Oil Prices Surge 7% as U.S.-Iran Ship Attacks Push Strait of Hormuz to Brink of War

Crude oil prices jumped nearly 7% on Sunday as tensions between the U.S. and Iran sharply escalated after attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. crude rose to $89.85 per barrel, while Brent climbed to $96.57.

The crisis intensified after Iran attacked vessels in the strait, followed by the U.S. Navy seizing an Iranian container ship in the Gulf of Oman. President Trump warned of severe retaliation against Iran if no deal is reached before the ceasefire expires this week.

Planned peace talks in Islamabad are now uncertain, with Iran refusing to attend due to the U.S. naval blockade. The renewed conflict has revived fears of supply disruptions in one of the world’s most critical oil routes.

Reference Sources

1. CNBC - Oil prices jump after Iran and U.S. attack commercial ships as tensions escalate over Strait of Hormuz
2. Reuters - US seizes Iranian cargo ship, Tehran vows to retaliate
3. Bloomberg - Oil and Gas Prices Surge After US Seizes Iranian Ship

First ever: Humanoid robots outrun humans in half-marathon in China

Chinese Humanoid robots have significantly improved their performance during a half-marathon, outperforming some human runners, although just a year ago, most of them failed to finish. More than 100 Chinese-Made robots took part in the race, running on a parallel track alongside human runners to avoid collisions. A year ago, a similar experiment was plagued by numerous technical issues — many robots could not start or failed to reach the finish line.

This time, the situation has changed noticeably: most participants completed the distance.

The winning robot, developed by Honor, a well-known Chinese Smartphone manufacturer, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, several minutes faster than the former record.

The performance marked a significant increase from last year's Inaugural race, during which the winning robot recorded a time of 2 hours 40 minutes, more than double the time of the human winner of the conventional race.

This year's contrast was stark: not only had the number of participating teams increased from 20 to more than 100, but several robot Frontrunners were noticeably faster than professional athletes, beating the human winners by more than 10 minutes.

The Qitian Dasheng robot won with a time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

Reference Sources

1. newsukraine - First ever: Humanoid robots outrun humans in China half marathon
2. cnbc - A non-human race: Beijing half-marathon shows how far robots have come
3. ara - Humanoid robots lower their half marathon record in almost two hours

Google in talks with Marvell to build new AI chips for inference, The Information reports

Google is reportedly in talks with Marvell Technology to develop two new chips aimed at running AI models more efficiently, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, according to The Information.

However, Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Reference Sources

1. thestarmy - Google in talks with Marvell to build new AI chips for inference, The Information reports

The CommonWealth English daily news digest is a service curated by CommonWealth English team with the help of AI tools.  

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