⚡️Southeast Asia Boosts Maritime Ties to Avoid Hormuz-Like Crisis

Southeast Asian nations agreed to boost cooperation and create a center for maritime issues, which the Philippines said could help avert a situation in the South China Sea similar to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will set up “a central repository for maritime issues and maritime policy” that will guide the 11-member bloc, according to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who hosted this week’s summit. Manila has offered to host the center.

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🚗 Nvidia CEO Says He Would Join Trump’s China Trip If Invited

Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said he would gladly join President Donald Trump on an upcoming visit to China if invited, signaling that the leader of America’s most valuable company has yet to receive an offer to go.

“If invited, it would be a privilege — it would be a great honor to represent the United States and to go to China with President Trump,” — Huang told. “We should let the president announce whatever he decides to announce.”

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🤝 Sony Partners With TSMC in Effort to Rein in Chipmaking Costs

Sony Group Corp. plans a new joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. as the first step toward what it called a fab-light approach to semiconductor production.

The Japanese company’s chip arm Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp. and TSMC are partnering to develop and build next-generation image sensors for robots and cars. The project will get its start in Kumamoto, where TSMC has set up its own chip fabrication plant, and may expand further if the Japanese government provides backing.

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🛸 Pentagon releases UFO files on new website

The Trump administration on Friday launched a new website that will house a collection of “new, never-before-seen” files about UFOs, according to the Pentagon.

The initial set of files housed on the site will include those containing unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire U.S. government. The materials have been reviewed for security purposes, but many have “not yet been analyzed for resolution of any anomalies,” the Department’s statement read.

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🤑 One Year In: How Ripple's $25 Million Education Commitment Is Reaching Every Corner of America

Last spring, during Teacher Appreciation Week, Ripple announced a $25 million donation to DonorsChoose and Teach For America — two organizations that have spent decades proving that when teachers have what they need, students succeed.

The majority of the $25 million was delivered in RLUSD, Ripple's U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, making this one of the largest stablecoin grants to nonprofits in history, and a practical demonstration that crypto-native philanthropy can operate at real scale.

The partnership was recognized at the Anthem Awards, where it won the Community Voice Award and a Bronze for Best Education Initiative, and was nominated for Best Education Initiative at the Halo Awards.

By the numbers, in just a year:
🟠$15M donated to DonorsChoose
🟠48,108 classroom projects funded
🟠All 50 states reached
🟠86% of projects at low-income schools

Employees directed $25,700 to projects of their choosing including donating science supplies, art materials, books, and classroom furniture. Every dollar landed somewhere a Ripple employee decided it should go.

Employee impact:
🟠$25,700 directed to classroom projects
🟠378 projects funded
🟠336 schools served
🟠360 teachers supported

Perhaps most exciting for Ripple: the partnership launched a Blockchain Bootcamp series at U.S. high schools, bringing hands-on crypto and blockchain education to students who will graduate into a world where digital assets are part of everyday finance.

By the numbers:
🟠$10M committed to Teach For America
🟠2,300 new teachers supported with stipends
🟠141,600 students reached by first-year corps
🟠270,600 students received financial literacy resources

Teachers supported, bootcamps launched, students learning, the result of two organizations that knew exactly how to put resources to work, and a team at Ripple that believed education is one of the most powerful investments Ripple can make.

#Stellar

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⚡️🇺🇸 US Prepares AI Security Order That Omits Mandatory Model Tests

The Trump administration is preparing to order US agencies to partner with artificial intelligence companies to protect networks from AI-enabled cyber attacks, though the directive would stop short of requiring government approval for cutting-edge models.

A draft executive order from President Donald Trump would revamp existing cybersecurity information-sharing programs to include AI companies and address threats posed by the emerging technology.

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🆕 SEC chair Atkins signals new rules for onchain markets, AI-driven finance

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the agency is considering new rulemaking for onchain trading systems, crypto vaults and blockchain settlement infrastructure as finance is increasingly driven by blockchains and AI.

Atkins argued that existing securities regulations do not neatly fit blockchain protocols that combine multiple market functions into a single piece of software. Framing the effort as part of a broader shift to AI-driven, automated finance, he said the SEC should clarify how it views hybrid traditional–decentralized market models through formal rulemaking rather than enforcement.

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🤝 Anthropic Inks $1.8 Billion Computing Deal With Akamai

Anthropic PBC has signed a $1.8 billion computing deal with cloud services provider Akamai Technologies Inc. to meet surging demand for its artificial intelligence software.

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💊 Moderna Flags Work on Hantavirus Vaccines Before Cruise Outbreak

Moderna Inc. said it’s researching vaccines to protect against hantaviruses, even as public health experts downplay the risk the deadly pathogen aboard a cruise ship could become a significant threat.

Moderna has done early-stage vaccine research on hantaviruses with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. It’s also working with the Vaccine Innovation Center at Korea University College of Medicine on a potential immunization. The research began before the recent outbreak on the Dutch-flagged Hondius.

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🇺🇸 Giant Virginia Data Center Project Upended by Clerical Error

Developers bankrolled by two of the world’s biggest asset managers set their sights on building a massive data-center hub in Northern Virginia. A battle over newspaper advertising threw their plans into disarray.

Compass Datacenters, backed by investment giant Brookfield Asset Management, abandoned plans for an 800-plus acre campus in Virginia’s Prince William County. Blackstone Inc.’s QTS is fighting in court to salvage a similarly sized development on adjacent parcels.

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↗️ Google’s Isomorphic Labs to Raise Over $2 Billion in New Funding

Isomorphic Labs, an AI-powered drug discovery company spun out of Alphabet Inc.’s Google DeepMind, is in advanced discussions to raise more than $2 billion in a new round of funding. Thrive Capital, the venture firm that led Isomorphic Labs’ first funding round last year, is set to lead the new financing. Alphabet is also participating, though the round is not yet closed.

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⚡️🇺🇸 Trump says he is "pleased to announce" a three day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine: May 9th, 10th and 11th.

Additionally, there will be a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country.

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⚡️🇺🇸🇨🇳 US Sanctions Chinese Satellite Imagery Companies Over Iran War

The US imposed sanctions on three Chinese firms for providing satellite imagery to Iran, enabling its military strikes on American forces in the Middle East, as Washington ramps up efforts to restrict technological support for Tehran in the conflict.

China’s Meentropy Technology (Hangzhou) Co., The Earth Eye, and Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. were named by the US in its list of entities and individuals assisting Iran, some of which were based in Belarus and the United Arab Emirates, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Friday.

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🇨🇳 China builds rice-sized sensor that lets surgical robots feel touch in real time

Researchers in China have developed a rice-sized optical sensor that could give surgical robots and medical tools a sense of touch. The device measures force, pressure, and twisting in every direction using light instead of electronics.

The sensor measures just 1.7 millimeters. Researchers say it could help robots detect unsafe contact during delicate procedures and respond instantly. The team also demonstrated that the device could identify hidden structures beneath soft materials, including tumor-like objects embedded in tissue models.

#BRICS

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🇯🇵 Engineered polyionic liquid delivers seven times stronger carbon capture performance

Researchers in Japan have developed a new carbon capture material that absorbs significantly more carbon dioxide simply by changing the size of its counter anions.

The joint research team from Nitto Boseki Co., Ltd. and Tohoku University found that carefully engineered polyionic liquids, or PILs, can dramatically improve CO2 adsorption performance after purification and anion exchange.

The researchers reported that the material achieved up to seven times higher CO2 adsorption capacity compared to the original raw material. The findings could help improve future carbon capture systems and gas separation membranes.

The work focuses on diallyldimethylammonium-based PILs, materials known for combining the CO2 affinity of ionic liquids with the stability and processability of polymers.

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🇷🇺🇸🇰 Russian President Putin meets Slovakia's Prime Minister Fico.

#BRICS

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