Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles from the Sinpo area toward the sea off its east coast. It was the seventh reported missile test this year. Repeated launches normalize escalation and raise the odds that routine drills and patrols turn into a crisis.

NYT > World News

Bulgaria is holding its eighth election in five years as repeated political deadlock has kept governments short lived. Voters are focused on living standards and closing the gap with wealthier parts of Europe. Persistent instability in an EU and NATO Black Sea state can delay reforms and shape regional security and energy decisions.

Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera

Bulgarians are voting for a new parliament after protests helped topple the previous government in December. The election comes amid continuing frustration with governance and stalled reforms. Repeated elections reduce state capacity and can disrupt EU aligned reforms and regional policy coordination.

NYT > World News

Iran reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and warned it would keep transit blocked as long as the United States continues its blockade of ships departing Iranian ports. Iran also said negotiating parties remain far from a final deal, signaling no near-term de-escalation. A sustained disruption at Hormuz can quickly spike global oil and shipping costs and force governments into faster escalation decisions.

Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera

Iran says no date has been set for talks with the US and the IRGC says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US ends what Iran calls a blockade of Iranian ports. The statements tie any diplomatic track to immediate changes in maritime and sanctions related pressure. Any sustained restriction at Hormuz can spike oil prices and force military decisions that quickly outpace diplomacy.

AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch

Tesla says it is rolling out its robotaxi service in Dallas and Houston, citing a social media post. The company shared a short video showing Teslas operating with no human monitor or driver in the front seat. Geographic expansion turns robotaxi from a demo into an operational liability and revenue test for autonomy.

The Verge

Nikkei Asia reports that DRAM suppliers are ramping production, but manufacturers may still meet only about 60 percent of demand by the end of 2027. Industry leaders warn constraints could persist even into 2030 as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron expand capacity. Persistent DRAM scarcity becomes a structural tax on AI compute and consumer electronics growth.

BBC News

Robots raced alongside humans in a half marathon in Beijing on Sunday. The fastest robot finished well ahead of nearby human runners. Robots performing reliably in messy public environments accelerates their path into delivery, security, and other street-level jobs.

AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch

TechCrunch reports that Anthropic continues discussions with senior Trump administration officials despite the Pentagon recently labeling the company a supply-chain risk. The ongoing engagement suggests the relationship is not frozen even amid federal security concerns. Federal AI procurement and security policy can diverge fast, and the winner gets both revenue and agenda-setting power.

AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch

Cerebras has filed to go public after landing major commercial momentum, including an agreement with AWS to deploy its chips in Amazon data centers. The company also disclosed a reported deal with OpenAI that could be worth more than $10 billion. A successful Cerebras IPO would validate real demand for non-Nvidia AI compute and reset how public markets value AI infrastructure startups.

Breaking Travel News

Sequoia Capital is raising a $7 billion fund focused on AI and plans to deploy it across stages without separate buckets. The article frames the raise as a signal of strong investor conviction in AI and notes leadership changes that elevate younger partners to lead AI investing. A Sequoia sized AI fund can reset pricing and power dynamics across the AI startup market, from seed rounds to late stage financing.

Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily

Using a planet-scale network of radio telescopes, scientists observed the black hole binary Cygnus X-1 and measured its jets at about half the speed of light with a power output equivalent to 10,000 Suns. They inferred the jets’ true power by tracking how winds from the companion supergiant star bend and push the outflow. A first direct jet-power measurement strengthens the physics linking black holes, jets, and energy feedback across the universe.

Bloomberg Markets

Bloomberg says the global economic hit from seven weeks of war in the Middle East will start to show up in the next round of business surveys across multiple countries. The focus is on whether higher energy and shipping costs are bleeding into prices and activity indicators. If surveys confirm stagflation signals, rate-cut expectations and earnings assumptions can reset fast across currencies, bonds, and equities.

Bloomberg Markets

Bloomberg reports that credit investors are rotating into riskier debt as they bet the Iran US truce holds. They are reducing exposure to the defensive havens they favored when the war began in late February. Risk-on credit flows can loosen financial conditions, but they also raise crash risk if geopolitics forces a sudden reversal.

UK homepage

BlackRock says Europe’s energy crisis is likely to pressure European equities after it started the year more bullish on the region. It also argues valuations no longer look cheap, reducing the cushion against worsening growth and margin risks. A more cautious stance from the world’s largest asset manager can accelerate capital rotation away from Europe just as energy costs threaten earnings and growth.

Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera features an interview with economist Mariana Mazzucato on the Iran war’s economic fallout. The segment focuses on how the costs of the shock are distributed and who ultimately bears them. War-linked market shocks can quickly become a distributional crisis that reshapes inflation, public finances, and political stability.

Variety

Jessica Chastain says Apple TV will move forward with releasing her political thriller series "The Savant" after delaying it. The show was originally set for September 2025 but was postponed following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Apple is signaling it will not keep politically sensitive projects shelved indefinitely, even when real-world violence raises the stakes.

BBC News

French actor Nathalie Baye has died aged 77, according to media reports. President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute, saying France had "loved, dreamed and grown up" with the leading figure of French cinema. Major artist deaths reset cultural attention and revenue flows, reshaping what gets programmed, funded, and remembered in film and television.