Chinese supercomputer displaces US machines as world's fastest for first time since 2017
A supercomputer in China now outranks its U.S. counterparts as the world’s most powerful, marking the first time since 2017 that a Chinese computer has topped a list sometimes viewed as a measure of a nation’s technological prowess. The previously unlisted LineShine computer in Shenzhen, China, displaced the top-ranked U.S. computer, El Capitan in California, in the latest version of the Top500 ranking announced Tuesday. The group of scientists who run the TOP500 project declared that the LineShine computer at China’s National Supercomputing Center achieved 2.198 exaflops, meaning it can perform more than 2 quintillion calculations per second.
AI stock slump raises the question if investors are just taking profits or getting very nervous
Tech companies are spending big on AI, but investors might be getting nervous. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft plan to spend up to $720 billion this year on AI data centers. This week, investors appear to be questioning if AI can deliver the profits needed to justify such spending. On Monday, Amazon and Alphabet shares fell about 5%. On Tuesday, chipmakers like Nvidia and Micron led the market lower. Companies are increasingly relying on markets to raise cash to expand their AI business and the tech sector’s heavy spending raises questions about the sustainability of the AI boom.
Sharp drops in Big Tech companies pull indexes mostly lower on Wall Street
Pullbacks in big technology companies sent indexes lower on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 1.4% Tuesday. The selling was concentrated in AI-related companies that have had huge run-ups in recent months and sent the market to record after record, most recently in early June. Investors are becoming worried that the growing likelihood of interest rate hikes this year to fight inflation will weigh on economic growth. The Nasdaq fell 2.2%. The Dow, which has less weighting in tech, held up better with a drop of just 0.1%. Chip companies, which have soared in recent weeks, sank. Micron Technology lost 13.2%.
Trump administration touts Iran deal as a payday for US farmers, but Iran denies it
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance say their interim deal to end the war with Iran will deliver a financial windfall to American farmers. But the Iranians deny it. In the absence of more details, sanctions experts are flummoxed over exactly how billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets would make their way to the American heartland from the escrow accounts where they’ve been locked for years by U.S. sanctions. A tentative agreement reached last week would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow Iran to start selling its oil freely again. The memorandum of understanding also promised to unfreeze Iranian assets.
$75 caviar-topped tots. A day's pay worth of beer. Here's the World Cup menu — and prices
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — World Cup tickets, flights and hotel rooms are expensive. Then there’s the price of beer. And what about $75 caviar-topped tater tots or $40 empanadas weighing 5 pounds? Prices aren’t all that different from what U.S. fans would experience on NFL Sundays or college football Saturdays. But some international fans aren’t used to such pricing and are calling foul, especially over beer prices that top $20 in some cases. Europeans are used to paying a third of those prices. Offerings also vary wildly from venue to venue and reflect local traditions.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan dies at 100
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan has died at the age of 100. He died on Monday from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. That's according to his wife of 29 years, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell. In his 18½ years at the helm of the Fed, Greenspan presided over a sustained era of American growth and prosperity, yet one that ended with devastating consequences in 2008, two years after he had left the central bank. Greenspan was so respected during his many years as head of the world’s most influential central bank that by the time he stepped down in 2006, he was widely celebrated as the “Oracle’’ and “Maestro.’’
Supreme Court kills suit claiming Cisco’s technology helped China persecute Falun Gong members
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has granted tech giant Cisco’s bid to shut down a lawsuit claiming that the company’s technology was used to persecute members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in China. The justices ruled Tuesday that American courts are the wrong forum for the suits, rejecting arguments made by the plaintiffs that the suits should go forward under the 18th-century Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act, first enacted in 1991. The decision was the latest to rule against plaintiffs seeking to use U.S. courts as a venue to seek justice over the acts of foreign governments, especially those that took place abroad.
Supreme Court OKs Exxon Mobil lawsuit over Cuban property seized by Fidel Castro's government
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that Exxon Mobil can sue Cuban state-owned companies in American courts over property on the island nation that was seized after Fidel Castro took power. The decision Tuesday was the second in as many months in favor of U.S. owners of Cuban property that was confiscated by the Communist government more than 65 years ago. The outcome in the two cases could be an additional lever for the Trump administration to exert pressure on Cuba, which is already being squeezed by a U.S. oil embargo.
Trump administration announces $17.5 billion in loans for 10 new large nuclear reactors
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is providing $17.5 billion to speed the development of 10 new large nuclear reactors to meet the skyrocketing power demand from massive data centers. The Energy Department announced the loans Tuesday. Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited “tremendous interest” among developers of data centers, called hyperscalers, who would buy the power, as well as utilities and energy companies. The department said seven utilities and energy companies signed letters of intent that identified sites. It plans to pick five, each hosting two reactors. The financing would be used to purchase nuclear components with long lead times.
Warsh's gamble: A quieter Federal Reserve could mean volatile markets, higher rates
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has for decades moved steadily from a remote, opaque government agency that shared little about what it did or why to a more transparent institution willing to explain how it makes decisions and what it thinks about the economy. New chair Kevin Warsh has begun to reverse some of those steps because he believes that by signaling its intentions the Fed pigeonholes itself into a position on interest rates. Yet such an approach carries the risk of more violent swings in stock and bond prices, analysts say, and ultimately higher interest rates for consumers and businesses.
