Mortgage vendors are entering a new phase of consolidation as they respond to rising regulatory and cybersecurity pressures, according to a white paper released this week by investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey.

Scale is also becoming a decisive advantage for companies that sell mortgage technology and services, a trend that follows a mergers-and-acquisition wave among their clients, including the country’s top lenders and servicers.

“The market is still highly fragmented with many tech-enabled mortgage services vendors that are subscale companies unable to compete with the larger ones,” said John Guzzo, managing director in the firm’s financial services group. “We see the customers of these subscale vendors moving to the larger scaled vendors.”

The industry has seen deals across title, processing and other mortgage services. Recent transactions reflecting this trend include Title Resources Group and Doma, with Doma’s closing and escrow unit acquired earlier this year by Opendoor; PartnerOne‘s purchase of Mortgage Cadence; and Reverse Focus closing a deal for Apiro Marketing.

Guzzo said the dynamic is especially clear in residential appraisal management and related services, an area estimated to be worth “north of $9 billion.”

“There’s hundreds of appraisal management companies, but there’s about only five larger ones of scale,” he said. “The largest five control approximately 30% to 35% of the appraisal originations market. So, you have close to 70% of the market that works with the small-cap vendors, and that’s going to shift.”

In this environment, “larger” vendors often mean those with more than $100 million in revenue and at least $15 million to $20 million in EBITDA, although thresholds vary by subsector.

Sources of pressure

The Houlihan Lokey paper highlights how recent mandates from Fannie Mae and new federal privacy rules, including the Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act, have significantly increased the cost and complexity of operating as a mortgage vendor.

At the same time, the average cost of a financial services data breach has climbed above $5 million, and the use of artificial intelligence in fraud has made cybersecurity programs more complex and expensive.

“Many of the smaller mortgage vendors are facing headwinds and will likely be getting sold to the larger vendors over time, or they will continue to struggle to keep market share as they don’t have the capital to keep up with cybersecurity, compliance and everything you need to have to effectively compete in this market,” Guzzo said. “They’re eventually either going to get acquired or slowly will just go away.”

Guzzo added that large banks and top-tier nonbank lenders are now conducting deeper cybersecurity audits of key vendors in response to recent industry breaches.

Buying preferences

Lenders and servicers are also reshaping the vendor landscape through their buying preferences. There is a clear trend toward single-vendor, multiproduct platforms that can handle large swaths of the mortgage life cycle. This is driving a shift toward broader “one-stop shop” providers.

“We are beginning to move from single-product vendors to multiproduct vendors that have a diverse product suite,” Guzzo said. “One of the biggest drivers of this is the lenders. They don’t want to deal with 10-plus vendors. If they could just go to a smaller subsegment of larger vendors that provide multiple products, it makes it easier and less costly for the lender to manage.”

That is changing the nature of M&A. Buyers are increasingly focused on acquiring capabilities such as broker price opinions on the servicing side, new software and domain expertise, rather than just revenue.

To build these multiproduct platforms, vendors are tapping private equity and institutional capital, including international investors, Guzzo said.

“We have seen investments from Europe into the market. We’ve even seen investments from the Middle East. They’ll do it through U.S.-based funds, but the money could be from Europe or from Asia,” he said.

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By JBizNews Desk

WASHINGTON — May 22, 2026

The federal government is no longer just funding America’s quantum computing industry. It is buying into it.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Commerce has signed letters of intent to provide more than $2 billion in federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act to nine quantum computing companies — and, in exchange, Washington will take minority, non-controlling equity stakes in each recipient.

The structure mirrors the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive industrial-policy model already used with Intel Corp. and MP Materials, transforming the federal government from grant provider into direct shareholder across industries deemed strategically critical to U.S. national security and technological leadership.

At the center of Thursday’s package is IBM Corp., which will receive $1 billion to launch what the company describes as America’s first purpose-built quantum chip foundry.

The new entity, named Anderon, will be headquartered in Albany, New York, and operate as a 300-millimeter quantum wafer manufacturing facility designed to serve both IBM and external industry customers developing next-generation quantum hardware.

IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna said the project would position the United States at the center of the emerging global quantum supply chain while accelerating domestic manufacturing capacity.

“Anderon will be well-positioned to fuel America’s fast-growing quantum technology industry,” Krishna said Thursday.

IBM is matching the federal incentive dollar-for-dollar, committing another $1 billion in cash alongside intellectual property, infrastructure assets and staffing commitments. IBM shares rose roughly 4% in early trading following the announcement.

The remaining federal funding will be distributed across a broad range of quantum architectures and technologies, reflecting Washington’s strategy of diversifying bets across competing approaches to quantum computing.

GlobalFoundries is slated to receive approximately $375 million to establish a secure domestic quantum foundry capable of manufacturing chips across multiple architectures, including superconducting, trapped-ion, photonic, silicon-spin and topological systems.

Additional awards include up to $100 million each for D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, Infleqtion, Atom Computing, PsiQuantum, and Quantinuum.

The smallest disclosed allocation — roughly $38 million — will go to Australian-American startup Diraq.

Commerce officials said the funding will target some of the industry’s most difficult engineering bottlenecks, including quantum error correction, cryogenic integration, photonic packaging and large-scale qubit control systems.

Those technical hurdles remain the primary obstacle preventing quantum computing from moving from experimental research into commercially scalable machines.

Markets reacted immediately.

Shares of D-Wave Quantum surged roughly 19% in premarket trading, while Rigetti Computing gained 15%. IonQ, which was not included in Thursday’s funding package, climbed 9% on expectations of broader sector support.

Smaller speculative quantum names rallied sharply as well, with Arqit Quantum jumping more than 25% and Quantum Computing Inc. gaining nearly 20%.

The political framing from the administration was unmistakable.

“With today’s CHIPS Research and Development investments in quantum computing, the Trump administration is leading the world into a new era of American innovation,” Lutnick said.

He described the initiative as critical for securing domestic manufacturing, protecting U.S. technological leadership and creating high-paying American jobs tied to advanced computing infrastructure.

The announcement further expands the administration’s evolving industrial strategy, which increasingly blends subsidies, tariffs, direct investment and federal ownership stakes across industries viewed as strategically vital.

Last year, the government converted nearly $9 billion in Intel support into an equity position approaching 10% of the semiconductor giant.

That precedent now appears to be extending into quantum hardware.

The economic stakes behind Washington’s move are potentially enormous, though still highly speculative.

IBM estimates the quantum industry could generate as much as $850 billion in economic value globally by 2040.

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has projected that sectors including automotive manufacturing, chemicals, financial services and life sciences could collectively unlock more than $1.3 trillion in value from quantum applications by 2035.

But the industry remains far from commercial maturity.

Quantum systems are extraordinarily sensitive to environmental disruption, including heat, electromagnetic interference and vibration. No company receiving Thursday’s funding has yet demonstrated a commercially practical, fully fault-tolerant quantum computer capable of outperforming conventional systems at scale.

What Thursday’s announcement changes is not the underlying physics challenge.

It changes the capital structure around the companies trying to solve it.

By taking direct equity stakes alongside providing billions in funding, Washington is signaling to private investors that the federal government intends to remain deeply embedded in the future of quantum computing — both financially and strategically.

The Commerce Department has not yet disclosed the exact size of the ownership stakes it will receive in each company, and the agreements still require finalization.

But the broader direction is increasingly clear.

After semiconductors, rare earths and energy infrastructure, quantum computing has now joined the growing list of industries Washington considers too strategically important to leave entirely to market forces or foreign supply chains.

For IBM, Anderon and the broader quantum sector, Thursday’s announcement marks the beginning of a far more consequential phase: not simply proving the science works, but proving that America intends to own the industrial foundation beneath it.

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The rural health-focused system has struggled to find its footing ever since spinning off from Community Health Systems a decade ago. Now, Quorum is hoping that a pivot to nonprofit status is the answer.

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon put New York City’s new progressive mayor, Zohran Mamdani, on notice, telling the self-described ideologue that city governance is about lower crime and economic survival, not empty “morality” slogans.

Following a high-stakes face-to-face meeting, the Wall Street titan openly criticized far-left tax talking points like “fair share” and warned that treating wealth creators as political punching bags is actively destroying the city’s talent pool.

“Every city has to compete. And they have to compete at every level – arts, science, schools, that is what it is. I’m not inventing that, he can be an ideologue, he has to compete, too,” Dimon said Thursday in a Bloomberg TV interview.

“And we’ll see: will he learn that he’s got to make this city a place where people want to grow and build and live and have families and work?” he continued. “And he’s gotta compete with Shanghai and Hong Kong and Singapore and Nashville, and people vote with their feet. So it isn’t this morality thing that people talk about. It’s like, are you building a great city with lower crime and stuff like that?”

MAMDANI’S WALL STREET COURTSHIP SPARKS CRITICISM OF ANTI-BILLIONAIRE AGENDA

On Monday, Dimon and Mamdani met in person at the bank’s new headquarters in Manhattan, as the democratic socialist mayor intensifies outreach to Wall Street leaders following backlash over proposals to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers.

The meeting was “constructive and the tone was friendly,” a JPMorgan spokesperson told Reuters. According to City Hall, the pair discussed reducing government waste, cutting red tape tied to development projects and expanding public-private partnerships. JPMorgan said the conversation also focused on New York City’s competitiveness.

“I don’t care what he says. What does he do? I will judge that,” Dimon said. “And so what actually happens, because you can talk about morality and ideology all you want, but if things don’t get better, you didn’t do a good job… And so, hopefully, he’ll learn. I want him to do a good job. I’m not against him.”

The CEO also expanded on Mamdani’s controversial wealth tax proposals: “I don’t think… people making under a certain amount [should] pay taxes at all. I would agree with that, but when they say, ‘fair share,’ what do they mean? They should give a number.”

Dimon added that New York City’s existing tax landscape “already” makes the Big Apple uncompetitive, with just 26,000 JPMorgan employees based there today versus 33,000 in Texas.

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“The Dallas mayor calls up all the time saying, ‘What can I do to help you? I have land over here,’ you know, and that is pro-business and pro-people-love-living there,” he said.

“New York’s a wonderful place too, but… [people] think that somehow being anti-business is going to help a city. It’s not.”

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FOX Business’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

As the AI revolution continues to rapidly expand throughout the corporate world, many employees are facing “automation anxiety” that their job may be replaced by technology. 

Speaking on Centre Stage at Web Summit Vancouver, Kyle Hanslovan said, “I think many will be pressured in the next five years, where their job can be automated.”

Just this week, Meta began laying off another 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce, while TurboTax maker Intuit said it was cutting 17% of its global staff – about 3,000 jobs – as it accelerates its AI integration. In a company-wide memo announcing the cuts, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees, “success isn’t guaranteed” in the AI era, though he said he doesn’t plan another round of layoffs this year.

META SHIFTS 7,000 WORKERS INTO AI ROLES AS LAYOFFS, MANAGER CUTS LOOM

Through April 2026, more than 85,000 technology sector jobs have been eliminated, a 33% increase from the same period last year, according to placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Still, despite more than 300,000 total layoffs across all industries year-to-date, that figure is roughly half of last year’s reductions – a number skewed by the mass federal government layoffs announced in the first months of the second Trump administration.

“Inevitably there will be some disruption. We can’t pretend that there won’t be,” said Sim Desai, CEO of pre-IPO marketplace Hiive Capital, speaking on the same panel. But, he added, “in the short term, there’s a lot of job creation, because a lot of people are investing in adopting AI tools.”

That cautiously optimistic view was echoed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who recently told CNBC, “I think there will be a labor shortage because of AI… it’s going to elevate all of these people. We’re going to have so much productivity.”

EXPERT SAYS MASSIVE AI INVESTMENT IS ‘LAYING THE GROUNDWORK’ FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE

The average American is less sanguine. A recent Stanford University study found nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) expect AI to lead to fewer jobs in the next 20 years. That anxiety was on full display in the now-viral video of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s commencement address at the University of Arizona, where he was met with loud boos after telling graduates that AI’s technological transformation would be “larger, faster and more consequential than what came before.”

New graduate hires may be the most vulnerable. Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei has predicted that AI could wipe out as much as half of all entry-level white-collar jobs over the next one to five years. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates has already climbed to 5.6%, well above the 35-year average of 4.5%, according to the New York Federal Reserve.

US ECONOMY ADDED 115,000 JOBS IN APRIL, BEATING EXPECTATIONS

Despite the negative sentiment, companies are still hiring.

“I am definitely hiring, even now more than I was before,” Hanslovan said, noting that Huntress continues to add software engineers, detection engineers, product managers and sales leaders.

Steven Schwartz, co-founder and CEO of $1.6 billion creator marketplace Whop, said, “the future of work is in question in the era of AI,” but added that he is not “bearish that AI will take everyone’s job.” He expects he’ll “have a bigger team in two years than today.”

In spite of the percolating worker anxiety, the U.S. economy has added 304,000 jobs so far in 2026, according to the establishment survey measure of the Labor Department’s monthly employment report. The jobless rate is still sitting at a historically low 4.3%.

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That backdrop appeared to factor into President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday afternoon to postpone the signing of a planned AI executive order – one focused on having the federal government pre-vet frontier AI models for cybersecurity risks. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he pulled the order at the last minute because he was worried it could “be a blocker” to U.S. competitiveness in a global AI race that America still leads.

The Justice Department says four of the world’s biggest shipping container manufacturers secretly worked together during the COVID-19 pandemic to drive up prices on the metal containers used to move goods around the world — a scheme prosecutors say ultimately cost American consumers billions of dollars.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged four major Chinese-linked container companies and seven executives with running what officials described as a global price-fixing cartel that controlled roughly 95% of the world’s standard shipping container supply.

For everyday Americans, the case matters because shipping containers are at the center of nearly everything sold in stores — from furniture and electronics to toys, clothing and appliances. When container prices surged during the pandemic, those costs flowed directly into higher prices for consumers.

According to the DOJ, the companies allegedly agreed to limit production beginning in late 2019, just before the pandemic disrupted global supply chains. By artificially restricting the number of containers available, prosecutors say the companies were able to push prices sharply higher as demand exploded.

Container prices more than doubled between 2019 and 2021, according to court filings.

The government says the companies made enormous profits during the period while businesses and consumers paid the price through shortages, shipping delays and rising inflation.

“Global price-fixing cartels strike at the heart of our economic liberty,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said Tuesday. “The defendants held hostage the world’s supply of ocean shipping containers during the Covid pandemic when our supply chains needed it the most.”

One company allegedly went from losing $110 million before the pandemic to making more than $180 million in profit by 2021. Another reportedly saw profits explode from roughly $20 million to nearly $1.75 billion.

In one of the more striking allegations, prosecutors say the companies even installed surveillance cameras inside one another’s factories to make sure no participant secretly produced more containers than agreed under the alleged cartel arrangement.

The four companies charged are:

• China International Marine Containers Co. (CIMC)
• Dong Fang International Container Co.
• CXIC Group Containers Co.
• Singamas Container Holdings Ltd.

Together, the firms dominate global container manufacturing and supply many of the world’s largest shipping companies.

Federal officials say the alleged conspiracy worsened supply chain chaos during the pandemic at a time when businesses were already struggling with factory shutdowns, labor shortages and transportation bottlenecks.

Consumers ultimately absorbed much of the damage through higher prices across the economy.

Shipping costs surged to record levels during the pandemic, with some freight routes increasing several-fold compared with pre-pandemic prices. Retailers and manufacturers often passed those higher transportation costs directly to shoppers.

The DOJ says one executive, Vick Nam Hing Ma, was arrested in France and is awaiting extradition to the United States. Six additional executives remain in China and are not currently in U.S. custody.

The criminal case could eventually lead to massive financial penalties. Under federal antitrust law, corporations can face fines reaching twice the profits gained from illegal conduct, potentially pushing total penalties into the billions of dollars.

Legal experts also expect major civil lawsuits to follow from shipping companies, retailers and importers seeking damages tied to inflated container prices.

The case arrives as Washington continues taking a tougher stance toward China on trade, supply chains and pandemic-era accountability.

It also highlights how heavily the global economy depends on a small number of overseas manufacturers for critical infrastructure used in global commerce.

For consumers still dealing with elevated prices years after the pandemic began, the case offers a new explanation for why goods became so expensive so quickly — and how a shortage of something as simple as steel shipping containers may have helped fuel one of the worst inflation spikes in decades.

— JBizNews Desk

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A Costco-exclusive patio swing is being recalled after multiple reports that the seat detached while consumers were using it, causing injuries and posing what federal safety officials called a risk of “serious injury or death.”

World Bright International Limited is recalling about 18,500 Agio Menlo Woven Patio Swings, according to a recall notice posted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on May 14.

The recall involves Agio Menlo Woven Patio Swings with model number 1934256 that were sold exclusively at Costco stores nationwide and online at Costco.com from February 2026 through March 2026 for between $549 and $649.

POPULAR COSTCO KITCHEN GADGET RECALLED AFTER FIRE HAZARD LEAVES PERSON BURNED

According to the recall notice, the swing seat can detach from the frame while in use, creating a fall hazard.

The company has received eight reports of the swing seat detaching from the frame, resulting in eight reported injuries, including impact injuries to consumers’ heads and arms.

The recalled swings feature a black metal frame and swing arms, a fabric canopy and a padded brown outdoor wicker seat. The swing frame measures about 75 inches high, 71 inches wide and 48 inches deep.

Consumers are being urged to immediately stop using the recalled patio swings and contact World Bright International Limited for a free repair kit that includes replacement hooks and installation instructions.

Consumers can contact the company toll-free at 888-383-1932 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, by email at [email protected], or online at agioliving.com/pages/recall/patioswing for additional information.

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The swings were manufactured in China and imported by Costco Wholesale Corporation, based in Issaquah, Washington.

Singapore is once again Southeast Asia’s biggest stock market, overtaking Indonesia after a sharp rally in Singapore shares and a difficult year for Indonesia’s markets and currency.

For everyday readers, the shift highlights how quickly global investors move money between countries when concerns about political stability, economic policy and financial markets begin to grow.

Singapore’s benchmark stock index, the Straits Times Index, climbed to a new record Tuesday, helping push the city-state ahead of Indonesia in total market value for the first time in years.

The rally has been fueled by investors looking for safer places to park money during growing global uncertainty tied to the Iran war, rising oil prices and volatility across emerging markets.

Singapore has increasingly benefited from its reputation as one of Asia’s most stable financial centers.

Its stock market is dominated by large banks, real estate firms and dividend-paying companies that investors often view as safer during turbulent periods.

The Singapore dollar has also remained relatively strong compared with many other Asian currencies, making Singapore assets more attractive to international investors.

Indonesia, meanwhile, has faced mounting pressure on several fronts.

Its stock market has struggled this year, while the Indonesian rupiah has hovered near record lows against the U.S. dollar. Foreign investors have also become increasingly worried about government policy, central bank independence and corporate governance standards.

Those concerns intensified after Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto appointed his nephew to a senior central bank role earlier this year, raising questions among investors about political influence over monetary policy.

Global index provider MSCI later warned Indonesia could risk losing its “emerging market” status if governance concerns are not addressed.

That matters because many large investment funds automatically buy or sell stocks based on those global index classifications.

If Indonesia were downgraded, billions of dollars could eventually flow out of the country’s stock market as index funds adjust their holdings.

Indonesia’s economy is also being hurt by high energy prices.

Although the country exports many commodities, it still imports large amounts of oil. Rising energy costs tied to Middle East instability have increased pressure on inflation and the country’s currency.

Meanwhile, slowing growth in China — one of Indonesia’s biggest trading partners — has added further economic strain.

Singapore’s rise reflects a broader trend happening globally:
during uncertain periods, investors often move money toward countries seen as politically stable, financially predictable and institutionally strong.

That has helped Singapore attract capital not only into its stock market, but also into private banking, real estate, hedge funds and family offices over the past several years.

The competition between Singapore and Indonesia has become symbolic of two very different investment stories in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia has traditionally offered faster economic growth and access to natural resources and consumer expansion.

Singapore, by contrast, offers stability, strong financial regulation and global investor confidence.

In strong economic periods, investors often favor faster-growing emerging markets like Indonesia.

During periods of global stress, many rotate back toward safer financial hubs like Singapore.

Analysts say that dynamic has accelerated sharply in 2026.

Despite Singapore reclaiming the top spot regionally, Southeast Asia’s markets remain relatively small compared with the world’s biggest companies and exchanges.

Several U.S. technology giants individually hold larger market values than entire Southeast Asian stock markets.

Still, the regional battle matters because global investors increasingly view Southeast Asia as an important long-term growth region amid slowing growth in China and higher valuations in India.

For Indonesia, regaining investor confidence may depend on restoring trust in economic management and avoiding further governance controversies.

For Singapore, the latest rally reinforces its position as Southeast Asia’s financial capital at a moment when investors globally are prioritizing stability over risk.

And in today’s market environment, stability is commanding a premium.

— JBizNews Desk

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By JBizNews Desk

America’s two largest publicly traded apartment landlords are nearing a massive merger that would place roughly 180,000 apartments under one corporate umbrella at a moment when rent has become one of the biggest financial pressures crushing American households.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. and Equity Residential are close to finalizing a deal that could be announced as soon as Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. Under the structure being negotiated, AvalonBay shareholders would own more than 51% of the combined company and receive approximately 2.793 shares of Equity Residential stock for each AvalonBay share.

The companies are led by Benjamin Schall, chief executive of AvalonBay, and Mark Parrell, chief executive of Equity Residential.

Combined, the companies carry an estimated market value approaching $50 billion, while the real estate itself could be worth more than $78 billion, according to estimates from J.P. Morgan analysts. If completed, the transaction would rank among the largest real-estate mergers in American history.

The timing is not random.

Housing affordability has become one of the defining economic issues in the United States. In many major cities, rent now consumes well over a third of household income for middle-class families, while younger Americans increasingly struggle to buy homes because elevated mortgage rates and high prices have locked them into the rental market longer than previous generations.

At the same time, apartment owners themselves are under pressure from higher interest rates, rising insurance costs, labor expenses, taxes, maintenance costs, and growing political fights over rent regulation and affordable housing mandates.

The merger is designed to give the companies more scale to handle those pressures.

By combining operations, the firms can reduce overlapping corporate expenses, centralize leasing and technology systems, negotiate financing more efficiently, and potentially accelerate future apartment development projects.

Analysts Alexander Goldfarb and Connor Mitchell of Piper Sandler described the transaction as a true “merger of equals,” adding that it could trigger a broader consolidation wave across the apartment industry.

But for ordinary renters, the immediate question is much simpler: does this actually lower rent?

Probably not anytime soon.

Critics of large corporate landlords argue that mergers like this often strengthen pricing power and political influence while giving renters fewer alternatives in already expensive housing markets. Tenant advocates have increasingly targeted institutional landlords in cities including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington as frustration over affordability continues rising.

Supporters of the merger argue the opposite — that larger apartment companies are better positioned to finance and build new housing supply, which could eventually help slow rent growth if enough units are added to the market.

That debate now sits at the center of the American housing crisis.

People familiar with the discussions said the combined company is expected to emphasize affordable-housing development, aligning with one of the Trump administration’s major domestic priorities as Washington searches for ways to increase housing inventory without dramatically expanding federal spending.

Even at this size, analysts estimate the merged company would still control only about 2% of apartment units across its markets, limiting arguments that it would dominate rental pricing nationally.

Still, the merger would create one of the most politically influential housing companies in America, with major exposure across New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, and multiple fast-growing Sun Belt regions.

The financial backdrop also explains why the companies may feel pressure to act now.

AvalonBay shares have fallen roughly 11% over the past year, while Equity Residential shares are down approximately 6%, with both companies trading below estimates of their underlying real-estate value.

During a February earnings call, Parrell acknowledged that rising costs and slowing rent growth created a difficult environment for apartment owners throughout 2025.

Meanwhile, the massive apartment-building boom that flooded many Sun Belt markets after the pandemic is beginning to slow, helping occupancy rates and pricing stabilize again after several softer quarters.

The two firms are also no strangers to each other.

In 2013, AvalonBay and Equity Residential partnered to divide the massive $9 billion acquisition of Archstone, one of the largest apartment transactions ever completed in the United States. Wall Street analysts have speculated for years that the relationship could eventually evolve into a full merger.

Now it appears that moment may have arrived.

For renters, leases are unlikely to change immediately if the transaction closes. Buildings will continue operating normally, and most tenants may not initially notice much difference.

Longer term, however, the combined company would gain substantially greater influence over apartment development, financing, lobbying efforts, and housing-policy debates in some of the most expensive cities in America.

The deal could also accelerate consolidation across the broader apartment REIT sector, potentially pressuring competitors including Camden Property Trust, Mid-America Apartment Communities, UDR Inc., and Essex Property Trust Inc. to explore mergers of their own.

Neither AvalonBay nor Equity Residential publicly commented on the discussions Wednesday.

If the merger is announced as expected, America may wake up Friday with a new dominant force in rental housing — and a much larger national conversation about whether corporate scale is helping solve the housing crisis or helping drive it.

— JBizNews Desk

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Japanese exports surged 14.8% year over year in April, marking the fastest monthly growth pace since January and significantly exceeding the 9.3% increase economists surveyed by Reuters had expected, according to data released Wednesday by Japan’s Ministry of Finance.

The strength came overwhelmingly from semiconductors and AI-linked industrial demand.

Semiconductor exports jumped 41.6% from a year earlier, reinforcing the view among investors and economists that the global artificial-intelligence infrastructure buildout continues accelerating despite tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and higher energy prices.

Exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, rose 15.5%, while exports to the United States climbed 9.5%, recovering after months of tariff-related weakness earlier this year.

Imports increased 9.7%, also above forecasts, while Japan’s monthly trade deficit narrowed to 301.9 billion yen from 643 billion yen in March. The yen strengthened modestly following the release, trading near 158.88 per dollar.

The report underscores Japan’s growing importance in what many analysts now describe as the global “AI Giga-Cycle” — the massive multiyear expansion in spending on data centers, semiconductor fabrication plants, AI chips, and supporting industrial infrastructure.

Japanese companies sit directly at the center of that supply chain.

Firms including Tokyo Electron, Screen Holdings, Disco Corp., Advantest, and Renesas Electronics manufacture many of the advanced tools and testing systems required by chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron Technology, and Intel Corp.

Demand for lithography, etching, deposition, wafer testing, and advanced semiconductor packaging equipment has surged alongside spending by U.S. technology giants racing to expand AI capacity.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s semiconductor-related shares have rallied sharply this year as investors increasingly view Japanese industrial suppliers as one of the clearest global beneficiaries of AI infrastructure spending.

Still, economists warn the export boom may not fully shield Japan’s broader economy.

Norihiro Yamaguchi, lead Japan economist at Oxford Economics, told CNBC this week that while “gains in exports due to robust IT demand could provide some short-term support,” elevated energy costs and geopolitical uncertainty continue weighing on household spending and business investment.

Japan’s economy grew at an annualized 2.1% pace in the first quarter, above the 1.7% Reuters consensus forecast. But the Bank of Japan has simultaneously cut its full-year fiscal 2026 growth outlook to 0.5% from 1.0% while sharply raising its core inflation forecast to 2.8% from 1.9%, citing the economic shock from the Iran conflict and rising global energy costs.

The trade data also reflects a broader shift in global commerce.

Over the past year and a half, Japanese exports have become increasingly tied to Asian industrial demand rather than traditional Western consumer spending. Shipments to China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia are now deeply connected to semiconductor-fabrication expansion tied directly to AI-related infrastructure investment.

At the same time, the Trump administration’s revised trade arrangement with Japan appears to be stabilizing export flows to the United States.

Earlier this year, Japanese exports to the U.S. had declined as much as 5% amid tariff tensions before rebounding after Washington finalized a bilateral trade framework capping Japanese auto and industrial tariffs at 15%.

That agreement also included a massive Japanese investment commitment into the United States.

Japan pledged approximately $550 billion in U.S. investment under the framework, with an initial $36 billion tranche approved for projects including energy infrastructure, semiconductor-related synthetic-diamond production, and natural-gas export facilities.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has repeatedly described the arrangement as a model for future bilateral trade negotiations designed to attract foreign industrial capital into American manufacturing.

For U.S. investors, the Japanese export surge carries direct implications for the AI trade dominating equity markets.

Strong semiconductor-equipment exports to China and Taiwan signal that capital spending by hyperscalers including Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., and Oracle Corp. remains elevated. Combined AI-related capital expenditures among those firms are projected near $725 billion in 2026, up sharply from roughly $410 billion a year earlier.

That spending supports not only Japanese suppliers but also U.S.-listed semiconductor-equipment firms including Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp., KLA Corp., and ASML Holding NV, along with the broader Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

The largest near-term risk remains energy.

Japan imports nearly all of its crude oil, much of which historically passes through the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he postponed potential military action against Iran to allow diplomatic negotiations to continue.

WTI crude traded near $98.96 per barrel Wednesday, while Brent crude remained near similar levels.

For Japanese households, the export surge offers mixed news. Stronger semiconductor demand is helping support corporate profits and the yen, potentially easing imported inflation pressures. But rising energy costs continue weighing heavily on consumer budgets, food prices, and household purchasing power.

For American businesses and investors, however, the signal from Tokyo is clearer.

The AI infrastructure buildout powering global equity markets is still accelerating. Semiconductor bottlenecks that worried investors a year ago — including wafer capacity, advanced packaging, and equipment shortages — are increasingly being addressed through expanding industrial output across Japan and Asia.

The data also provides a political boost for the White House’s trade strategy.

Japan’s 9.5% export increase to the United States occurred under the revised tariff framework, giving the Trump administration a concrete example it can point to as it negotiates trade arrangements with the European Union, South Korea, and India.

For now, the message from Tokyo remains straightforward: global AI demand continues pulling aggressively on every supply chain connected to semiconductor production — and Japan remains one of the most critical links in that chain.

— JBizNews Desk

© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

This post was originally published on this site.

Waymo is temporarily halting freeway operations for its robotaxi service in several U.S. markets as the company works to address performance issues in construction zones, FOX Business has learned.

The Alphabet-owned company confirmed Thursday that it was pausing freeway operations while updating its software.

“Safety is Waymo’s top priority, both for our riders and everyone we share the road with,” a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement to FOX Business. “We have temporarily paused freeway operations, as we work to integrate recent technical learnings into our software and expect to resume these routes soon.” 

Waymo said the pause affects only freeway driving and that surface street operations remain active.

WAYMO TO BRING DRIVERLESS CARS TO CHICAGO, EYES MIDWEST EXPANSION

The company said its vehicles navigate construction zones more than 10,000 times per day and that it is using the pause to improve robotaxi performance on freeways.

The announcement comes after Waymo paused operations in Atlanta following flash-flooding incidents, while separately working to improve performance around construction zones and flooded roadways.

That pause followed reports of Waymo vehicles encountering floodwater in Atlanta on Wednesday; AJC reported one vehicle required recovery, while Waymo said a handful of others were temporarily waylaid.

STELLANTIS UNVEILS $70B TURNAROUND STRATEGY WITH 60 NEW MODELS

The move also comes after Waymo filed a recall covering 3,791 vehicles equipped with fifth- and sixth-generation Automated Driving Systems over a flooding-related software issue that NHTSA said could result in loss of vehicle control.

The recall followed an April 20 incident in which an unoccupied Waymo vehicle detected a potentially untraversable flooded section of a roadway with a 40 mph speed limit and proceeded at reduced speed, according to NHTSA.

The NHTSA report found that when a Waymo robotaxi approaches standing water on higher-speed roads, it may slow down but fail to fully stop after detecting the hazard.

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Nearly 3,800 vehicles equipped with the company’s fifth and sixth-generation Automated Driving Systems (ADS) were recalled. Regulators estimated the defect rate at 100%.

According to NHTSA, Waymo applied an interim remedy to all affected vehicles on April 20, modifying the approved scope of operation of its ADS to exclude additional conditions that present an elevated risk of encountering a flooded, higher-speed roadway. Waymo is still developing a final remedy.

Waymo operates thousands of vehicles across the U.S., including in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin.

FOX Business’ Bonny Chu and Reuters contributed to this report.

Hyundai Motor Company is recalling more than 54,000 Elantra Hybrid vehicles in the U.S. due to a defect in the hybrid power system that could overheat and spark a fire, federal regulators said.

The recall covers certain 2024–2026 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid models. About 54,337 vehicles are being recalled, though Hyundai estimates only 1% may actually contain the defect, according to notices this past week from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

At the center of the recall is the vehicle’s hybrid power control unit (HPCU), which regulates electrical power in the hybrid system. NHTSA said a transistor inside the unit can overheat under heavy electrical loads.

TESLA RECALLS MORE THAN 218K VEHICLES OVER REARVIEW IMAGE ISSUE THAT POSES CRASH RISK

Drivers could experience a “no start” condition, reduced-power “limp mode,” or warning lights while driving. In rare cases, the overheating could damage internal components and raise the risk of a fire.

“Overheating of the HPCU could increase the risk of a fire,” NHTSA said.

Hyundai said it knows of four U.S. incidents tied to the issue, including one reported fire. No injuries or crashes have been reported.

WAYMO RECALLS MASSIVE AUTONOMOUS FLEET AFTER INCIDENT FLAGS MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE

Hyundai dealers will fix the problem with a free HPCU software update. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed starting July 13.

“All owners of the subject vehicles will be notified by first class mail with instructions to bring their vehicle to a Hyundai dealer, where technicians will update the HPCU software,” NHTSA said. 

“This remedy will be offered at no cost to owners for all affected vehicles.”

MASSIVE HONDA RECALL IMPACTS 440K VEHICLES OVER AIRBAGS POTENTIALLY DEPLOYING ‘UNEXPECTEDLY’

Earlier this year, Hyundai said it was recalling more than 61,000 Palisade SUVs in the U.S. after an issue with powered seats was linked to the death of a child.

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Hyundai did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.

Ahead of Friday’s presidential visit to Rockland County, askanim have secured a dedicated viewing location at Viola Road corner College Road, with significant accommodations tailored specifically for frum Jews.

The announcement, circulated Thursday afternoon erev Yom Tov, confirmed that local officials met with community representatives and agreed to establish a separate area where the President will be visible to the crowd. The location will be reserved exclusively for the heimishe community. A special hotline was established to inform community members of updates. The number is 845-738-2222.

Attendees at the designated area will not be required to pass through metal detectors or present identification. The site will also be physically separated from the general public, and arrangements are being made to ensure the area is maintained in accordance with tznius standards.

Officials will distribute American flags at the entrance for those who wish to have one.

NEW YORK CITY (VINnews)-Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed that Rep. Thomas Massie’s loss in Kentucky’s Republican primary this week proves a congressional seat “can be bought by several billionaires representing a foreign lobby,” in comments to CBS News.

Greene made the remarks during an interview with CBS’s Major Garrett discussing Tuesday’s primary election results. Massie, a longtime libertarian-leaning Republican and vocal critic of unconditional U.S. aid to Israel and other foreign spending, was defeated by Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District.

“The proof was there that a congressional seat could be bought by several billionaires representing a foreign lobby and not the people of Kentucky,” Greene said, according to the CBS interview. She added that foreign political donors represent “a direct threat to the American people.”

The race drew national attention as the most expensive U.S. House primary in history, with heavy outside spending, much of it from pro-Israel groups targeting Massie over his opposition to aid for Israel. Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and farmer, defeated the eight-term incumbent with approximately 55% of the vote to Massie’s 45%.

President Trump had endorsed Gallrein, citing Massie’s independent streak and past breaks with the party on key issues.

Greene, who left Congress earlier in 2026, has positioned herself as a defender of America First principles. In additional social media comments following the race, she described Massie as “a giant among weak pathetic men” and suggested the outcome reflected undue influence from donors and lobbies.

Jew hater Thomas Massie conceded on election night. The 4th District is heavily Republican, making Gallrein the strong favorite in the November general election.

The scheduled execution of a Tennessee death row inmate convicted in a triple murder case was abruptly halted Thursday after medical personnel spent more than an hour unsuccessfully attempting to establish the intravenous lines required for the lethal injection procedure.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee later announced that the state would not attempt to execute Tony Carruthers again for at least one year.

According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, officials were able to place an initial IV line without difficulty, but medical staff could not locate an appropriate vein for the mandatory backup IV required under state execution procedures.

Officials then attempted to place a central line, but those efforts also failed, ultimately forcing the state to cancel the execution.

Maria DeLiberato, one of Carruthers’ attorneys, said the inmate appeared to be in visible pain during the prolonged attempts to establish access.

She said she watched Carruthers “wincing and groaning” throughout the procedure and described the ordeal as “horrible” to witness.

While speaking to reporters after the execution was called off, DeLiberato became emotional upon learning that Gov. Lee had formally granted a reprieve.

“That’s amazing!” she said. “I’m so grateful!”

Carruthers was sentenced to death for the 1994 abductions and killings of Marcellos Anderson, Anderson’s mother Delois Anderson, and Frederick Tucker in Memphis.

During his original trial, Carruthers ultimately represented himself after repeatedly clashing with his court-appointed lawyers and threatening several of them.

His current legal team argued that Carruthers suffered from severe “paranoia and delusions” that made it impossible for him to cooperate with counsel, though they said the trial judge interpreted his conduct as intentional obstruction.

The prosecution’s case relied heavily on testimony from witnesses who claimed Carruthers had either confessed to the killings or discussed them with others. No physical evidence directly linking him to the murders was introduced during the trial.

Prosecutors alleged that Marcellos Anderson was involved in drug dealing and claimed Carruthers wanted to seize control of the narcotics trade in that section of Memphis.

Among the witnesses who testified against Carruthers was a man later identified as a police informant. According to later reports, the informant subsequently stated publicly that he had been compensated for his testimony.

James Montgomery, who was initially sentenced to death alongside Carruthers, later had his sentence reduced and was released from prison in 2015, court documents show.

In recent legal filings, Carruthers’ attorneys argued that the death sentence was heavily influenced by testimony from a medical examiner who claimed the victims had been buried alive — a conclusion that was later retracted.

Subsequent expert reviews, according to the defense, determined that the original claim was false.

Carruthers’ lawyers also argued that he is mentally incompetent and therefore should not be executed.

According to court filings, Carruthers believed the government never intended to carry out the execution and instead was pretending to move forward in order to pressure him into accepting a plea agreement that existed only in his imagination.

His attorneys said Carruthers believed the government’s motive was to avoid paying him millions of dollars he thought he was owed.

Court filings further stated that Carruthers became convinced his own attorneys were participating in a conspiracy against him, leading him to refuse communication with them.

{Matzav.com}

By JBizNews Desk

NEW YORK, May 21, 2026 — The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a fresh record Thursday, overcoming a sharp midday selloff as crude oil prices reversed lower on renewed hopes that Washington and Tehran could still reach a diplomatic framework over Iran’s nuclear program. The blue-chip index gained 276.31 points, or 0.55%, to finish at 50,285.66, marking the highest closing level in its history. The S&P 500 added 0.17% to 7,445.72, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.09% to 26,293.10.

Markets spent most of the session reacting to a geopolitical headline rather than earnings or economic data. Reuters reported that Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an internal directive insisting that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium remain inside the country under any future agreement — a stance directly conflicting with Israeli officials’ assertions that President Donald Trump privately committed to requiring all enriched material be removed from Iranian territory as part of a final settlement.

The report initially sent energy markets sharply higher and pressured equities through midday trading as traders feared negotiations could deteriorate. Treasury yields climbed and defensive positioning accelerated before sentiment abruptly reversed later in the afternoon as investors concluded negotiations had not collapsed and that a diplomatic off-ramp still remained possible.

By settlement, the oil spike had fully unwound. West Texas Intermediate crude fell nearly 2% to $96.35 per barrel, while Brent crude dropped more than 2% to $102.58. The reversal eased pressure on yields and helped industrial, financial, and cyclical shares lead the Dow to a record finish.

The day’s most significant corporate mover came from Spotify Technology SA, which staged its first Investor Day since 2022 and delivered an aggressive long-term growth roadmap that energized growth investors. Shares surged 12.88% to close at $489.04, making Spotify one of the strongest performers in the S&P 500.

Spotify Chief Executive Daniel Ek told investors the company is targeting compounded annual revenue growth in the mid-teens, gross margins between 35% and 40% by 2030, and operating margins exceeding 20% within four years. Management also outlined a longer-term ambition of reaching 1 billion subscribers and generating $100 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade.

The company simultaneously announced a licensing partnership with Universal Music Group that will allow Spotify to launch generative AI-powered music creation tools for premium subscribers. The agreement is viewed across the industry as one of the first large-scale frameworks attempting to address how artists, labels, and streaming platforms will monetize consumer-facing AI music products while protecting royalty economics.

The move immediately reignited debate across the entertainment and technology sectors over whether AI-generated music will become a subscription-growth driver or a disruptive threat to traditional recording economics.

Industrial names also contributed to Thursday’s rally. Deere & Co. posted a stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter report, while Bloom Energy Corp. surged more than 12% after announcing a partnership with European AI cloud operator Nebius Group, which itself jumped more than 16%.

The agreement underscored one of Wall Street’s newest AI investment themes: power generation. Analysts increasingly argue that electricity availability — rather than semiconductor supply — is becoming the primary bottleneck in expanding hyperscale artificial-intelligence infrastructure. Distributed gas-fired generation and energy resiliency providers are now emerging as secondary beneficiaries of the AI boom alongside chipmakers.

Speculative corners of the market also saw heavy momentum buying. The quantum-computing sector posted another outsized session, with Rigetti Computing Inc. soaring more than 30%, D-Wave Quantum Inc. climbing 22%, and Quantum Computing Inc. advancing 13%. IonQ Inc. gained 9%, while International Business Machines Corp. rose 7% and GlobalFoundries Inc. added 11%.

Rare-earth and strategic-mineral names extended gains as well. USA Rare Earth Inc. climbed 7% after announcing $19.3 million in funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy for pilot-scale rare-earth element separation development, reflecting continued federal emphasis on domestic critical-mineral supply chains.

Despite the Dow’s record finish, underlying breadth remained uneven for much of the session. At one point during afternoon trading, fewer than 180 stocks in the S&P 500 were advancing, according to data cited by TheStreet, before the late-session reversal in crude prices improved sentiment across broader indexes.

Looking ahead to Friday’s shortened pre-holiday session, futures pointed modestly lower late Thursday evening. S&P 500 futures were down roughly 0.22%, Dow futures declined 0.18%, and Nasdaq futures slipped 0.29%.

The corporate earnings calendar becomes lighter heading into Memorial Day weekend but still includes several closely watched reports. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings before Friday’s opening bell, with Wall Street forecasting approximately $1.34 per share in earnings on $2.87 billion in revenue. Investors are closely watching whether the government consulting giant can stabilize margins after the stock lost more than 40% since the start of 2025 amid weakness in federal-services spending.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc., Frontline Ltd., Hub Group Inc., and Global Ship Lease Inc. are also scheduled to report Friday morning.

With the U.S. economic calendar relatively quiet, traders are entering the holiday weekend focused primarily on geopolitical risk. Markets remain highly sensitive to any additional statements from Tehran, Washington, or Israeli officials regarding uranium enrichment terms and the shape of a possible Iran agreement.

For now, however, Wall Street closes the week with a simple headline: the Dow at all-time highs, oil volatility unable to derail the rally, and Spotify unexpectedly emerging as one of the defining AI stories of the year.

JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.

This post was originally published on this site.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration is easing federal restrictions on refrigerants used in grocery stores and air-conditioning systems, arguing the rollback will reduce costs for consumers and prevent unnecessary economic burdens on businesses.

During a White House event, Trump said the Environmental Protection Agency’s action would delay expensive regulations limiting which cooling chemicals businesses and households are allowed to use.

According to Trump, the change will “substantially lower costs for consumers” by postponing mandates that would have forced companies to rapidly transition away from older refrigerants.

The decision marks another attempt by the administration to respond to mounting public frustration over inflation and rising living expenses ahead of critical elections later this year.

The rules being relaxed were adopted during the Biden administration and targeted hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs — chemicals commonly used in refrigeration and cooling systems that are considered harmful greenhouse gases.

Despite the administration’s claims, it remains uncertain whether the policy shift will meaningfully reduce grocery prices or how quickly any savings would reach consumers. Several industry groups warned that the move could actually increase costs because manufacturers have already spent years redesigning products, upgrading factories, and training workers to comply with the previous standards.

Inflation in the United States climbed to an annual rate of 3.8% in April as energy prices surged amid the Iran war and the impact of President Donald Trump’s broad tariff policies. Rising oil and gasoline costs have contributed to inflation outpacing wage growth.

Trump sharply criticized the prior regulations during Thursday’s ceremony, which included executives from grocery chains such as Kroger and Piggly Wiggly.

The Biden-era regulation was “unnecessary and costly and actually makes the machinery worse,” Trump said. He added that the EPA’s rollback would safeguard hundreds of thousands of jobs while saving Americans more than $2 billion annually.

The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which represents more than 330 manufacturers involved in air-conditioning and commercial refrigeration, criticized the administration’s decision and warned it could destabilize the market.

“This rule works against basic supply and demand,” said Stephen Yurek, the group’s president and CEO. “By extending the compliance deadline” for phasing out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the administration “is maintaining and even increasing demand in the market for existing refrigerants while supply continues to fall.”

Yurek said manufacturers had already adjusted product lines and certified new systems based on the earlier compliance deadlines. According to the group, nearly 90% of residential and light commercial air-conditioning systems already rely on replacement refrigerants instead of HFCs.

The latest policy reversal is particularly notable because Trump himself signed bipartisan legislation during his first term aimed at reducing emissions from refrigerators and air conditioners.

That 2020 measure brought together environmental advocates and major industry organizations in a rare alliance on climate policy and received praise from both political parties.

The law reflected a broad agreement in Washington that the United States should move quickly to phase out HFCs, which are considered thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming.

The EPA’s latest action underscores the second Trump administration’s broader effort to dismantle regulations viewed as supportive of climate initiatives.

Lee Zeldin has described the administration’s environmental agenda as an effort to drive a “dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”

Environmental groups blasted the move, arguing it would increase climate-related pollution while disrupting a transition the industry has spent years implementing.

The 2020 law signed by Trump — known as the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act — established a phased reduction of HFC use as part of an international agreement focused on ozone and climate pollution.

That legislation accelerated the industry’s shift toward alternative refrigerants using less harmful chemicals that are already widely available in global markets.

Major business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chemistry Council, backed both the legislation and the international Kigali Amendment agreement, calling them victories for American jobs and manufacturing.

American companies such as Chemours and Honeywell have become major producers of the alternative refrigerants now sold domestically and internationally.

The EPA rule issued in 2023 — which is now being softened — would have imposed major restrictions on HFC use beginning in 2026.

Zeldin argued that the Biden administration’s timetable did not provide companies sufficient time to adapt and said the accelerated transition caused supply shortages and price spikes last year, though some industry officials dispute that claim.

The Food Industry Association supported the Trump administration’s proposal when it was first floated last year, arguing that the earlier requirements “imposed significant and unrealistic compliance timelines.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump has invested millions of dollars into the popular revolving sushi chain Kura Sushi USA.

The purchase was among a series of investments Trump made in early 2026, according to a report detailing his financial transactions. The document, signed by Trump on May 8, was released last Thursday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

The investment, valued between $1 million and $5 million, was made on Feb. 2.

Based in Irvine, California, Kura Sushi operates 88 restaurant locations across 22 states and the District of Colombia, with a total of more than 650 worldwide. The chain is known for its revolving conveyor-belt sushi service, where diners select plates as the items pass each table.

HERE’S HOW MUCH TRUMP ACCOUNT BALANCES COULD GROW OVER TIME

According to the filing, Trump purchased Class A common stock in Kura Sushi USA Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the Japan-based restaurant chain.

The transaction was listed as “solicited,” meaning the investment recommendation came from a financial broker or investment adviser managing the account.

The Trump Organization has previously reported that his accounts are managed by third-party financial institutions without input from Trump or his family in an effort to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Trump’s investments are “maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts independently managed by third-party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions,” Kimberly Benza, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization, told NOTUS on Thursday. 

TRUMP ADMIN PROPOSES OPENING 401(K)S TO PRIVATE EQUITY, CRYPTO

The president has previously been reported to dislike raw fish. According to the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, Trump said he would not “eat any f—ing raw fish” during a 1990 visit to Japan, according to Mashed.

While the total value of Trump’s transactions was not specifically disclosed, the reported range of stock purchases and sales totaled hundreds of millions of dollars. 

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Trump also made major sales involving holdings in Amazon, Microsoft and Meta, with transactions valued between $5 million and $25 million.

Kura Sushi was not the only restaurant-related investment listed in the portfolio. Trump also reportedly purchased shares in Chipotle Mexican Grill valued between $500,000 and $1 million, Domino’s Pizza valued between $250,000 and $500,000, and Starbucks valued between $50,000 and $100,000.

Kraft Heinz is bringing a cleaner-label makeover to one of America’s most iconic desserts.

The company announced Tuesday that it is launching Jell-O Simply, a new line of gelatin products made without artificial sweeteners or FD&C artificial colors, as consumers increasingly seek foods with simpler, more recognizable ingredients. 

The updated recipe also uses real fruit juice and contains 25% less sugar than traditional Jell-O products, according to Kraft Heinz.

“For more than 125 years, Jell-O has brought colorful, jiggly fun to dessert tables across America,” Kraft Heinz said in a statement. “Now, one of the country’s most iconic food brands is entering a new era.”

A LOOK AT WALMART’S INNOVATION CENTER, WHERE CLEANER INGREDIENTS AND TRENDY FLAVORS TAKE CENTER STAGE

The launch comes as food companies face growing pressure from consumers and policymakers to simplify ingredient labels.

“We know families are looking for treats that strike the right balance between great taste and ingredients they can feel good about – and they don’t want to sacrifice the brands they know and love to get there,” Kathryn O’Brien, head of marketing of desserts at Kraft Heinz, said in a statement. 

“Jell-O Simply delivers everything people love about Jell-O – the delicious taste, the iconic jiggle and the vibrant fun – now made with no FD&C colors or artificial sweeteners. It’s a meaningful evolution for the brand and an important milestone in Kraft Heinz’s broader modernization journey.”

Jell-O Simply ready-to-eat cups are available nationwide now for $3.99 per four-pack and come in orange, raspberry lemonade and blueberry flavors.

TRADER JOE’S EXPANDS WITH 25 NEW STORES ACROSS 14 STATES IN MASSIVE GROWTH PUSH

Kraft Heinz said additional Jell-O Simply gelatin and instant pudding mixes will hit store shelves nationwide in August for $2.24 per box, with flavors including vanilla, chocolate, banana and strawberry.

The rollout is part of Kraft Heinz’s broader effort to eliminate FD&C artificial colors from its U.S. product portfolio by the end of 2027, including the entire Jell-O lineup.

The move comes amid increased federal scrutiny of synthetic food dyes.

In January 2025, during the final few days of the Biden administration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned Red 3 from the U.S. food supply.

ONE OF AMERICA’S OLDEST BEER BRANDS DISCONTINUED AFTER 177 YEARS IN US

A few months later, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FDA announced plans to phase out petroleum-based food dyes as part of the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.

“We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement at the time. “And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day.”

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Voters in Philadelphia passed a ballot measure on Tuesday that will create the country’s first city-run savings program for workers whose jobs don’t offer retirement benefits.

The measure will create a new program called PhillySaves that allows private sector workers whose employers don’t sponsor retirement plans like a 401(k) to automatically enroll in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) set up by the city.

Participation in PhillySaves is voluntary and allows workers to opt out of enrolling in the auto-IRA or change how much they’re contributing out of their paychecks at will. 

The accounts will also follow workers to future jobs, and workers can withdraw contributions early if needed on a tax-free basis – though any gains or interest withdrawn would be subject to tax.

NEARLY HALF OF GEN X WORKERS ARE DELAYING RETIREMENT AS RISING COSTS, STAGNANT WAGES DRAIN SAVINGS

An estimated 208,000 private sector workers in Philadelphia will be able to enroll in PhillySaves. Many such workers are in the service industry with higher employee turnover or are employed by small businesses that would face compliance burdens in establishing and maintaining a retirement plan.

The program also doesn’t charge businesses who are registered in the program to enroll their employees.

PhillySaves will be managed by a third-party firm overseen by the Philadelphia Retirement Savings Board created under the initiative. Pew estimates that the program will cost the city up to $1 million initially and around $500,000 annually in subsequent years.

WHY GEN Z IS SAYING ‘NO’ MORE OFTEN – AND SAVING MONEY

“Philadelphia voters took an important step this week by approving PhillySaves,” said Patrick Morgan, project director for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia research and policy initiative. 

“It’s imperative that PhillySaves gets off to a fast start. We know from looking at similar efforts that appointing a strong board, hiring the right leader, and education employers and employees about how the plan works is critical to the success of these programs,” Morgan added.

RETIREMENT ‘MAGIC NUMBER’ JUMPS AS AMERICANS GROW ANXIOUS ABOUT THEIR FINANCIAL FUTURES

The measure passed with the support of 78% of voters and follows the Philadelphia City Council passing legislation last year that was signed into law by the mayor in January.  

That allowed the program to move forward with the public vote needed to create the governing board under the city’s charter.

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“Philadelphia now has a real opportunity to show that smart policy design, strong execution and sustained support can expand Philadelphians’ retirement security in a practical and affordable way,” Morgan said.

MOUNTAINAIR, N.M. (AP) — Investigators in New Mexico are trying to identify a mysterious substance that may have contributed to the deaths of three people and led to more than a dozen first responders being briefly quarantined.

Two people remained in a hospital Thursday, including a person who was found unresponsive in a home where the three died east of Albuquerque, in the rural town of Mountainair.

Authorities went to the home Wednesday after being called about a suspected drug overdose.

Some first responders began coughing, vomiting and experiencing dizziness, authorities said. As a result, medical workers checked nearly two dozen people who may have come into contact with the mysterious substance, the University of New Mexico Hospital said.

It was not clear what the substance was, how the people in the home died, what caused some first responders to become sick or exactly how many experienced symptoms. Autopsies will be conducted and authorities said they were testing to determine what substances were in the home.

Here’s what to know about deaths and the investigation.

First responders were decontaminated
Antonette Alguire, a volunteer firefighter in Mountainair, said Wednesday that she saw some EMTS and firefighters coughing, and vomiting after they were outside the house.

Medical workers decontaminated nearly two dozen people, most of them first responders, the University of New Mexico Hospital said. Most of the people had no symptoms, hospital officials said.

Three people were admitted to the hospital Wednesday. One — an emergency medical services official — has since been released, the mayor of Mountainair said Thursday.

Audio reveals some at the home weren’t breathing
Audio archives from the Torrance County Fire Dispatch channel on the site Broadcastify reveal that dispatchers went to the home Wednesday morning, responding to a report of a 60-year-old man who was unconscious but breathing. It was unclear who had made the report.

Within minutes, a dispatcher is heard saying there were three people at the home and two might not be breathing. Then came a call for naloxone, the opioid-overdose antidote.

Torrance County Sheriff David Frazee told The Santa Fe New Mexican that one person was revived using naloxone.

Less than an hour after the initial call, the dispatch center relays that there have been multiple exposures, but there’s no clarity about what substance they were exposed to at the house.

Drugs were found in New Mexico home
Mountainair Mayor Peter Nieto said he spotted drugs at the home, but did not say what type of drugs.

He dismissed carbon monoxide or natural gas exposure as possible causes for the health issues that the first responders experienced.

New Mexico State Police spokesperson Wilson Silver said there was no threat to the public and that investigators do not believe the mysterious substance was airborne.

New Mexico has a high number of overdoses
New Mexico had the fourth-highest rate of drug overdose deaths of any U.S. state in 2024, with 775 deaths, according to the most recent data available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Residents around Mountainair, a town with less than 1,000 people, have voiced frustration about drug use in the community and elsewhere.

The mayor posted on social media that the town’s law enforcement officers and first responders work daily to protect the community and respond to difficult situations.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Gunmen opened fire in two separate attacks Thursday on the Honduran coast, killing at least 16 people, including six police officers, police said.

The first incident took place at a ranch in the municipality of Trujillo in northern Honduras, where at least 10 workers were shot and killed, National Police spokesman Edgardo Barahona said. The resource-rich region has been the site of a decades-long agrarian conflict.

In the second attack, assailants opened fire on police in the municipality of Omoa in the Cortes department near the Guatemalan border, killing six officers, including a senior officer, police said.

Marco Rubio said Thursday that negotiations with Iran are showing encouraging developments, though he cautioned that the situation remains fragile and warned that the United States is prepared to pursue other measures if diplomacy ultimately fails.

Speaking with reporters, Rubio struck a cautiously hopeful tone regarding the high-level discussions with Tehran, while making clear that Washington is keeping all options available.

“There are some good signs,” Rubio told reporters, adding, “I don’t want to be overly optimistic, as well. So, let’s see what happens over the next few days.”

Rubio explained that although American negotiators have managed to make progress in the talks, internal divisions within Iran’s ruling system continue to complicate efforts to reach a lasting agreement.

“But obviously we’re dealing with a system that itself is a little fractured.”

.@SecRubio on Iran: "@POTUS's preference is to do a good deal… I'm not here to tell you that it's going to happen for sure, but I'm here to tell you that we're going to do everything we can to see if we can get one. If we can't get a good deal, @POTUS has been clear — he has… pic.twitter.com/dhah7hSlvV

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 21, 2026

The secretary of state emphasized that the Trump administration’s primary goal remains a broad and enforceable agreement capable of eliminating the threats posed by the Iranian regime. He stressed that President Donald Trump continues to favor a diplomatic resolution if one can be successfully achieved.

“It’s always been his preference. If we can get a good deal done, that would be great. I’m not here to tell you that it’s going to happen for sure, but I’m here to tell you that we’re going to do everything we can to see we can get one,” Rubio stated.

At the same time, Rubio warned that the administration’s willingness to negotiate should not be mistaken for weakness, signaling that serious consequences could follow if Tehran rejects American demands.

“But if we can’t get a good deal, the president’s been clear; he has other options. I’m not going to elaborate on what those are, but everybody knows what those are. But his preference is always a deal. His preference is always an agreement. His preference is always diplomacy,” he added.

Rubio’s comments followed Trump’s recent revelation on Truth Social that the United States had prepared to launch strikes against Iran on Tuesday but delayed the operation because what he described as “serious negotiations” were underway.

Trump also addressed the standoff with Iran earlier this week during remarks at a Congressional picnic held at the White House.

“I think we’re going to be finished with that very quickly,” Trump said.

The president added that Iranian officials appear eager to finalize an agreement and repeated his insistence that Iran will never be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons.

“They want to make a deal so badly. They’re tired of this, and we’re going to be finished with that very quickly. Hopefully, we’re going to get it done in a very nice manner,” he added, while once again stressing that “they won’t have a nuclear weapon.”

On Thursday, Trump predicted that the confrontation with Iran would soon come to an end while reiterating that Tehran will not be allowed to keep its stockpile of enriched uranium.

During remarks in the Oval Office, Trump said the United States intends to seize the highly enriched material and likely destroy it afterward.

“We will get [the highly enriched uranium]. We don’t need it. We don’t want it. We’ll probably destroy it after we get it – but we’re not going to let them have it,” Trump said.

Addressing the ongoing negotiations, Trump said the administration is continuing diplomatic efforts but insisted the outcome regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions is non-negotiable.

“Right now, we’re negotiating, and we’ll see, but we’re going to get it one way or the other. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump also touted American military dominance in the region, claiming the United States has effectively shut down movement through the Strait of Hormuz and severely weakened Iran’s military infrastructure.

“We have total control of the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade has been 100% effective. Nobody’s been able to get through. It’s like a steel wall. We have the greatest military anywhere in the world. We wiped out their Navy, we wiped out their aircraft. I would say we knocked out about 85% of their missile capacity,” the President stated.

{Matzav.com}

More than 120,000 Orb Funkee squeeze toys have been recalled after it was discovered that the sand filling inside the toys may contain fibrous tremolite, a form of asbestos. 

Imported by the Canadian company The Orb Factory Limited, the toys were sold nationwide at major retailers, including Walmart and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, according to an alert from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

If the sand inside the toy is inhaled, it can cause adverse and potentially serious health issues.

POPULAR COSTCO KITCHEN GADGET RECALLED AFTER FIRE HAZARD LEAVES PERSON BURNED

No injuries or incidents have been reported to date.

The toys retailed for between $5 and $40 and were on shelves from February 2025 through April 2026.

Roughly 121,340 units are affected by the recall.

COSTCO RECALLS POPULAR PRODUCT IN 2 STATES OVER POTENTIAL INGREDIENT MIX-UP

Since the recall targets two specific models of soft, stretchable toys, consumers should check for the date code 3102491A, which is printed on the hand of the large golden monkey or on the back of the smaller versions.

Those who own the toys are urged to immediately take them away from children and stop using them. 

The Orb Factory is offering refunds for the defective products.

CHECK YOUR FREEZER: ORGANIC ICE CREAM RECALLED IN 17 STATES OVER POSSIBLE METAL FRAGMENTS

To claim a refund, customers must place the toy in a heavy-duty plastic bag, seal it securely with tape and email a photo of the bagged product to [email protected].

If the toy has ruptured and sand has leaked out, the company said consumers should wear a mask and gloves, and clean up the escaped sand with a damp cloth before placing the toy, cloth, mask and gloves into a heavy-duty plastic bag. 

The bag must then be double-bagged, sealed with tape and disposed of according to local or state regulations.

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Anyone with questions can contact The Orb Factory directly at 800-741-0089 or via the recall information section on their website.

The Orb Factory Limited, Walmart and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ requests for comment.

Mortgage rates jumped this week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 6.51% from last week’s reading of 6.36%. 

The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.86% a year ago.

“As rates fluctuate, aspiring buyers should remember that by shopping around for the best mortgage rate and getting multiple quotes, they can potentially save thousands,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

LOS ANGELES LEADS NATION IN MASSIVE POPULATION EXODUS AS ‘BREAKING POINT’ HITS GOLDEN STATE

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 5.85% from last week’s reading of 5.71%.

“The conflict in the Middle East continues to play an outsized role in how investors are assessing the economic outlook, and mortgage rates are moving accordingly,” said Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith. “In recent weeks, headlines suggesting escalation have tended to push longer-term yields higher, while signs of progress toward resolution have had the opposite effect. That dynamic, rather than any domestic policy development, remains the primary force shaping borrowing costs right now.”

TWO CITIES NAMED SPRINGFIELD ARE DOMINATING AMERICA’S HOTTEST HOUSING MARKETS FOR DIFFERENT REASONS

The rise in mortgage rates comes a day before President Donald Trump is due to swear in Kevin Warsh as the Federal Reserve’s new chair, succeeding Jerome Powell, whom Trump criticized tirelessly for keeping interest rates too high.

Notwithstanding the change in guard, financial markets are betting the central bank will not cut short-term rates at all this year and may actually increase them if higher oil prices work their way into inflation more broadly, as some Fed policymakers say they worry is already happening.

MIAMI OVERTAKES LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK AS WORLD’S RISKIEST HOUSING MARKET FOR BUBBLE RISK

“A Fed leadership transition is underway this week, but given that the chair is one vote among many, and that a resurgence in inflation is likely to reinforce caution among FOMC members regardless of leadership, that story is unlikely to move rates in a meaningful way,” Smith said.

Trump this week told the Washington Examiner that he will let Warsh do as he wishes with rates, and Warsh told lawmakers last month that he has made Trump no promises.

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Mortgage rates are affected by several factors, including the Federal Reserve and geopolitics. Though mortgage rates are not directly affected by the Fed’s interest rate decisions, they closely track the 10-year Treasury yield. The 10-year yield hovered around 4.57% as of Thursday afternoon.

Reuters contributed to this report.

[Video below.] Federal authorities are searching for a Minnesota man accused in a massive $90 million Medicaid fraud operation after he allegedly escaped FBI agents by jumping from a fourth-floor balcony and fleeing on foot Thursday morning.

Muhammad Omar, one of 15 individuals charged in connection with an alleged scheme targeting Minnesota’s Medicaid system, managed to evade capture shortly before federal officials held a press conference announcing the case.

Video captured during the incident showed Omar limping away across the property on one foot while carrying a shoe in his hand.

Authorities said the suspect was dressed in a white shirt and bright blue shorts. At one point during the escape, he appeared to stumble and fall before getting back up and disappearing into a nearby building.

Colin McDonald urged the public to assist law enforcement in locating Omar.

“I would encourage the public to help turn this man in to face justice for the fraud that he has perpetrated, and now, to face the additional charges for seeking to flee from law enforcement and seeking to obstruct justice by virtue of his conduct today,” he said.

Federal prosecutors have charged Omar with conspiracy to commit health care fraud along with four separate counts of health care fraud.

McDonald described the investigation as one of the most significant Medicaid fraud crackdowns ever brought by federal authorities.

“The bust involved the ‘highest loss amount ever charged in a Medicaid case’ as well as the ‘largest autism fraud scheme ever,’” McDonald said.

According to investigators, some of the fraudulent claims involved patients who allegedly received little or no legitimate care despite enormous sums being billed to Medicaid.

“One patient was supposed to be receiving 24-hour care … but he was actually being serviced by a fraudster and received no services,” McDonald said. “This patient was later found dead.”

Prosecutors allege the stolen taxpayer funds were funneled into luxury purchases, including upscale homes, expensive jewelry, and high-end vehicles.

McDonald warned that the broader scale of fraud affecting Minnesota’s Medicaid system could be staggering.

He suggested the overall amount of fraud impacting the state may ultimately surpass $9 billion.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli authorities have issued a series of emergency directives to communities and yeshivos amid mounting fears that the war with Iran could soon resume, Belaaz has learned.

Institutions which who do not have access to safe rooms have been directed to evacuate.

In a major development, a yeshiva in Carmiel, a town in northern Israel, was instructed to close its doors Thursday and send all students home due to not having a bomb shelter.

The order underscores the gravity of assessments being made by security officials, who appear to believe that a renewed outbreak of hostilities is likely.

Additionally, hospitals in the region have reportedly received notifications ordering them to prepare their underground facilities for emergency use. The activation of subterranean hospital wings is typically reserved for imminent conflict scenarios, and the order signals that military and medical planners are taking the threat of renewed hostilities with the utmost seriousness.

The United States reportedly used more than HALF of its THAAD anti-missile interceptor inventory while helping defend Israel during the recent war with Iran, according to The Washington Post.

The report says the US also fired more than 100 SM-3 and SM-6 interceptors, while Israel used fewer than 100 Arrow interceptors and roughly 90 David’s Sling interceptors.

One US official quoted in the report warned that if fighting resumes, America may need to deploy even more interceptors due to some Israeli missile defense batteries undergoing maintenance.

“Israel is not capable of fighting and winning wars on its own, but nobody actually knows this, because they never see the back end,” the official reportedly said.

The Pentagon pushed back on concerns over burden-sharing, while the Israeli Embassy in Washington said the US has “no other partner with the military willingness, readiness, shared interests and capabilities of Israel.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Stellantis on Thursday announced a $70 billion turnaround strategy that aims to refocus the automaker on core brands, partnerships and more efficient use of factory capacity.

The investment is over five years and includes the production of 60 new models by 2030, including a mix of internal combustion engine, hybrid and fully electric vehicles.

The pivot marks a shift under the leadership of new CEO Antonio Filosa to more external partnerships for Stellantis – the parent company of brands such as Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram.

“The plan is grounded in reality,” Filosa told investors at the company’s capital markets day. “It is designed to create a condition for profitable and sustainable growth.”

STELLANTIS TAKES MASSIVE $26B HIT AFTER MOVING AWAY FROM EVS

New partnerships for Stellantis include production tie-ups with Chinese firms Leapmotor and Dongfeng, as well as cooperation with Tata Motors and its U.S. unit JLR. 

Those partnerships will allow Stellantis to utilize some of its excess manufacturing capacity to generate revenue through contract production by third-parties instead of unused plants sitting idle and accumulating costs.

The strategic shift also includes technology partnerships with Qualcomm, Applied Intuition and self-driving startup Wayve. The approach will allow the company to share costs with partners while accelerating development in areas like software and autonomous driving.

STELLANTIS UNVEILS MASSIVE $13B US INVESTMENT PLAN

Filosa also outlined a new hierarchical structure for Stellantis’ 14 brands that will affect how product investment is directed.

Stellantis will focus about 70% of brand and product investment on Jeep, Ram, Peugeot and Fiat, as well as its Pro One division that makes commercial vehicles.

Brands like Chrysler and Alfa Romeo will be repositioned to have more of a regional focus, while Lancia and DS will shift into specialized roles under Fiat and Citroen.

STELLANTIS OFFERS EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT TO US BUYERS AS AUTO TARIFFS TAKE EFFECT

The product focus at Stellantis will focus on a range of more affordable vehicles that can support volume growth in addition to profitability.

Stellantis said it’s planning to invest over $27 billion in its platforms, powertrains and technologies, while it’s aiming to cut nearly $7 billion in annual costs by 2028 compared with a year ago.

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Shares in the automaker were up slightly with prices up 0.2% as of early afternoon Thursday, rebounding after the stock opened the day in the red. Stellantis shares are down nearly 34% year to date and over 28% in the last year.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Nickolay Mladenov on Thursday rolled out a sweeping 15-point strategy intended to implement a diplomatic framework for the future governance and stabilization of Gaza, including the dismantling of terrorist control structures and the introduction of an international security presence.

The plan, which Mladenov published on social media shortly after addressing the United Nations Security Council, is aimed at carrying out President Donald Trump’s Gaza Comprehensive Peace Plan in full.

Mladenov explained that the roadmap is divided into several operational stages. The opening five points establish broad civilian and administrative principles. Points six through eleven center on a major security transition process. Points twelve through fourteen call for the deployment of an International Stabilization Force together with a phased IDF withdrawal. The final point links Gaza’s long-term reconstruction to measurable and verified stability on the ground.

The international envoy stressed that the initiative is not meant merely to freeze the conflict temporarily.

“simply to preserve a ceasefire,” Mladenov warned, saying the objective is instead to permanently end Gaza’s recurring cycle of warfare and military escalation.

Recognizing the deep mistrust between the sides, Mladenov said the entire framework is built around strict reciprocal actions that would only proceed following independent confirmation by an Implementation Verification Committee, known as the IVC.

“trust between Israelis and Palestinians is effectively non-existent,” Mladenov acknowledged.

“The process therefore does not rely on promises alone,” Mladenov wrote on social media. “Each obligation by one side triggers an obligation by the other.”

The proposal would dismantle the current governing system in Gaza and replace it with a temporary transitional structure established under UN Security Council Resolution 2803. Under the framework, oversight would be handled by the newly created Board of Peace together with the Office of the High Representative.

Civilian administration inside Gaza would be managed by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, or NCAG — a temporary body made up of Palestinian Arab technocrats tasked with overseeing governance until a restructured Palestinian Authority assumes control.

A central element of the proposal addresses Israel’s long-standing demand that armed terrorist organizations be separated entirely from civilian governance in Gaza.

“Gaza cannot recover while armed groups simultaneously operate as governing authorities,” Mladenov stated.

The roadmap seeks to cut Hamas leadership off from public institutions while at the same time protecting ordinary civil servants who pass vetting procedures from blanket punishment or retaliation.

The security component of the plan is built around the doctrine of “One Authority, One Law, One Weapon,” under which only approved, nonpartisan security personnel would be authorized to bear arms inside Gaza.

As part of the proposal, terrorist organizations would be required to permanently halt all military activity.

Mladenov also called for a major restructuring of Gaza’s policing apparatus, including extensive vetting procedures and reforms designed to absorb trained civilian police into unified local security systems.

According to the proposal, the approach is intended to create a gradual and internationally monitored disarmament process while preventing a broader collapse of internal security in the enclave.

{Matzav.com}

Three major hospital systems on Monday filed lawsuits accusing CVS Health and its subsidiaries of running a secret scheme that allegedly siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars away from hospitals serving vulnerable and uninsured patients.

The lawsuits – filed by Mount Sinai in New York, University of Michigan Health and Sparrow Hospital, and the University of Kansas Hospital Authority – claim CVS manipulated reimbursements tied to the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program and kept the difference as profit, according to complaints obtained by FOX Business.

The hospitals allege insurers and patients paid full price for specialty drugs, but CVS later reduced payments to hospitals through affiliated companies, including CaremarkPCS, CVS Specialty, Caremark LLC and WellPartner.

The lawsuits estimate massive financial losses. Mount Sinai claims more than $121 million in losses since 2020. University of Michigan and Sparrow allege more than $66 million in losses. University of Kansas Hospital Authority alleges nearly $62 million in losses.

CVS, WALGREENS PULL BACK COVID VACCINES IN MORE THAN A DOZEN STATES FOLLOWING NEW GUIDELINES

At the center of the cases is the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program, which allows qualifying hospitals to buy expensive medications at discounted prices and use the savings to help fund community health services.

“Hospitals use 340B savings to provide, for example, free care for uninsured patients, offer free vaccines, provide services in mental health clinics, and implement medication management and community health programs,” the American Hospital Association states on its website.

A spokesperson for CVS told FOX Business in an email: “We do not comment on matters that are subject to ongoing litigation and remain focused on serving our customers and executing our business priorities.”

The University of Michigan complaint claims CVS and its subsidiaries “diverted (and continue to divert) 340B revenue for themselves by implementing a secret pricing scheme for 340B drugs, which required cooperation among its affiliated entities within the 340B drug supply chain.”

“CaremarkPCS charged the plan/payor the original higher amount, and the 340B eligible patient the original higher copay just so that defendants retain 340B profits,” the Mount Sinai complaint alleges.

CVS CAREMARK ORDERED TO PAY $290M AFTER MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME EXPOSED BY FORMER AETNA WHISTLEBLOWER

The complaints point to examples involving high-cost specialty drugs, including Stelara, which is used to treat chronic inflammatory conditions like plaque psoriasis, according to Stelara’s website.

The Michigan lawsuit cites one example in which a Stelara prescription allegedly generated more than $24,000 for the University of Michigan’s specialty pharmacy, but only about $18,000 when processed through CVS Specialty — a difference of more than $6,500.

“The $6,523.18 reflects the ‘spread’ artificially created and pocketed by the defendants as pure profit,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuits also accuse CVS of refusing audit requests and terminating some pharmacy agreements after hospitals raised concerns.

“Defendants refused to permit an audit and terminated plaintiff from the 340B Contract Pharmacy Arrangement, in retaliation for uncovering the fraudulent scheme described herein and seeking to fulfill their obligations under the 340B Program and HRSA regulations,” the Kansas complaint alleges.

ANTI-THEFT MEASURES AT CVS ARE ‘WORSE FOR BUSINESS THAN ORGANIZED SHOPLIFTING,’ COLUMNIST ARGUES

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The hospitals are seeking damages, repayment of alleged profits, court orders requiring CVS to turn over records and for the business to stop the alleged practices.

Last year, a federal judge ordered CVS Health’s Caremark to pay nearly $290 million after a whistleblower accused the company of overcharging Medicare on prescription drugs.

A spokesperson for University of Michigan Medicine told FOX Business: “Because this involves pending litigation, I have no information to share.”

FOX Business reached out to Mount Sinai and the University of Kansas Hospital Authority for comment.

FOX Business’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.

This post was originally published on this site.

Ram Trucks unveiled three new Hemi V-8 pickups Wednesday in Chelsea, Michigan, marking the most aggressive return to large-displacement gasoline performance by a Detroit automaker in more than a decade — and a direct bet by Stellantis NV that American truck buyers still want power, speed, and high-end performance even with crude oil trading near $99 a barrel.

The new lineup, branded the Ram 1500 Rumble Bee, will launch in late 2026 with a 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 model, followed by the Rumble Bee 392 and a flagship Rumble Bee SRT during the first half of 2027.

The reveal was led by Tim Kuniskis, chief executive officer of Ram and the executive overseeing Stellantis’s U.S. brand strategy. Kuniskis acknowledged elevated fuel prices remain a risk but said the company expects gasoline costs to moderate before the trucks reach showrooms.

“We chased electrification, and that tide changed,” Kuniskis said, according to reporting from The Detroit News and CNBC. “This tide will change as well. I would like to believe by the time this thing’s sitting on a showroom floor, I would like to believe that the gas prices will be back in line.”

Stellantis declined to release official pricing but indicated the vehicles will begin arriving at U.S. dealerships starting this fall.

Kuniskis compared the entry-level Hemi truck to a heavily equipped current Ram Big Horn, which can already exceed $60,000, while suggesting the top-end Rumble Bee SRT could sit above the existing $100,000 Ram TRX performance truck.

Behind the muscle-truck branding sits a broader profitability strategy.

Kuniskis said high-performance vehicles typically generate roughly “three times the margin than an average vehicle,” despite accounting for a relatively small share of total unit sales. Those vehicles also function as “halo” products designed to drive attention and showroom traffic across the broader brand lineup.

That matters for Stellantis because the company has struggled to maintain momentum in North America.

The automaker’s operating margins have compressed over the past two years as Ford Motor Co. gained market share in full-size pickups and General Motors Co. strengthened its position in heavy-duty trucks. Ram sales declined during 2024 and again during the early months of 2025, prompting Kuniskis to launch what he has publicly described as a 25-product, 18-month offensive aimed at rebuilding the brand.

The Rumble Bee lineup is now the centerpiece of that effort.

The trucks will be manufactured at Stellantis’s plant in Saltillo, Mexico, adding another layer of complexity to the economics.

The revised USMCA trade framework and broader U.S. tariff policies have increased cost pressure for vehicles crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Stellantis has previously disclosed material tariff-related costs tied to Mexican production, raising questions about whether the company can fully preserve margins on trucks expected to begin near the $60,000 range.

The timing also ties directly into the global energy market.

The launch came as West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $98.96 per barrel Wednesday afternoon, while Brent crude remained near similar levels. Oil markets continue reacting to tensions tied to the Iran conflict and uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy shipping corridors.

President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he postponed potential military action against Iran while diplomatic negotiations continue.

Any renewed escalation could quickly push gasoline prices higher — directly affecting the same middle-income recreational truck buyers Ram hopes to attract.

Kuniskis, however, has argued that emotional appeal matters more than fuel economy for the target customer.

“Data be damned — we raise our flag and let our HEMI ring free again,” he said previously when Ram announced the broader return of the Hemi engine to the Ram 1500 lineup.

The current 2026 Ram 1500 Hemi produces 395 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque, paired with an eTorque mild-hybrid system and an eight-speed automatic transmission. The upcoming Rumble Bee 392 will feature the larger 6.4-liter Hemi V-8, while the SRT variant is expected to anchor the lineup with the highest output.

The strategy also aligns with a broader brand-marketing push.

Ram returned to NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series for the 2026 season after a 13-year absence, unveiling its race truck at Michigan International Speedway last year. Stellantis cited industry research showing more than 40% of NASCAR fans own trucks, positioning the racing return as part of a larger campaign internally branded “Ram-Demption.”

For the broader auto industry, the launch may signal a new phase in Detroit’s strategy.

While automakers continue investing tens of billions into electric vehicles and battery platforms, Ram’s move suggests internal-combustion performance vehicles still command strong pricing power and customer loyalty.

Ford has not announced a major expansion beyond the current F-150 Raptor R, while General Motors has yet to unveil an equivalent muscle-truck strategy for the Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra lines. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. continues gaining share with the Tundra and Tacoma platforms.

If the Rumble Bee lineup achieves strong margins and customer demand, analysts expect competing automakers could respond with similar performance-oriented trucks within the next 12 to 18 months.

For consumers, the launch sends two clear messages.

First, gasoline-powered performance trucks are not disappearing from the American market despite the industry’s aggressive electrification push.

Second, pricing across the performance-truck segment is likely heading even higher. A six-figure Rumble Bee SRT effectively raises the ceiling for what automakers believe truck buyers are willing to spend on premium recreational vehicles.

Stellantis shares traded mixed Wednesday in both Milan and New York.

The longer-term question may ultimately come down to oil prices.

If gasoline costs retreat toward the $70-per-barrel environment many automakers privately hope for, Ram’s timing could look highly strategic. If energy prices remain closer to current levels, Stellantis will be asking consumers to embrace high-horsepower trucks during one of the most expensive fuel environments in years.

The trucks are coming either way.

The fuel market will determine how many buyers follow.

— JBizNews Desk

© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

By JBizNews Desk
New York, Thursday, May 21, 2026

Jeff Bezos turned a CNBC sit-down into the bluntest indictment yet of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s management of New York City, telling Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday’s “Squawk Box” that if Amazon were run the way the city runs its $43 billion school system, packages would arrive six weeks late, cost a hundred dollars to ship, and contain the wrong item.

The line landed because the numbers behind it are not rhetorical. New York City is spending roughly $44,000 per student, about thirty percent more than Los Angeles or Chicago, while enrollment has dropped by close to 70,000 students since 2020 and math and reading proficiency continue to trail national benchmarks. The Citizens Budget Commission projects full per-student spending will reach $43,778 in fiscal year 2026, the highest of any major American school system. The Department of Education’s budget has climbed from $34.5 billion to about $44.6 billion in recent years even as the student count fell, with the city spending about $1.6 billion on a hold-harmless policy that kept school budgets flat as classrooms emptied.

Bezos, whose net worth sits near $269 billion, did not stop at the spending figure. He argued that almost none of the money is reaching teachers, and that doubling his own tax bill would not change that arithmetic because the dollars are absorbed by a management-heavy bureaucracy long before they get to a classroom in Queens or the Bronx.

“None of this money is getting to the teachers, I promise you,” Bezos said. “If you’re charging $44,000 per student, how much of that money do you think is trickling down to teachers? Not much.”

He also pushed back on Mamdani’s broader tax agenda, including proposals to raise rates on high earners and target luxury second homes, framing the mayor’s approach as a search for new revenue to feed a system that is already failing on the inputs it has. Bezos described Amazon’s internal management technique of asking “the five whys” to trace problems to root causes, contrasting it with what he characterized as a New York City reflex to point fingers and request more funding.

Mamdani responded within hours on X, writing, “I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ,” a line his allies amplified as a defense of the city’s educators. The mayor did not dispute the budget figure or the per-pupil spending number.

The timing of Bezos’s broadside is what makes it more than a celebrity soundbite. The Bezos family pledged $150 million to early childhood education initiatives in New York earlier this year, giving the Amazon founder a standing claim to a seat in the city’s education debate that goes beyond a billionaire firing off opinions from Miami. He is, in effect, arguing that he is putting private capital directly into the same children the city’s $43 billion is failing to serve — and that the contrast tells the story.

The critique also lands as Mamdani’s management credibility is being challenged on a second front. Earlier Thursday, leaders of the Multicultural Business Coalition met with New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and members of her staff to raise concerns that the mayor’s proposed city-owned supermarket initiative could undermine independently operated neighborhood supermarkets, threaten thousands of local jobs and place taxpayer-subsidized competition directly against small family-owned grocers already operating on thin margins.

The Multicultural Business Coalition — an immigrant-led nonprofit made up of more than 50 chambers of commerce representing Asian, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Jewish-owned businesses in New York — has assembled a war chest north of $1 million to oppose the mayor’s proposed $70 million city-owned grocery store initiative ahead of a City Council Economic Development Committee hearing tentatively slated for May 29.

Coalition leaders argue the proposal would unfairly place taxpayer-backed, rent-subsidized and publicly financed grocery stores in direct competition with existing neighborhood supermarkets, bodegas and small family-owned retailers, threatening thousands of local jobs and the survival of independently operated stores already struggling with inflation, labor costs and razor-thin margins.

The coalition is in talks for a $1 million commitment from a single backer and is raising roughly $100,000 a week from individual donors and small and mid-size businesses, according to chairman Frank Garcia.

“We will be at the hearing in force,” Garcia told the New York Post. “We don’t want to hurt the mayor, but we are not going to let him hurt us.”

Garcia warned that if the coalition is brushed off, the group “will go after the mayor and his candidates and make sure he is a one-time mayor.” The coalition also opposes Mamdani’s proposed $30-an-hour minimum wage plan.

Ken Roldan, the coalition’s president and a former lawyer in the state attorney general’s civil rights bureau, said the group is weighing legal action against the city over the public supermarket proposal.

“We wouldn’t shy away from a lawsuit by any means,” Roldan told the Post.

Duvi Honig, founder of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce and co-founder and secretary of the coalition, told the New York Post that it is the first time so many disparate immigrant business communities have aligned under one umbrella and that politicians are taking notice.

The Multicultural Business Coalition and Bezos’s CNBC appearance converge on the same underlying point from opposite ends of the economic spectrum. The immigrant grocers warn that a city government that has not demonstrated competence running housing, hospitals or schools should not be opening a tax-free, rent-free, capital-subsidized retail business across the street from bodegas and supermarkets that pay full freight.

Bezos is making the same argument in simpler language: a system that absorbs $44,000 per student and produces declining outcomes is not suffering from a funding problem — it is suffering from a management problem, and additional taxes will not solve it.

The political stakes for Mamdani are sharper than a viral exchange suggests. The mayor took office in January on a platform of using municipal power to lower costs for working New Yorkers, and the school budget and grocery initiative are now the two largest live tests of that theory. If Bezos’s critique gains traction and Roldan’s lawsuit threat materializes, the mayor enters his first full budget cycle defending both the highest per-pupil education spending in the country and a publicly subsidized grocery rollout, with critics emerging from the right, the center and within parts of the city’s immigrant business base.

City Hall has not yet engaged substantively with the management critique. Mamdani’s response to Bezos was limited to a one-line social media reply, and the mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the coalition. The administration has yet to release detailed plans for the stores, but Nelson Eusebio, director of government relations for the National Supermarket Association, told the Post that members were told the city is spending too much money on the Harlem pilot location and questioned why those funds are not instead being invested into existing neighborhood supermarkets.

What Bezos said on CNBC is likely to follow the mayor through the rest of budget season. The “six weeks late and a hundred dollars to ship” comparison is the kind of image that survives beyond a single news cycle because it translates a sprawling bureaucracy into a customer experience every New Yorker can immediately picture.

Mamdani now has the rest of the spring to come up with a more substantive answer than knowing a few teachers in Queens.

JBizNews Desk

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Google co-founder Sergey Brin is continuing his foray into California politics with a newly reported donation to a group fighting against a proposed tax in San Francisco that would hit companies with high-paid executives in the tech hub.

A political contribution filing submitted on Wednesday revealed that Brin donated $500,000 to a group that’s opposing San Francisco Measure D, which will appear on voters’ ballots on June 2.

Advocates for the measure have argued it would crack down on wealth inequality by taxing what they view as excessive executive pay, while critics have warned it would cause employers to leave and could cause startups to locate elsewhere.

Brin’s contribution comes after the billionaire backed a group called Building a Better California with $57 million earlier this year to help it fight against California’s proposed wealth tax on billionaires. He was also among the wealthy residents of California to move their residence and some of their business interests out of the state ahead of the potential effective date for the tax at the start of this year.

GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER RIPS CALIFORNIA BILLIONAIRE TAX: ‘I FLED SOCIALISM’

Measure D would impose a tax on the pay of executives who earn more than 100 times the median compensation rate of their employees.

Starting in 2027, it would raise the top executive pay tax rates for businesses to range from about 0.183% to 1.121% of their gross receipts, and rates based on payroll expenses would range from 0.75% to 4.47%, depending on the pay ratio.

In effect, it would amount to an eight-fold increase in the gross receipts tax, with the city estimating it would bring in about $250 million to $300 million in annual tax revenue.

SERGEY BRIN CONFRONTED GAVIN NEWSOM AT TREEHOUSE PARTY BEFORE DITCHING CALIFORNIA OVER BILLIONAIRE TAX

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie expressed opposition to Measure D, arguing it “will cause major employers to leave San Francisco and prevent new companies from setting up shop here.”

Measure D is backed by several union groups as well as several prominent politicians on the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Sanders has argued that it would address wealth inequality by making “corporations pay their fair share.”

GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER SERGEY BRIN JOINS CALIFORNIA EXODUS: REPORT

The group Brin contributed to is also advocating in favor of San Francisco Measure C, which would increase the exemption threshold from the gross receipts and executive pay tax for small businesses from $5 million to $7.5 million in San Francisco gross receipts.

Bloomberg reported that Brin has spent over $60 million on state politics this year amid his effort to push back on what he views as harmful policies for California’s business climate.

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The outlet noted that he launched a nonprofit called Compass4 to use for some of his political donations, and the entity was used for his contribution regarding the San Francisco ballot measures.

President Donald Trump is calling for criminal prosecutions against former special counsel Jack Smith and members of his team after a former federal prosecutor connected to Smith’s classified documents case was charged with allegedly funneling sealed Justice Department records to her private email accounts.

“Deranged Jack Smith and his ‘gang’ are really bad news. Can never be allowed to happen again,” Trump wrote Wednesday night on Truth Social. “They should all be prosecuted!”

Trump’s remarks came shortly after the Justice Department revealed charges against Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, a former managing assistant U.S. attorney in South Florida who worked on issues tied to Smith’s investigation into documents kept at Mar-a-Lago.

According to federal prosecutors, Lineberger secretly transferred sensitive DOJ materials — including portions of Smith’s unreleased report on the classified documents case — to personal Gmail and Hotmail accounts, allegedly disguising the files as baking recipes in an effort to avoid detection.

Investigators say the files were relabeled with names such as “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” and “Chocolate_cake_recipe.pdf” to conceal the contents.

Prosecutors allege the records included sealed investigative documents and internal Justice Department communications that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had specifically ordered kept confidential.

Lineberger, 62, appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach on Wednesday and entered a plea of not guilty.

She has been charged with obstruction of justice, theft of government property, and concealment of official records. A conviction on all counts could expose her to a lengthy prison sentence stretching decades.

FBI Director Kash Patel sharply criticized the alleged misconduct in a statement posted to X.

“This FBI will not hesitate to bring to account those who violated the trust of the American public in an investigation that should’ve never been brought to begin with,” Patel wrote.

The charges against Lineberger are expected to fuel additional scrutiny over Smith’s prosecution of Trump regarding classified materials retained at Mar-a-Lago after his first term in office.

Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case in 2024, determining that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated constitutional requirements.

Smith eventually dropped his appeal after Trump won reelection.

The unreleased section of Smith’s final report — the same material prosecutors say was emailed by Lineberger — has remained under seal and has never been made public.

Trump’s legal team previously argued that releasing the report would improperly disclose privileged information and grand jury material while violating constitutional safeguards.

The Justice Department had supported Cannon’s ruling preventing the report from being distributed outside official departmental channels.

In recent years, Lineberger also attracted attention for backing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs promoted during the Biden administration and for participating in implicit bias initiatives connected to the National Black Prosecutors Association, according to Just the News.

Because of Lineberger’s professional ties to the Southern District of Florida office where she previously worked, the case is being handled by prosecutors from the Northern District of Florida to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear at a campaign event Friday alongside Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) at the Eugene Levy Fieldhouse at Rockland Community College in Suffern – on the first day of Shavuos.

Lawler’s office confirmed to Belaaz that there will be a frum presence at the event, which is open to the public. A number of those offered VIP seating declined due to Yom Tov complications, as attendees will need to go through metal detectors and other security screening procedures. A source indicated to Belaaz that Rabbi Shmuel Gancz of Suffern, who was invited to speak, reportedly stated that if he were permitted to read the Aseres Hadibros, he would participate, but when this request was rejected he declined to attend.

The event will begin at 3PM on Friday.

The White House framed the visit as an opportunity for the President to tout his economic agenda, highlighting what it described as the largest middle-class tax cuts in history, including an expansion of the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000.

But the timing of the visit – falling on Yom Tov Shavuos – has drawn notice in the heavily Jewish county, where frum residents will be celebrating the Yom Tov and will be unable to attend.

Images shared with Belaaz on Thursday show Jewish Rockland residents displaying welcome signs for the president.

Lawler’s district, New York’s 17th Congressional District, which encompasses Rockland and Putnam counties along with parts of Westchester and Dutchess, is considered one of the nation’s key House battleground seats and the only New York congressional district currently rated a toss-up. Control of the narrowly divided U.S. House could hinge on races like Lawler’s in November.

The scheduling has raised eyebrows in the local frum community. Rockland County’s Orthodox Jewish population – concentrated in Monsey, Spring Valley, New Square, and surrounding areas – represents a major bloc of the district’s electorate, one that Lawler has cultivated carefully throughout his tenure in Congress. A slew of Trump administration officials have visited Lawler’s district to hold events with him in recent weeks as the second-term Republican gears up for his re-election campaign.

Some observers have noted the apparent incongruity of a presidential visit designed in part to shore up Jewish community support being scheduled on a day when virtually the entire observant Jewish community is unavailable. Whether the date was an oversight or reflects a calculation that Lawler’s Jewish support is sufficiently secure regardless, is a matter of speculation among community members.

President Donald Trump will travel to the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, next month, a White House official confirmed Tuesday, ending weeks of speculation about whether the U.S. president would attend amid the sharpest transatlantic rift in years over the U.S. war with Iran, tariffs and the future of the global trading order.

The White House official told Axios, which first reported the announcement, that Trump intends to use the June 15–17 gathering at the French Alpine lakeside resort to press allies on a sweeping commercial agenda: linking U.S. foreign aid to trade deals, accelerating the global adoption of American-developed artificial intelligence platforms, breaking China’s stranglehold on critical mineral supply chains, fighting drug trafficking and illegal immigration, and lifting regulatory barriers to boost U.S. exports and fossil fuel production.

The official said the summit itself is not expected to produce finalized agreements but instead establish the framework for future trade and industrial partnerships among Western allies.

The confirmation lands at a moment of unusual strain between Washington and several of its closest allies. Trump’s attendance had remained uncertain amid growing frustration with G7 members including France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom over what the administration views as insufficient support for the U.S.-led campaign against Iran and the broader effort to secure global energy shipping routes.

Trump has repeatedly criticized European NATO members for relying on U.S. military force while failing to contribute meaningfully to operations protecting cargo vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. European leaders have argued privately that they remain cautious about becoming directly entangled in the conflict, though several governments have indicated willingness to provide logistical or reconstruction support once hostilities subside.

French President Emmanuel Macron, whose government currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, has worked aggressively behind the scenes to ensure Trump attends the summit despite the tensions. Macron reportedly offered the American president a formal post-summit dinner at the Palace of Versailles — a highly symbolic gesture aimed at appealing to Trump’s appreciation for historic grandeur and state ceremony.

The summit schedule itself was adjusted earlier this year to accommodate Trump’s calendar, including events surrounding his 80th birthday celebrations in Washington on June 14.

For financial markets and corporate executives, however, the summit’s most important agenda item may not be diplomacy at all — but critical minerals.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters during preparatory meetings in Paris this week that the United States is pushing G7 nations to coordinate more aggressively against what he described as China’s dominance over strategic mineral supply chains. Bessent said the group is discussing shared inventory reserves, pricing floors and industrial policies designed to reduce Western dependence on Chinese-controlled rare earths and battery materials.

The issue has become central to U.S. industrial strategy as the artificial intelligence, electric vehicle, semiconductor and defense sectors compete for access to lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and rare earth elements required for advanced manufacturing.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure framed the challenge in unusually blunt terms.

“We are facing significant challenges — war in the Middle East, multilateral imbalances that are not sustainable, and the stakes regarding rare earths and critical materials,” Lescure said ahead of the meetings.

The minister warned that no single country should again be allowed to dominate the supply of materials essential to modern industrial economies — a direct reference to China’s overwhelming market share across several critical mineral categories.

The AI component of the summit is equally significant for Wall Street.

The Trump administration is expected to push allies toward broader adoption of American-developed AI systems, cloud infrastructure and semiconductor technologies as Washington increasingly treats artificial intelligence leadership as a geopolitical and economic priority. Such efforts would effectively support U.S. technology giants including Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Oracle and Amazon as they compete globally against Chinese and European rivals.

The strategy aligns with the administration’s broader view that AI leadership is not simply a commercial race but a national-security imperative.

Iran will loom over every conversation.

Speaking at the “No Money for Terror” conference in Paris, Bessent urged allies to intensify sanctions enforcement against Tehran’s financial and shipping networks. He credited the administration’s “Operation Economic Fury” sanctions architecture with disrupting tens of billions of dollars in projected Iranian oil revenue and weakening Tehran’s ability to finance military and nuclear operations.

The Treasury Secretary specifically called on European governments to strengthen banking enforcement measures while urging Asian allies to crack down on Iran’s shadow tanker fleet used to circumvent sanctions.

But divisions inside the G7 remain substantial.

The United States recently extended a waiver allowing some purchases of Russian seaborne oil to support energy-vulnerable economies affected by the Iran conflict, frustrating several European officials who believe the move weakens broader sanctions pressure on Moscow.

European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis acknowledged the disagreements publicly, saying G7 countries are “not always 100% aligned on everything.”

The economic backdrop heading into the summit remains fragile.

Global bond markets have been rattled by rising inflation tied to energy prices, while central banks across the developed world face increasing pressure over whether interest rates may need to remain elevated longer than previously expected. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned ministers in Paris against policies that could worsen economic instability, while European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde acknowledged persistent concern over inflation and financial conditions.

For investors, the summit carries unusually direct implications.

Any coordinated Western strategy around critical minerals could reshape supply chains across the electric vehicle, semiconductor, aerospace and defense industries. Expanded international adoption of U.S. AI infrastructure would strengthen the revenue outlook for America’s largest technology firms. And any shift in energy coordination or sanctions policy could materially affect oil markets already strained by the ongoing Iran conflict.

The geopolitical wildcard remains whether the war itself escalates or cools before leaders arrive in France.

A diplomatic breakthrough between Washington and Tehran could dramatically lower tensions and stabilize energy markets. A further escalation — particularly involving disruptions to Gulf shipping lanes or energy infrastructure — would likely dominate the summit entirely and overshadow the broader trade and technology agenda.

What is already clear is that Trump is approaching the summit less as a traditional alliance-building exercise and more as a transactional negotiation.

The administration’s message to allies has been increasingly explicit: buy more American goods, support American AI leadership, reduce dependence on China, and align more aggressively with U.S. sanctions and energy policies.

Whether the rest of the G7 is politically willing — or economically able — to follow remains the defining question heading into what could become one of the most consequential global summits of Trump’s second term.

— JBizNews Desk

© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

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The Supreme Court dealt a major blow Thursday to four major cruise lines accused of profiting from Cuban property seized during Fidel Castro’s communist revolution, reviving lawsuits that could cost the companies hundreds of millions of dollars.

In an 8-1 ruling, the justices sided with Havana Docks Corporation, a U.S. company that once operated docks in Havana before the Cuban government took the property in 1959.

The decision revives more than $440 million in judgments against Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises for using the Havana port during the Obama-era thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that a lower court wrongly dismissed the claims because the cruise companies “used confiscated property to which Havana Docks owns the claim.”

MAJOR CRUISE LINE SUSPENDS CARIBBEAN DESTINATION VISITS AMID KIDNAPPINGS, SAFETY CONCERNS

The lawsuits stem from the Helms-Burton Act, a 1996 law allowing Americans to sue companies that profit from property seized by Cuba’s government after the revolution.

Justice Elena Kagan ​wrote in the dissent that her colleagues had misconstrued the statute’s text, writing that “what Havana Docks owned was only a property interest allowing ​it to use those docks ⁠for a specified time.” Kagan wrote that the decision will “allow plaintiffs to recover for trafficking in property that was not theirs.”

For years, U.S. presidents suspended the Helms-Burton Act to avoid clashes with allies and businesses operating in Cuba. The cruise lines had resumed stops in Havana in 2016 after President Barack Obama reopened travel ties with Cuba.

TRUMP DECLARES NATIONAL EMERGENCY OVER CUBA, THREATENS TARIFFS ON NATIONS THAT SUPPLY OIL TO COMMUNIST REGIME

President Donald Trump reversed course in 2019, activating the law and tightening pressure on Cuba’s communist regime.

A federal judge in Miami previously ruled the cruise operators were liable and awarded Havana Docks more than $400 million combined. An appeals court later overturned that ruling before the Supreme Court issued its decision on Thursday.

The case now heads back to the lower courts, where the cruise lines are expected to continue fighting the claims.

The ruling lands amid renewed tensions between Washington and Havana. Just one day earlier, the U.S. announced murder charges against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro tied to the 1996 shooting down of planes flown by Miami-based exiles.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The woman prosecutors identified as the mastermind behind a massive Minnesota pandemic fraud operation that siphoned away $250 million intended to feed needy children has been sentenced to 41 years behind bars.

Aimee Bock, 45, received the lengthy prison term Tuesday after a jury convicted her in March on every charge she faced. Federal prosecutors called her the “ringleader” of what they described as one of the largest COVID-era fraud operations uncovered anywhere in the United States.

Most of the defendants charged in the sprawling case are Somali immigrants, while the food assistance was intended to benefit members of Minnesota’s Somali community.

In addition to the prison sentence, Bock was ordered to repay $5.2 million.

According to prosecutors, Bock and fellow defendant Salim Said falsely reported serving 91 million meals through the program. Authorities said the pair instead diverted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money to support extravagant personal spending, Acting US Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said following the convictions.

Federal investigators said the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future exploded from receiving roughly $3 million in federal funding to taking in more than $200 million by 2021. When officials at the Minnesota Department of Education began scrutinizing the dramatic increase, prosecutors said Bock responded by suing the agency, allowing the federal money to continue pouring in.

The scheme finally began to unravel in January 2022, when the FBI, IRS, and other federal authorities carried out coordinated raids at 26 sites across Minnesota suspected of participating in the fraud network.

To date, authorities have charged 79 individuals in connection with the Feeding Our Future scandal, and more than 60 people have already been convicted.

{Matzav.com}

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., said Wednesday that the United Arab Emirates’ new crude-oil pipeline designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz is now nearly 50% complete, underscoring how the Iran conflict is permanently reshaping global energy infrastructure and oil-export routes.

Speaking during a live-streamed event hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington, Al Jaber said the so-called West-East Pipeline — designed to expand UAE crude exports through the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman — is being accelerated toward completion in 2027.

“Today, it’s already almost 50% complete, and we are accelerating its delivery toward 2027,” Al Jaber said.

According to the Abu Dhabi Media Office, UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan directed ADNOC to fast-track the project following the worsening regional energy crisis triggered by the Iran war.

The announcement carries major implications for global oil markets because Iran has effectively kept the Strait of Hormuz closed to most non-Iranian shipping since U.S. and Israeli strikes launched on Feb. 28.

The Strait historically handled roughly 20% of global seaborne crude shipments, making it the single most important oil chokepoint in the world.

Al Jaber described the disruption as “the most severe energy supply disruption in history.”

According to the ADNOC chief, more than 1 billion barrels of oil supply have already been lost because of the closure, with nearly 100 million additional barrels disrupted every week the strait remains inaccessible.

He also warned that even if the conflict ended immediately, global oil flows would not normalize quickly.

Al Jaber estimated it would take at least four months for shipping volumes through Hormuz to recover to roughly 80% of prewar levels, while full normalization may not occur until sometime in 2027.

“Once you accept that a single country can hold the world’s most important waterway hostage, freedom of navigation as we know it is just finished,” he said. “If we don’t defend this principle today, we will spend the next decade defending against the consequences.”

The business implications stretch across the global energy system.

ADNOC’s existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline already transports up to 1.8 million barrels per day from inland oil fields directly to Fujairah, bypassing Hormuz entirely. The new West-East Pipeline is designed to roughly double that export capacity.

That increase would effectively add export flexibility equivalent to the total production of a mid-sized OPEC member nation.

For commodity traders including Vitol, Trafigura, and Glencore, as well as oil majors such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., and ConocoPhillips, the project significantly changes the long-term geopolitical risk profile attached to Gulf crude.

Infrastructure that bypasses Iran’s naval reach effectively lowers future supply-disruption risk premiums built into oil prices.

The project also follows another major strategic shift by the UAE.

Al Jaber confirmed during the same event that the UAE formally exited the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on May 1, ending decades of participation in the Saudi-led oil cartel.

He described the decision as a sovereign strategic move reflecting what he called the world’s growing need for additional energy supply.

Without OPEC production quotas, the UAE can now increase output based entirely on its infrastructure capacity — making the pipeline expansion central to the country’s future energy strategy.

Oil prices remain elevated despite easing modestly from spring highs.

West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $98.96 per barrel Wednesday afternoon, while Brent crude remained near similar levels. Prices have stabilized somewhat in recent weeks as traders increasingly price in alternative Gulf export routes, expanding Saudi pipeline capacity, and additional U.S. shale production.

For American consumers, the implications are immediate.

Every additional barrel of Gulf oil that can reach global markets without transiting Hormuz helps reduce the geopolitical risk premium embedded in gasoline, diesel, and jet-fuel prices.

U.S. gasoline prices have remained above roughly $4.10 per gallon through much of the spring, pressuring household budgets and weighing on discretionary spending.

Airlines including Delta Air Lines Inc., United Airlines Holdings Inc., and American Airlines Group Inc. have cited elevated fuel expenses in recent earnings reports, while logistics and transportation companies including FedEx Corp., United Parcel Service Inc., Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. continue facing higher operating costs.

The pipeline expansion also carries major implications for energy infrastructure investors.

Pipeline operators, storage companies, and export-terminal businesses tied to Gulf energy logistics are expected to benefit from long-term rerouting of oil and natural-gas flows.

U.S. liquefied-natural-gas exporters including Cheniere Energy Inc., Sempra, and Venture Global LNG have also gained market share as European and Asian buyers diversify away from shipping routes exposed to Iranian disruption.

Meanwhile, defense contractors including Lockheed Martin Corp., RTX Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., General Dynamics Corp., and L3Harris Technologies Inc. continue benefiting from expanded Gulf maritime-security spending tied to the conflict.

The broader geopolitical situation remains unresolved.

President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he postponed a planned military strike against Iran while diplomatic negotiations continue, temporarily easing fears of immediate escalation but doing little to reopen the strait itself.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz continue coordinating with Gulf allies including the UAE and Saudi Arabia regarding maritime-security responses.

The U.S. Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, continues escorting limited commercial traffic outside the strait, though insurance markets remain highly restrictive for vessels attempting passage through the area.

The economic effects have spread far beyond energy markets.

The International Energy Agency has warned that prolonged Hormuz disruption could reduce global GDP growth during 2026, while the International Monetary Fund recently raised its inflation forecasts partly because of sustained energy-price pressures tied to the conflict.

Minutes released Wednesday from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting also reflected continued concern among policymakers regarding energy-driven inflation risks.

Al Jaber argued the crisis demonstrates a broader structural vulnerability within the global energy system.

“Right now, too much of the world’s energy still moves through too few chokepoints,” he said.

That logic is already influencing infrastructure planning across the Gulf region.

Saudi Arabia is studying additional expansion of its East-West Pipeline linking eastern oil fields to the Red Sea. Iraq is revisiting dormant export routes through Turkey and Jordan. Oman is positioning its Duqm port on the Arabian Sea as a future regional export hub outside the Strait of Hormuz entirely.

For the UAE, the pipeline is more than an industrial project.

It is a strategic declaration that the country no longer intends to let its economic future depend entirely on stability inside the Persian Gulf.

For global markets, it represents one of the first major pieces of physical infrastructure being built specifically to reduce the long-term financial cost of Gulf instability.

Every mile of pipeline completed between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah slightly changes the global energy equation.

— JBizNews Desk

© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful congressional committee is urging major telecommunications companies to do more to protect Americans against scams, part of a widening investigation into the role that U.S. companies play in the surge in cyberscams that cost Americans an estimated $200 billion in 2024.

“Consumers need to be able to trust that the calls and texts they receive — from their doctor’s office or their child’s school, for example — are authentic. Scam communications, however, are increasingly difficult to distinguish from legitimate messages, and too much of the burden of detection is falling on customers,” Rep. David Schweikert, R.-Ariz., the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, and Sen. Maggie Hassan, D.-N.H., the committee’s ranking member, wrote in a detailed request sent to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile on Wednesday evening.

The committee is seeking information about the companies’ efforts to collect data, monitor for scams and cybercrime, and take action against bad actors.

The scrutiny comes amid growing concern in Washington about the explosion of scams targeting U.S. citizens. Congress has also been scrutinizing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, online dating sites, artificial intelligence companies, data brokers and a range of federal agencies about their roles in and response to cyberscams.

It’s not the first time Washington has tried to tackle robocalls. Through the 2019 TRACED Act, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission required large carriers to implement caller ID authentication technology to combat caller ID spoofing and make it easier for law enforcement to identify bad actors.

But the problem has persisted, leaving Americans vulnerable to highly organized translational crime.

Wireless providers blocked 55 billion spam and scam robotexts in 2024 and flag or block 45 billion scam calls a year, according to industry group CTIA. But unwanted messages and calls continue to break through, in staggering numbers.

Americans received more than 50 billion robocalls in 2025, according to YouMail, a robocall blocking company. Spam texts surged to more than 19 billion a month in 2024, according to RoboKiller, another anti-spam company. Text messages and phone calls were the first and third most commonly reported ways scammers targeted victims last year, according to Federal Trade Commission data.

Josh Berc, senior vice president of policy at USTelecom, an industry association, said companies work to protect consumers by tracing back scam calls, disrupting illegal activity and supporting government investigations and law enforcement.

“Scam prevention requires a coordinated, inter-industry approach and our sector remains committed to strengthening partnerships that protect consumers,” he said in an email to The Associated Press.

Some telecom companies are seeking to turn anti-scam work from a cost center to a source of revenue, through, for example, premium call-filtering services and branded caller ID, both available for a fee.

Consumer advocates say stronger incentives are needed.

“Companies will not go far enough until they actually do feel some type of liability,” said Eden Iscil, senior public policy manager at the National Consumers League, “Some financial incentive that really pushes them to go as far as they can to protect consumers.”

A top U.S. defense contractor pulled back the curtain on next-generation AI-powered systems designed to hunt down and destroy swarms of enemy drones as the U.S. rapidly expands its next-generation warfighting capabilities.

“We are inserting technology of all types into our systems,” Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet told FOX Business on Thursday, detailing the company’s AI-powered counter-drone system, Sanctum.

Taiclet said the system uses artificial intelligence to detect incoming drones, determine whether they pose a threat and predict where they are headed before they can be intercepted or disabled.

GE AEROSPACE POURS $1B INTO US MANUFACTURING AS CEO TOUTS ‘TREMENDOUS DEMAND’

“This technology alone is fantastic in being able to essentially hit a bullet with a bullet in space and destroy an incoming ballistic missile that’s threatening our people, threatening our bases, threatening our allies,” he said.

“But along with that, we’ve got to match — with technology — other threats, and we want to match the threat to the cost of our counterthreat.”

The company is also focusing on a device called MORFIUS, a system capable of flying close to small enemy drones and “zapping” them with high-powered microwave pulses before moving on to the next target.

“This drone that we’re building with the help of AI will enable us to attack 50 different drones with one mission without firing any weaponry,” he shared.

INSIDE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S AI ‘TECH FORCE’ DESIGNED TO MODERNIZE THE GOVERNMENT

Taiclet also spoke about the company’s investment in an internal AI center in 2020 and credited a pipeline partnership with chipmaker Nvidia, which supplies the graphics processing units, or GPUs, used to support such national security missions.

He also described how Lockheed is repurposing existing battlefield weaponry to create cheaper, more scalable defenses against drone attacks.

More specifically, the company has modified Hellfire missiles — traditionally used as air-to-ground weapons on Apache helicopters — into lower-cost ground-to-air interceptors capable of taking down enemy drones.

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“We’re actually showing that we can do that as well,” he said.

“We basically have a four-pack of these Hellfire missiles. We’ve reconfigured them with new technology. We connect it with the Sanctum AI, and we can now use that type of missile to destroy these incoming cheap drones.” he added.

“That’s some ways we’re using technology and Nvidia has been a great partner for us in this.”

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has approved the first phase of a $200 million modernization program for Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport, authorizing an initial $75 million investment aimed at improving passenger experience at the aging facility while long-term redevelopment plans continue.

The funding, approved today by the agency’s Board of Commissioners, is part of a broader three-year capital program intended to maintain and modernize the 53-year-old terminal until a new Terminal B is constructed as part of the airport’s long-term redevelopment plan.

Opened in 1973, Terminal B was originally designed to handle approximately 6.8 million passengers annually. According to the Port Authority, the terminal served roughly 11.5 million passengers in 2025.

The initial phase of work, expected to begin later this year, will focus on upgrades to gate areas, restrooms, elevators, escalators, lighting, and other high-traffic passenger spaces. Additional improvements planned under the larger $200 million program include replacing aging passenger boarding bridges, upgrading HVAC systems, refurbishing baggage handling systems, and improving ADA accessibility throughout the terminal.

Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said the agency is prioritizing upgrades that travelers encounter most frequently, including waiting areas, restrooms, and vertical transportation systems.

The terminal improvements are part of the Port Authority’s broader EWR Vision Plan, a sweeping redevelopment initiative intended to transform Newark Liberty into a modern international gateway.

The airport overhaul began with the opening of the award-winning Terminal A in 2023 and includes plans for a new Terminal B, upgrades to Terminal C, redesigned roadways and taxiways, and replacement of the airport’s aging AirTrain Newark system.

The new 2.5-mile AirTrain Newark system is expected to accommodate a projected 50 percent increase in ridership by 2040. The current system serves approximately 33,000 passengers and employees daily, according to the Port Authority.

Additional projects include expanded roadway access, improved pedestrian and cyclist connectivity, and construction of a new access point to the airport’s rail station that will provide easier connections for residents of Newark and Elizabeth traveling to the airport and New York City via NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak.

In a column published today ahead of Shavuos, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also the chairman of the Religious Zionism Party, examined the interconnection between the giving of the Torah, the offering of bikkurim, and Jewish settlement in Israel.

Smotrich contended that while some might see these elements as distinct aspects, they actually serve as a unified representation of the relationship among the Jewish people, the Torah, and the land itself.

He articulated that Shavuos embodies both “the spirit and the book” alongside “the soil, the tractor, and the agricultural produce born of our labor.” He stressed that the Torah “is not disconnected from life,” emphasizing its ties to the commandments associated with the land and the joy experienced by farmers as they present their initial harvests in Jerusalem.

The finance minister noted the resurgence of first-fruits celebrations during the period of Zionist settlement, asserting that the pioneers “did not invent a new holiday,” but rather brought back a long-lost custom that faded during years of exile. He remarked that this revival symbolizes a deep connection between the spiritual and the tangible, as well as between the Torah and the Land of Israel.

Smotrich further commented that “Zionism without a connection to Torah is a body without a soul, and it becomes lost,” making it clear that the Torah was never meant to be confined solely within academic settings.

“The Torah was given so that we would illuminate all of reality through it – the field and the battlefield, the economy and the culture,” he explained, highlighting its comprehensive significance.

Concluding his column, Smotrich touched upon the prevailing security situation and the relevance of Torah study alongside military service. He reflected, “When we see fighters who combine book and sword, who charge forward with a sacred book in their uniform pocket, and some of whom tragically do not return, we understand the depth of this connection.”

He expressed that on the night of Shavuos, “we will reconnect to the giving of the Torah, and through it continue to build and develop our land and our state.”

{Matzav.com}

Israeli intelligence has compiled a target list containing thousands of names and is systematically tracking down participants in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, relying on facial recognition, intercepted communications, biometric matching, and location intelligence to identify suspects across Gaza and beyond, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation published this week.

The operation continued even after the U.S.-brokered cease-fire signed in October 2025 and reached one of its highest-profile targets on May 15, when senior Hamas military commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike in Gaza City.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir confirmed the strike on May 16, describing it as a “significant operational achievement” and stating that Israel would “continue to pursue our enemies, strike them and hold accountable everyone who took part in the October 7th massacre.”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem separately confirmed Haddad’s death.

At the center of the operation is a specialized Shin Bet task force known as NILI, a Hebrew acronym translating roughly to “The Eternity of Israel Will Not Lie.” The unit was reportedly established specifically to identify and eliminate members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba commando force involved in the Oct. 7 border assault.

The business implications of the campaign extend far beyond military operations.

Israeli intelligence agencies are heavily dependent on a network of domestic cybersecurity, surveillance, digital-forensics, and artificial-intelligence firms whose technologies are increasingly being marketed worldwide to governments, police agencies, border authorities, and large corporations.

Among the most prominent is Cellebrite Software Ltd., the Nasdaq-listed digital-forensics company headquartered in Petah Tikva. Cellebrite reported 2025 revenue of approximately $475.7 million, up 19% year over year, while annual recurring revenue reached $480.8 million, a 21% increase. The company supplies mobile-device extraction and investigative software widely used by U.S. federal, state, and local law-enforcement agencies.

Chief Executive Thomas Hogan, who assumed the role in 2025, has publicly emphasized expanding the company’s AI-driven investigative capabilities for both government and enterprise clients.

Other major Israeli firms tied to the surveillance and intelligence ecosystem include Cognyte Software Ltd., which develops communications intercept and analytics systems used by foreign intelligence agencies; Corsight AI, a facial-recognition company focused on border and security applications; and Oosto, formerly known as AnyVision, which builds biometric video-analysis platforms.

NSO Group, developer of the controversial Pegasus mobile-intrusion software, remains under U.S. Commerce Department sanctions but continues operating internationally.

The broader industry has become one of Israel’s most important economic sectors.

Israeli cybersecurity exports reached roughly $14 billion in 2025, according to figures published by the Israel Innovation Authority and the Israel National Cyber Directorate. Defense exports overall hit a record $14.7 billion in 2024, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, with analysts expecting another record in 2025 once final numbers are released.

The technological dataset supporting Israel’s Oct. 7 manhunt is unusually extensive.

Many Hamas militants recorded the attacks using body cameras and uploaded footage to social media in real time. Israeli authorities also gathered hostage cellphone recordings, surveillance-camera footage from locations including the Nova music festival near Re’im, intercepted Telegram communications, and other digital evidence.

Israeli officials have described the resulting archive as one of the largest biometric datasets ever assembled on an attacking force during an active conflict.

In May, researchers affiliated with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal reported identifying previously unnamed attackers using Amazon Rekognition facial-recognition technology matched against publicly available social-media profiles. One identification reportedly returned a 99.9% similarity score.

Israel’s defense spending has expanded sharply since the war began.

Military expenditures now account for roughly 6.5% of Israeli GDP, according to data from the Bank of Israel and Israeli Finance Ministry budget documents, compared with approximately 4.5% before the conflict. The increase has widened fiscal pressures, weighed on the shekel, and increased sovereign borrowing costs, although ratings agencies including Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings have maintained Israel’s investment-grade status.

The strike that killed Haddad reportedly involved days of continuous surveillance.

According to Israeli security officials, the operation was approved roughly 10 days before execution. Israeli Air Force commanders allegedly conducted what one senior official described as a “deception operation” designed to mask unusual military activity and reduce Hamas alert levels before the strike.

The attack targeted a residential structure in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood. Gaza emergency authorities reported at least seven deaths and more than 50 injuries.

Haddad had assumed leadership of Hamas’s military wing in May 2025 following the killing of his predecessor, Mohammed Sinwar.

Former hostages Romi Gonen and Emily Damari had previously identified Haddad in televised interviews as one of the commanders involved in their captivity inside Hamas tunnel networks.

For Israel’s cybersecurity and surveillance sector, the war has effectively become a large-scale real-world demonstration of operational capability.

Industry executives and investors have increasingly pointed to the conflict as proof that Israeli-origin intelligence systems can function under live battlefield conditions at scale. Since 2023, purchases of Israeli surveillance, digital-forensics, and AI-security tools have expanded among Western police departments, Gulf-state security agencies, European border authorities, and private-sector corporate-security teams.

The cease-fire signed last year remains fragile.

Israeli officials have indicated the target list assembled after Oct. 7 is still active — and not yet complete.

— JBizNews Desk

© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

Dispute Over Security Funding and Iran Policy Exposes Growing Republican Divisions Ahead of Midterms

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is facing growing resistance from several Senate Republicans as disputes over a proposed White House ballroom funding provision, Iran policy, and broader spending priorities complicate efforts to advance a major Republican reconciliation package carrying significant implications for defense contractors, border-security firms, and the broader business community.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged Wednesday that Republicans do not yet appear to have enough support to preserve roughly $1 billion in U.S. Secret Service-related funding tied in part to security adjustments surrounding Trump’s planned White House ballroom project, an issue that has become increasingly contentious inside the GOP conference.

The funding was included inside a broader roughly $70 billion Republican reconciliation package focused heavily on immigration enforcement, including expanded funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through the remainder of Trump’s term.

The dispute now threatens to complicate the broader legislation, which carries major implications for defense contractors, surveillance firms, immigration-services vendors, logistics operators, and border-security technology companies positioned around expanded federal spending.

The funding language, released through Senate Judiciary Committee materials tied to Chairman Chuck Grassley, includes money connected to security modifications surrounding the White House East Wing modernization project and broader Secret Service operational upgrades.

The White House has repeatedly argued that the ballroom itself would primarily rely on private support rather than direct taxpayer construction funding.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle told reporters the security-related funding follows heightened concerns surrounding presidential protection after last year’s assassination attempt targeting Trump.

Trump himself has repeatedly stated publicly that the ballroom project would not rely on direct taxpayer financing for construction.

The internal Republican disagreement intensified after Secret Service Director Sean Curran briefed Senate Republicans behind closed doors earlier this month, outlining the breakdown of the requested funding.

According to lawmakers familiar with the discussion, roughly 20% of the allocation would go toward East Wing-related security upgrades, while the remainder would support broader Secret Service technology modernization and protective operations.

Several Republican senators, including Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Jim Justice, and Thom Tillis, have raised concerns about the provision and broader spending priorities tied to the package.

The political tension comes amid widening divisions inside the Republican conference over both fiscal policy and Trump’s increasingly aggressive pressure campaign against GOP critics and dissenters.

Earlier this week, Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’ Republican Senate primary runoff, intensifying political pressure on one of the Senate’s longtime Republican dealmakers.

Meanwhile, several Republican senators have also begun publicly distancing themselves from parts of the administration’s foreign-policy agenda following debate over U.S. involvement in the Iran conflict.

Sen. Bill Cassidy joined Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski in supporting a war-powers resolution tied to military operations involving Iran, highlighting a growing willingness among some Republicans to publicly break with the administration.

For corporate America and major lobbying groups, the growing divisions create increasing uncertainty around tax policy, federal spending, trade legislation, border-security contracts, and broader regulatory priorities heading into the 2026 midterm cycle.

The business stakes tied to the reconciliation package are substantial.

The legislation would expand funding tied to immigration enforcement, detention operations, surveillance systems, biometric identity programs, staffing contracts, logistics infrastructure, and federal facility support across the southern border.

Companies operating in the national-security and government-services sectors — including firms tied to detention management, data analytics, logistics, and defense technology — have closely monitored the legislation for months given the scale of potential contract opportunities.

A prolonged delay or collapse of the package could push portions of that federal contracting pipeline further into 2027, creating uncertainty for companies and investors positioned around expanded immigration-enforcement spending.

The ballroom controversy has also become entangled with broader consumer and political frustrations surrounding inflation and government spending priorities.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the proposal Wednesday, arguing Republicans were prioritizing high-profile White House projects while many households continue struggling with elevated costs tied to energy prices, borrowing rates, and inflation.

Recent polling has also suggested growing public skepticism surrounding portions of Trump’s second-term agenda, particularly regarding foreign policy and federal spending priorities.

The political implications extend well beyond the ballroom dispute itself.

Several Republican senators central to past bipartisan negotiations on health care, appropriations, taxes, and trade are either retiring, facing difficult reelection fights, or increasingly distancing themselves from parts of the administration’s agenda.

That shift is creating growing concern among business groups, trade associations, hospital systems, and corporate lobbying organizations that the Senate could become significantly less predictable heading into the second half of Trump’s term.

Democrats are already targeting several potentially competitive Republican-held seats in states including North Carolina, Maine, Texas, and Louisiana, while business groups continue evaluating how shifting Senate dynamics could affect tax policy, tariffs, energy permitting, financial regulation, and future spending legislation.

For now, negotiations over the reconciliation package remain ongoing while Senate procedural officials continue reviewing whether portions of the disputed funding language comply with reconciliation rules.

Democrats have also signaled plans to force additional votes tied to the White House funding controversy in the weeks ahead.

For Trump and Senate Republicans alike, the coming weeks are increasingly shaping into a major test of whether the administration can maintain enough internal party unity to move one of its largest domestic spending and immigration packages through Congress.

JBizNews Desk

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Note: We will not be updating any of our platforms from sundown this evening until after sundown on 5/23.

BALTIMORE (VINnews)-U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., lauded the Coalition for Jewish Values as a steadfast supporter of Jewish causes during a Zoom event this week launching the organization’s successful fundraising drive.

“There’s been no better ally in the work that I’ve done to fight for the Jewish people than the CJV,” Fine said in his keynote address.

Fine, who has faced criticism for his pro-Israel positions, noted that CJV has publicly defended him when other Jewish groups did not.

“When these folks have come after me, and tried to categorize me or miscategorize me, you’ve been willing to publicly have my back, in a time when other so-called Jewish groups … were willing to take the easier path,” he said. “The times when I’ve been attacked the most for doing what is right, you all have been there.”

The May 20 virtual event featured several speakers highlighting CJV’s growing influence in Congress, the media and grassroots advocacy. The organization, which represents more than 2,500 traditional Orthodox rabbis, is the largest rabbinic public policy group in the United States.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., in a pre-recorded message to CJV’s Rabbinic Circle, praised the group’s defense of religious liberty and its stand against antisemitism.

“I am proud to stand with you, shoulder to shoulder, to be able to protect religious liberty in our great country,” Lankford said. “We call it out, we identify it, we push where we can and make sure no one looks away when there are acts of antisemitism.”

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., credited CJV with helping advance key legislation.

“I am really appreciative of CJV for working with me to get things across the finish line. I look forward to working with you in the future,” he said.

Pastor Dumisani Washington, CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, emphasized the importance of alliances against shared threats.

“Really appreciate the work that you do,” Washington said. “The people that come for the Jewish people are typically the same who come for Black Americans, that’s why it’s so important to build that firewall and to work together.”

Kayla Toney, counsel and amicus brief coordinator for First Liberty Institute, highlighted CJV’s effectiveness in filing friend-of-the-court briefs on religious liberty cases.

“This is something that I think CJV is very uniquely positioned to do really really well as a rabbinic organization,” Toney said. “You are in fact one of our very best Amicus supporters. … To lend that expertise that the lawyers aren’t going to get right. We need the rabbis to help us, and the court in fact needs that guidance.”

CJV Executive Vice President Rabbi Yaakov Menken expressed gratitude for the support.

“We are deeply grateful to our guest speakers for their kind words, and even more to our friends in and beyond the Jewish community who responded so generously to our campaign,” Menken said. “All sent the clear message that our mission matters, and that speaking boldly with clarity and conviction is more important now than ever.”

The Coalition for Jewish Values is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that advocates for religious liberty, human rights and classical Jewish principles in American public policy.

NEW YORK (VINNEWS/Rabbi Yair Hoffman) There is no question that Ben Gvir’s actions recently were ill-advised.  He transformed a story about Israel lawfully enforcing a legal blockade into a story about an Israeli minister humiliating prisoners on camera. The harm to Israel’s standing was real, the cost to the hostage families’ diplomatic efforts was real, and the discomfort felt by Jews around the world watching the video was real.

And yet.

To stop the analysis there is to fail the moment. Because while the conduct deserves criticism, the anger behind it deserves to be understood. And too few commentators — including many within the Orthodox world — have been willing to sit with that distinction.

Who Was on Those Boats

The Global Sumud Flotilla was not, despite the framing in much of the European press, a convoy of “innocent humanitarians” caught in a misunderstanding.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned four of its organizers — Saif Abukeshek, Hisham Abu Mahfuz, Mohammed Khatib, and Jaldia Abubakra Aueda — for their roles in what Treasury called a “pro-Hamas flotilla” operating as part of Hamas’s global financial support network.

The flotilla was organized by the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, an entity the U.S. designated and sanctioned back in January 2026, and by Samidoun, designated a terrorist front by the United States and Canada in October 2024.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not mince words: “Treasury will continue to sever Hamas’ global financial support networks, no matter where in the world they are.” U.S. officials pointed to a letter from former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh personally endorsing PCPA’s role in organizing flotilla operations.

The UK is separately investigating flotilla figure Zaher Birawi for terrorism-related sanctions over alleged Hamas ties. Israeli authorities reported that no humanitarian aid was actually found aboard the vessels.

These are not lines from a Likud talking-point sheet. These are official designations from the Trump administration’s Treasury Department, made on the basis of intelligence assessments shared with allied governments.

What “Sumud” Actually Means

The flotilla’s name itself tells the story. “Sumud” — صمود — is Arabic for “steadfastness,” and in Palestinian political vocabulary it has long denoted not passive endurance but active refusal to accept any Jewish sovereignty in any portion of the land. Samidoun, the network behind much of the flotilla’s organizing apparatus, takes its name from the same root and openly glorifies imprisoned terrorists, including those convicted of murdering Jewish civilians, as “political prisoners.”

The people who organized this flotilla are, by their own public statements and by the verdict of the U.S. Treasury, in solidarity with the organization that on October 7th, 2023, raped women at the Nova festival, burned families alive in Kfar Aza, beheaded babies, and dragged 251 hostages into the tunnels of Gaza — some of whom are still there.

The same Hamas that, by extensive documentation from the IDF, Israeli journalists, and independent investigators including the Henry Jackson Society, used hospitals as command centers (Shifa most notoriously), fired rockets from schoolyards, stored weapons in UNRWA facilities, and embedded fighters among civilians as a matter of standing operational doctrine.

These are not contested claims from Israeli spokespeople. The Shifa tunnel complex was documented on video. The UNRWA weapons discoveries were photographed. The rocket launches from civilian areas have been geolocated by open-source investigators with no Israeli affiliation.

The Source of Ben Gvir’s Anger

Imagine, then, what it feels like to be the Israeli minister responsible for national security — a minister whose office handles the families of October 7th victims, whose office processes the trauma of hostages returning emaciated and broken, whose office sees the intelligence files on what was done to Shani Louk, to the Bibas children, to the elderly women dragged from Be’eri — and to watch Europeans sailing toward Israel’s coast in solidarity with the perpetrators.

To watch them photographed with smiles and peace signs while one’s own citizens have suffered so horrendously.

To know that the organizers have been formally designated as a Hamas support network by the United States.

To know that if these vessels had reached Gaza, the supplies — what supplies there were — would have been seized by Hamas, as nearly all aid to Gaza has been, and used to sustain the fighters still ranting and pining to rape and murder more innocents is despicable. 

The anger Ben Gvir expressed at Ashdod Port is not the anger of a fringe extremist. It is the anger felt by a very large portion of the Israeli public, including many who would never vote for him, who watched October 7th and watched the world’s response and concluded that something fundamental had broken in the Western moral compass.

When tens of thousands march in London chanting “From the river to the sea,” when Columbia students celebrate “by any means necessary,” when European foreign ministers lecture Israel about restraint while their own citizens sail in convoy with designated terror affiliates — the message received in Israel is unmistakable: our suffering does not count.

Ben Gvir gave voice, crudely and counterproductively, to that anger. He should not have. A minister of state must possess the discipline that the moment denies him. But the anger itself is righteous, even when its expression is not.

Where the Line Falls

Chazal teach in Pirkei Avos (4:1): Eizehu gibor? Ha’koveish es yitzro — Who is mighty? One who conquers his inclination. The mark of strength is not the absence of legitimate anger but the discipline to channel it. Ben Gvir failed that test. The Torah does not permit us to humiliate even a wicked person beyond what justice requires; the principle of kavod ha’briyos, the dignity of every human being created b’tzelem Elokim, does not evaporate because the human in question supports our enemies. The Rambam in Hilchos De’os (6:8) is explicit that even one’s enemy is owed basic human dignity, and the Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 338) extends this even to those condemned to death.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

A 26-year-old yungerman from Ofakim was arrested overnight at a gas station between Netivot and Ofakim after military authorities identified him as a draft evader wanted for military service.

The arrest took place just hours before the start of Shavuos, when traffic police conducting a routine inspection discovered that the young man was listed in military records as absent from IDF service. He was subsequently transferred to the custody of the military police.

According to reports from the Nosnim Gav organization, the avreich was taken to Ir HaBahadim for further processing and to determine possible punishment.

The organization stated that “the case is currently being reviewed by professional representatives and attorneys accompanying the family.”

The group also called on the public to daven for the swift release of Tzuriel ben Simcha.

The arrest comes amid growing tensions surrounding enforcement efforts against chareidi draft evaders and follows reports released ahead of Shavuos indicating that nine chareidi young men classified as deserters are expected to spend Yom Tov in military prison.

Organizations involved in assisting draft evaders and deserters say the number of arrests has increased in recent weeks, attributing the rise to heightened enforcement activity by military authorities.

The arrest has generated significant anger in chareidi circles, particularly because it occurred only hours before Yom Tov and involved a married avreich and young father whose life is devoted to Torah learning.

{Matzav.com}

You can download and print it here.

quick review of hilchos shavuos revised and updated 2026

Hard-working Americans could soon face another blow at the checkout counter.

Retail giant Walmart issued a warning Thursday after its Q1 earnings report, signaling that rising fuel costs could soon hit consumers at the checkout counter as seasonal tax-refund boosts dry up and inflation outpaces wages for the first time in years.

“I think higher tax returns muted some of the pressure related to higher fuel prices and as we’re in a period of time right now where those tax refunds are largely not coming in, I think consumers are going to feel more of that pressure from higher fuel prices,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey told CNBC.

Rainey said Walmart leadership is closely monitoring the economic headwinds: “It’s something that we’re keeping a close eye on.”

AWARD-WINNING CHEF SAYS POPULAR RETAILER HAS ELITE BEEF AT BARGAIN PRICES

During Thursday morning’s earnings call, Rainey also highlighted a widening gap between income groups, noting that while wealthier households are “spending with confidence [in] many categories,” lower-income Americans are becoming increasingly “more budget conscious” as they find themselves “navigating financial distress.”

High inflation has created financial pressure in recent years for many U.S. households, which are paying more for everyday necessities like food and rent. Price increases are particularly difficult for lower-income Americans because they tend to spend more of their paychecks on necessities and have less flexibility to save.

Energy prices rose 3.8% in April amid disruptions to Middle Eastern oil supplies tied to the Iran conflict, with prices up 17.9% over the past year. Gasoline prices increased 5.4% in April and are up 28.4% from a year ago.

April’s 3.8% inflation rate marked the highest level in three years and the first time since 2023 that prices have outpaced wage growth.

Despite affordability pressures, Walmart reported strong top-line revenue numbers, with total first-quarter revenue climbing 7.3% to $177.8 billion. However, that growth fell below analyst expectations.

Walmart’s position comes amid broader changes in the retail landscape, where major companies are navigating shifting consumer loyalties, corporate transitions and political pushback.

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Amazon has surpassed Walmart as the world’s largest company by revenue, while competitor Target reported net sales growth of more than 6% compared to the previous year.

Walmart declined Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment.

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FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

Houston Hospital Ends Pediatric Gender Procedures, Terminates Five Physicians and Will Open Detransition Clinic; Both Parties Deny Liability as Federal Probe Sweeps Major U.S. Health Systems

By JBizNews Desk

HOUSTON, May 21, 2026 — The largest pediatric hospital system in the United States agreed to pay $10 million and overhaul a major clinical line under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Texas Attorney General’s office, in a deal that signals materially higher federal compliance exposure for U.S. hospital systems that have billed Medicaid or private insurers for pediatric gender-transition care.

Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) announced on May 15 that it had resolved a multi-year federal and state investigation into its billing of Texas Medicaid for pediatric gender-transition procedures. Under the agreement, TCH will pay $10 million in damages and civil penalties, terminate the hospital privileges of five physicians who performed the procedures, end administration of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors, and build a first-in-the-nation detransition clinic to provide restorative care. The settlement resolves allegations that the hospital violated the False Claims Act, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and federal fraud and conspiracy statutes by submitting false billings to public and private payors. Neither party admitted liability, and TCH stated it had been “compliant with all laws” and characterized the resolution as a decision to avoid further legal costs.

A Sector-Wide Federal Probe

The TCH settlement is the first resolution under what the DOJ has described as an ongoing national investigation. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the department’s announcement that “the Justice Department will use every weapon at its disposal to end the destructive and discredited practice of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for children.” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate confirmed the settlement is the first in a series. NYU Langone Health, one of the nation’s largest academic medical centers, has confirmed it received a federal grand jury subpoena related to its provision of gender-affirming care — a signal that DOJ is moving aggressively against hospital systems that have billed federal and state health programs for these services.

The probe creates direct financial exposure for U.S. hospital systems. Healthcare-sector False Claims Act settlements have historically reached tens of millions of dollars per institution — Children’s National Medical Center paid $12.9 million in 2015 to resolve unrelated False Claims Act allegations, and Citizens Medical Center of Victoria, Texas paid $21.75 million that same year for separate Stark Law violations. The TCH agreement establishes a new template combining monetary penalties, terminated clinical lines, terminated physician privileges, and mandated new services — significantly expanding the operational and reputational impact of a single federal resolution.

What TCH Is Paying For

The $10 million payment specifically resolves allegations that Texas Children’s coded gender-transition procedures under different diagnosis codes in order to obtain Texas Medicaid reimbursement for services the state’s Medicaid program does not cover. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office described the conduct as “unallowable and illegal ‘gender-transition’ interventions.” The DOJ said TCH “took significant steps entitling it to credit for cooperation” during the investigation, including turning over more than five million documents over a five-year probe. The five terminated physicians will be permanently barred from re-hire and credentialing at the hospital.

The probe began in 2023 after a TCH-affiliated surgeon, Dr. Eithan Haim, publicly disclosed that the hospital had continued performing the procedures after publicly announcing it had stopped them in response to a new Texas law. Haim was subsequently indicted by the Biden Justice Department for HIPAA-related allegations tied to the disclosures, and the case against him was later dismissed.

Counter-Perspectives

Legal advocates for the hospitals under federal probe have publicly challenged the legitimacy of the DOJ’s administrative subpoenas. According to coverage by the Washington Blade, attorney Loewy, representing trans-rights legal groups, said that “every court that has considered those subpoenas has found them illegitimate and issued for an improper purpose, or at least narrowed them really dramatically.” Medical professionals interviewed by NBC News, including Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, a clinical professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, questioned the settlement’s requirement that the hospital fire the physicians who previously provided transition care — arguing they would have been the most clinically equipped to staff a detransition clinic.

Hospital-Sector Implications

For hospital-system CFOs, the TCH settlement establishes three new realities. First, federal False Claims Act exposure on pediatric gender care is no longer theoretical. Second, the DOJ resolution template includes operational mandates — clinical-line closure, physician terminations, and new-service buildouts — that materially exceed a standard monetary penalty. Third, the broader probe sweeping NYU Langone and other major academic medical centers suggests sector-wide reserve adjustments and compliance reviews are likely to follow.

DOJ officials have signaled additional resolutions are expected. Investors and healthcare-sector analysts should expect further announcements from the department’s national investigation, with implications for hospital-system financial reporting, physician-credentialing policies, and insurance-billing compliance across the U.S. healthcare industry.

JBizNews Desk

© 2026 JBizNews. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reproduced, distributed, or republished in whole or in part without the express written permission of JBizNews.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Hundreds of climbers scaled Mount Everest in a single day, setting a new record with 274 successful ascents, officials said Thursday.

The climbers took advantage of the clear weather on Wednesday, said Rishi Ram Bhandari of the Expedition Operators Association Nepal. It was the highest number of climbers to reach the summit on a single day from the popular route on the southern face of the peak, which is located in Nepal.

The peak can be scaled from either the southern side in Nepal or northern face in China’s Tibet. On May 22, 2019, Nepal’s side had 223 and the Chinese side had 113 climbers on the summit. Chinese authorities, however, have closed the route this year.

Earlier this week, veteran mountain guide Kami Rita Sherpa scaled the peak for the 32nd time, breaking his own record. His closest competitor, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, scaled the peak for the 30th time this week. Also, Lakpa Sherpa scaled Everest for the 11th time, topping her own record for the highest number of climbs by a female climber.

This year’s Everest climbing season began late because of risk from a huge serac hanging over the key route to the summit. There are around 494 climbers and equal number of their Sherpa guides who are expected to attempt scale the 8,850-meter (29,032-foot) peak by the end of this month when the climbing season on the peak ends.

Thousands of people have climbed the peak since it was first scaled on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

By BoroPark24 Staff

A dramatic scene unfolded this morning after a sinkhole opened beneath a dumpster truck at 19th Avenue and 51st Street, causing the heavy vehicle to partially collapse into the roadway.

Photos from the scene show the truck tilted sharply as its rear wheels sank deep into the ground after the pavement suddenly gave way beneath it. Dirt, rubble, and debris spilled across the street while workers scrambled to stabilize the vehicle.

Shmira members quickly arrived on scene and assisted with crowd control and safety efforts as emergency crews assessed the dangerous situation.

No serious injuries were immediately reported.

Heavy recovery equipment is expected to be brought in to remove the truck and repair the damaged section of roadway.

The Lakewood Police Department has made 32 Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) arrests since April 1, TLS has learned, as officials warn motorists to avoid impaired driving heading into Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial start of summer.

According to Capt. LeRoy Marshall of the Lakewood Police Department, the arrests were made throughout Lakewood Township as part of ongoing traffic enforcement and proactive patrol efforts targeting dangerous and impaired drivers.

With increased traffic and activity expected over the holiday weekend and throughout the summer months, police say officers will continue stepping up roadway safety enforcement and monitoring for intoxicated drivers.

Chief Gregory H. Meyer praised the efforts of the department’s officers while also issuing a public safety message to residents and visitors.

“Our officers have done an outstanding job proactively identifying impaired drivers and helping prevent potentially tragic incidents before they occur,” Meyer said. “As we head into Memorial Day Weekend and the busy summer season, the Lakewood Police Department remains fully committed to keeping our residents and visitors safe. We urge everyone to make responsible decisions, designate a sober driver, utilize rideshare services when needed, and never get behind the wheel while impaired.”

The department also reminded the public that impaired driving remains one of the leading causes of serious crashes and fatalities and encouraged residents to report suspected drunk drivers to police immediately.

The United States Treasury announced Wednesday that it had lifted sanctions on U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese following a court order from a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, in a ruling that critics are characterizing as shameful.

Albanese has been widely criticized for what critics say are inflammatory antisemitic comments, posts and letters. After she described Israel as the common enemy of humanity in a video address at an Al Jazeera forum in Qatar, even France, along with Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, called for her resignation from the United Nations. Nevertheless, the U.N., despite repeated calls to strip her of her titles, maintains that she is an “independent expert” and the organization does not tell her what to say.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. (Credit: United States District Court)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had imposed sanctions on Albanese in July 2025.

“Today I am imposing sanctions on U.N. Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt International Criminal Court action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X at the time.

“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” he added. “We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.”

But the judge ruled that the sanctions violated Albanese’s First Amendment rights, which do not extend to non-citizens or non-residents. Albanese is neither a citizen nor a resident of the United States.

Albanese “has done nothing more than speak,” he declared. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions. They are nothing more than her opinion.” 

Leon further argued that the exception for parental transactions regarding her American-born daughter is vaguely worded.

“It is not clear from the record before me how plaintiffs would distinguish between necessary and unnecessary transactions in the context of their family relationships,” he wrote.

Monday’s deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, which claimed the lives of three men, has once again placed the mosque under intense public scrutiny due to both its historical connections to two September 11 hijackers and more recent outrage over inflammatory anti-Israel remarks made by its imam and members of his family.

Federal and local authorities are treating the attack as a hate crime after investigators said two teenage suspects — Caleb Liam Vazquez, 18, and Cain Lee Clark, 17 — allegedly opened fire inside the mosque before later being discovered dead in a nearby vehicle from what officials believe were self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Law enforcement sources said investigators uncovered Nazi paraphernalia, extremist manifestos, and antisemitic writings tied to the suspects, who authorities described as adherents of neo-Nazi ideology.

As investigators worked to piece together the motive behind the attack, attention also shifted back to the controversial history of the Islamic Center of San Diego, including longstanding questions surrounding individuals connected to the mosque and the September 11 terror attacks, as well as criticism directed at Imam Taha Hassane over comments defending what he described as Palestinian “resistance.”

The mosque first became the subject of national attention after it was revealed that two of the September 11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, attended services there while residing in San Diego. The 9/11 Commission later examined allegations that people affiliated with the mosque community assisted the pair with housing and logistical support after they arrived in California. Subsequent reports alleged that associates connected to the mosque also helped the hijackers obtain identification documents, buy a vehicle, and gain access to financial resources. The commission, however, did not determine that mosque officials or congregants knowingly participated in the terrorist conspiracy.

Separate reports further alleged that members of the mosque community organized a welcoming event for the hijackers shortly after their arrival in San Diego in 2000.

In more recent years, controversy surrounding the mosque centered largely on Hassane, who has served as imam there since 2004. Following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel — in which approximately 1,200 people were murdered and more than 250 were kidnapped in the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust — Hassane faced backlash for comments widely viewed as justifying the violence.

“This did not start last week or on October 7th,” Hassane said in a video posted to social media days after the attack. “This is the result of brutal Zionist occupation and genocide.”

Hassane later promoted the sermon on Instagram, writing: “Resistance is justified when people are under occupation and don’t let them change that narrative.”

His rhetoric intensified in the weeks that followed. During an October 20 sermon delivered less than two weeks after the Hamas massacre, Hassane again defended what he repeatedly referred to as “resistance.”

“When people are occupied, then the resistance is justified,” Hassane said. “We cannot accuse somebody who is fighting for his life to be a terrorist. The terrorist is the one who started the occupation, not the one who is defending himself.”

The criticism surrounding Hassane did not end after the immediate aftermath of October 7. In subsequent months, his public statements and activism continued attracting attention over his harsh anti-Israel rhetoric and support for radical anti-Israel campaigns.

In January 2024, Hassane accused Israel of enforcing “apartheid.” Not long afterward, he posted online: “Zionism is Islamophobia!”

Several months later, in May 2024, Hassane publicly backed anti-Israel protest encampments at the University of California, San Diego. He appeared alongside demonstrators and urged university officials to “boycott and divest from Israel.”

Members of Hassane’s family also became embroiled in controversy over anti-Israel activism and inflammatory social media activity.

According to watchdog organization Canary Mission, Hassane’s daughter, Selma Hassane, “promoted incitement, spread hatred of Israel, engaged in anti-Israel activism and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.”

Canary Mission documented years of activism tied to Selma Hassane, including involvement with the controversial campus organization Students for Justice in Palestine, participation in anti-Israel demonstrations, and organizing efforts in support of Palestinian causes.

Meanwhile, Hassane’s wife, Lallia Allali, drew widespread condemnation after reposting an image weeks following the October 7 attacks that depicted a Star of David decapitating five babies alongside the phrase: “The devil is killing.”

The fallout from the post quickly spread into her professional life. At the time, Allali served on the San Diego Union-Tribune Community Advisory Board as an emeritus member and regularly contributed commentary focused on interfaith understanding and “Islamophobia.” She also taught at the University of San Diego and authored academic work addressing anti-Muslim bias.

The San Diego Union-Tribune later denounced the image as “a graphic and deplorable antisemitic image,” adding that after verifying the repost, “we accepted her resignation and removed her from the list of board members and contributors on our website.”

The University of San Diego also announced that Allali would no longer teach at the institution, stating: “While individuals have the right to express their views on their personal accounts, they do not reflect the views of USD leadership nor any official position of the university.”

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, strongly condemned the repost at the time, calling it a contemporary “blood libel” and labeling the imagery “despicable and deplorable.”

Residents living near the mosque also told the New York Post that relations between the Islamic Center and surrounding neighborhoods became increasingly strained after the October 7 attacks, particularly due to concerns involving a nearby Hebrew-language charter school.

“Hassane was supposed to bridge all the communities, but quickly became a hostile figure,” local journalist and parent Stella Escobedo told the outlet.

{Matzav.com}

This post was originally published on this site.

Turkish Airlines aircraft landed Thursday at Ramon Airport to transport activists detained after Israeli forces intercepted the Hamas-linked “Global Sumud Flotilla” attempting to breach the naval blockade on Gaza.

Footage from the airport showed detainees, dressed in gray prison uniforms, being escorted onto the planes under heavy security. Reports from the scene said several activists refused to cooperate and clashed with personnel during the transfer process.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the operation marked “the end of another media flotilla,” adding that the mission was “a public relations provocation serving Hamas propaganda interests.”

Israeli officials reiterated that the naval blockade on Gaza remains in effect under international law and said security forces will continue preventing unauthorized attempts to reach the Strip by sea.

MOSCOW (AP) — Trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes as Russia and neighboring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills Thursday.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko inspected Russian short-range nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit involved in the drills, declaring: “I dreamed about this machine a long time ago.”

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, May 21, 2026, A Borel-class nuclear submarine is seen during drills of Russia’s nuclear forces. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

The three-day drills that began Tuesday come amid a surge in Ukrainian drone strikes. including on Moscow’s suburbs that killed three people and damaged several buildings and industrial facilities. The strikes made it harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the conflict in Ukraine — now in its fifth year — as something so distant that it doesn’t affect the daily routines of Russian civilians.

Joint NUCLEAR forces drills in Belarus with Russia 'gaining MOMENTUM'

Missile rises up from launcher covered in camo pic.twitter.com/7p0aAtcfSZ

— RT (@RT_com) May 20, 2026

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercise involved 64,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, more than 140 aircraft, 73 surface warships and 13 submarines, including eight armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. The drills will focus on the “preparation and use of nuclear forces under the threat of aggression,” it said.

The drills also practice cooperation with Belarus, an ally that hosts Russian nuclear weapons. Russian arsenals in Belarus include its latest intermediate range nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly reminded the world about Moscow’s nuclear arsenals after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to try to deter the West from ramping up support for Kyiv.

In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, May 21, 2026, Russian navy personnel is seen during drills of Russia’s nuclear forces. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In 2024, Putin adopted a revised nuclear doctrine, noting that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country. That threat was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal.

The revised doctrine that placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella. Putin has said that Moscow will retain control of its nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus but would allow its ally to select the targets in case of conflict.

New Federal Advisory Urges Parents to Cut Daily Screen Exposure, Putting Pressure on Tech Platforms While Boosting Demand for Offline Activities

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday issued a new surgeon general’s advisory urging families to significantly reduce children’s screen time, escalating federal concerns over how phones, tablets, gaming, and social media are affecting childhood development, sleep, mental health, and learning.

The advisory, released by the Office of the Surgeon General under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recommends no screen exposure for children younger than 18 months and limiting recreational screen use to no more than two hours daily for children and teenagers.

For many parents, the message was simple and direct: children are spending too much time on screens, and the federal government now believes the long-term consequences may be more serious than many families realize.

The advisory cited growing concerns surrounding sleep disruption, reduced attention spans, anxiety, behavioral issues, academic struggles, social-development challenges, and declining physical activity among children and teenagers heavily exposed to screens for long periods of time.

Federal officials said screen use now often begins before children turn one year old and steadily increases throughout childhood and adolescence.

The average American teenager now spends roughly four or more hours daily on recreational screen activities, according to data referenced in the advisory — including social media, gaming, YouTube, streaming video, texting, and other app-based entertainment.

For parents already struggling to manage devices inside the home, the report effectively formalizes what many families, pediatricians, and teachers have increasingly worried about for years.

The advisory encourages parents to create screen-free routines, reduce device usage during meals and before bedtime, encourage outdoor activity and face-to-face interaction, and more actively monitor how children use social media and digital platforms.

Schools, pediatricians, and local governments were also urged to help families establish healthier technology habits.

The warning also places growing pressure on some of the largest companies in the technology industry.

Social-media companies including Meta Platforms, TikTok parent ByteDance, Snap, and YouTube parent Alphabet have increasingly faced criticism from lawmakers, educators, and parents over whether platform features such as autoplay, endless scrolling, notifications, and algorithm-driven recommendations are designed to maximize engagement among younger users.

Gaming companies and app developers are also likely to face increased scrutiny as policymakers continue debating youth online safety, social-media restrictions, and screen-time regulation.

The advisory arrives as several states, including Florida and Utah, have already moved to restrict certain forms of social-media access for minors.

For parents and families, however, the issue often feels less political and more personal.

Many families say screens have become deeply embedded into everyday routines — from schoolwork and entertainment to communication and social interaction — making limits increasingly difficult to enforce.

The rapid expansion of smartphones, tablets, streaming platforms, gaming systems, and social media over the past decade has dramatically reshaped how children spend free time, interact with friends, consume information, and even relax before sleep.

The business implications are also significant.

Technology companies derive enormous value from user engagement, particularly among younger demographics who spend large portions of their day online. Reduced screen time could ultimately impact advertising revenue, app engagement, gaming purchases, and subscription activity across portions of the digital economy.

At the same time, industries tied to offline activities could benefit if families begin shifting more time away from screens.

Toy makers, youth sports programs, tutoring centers, summer camps, arts-and-crafts retailers, children’s publishing companies, and outdoor recreation businesses could all see stronger demand as parents search for alternatives to constant digital engagement.

Companies selling parental-control software, family safety tools, educational products, and sleep-related products may also benefit from increased awareness around healthy screen habits.

Some technology companies have already attempted to respond to growing parental concern.

Apple, for example, has expanded Screen Time and parental-control features across its devices, while other platforms have introduced teen safety settings, content restrictions, and time-management tools.

Still, critics argue those measures remain insufficient given how heavily digital platforms compete for user attention.

For schools, the advisory may reopen broader debates about classroom technology use following the major expansion of laptops and tablets during the pandemic years.

Many districts that adopted one-device-per-student programs are now facing growing questions from parents and health experts about how much screen exposure is appropriate during the school day.

For businesses serving families, the federal warning could reshape marketing, product development, and consumer behavior over time.

For parents, though, the issue is likely far more immediate.

The central message from Wednesday’s advisory was not that technology itself is inherently harmful, but that balance, moderation, sleep, physical activity, in-person interaction, and healthy development increasingly risk being crowded out by excessive screen exposure during childhood.

The advisory signals that federal health officials now view excessive screen time not simply as a parenting challenge, but as a growing public-health issue likely to remain at the center of future policy, education, and technology debates.

JBizNews Desk

© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. This article is original reporting by JBizNews Desk. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.

President Trump must leave no doubt of America’s commitment to the island.

NEW YORK — The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) on Thursday circulated video of former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander speaking at a Queens mosque, where he recited a verse from the Quran and said he would be “proud” to serve in Congress alongside Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, two lawmakers who have been outspoken critics of U.S. aid to Israel.

The video drew heightened attention because, during the same gathering, an imam delivered remarks invoking the Mahdi and prayed for “infidels” to be defeated “with his sword,” according to translated footage released by MEMRI.

NY Democratic Congressional Candidate Brad Lander Recites Quran Verse at Queens Mosque, Says He Hopes to Partner in Congress with Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib; Imam Prays for Mahdi to Kill Infidels with His Sword pic.twitter.com/s4FWPLUaI5

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 21, 2026

The footage surfaced the same day a new PIX11 News/Emerson College/The Hill poll showed Lander holding a commanding lead over Rep. Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District.

According to the poll, 57% of Democratic voters in the district said they support Lander, compared to 23% for Goldman, who is seeking a third term in Congress. Another 20% of respondents said they remain undecided.

Lander, who has aligned himself politically with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has increasingly emerged as a leading voice of New York’s progressive movement. The district’s top issues include immigration, affordability and U.S. support for Israel, according to the survey.

A survivor of the Nova music festival massacre has revealed how a scar she carried since childhood may have ultimately saved her life after Hamas terrorists nearly abducted her to Gaza during the October 7 attack.

Mai Chayat, 33, from Tel Aviv, shared her harrowing account while visiting London ahead of the opening of a new exhibition documenting the atrocities committed at the Nova festival in southern Israel.

The exhibition, which will run for six weeks in the Shoreditch section of London, aims to show visitors how what began as a music festival suddenly turned into a scene of mass terror and slaughter.

During the Hamas attack on the Nova festival, 413 people were murdered and another 44 were kidnapped and taken into Gaza. At the same time, Hamas terrorists stormed nearby Israeli communities, including Be’eri, Kfar Aza, and Nir Oz, carrying out brutal massacres against civilians.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Chayat recounted how she fled as gunfire erupted around the festival grounds, with bullets flying overhead as she ran for safety.

At one point during her escape, she noticed an abandoned ambulance in an open field where several young people had already taken shelter.

“I got inside, but something told me it was a death trap,” she recalled.

That instinct proved lifesaving. Shortly after she fled the ambulance, Hamas terrorists opened fire on the vehicle, which later became known as the “death ambulance.” Everyone hiding inside was murdered.

Later, Chayat spotted a man waving to her from a nearby field. Initially terrified that he might be a terrorist, she soon realized he was another festivalgoer. The two entered a vehicle together, but terrorists quickly began shooting at them.

“I saw bodies, burned cars and smoke everywhere,” she said. “I lay on the floor of the car, put the siddur on my head and began reciting Shema.”

After the vehicle was struck by gunfire and came to a stop, Chayat continued fleeing together with the man she had met, Avi Dadon hy”d. At one point, the two fell to the ground and pretended to be dead, but Hamas terrorists discovered them.

According to Chayat, eight terrorists dressed in civilian clothing surrounded them while armed with knives, hammers, and clubs.

The terrorists initially seized Chayat and then pulled Dadon out as well.

“He offered them money, said he had children, and begged,” she recounted.

Chayat said that at that moment she realized she needed to remain emotionally strong and avoid showing fear.

She then described how the terrorists noticed a scar on her right arm — a scar left from a childhood burn injury. Months later, she said, she was told that the terrorists viewed such scars as carrying spiritual significance and saw them as a sign of strength.

“I used to hate this scar,” she said. “Today I love it.”

According to Chayat, the leader of the terrorist cell gave her his coat and informed both her and Dadon that they would be taken to Gaza.

The pair were marched for more than two hours until Dadon finally refused to continue. Chayat said she was then forced to watch the terrorists murder him before her eyes.

“They killed him there, Avi, my angel,” she said.

Afterward, the terrorists forced her into an abandoned vehicle, but it failed to start. The group later returned toward the festival grounds, where they attempted to break open cash registers at the main bar area.

At one point, one of the terrorists pressed a knife against her face and warned her not to flee. However, Chayat said the leader of the group quietly signaled to her that she was free to go.

She immediately began running and later hid for hours near bodies at the massacre site until Israeli military forces eventually arrived and rescued her.

“Since Nova, I am a completely different person,” she said. “There is a reason I didn’t die. I feel that now I found my purpose, to tell my story to others.”

Chayat said the scar that once caused her years of embarrassment and ridicule during childhood ultimately became the very thing that saved her life.

“It was the thing I hated most,” she said. “Now I understand that everything is for the good, even after 30 years.”

{Matzav.com}

Detroit’s historic bankruptcy case — the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history — has officially closed more than 13 years after the city first sought Chapter 9 protection amid a financial collapse that reshaped the city’s finances, pensions and long-term fiscal strategy.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Tucker granted the city’s motion for a final decree this week, formally ending the case after determining administration of the bankruptcy had been completed.

The closure marks the end of a years-long restructuring effort that eliminated roughly $7 billion in debt and restructured another $3 billion, according to the city, freeing up an estimated $150 million annually for city services.

SPIRIT AIRLINES LAWYER SAYS JET FUEL PRICE SURGE LEFT CARRIER WITH ‘NO REMAINING WAY OUT’ OF BANKRUPTCY

Mayor Mary Sheffield called the milestone evidence that Detroit “has its financial house in order,” pointing to 12 consecutive balanced budgets and surpluses, reserve funds topping $500 million and the city’s return to investment-grade status.

The formal closure also comes as major credit-rating agencies have highlighted Detroit’s improved fiscal position.

One day before the bankruptcy case officially closed, S&P Global Ratings upgraded Detroit’s general obligation bond rating to BBB+ from BBB, citing the city’s “sustained strong financial performance and governance conditions.”

Moody’s similarly said Detroit had strengthened its “financial resiliency” in recent years, citing strong reserves and improved fiscal management since emerging from bankruptcy in 2014.

MAJOR US CITY OFFERS CASH INCENTIVES TO SPARK GROWTH, ATTRACT NEWCOMERS

Still, both ratings agencies warned the city remains vulnerable to broader economic pressures tied to the automotive sector, inflation and long-term pension obligations.

The closure came after Detroit completed a final distribution of roughly $10 million tied to accrued interest on “Class 14 B notes,” financial recovery bonds issued to unsecured creditors during the restructuring.

Detroit filed for bankruptcy in July 2013 under a state-appointed emergency manager after years of population decline, shrinking tax revenues and rising pension liabilities pushed the city into insolvency. 

CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO

The city officially exited bankruptcy in late 2014 under a restructuring plan that became a national case study in municipal financial recovery.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to build a triumphal arch in Washington is getting a second look from a federal agency that suggested changes before it approved the concept last month.

The proposed 250-foot (76 meter) arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing alongside a White House ballroom to leave his imprint on Washington.

He has said some of his other projects, such as adding a blue coating to the interior of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, will beautify the city in time for July 4 celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump, approved the concept for the arch at its monthly meeting in April. Commissioners are set to consider and possibly vote on updated plans when they meet again on Thursday.

As presented to the federal agency, the arch itself would stand 250 feet tall (76 meters) from its base to a torch held aloft by a Lady Liberty-like figure on top of the structure. The statue would be flanked on top by two eagles and guarded at the base by four lions — all gilded. The phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All” would be inscribed in gold lettering atop either side of the monument.

A public observation deck on top would provide 360-degree views of the surroundings.

The commission’s vice chairman, architect James McCrery II, said in April that he preferred the arch without the figures on top. Removing them would significantly reduce the arch’s height by about 80 feet (24.4 meters). Critics of the project, including an overwhelming number of people who submitted public comment in April, said the arch would be taller than any other monument in the capital city and dominate the skyline.

At a height of 250 feet, the arch would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 meters) tall, and be close to half the height of the Washington Monument, an obelisk that is about 555 feet (169 meters) tall.

McCrery also recommended that the lions on the base be removed because that animal is “not a beast natural to the North American continent.” And he objected to plans for an underground tunnel for pedestrians to get to the arch, which would be built on a traffic circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Preliminary surveys and testing of the site began last week.

A group of veterans and a historian have sued the Trump administration in federal court to block construction on grounds that the arch would disrupt the sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery, among other reasons.

Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have argued that Washington is the only major Western world capital without such an arch. Burgum’s department includes the National Park Service, which manages the plot where Trump wants to put the arch.

Trump’s rehab of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is also the subject of a court challenge brought by The Cultural Landscape Foundation, which said the administration’s moves to repaint the bottom of the Reflecting Pool blue without first undergoing relevant reviews ran afoul of federal preservation laws governing historic sites.

The nonprofit group argued in a lawsuit filed last week that the changes at the Reflecting Pool are part of Trump’s broader effort to push through dramatic renovations in Washington without proper reviews and undermine the tone of the area.

A hearing in the case was scheduled for Thursday afternoon in federal court in Washington.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As negotiations with the United States hang in the balance, a hard-line Iranian general linked to notorious attacks at home and abroad over the past decades is believed to have seized a place near the center of power.

Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who heads Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in negotiating a possible end to the war with the United States, experts say. He is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who remains in hiding after being reportedly wounded in the Feb. 28 Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Like everything in Iran since the war began, who ultimately controls decision-making remains uncertain. As people within the upper ranks of Iran’s theocracy vie for power, they can gain or lose favor quickly. Vahidi himself hasn’t been seen publicly since Feb. 8, weeks before the war began. On Thursday, Iranian media carried contradictory reports on Vahidi meeting with Pakistan’s interior minister in Tehran, who carried a message regarding negotiations with the U.S. and met with other top Iranian officials.

A longtime veteran of the ruling system, Vahidi helped shape Iran’s support of militant groups across the region, is accused of a role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina, and in 2022, led domestic security forces in a bloody crackdown on protesters.

Elevated to Guard commander this year after his predecessor was killed early in the war, he leads the most powerful force in Iran, with its arsenal of ballistic missiles and its fleet of small boats threatening Persian Gulf shipping.

“Vahidi and members of his inner circle have likely consolidated control over not only Iran’s military response in the conflict but also Iran’s negotiations policy,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.

Iran’s war strategy has been to keep a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, blocking oil and gas exports and causing a global energy crisis. At the same time, it has struck hard against oil facilities, hotels and infrastructure in Gulf Arab nations.

In negotiations, it has held out against U.S. demands that it surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, betting that it can outlast the U.S. in the ongoing standoff and that President Donald Trump will be reluctant to resume outright war that could bring greater damage to America’s Gulf allies.

That likely reflects Vahidi’s confrontational style. “He comes from that mindset of unending revolution, unending resistance,” said Kenneth Katzman, a senior fellow at the The Soufan Group, a New York-based think tank. Vahidi believes “the U.S. needs to be challenged at every turn,” said Katzman, a senior Iran expert who advised the U.S. Congress for over 30 years.

Vahidi boasted in January that Iran’s defense power has developed to make it a “high risk for any military action by an enemy.”

Vahidi now a focal point in talks
Pakistan hosted talks in April between an Iranian delegation, led by parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and an American one, headed by U.S. Vice President JD Vance. But it ended without any deal.

Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi returned home to face criticism from inside the theocracy suggesting they were too willing to make concessions. Qalibaf had to insist publicly that the talks had the support of the supreme leader.

Since then, Vahidi has become the main point of contact for those negotiating with Iran, said a regional official with direct knowledge of the mediation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.

The extreme seclusion and unknown condition of the supreme leader have fueled speculation about jockeying among leaders for access to Khamenei and influence over him. In early May, President Masoud Pezeshkian, who many see as sidelined from influence by the Guard, went out of his way to say he “got to see our dear leader” and spoke to him for around two hours.

But Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said it’s likely the new supreme leader “is in lockstep with a more hard-line (Guard) — similar to his father, but in a more emboldened and uncompromising form.”

Analyst Kamran Bokhari wrote that figures like Vahidi “are not just managing war — they are actively reshaping succession, consolidating authority around a weakened supreme leader, and effectively ‘capturing’ the state through crisis governance.”

Vahidi forged by years leading Quds Force
Born Ahmad Shahcheraghi in Iran’s southern city of Shiraz in 1958, Vahidi like many young men after the 1979 revolution joined the Revolutionary Guard and fought against the invasion by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that sparked a bloody, eight-year war.

Vahidi entered the Guard’s nascent intelligence arm and soon was overseeing operations outside Iran. He gained the favor of powerful patrons, including Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a later president. Rafsanjani said in his autobiography that Vahidi was involved in the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal, in which the Reagan administration sold weapons to Tehran in an effort to free hostages held by Iranian-backed militants in Lebanon. The U.S. later used the money from those sales to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Rafsanjani later intervened to protect Vahidi when then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sought to prosecute members of the Guard who failed to stop an incursion by armed fighters from an Iranian exile group in the late 1980s during the war.

Around this time, Vahidi took over the newly formed Quds, or Jerusalem, Force. Over decades, the Quds Force helped create a network of proxy militant groups and allied governments around the Middle East. The Quds Force under Vahidi helped mastermind the 1994 bombing targeting Argentina’s largest Jewish community center, killing 85 people and wounding 300 others, prosecutors say. Iran has denied involvement.

American investigators also believe that under Vahidi, Iran organized the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. service members and wounding hundreds. Tehran has denied being involved in that attack as well.

Vahidi left the Quds Force in 1998. In 2010, while he was defense minister, the United States imposed sanctions on him over alleged involvement in Iran’s nuclear program and its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

More recently, as interior minister, Vahidi oversaw police units involved in a bloody, monthslong crackdown on protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being arrested for not properly wearing the mandated headscarf to the liking of authorities.

An Iranian newspaper later published a classified document that showed Vahidi’s Interior Ministry ordered security agencies to monitor and photograph women not wearing the hijab, something he had denied was taking place.

At around that time, Vahidi said in public comments that calls to remove the hijab were a “colonial plan” by Iran’s enemies trying to undermine the Islamic Republic. “The hijab has been a big barrier against the progress of effete Western culture,” he said.

Vahidi’s role makes reaching an accord with Iran that much more difficult for the U.S. — as does the continued obscurity over Iran’s leadership.

Trump wants a single interlocutor in Iran for negotiations, but “the whole system has changed,” said Hamidreza Azizi, an Iran expert at the Middle East Institute.

“It is not a one-man show. Vahidi is one alongside others,” Azizi said. “Some we know and some we don’t know.”

Two new polls of American voters have found declining public support for Israel and growing discontent among Republicans over US President Donald Trump’s direction on Israel.

According to a New York Times/Siena poll published Monday, 38% of potential Republican voters said they would like to see the next Republican candidate for president move “in a new direction” on Israel, as opposed to following Trump’s lead.

Nearly a third of potential Republican voters also said they believed Trump had been “too supportive of Israel,” according to the poll of 1,500 voters this month, which has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

The poll adds to growing signals that Israel is becoming a fault line within the Republican Party as well as on the left, where it has been increasingly divisive for years. In a sign of tensions surrounding the split by Republican leadership, Congress’s most anti-Israel Republican is facing a steep primary challenge from a Trump-backed Republican on Tuesday.

Make America Great Again (MAGA)-aligned Republicans who support Trump in particular are more likely than other Trump voters to back the Israeli government, according to a different poll released last week by Politico.

The survey asked respondents who voted for Trump whether they identified with the president’s “MAGA” movement. Just over half said they identified as MAGA.

The Politico poll, which was conducted in partnership with Public First, an independent polling company headquartered in London, found that nearly half of MAGA Trump voters say they back Israel and approve of the actions of its current government, while just 29% of non-MAGA Trump voters say the same.

Plurality of MAGA voters: Israeli Gaza action justified

The Politico poll found that 41% of MAGA Trump voters believe that Israel is justified in its military campaign in Gaza, compared to 31% of non-MAGA Trump voters. The poll surveyed 2,035 adults online from April 11 to 14 and had an overall margin of sampling error of ±2.2 percentage points.

Trump voters were also split over the perceived influence of the Israeli government over foreign policy, with 22% of MAGA voters saying they believed the Israeli government had too much influence, compared to 32% of non-MAGA voters.

When asked about the spending of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby, on elections, a topic that has increasingly split American Jews, 20% of MAGA Trump voters said they oppose the group’s “efforts to influence US elections,” compared to 31% of non-MAGA voters. AIPAC has increasingly emerged as a bogeyman in politics.

The NYT/Siena poll found Trump’s overall approval rating had sunk to 37%, with 64% of American voters saying they believed Trump made the wrong decision entering the Iran war. Among Republicans, support for Trump’s decision to enter the war was much higher, at 70%.

More sympathy for Palestinians than Israelis

The NYT poll also found that Americans are more likely to sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis, with 37% saying they sympathize more with Palestinians compared with 35% who say they sympathize more with Israelis.

The finding is in line with a growing number since the beginning of the war with Gaza that have shown growing sympathy for Palestinians among American voters.

When asked whether the US should provide additional economic and military support to Israel, 57% of American voters overall said they opposed doing so, compared with 37% who supported it.  Among Republicans, 66% said they supported additional support for Israel, versus 30% who opposed it.

This post was originally published on here.

Zohar Chamberlain Regev, who was the only activist held back by Israel after the release of some 430 Gaza flotilla activists, was released Thursday under certain conditions.

The Jewish, Israeli-born woman converted to Islam at an unspecified point in her life, after working for years as an activist on behalf of Arabs in Gaza. She said in a 2024 interview that overcoming her atheism to join Islam presented an obstacle, but she cleared that hurdle with her mother’s support.

The Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court ordered her release after she signed an agreement to self-report to police on demand, adhere to a ban to visit Gaza for 60 days, and agree to a self-guarantee of NIS 5,000.

Police had sought harsher penalties in the form of a 184-day Gaza ban and paying down a deposit of NIS 5,000.

Regev’s lawyer, Hadeel Abu Saleh, argued that the arrest was unlawful, as Regev was detained at gunpoint in international waters on a Polish-registered boat. She argued that because the arrest had been carried out without proper authority, the court could not lawfully impose restrictions. She also claimed that Regev, who had gone on a hunger strike, had been abused in detention, particularly in regard to her hijab.

Initially, Regev was arrested for “infiltration” under the Prevention of Infiltration Law, which was later clarified at her court hearing as “attempted infiltration.” The police filing was considered flawed after inconsistencies were found between the stated reason for her detention and the description of where the offense occurred.

For this reason, Judge Talmor Peres criticized the filing. Nevertheless, she conceded that there was reasonable suspicion that Regev had committed the offenses she was charged with.

The judge ordered Regev’s release with the restrictions listed above, which were lighter than police recommendations.

NEW YORK, May 21, 2026 — Consul generals, ambassadors, U.S. trade officials and senior business executives gathered in Times Square on May 20 for the closing summit of World Trade Week NYC, days after President Donald J. Trump issued the 2026 Presidential Message reaffirming the federal observance he proclaimed last year through Proclamation 10944. The summit convened as the United States moves through the most active tariff and trade-deal cycle in a generation.

The summit was hosted by the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and co-hosted by the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, both appointed to the World Trade Week NYC Committee Leadership by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is the only federally appointed convening of its kind in the country, and the chambers’ work in that role has drawn a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the U.S. Congress and proclamations from New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Prior summits have produced on-site memorandums of understanding between the chambers and the governments of India and South Korea, signed in the presence of foreign trade ministers and U.S. officials.

L-R: Frank Garcia | Duvi Honig | Howard Teich | Dr. Vladimir Božović (Serbia) | Karel Smekal (Czech Republic) | Dadhiram Bhandari (Nepal) | Adalnio Senna Ganem (Brazil) | Marcos Bucio (Mexico) | Mark Jaffe | Jarmo Sareva (Finland) | Helana Natt | Amit Shah | James Kim (American Korean American Chamber of Commerce)

The economic backdrop is unprecedented. U.S. exports of goods and services reached a record $3.43 trillion in 2025, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis — the largest export economy in U.S. history. The International Trade Administration estimates exports support nearly 9.8 million American jobs, and the U.S. trade-to-GDP ratio is running near 27 percent. The 2026 observance comes against tariff actions under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, more than 20 new bilateral trade agreements reached over the past year, and the USMCA review scheduled for July.

In the 2026 Presidential Message issued from the White House this week, Trump said “America has built the world’s most powerful economy through the strength of our industries, the genius of our innovators, and the promise of fair and reciprocal trade,”  citing “over 20 new trade deals with major world partners, opening new markets for American goods.”  In Proclamation 10944 last year, he committed to “redoubling our efforts to combat unfair trade practices for every American.”  The argument is one his predecessors have made under the same federal observance. President George W. Bush, in 2006, called free and fair trade “a powerful engine for growth and job creation.”  President Bill Clinton, in 1997, noted that “95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside the United States.”

Featured diplomatic speakers represented trillions of dollars in annual goods trade with the United States. Marcos Bucio, Consul General of Mexico, represented the largest U.S. trading partner at $976.1 billion in total goods and services trade  in 2025. Tom Clark, Consul General of Canada, represented the second-largest at $719.5 billion  in U.S. goods trade. Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, Consul General of India, anchored $149.4 billion in U.S. goods trade . Adalnio Senna Ganem, Consul General of Brazil, represented the source of a $14.4 billion U.S. goods surplus. Karel Smekal of the Czech Republic represented roughly $12 billion in annual U.S. bilateral goods trade; Jarmo Sareva of Finland a key transatlantic partner in machinery and clean energy; Dr. Vladimir Božović of Serbia, who also serves as Vice President of the Society of Foreign Consuls in New York, the world’s largest diplomatic organization ; Aamer Ahmed Atozai of Pakistan, anchoring the U.S.-Pakistan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement; and Dadhiram Bhandari of Nepal.

Past summits convened by the chambers have drawn senior federal trade leadership across the full U.S. trade-enforcement and trade-facilitation chain. James McCament, then-acting chief operating officer of U.S. Customs and Border Protection , has keynoted. Troy A. Miller, who served as Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, has been honored. Susan S. Thomas, the Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Trade, responsible for designing and implementing U.S. tariff policies for the Trump Administration , addressed the 2025 summit on tariff enforcement. Danielle Outlaw, Deputy Chief Security Officer of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Tenavel Thomas, Customs and Border Protection Port Director for Newark/NY; and Edward Mermelstein, New York City Commissioner of International Affairs, have all participated. Foreign delegations across years have included Israel, India, South Korea, China, Turkey, Pakistan, Germany, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Poland, Guatemala, Peru, Thailand, Canada, Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Philippines .

The chambers’ South Korea MOU, signed at a prior summit, has since produced the Orthodox Jewish Chamber’s South Korea chapter, opened at Seoul City Hall under the host of the Deputy Mayor of Economy. At last year’s summit, Korean Air received the Global Investment Impact Award for its $32 billion investment commitment in the United States . The Korean government separately recognized Duvi Honig, the Orthodox Jewish Chamber’s founder and CEO, as Trade Ambassador for the World Korean Business Convention 2025.

The summit’s headline panel, “Growing Global Trade & Investment Through Diplomacy,” was moderated by Howard Teich, Chair of the Greater New York Chamber, and Mark Jaffe, the Chamber’s President and CEO. It was joined by the Global New York Team of Empire State Development, the New York State governor’s international trade and investment office, represented by senior member Brian Teubner.

“Our members export billions of dollars of products and services to dozens of countries around the world,” Jaffe said . “World Trade Week NYC demonstrates how partnerships between governments, business leaders and economic organizations continue driving investment and economic opportunity throughout the United States.”

“Hosting this on behalf of the world’s biggest economy is a true honor,” Honig said. “It stimulates economic growth and builds bridges that unite the world through commerce. When business leaders, diplomats and government officials come together in one room, relationships are built that lead directly to investment, partnerships, job creation and long-term economic expansion.”

World Trade Week was launched in 1926 by Stanley T. Olafson of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce during what the Chamber describes as “a time of isolationism and under the conditions prevailing during the heyday of the restrictive Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.”  President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally proclaimed it a national observance in 1935 , embedding it in the federal calendar as he dismantled the Smoot-Hawley tariff structure through the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934. Every president since has reaffirmed it.