Signal

Good afternoon. China has blocked Meta's $2 billion acquisition of AI company Manus, marking another flashpoint in the escalating tech tensions between Beijing and Western companies. The decision comes as China simultaneously ramps up its space warfare capabilities, developing dual-use technologies that could seize satellites or strike Earth from orbit in what's becoming an intensifying arms race with the United States. Meanwhile, the UAE has demanded Pakistan return $3.5 billion in investments, highlighting growing tensions between Abu Dhabi and Islamabad that have now burst into the open. Closer to home, the UK's health outlook continues to deteriorate with healthy life expectancy falling by two years over the past decade, driven by poor housing, obesity, and deprivation. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing a new growth push following May's local elections, as allies try to quell talk of upheaval within Labour ranks. King Charles's upcoming state visit to the US will proceed despite security concerns after a gunman targeted a Trump event, with the monarch's trip coming at one of the most fraught periods in Anglo-American relations since the Suez Crisis.