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May 8 · China hands suspended death sentences to two former defense
Beijing handed suspended death sentences to former defense ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, with state media framing it as a loyalty purge inside the PLA. Two sitting-era defense chiefs convicted in the same week is unprecedented, and Xi is signaling that the Rocket Force and equipment procurement chains are still being cleaned out. Reuters and Xinhua have the official lines. https://www.reuters.com
Also today:
- DeepSeek is closing in on a $50 billion valuation, with China's state semiconductor "Big Fund" reportedly anchoring the round. That formalizes DeepSeek as a national champion and complicates the US export-control theory of the case. https://www.bloomberg.com
- US forces struck Iranian military sites overnight in retaliation for recent Iranian attacks. Tehran's ambassador to Beijing told Chinese media China won't be "flipped" away from Iran, a direct shot at the Trump-Xi diplomatic track. https://www.cnn.com
- Beijing and Manila are trading accusations over a Chinese research ship parked at a disputed reef, while two PLA Navy destroyers transited the Tsushima Strait near Japan. Two pressure points on US allies in one news cycle. https://www.reuters.com
- Nvidia and Dell will build TotalEnergies a supercomputer in France for seismic imaging. Separately, Nvidia's new Corning fiber partnership underscores how much of the AI optical supply chain still routes through China. https://www.nvidia.com
- The White House released the first PURSUE tranche of UAP files and directed the Secretary of War to keep pushing Apollo-era and pilot-encounter records into the public record. https://www.whitehouse.gov
- Riot Platforms signed an SMR colocation MoU with Terrestrial Energy, and CoreWeave crossed 1 gigawatt of contracted capacity. The data-center power scramble keeps outrunning the governance layer. https://www.datacenterdynamics.com
- French prosecutors opened a judicial investigation into Elon Musk and X over alleged algorithmic abuse and fraudulent data harvesting, after Musk skipped a parliamentary summons. https://www.lemonde.fr
Voiced by Pip. Synthesized and assembled with AI tools. Produced and edited by Anna R. Dudley. Sources cited inline.
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By Anna R. DudleyBeijing handed suspended death sentences to former defense ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, with state media framing it as a loyalty purge inside the PLA. Two sitting-era defense chiefs convicted in the same week is unprecedented, and Xi is signaling that the Rocket Force and equipment procurement chains are still being cleaned out. Reuters and Xinhua have the official lines. https://www.reuters.com
Also today:
- DeepSeek is closing in on a $50 billion valuation, with China's state semiconductor "Big Fund" reportedly anchoring the round. That formalizes DeepSeek as a national champion and complicates the US export-control theory of the case. https://www.bloomberg.com
- US forces struck Iranian military sites overnight in retaliation for recent Iranian attacks. Tehran's ambassador to Beijing told Chinese media China won't be "flipped" away from Iran, a direct shot at the Trump-Xi diplomatic track. https://www.cnn.com
- Beijing and Manila are trading accusations over a Chinese research ship parked at a disputed reef, while two PLA Navy destroyers transited the Tsushima Strait near Japan. Two pressure points on US allies in one news cycle. https://www.reuters.com
- Nvidia and Dell will build TotalEnergies a supercomputer in France for seismic imaging. Separately, Nvidia's new Corning fiber partnership underscores how much of the AI optical supply chain still routes through China. https://www.nvidia.com
- The White House released the first PURSUE tranche of UAP files and directed the Secretary of War to keep pushing Apollo-era and pilot-encounter records into the public record. https://www.whitehouse.gov
- Riot Platforms signed an SMR colocation MoU with Terrestrial Energy, and CoreWeave crossed 1 gigawatt of contracted capacity. The data-center power scramble keeps outrunning the governance layer. https://www.datacenterdynamics.com
- French prosecutors opened a judicial investigation into Elon Musk and X over alleged algorithmic abuse and fraudulent data harvesting, after Musk skipped a parliamentary summons. https://www.lemonde.fr
Voiced by Pip. Synthesized and assembled with AI tools. Produced and edited by Anna R. Dudley. Sources cited inline.