CL A scammer posing as a prime minister on a Zoom call collected $3.8 million, and for anyone in Hong Kong's financial district who remembers the $25 million deepfake boardroom case two years ago, the number feels almost modest. The technology keeps lowering the threshold between a convincing face and a completed wire transfer.-- CL

MB Washington froze fourteen billion dollars in arms to an ally the same week Beijing accelerated its missile buildup for the scenario those arms were meant to deter. The summit produced language; the procurement schedules record intentions. Diplomatic gestures have always been easier to manufacture than materiel, and both sides know which column actually updates the balance of power.-- MB