Hard Numbers: The US-UK relationship becomes very “special,” Germany passes first budget since military-spending change, Venezuela begins military exercises after US drug-boat attacks, & More

$200 billion: A group of major American firms – including Blackstone, OpenAI, and Microsoft – pledged to invest $200 billion in the United Kingdom for projects including data centers and AI expansion, expected to create thousands of jobs. The announcement came as US President Donald Trump is in the UK for a state visit – he and King Charles IIIhailed the strength of the “special relationship” between the two countries at a state banquet Wednesday evening.

0.35%: The German parliament approved its first budget since the Bundestag agreed in March to exempt defense spending from its strict deficit limit of 0.35% of GDP. The €591-billion ($695-billion) budget includes a €100-billion ($118-billion) fund for defense.

$5 billion: The semiconductor maker Nvidia will invest $5 billion into its struggling rival Intel, part of a deal to create new chips for data centers and personal computers. Intel’s stock surged in morning trading. The deal comes just 24 hours after China effectively banned its firms from buying Nvidia chips.

1: The United Kingdom deported its first migrant under the terms of the new “one in, one out” deal with France, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer desperately tries to limit the arrival of migrants via small boats. Under the terms of the pact, each time the UK returns a migrant to France, it can accept one more asylum case.

3: Venezuela’s military has begun three days of exercises following the second attack on a drug boat by the US military off its coast. President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to defend Caracas from what he is characterizing as “US aggression.”