Latest in Technology
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Summit Therapeutics Reportedly Makes $15B AstraZeneca Licensing Talks for Lung Cancer Drug
Summit Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SMMT) is one of the best hot stocks to buy according to Wall Street analysts. On July 3, Bloomberg News reported that AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) is in discussions with Summit Therapeutics for a licensing agreement concerning an experimental lung cancer drug, with a potential value of up to $15 billion. The proposed deal for the drug, which is known as ivonescimab, could involve an upfront payment of several billion dollars to Summit, in addition to future milestone payments. However, the talks are ongoing and could still fall apart. Summit might even choose to partner with a different company. Neither Summit nor AstraZeneca has officially commented on the report. A laboratory employee in a sterile environment inspecting a microscope focused on a Clostridioides difficile infection sample. Summit Therapeutics secured the rights to ivonescimab through a separate deal worth up to $5 billion with China-based Akeso in December 2022. Under that agreement, Summit gained exclusive rights to develop and commercialize ivonescimab in the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan, while Akeso (OTC:AKESF) retained rights for other regions, including China. The deal included an upfront payment of $500 million to Akeso and potential regulatory and commercial milestones of up to $4.5 billion. Summit Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SMMT) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes patient, physician, caregiver, and societal-friendly medicinal therapies. AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prescription medicines. While we acknowledge the potential of SMMT as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the . READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Guardian
22 minutes ago
- Business
- The Guardian
If the US president threatens to take away freedoms, are we no longer free?
Threats of retribution from Donald Trump are hardly a novelty, but even by his standards, the US president's warnings of wrathful vengeance in recent days have represented a dramatic escalation. In the past week, Trump has threatened deportation, loss of US citizenship or arrest against, respectively, the world's richest person, the prospective future mayor of New York and Joe Biden's former homeland security secretary. The head-spinning catalogue of warnings may have been aimed at distracting from the increasing unpopularity, according to opinion surveys, of Trump's agenda, some analysts say. But they also served as further alarm bells for the state of US democracy five-and-a-half months into a presidency that has seen a relentless assault on constitutional norms, institutions and freedom of speech. On Tuesday, Trump turned his sights on none other than Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who, before a recent spectacular fallout, had been his closest ally in ramming through a radical agenda of upending and remaking the US government. But when the Tesla and SpaceX founder vowed to form a new party if Congress passed Trump's signature 'one big beautiful bill' into law, Trump swung into the retribution mode that is now familiar to his Democratic opponents. 'Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, menacing both the billions of dollars in federal subsidies received by Musk's companies, and – it seemed – his US citizenship, which the entrepreneur received in 2002 but which supporters like Steve Bannon have questioned. 'No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.' Trump twisted the knife further the following morning talking to reporters before boarding a flight to Florida. 'We might have to put Doge on Elon,' he said, referring to the unofficial 'department of government efficiency' that has gutted several government agencies and which Musk spearheaded before stepping back from his ad hoc role in late May. 'Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn't that be terrible.' Musk's many critics may have found sympathy hard to come by given his earlier job-slashing endeavors on Trump's behalf and the $275m he spent last year in helping to elect him. But the wider political implications are worrying, say US democracy campaigners. 'Trump is making clear that if he can do that to the world's richest man, he could certainly do it to you,' said Ian Bassin, co-founder and executive director of Protect Democracy. 'It's important, if we believe in the rule of law, that we believe in it whether it is being weaponized against someone that we have sympathy for or someone that we have lost sympathy for.' Musk was not the only target of Trump's capricious vengeance. He also threatened to investigate the US citizenship of Zohran Mamdani, the Democrats' prospective candidate for mayor of New York who triumphed in a multicandidate primary election, and publicly called on officials to explore the possibility of arresting Alejandro Mayorkas, the former head of homeland security in the Biden administration. Both scenarios were raised during a highly stage-managed visit to 'Alligator Alcatraz', a forbidding new facility built to house undocumented people rounded up as part of Trump's flagship mass-deportation policy. After gleefully conjuring images of imprisoned immigrants being forced to flee from alligators and snakes presumed to reside in the neighbouring marshlands, Trump seized on obliging questions from friendly journalists working for rightwing fringe outlets that have been accredited by the administration for White House news events, often at the expense of established media. 'Why hasn't he been arrested yet?' asked Julio Rosas from Blaze Media, referring to Mayorkas, who was widely vilified – and subsequently impeached – by Republicans who blamed him for a record number of immigrant crossings at the southern US border. 'Was he given a pardon, Mayorkas?' Trump replied. On being told no, he continued: 'I'll take a look at that one because what he did is beyond incompetence … Somebody told Mayorkas to do that and he followed orders, but that doesn't necessarily hold him harmless.' Asked by Benny Johnson, a rightwing social media influencer, for his message to 'communist' Mamdani – a self-proclaimed democratic socialist – over his pledge not to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) roundups of undocumented people if he is elected mayor, Trump said: 'Then we will have to arrest him. We don't need a communist in this country. I'm going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.' He also falsely suggested that Mamdani, 33 – who became a naturalized US citizen in 2018 after emigrating from Uganda with his ethnic Indian parents when he was a child – was in the country 'illegally', an assertion stemming from a demand by a Republican representative for a justice department investigation into his citizenship application. The representative, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, alleged that Mamdani, who has vocally campaigned for Palestinian rights, gained it through 'willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism'. The threat to Mamdani echoed a threat Trump's border 'czar' Tom Homan made to arrest Gavin Newsom, the California governor, last month amid a row over Trump's deployment of national guard forces in Los Angeles to confront demonstrators protesting against Ice's arrests of immigrants. Omar Noureldin, senior vice-president with Common Cause, a pro-democracy watchdog, said the animus against Mamdani, who is Muslim, was partly fueled by Islamophobia and racism. 'Part of the rhetoric we've heard around Mamdani, whether from the president or other political leaders, goes toward his religion, his national origin, race, ethnicity,' he said. 'Mamdani has called himself a democratic socialist. There are others, including Bernie Sanders, who call themselves that, but folks aren't questioning whether or not Bernie Sanders should be a citizen.' Retribution promised to be a theme of Trump's second presidency even before he returned to the Oval Office in January. On the campaign trail last year, he branded some political opponents – including Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, and Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives – as 'the enemy within'. Since his inauguration in January, he has made petty acts of revenge against both Democrats and Republicans who have crossed him. Biden; Kamala Harris, the former vice-president and last year's defeated Democratic presidential nominee; and Hillary Clinton, Trump's 2016 opponent, have all had their security clearances revoked. Secret Service protection details have been removed from Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, who served in Trump's first administration, despite both being the subject of death threats from Iran because of the 2020 assassination of Qassem Suleimani, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander. Similar fates have befallen Anthony Fauci, the infectious diseases specialist who angered Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as Biden's adult children, Hunter and Ashley. Trump has also targeted law firms whose lawyers previously acted against him, prompting some to strike deals that will see them perform pro bono services for the administration. For now, widely anticipated acts of retribution against figures like Gen Mark Milley, the former chair of the joint chiefs of staff of the armed forces – whom Trump previously suggested deserved to be executed for 'treason' and who expressed fears of being recalled to active duty and then court-martialed – have not materialised. 'I [and] people in my world expected that Trump would come up with investigations of any number of people, whether they were involved in the Russia investigation way back when, or the election investigation, or the January 6 insurrection, but by and large he hasn't done that,' said one veteran Washington insider, who requested anonymity, citing his proximity to people previously identified as potential Trump targets. 'There are all kinds of lists floating around … with names of people that might be under investigation, but you'll never know you're under investigation until police turn up on your doorstep – and these people are just getting on with their lives.' Yet pro-democracy campaigners say Trump's latest threats should be taken seriously – especially after several recent detentions of several elected Democratic officials at protests near immigration jails or courts. In the most notorious episode, Alex Padilla, a senator from California, was forced to the floor and handcuffed after trying to question Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, at a press conference. 'When the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world, threatens to arrest you, that's as serious as it gets,' said Bassin, a former White House counsel in Barack Obama's administration. 'Whether the DoJ [Department of Justice] opens an investigation or seeks an indictment, either tomorrow, next year or never is beside the point. The threat itself is the attack on our freedoms, because it's designed to make us all fear that if any one of us opposes or even just criticises the president, we risk being prosecuted.' While some doubt the legal basis of Trump's threats to Musk, Mayorkas and Mamdani, Noureldin cautioned that they should be taken literally. 'Trump is verbose and grandiose, but I think he also backs up his promises with action,' he said. 'When the president of the United States says something, we have to take it as serious and literal. I wouldn't be surprised if at the justice department, there is a group of folks who are trying to figure out a way to [open prosecutions].' But the bigger danger was to the time-honored American notion of freedom, Bassin warned. 'One definition of freedom is that you are able to speak your mind, associate with who you want, lead the life that you choose to lead, and that so long as you conduct yourself in accordance with the law, the government will not retaliate against you or punish you for doing those things,' he said. 'When the president of the United States makes clear that actually that is not the case, that if you say things he doesn't like, you will be singled out, and the full force of the state could be brought down on your head, then you're no longer free. 'And if he's making clear that that's true for people who have the resources of Elon Musk or the political capital of a Mayorkas or a Mamdani, imagine what it means for people who lack those positions or resources.'
Zawya
24 minutes ago
- Business
- Zawya
ContactNow and Kashier partner to provide flexible BNPL payment solutions for customers
Cairo: Contact Creditech, the digital consumer finance arm of Contact Financial Holding, has announced a strategic partnership with Kashier, one of the leading online payment gateways in Egypt and the Middle East. The collaboration will enable the integration of the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service from the ContactNow app into Kashier's payment system, representing a strategic move to expand Contact's customer base and strengthen our digital footprint in the Egyptian market. This collaboration marks a key step in Contact Now's strategy to expand its digital offerings and enhance the customer experience. By providing flexible installment plans and seamless digital payment options, Contact Now delivers an intuitive financial journey tailored to customers' daily needs, especially as demand continues to grow for smarter, tech-driven financial solutions. Ahmed El Moselhy – Business Director at Contact Now, commented: " Partnering with a leading digital payments provider like Kashier is an exciting step forward. This partnership reflects our vision of delivering innovative financing solutions by integrating the BNPL services, we aim to strengthen our market presence and reach new customer segments in line with evolving market dynamics and changing customer needs.' Khaled Raslan, Founder and CEO of Kashier, said: 'Our goal at Kashier has always been to help businesses grow by offering cutting-edge payment solutions and partnering with ContactNow, a market leader in consumer finance, allows us to bring even more value to our merchants and their customers by making financing more accessible and frictionless.' It is noteworthy that "ContactNow" app offers a diverse set of digital financing solutions, catering to the rising customer demand for easy and flexible payment options. This initiative reflects Contact's commitment to delivering smart financial experiences, advancing financial inclusion, and driving digital transformation, particularly amid the rapid growth in the fintech sector, driven by shifting consumer behavior and the increasing reliance on cashless payment methods.
Zawya
24 minutes ago
- Business
- Zawya
Major industry's shift: Infrastructure is critical for the AI era as KSA advances Vision 2030
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Ahead of its flagship event in Riyadh 'Cisco Connect – CXO Edition', Cisco has revealed key local findings from its global networking study, highlighting how AI and modernized networks are driving fundamental changes in enterprise infrastructure. As AI assistants, agents, and data-driven workloads reshape how work gets done, they're creating faster, more dynamic, more latency-sensitive, and more complex network traffic. The rise of connected devices, 24/7 uptime demands, and growing security threats are pushing infrastructure to adapt and evolve. IT leaders are rethinking networks—what they do, how they enable growth, and how they protect businesses. The network they build today will decide the business they become tomorrow. Salman Faqeeh, the Managing Director of Cisco in Saudi Arabia, commented: "Our research highlights a critical shift in network architecture that aligns with Saudi Arabia's focus on innovation. The AI era relies on ultra-fast, low-latency, and highly secure networks, and KSA is leading the way by building the AI infrastructure of the future. At Cisco, we are proud to partner with Saudi Arabia to develop networks that will drive the Kingdom's ambitious Vision 2030 goals." Key Insights: The Future of Networking in Saudi Arabia The network has become a strategic priority: all participants say a modernized network is critical to rolling out AI, IoT, and cloud. 94% of IT leaders plan to increase the share of their overall IT budget allocated to networking. Secure networking is mission critical: 98% say secure networking is important to their operations and growth; 65% say it's critical. 97% believe an improved network will enhance their cybersecurity posture. AI intensifies demand for resilient networks: 97% say a resilient network is critical, at a time when 73% faced major outages in the past two years – driven largely by congestion, cyberattacks, and misconfigurations. Leaders look to AI to grow revenue: 52% say a modernized network's greatest impact on revenue will come from deploying AI tools that automate and tailor customer journeys – enabling faster, more personalized experiences that can strengthen loyalty and drive growth. AI is reshaping computing infrastructure: 67% say their data centres can't yet meet today's AI demands, and 90% plan to expand capacity – on-prem, in the cloud, or both. Leaders want to make networks smarter: 98% say autonomous, AI-powered networks are essential to future growth – yet only 40% have deployed the intelligent capabilities – like segmentation, visibility, and control – to make their network adaptive. The Network is the Value: Modern Infrastructure Unlocking Growth and Savings IT leaders in KSA are already delivering financial value from today's networks: largely by improving customer experiences (61%), boosting efficiency (62%), and enabling innovation (54%). But much of that value is at risk if it comes from infrastructure that hasn't been designed for AI or real-time scale. The Path Ahead: Bridging the Gaps To unlock the full growth and savings they expect, IT leaders in KSA have identified critical gaps they must close: Breaking Down Silos: 62% cite siloed or partially integrated systems as a major challenge. Scaling Deployments: 42% say incomplete implementations are holding them back. Reducing Manual Oversight: 39% highlight the need for greater automation and intelligent management. Smarter, more secure, more adaptive networks are the business case for investment. 92% say improved networks will directly drive revenue, and 97% expect meaningful cost savings – driven by smarter operations, fewer outages, and lower energy use. Discover more of the key findings from Cisco's Networking Research here. About the research This global study is based on a survey of 8,065 senior IT and business leaders responsible for networking strategy and infrastructure at organizations with 250 or more employees. The survey was conducted across 30 markets in December 2024 by Sandpiper Research & Insights, on behalf of Cisco. About Cisco Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity and strengthen digital resilience. With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on X at @Cisco. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word 'partner' does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.
Arabian Post
24 minutes ago
- Science
- Arabian Post
Brains on Autopilot: ChatGPT May Erode Critical Thinking
A newly disclosed MIT Media Lab experiment warns that overreliance on ChatGPT could diminish neural engagement and hamper critical thinking, memory retention and originality. The controlled study compared three groups—one using ChatGPT, one relying on search engines and a third writing unaided—tracking brain activity via electroencephalography during repeated essay-writing sessions. Participants using only their cognitive abilities showed the greatest neural activation, stronger memory recall, and more nuanced, creative expression. By contrast, ChatGPT users displayed the lowest brain engagement across neural, linguistic and behavioural measures. Experts described their outputs as 'soulless,' and follow‑up testing revealed that those who started by leaning on AI struggled to regain earlier performance levels when later writing independently. The U. K. survey of more than 600 users echoed these concerns: frequent AI use was significantly linked to reduced critical thinking—especially among younger individuals who offloaded mental effort rather than utilising AI as an aid. Researchers warn this pattern may foster 'cognitive off‑loading,' a dependence that could diminish mental agility. ADVERTISEMENT Yet the data also reveal nuance. In a separate high school‑based trial, students who engaged with AI tutors offering iterative guidance rather than complete solutions performed just as well as those without AI assistance. This suggests that when AI is used to supplement learning and not supplant it, cognitive gains remain achievable. MIT lead researcher Nataliya Kosmyna cautions: 'This study was not measuring intelligence loss, but rather the neural, linguistic and behavioural effects of reliance on generative systems.' She emphasises that the findings remain unreviewed and limited in scope, underscoring the need for long‑term, peer‑validated work before drawing sweeping conclusions. Cambridge University's Sam Gilbert frames the phenomenon differently: reduced brain activity might reflect a release of mental bandwidth, enabling users to channel attention into higher‑order tasks. But he reminds policymakers and educators that caution is essential when integrating AI in formative environments. Business and public discourse have responded swiftly. Coverage in the Washington Post highlighted the delicate balance between cognitive off‑loading and the potential to free mental capacity for creative endeavour. Coverage from The New York Post and The Times cited concerns of 'skill atrophy' and warned against passive AI dependence. Academic literature supports this emerging narrative. An arXiv study dated December 2024 flagged 'metacognitive laziness' among AI‑assisted learners—those who rely on ChatGPT improved essay scores but showed weak knowledge transfer. University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon faculties likewise document a tension between AI assistance and sustained critical reasoning in student assignments. Tech industry responses emphasise that AI's strength lies in augmentation, not substitution. Start‑ups such as BioSpark and other 'cognitive‑sparking' interfaces aim to rekindle curiosity and ownership—positioning AI as a creative counterpart rather than a convenience. Major AI developers, including OpenAI, maintain that generative AI can enhance productivity—citing workforce efficiency gains of up to 15 per cent. Yet they acknowledge that without user agency and deliberate design, those gains may come at the expense of independent thought. With institutional adoption surging—over one billion ChatGPT users worldwide—experts press for frameworks that prioritise mental resilience as much as performance. The debate reflects a longstanding tension in the adoption of technology. From Socrates' lament over writing to early anxieties about calculators and internet search, each leap in efficiency has triggered reflection on intellectual costs. AI, its proponents argue, is no different: transformation demands vigilance. As Michael Gerlich of the Swiss Business School notes, 'It's become a part of how I think.' But he stresses that training the mind to think with AI, rather than through it, will be critical.
