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Iran deal status remains uncertain

The fate of an Iran peace deal remained uncertain Monday, as both Washington and Tehran offered conflicting signals on progress. One US official told The Washington Post that the two sides had developed a “framework” to extend the ceasefire for 60 days as they negotiate a “final deal,” and that Tehran had yet to approve the latest proposal. As talks resumed in Qatar, US President Donald Trump said, “The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal,” while the US secretary of state signaled cautious optimism. But Tehran tempered expectations, complaining of “frequent changes” in the US position. Still, oil dropped Monday on hopes of a deal, and Asian markets rose.

The Hajj begins amid war uncertainty

The Iran war is reshaping who performs the Hajj, as the annual pilgrimage in Mecca began Monday amid uncertainty over a peace deal and lingering regional tensions. Iran’s allocation was cut to 30,000 pilgrims, nearly two-thirds fewer than usual. Hostilities between Riyadh and Tehran have often played out at Hajj; no Iranians attended in 2016. The fact that any were allowed this year, despite Iran’s barrage of drones and missiles against Saudi Arabia, “reaffirms Riyadh’s policy of not politicizing its guardianship of Islam’s holiest sites,” Semafor’s Manal Albarakati wrote. A few thousand Muslim Americans are also going, despite a US travel advisory, The Wall Street Journal reported: “No matter what happens, God will take care of it,” one pilgrim said.

Saudi firm to build Shahed-like drones

A joint venture between a US defense startup and a Saudi firm will manufacture combat drones modeled on Iran’s Shaheds, Semafor’s Matthew Martin reported. The program aims to “level the playing field and boost Saudi Arabia’s deterrence capabilities,” the group’s co-founder said. Iran has pounded the Gulf states with its high-yield drones that cost just tens of thousands of dollars, compared with the millions required to produce interceptor missiles — which a US congressman likened to “throwing Ferraris at frisbees.” The Ukraine and Iran wars have triggered a rush to revamp national defense systems to be lighter and more cost-effective; a US commander said this month that Washington has “flipped the cost curve” by using one-way drones in the Iran war.

Indian, Chinese firms buy foreign companies

Indian and Chinese companies are ramping up overseas acquisitions amid mounting domestic economic and business headwinds. Chinese firms have been snapping up Western consumer goods brands; fast fashion giant Shein announced it was buying US clothing label Everlane, and Luckin Coffee purchased upscale American cafe chain Blue Bottle, the Financial Times reported. Meanwhile, India’s Sun Pharmaceuticals bought a US healthcare company this year, and Tata Motors is acquiring Italian truckmaker Iveco. The outbound dealmaking in Asia’s largest and third-largest economies comes as Chinese companies contend with intensifying competition and a slowing economy at home, while Indian firms grow frustrated with the country’s business conditions, the BBC reported, despite the government’s domestic investment push. 

China overhauls hukou system

China’s overhaul of its social insurance program for migrant workers could narrow urban-rural divides in the country and unlock new streams of economic growth, analysts said. Beijing on Friday moved to ease residency restrictions on coverage, removing a hurdle that required people working in Chinese cities to claim benefits in their home regions. The change to the hukou system could mark a step toward “eliminating the major rural-urban inequality which has characterised the post-1980s Chinese economy,” an agrarian political economist said. Nearly 400 million migrant workers keep China’s larger cities running, and analysts say hukou reforms could boost domestic consumption by easing the precautionary savings migrants stockpile because they can’t tap safety nets in the places where they work.

Pope warns against ‘digital slaveries’

Pope Leo XIV warned humanity against creating “new digital slaveries” in a 42,300-word encyclical about AI, the first major teaching document of his papacy. In Magnifica Humanitas, Leo “seeks to counterbalance alarm with hope but lands firmly on one side,” The Atlantic wrote: He condemned the use of AI in warfare, calling for the technology to be “disarmed,” and argued that “the pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs.” The document, which the pope presented in Rome alongside an Anthropic cofounder, suggests Leo is trying “less to undermine” AI than shape its future, in a significant test of the Vatican’s influence in the secular world, The New York Times wrote.

Waymo suspends services after flooding

Waymo suspended service in six US cities after its driverless cars drove on flooded roads during storms last week. Footage showed one of the vehicles stopped in water almost up to its headlights in Atlanta, which received several inches of rain. Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, also said it was pausing service on highways as it improves how the robotaxis navigate construction zones. The retreats showed how the unpredictability of the real world could pose hurdles to the global proliferation of robotaxi services: A power outage in San Francisco last year caused Waymo cars to halt in the middle of city streets, while at least a hundred Baidu self-driving taxis stopped abruptly mid-traffic in a Chinese city last month.

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Russia blocks access to criminal records

The Kremlin blocked online access to 20 years of criminal records statistics, undermining efforts to track Moscow’s repression. The 15 million records showed an explosion in convictions for treason, espionage, and “cooperation with foreigners,” Meduza reported. It is part of a wider data blackout — in 2023 the prosecutor general stopped publishing crime statistics and parliament gave the government power to suspend any official dataset. The practice of suppressing data unfavorable to governments is not limited to the Kremlin; China stopped publishing youth unemployment figures when they spiked three years ago, while Turkey has been accused of underreporting its inflation stats. Moscow may be keen to hide this data because it reveals how often defendants are conscripted to the war in Ukraine.

Korea beats US in cosmetics exports

South Korea surpassed the US to become the No. 2 cosmetics exporter globally, a reflection of the booming K-beauty industry. Data showed Korea’s exports in the sector jumped nearly 12% last year, thanks to a boost in