased threat from North Korea and also China, especially on North Korea's front because they have been deep in their military cooperation with Russia and acquiring new strategies and tactics on the battlefield, including drone tactics, for example. And so they have acknowledged that there is a need for more military readiness against these new threats that are being posed by North Korea. The U.S. military referred questions about Trump's post to the White House, which didn't respond to a request for comment. The American admiral overseeing the war with Iran has visited the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier amid reports of poor living conditions on the ship, which has been at sea for nine months without a visit to port. Commander Brad Cooper commended the sailors on the carrier and praised its role in the bombing campaign against Iran and the blockading of Iranian ports. Lawmakers have expressed concern in recent days about reports from the ship describing a lack of fresh food and personal supplies, as well as plumbing issues and mental health problems among the crew. Defense Secretary Pete Hankseth has lashed out at those reports, calling the issue completely misrepresented, while President Trump has suggested that the mid-east deployment was "not nearly long enough." And U.S. government officials say that water levels at Lake Powell, the nation's second-largest reservoir have fallen to a record low. Lake Powell is now 20 feet shallower than it was at the start of the year, and a further drop of 30 feet could cause turbines at Glen Canyon Dam to stop producing power. The milestone at Lake Powell comes a week after water levels at Lake Mead, home to the Hoover Dam, also hit a record low. Some 40 million people depend on those Colorado River reservoirs. The seven states reliant on its water have tried and failed to update a nearly century-old pact governing water use with the river this year forecast to supply just half of what the plan budgeted for. Coming up, we've got the day's top markets stories, as weak domestic demand chills China's economic growth, and reporter Toping Chen takes us into the big resume rewrite underway as job seekers inject AI experience into their career backstories. That's after the break. Japan's economy is continuing to grow, albeit at a slower pace. New data shows that GDP expanded by 0.3% in the second quarter, however economists warn that the Iran war's impact on oil prices could cool the economy further in the coming months. Weak consumer spending is also hurting Chinese growth with economic activity there cooling further in July. Well, that slowing demand in China's domestic market is hurting profits at the company's second-largest EV maker, Glee. However, the automaker is offsetting that with a doubling of overseas deliveries, particularly to Europe. Hi Glee, activate C-E-10. Glee and Ford recently agreed to build two electric SUVs at Ford's factory in Spain and to jointly develop a new model. Meanwhile, Chinese tech company Alibaba Group is selling its video game business in a deal worth at least one and a half billion dollars. Alibaba has spent recent years pushing its non-core businesses to become profitable or selling them, part of a strategy to boost finances as it increases investments into e-commerce and AI. And Berkshire Hathaway is doubling down on home builders. The conglomerate now led by CEO Greg Abel purchased Taylor Morrison this year and a new regulatory filing says it's open positions in DR Horton and added to its stake in Lanar. Berkshire also loaded up on shares of Google parent Alphabet, Macy's and the New York Times, while trimming its holdings of several financial companies, including Bank of America, Capital One, and the Ally Financial. And finally, the ultimate impact of AI on the job market may remain a massive question mark, but one thing is already very clear. It's impact on resumes. Keyword dumping is essentially the practice of kind of larding up your resume with keywords related to AI, but to demonstrate your fluency in the technology. That's the journals, Tepink Chen, who says that according to LinkedIn data, the percentage of people adding AI-related terms to their profiles rose 70% last year. And a new analysis by Stanford University found that not only are people people keyword dumping on their skills overview, they're rewriting their past experience too. - Overall, they found that compared with historic versions of previous job descriptions prior to 2023, that there are 30% more references to AI on user profiles today. And what they find is that you see a lot of users going back retroactively to edit their profiles and take jobs that they had previously described one way and add on AI related terms, something that one of the authors termed AI washing. - But for all that effort to ping said that after speaking to a number of job seekers, the consensus was that so far, adding AI skills to their CVs hasn't paid off. - A lot of job seekers do feel like you kind of have to run the Kotlet and maybe by putting in AI keywords, you will get more notice and you won't get filtered out. And it's a tough job market out there still. And there's plenty of folk who I spoke to who say, I've ticked these boxes, I'm exhibiting these skills and I'm still not getting any traction. - An executive at an AI hiring platform said she encourages people to add AI skills to their resumes to demonstrate their potential, even if they're still in the process of developing them. And that's it for what's news for this Monday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach, our supervising producer, his Sandra Killhoff. And I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening. (upbeat music)