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Luke Vargas (0:09)

Columbia lurches right as voters back a candidate pledging a major drugs crackdown.

Juan Forero (0:15)

This puts the US in a good position to fight drugs here more openly, and it would also provide an ally for the US in whatever actions it takes in Venezuela.

Luke Vargas (0:27)

Plus, SoftBank leapfrogs Toyota to become Japan's most valuable company, and Nvidia unveils a next generation of personal computers designed to run AI agents. It's Monday, June 1st. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

The US and Iran have once again exchanged blows, with the US hitting air defense radars and drone sites after Iran shot down an American drone. The weekend flare-up came as the two sides continued discussions to extend a ceasefire and lift blockages in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump posted on social media this morning that Iran wants to make a deal, but lawmakers were complicating negotiations. American hardliners and Israel are wary of a deal that fails to secure concrete concessions on Iran's nuclear program or control of the Strait.

In Colombia, far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella has won the first round of a presidential election held Sunday in a major blow to both the ruling leftist party and establishment conservatives. The surprise result sets up a high-stakes runoff in a few weeks between the government's far-left candidate, Ivan Sapeida and Espriella.

Juan Forero (1:48)

Abelardo de la Espriella is a populist. He's an outsider. He's never held public office.

Luke Vargas (1:55)

That's Juan Forero, our editor for South America. Reporting from Bogota, Juan said that the flamboyant far-right lawyer ran an unusual campaign and has a background to match.

Juan Forero (2:06)

He's best known here in this country for having represented some pretty well-known underworld figures, which makes him kind of an unusual candidate in a country like this, which has been lately buffeted by drug violence and by narcotrafficking groups. But what he basically says is that he's going to punish those groups. He actually says he's going to build 10 supermax prisons in Colombia, and he says he's going to stamp out violence and crime as well as corruption.

Luke Vargas (2:38)

And Juan says that a win for Esprea could mean another close ally for President Trump in Latin America.

Juan Forero (2:44)

With Abelardo de la Esprea having taken the most votes and really put himself in a position to win the presidency, I think this means that the United States will have a very close ally. He has expressed admiration for President Trump, as well as for some other right wing leaders in Latin America who are also close to the US including Najib Ukele in El Salvador and Javier Millay in Argentina.

I think that this puts the US in a good position to fight drugs here more openly. And it would also provide an ally for the US in whatever actions it takes in Venezuela.

Luke Vargas (3:24)

Since the vote, the Colombian president, along with his candidate, Ivan Sapeta, have said they don't accept the results.

A month after blocking MEDA's acquisition of China-linked AI startup Manis, Beijing is formalizing restrictions on outbound investments in a bid to keep technology and data in the country. We report that a ban on the unauthorized direct export of state-restricted goods, technology, services, and data is already in effect, with a ban on indirect transfers kicking in in July that would bar things like cross-border personnel deployments, training programs, and technical guidance. Our China Bureau Chief Jonathan Cheng has more.

Jonathan Cheng (4:05)

China, for many years, benefited from innovation coming out of the West, and they faced accusations that they were perhaps underhandedly getting their hands on some technology and innovation from the West. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and China is trying to be very careful about how it protects its own intellectual property.

Luke Vargas (4:26)

Jon, we clearly saw that in China unwinding that metamanus deal, and yet that deal was a bit of an outlier.

Jonathan Cheng (4:32)

Yeah, look, there haven't been too many deals yet, but I think Beijing anticipates that there are going to be more of these temptations by Chinese technologists, scholars, scientists, entrepreneurs. I think there's a real sense that as China moves up the curve in terms of innovation, that they have more to protect.

It may have some unintended consequences because what it may say, if you're a bright, young Chinese entrepreneur or scientist, technologist, AI engineer, you may decide that this isn't the sort of environment for you, you may try to even get out of China before you have anything that's of any value because once you have something of value, you may find yourself stuck in China and not able to sell outside.