Nvidia announced an additional $150 billion share repurchase authorization, the largest single such authorization in corporate history, drawing significant Wall Street attention to the AI chip leader’s capital allocation strategy, against the backdrop of a sharply expanded market capitalization and abundant cash reserves, reinforcing confidence in the long-term cash-generating power of AI bellwethers.
SpaceX’s Starship lifted off from its Starbase in Texas, beginning humanity’s first complete orbital flight test mission carried out by a fully reusable super-heavy-lift launch vehicle, with multiple Starlink V3 satellites reaching orbit on board, marking a critical step in the maturity of the long-developed megarocket and laying the technical foundation for subsequent commercial crewed deep-space exploration.
British police arrested five men near a major US-operated air base in southwest England, foiling a security threat plot against the facility, the BBC and AP reported, with the five suspects identified as UK nationals from London, drawing intense cross-Atlantic intelligence cooperation and putting the threat to US military installations on the joint UK-US agenda once again.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Pope Leo XIV received a rockstar-style welcome during his visit to Lourdes, France, drawing striking attention in one of Europe’s most secular societies. The pontiff also reiterated his sharp criticism of assisted dying legislation, calling it false compassion.
The Financial Times reports that Australia’s largest gold miner Northern Star Resources has rejected a 27 billion dollar takeover bid, sending its shares sharply higher on the ASX. The decision is widely viewed as a defining moment in global gold mining M&A and will shape the next phase of worldwide gold consolidation.
Bloomberg reports that the US bond market is approaching a key threshold for sounding the recession alarm, with yield-curve inversion risk rising again. The signal comes against the backdrop of a still-intact AI-led bull market and elevated equity valuations, underscoring the underlying tension in the US macro-financial environment.
The Washington Post reports that the White House has expanded its taxpayer-funded ad campaign, with new content promoting Trump in a strongman style. The move has triggered fresh controversy over the boundaries of executive resources and public communications, prompting some lawmakers and press-freedom advocates to call for closer oversight of government propaganda spending.
Euronews reports that South Korea has formally demanded an apology from Ukraine over the disclosure of a North Korean POW transfer. The episode, set against the backdrop of an ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and deepening North Korean involvement, highlights how sensitive Pyongyang’s role has become for Northeast Asian geopolitics and how Seoul and Kyiv are now navigating competing diplomatic imperatives.
North Korea has been testing new swarm-style tactics that combine drones with cruise missiles, drawing close scrutiny from US and South Korean intelligence agencies, a development viewed as Pyongyang’s latest effort to pursue asymmetric advantages under conventional military constraints.
Pope Leo has sharply criticized assisted-dying legislation as false compassion in his latest public address, emphasizing the inviolable dignity of life from conception to natural death, drawing renewed attention to ongoing life-end debates across multiple countries, Politico reported.