Morning Briefing #50 — May 15, 2026

Morning Briefing #51 — May 15, 2026Your daily briefing connecting world events, technology, and education.No political slant. Just facts.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📋 IN TODAY'S EPISODE━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🌍 WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE WORLD────────────────────────────────_"Here's what's shaping the world today."_1. Trump and Xi Meet in Beijing — Taiwan, Iran, and AI Chips on the TablePresident Trump wrapped up a two-day state visit to Beijing this week, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in talks that covered some of the most consequential flashpoints in US-China relations. The two leaders agreed that the Strait of Hormuz "must remain open" and that Iran "can never have a nuclear weapon," though Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly stated that Trump "didn't ask China for anything" regarding Iran — even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that China would use its influence behind the scenes to help reopen the strait. Taiwan was placed at the center of the agenda by Xi Jinping, who called it "the most important issue" between the two countries. On technology, Washington reportedly cleared sales of Nvidia's H200 AI chips to several major Chinese tech firms shortly after the summit concluded, a significant reversal of export restrictions that had been in place for months.2. The Hormuz Crisis: Iran's Blockade Enters Its Third MonthThe Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly 20% of the world's oil supply flows — has been largely blocked by Iran since late February, when the United States and Israel launched air strikes against Iran following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran retaliated with drone and missile attacks on Israel, US military bases, and Gulf state allies, and in May declared a "vast operational area" extending the blockade further into the Gulf of Oman. US-Iran peace talks remain stalled; Iran says it is ready to repel any new attack. The United Kingdom announced this week it is deploying drones, fighter aircraft, and a Royal Navy warship to join an international mission to protect commercial shipping. Markets have been rattled: the Dow Jones only recaptured 50,000 this week for the first time since the conflict began in February.3. Kevin Warsh Confirmed as New Federal Reserve Chair — Jerome Powell's Term Ends TodayThe Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh on May 13 to serve as the 17th chair of the Federal Reserve, replacing Jerome Powell whose term ends today, May 15. The vote was 54-45, almost entirely along party lines — the most divisive confirmation vote for a Fed chair in history. Warsh, a former Fed governor who served from 2006 to 2011, has argued there is room to lower interest rates but promised to exercise independent judgment and not take orders from the White House. His first FOMC meeting as chair is scheduled for June 16-17. Markets responded positively: the S&P 500 hit a record 7,501 and the Dow recaptured 50,000 this week as investors absorbed the news.---💻 THE TECH CONNECTION────────────────────────────────_"What's moving in AI and emerging tech."_1. OpenAI Launches Daybreak: AI That Finds and Patches Vulnerabilities Before Attackers Do(continued in YouTube show notes)