ICYMI: News Round-Up for May 27–31, 2024

Here are just a few of the news events that took place this week:

1. Donald Trump was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the so-called "Hush Money" trial. This will mark the first time a convicted felon will lead a major U.S. party into an election. Trump called the trial a "scam" and vowed to appeal the verdict. Sentencing is set to take place on July 11th.
2. An Israeli airstrike hit a temporary camp in Rafah, Gaza, killing dozens of people. The bombing came hours after Hamas reportedly fired a barrage of rockets into Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu called the airstrike a “tragic mishap”, and the IDF reports that the incident is under investigation.
3. xAI, an artificial intelligence startup created by Elon Musk, raised $6 billion in its latest funding round. The company is looking to build a supercomputer to compete with companies like OpenAI. Funding came from high profile sources such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.
4. The U.S. oil and gas industry saw two high profile pieces of consolidation news. ConocoPhillips announced plans to buy Marathon Oil in a deal worth $17 billion, and Hess shareholders approved Chevron’s $53 billion takeover bid in a close vote. A disagreement with Exxon Mobil over a Guyana project still looms over the latter deal.
5. Major cybercrime operations took place this week, with the FBI and Europol taking massive botnets offline. The botnets–which are networks of hijacked computer devices–were used for a number of illegal purposes. Europol's Operation Endgame is still in effect, and that further announcements will be coming soon.
6. Beijing announced a new $48 billion state-backed investment fund to help bolster the domestic chipmaking industry. The move comes amidst U.S. sanctions and export controls related to the semiconductor manufacturing.
7. Hong Kong police made their first arrests under the controversial new national security laws. Six people were arrested for publishing "seditious" posts on social media platforms aligning with a “sensitive date" (the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown).