EU and Vietnam Forge Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Amid Global Shifts
The European Union and Vietnam elevated their relationship to a "comprehensive strategic partnership" on Thursday, marking Hanoi's highest level of foreign ties, according to Euronews. This move places the EU in the same diplomatic tier as the United States, China, and Russia, signaling Brussels' ambition amidst growing concerns over global trade disruptions and Washington's escalating tariff regime.
The upgrade comes at a time of significant activity in the technology and legal sectors as well. Meta is preparing to roll out new AI models and products in the coming months, with a particular focus on AI-driven commerce, according to TechCrunch. Mark Zuckerberg stated on an investor call Wednesday that Meta rebuilt the foundations of its AI program in 2025 and expects to "steadily push the frontier over the course of the new year." He highlighted "agentic shopping tools" that will allow users to find products from businesses in Meta's catalog.
In France, the National Assembly unanimously approved a bill on Wednesday that ends "marital duty," addressing concerns about sexual consent within marriages, Euronews reported. The bill, backed by over 120 MPs, enshrines the principle that consent is essential for any sexual act, including within marriage. Spearheaded by MP Marie-Charlotte Garin and Horizons group president Paul Christophe, the law aims to definitively rule out the use of "marital duty" to ignore sexual consent. The text will now be examined by the Senate under an accelerated procedure, and if approved, could become law in the next few months.
Meanwhile, in the tech world, Upwind Security, a cloud security startup, announced a $250 million Series B funding round, valuing the company at $1.5 billion, TechCrunch reported. Despite its apparent success, Upwind Security's co-founder and CEO Amiram Shachar told TechCrunch that the journey was uncertain. "Three years ago, we would spend hours asking ourselves if we were heading in the right direction, and 80% of the time, it felt like we weren’t," Shachar said. He added that at the beginning, they questioned whether the market needed their solution and whether it would be too hard to integrate into larger systems.
China's brain-computer interface (BCI) industry is also experiencing rapid growth, with Gestala, a newly founded company in Chengdu, aiming to access the brain without invasive implants, according to Wired. CEO and co-founder Phoenix Peng stated that Gestala plans to use ultrasound technology to stimulate and eventually read from the brain. This follows OpenAI's recent investment in BCI startup Merge Labs, cofounded by CEO Sam Altman.
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