Top Stories — Monday, April 20, 2026
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- A Humanoid Robot Races to a Record Half-Marathon Finish — nyt News
- Oil prices jump after Iran and U.S. attack commercial ships as tensions escalate over Strait of Hormuz — CNBC
- Can U.S. Blockade Iranian-Linked Ships Anywhere in the World? Yes, But … — nyt News
A Humanoid Robot Races to a Record Half-Marathon Finish
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/20/2026, 3:56:15 AM
It didn’t have to carbo-load, get a good night’s rest or lace up running shoes.
Instead, the toughest challenge for the bright-red humanoid robot named Lightning was avoiding a collision with the more than 300 other robots running in a half-marathon race on Sunday in Beijing.
While the approximately 5-foot-5 Lightning crashed into a barricade and fell during its final stretch, it was able to pick itself back up with help from humans, swing its short forearms to rebalance, and stride across the finish line in 50 minutes, 26 seconds, according to the state-run China Daily.
Lightning’s time was faster than the human world-record holder, Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who finished a half-marathon in 57 minutes, 20 seconds last month in Lisbon.
It was also faster than the 12,000 humans running the race in a separate, parallel lane. The men’s and women’s winners needed more than an hour to complete the outdoor course.
Lightning was designed by the Chinese smartphone brand Honor, and is based on elite human athletes, with legs that are about three feet long.
Lighting’s joints are equipped with a liquid-cooling system adapted from consumer electronics, like smartphones, one of Honor’s engineers told state media.
In this year’s race, many of the robots, like Lightning, ran autonomously, though slightly more than half were operated by remote control.
In the inaugural race last year, the top robot took nearly three times as long as Lightning, finishing in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds, according to the state-run Global Times.
While the robots were faster and more autonomous this year, Alan Fern, a robotics professor at Oregon State University, said the results said more about the state of robot hardware manufacturing in China than about any major scientific breakthrough.
“What appears to have changed this year is that some of China’s many humanoid companies have invested the engineering effort needed to make these systems robust enough for a long-duration race,” he said on Sunday. “That is genuinely impressive.”
While it’s not evidence of a major advancement in artificial intelligence, he said it reflected the robust robotics manufacturing ecosystem in China. The United States has far fewer humanoid companies and very few operating at a large manufacturing scale, he said.
At the same time, China has been pushing to make rapid advancements in robotics, propelled by government directives and significant investments.
There are already more robots at work in China than the rest of the world combined, according to the International Federation of Robotics, a nonprofit trade group for makers of industrial robots.
Last year, Beijing hosted the world’s first Humanoid Robot Games, which featured running, kickboxing and soccer. The competition showcased many advancements and featured plenty of running, kicking and punching.
But the robots also flailed around, crashed and fell over many times.
The city of Beijing called Sunday’s race “a major step forward for the robotics industry — accelerating the transition of humanoid robots from lab to large-scale, real-world application.”
But Professor Fern said he was not sure about the practical application of a robot marathoner.
“A robot winning a half-marathon may attract attention and impress a few investors, but the harder question is how that capability translates into productivity and, ultimately, profitability,” he said. “That is much less obvious.”
Adeel Hassan, a New York-based reporter for The Times, covers breaking news and other topics.
Read the full story at nyt News.
Oil prices jump after Iran and U.S. attack commercial ships as tensions escalate over Strait of Hormuz
Source: CNBC • Published: 4/20/2026, 3:49:54 AM
Crude oil prices surged Sunday, as the U.S. and Iran teetered on the brink of a renewed war after attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery rose about 7% to $89.85 per barrel by 6:09 p.m. ET. International benchmark Brent for June delivery advanced nearly 7% to $96.57.
The U.S. Navy on Sunday fired on an Iranian container ship in the Gulf of Oman, and the Marines later took custody of the ship, President Donald Trump said. The ship had tried to get past the U.S. naval blockade of Iran's ports, Trump said in a Truth Social post.
The U.S. seizure of the ship came after Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Revolutionary Guard gunboats fired on the tanker and a container ship was hit by an unknown projectile, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Operations Centre.
Trump on Sunday threatened again to blow up every power plant and bridge in Iran if its leaders do not accept a deal with the U.S. The ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran will expire this week. Trump called Iran's weekend attacks on ships a "total violation" of the truce.
It is unclear whether the U.S. and Iran will meet for a second round of peace negotiations in Pakistan.
Trump said the U.S. and Iran would hold talks in Islamabad on Monday. But Iran said it would not attend due to the ongoing U.S. naval blockade, among other grievances, according to state news agency IRNA.
The sudden escalation in tensions over the weekend came after the U.S. and Iran appeared to be nearing an agreement at the end of last week.
Oil prices tumbled on Friday after Iran suddenly declared the strait completely open to commercial traffic in response to the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. But it quickly became clear that Tehran was imposing the same conditions for transit through the strait as before.
Trump, meanwhile, refused to lift the U.S. naval blockade of Iran. Tehran reversed course and said the strait would remain closed until the blockade is lifted.
Can U.S. Blockade Iranian-Linked Ships Anywhere in the World? Yes, But …
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/20/2026, 3:22:55 AM
The United States military last week extended its blockade on vessels coming in and out of Iranian ports to the waters of the wider world, declaring that it would pursue any ship aiding Iran, regardless of location on the high seas or flag.
The U.S. “will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday, noting that the American troops beyond the Middle East will engage in operations to thwart Iranian shipping.
The extension of the blockade comes as the economically vital Strait of Hormuz remains all but closed to commercial traffic and the two-week cease-fire between the United States and Iran nears an end. The move aligns longstanding American economic policies targeting Iran with the current military campaign against it, maritime and military law experts say.
But it raises a host of legal and practical questions.
“War is a messy thing not just on the combat side but under national and international law,” said James R. Holmes, chair of maritime strategy at the Naval War College.
“From a legal standpoint, a blockade is an act of war, so the blockade probably is legal to the extent Operation Epic Fury is,” he said using the name of the U.S. military campaign against Iran.
Since Congress has not declared war against Iran, no formal state of war exists between the United States and the Islamic Republic. But Mr. Holmes noted that “undeclared wars are more the rule than the exception in U.S. history,” with joint resolutions of Congress, United Nations Security Council resolutions and NATO decisions invoked to justify fighting.
“This campaign may be more unilateral than most, but it is not without precedent,” he said.
Under international law, the legality of the blockade is “more ambiguous,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank in Washington.
For a blockade to be legal, Ms. Kavanagh said, it must be “effective,” meaning that it is both enforceable and enforced. Some would argue that a “‘global blockade’ is not permissible in conception” because it is overly broad, she said.
Still, expansive blockades have taken place throughout history, including during World War II, when states enforced naval blockades worldwide other than in neutral territorial seas. Over the centuries before that, the British blockaded France throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and during the War of American Independence, the colonies and their allies raided British shipping as far away as the Indian Ocean.
Enforcing expansive blockades is difficult, however.
“The seven seas are a big place, and the largest navy or coast guard is tiny by comparison,” Mr. Holmes said. Whether the U.S. blockade ultimately is deemed “effective,” legally speaking, will depend on whether the U.S. has enough assets like ships, aircraft, boarding crews and intelligence gathering to enforce it.
The blockade does not have to be “airtight” to meet the legal test, Mr. Holmes said, and assessing its effectiveness will be tough for outside observers in any case.
Enforcement may also have to be somewhat selective, he suggested.
“Now, it is possible our leadership might quietly let a ship proceed when it suits the national interest,” Mr. Holmes said. “For instance, with a summit coming up between President Trump and General Secretary Xi” — Mr. Trump is to meet with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in May — “Washington might not want to ruffle feathers by obstructing China’s oil imports.”
The expanded blockade is part of a longstanding economic campaign against Iran, but it represents something of a tactical change for the Trump administration.
Earlier in the war, the United States temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil at sea to ease the pressure on global energy prices. And before imposing a blockade on Iranian ports last week, the U.S. allowed Iranian tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz for the same reason.
Now Washington seems to be returning its focus to keeping pressure on Iran.
“The blockade is a wartime extension of existing U.S. economic sanctions against the Iranian regime,” said James Kraska, professor of international maritime law and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. In peacetime, he said, the sanctions were a “powerful tool to weaken the Iranian economy.” Now, he said, the blockade serves as a “kinetic expansion.”
General Caine’s announcement about the expanded naval blockade came one day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced “Operation Economic Fury,” an effort he called the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign. It includes secondary sanctions on institutions internationally, like banks, that have dealings with Iran.
The expanded blockade “marks a notable escalation by the United States,” said Ms. Kavanagh.
Still, she said, it is unlikely to significantly change Iranian calculations.
“For Iran, this war is existential and it is not going to cave easily or quickly,” she said. “Economic pressure may work over the very long term, but Trump seems too impatient for a deal to wait it out.”
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
Read the full story at nyt News.
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