World

Meta to Buy Chinese-Founded AI Startup Seen as ‘Next DeepSeek’
31Dec mmBy Michael SmithNo Comments
Asia, China, World

Meta to Buy Chinese-Founded AI Startup Seen as ‘Next DeepSeek’

US tech giant Meta has announced plans to takeover Manus, a Chinese-founded artificial intelligence startup hailed earlier this year as “the next DeepSeek”. The news on Monday (US time) comes as Meta ramps up moves to integrate advanced AI across its platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook and more. Financial terms of its transaction with Manus were not revealed, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the deal values the Singapore-based firm at between $2 billion and $3 billion. Meta has said Manus will cut ties with China after it has been acquired, according to Nikkei. So, China’s response to the takeover may be interesting, given Beijing’s desire to bolster its tech and artificial intelligence capacity. Manus did not immediately reply to a request for ...
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How PM Modi is fast-tracking reforms to shield economy from US tariffs
22Dec mmBy Michael SmithNo Comments
Asia, World

How PM Modi is fast-tracking reforms to shield economy from US tariffs

PM Modi's push for far-reaching policy reforms comes as his government accelerates trade talks with several partners, including the European Union, to offset US President Donald Trump's 50% tariff blow. The winter session of the Parliament witnessed the Narendra Modi government passing a number of key bills – some of them meant for far-reaching policy reforms, making it one of its most active final parliamentary sessions in recent years. Ten new Bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha, of which eight were passed by both Houses and two sent for further scrutiny by a Standing Committee. The key bills included the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin): Viksit Bharat – G RAM G Bill 2025, the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Tra...
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US Pursuit of Third Oil Tanker Intensifies Venezuela Blockade
22Dec mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
USA, World

US Pursuit of Third Oil Tanker Intensifies Venezuela Blockade

The US’s pursuit of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela has intensified a blockade that the Trump administration hopes will cut off a vital economic lifeline for the country and isolate the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The US’s pursuit of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela has intensified a blockade that the Trump administration hopes will cut off a vital economic lifeline for the country and isolate the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The US Coast Guard chased the US-sanctioned Bella 1 on Sunday as it was en route to Venezuela. It boarded Centuries, a ship owned by a Hong Kong-based entity, on Saturday — the first non-sanctioned vessel to be targeted. Another very large crude carrier, the Skipper, was intercepted on Dec. 10.  The moves...
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<strong>Plata Arranges Financing for Up to US$500 Million by Nomura</strong>
19Dec mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
USA, World

Plata Arranges Financing for Up to US$500 Million by Nomura

Plata, the Mexican financial technology company, has secured a new financing of up to US$500 million arranged by Nomura Securities International, Inc. ("Nomura") It is the largest funding to date for a Mexican digital financial services company. The transaction also sets an important precedent: it marks the first time a Japanese top-tier investment bank participates in a financing of this scale within Mexico's digital financial sector, reflecting the growing international interest in Plata and in Mexico's financial system. The announcement comes as Plata continues to work towards launching operations as a bank, after having received its banking license authorization in December 2024. The company embarked on this extremely rigorous process ...
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France calls new U.S. security doctrine ‘brutal clarification’
10Dec mmBy Walter ParezNo Comments
USA, World

France calls new U.S. security doctrine ‘brutal clarification’

Europe must accelerate its rearmament in ‍response ‌to a stark shift in U.S. military doctrine, a ⁠French government official said ‌on Tuesday, calling Washington's new security strategy "an extremely brutal clarification" of its ideological posture. The U.S. National Security Strategy, made ⁠public last week, caused shock across Europe, with a broadside that ​said the continent was facing "civilisation erasure" ‌and that U.S. policy ⁠should include "cultivating resistance" within the European Union. "The new American security strategy is an extremely brutal clarification of ​the United States' ideological posture," Junior Army Minister Alice Rufo told lawmakers at the National Assembly's weekly question-and-answer session. "We live in a world of carnivores, ​Europe ‍is no is...
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Supreme Court may scrap campaign finance limit challenged by Trump, GOP
10Dec mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
USA, World

Supreme Court may scrap campaign finance limit challenged by Trump, GOP

The Supreme Court seems likely to eliminate one of the remaining checks on money in politics, a decision in line with recent rulings favoring First Amendment free speech rights over fears about potential corruption. In a challenge involving Vice President JD Vance, the court considered on Dec. 9 whether to scrap a rule aimed at preventing wealthy donors from bypassing limits on what they can give candidates by funneling money through political parties. The rule was passed in 1974 as part of Congress' response to the Watergate scandal and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2001. During two hours of oral arguments, the court’s conservatives did not attack the GOP’s argument that the law and the campaign finance landscape have changed since 2001. "The coordinated party spending l...
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Does the fate of the US economy now hinge on one company?
29Nov mmBy Mike TrudellNo Comments
USA, World

Does the fate of the US economy now hinge on one company?

The entire stock market, and therefore the entire economy, depends on it maintaining pretty impossible growth metrics. As the price of almost everything has increased, and American workers’ wages have all but stalled, politicians like President Donald Trump have tried to ease our minds by telling us that the economy is “doing great” and that the stock market is booming. “Record high, record high, record high,” Trump said at an event earlier this month in Florida. Still, despite what has been a good year for the stock market, it’s hard to find a day in which a podcaster, influencer, or economist isn’t warning that the AI boom that’s powering the economy could be a bubble — one that is about to burst. The company that’s driving Wall Street’s positive movement is Nvidia, the mos...
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China’s Economy is Forecast to Grow Faster Than Expected in 2026
26Nov mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China, World

China’s Economy is Forecast to Grow Faster Than Expected in 2026

China’s surprising strength in exports and its commitment to more advanced manufacturing in a new Five-Year Plan boost are raising expectations for GDP growth. Goldman Sachs Research sees 5-6% annual growth in China’s exports and raised its real GDP forecasts for 2026 and 2027 to well above consensus. The approval of the new Five-Year Plan proposal highlights the government’s determination and capability to keep advancing its manufacturing and boost its export market share. A meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea, signaling a truce on trade, has also improved the growth outlook, even while showing China’s leverage over rare earth minerals to push back on trade restrictions. The drag on economic growth caused by China’s property downturn is beginning t...
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An unusual trend in the economy is worrying the Fed
24Nov mmBy Michael SmithNo Comments
USA, World

An unusual trend in the economy is worrying the Fed

Something in the US economy isn’t adding up, and it’s rattling the people charged with wrangling inflation and keeping the labor market intact. US companies have sharply slowed their hiring this year, hesitant to invest without knowing the full effects of President Donald Trump’s sweeping economic policies. The economy lost jobs in June and August, and the average pace of job gains for the three months ending in September was only around 62,000, according to the Labor Department. Yet workers’ productivity, a key driver of economic output, remains high. And gross domestic product, which captures all the goods and services produced in the economy, has stayed robust. That dichotomy of an expanding economy and a softening labor market presents a conundrum for policymakers at...
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Has Britain become an economic colony?
24Nov mmBy Michael SmithNo Comments
USA, World

Has Britain become an economic colony?

The UK could’ve been a true tech leader – but it has cheerfully submitted to US dominance in a way that may cost it dear Two and a half centuries ago, the American colonies launched a violent protest against British rule, triggered by parliament’s imposition of a monopoly on the sale of tea and the antics of a vainglorious king. Today, the tables have turned: it is Great Britain that finds itself at the mercy of major US tech firms – so huge and dominant that they constitute monopolies in their fields – as well as the whims of an erratic president. Yet, to the outside observer, Britain seems curiously at ease with this arrangement – at times even eager to subsidise its own economic dependence. Britain is hardly alone in submitting to the power of American firms, but it offers a cle...
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