🤖 New self-refueling underwater batteries use marine microbes to generate electricity

The Michigan Tech-led team is testing microbial fuel cells, or MFCs, that use bacteria to convert dissolved organic material and microscopic marine biomass into electrical current. Researchers say the technology could eventually support naval defense sensors, ecological monitoring systems, and underwater acoustic networks.

“There are increasing deployments of all kinds of sensors in the marine environment for observing ecological conditions, organism migrations, and acoustics relevant to naval defense,” — said Amy Marcarelli, distinguished professor of biological sciences at Michigan Tech.

The researchers have already completed a 30-day underwater deployment in Chesapeake Bay, where prototype systems continued producing electricity while fully submerged.

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🇷🇺🇵🇰Russia and Pakistan are set to sign an agreement to simplify visa procedures for their citizens

“We will sign an agreement on simplifying the issuance of visas for citizens of both countries,” — Pakistan’s Ambassador to Russia Faisal Niaz Tirmizi said.

Two countries are also preparing to sign an agreement on cultural cooperation, along with a trade and economic cooperation agreement covering the next five years.

“We will sign agreements on Russian investments in the medical sector and in the industrial sector of Pakistan,” — he said.

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🇨🇳 China unveils 220-pound robot ‘construction worker’ to use human tools on moon

China has announced that its planned Chang’e-8 mission will feature a new robotic “Moon mechanic.” This robot, the team behind it explains, will act like a construction worker to help assemble and lug equipment around once deployed.

Developed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the robot weighs around 220 pounds (100kg) and has 4 wheels to move across the rough Lunar surface. Unlike previous moon rover-type robots, this new one comes with a pair of robotic arms for handling and manipulating tools.

#BRICS

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🇺🇬 Uganda’s Octogenarian Leader Museveni Sworn In for Seventh Term

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was sworn in for another five-year term, retaining his position at the helm of the East African nation as it gears up to become an oil producer.

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🇬🇧 UK Approves Early Power-Project Funding in Race for Grid Parts

The UK approved more early construction funding for power-grid projects, as part of efforts to boost renewables generation and secure equipment amid supply-chain snarls and competition from other nations.

Energy regulator Ofgem granted such funding for power lines and upgrades at some transmission projects in Scotland, taking the number approved in its fast-track grid pipeline to 26, it said in a statement Tuesday. That allows companies to get a head start in locking in things like heavy duty cables and substation equipment, where global bottlenecks have threatened timelines.

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🤝 NASA partners with Microchip to build next-generation spaceflight chips with 100x the power of current offerings

NASA has announced that it has just partnered with Microchip Technology Inc. to build next-generation chips that will power its spacecraft. This project, dubbed High-Performance Spaceflight Computing, aims to build a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that will deliver 100 times the computing capacity of current processors designed for spaceflight.

The space agency said that it will come in two flavors — a radiation-hardened version for geosynchronous, deep-space, and long-duration missions and a radiation-tolerant version for low Earth orbit satellites. The former is primarily aimed at supporting missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, while the latter is tailored for commercial applications.

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🇺🇸🇨🇳 Nvidia’s CEO Joins Trump in China With AI in the Spotlight

Nvidia Corp. co-founder Jensen Huang joined US President Donald Trump on his visit to China as a last-minute addition, thrusting AI and technology into the spotlight before a high-stakes Beijing summit.

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🇺🇸 Court Halts Order Finding New Trump Tariffs Unlawful for Now

A federal appeals court has temporarily paused a ruling that declared President Donald Trump’s latest global tariffs unlawful, as the judges weigh the administration’s request to allow officials to keep collecting the levies while the legal fight continues.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a brief order entering what’s known as an administrative stay, and set a fast schedule for both sides to file briefs on the administration’s request to leave the tariffs intact while it appeals. The small businesses and Democratic state officials who sued are due to respond in a week.

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⚡️🇺🇸🇨🇳 President Donald J. Trump lands for a landmark summit with China, greeted by Vice President Han Zheng during a welcome ceremony.

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⚡️🇺🇳 Gulf States to Win NATO Summit Invites

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is planning to invite representative from four Gulf states to the summit in Ankara with the Iran war and the transatlantic rift likely to loom large over the talks.

The countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — are all members of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, a partnership between NATO and non-members in the broader Middle East.

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⚖️ Anthropic Expands Push Into Legal Industry With New AI Tools

Anthropic PBC is taking steps to help legal professionals carry out more tasks using its Claude chatbot. Anthropic announced a dozen new tools, or plugins, intended for attorneys, law students and others in the legal sector. One feature, called “commercial counsel,” is meant to take on work like reviewing vendor agreements; another tool is intended to help with studying for the bar exam.

The company also announced ways to connect its Claude chatbot with software from other firms that are commonly used in law, such as DocuSign Inc. and Thomson Reuters Corp., as well as Harvey, a competing AI legal service. The legal features will be available to paying customers through Claude Cowork, a general-purpose AI agent meant for office work, and through third-party services built on Claude.

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🤑 Stable infrastructure that scales — that's what the government of Bermuda is accessing by partnering with SDF.

At SALTConference Raja Chakravorti spoke with Premier David Burt about how the Stellar network's growth can power this exciting next step for Bermuda.

#Stellar

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🏢 Google Debuts Android ‘Googlebook’ Laptop Platform, Reentering Hot Market

🟠Alphabet Inc.’s Google introduced a new high-end laptop segment called "Googlebook" that will run Android and prominently showcase Gemini AI. Hardware partners Dell Technologies Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and HP Inc. will debut models built on the platform in the coming months.

🟠Google unveiled a new “Create My Widget” feature that lets users vibe-code their own custom widgets. The feature will first launch on the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer.

🟠The company is now introducing Gemini in Chrome to Android, after earlier launches on iOS and desktop, allowing users to summarize content or ask questions about what they see on the web page. Android users will also get the experimental auto-browse feature that can navigate websites and complete tasks like booking a ticket on a user’s behalf.

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🇻🇳 Vietnam eyes official launch of crypto asset market in Q3 2026

Vietnam could officially launch its cryptocurrency and digital asset market as early as the third quarter of 2026, according an announcement by Mr. Nguyen Duc Chi, Deputy Minister of Finance, at the Digital Trust in Finance 2026 forum held on May 12.

Addressing the event, themed “Building Digital Financial Trust in the AI Era,” Mr. Chi highlighted the government’s commitment to advancing the digital economy under the Politburo's Resolution 57-NQ/TW, which outlines strategic breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation.

The resolution targets a digital economy accounting for at least 30% of GDP by 2030, with 80% of transactions conducted cashlessly and more than 40% of enterprises engaged in innovation activities.

“We believe that, as early as the third quarter, Vietnam could witness the first official activities of its crypto asset market, operating under a framework designed to ensure safety and transparency,” — Mr. Chi announced.

To achieve these goals, the Ministry of Finance has launched several large-scale digital transformation projects aimed at improving services for citizens and businesses. These include information technology systems for digital customs operations, redesigned digital tax administration processes, and modernized state budget management systems.

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✈️ Starlink is now onboard Gulf Air —Gulf Air (Bahrain's national carrier) has started rolling out Starlink high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi.

Their first Starlink-equipped Airbus A320neo has entered service, offering complimentary, gate-to-gate connectivity to all passengers.

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⚡️🇺🇸 Kennedy to support Senate crypto bill

Sen. John Kennedy said Wednesday that he plans to vote for landmark cryptocurrency legislation in the Senate Banking Committee this week, clearing the way for the bill to advance whether it wins bipartisan backing or not.

“This is not a perfect bill,” — the Louisiana Republican told reporters Wednesday. “But it’s a good bill, and it’s a good start.”

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⚡️🇺🇸🇨🇳 White House releases video celebrating President Trump's arrival in China. Trump, Xi to weigh tariff cuts on $30 billion of imports in managed trade push.

The U.S. and China are expected to inch toward a managed trade mechanism for non-sensitive goods this week, with each side possibly identifying some $30 billion worth of goods on ​which they could reduce tariffs and sell to each other without crossing national security red lines.

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💊 World’s first BCI technology targets high-level brain function to restore independence

Brandon Patterson hasn’t moved his fingers in nine years due to a spinal cord injury. But recently, he felt them twitch. Patterson, 41, has been paralyzed from the chest down since a Jeep rollover accident in 2017 severed his connection to the world below his shoulders.

Recently, he participated in a pioneering clinical study at UCHealth and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and was implanted with Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology. The key innovation in Patterson’s surgery is the strategic relocation of the brain-computer interface.

The technology focuses on the brain’s centers for intent, planning, and decision-making by tapping into these specialized regions. This allows the computer to interpret what the patient wants to do rather than just which muscle to move.

“This surgery is an important step forward not only for this patient but for neuroscience as a whole,” — said Daniel Kramer, MD, assistant professor of neuroscience at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine and a neurosurgeon at UCHealth.

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