The US and Iran failed to strike a nuclear deal after hours of talks on Thursday, raising the specter of a military conflict.

A US official said the meeting was “positive” and Iran said talks progressed “very intensely and very seriously.” But many in the White House saw the negotiations as a final attempt to reach an agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions before resorting to military action.

Iran may try to avert a US strike by offering President Donald Trump a bevy of financial incentives, including investments in the regime’s oil and gas reserves, the Financial Times reported. The potential commercial offer drew comparisons to Trump’s push for US companies to be involved in Venezuela’s oil industry after Nicolás Maduro’s ouster.

China removed nine military officials from its legislature ahead of a critical set of political meetings, marking an expansion of leader Xi Jinping’s purge campaign.

Xi in recent years has supercharged an effort aimed at rooting out military corruption — since 2022, some 100 top officers have been dismissed or sidelined, a recent study estimated. That most recently included Xi’s top general, who was seen as a close confidant.

The latest removals come less than a week before China’s two main political bodies gather for the “two sessions,” the annual legislative meetings where policymakers set the country’s military, economic, and diplomatic agenda.

Estimated global debt leaped almost $29 trillion to a record $348 trillion last year, fueled by increased governmental spending on defense and AI.

A report found that total debt-to-GDP ratios fell for a fifth consecutive year in 2025, to around 308% of GDP, but that the fall was entirely driven by lower debt burdens in the private sector.

European governments, in particular, have dramatically boosted military spending to bolster defenses against Russian aggression, and could see their debt-to-GDP ratio climb a further 18 percentage points by 2035.

Meanwhile, analysts estimate that AI’s rapid infrastructure buildout could drive up to $1.5 trillion in additional borrowing by US tech companies in the coming years.

US tech giants are expected to sign a pledge next week to build or buy their own energy supplies to power data centers.

The White House gathering, Axios reported, is part of President Donald Trump’s election-year efforts to address voters’ concerns over rising energy costs as a result of the facilities.

Several companies have already moved toward providing their own electricity rather than straining local grids, following pressure from politicians and communities.

But some analysts argue Trump should instead push the tech firms to invest in upgrading the grid infrastructure — to the benefit of everyone — rather than build out a new “shadow grid.”

Trump “essentially envisions a bespoke new power system built in parallel to the existing one,” Semafor’s energy editor wrote.

Nvidia’s stock slid Thursday despite the US chip giant posting strong earnings, a reflection of the volatile nature of today’s AI trade.

The company’s quarterly revenue and projections both exceeded expectations, but investors remain skeptical about whether booming AI spending can be sustained.

A question mark also hangs over Nvidia’s China business, after the US government approved sales of the company’s H200 chips to Chinese customers, though it’s unclear if Beijing will sign off.

Largely, “emotions, not logic, [are] driving the stock market right now,” one strategist said.

Tech stocks have seesawed in recent weeks on concerns about the sky-high AI expenditures.

Ireland said it would deepen its naval cooperation with Britain and France and step up protection of shipping and undersea infrastructure from potential Russian attacks. Dublin has been neutral since 1922: It is not a NATO member and did not fight in World War II, although it relies on British forces to protect its airspace. But growing concern over Russian hybrid warfare — notably cyberattacks and sabotage of submarine cables — led the country’s defense ministry to launch its first maritime security plans, potentially permitting NATO ships to patrol its waters. This is not the first time Moscow’s recent aggression has driven formerly neutral countries towards its adversaries. Finland and Sweden both joined NATO following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zimbabwe suspended lithium exports in a bid to pressure firms to set up domestic processing facilities, sparking fears of supply chain disruptions and sending prices soaring. The move caused Chinese lithium futures to rise more than 9% on Thursday. Like other commodity-exporting African nations, Zimbabwe wants to capture more value across the supply chain, with at least 13 African countries imposing similar export restrictions since 2023. However, progress on setting up processing plants remains slow: The highly technical and capital-intensive requirements, as well as faltering intra-African integration, have hindered attempts to boost domestic upskilling, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies said.

More than 1,700 Africans are fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine, Kyiv said, many lured with work offers from Moscow.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said he was in discussions with African leaders to prevent their citizens from being drawn into such schemes: Reports of Africans going to Russia have become increasingly common as Moscow’s war losses pile up.

Pretoria has in recent days moved to repatriate its nationals stranded in Russia, some of whom were allegedly duped by the daughter of a former South African president in exchange for payment.

Those left in eastern Europe face harrowing conditions: “So long as you’ve stepped in the Russian military, you escape or you die,” a Kenyan recruit told CNN.

President Donald Trump spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy as US and Ukrainian envoys prepared to discuss post-war reconstruction.

Zelenskyy said the meeting today would focus on a recovery plan for Ukraine, as well as a prisoner swap with Russia, which continued its onslaught on Kyiv overnight.

Though Zelenskyy has said the war is at the “beginning of the end,” many remain skeptical of a ceasefire being agreed to any time soon, even as Russia’s battlefield progress continues to stall and its personnel losses mount.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s recovery bill keeps rising: A recent estimate put the country’s recovery at almost $600 billion, around three times its pre-war GDP.

Iranian and US representatives met in a last-ditch bid to reach a nuclear deal and avert armed conflict.

US President Donald Trump has moved huge military forces to the Middle East, and demanded Tehran pledge not to build a nuclear weapon. Iran’s foreign minister made such a pledge this week, but said it would continue its civilian program.

There is skepticism over how civilian it really is: Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed state to have enriched uranium at near-weapons-grade level, the BBC noted.

The two sides seem far apart. The US wants any deal to address Iran’s support for regional proxies, in addition to the development of ballistic missiles; Tehran denies supporting groups such as Hezbollah or building long-range weapons.

Cuba said it had killed four people traveling on a US-registered speedboat, risking a heightening of tensions with Washington.

Havana said those killed belonged to a group of Cuban nationals trying to “infiltrate” the island nation, with the US secretary of state promising to investigate the “highly unusual” incident.

Washington has tightened its embargo on Cuba in recent weeks, sending the country’s economy into a tailspin, but said it would roll back some restrictions on firms reselling Venezuelan oil to Cuban private sector firms, a move that could ease Havana’s fuel crisis.

Canada and Mexico, meanwhile, vowed to send aid to the island, which the United Nations warned faces a humanitarian “collapse.”

Nvidia reported stronger-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, possibly calming a jittery market. The figures came as investors appear increasingly anxious about both the demand for AI amid massive spending from tech giants, and how the tech’s widespread use could upend industries like software. Nvidia’s stock rose Wednesday in anticipation of a strong report; asset managers noted that the market’s response is unpredictable given investors’ nerves. The world’s most valuable company has seen 11 straight quarters of year-on-year revenue growth above 55%; analysts expect the streak to continue as tech giants plan to put up to $700 billion toward AI investment this year — a large chunk of which will go to Nvidia.

Germany’s chancellor called on China to correct the countries’ growing trade imbalance, as he walks a tightrope of strengthening diplomatic ties with Beijing while trying to manage its economic heft.

Friedrich Merz arrived in Beijing on Wednesday with “an outstretched hand and a list of complaints,” The New York Times wrote: Berlin is concerned about what it sees as an undervalued yuan, unfair subsidies, and overcapacity from Chinese exporters.

But reducing dependence on China is difficult for Germany, whose industries have invested massively in the Chinese market, analysts said. From Beijing’s perspective, “it’s Europe that should be making the concessions and seeking closer economic support from China because it’s in a weak position,” one expert said.

Iran threatened to escalate any conflict if the US attacked, ahead of nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday.

Washington is ramping up pressure on Tehran, amassing aircraft and warships in the Middle East, and sanctioning more than 30 entities that support Iranian oil and weapons sales.

The US sees Thursday’s talks as a last-ditch attempt to find a diplomatic off-ramp; if unsuccessful, Trump is considering limited strikes, potentially followed by a larger attack aimed at regime change.

But Tehran hasn’t yet capitulated to US pressure, and if a nuclear deal isn’t reached, the regime would rather sustain a limited military attack and “emerge battered but defiant,” The Times of Israel’s founding editor wrote.

Harvard University’s former president Larry Summers will resign from the school over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, as the scandal increasingly ensnares figures in academia.

A Nobel Prize-winning scientist quit Columbia’s brain institute, and Bill Gates apologized to his foundation’s staff, over friendships with the sex offender.

Epstein courted celebrities, power brokers, and politicians, but newly released files reveal the extent of academics in his orbit.

Many said they only turned to Epstein for fund raising, underscoring the unsavory private sources schools sometimes solicit.

Epstein’s motivations for cultivating brilliant minds — he maintained a list of top scientists — aren’t clear, but he may have “sought to leverage academia’s reputation to clean up his own,” The New York Times wrote.

​​Japanese stocks jumped to a record high, as investors piled into tech stocks despite an ongoing trade row between Tokyo and Beijing.

Japan’s leading stock index has now outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 200% in the last 12 months, with investor sentiment rising since conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi increased her party’s parliamentary seats in elections this month.

However, threats to the economy remain, both domestically and internationally. Inflation is still stubbornly above the Bank of Japan’s target rate. And China recently imposed export restrictions on dozens of Japanese entities, while the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down President Donald Trump’s tariffs has sown confusion among Japanese exporters, Nikkei reported.

Western luxury brands cut their global sales forecasts for the year, driven largely by cooling Chinese demand.

Though the Chinese market has become one of the world’s largest for luxury goods, spending has cooled since the start of the decade, driven largely by a slowing real estate market. Meanwhile, China’s scant social spending has forced much of the country’s aging population to save, further hurting domestic consumption.

Though Chinese exports remain strong — it registered a record trade surplus last year — its shrinking domestic market is a concern, the International Monetary Fund said. If China is to meet its ambitious growth targets, Beijing will need to shift spending from industrial subsidies, which are creating deflationary pressures, to boosting the social safety net.

The director of the Louvre resigned in the wake of a $100 million jewel heist.

Laurence des Cars was appointed in 2021 and had planned an ambitious refurbishment of the world’s most-visited museum, but a series of mishaps even before the theft of several Napoleonic-era crown jewels undermined her position.

Among them was an apparent decade-long fraud involving bribes to museum employees, reusing tickets multiple times, and splitting up large groups.

The fraud, which may also have been in operation at the Palace of Versailles, cost the museum around $12 million. Nine suspects have now been arrested, including tour guides.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s purge of the country’s military may be more widespread than previously acknowledged, a new report suggested.

Xi is now believed to have ousted more than 100 officers since 2022, the report by MIT-affiliated researchers found, part of a campaign Xi says is needed to rid the armed forces of corruption. The yearslong push culminated last month with the country’s top-ranking general being placed under investigation, with the report calling the drive an “unprecedented purge of China’s military.”

The moves have consolidated Xi’s “absolute power,” giving him “primacy over the world’s second-most-powerful military,” The Wall Street Journal’s Lingling Wei wrote. However, experts say the purges raise questions about China’s readiness to go to war, including over Taiwan.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Caribbean leaders today, as Washington looks to expand its influence over the region.

The White House has flexed its muscles across the Caribbean in recent months, capturing the president of Venezuela, intensifying an embargo on Cuba, and striking alleged drug-trafficking vessels.

The moves are part of the so-called Donroe Doctrine, the Trump administration’s plan to counter rising competition from China in the Western Hemisphere. But some regional leaders fear Washington’s unpredictability is making it harder to govern. “Small states thrive under a situation where there are rules and where there are norms,” an expert told The Washington Post.

The US is slowing defense spending even as Europe accelerates its military outlays.

Washington remains the world’s largest military spender, at 36% of global spending last year, a new report found. But real-terms expenditure was down 7.1% in 2025. Meanwhile, Europe’s share rose from 17% in 2022 to 21% last year.

The US is keen to push more defensive responsibilities onto NATO allies, and for Europe, defense has turned from “a post-cold war choice back into a necessity,” the Financial Times argued, due to Russian aggression, Chinese military modernization, and tensions in the Middle East. Moscow’s own military surge appears to have cooled: After a 57% jump in spending between 2023 and 2024, it rose just 3% last year.

An AI-induced stock slide subsided on Tuesday as traders grew more confident that the tech can augment, rather than replace, traditional software businesses.

AI startup Anthropic — whose Claude tools sparked the rout earlier this month — announced partnerships with software firms on Tuesday, a message that amounted to: “We’re here to help, not hurt,” one analyst said.

The relief rally spurred some strategists to temper their expectations of a broad meltdown at the hands of AI, with a JPMorgan Chase expert arguing, “The catastrophizing seems overdone.”

But investors are so skittish that a recent viral blog post imagining a bleak AI future was enough to spark a selloff. The market is “looking for an excuse to fall,” a Financial Times columnist wrote.

US consumer confidence rebounded more than expected in February, new data showed Tuesday, though worsening sentiment around job prospects could signal turmoil ahead.

While Americans’ short-term expectations for incomes and businesses improved, the share of consumers that view jobs as “hard to get” hit a five-year high.

The economy has been growing and inflation has cooled, but a downbeat public has dented President Donald Trump’s narrative of an economic turnaround.

Trump will aim to sell Americans on his handling of the economy during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, but it will be a tough task given that polling shows voters remain concerned about costs and are increasingly souring on the president’s performance.

The Pentagon gave Anthropic until Friday to provide the US military unrestricted access to its AI model or face penalties.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday following a weekslong feud between the American startup and US officials who want to deepen the integration of AI for military uses.

Anthropic already has a $200 million contract with the government, but wants carve-outs that prohibit its AI’s use for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons deployment, Semafor reported last week. Anthropic has taken a hard line on those issues compared to competitors including xAI and OpenAI. The Pentagon threatened to deem Anthropic a supply-chain risk if it doesn’t comply.

The Russia-Ukraine war is at the “beginning of the end,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times, as the conflict entered its fifth year Tuesday.

Through it, Ukraine has remained resilient, commentators said. Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, many thought Kyiv could fall within days. But Ukrainian forces are showing they have “plenty of fight left,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.

Even as Russia intensifies attacks on Ukrainian power plants, “it’s clear that the most… prolonged military campaign against energy infrastructure in history has failed,” Semafor’s Kyiv-based energy editor wrote.

But the siege means “normal life has become untenable” in Ukraine, Russian American journalist M. Gessen wrote, and “whatever lies ahead feels as if it will last forever.”

The mysterious founder of Shein made a rare public appearance Tuesday to hail local government support that helped the Chinese fast-fashion giant grow into a global juggernaut.

Xu Yangtian’s speech was remarkable in part because of his incredibly low profile: Shein never made photos of him available, and even some of the company’s employees have reportedly struggled to identify him.

Xu’s remarks, which came as the EU is investigating Shein, also contrasted with the company’s yearslong efforts to distance itself from its Chinese roots and present as a Singapore-based e-commerce platform to attract global capital and avoid Western regulatory pressure. “So much for the past 2 years China-shedding,” one China business consultant wrote.

Mexico deployed thousands of troops across the country to quell violence sparked by the killing of its most-wanted cartel boss.

Authorities said dozens were killed in the aftermath of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes’ death on Sunday, with the cartel’s show of force leading to school and business closures across Mexico. While Washington celebrated his killing, some in Mexico fear it will unleash a wave of violence as the cartel’s factions fight for control.

Others have warned that Cervantes’ death will change little given the state’s weakness: “Can Mexico’s government win a lasting battle against cartels with formidable private armies… when it has one of the region’s most under-resourced states?” the editor in chief of Americas Quarterly asked.

Chad closed its border with Sudan, shutting a vital lane for thousands trying to escape the Sudanese civil war.

Chad said the border — across which more than a million Sudanese have fled their country — would be closed “until further notice” after the conflict neared its territory. While there have been numerous attempts to end hostilities in Sudan, the fighting rages on, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, including the first declaration of famine anywhere in years.

Experts have warned that the war will continue so long as foreign powers — namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt — continue backing and funding the belligerents, including a paramilitary accused of perpetrating a genocide.

Panama seized two key ports run by a Hong Kong-based company, raising the stakes in a legal fight that has embroiled Beijing and Washington.

Port operator CK Hutchinson slammed the decision to grant the operating license to two European firms as “unlawful,” while authorities in Hong Kong lodged “stern protests” with Panama, underscoring the strategic importance of the sites.

Though CK Hutchinson has run the ports for almost three decades, Washington has recently pushed Panama to loosen Beijing’s influence over the canal, through which around 40% of US container traffic passes. The move is part of a wider push by the Trump administration to reassert US supremacy in Latin America after years during which the region grew closer to China.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in China, seeking to rebalance the two countries’ trade relationship.

Berlin was for years the driving force for closer EU relations with Beijing — as China took off economically, it was a huge market for Germany’s industrial exports. But that drive “appears to be a historic policy miscalculation,” Politico reported, comparable to Germany’s reliance on Russian energy, as China’s soaring industrial output floods markets and its dominance of raw-materials supply chains gives Beijing huge power over Germany’s factories.

Merz is under pressure from German industry leaders to take a harder line, but he is in a tough spot: US unpredictability means relying on Washington is unwise, leaving him little leverage over Chinese leader Xi Jinping.