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Housing block in Warsaw, PolandBusà Photography | Moment | Getty ImagesA version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.After a pullback in commercial real estate activity earlier this year due to broad economic uncertainty, there are new signs that activity is on the move again. Capital is increasing and “bidder dynamics” are stabilizing, according to JLL’s global Bid…

Anthropic is launching a research preview of a browser-based AI agent powered by its Claude AI models, the company announced on Tuesday. The agent, Claude for Chrome, is rolling out to a group of 1,000 subscribers on Anthropic’s Max plan, which costs between $100 and $200 per month. The company is also opening a waitlist for other interested users. By adding an extension to Chrome, select users can now chat with Claude in a sidecar window that maintains context of everything happening in their browser. Users can also give the Claude agent permission to take actions in their browser and…

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A 52-year-old woman who was adopted to a French family in 1984 without her biological parents’ consent has filed for compensation from South Korea’s government, citing how authorities at the time fraudulently documented her as an orphan although she had a family.The rare petition filed by Yooree Kim came months after South Korea’s truth commission recognized her and 55 other adoptees as victims of human rights violations, including falsified child origins, lost records and child protection failures. Her case was highlighted last year in an Associated Press investigation in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS). The investigation…

Protesters stormed Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters on Monday and made it into president Brad Smith’s office in Building 34, forcing a temporary lockdown. The “No Azure for Apartheid” group livestreamed their sit-in on Twitch, hoisting banners, chanting ‘Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!’ and posting a mock legal summons charging Smith with “crimes against humanity.” Microsoft did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment earlier in the day, but a few hours after the occupation, Smith held a hastily called press conference beside his desk to address the extraordinary events. Of the seven people involved, he said, just two…

Alphabet’s life sciences arm Verily laid off staff and eliminated its entire devices program Monday. CEO Stephen Gillett announced the “difficult decision” to wind down the program in a staff memo, according to Business Insider. “Over the years, Verily has built a legacy in developing world-class, innovative medical devices,” Gillett wrote, noting that the “path forward requires difficult decisions” as Verily refocuses on AI and data infrastructure. The move continues Alphabet’s aggressive efforts to invest in AI while cutting costs elsewhere. The company has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years, including cuts to its HR and cloud units…

Assort Health, a startup that uses AI to automate patient communication for specialty healthcare practices, has raised about $50 million in a Series B round at a valuation of $750 million, according to three sources familiar with the deal. The latest round, which comes just four months after the company raised its $22 million Series A, was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, these sources said. The company’s AI voice agents are designed to take over high-volume, repetitive tasks like scheduling, cancellations, and frequently asked questions normally managed by front desk staff, allowing human staff to focus on more complex or…

Icons Tiny Plants by Lego.James Manning – Pa Images | Pa Images | Getty ImagesFlowers, succulents and Formula One race cars helped fuel a 12% revenue bump for Lego during the first half of the year.The company reported a record 34.6 billion Danish kroner, or $5.4 billion, in revenue as part of its biannual earnings report on Wednesday. Operating profit rose 10% year over year to 9 billion Danish kroner, or $1.4 billion, the company said.”It’s the best first half ever,” Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told CNBC. “It’s a record on revenue, a record on operating profit, it’s a record…

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket lifted off on its 10th test flight Tuesday evening, hitting two long-sought milestones and putting an end to a string of failures. The 403-foot vehicle lifted off from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch facility and recently incorporated city, at 7:30 p.m. ET after two scrubs earlier this week. The rocket ascended on 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines before separating around three minutes after liftoff. On descent, the Super Heavy booster tested out a new maneuver: intentionally shutting down the engines used for landing and transitioning to backup engines. The test will help engineers understand how the booster might perform…

Google is upgrading its Gemini chatbot with a new AI image model that gives users finer control over editing photos, a step meant to catch up with OpenAI’s popular image tools and draw users from ChatGPT. The update, called Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, rolls out starting Tuesday to all users in the Gemini app, as well as to developers via the Gemini API, Google AI Studio, and Vertex AI platforms. Gemini’s new AI image model is designed to make more precise edits to images — based on natural language requests from users — while preserving the consistency of faces, animals,…

VENICE, Italy (AP) — The Venice Film Festival is kicking off with the world premiere of Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” on Wednesday. The 82nd edition of the glamourous international film festival is playing host to many Hollywood stars, including George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Dwayne Johnson, and famed auteurs, from Guillermo del Toro to Kathryn Bigelow, who all have films debuting over the next 10 days.The festival, which takes place on the Lido, chose to open with the newest film from one of Italy’s most revered working filmmakers. “La Grazia” stars Sorrentino’s longtime collaborator Toni Servillo, although the plot has…