The closure underscores how fragile the situation in the region is. Earlier this week, Iran temporarily closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, while conducting military drills.

The announcement came as the US and Iran wrapped up a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva, which concluded without a date set for further negotiations. According to officials:

Officials described the discussions as constructive, with agreement on general “guiding principles,” but not a final deal. The talks lasted about three and a half hours and unfolded as the US builds up its military forces in the Middle East.

🌎 Why should you care? While successful talks would stabilize oil supply, failed talks could raise global oil prices, which would likely show up as higher gas and transportation costs for Americans.

A chill just ushered through the C-Suite. A surge in CEO departures has resulted in the largest wave of new business leaders in years, with many of the newcomers younger and less experienced than their predecessors.

About one in nine CEOs at the 1,500 biggest public companies was replaced last year, the highest turnover since 2010, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. It’s not slowing down this year, either:

What’s with the CEO swaps? Companies have pointed to a mix of factors behind their executive shakeups, including AI, tariffs, economic and geopolitical uncertainty, and intense pressure to deliver results.

As the current, older batch of CEOs is voted out, a more youthful one is being voted in. The latest wave of leadership is much younger and far more likely to include first-time chief executives than previous groups:

Why bring in the baby faces? Analysts say younger leaders tend to have key attributes companies want, like prioritizing adaptability and innovation over long tenure, and are better suited to guide companies through rapid shifts driven by AI, geopolitical risks, and evolving business models.

🌎 What does this mean for you? A younger wave of first-time CEOs could shift corporate policies toward more flexible work, faster adoption of AI, and different expectations around pay and career progression for employees. Those changes may reshape hiring, workplace culture, and job stability for Americans as companies experiment with new ways of operating.

Think it’ll make it to his Insta story? On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before a jury in a high-profile case that accuses social media companies, including Facebook and Instagram, of addicting young users to their products.

At the center of the case is a 20-year-old known as KGM, who says she started using social media at 10 and claims “addictive design” features by Meta and YouTube contributed to a decline in her mental health.

It is worth noting that TikTok and Snap were also named in the lawsuit, but reached settlements before the trial began.

It will have a ripple effect: Legal analysts say a ruling could shape more than 1,000 similar lawsuits filed against Meta and YouTube, and some are comparing it to the wave of cases brought against Big Tobacco in the ’90s.

Well, Zuckerberg had several pre-loaded computations statements to offer that attempted to address the allegations that his platforms harm children. In his testimony:

Lawyers had a few counters… plaintiffs’ opposite of Meta presented evidence showing that Instagram head Adam Mosseri had considered boosting time spent as a target for 2026, and provided a 2015 internal Meta email estimating that 4 million children under 13 were using Instagram.

🌎 Why is this important? Legal experts say this case could permanently change how you consume content online, leading to stricter regulations and lawsuits across the industry, affecting what content you see, how much time apps try to capture, and how companies protect users’ mental health.

AI can help you move faster, but real leadership still requires human judgment.

The free resource 5 Traits AI Can’t Replace explains the traits leaders must protect in an AI-driven world and why BELAY Executive Assistants are built to support them.

Download BELAY’s Guide!

I guess it takes the Pentagon to put safety standards on AI now. The US Department of Defense is in an escalating dispute with AI developer Anthropic over how its advanced AI model Claude should be used in military operations.

In July, the Pentagon signed a $200 million contract with Anthropic to integrate its AI systems into national security systems. Now, the contract is at risk after disagreements on how the tech should be used have surfaced:

Execs at Anthropic went on to say that AI should be used in defense “in all ways except those which would make us more like our autocratic adversaries,” while the DOD said the restrictions could hinder crucial military capabilities and cause problematic delays in implementing the technology.

Bird’s eye view: Anthropic’s Claude model is currently the only AI system authorized for use inside classified military networks, and it has been used in real operations, including the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela last month.

🌎 Why should you care? The feud over safety limits could shape how aggressively the US government can use AI for surveillance and public systems, affecting Americans’ privacy, taxes, and daily interactions with tech. It could also vastly accelerate (or slow) an AI arms race as the US pushes to keep up with geopolitical rivals, like Russia, China, and Iran.

They’re all arrested, right? Right? The DOJ recently released its latest batch of millions of pages of documents, emails, and other materials relating to the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Now, the spreading of the files has triggered a surge of high-profile resignations for many in the business world who had past dealings with the notorious predator.

Certain VIPs seemed to stay close to the disgraced financier long after his crimes were public knowledge, and luckily, some implicated in the files are now resigning.

Among the more prominent people (at least that we know of) are:

The repercussions aren’t just hitting the US… they’re going global. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem left his post leading Dubai’s largest port operator over Epstein links, while Keir Starmer’s chief of staff quit in the UK after helping appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.

🌎 Why should you care? As the public cries for greater accountability of those mentioned (and still redacted) in the files, it could lead to new regulations, funding changes, or trust issues that directly affect how Americans bank, go to school, and interact with government.

> Seal pup communication is more similar to human interaction than once thought, as the animals take turns speaking and begin to mirror each other’s sounds after spending time together.

> A new bio-inspired “liquid battery” stores solar energy inside a molecule and can later release enough heat on demand to boil water, potentially providing a new long-term renewable energy storage.

> Humanoid robots stunned audiences during China’s Lunar New Year celebrations by performing fluid kung-fu routines and acrobatic stunts, underscoring China’s push to lead in next-generation robotics.

> Astronomers say a rare “exosyzygy,” when two exoplanets eclipse each other, is likely to happen within the next few weeks, which could reveal new clues about the size, orbits, and atmospheres of distant planets.

> Bayer is planning a roughly $10.5 billion push to settle current and future lawsuits claiming its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, as it tries to finally contain years of legal risk.

> The US government has released details about an alleged Chinese nuclear test in June 2020 that it says triggered a magnitude 2.75 earthquake detected in Kazakhstan.