China has formally ordered Meta to unwind its $2 billion acquisition of AI company Manus, citing national security concerns over foreign investment. The directive, issued on April 27, came after Chinese regulators spent months scrutinizing the deal, which Meta had closed in December 2025. During the review, authorities told both Manus cofounders not to leave China. Manus is a Chinese-founded AI agent startup that went public in March 2025. Its product wraps around Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet model and uses multiple specialized sub-agents, one to plan tasks, another to execute them, letting users do things like search property listings or book travel without manual steps. Meta paid $2 billion for it just nine months after launch. Beijing's decision reflects a broader pattern: both the US and Chinese governments are tightening scrutiny of cross-border tech deals, especially in AI. China's move effectively bars foreign ownership of homegrown AI infrastructure it considers strategically sensitive. For Meta, the forced unwind erases a major agentic AI bet and raises real questions about whether US companies can acquire Chinese AI startups at all. Watch for how this shapes Meta's AI agent strategy and whether Washington responds with reciprocal restrictions.
Iranian armed forces attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, briefly halting traffic through the waterway. The strike threatens a fragile US-Iran arrangement and could push shipping insurance costs and oil prices higher.
The US has struck Iran, with President Trump citing an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz as justification. The action raises immediate risks for global oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The US struck ten Iranian targets on the second consecutive day of military action, putting a fragile ceasefire under serious pressure. The escalation raises immediate risks for Gulf shipping, global oil supply, and regional stability.
Venezuela's twin earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, have killed at least 164 people and injured 971, interim president Delcy Rodriguez confirmed Thursday. The quakes are the country's strongest since 1900, collapsing buildings across Caracas and prompting a state of emergency, with the death toll expected to rise as
