South Korea's AI selloff puts $290 billion leveraged-ETF boom under scrutiny
A sharp AI-driven stock selloff in South Korea has renewed scrutiny of the country's booming leveraged ETF market, valued at $290 billion. These funds amplify both gains and losses, and the recent turbulence exposed the risks retail investors face. Regulators and analysts are once again examining the rapid growth of this corner of the market.
With the 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame class freshly announced, attention has already turned to who could be inducted in 2027. The piece ranks the leading candidates based on their career achievements and eligibility. No official nominations have been made yet for the 2027 class.
US authorities have eased entry rules for Iran's national football team ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The squad will be permitted to arrive in Seattle two days before their group-stage match against Egypt. Polish referee Szymon Marciniak has been assigned to officiate that game.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran that no country has the right to charge tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The UN announced it will evacuate sailors currently stranded in the strait. Tensions around the strategically critical waterway remain high.
Rockstar Games has confirmed that GTA 6 pre-orders will go live on Thursday, June 25. Rumors based on a Portuguese retailer listing suggest the standard edition could cost up to $100 / £80, though no official price has been confirmed. PS5 players looking to save money are being pointed toward £70 PlayStation Store gift cards as a potential workaround.
In case you missed it, Rockstar Games has finally announced that GTA 6 pre-orders will go live on Thursday, 25th June, which has opened the floodgates of excitement and relief, as the feared potential delays have now been put to bed.However, there's one major factor that we'll have to wait to find out on the very day, and that's how much GTA 6 will cost for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Rumors based on recent Portuguese retailer listings suggest we could see a potential £80 / $100 price tag for the standard edition, but there's still no confirmation.At the very least, we can predict that Rockstar's blockbuster title will hit the £70 region. Regardless, there's bound to be an influx of console users looking for the best way to save on gaming's biggest event in 2026 — and if you're a PS5 user, you're in luck.(Image credit: Rockstar / PlayStation)The £70 PlayStation Store gift card gives users access to a choice of one among a huge catalog of PlayStation's first-party exclusives and other third-party games, and serves as a bargain leading into GTA 6's pre-order day.View DealFortunately, the £70 PlayStation Store gift card is available on ShopTo for £60.85 (was £70), thanks to a significant 13% discount. Effectively, you'll be paying the previous standard £59.99 price model for £70 games — and in this case, you'll save a significant amount on GTA 6.If Rockstar matches Nintendo's £79.99 price standard, the £10 PlayStation Store gift card, available for £9.85 (was £10), will come in handy for buyers. Luckily, all gift cards are discounted at ShopTo, and better yet, ShopTo users with 'Gold' or 'Silver' memberships can get further discounts at checkout.It's worth taking a gamble now with securing the wallet funds, as discounted gift cards at multiple retailers like ShopTo are likely going to skyrocket in demand, so now may be the last chance to secure your GTA 6 purchase at the lowest possible price.Prime Day deals in the UKAmazon Prime: get a 30-day free trialAmazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99Amazon Haul: up to 30% offApple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple WatchAppliances: up to 45% off Ninja & TefalBeauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-BEssentials: household goods from £5Fans: from £20Fashion: up to 50% offGaming: £90 off PlayStation 5Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & SonyLaptops: from £149Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99Toys: up to 25% off Lego and ToniesTVs: from £129.99Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & RoborockWearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura
19-year-old Swedish forward Felicia Schroeder has left BK Hacken to join Real Madrid in a deal described as the most expensive transfer ever in women's football. The teenager's fee was not disclosed, but the club confirmed the record-breaking nature of the move.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first footballer in history to score at six different World Cups. The opinion piece argues, however, that for the good of his own legacy and the Portuguese national team, Ronaldo should now retire from international football at this historic high point.
The Garmin Venu 4 is currently on sale at Amazon US for $499.99, down from $549.99, marking its lowest-ever price during Amazon Prime Day. The reviewer considers it the best all-round Garmin watch for most people, praising its sleek design and broad feature set that suits both office and active lifestyles.
The Garmin Venu 4 is a great Garmin watch, but it doesn't necessarily look like a Garmin. Most people think of the lumpy black Fenix, Forerunner, and Instinct ranges, but the Venu series has always been a bit sleeker, just at home in the office as it is on the trail or in the gym. Consequently, I labeled it my 'best Garmin watch for most people' when I reviewed it in October last year, and that remains my opinion due to its status as the ideal all-rounder watch: enough features to satisfy everyone but die-hard trail enthusiasts and orienteers, and an understated look ideal for modern life. It was my opinion when the watch was full price, and it's definitely still my opinion now that it's hit a lowest-ever price during the Amazon Prime Day sales. • Browse the full Amazon Prime Day saleRight now, the Garmin Venu 4 can be found on sale at Amazon US for $499.99 (was $549.99) with a $50 Prime Day discount for both 41mm and 45mm models, taking it to just $2 above its lowest price yet, according to our deals-checking tools. But the real gem of a deal is in the UK: the Garmin Venu 4 41mm in Black is discounted to £354 (was £469.99), a 25% discount and the lowest price. Other colorways and sizes cost more, but all are discounted to some degree. The closest you can get to the Black model's price is the 45mm Grey color, which costs £365 (down from the same £469.99). Check out the deals in full below. Not in the US or the UK? Scroll down for the best deals in your area. Today's best Garmin Venu 4 dealsRight now you can save $50 on both 41mm and 45mm Garmin Venu 4 models, in a variety of colors: Black and Lunar Gold for the 41mm, Grey and Citron for the 45mm. Up to 10 days of battery life, great workout and wellness tracking, and lots of Garmin Connect IQ third-party app support. View DealSave a hefty 25% on the Black 41mm of the Garmin Venu 4. If you're looking for a bigger size, the 45mm is available for £365 in Grey and £368.49 in Citron yellow.View DealAre you after something a little cheaper? The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is a similar all-rounder fitness tracker, albeit less premium and older than the Garmin Venu 4. Where the Venu uses metal, the Vivoactive uses plastic, and the Vivoactive uses an older heart rate sensor. It misses out on a few key smartwatch features such as the voice assistant and some more advanced workout metrics. However, it's currently very affordable and is a great budget alternative. The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is a fantastic all-rounder fitness smartwatch with tonnes of workout plans, a crisp AMOLED display, onboard GPS, and 11 days of battery life. At this price, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better-performing watch for general fitness, health, and exercise tracking.View DealA lowest-ever price on the Garmin Vivoactive 5 means there's never been a better time to snap this up. Garmin's comprehensive and (still mostly free) app has served me well for years, while the Vivoactive 5 at this price is an easly swallow for Fitbit users used to cheaper devices. View DealMore Prime Day deals in the US Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair toolsCheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & SamsungLaptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothingVacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UKAmazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trialAmazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £21.99Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low priceAppliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & SageEssentials: household goods from under £10Laptops: from £149.99Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125TVs: from £129.99
Portugal beat Uzbekistan 5-0 in a Group K World Cup match played in Houston. Cristiano Ronaldo, who had been criticised for a poor performance in the tournament opener, scored twice. Also in Group K, Colombia face the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The NHL is eyeing Texas for its next expansion push, with Austin and Houston identified as the primary target cities, according to ESPN sources. The league is moving to begin the formal expansion process in the state. Texas would represent a major new market for professional ice hockey in the United States.
A United Nations commission report concludes that Israeli killings of children in Gaza following the truce amount to genocide. Israel's UN mission flatly rejected the report, calling it a "libelous sham" and describing the investigating commission as a "fundamentally flawed mechanism."
Speedway rider Oskar Paluch admitted after the Wrocław match that he struggles to let the motorcycle run forward on that type of track and wants more practice on similar surfaces. Meanwhile, Nikodem Mikołajczyk explained what competing in the PGE Ekstraliga means for his development.
Menlo Ventures has raised a new $3 billion fund, cementing its reputation as a leading AI investor. The firm's standing is built largely on a bold $750 million investment in Anthropic made in 2024, which proved to be a defining bet for the venture capital firm.
Matteo Arnaldi, a standout performer at the recent Roland Garros, was eliminated in the first round of the ATP 250 grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, losing in three sets to world No. 293 Giles Hussey. Seeded Ugo Humbert advanced to the next round.
Valve is launching the Steam Machine, a compact gaming box aimed at console owners who want to access PC gaming without learning the intricacies of cooling systems and hardware specs. The device is not targeted at hardcore enthusiasts pushing maximum performance, but at players seeking a simple bridge to the Steam ecosystem. Valve's goal is to make PC gaming more approachable than ever before.
Portugal opened their World Cup campaign with a dominant 5–0 victory over Uzbekistan. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, becoming the only player in history to net at six different World Cup tournaments. The result signals Ronaldo's intent to challenge for the tournament's top scorer award.
US President Donald Trump will participate in the World Cup 2026 final ceremony at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19. FIFA president Gianni Infantino officially confirmed that Trump will join him in presenting the World Cup trophy to the winning team's captain. The announcement makes Trump's involvement in the tournament's centrepiece event official.
Budapest has halted a key procedural step that was meant to accelerate EU accession negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova. Hungary's decision could significantly delay both countries' progress toward EU membership. Hungary appears to be acting alone in blocking this stage of the accession process.
Alibaba's Tongyi Lab has unveiled the Qwen Robot Suite, a family of embodied-AI models designed to help machines perceive space, reason, and act. The suite comprises three components: RobotNav for navigation, RobotWorld as a video "world model," and RobotManip for object manipulation. The announcement follows Nvidia's recent release of Cosmos 3 and suggests Alibaba is targeting robotics as a key competitive frontier beyond large language models.
Alibaba's Tongyi Lab unveils the Qwen Robot Suite Its first embodied-AI models are split into navigation (RobotNav), a video "world model" (RobotWorld), and manipulation (RobotManip)The move comes after Nvidia recently unveiled and published its own Cosmos 3 offeringsAs much of its AI competition continues to focus on LLMs and making them faster and more capable, Alibaba might be looking to lead on another frontier altogether, along with its LLM ambitions in tow: robots.The company's Tongyi Lab has unveiled the Qwen Robot Suite, what it calls a family of models focused on "embodied AI," which centers on enabling machines to perceive space, reason, and act accordingly.This comes at the heels of Nvidia's own Cosmos 3, a frontier model for physical AI, further bolstering CEO Jensen Huang's narrative that China's developer ecosystem remains relatively unaffected by chip restrictions, even as focus in the West continues to shift to power for many of the sprawling data centers being built in the US.A competitor or a complement to Nvidia's playbook?The Qwen-Robot Suite consists of three core models: Qwen-RobotManip, a generalizable vision-language-action model; Qwen-RobotNav, a scalable vision-language navigation model; and Qwen-RobotWorld, a video world model designed for embodied intelligence.There is no denying, however, that robotics is being treated as perhaps the most crucial frontier for AI, even as LLMs continue to advance, with both Google and Nvidia among the companies pouring billions into research on their respective Gemini Robotics and open source Cosmos offerings.Alibaba claims that the model, which leverages a more lightweight Qwen3.5-4B model rather than its Qwen 3.7 Max, which features over a trillion parameters, manages to top the RoboChallenge real-robot benchmark, scoring an impressive 59.83 and a 45% task success rate.With other interested parties such as Tencent, Unitree, AgiBot, UBTech, Galbot, Spirit AI, and GigaAI, in addition to interest from EV firms including Xpeng and Xiaomi, all shaping the future of Chinese AI robotics, R&D in the industry is continuing at full swing, even as upcoming IPOs are expected to further propel the industry forward with easier access to capital.The South China Morning Post, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba, noted that "Alibaba’s entry comes as embodied intelligence is fast becoming the next frontier in global AI."Nvidia's position on the matter is perhaps more nuanced with it attempting to behave as an 'enabler' versus a direct competitor as it pushes its open-source model to perhaps form the same building block that CUDA does for GPUs with Cosmos, GR00T, Isaac and similar offerings being the playbook this time around to ensure future robotics platforms are built, much like most AI tools, around Nvidia's hardware and software stack.Alibaba's announcement might not be a sign of the Chinese giant out-engineering Nvidia, but in the backdrop of the Chinese government insisting informally at least, on a decoupling or at a minimum, no reliance on US-based hardware or software, it can be seen as an intent to build a similar ecosystem for Chinese robotics companies.In the absence of Nvidia's presence in China, it might be hard to compare the two offerings, even as their scales differ considerably: Cosmos 3 is an open-world foundation model with multiple vendor-reported scores that do not cover RoboChallenge, whereas Alibaba's are self-reported from exactly one benchmark. Until both approaches can be compared directly, one can not assume superiority of one over the other.What is, however, perhaps painfully obvious for Nvidia, and has been warned of time and again by its CEO, is that China, irked by US policies around AI, is no longer looking for chips, models, or even open source solutions to incorporate into its ecosystem, but wishes to build them from the ground up. This could result in a lack of exposure to what was the second most lucrative market for the chip designer, a move that could cost it billions of dollars in revenue in the robotics segment alone, from what is still widely considered the "factory of the world" due to its huge manufacturing base.
Mark Zuckerberg reportedly wants Meta to develop and launch its own prediction market app. The move would put Meta in direct competition with existing platforms such as Polymarket. No official details about the app's name, launch date, or features have been confirmed.
Neil Young has quietly released a free, hour-long concert film titled "Corduroy Plants," directed by Daryl Hannah. The film documents his 2025 tour with the Chrome Hearts and features classic tracks including "Ohio," "Like a Hurricane," and "Cortez The Killer." The release was made available at no cost to viewers.
Comments
Loading…
Swipe up
⚡
You're all caught up
You've seen all the latest stories. Check back later for more.
Comments
No comments yet — be the first to weigh in 👇
No comments yet. Be the first!