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Binance is the largest digital assets exchange in the world by volume. It recently forged ties with World Liberty Financial, a project that aspires to be a crypto bank and funnels 75% of profits to entities linked to the Trump family. Binance is taking a $2 billion investment from the Emirati state fund MGX entirely in USD1, a stablecoin newly launched by the World Liberty team.

Binance and World Liberty are also deepening their footprint in Pakistan, where WLF co-founder Zack Witkoff, the son of U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, recently struck a deal with the government. Around the same time, Zhao was appointed as an adviser to Pakistan's newly formed Crypto Council, a state-backed body tasked with shaping national digital asset policy.

On the other hand, stablecoins offer instant transactions with fees being significantly less than those of FX, Collison said, making a perfect case for payment use globally.

Related:
US big banks hold early talks on joint crypto stablecoin: WSJ

“A lot of our future payment volume is going to be in stablecoins,” Collison said. “This is, for sure, a big part of our business on a go-forward basis,” he added.

Stablecoins have already made an impact on traditional finance, beating volumes of Visa and Mastercard combined in 2024.

Collison referred to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation taking force in late 2024, while the UK Financial Conduct Authority is still seeking public feedback on new stablecoin rules as recently as May 28.

The latest insights by Collison align with reports suggesting that banks in the United States have been seeking even clearer guidelines from the government clarifying what they can do in crypto.

On the other hand, despite falling behind in terms of stablecoin regulation, the UK has seen the largest increase in new crypto owners in the past year, outpacing Europe, according to Gemini.

Dell is one of Nvidia's primary vendors that builds systems around the chipmaker's AI graphics processing units. Dell said on Thursday that it was seeing "unprecedented demand" for AI systems, especially for second-tier cloud providers, such as Coreweave.

Texas-based Dell said that it has $14.4 billion in confirmed orders for AI systems in its backlog that will ship in the coming quarters. It recorded $12.1 billion in confirmed AI orders during the first quarter, the company said. These numbers will turn into recorded revenue when Dell ships the system to its clients. In February, Dell said it expected $15 billion in AI server sales during its fiscal 2026, up from $10 billion last year.

"Synopsys is currently assessing the potential impact of the BIS Letter on its business, operating results and financial condition," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

On a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, Ghazi had said the company saw a slowdown in China during its fiscal second quarter, which ended on April 30. Around 10% of Synopsys' $1.6 billion in quarterly revenue came from customers in China.

Competition in China is fierce. Synopsys has said the Chinese government has put in place policies that favor its own companies and has backed investment funds while looking to develop independent chip design know-how.

Meta has also been pitching its open-source Llama family of AI models to government agencies and in November said it would make the those tools available to government units "working on defense and national security applications, and private sector partners supporting their work."

"Meta has spent the last decade building AI and AR to enable the computing platform of the future," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "We're proud to partner with Anduril to help bring these technologies to the American service members that protect our interests at home and abroad."

In February, Anduril and Microsoft said that the defense tech startup would take over the enterprise giant's AR headset program with the U.S. army.

Meta and Anduril have placed a joint bid on an Army contract for VR devices that is worth up to $100 million, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The two companies are working on EagleEye, a system that carries sensors that enhance soldiers' hearing and vision, according to the report. Meta and Anduril will move forward on their partnership whether or not they win the Army contract, per the Journal.

The two companies pitched their partnership as helping the U.S. maintain a "technical edge" while aiding national security and saving the military "billions of dollars by utilizing high-performance components and technology originally built for commercial use."

Newsmax is the nation’s fourth highest-rated cable news network and ranks fifth across all cable channel in daytime, according to Nielsen. Newsmax is carried on all major pay TV providers in the U.S.

About Newsmax

Newsmax Media, Inc. operates Newsmax, the nation’s fourth highest-rated cable news network, according to Nielsen. Newsmax is carried on all major cable, satellite systems, and virtual pay TV operators. Newsmax reaches more than 40 million Americans regularly through Newsmax TV, the Newsmax+ App, its popular website Newsmax.com, and publications like Newsmax Magazine. Reuters Institute says Newsmax is one of the top 12 U.S. news brands and Forbes has called us “a news powerhouse.”

The president said he saw what was happening and "didn't like it, for them, not for us."

"I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn't want to see that happen," he said. "Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!!"

Trump Tears Into Leonard Leo, Federalist Society After Tariffs Decision
President Donald Trump late Thursday tore into Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo, the man who had once advised him on his Supreme Court picks, calling him a "sleazebag" who "probably hates America" after a panel of judges said most of his tariffs were illegal.

"I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges," Trump posted on Truth Social late Thursday. "I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real 'sleazebag' named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions."

Leo and the Federalist Society have been connected with Trump since his first campaign in 2016, when he promised that "We're going to have great judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society."

Trump was also advised on his Supreme Court picks by Leo, who, along with other attorneys, helped him assemble lists of potential justices that were used to select his three nominees to the court.

Shortly after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in 2018, Leo said the president had "called and asked to meet and suggested the idea of doing a list."

The seat ended up being filled by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Trump said during a 2019 event that Leo and others worked "very hard" on the list of justices.

The figures show inflation is still declining from its post-pandemic spike, which reached the highest level in four decades in July 2022. Economists and some business executives have warned that prices will likely head higher as Trump’s widespread tariffs take effect, though the timing and impact of those duties are now in doubt after they were struck down late Wednesday in court.

The inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve said at their most recent meeting May 6-7 that inflation is still elevated, compared to their target of 2%. Fed officials, who focus more on core prices, broadly support keeping their key interest rate steady while they evaluate the impact of the tariffs on inflation and jobs.

"You called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and you stood in solidarity with the pro-Palestine activists on campus. You faced threats, intimidation and suppression coming from all directions, especially your own university officials, but you prevailed," she said. "Because the MIT community that I know would never tolerate a genocide."

As she and her peers graduate, "there are no universities left in Gaza. We are watching Israel try to wipe Palestine off the face of the earth, and it is a shame that MIT is a part of it," the student said.

"The Israeli occupation forces are the only foreign military that MIT has research ties with," she said. "This means that Israel's assault on the Palestinian people is not only aided and abetted by our country, but our school."

"But to ignore warnings and allow the class president to deliver hateful and dividing speech with no response from President Kornbluth, who followed, shows the gravity of the situation," Levi stated. "The president that failed to recognize that calling for genocide is harassment failed once again to show moral compass and clarity."

"MIT deserves a better leader," he said.

Talia Khan, a mechanical engineering graduate student at MIT who has testified before the House education panel, wrote that "on what should've been a unifying day at MIT, president Sally Kornbluth let a commencement speaker hijack the stage to demonize Israel."

"Nearly two years of antisemitic hostility, and still Jewish students get silence while bigotry gets a mic. Shameful," she wrote.

When someone asked her why Jewish graduates and their families at the graduation didn't heckle the speaker, Khan wrote that "my friends were scared and in shock. They said they were almost to tears at their own graduation."

As reported earlier this morning on the "This Morning" radio program on Kan Reshet Bet, the updated framework presented by Witkoff maintains ambiguity regarding the end of the war. It states that negotiations for a permanent ceasefire will continue during the 60-day temporary ceasefire, and that fighting will not resume as long as the talks are held "in good faith" after that period.

Unusually, the document also includes specific references to the involvement of envoy Witkoff – who will arrive in the region to manage the negotiations – and President Donald Trump, who will personally announce the ceasefire agreement.

Trump's administration has enacted massive funding cuts for academic research, curbed visas for foreign students - especially those from China - and plans to hike taxes on elite schools.

Trump alleges top U.S. universities are cradles of anti-American movements. In a dramatic escalation, his administration last week revoked Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students, a move later blocked by a federal judge.

Masaru Ishii, dean of the graduate school of medicine at Osaka University, described the impact on U.S. universities as "a loss for all of humanity."

Japan aims to ramp up its number of foreign students to 400,000 over the next decade, from around 337,000 currently.

International students - 54% of them from India and China - contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Trump's crackdown comes at a critical period in the international student application process, as many young people prepare to travel to the U.S. in August to find accommodation and settle in before term starts.

Dai, 24, a Chinese student based in Chengdu, had planned to head to the U.S. to complete her masters but is now seriously considering taking up an offer in Britain instead.

"The various policies (by the U.S. government) were a slap in my face," she said, requesting to be identified only by her surname for privacy reasons. "I'm thinking about my mental health and it's possible that I indeed change schools."

Reuters reported earlier this week that Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards.

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said earlier on Friday that Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and the United States did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance.

Commenting on Kellogg's statement, Peskov said that Putin has been consistently conveying Russia's position on the inadmissibility of NATO's eastward expansion.

"We are pleased that these explanations by the president are understood, including in Washington. And, of course, this is quite appealing to us in terms of the mediating role that Washington continues to play," Peskov said.

"We stand ready to strengthen dialog and cooperation in the field of export control with relevant countries and regions and stay committed to maintaining the stability of global production and supply chains," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Friday when asked about the controls.

Chinese state media reported on Wednesday that the country could relax its curbs on rare earths exports for Chinese and European semiconductor firms after meetings between industry and the Ministry of Commerce where the issue of shortages was raised.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the United States suspended some sales of critical technologies to China, including parts for state-owned plane maker COMAC, in response to China's restriction on exports of critical minerals.

Over the past several months, IS has claimed responsibility for attacks against the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast.

IS was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when SDF fighters captured the last sliver of land that the extremists controlled. Since then, its sleeper cells have carried out deadly attacks, mainly in eastern and northeast Syria.

In January, state media reported that intelligence officials in Syria's post-Assad government thwarted a plan by IS to set off a bomb at a Shiite Muslim shrine south of Damascus.

Al-Sharaa met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia earlier this month during which the American leader said that Washington would work on lifting crippling economic sanctions imposed on Damascus since the days of Assad.

"He became police commissioner when they thought crime couldn't be reduced any further, yet he reduced it further. His work helped New York become the safest big city in America and a shining example of urban renaissance. Then he faced the worst foreign attack since the war of 1812 on American soil — September 11th. He was at my side within 20 minutes of the attack and never left.

"During the first collapse, we were trapped in a building for what seemed like 20-30 minutes. In fact, the governor of New York and some of my own staff thought we were gone and went as far as to draft papers for a new mayor. Through extraordinary bravery that allowed us to concentrate on the doable and with substantial additional assistance, we escaped safely. That attitude permeated the way in which the recovery was handled for the next four months.

"Mr Prime Minister, after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again -- there are no more excuses," far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one."

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff had "submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed."

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt added that discussions were "continuing" with the militants.

Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that European countries should "harden the collective position" against Israel if it does not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

With international pressure mounting on Israel over the deepening hunger crisis, Macron said action was needed "in the next few hours and days".

In its latest update Thursday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed major operations on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.

Hamas's attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Kremlin repeated Friday that it would hand over its version at the talks on Monday, but Kyiv is pressuring Moscow to send a copy in advance.

Ukraine has for more than two months been urging Russia to agree to a full, unconditional and immediate 30-day ceasefire — an idea first proposed by Trump.

Putin has repeatedly rejected those calls, despite pressure from Washington and Europe, while the Russian army has intensified its advances in eastern Ukraine.

He has said that a ceasefire is possible as a result of negotiations, but that talks should focus on the "root causes" of the war.

Moscow typically uses that language to refer to a mix of sweeping demands that have at times included limiting Ukraine's military, banning it from joining NATO, massive territorial concessions and the toppling of Zelenskyy.

As with many of the court's orders issued in an emergency fashion, the decision was unsigned and gave no reasoning. Two of the court's three liberal justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, publicly dissented.

The court botched its assessment of whether the administration was entitled to freeze Talwani's decision pending the litigation, Jackson wrote in an accompanying opinion.

The outcome, Jackson wrote, "undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending."

Talwani in April found that the law governing such parole did not allow for the program's blanket termination, instead requiring a case-by-case review. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the judge's decision on hold.

In its filing, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that Talwani's order had upended "critical immigration policies that are carefully calibrated to deter illegal entry," effectively "undoing democratically approved policies that featured heavily in the November election" that returned Trump to the presidency.

The plaintiffs told the Supreme Court they would face grave harm if their parole is cut short given that the administration has indefinitely suspended processing their pending applications for asylum and other immigration relief.

Benitez was taken into custody where she was booked on counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.

She was being held in the St. Lucie County Jail awaiting extradition to Broward County.

Witkoff has been pushing for a new 60-day cease-fire deal that would involve Israeli withdrawal from its recent gains in Gaza; letting the U.N. back in to distribute aid; and the release of only about half of the remaining 58 hostages, ten living and 18 dead, in two groups, in exchange for the release of terrorists being held by Israel (Trump had previously said he was frustrated with these sorts of piecemeal proposals). As of this writing, the fate of the deal remains unclear.

A meeting in Washington between Witkoff and Israel’s strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, was described in a report by the Times of Israel as “uneasy,” with Witkoff said to be growing impatient with Israel. These are the sorts of stories we would regularly read about Biden administration officials venting at Israelis, and we had hoped that the election of Trump would put an end to them.

After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the lower court’s ruling, Solicitor General D. John Sauer submitted an emergency application to the Supreme Court arguing that Noem has “broad discretion over categories of immigration determinations.”

Sauer further argued that the lower court had “needlessly” upended “critical immigration policies that are carefully calibrated to deter illegal entry” and had undone “democratically approved policies that featured heavily in the November election.”

Attorneys for the migrants called the Trump administration’s order “the largest mass illegalization event in modern American history.”

Spreadsheets drastically reduced the demand for bookkeepers and accounting clerks. Did this end the profession of accounting? No, there was an increase in more sophisticated accounting roles.

The job market has never been stuck in amber. The MIT economist David Autor co-authored a study that found that the majority of current jobs are in occupational categories that arose since 1940.

It’s true that artificial intelligence is projected to affect white-collar jobs — computer programming, consulting, law, and the like — more than prior waves of technological change. But these kinds of jobs shouldn’t be immune from the effects of automation any more than factory work has been.