Approximately 30 Lithuanian hotels have joined a growing class action lawsuit against the online booking platform Booking.com. This legal action, involving over 10,000 hotels across Europe, seeks compensation for alleged financial losses due to Booking.com’s controversial “best price” clause.

• Over 10,000 hotels across Europe are part of the lawsuit, with Lithuanian participants joining at the end of July.
• Egle Lizaityte, executive director of the Association of Lithuanian Restaurants and Hotels, confirmed Lithuanian participation.
• The lawsuit is supported by a September 2024 ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which found such parity clauses violate EU competition law.

Two Chinese nationals, Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang, face charges for allegedly orchestrating an illegal scheme to export millions of dollars' worth of powerful Nvidia AI chips from the US to China.

• The DoJ alleges their company, ALX Solutions, shipped Nvidia H100 GPUs without required licenses over the last three years.
• Mr. Geng is a permanent resident of California, while Ms. Yang is an illegal alien who overstayed her visa.
• Shipments, including a December 2023 consignment, were allegedly routed through transit hubs in Singapore and Malaysia to conceal final delivery to China, with one invoice valued at over $28.4 million.

The United States has announced a significant policy shift in its federal public health strategy, halting $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine projects. This decision, announced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), signals a move towards what it deems "safer, broader vaccine platforms."

• Affected projects amounted to nearly $500 million in funding.
• HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated the decision was based on data indicating mRNA vaccines "fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like Covid and and flu."
• The HHS will now prioritize technologies with stronger safety records and greater transparency in clinical and manufacturing data.