Alibaba has agreed to pay $600 million to settle a dispute with the U.S. government. The company faced allegations of selling and importing illegal pharmaceuticals and equipment through its platforms, Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com.

The U.S. claims that Alibaba’s payment processor, AUS Merchant Services Inc., violated federal law by failing to prevent these sales. Alibaba admits it failed to stop about 80,000 unlawful imports between January 2016 and December 2024. The IRS conducted over 40 undercover purchases of illegal items. A non-prosecution agreement was reached. Separately, Alibaba is suing the U.S. Defense Department over a blacklist designation.

White House lifts restrictions on Claude

The Trump administration has lifted restrictions on artificial intelligence company Anthropic’s latest versions of its Claude chatbot, ending a weekslong ban tied to cybersecurity concerns. Anthropic said Tuesday night that its AI model called Claude Fable 5 is now widely available.

It’s also restoring access to its most powerful model, Mythos 5, but only to a select group of U.S.-based organizations approved by the federal government. The Commerce Department blocked foreign nationals from using both AI models on June 12, a move that San Francisco-based Anthropic said forced the company to immediately take the products down for all users just days after it unveiled them.

US, Canada and Mexico begin bumpy negotiations

The North American trade pact that President Donald Trump negotiated and boasted about in his first term is up for renewal. It’s a process that is likely to last months, maybe longer. And the path forward is lined with landmines.

The U.S. is making demands that could effectively force Canada and Mexico to surrender some factory production to the United States. That push would upend established regional automotive supply chains and would put upward pressure on U.S. prices for new cars. Trump has added to the tension by threatening to pull out of his own agreement altogether.

Puerto Rico still awaiting billions after hurricane

Lawmakers have released a federal audit that found that only 25% of some $14 billion in federal funds obligated for Puerto Rico’s power grid after Hurricane Maria razed it almost a decade ago has reached the U.S. territory.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office audit was released Wednesday by U.S. Democratic lawmakers. Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017. It knocked power out in some neighborhoods for almost a year. An estimated 2,975 people died in the storm’s sweltering aftermath. Two weeks before Maria hit, Hurricane Irma swiped past the island’s northeast corner as a Category 5 storm. The grid was further destabilized by a series of strong earthquakes.

Most stocks rise, but tech drops lower Wall Street

Most U.S. stocks rose, but drops for some influential technology companies pulled the market lower. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% Wednesday for its eighth loss in

11 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly flat and edged down less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%.

Stocks got a boost after a weaker-than-expected report on U.S. manufacturing helped Treasury yields pare gains in the bond market. That could mean less pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year. Three out of five stocks within the S&P 500 rose, but drops for AI winners weighed on the index.