Good morning. The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, according to people familiar with the matter.

• Leaning towards action: A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law, the people said. 
   
• Friday closing: The staff investigators hadn’t yet made a final recommendation—a typical step in the deal-review process—and were told Friday that the department would close the investigation, effectively clearing the deal at the federal level, some of the people said.
   
• Ellison interview: The Justice Department’s senior leaders believed that Paramount Chief Executive Officer David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison, persuasively addressed many of the staff’s questions about the deal during a two-hour interview last month, according to people familiar with their thinking.
   
• Debt questions: Among staffers’ questions was how the combined company could meet its commitment to make 30 theatrical releases a year, given its increased debt load. The senior leaders allowed the inquiries but believed Paramount’s debt wasn’t a reason to challenge the merger, the people familiar with their thinking said. No one on the investigative team spoke up to leadership voicing support for filing a lawsuit, they said.
   
• DOJ statement: “The Antitrust Division conducted a thorough investigation to assess whether the proposed transaction would harm competition,” a Justice Department spokeswoman said. “The investigatory record indicated that the transaction will increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, benefiting American consumers and workers.”

U.K. to ban under-16s from major social-media platforms. 

The U.K. said Monday it will force leading social-media companies to restrict access to their sites for teens under 16 years old, joining a growing list of countries to ban access to the platforms after an outcry by parents and campaigners.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the ban, which should come into force early next year, will include Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X. Starmer said the U.K. government will also ban under 16s from livestreaming themselves on other platforms and curb the ability of strangers to send direct messages to under-16s. Messaging services WhatsApp and Signal won’t be included in the overall ban.

Judge dismisses Elon Musk’s xAI trade-secret lawsuit against OpenAI.

A California federal judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit from Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI that accused OpenAI of trying to steal trade secrets.

Judge Rita Lin said xAI didn’t prove that the rival firm had recruited a former engineer to induce him to share information about the company’s Grok chatbot. Musk’s AI unit had sued OpenAI last year for allegedly taking xAI’s trade secrets and poaching its employees.

• A consumer is demanding that Anthropic reimburse customers of its priciest artificial intelligence subscription plans, alleging in a new lawsuit that the company oversold the usage allowances it offered.
   
• The National Labor Relations Board won’t review a certification vote by Whole Foods Market employees at a store in Philadelphia, rebuffing an effort by the Amazon.com-owned grocery chain to halt the unionization.
   
• The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning to more than 200 auto dealerships: stop advertising cars online with dubious discounts or thousands of dollars in hidden fees. Not all dealers got the message.

Trump says Strait of Hormuz will be fully open by Friday under Iran deal.

President Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be fully open Friday, the same day the U.S. and Iran plan to finalize a peace deal in Switzerland that ends the four-month war and kick-starts nuclear negotiations.

“The deal is already signed and the strait is already partially opened,” Trump said Monday while seated alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the start of Group of Seven talks along the southern bank of Lake Geneva. “Ships are starting to go out now, and on Friday it will be completely opened,” he said, adding that there would be “free sailing.”

See also:

• How Quickly Can the Strait of Hormuz Get Back Up and Running?
• European Powers Back U.S.-Iran Deal, Offer Sanctions Relief for Nuclear Steps (free link)
• Israel Is Alarmed by Trump’s Deal With Iran
• After Iran Tensions, Europe Is Just Trying to Avoid a Fight at G-7

• As tankers ferry sanctioned oil from Iran and Russia around the world, their criminal owners are using a mishmash of digital tools to control crews and cover their tracks. The practices have left ships in the so-called dark fleet exposed to bad actors who could use those weaknesses to cause an explosion or oil spill.
   
• A Canadian government official defended a deal to allow tens of thousands of Chinese-made electric vehicles into the country at significantly reduced tariff rates, which sent shockwaves throughout North America’s auto sector.
   
• Millions of everyday consumer devices, especially knockoffs that you buy online, are being infected by a malware known as residential proxy software.
   
• The Bank of Japan raised interest rates to a 31-year high, anchoring policy against the inflationary risks of a spike in energy costs caused by the war with Iran.
   
• Consumer spending in China declined last month for the first time in more than three years and investment contracted further, highlighting how the world’s second-largest economy has become increasingly lopsided.
   
• Work from home is hardly over. In fact, it’s probably here to stay.

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the Justice Department was investigating him and his wife, accusing President Trump of urging the probe to get back at a political enemy.
   
• General Motors is in talks with Lockheed Martin about making parts for the defense contractor’s weapons, according to people familiar with the matter.
   
• Eight crew members are believed dead after a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber they were on crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the base said Monday.
   
• For years, doctors relied only on written memory tests, invasive spinal taps and expensive imaging to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. Now, two Food and Drug Administration-cleared blood tests are simplifying the diagnosis.
   
• The hottest party game in Silicon Valley started with a casual rallying cry: “Let’s go kill some people.”

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