Iran has escalated efforts to seal off its stockpile of enriched uranium, collapsing tunnels, and placing explosive mines at entrances in recent weeks, CNN reported on Saturday, citing five sources familiar with US intelligence. 

This comes a day after a senior administration official told reporters that the US and Iran are close to a deal requiring Iran to relinquish its uranium, which has been enriched to near-bomb grade, to the US. 

Reuters also reported on Friday that the emerging US-Iran deal will include the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program and allow the US to collect the regime’s enriched uranium.

However, details of how the uranium will be extracted have not been made clear. 

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that retrieving the uranium is one of the US’s priorities in negotiations, although he has claimed that only the US and possibly China have the capability to do so. 

US almost launched ground operation to retrieve uranium

A CNN report from Friday stated that the US had originally planned to launch a ground mission into Iran to recover the uranium, but that Trump had paused the operation. 

In an interview with 103FM, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said that the US and Israel could and should have combined forces to retrieve the uranium during the war. 

“We should have gone and brought the enriched uranium by force in a military operation during the campaign. That would have uprooted the nuclear program from Iran,” he said.

Former head of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nuclear Material Removal, Scott Roecker, expressed concern over reports of heightened fortifications around the uranium. 

Roecker told CNN that such fortifications could lead to negotiators requiring Iran to bring the uranium to a central location for verification and removal, which would let Iran provide the inventory of the uranium. 

“In this scenario, I would worry that Iran would claim that some portion of the HEU was irretrievable. We wouldn’t have full confidence that Iran couldn’t retain access to it at some point in the future,” CNN quoted Roecker as saying.

Hard-working Americans looking to fire up the grill this weekend are facing major sticker shock before they even light the charcoal.

As inflation continues to squeeze household budgets, the newly released Wells Fargo summer BBQ food report reveals that hosting a standard summer barbecue for 10 people has climbed to an average of $161 — or about $16 per person.

While total cookout costs are up 2.4% year over year, the real pricing pain is hiding right on the meat tray: the quintessential American hamburger beef has skyrocketed by 14%.

“Regarding food inflation, price increases this season will really depend on the category. For fresh fruits and vegetables, we anticipate some relief as summer unfolds. 

Growers are motivated by higher prices to plant more acreage, so increased supply should help moderate price hikes and may actually offer consumers a bit of a break,” Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute head Robin Wenzel told Fox News Digital.

WALMART WARNS SHOPPERS COULD FACE HIGHER PRICES AS FUEL COSTS SURGE, TAX REFUNDS DRY UP

“However, for those who value convenience and opt for prepared foods, expect prices to edge up,” she warned.

 “These items are driven more by labor, packaging and energy costs than the underlying commodities themselves. As consumers continue to pay for convenience, retailers are able to maintain their margins with higher pricing.”

Though burgers are taking the biggest hit from inflation, so are other grilling favorites. Chicken and pork products rose 3% from the previous year and are seen as the “cost-friendly” option, while hot dogs and frankfurters are up 5%.

Ready-made sides like potato salad are up 3% because of higher manufacturing wages being passed on to consumers, the report notes. Other favorites like cornbread are up 4%, raw vegetables are up 6%, and if you’re saving room for dessert, sweet-treat prices have increased anywhere from 1% to 4%.

The higher price tags fall in line with the May consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – which rose 0.5% in May and 4.2% from a year earlier. The annual figure is the highest since April 2023.

Pre-made grocery store shortcuts can be a budget-buster during the summer, as buying a pre-cut vegetable tray adds a $7 premium to your bill, while buying fully cooked, pre-packaged ribs costs $4 more per pound than buying them raw.

“Hosts can save by preparing ribs from scratch, allowing a bit more room to indulge in prepared veggie trays if desired,” Wenzel said. “Budget-conscious hosts should thoughtfully weigh where to splurge. While pre-cooked ribs are more expensive, pork still offers a better value than beef, which remains a costly grill option.”

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Asked to craft the best “inflation-busting” menu, Wenzel recommended serving up chicken, pork, made-from-scratch sides like deviled eggs (eggs are down 14%), watermelon, strawberries (both fruits are down 3%) and cookies or ice cream for dessert.

“When hosting a BBQ for 10 on a strict budget, plan wisely with proteins and look for value where it counts… the decision between homemade and prepared foods is key. Making from scratch, such as potato salad can save money, but convenience has its place,” Wenzel said. “Beer and wine prices haven’t climbed much, but they’ll still add to the total, so asking guests to BYOB is a smart way to keep costs down.”

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FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged Friday that the company has “made mistakes” as it undergoes a sweeping workforce overhaul tied to its aggressive push into artificial intelligence (AI).

Zuckerberg made the remarks in an internal memo to employees, according to Reuters, which reported that the Meta chief warned of challenges associated with the rapid development of AI technology.

Meta has poured billions of dollars into AI infrastructure and tools as it competes with OpenAI, Google and Microsoft for dominance in the emerging technology.

The company has also explored ways to use AI agents to perform tasks currently handled by employees.

MARK ZUCKERBERG SAYS META HAS ‘MADE MISTAKES’ DURING ITS AI-DRIVEN WORKFORCE OVERHAUL, WARNING OF CHALLENGES TIED TO THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

“Given the complexity of these changes, we’ve made mistakes and will almost certainly make more,” Zuckerberg said.

He added that he is “focused on providing as much stability as possible” as the company continues to reshape its workforce.

“I don’t want to overpromise because the world is changing in ways that are out of our control,” Zuckerberg said.

META LAUNCHES $115M SKILLED TRADES ACADEMY WITH GUARANTEED JOBS FOR GRADUATES IN 4 STATES

He also reiterated that Meta does not expect any additional company-wide layoffs this year.

The comments come after Meta laid off roughly 10% of its global workforce in May and reassigned approximately 7,000 employees to AI-focused initiatives.

Zuckerberg reportedly said the company will attempt to find new positions for employees reassigned to train AI models.

AMERICA CAN’T COMPETE WITH CHINA IN AI WITHOUT THESE WORKERS, META’S PRESIDENT SAYS

“By creating important new roles for people, this also allowed us to shrink the size of teams knowing that if we make mistakes in some places, then we could transfer some people back,” Zuckerberg said.

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According to Reuters, the restructuring — combined with previous transfers and role eliminations — is expected to ultimately affect about 20% of Meta’s workforce.

Meta employed nearly 78,000 people as of the end of March, according to company securities filings.

FOX Business has reached out to Meta for comment.

FOX Business’ Bradford Betz and Reuters contributed to this report.

Thousands of cases of a frozen pizza snack sold in 21 states are being recalled because they may contain metal pieces.

Rich Products Corp. voluntarily issued the recall of 6,408 cases or more than 160,000 pounds of its Farm Rich Pizza Cheese Crunchers, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The pizza was sold in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

FORD RECALLS MORE THAN 255,000 VEHICLES OVER ENGINE STALL RISK

The recall was initiated by the New York-based company on May 19.

The product has a best-by date of July 7, 2027, with a UPC code of  041322652256 and a lot number of 003029976.

MORE THAN 17K COFFEE MAKERS RECALLED AFTER DOZENS OF REPORTED BURN INJURIES. 

The FDA classified the recall as a Class II health risk, which means the defect could cause temporary or medically reversible health problems.

The agency didn’t specify if any injuries had been reported or how the possible contamination was discovered. 

The recall comes weeks after another frozen pizza recall over salmonella concerns.

The pizzas, which spanned several brands, had been sold at Walmart and Aldi.

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday announced it has closed its antitrust investigation into Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, concluding the transaction is not likely to harm competition or American consumers.

The Antitrust Division said its eight-month review examined more than two million documents and found the deal could strengthen competition across the media and entertainment industry, including in streaming video, traditional television and theatrical film distribution.

“The extensive investigatory record reviewed by the Division suggests that the impact of the transaction will be to increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, with benefits for American consumers and workers,” the department said.

The DOJ said the combined company would continue competing against larger streaming rivals including Netflix, Amazon and Disney and found no evidence the transaction would likely reduce consumer choice.

WARNER BROS DISCOVERY SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE DEAL

The department also disclosed that regulators reviewed a separate proposal involving Netflix before Paramount reached a definitive agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery. 

According to the DOJ, evaluating both proposals provided investigators with competing perspectives on the future of the media industry.

The decision drew criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who urged state attorneys general to continue fighting the transaction.

GSA SELLS OLD POST OFFICE BUILDING IN WASHINGTON, ONCE HOME TO TRUMP HOTEL

“This is terrible news for every American who doesn’t want Trump-aligned billionaires to control what they watch and how much they pay,” Warren wrote on X.

OPENAI SIGNALS POTENTIAL STOCK MARKET DEBUT WHILE WEIGHING PRIVATE-COMPANY ADVANTAGES

Warren also alleged the merger “reeked of corruption and influence-peddling” and called on state officials to block the deal.

State attorneys general retain independent authority under antitrust laws, and the DOJ’s decision does not itself prevent additional legal challenges to the proposed transaction.

The merger still faces several steps before completion.

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Paramount announced Friday that it had extended debt exchange and tender offers connected to Warner Bros. 

Discovery and said it expects those offers to remain aligned with the anticipated closing timetable. The company also cautioned that the acquisition remains subject to closing conditions and other risks.

Ford announced a recall covering more than a quarter million Ford Focus vehicles over an issue that may cause the engine to stall unexpectedly.

The recall affects 255,404 Focus vehicles from the 2012-18 model years due to an issue with the canister purge valve (CPV). These vehicles were covered by a prior recall, but the correct software fix may not have been installed on the affected vehicles.

If the fix wasn’t properly installed, the CPV may malfunction and stick open, with the powertrain control module (PCM) unable to adequately detect the stuck open CPV.

“A CPV that is stuck open during the evaporative leak monitor check can cause excessive vacuum in the fuel system of these vehicles. Excessive vacuum can result in deformation of the plastic fuel tank,” the recall report said.

FORD ISSUES RECALL FOR MORE THAN 548,000 VEHICLES OVER ISSUE WITH CENTER CONSOLE

Affected vehicles may trigger a malfunction indicator light, or drivers may observe an inaccurate fuel gauge indication, inaccurate distance to empty and/or have drivability concerns.

Ford flagged a concern with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it found discrepancies that showed the software fix may not have been successfully applied to all vehicles.

MORE THAN 1 MILLION JEEP VEHICLES RECALLED OVER FIRE RISK AS OWNERS WARNED NOT TO PARK INSIDE

The company then identified the subset of affected vehicles and issued a recall earlier this month. Ford isn’t aware of any reports of accidents or injury related to the issue.

Owners of affected vehicles will be notified by mail and instructed to take their vehicle to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have the PCM updated, with software parts to be validated before the process concludes. 

FORD RECALLS NEARLY 420,000 EXPEDITION AND LINCOLN NAVIGATOR SUVS OVER SEAT BELT LOCKING ISSUE

There will be no charge for the service. 

Ford approved a reimbursement plan for owners who paid to have the issue fixed prior to the May 2023 safety recall, and owners who paid out of their own expense to have repairs completed may be eligible for reimbursement.

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A 22-year-old driver from Kafr Qasim was released without being questioned after allegedly striking a chareidi protester during demonstrations Thursday night at the Geha Junction area, prompting outrage among participants and organizers.

According to a report by Channel 14, the driver was released after requesting medical treatment and is expected to be summoned for questioning at a later date. Authorities said the investigation into the incident remains ongoing.

The incident occurred during a protest against the arrest of yeshiva bochurim and the ongoing enforcement of military conscription policies affecting the chareidi community.

Witnesses said the driver passed through the area of the demonstration and struck a chareidi protester. Emergency personnel responded to the scene and transported the injured man to a hospital for treatment. His condition was later classified as moderate.

According to Magen David Adom, medical teams evacuated a 21-year-old man who was injured in what protesters described as an intentional vehicular attack near the Ganot Interchange area. The victim reportedly sustained moderate injuries near Mesubim.

Footage of the incident quickly spread online, drawing widespread attention and criticism over the handling of the case.

Police have not yet released findings regarding the circumstances of the incident, and the investigation remains active. As of Friday, the driver had not been formally questioned.

Following the demonstrations, Peleg Yerushalmi issued a statement indicating that the protests would continue and likely intensify.

“The demonstrations are not about to stop—on the contrary, they are expected only to intensify and expand,” the group said.

“The message of the thousands of protesters is clear: Leave the Torah learners alone, and there will be peace here. Continue to persecute them, and you will discover that life here will not return to what it was.”

{Matzav.com}

While Jalen Brunson is leading the Knicks through one of their biggest playoff runs in years, there’s another part of his story that’s been getting attention lately – his relationship with his Jewish wife, Dr. Alison “Ali” Marks.

They go way back as high school sweethearts. The two met in the Chicago area as teenagers and basically grew up together. Long before NBA arenas, contracts, and Madison Square Garden, it was just the two of them as a loving couple. As Brunson’s basketball career continued to rise, their relationship remained a constant, surviving the challenges that often come with life in professional sports.

Ali Marks comes from a Jewish family background, something that’s been mentioned in recent profiles, highlighting how her roots – her Jewish family, especially, her late father, has been shaping her life. Brunson has spoken respectfully about that part of her story, especially when talking about how close she is to her family.

In 2022, Brunson proposed back at their old high school gym, the same place where a lot of their early memories started. They got married the following year at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago (July 2023), and they even signed a ketuvah, the Jewish marriage document. 

Today, Ali works as a doctor of physical therapy and is often seen at Knicks games supporting Brunson, sometimes with their Jewish daughter. The two welcomed their first child in 2024. The couple named their daughter, Jordyn James, after Alison’s late Jewish father.

And as Brunson’s basketball career keeps reaching new levels in New York, one thing has never changed: the family that has been by his side from the start.

Photo Credits: “In Style” & Ali Brunson (IG)

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Yechiel Moskowitz zt”l, a noted marbitz Torah, beloved rebbi, and accomplished talmid chochom, who was niftar at the age of 70.

For decades, Rav Moskowitz dedicated his life to the dissemination of Torah, inspiring generations of talmidim through his warmth, chochmah, and unwavering devotion to their aliyah. As a respected maggid shiur and rebbi at Yeshiva of Bayonne, he left an indelible mark on countless talmidim who benefited from his clear instruction, genuine care, and deep love of Torah. His shiurim reflected not only his vast knowledge but also his ability to connect with each talmid, encouraging them to strive for excellence in learning and avodas Hashem.

His entire life revolved around Torah and chessed. He was known for his humility, refined character, and readiness to assist anyone who sought his guidance. Whether in the beis medrash, at home, or in the community, Rav Moskowitz embodied the ideals he taught, serving as a living example of dedication to Torah and yiras Shamayim.

Rav Moskowitz’s extraordinary hasmadah was a quality that became recognized in the local batei medrash of Lakewood. Whether early in the morning, late at night, or during the brief intervals between his many responsibilities, he could invariably be found immersed in learning, utilizing every available moment for limud haTorah.

Rav Moskowitz married Mrs. Shoshana Moskowitz, daughter of Hagaon Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva of Philadelphia. Together, they established a remarkable bayis ne’eman b’Yisroel, building a distinguished family of bnei Torah and bnos Torah.

The levayah will take place on Sunday, tentatively at 2 p.m. at Bais Medrash Govoah. Final details will be announced once finalized.

Yehi zichro baruch.

On Thursday morning, real estate professionals in Washington state woke up having to comply with a new law requiring them to publicly market their residential real estate listings to all consumers, unless the seller can show doing so would negatively impact their health or safety.

The statute, formerly known as Senate Bill 6091, was signed into law in mid-March by Washington Governor Bob Furgeson. The law amends a section to the state’s real estate brokerage law that requires for-sale properties to be marketed broadly to the general public. 

“A broker may not market the sale or lease of residential real estate to a limited or exclusive group of prospective buyers or brokers, or any combination thereof, unless the real estate is concurrently marketed to the general public and all other brokers, except as reasonably necessary to protect the health or safety of the owner or occupant,” the new law states. 

While there is generally a flurry of activity any time a new law or regulation goes into effect, Adam Cothes, the leader of the Seattle-based Adam Home Team, brokered by eXp Realty, is not really expecting the law to change much for him or his business. 

“My brokerage has done a lot of meetings and trainings on this, but from my perspective this really feels more like background noise because it isn’t really a change from anything that we are already doing,” Cothes said. 

Just a ‘speed bump’

According to Cothes, this is due to his business being within the jurisdiction of Northwest MLS (NWMLS), which, as a non-Realtor affiliated MLS, does not have to adhere to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR)  Clear Cooperation Policy. This means that NWMLS’s listing policy requires mandatory listing submission with no carve-out for office exclusive properties. 

While all listings must be submitted to NWMLS, Cothes said the MLS’s rules allow sellers to remove the address and withhold their name from any public advertising of the property, if they choose. 

“Becuase of NWMLS, this is how we have been operating for years, so it feels like more of a speed bump,” Cothes said. 

Although Cothes may see the law as a “speed bump” NWMLS CEO Justin Haag told HousingWire that in preparation for the law’s implementation, the MLS has focused on forms updates and member education. But like Cothes, he said the new law is not a change for NWMLS.

“Members already comply with the law through longstanding NWMLS rules that promote an open, fair, transparent and comprehensive marketplace,” Haag said. “Northwest MLS has long championed market transparency, with members sharing all listings with all brokers and all consumers. SB 6091, which promotes competition and fairness in access to housing, codifies that standard, ensuring that when a home is marketed for sale, it is available to all buyers and all brokers.”

While her business does not fall within NWMLS’s service area, Kim Hagel-Barkley, who runs The Barkley Group out of eXp Realty in Spokane, also does not believe this law will require much change on her part. 

“I don’t see this law impacting my business at all. None of my business has been from private listings,” Hagel-Barkley wrote in an email. “I’m sure once in a while, a home would sell because it was mentioned that it would be coming on the market to a team member or someone else but that was definitely not the norm at all. I really don’t see this law having an impact on the consumers I serve at all.” 

Pointing at Compass

Many real estate professionals in the state feel this law is targeted at Compass International Holdings and its three-phased marketing plan, in which a listing starts off as a Compass private exclusives before entering a coming soon status and eventually, in the case of over 90% of listings enrolled in this marketing plan, heading to the open market via the MLS. 

However, as the law only requires public marketing and does not state a listing must be immediately shared in the MLS, Compass told HousingWire that its three-phased marketing plan complies with the law. 

“Compass Private Exclusives and Compass Coming Soons are fully compliant with the new law,” a Compass spokesperson told HousingWire. “The new Washington law preserves homeowner choice. It affirms that homeowners in Washington can market their homes before listing them on the MLS or public portals.” 

When a listing is a private exclusive, Compass said consumers and agents at other brokerages can access these listings by reaching out to a Compass agent or visiting a Compass office to look at a listing book. Additionally, all of Compass’s coming soon listings are available on Redfin.

Compass is currently in a legal battle with NWMLS regarding its listing policy. In a lawsuit filed in April 2025, the brokerage company claimed that NWMLS “is a monopolist and a combination of competing real estate brokers and that its policies are the “most restrictive homeowner marketing rules in the country.”

Windermere’s “transparency addendum”

Despite the law and Compass’s assertions that all consumers and agents can access the firm’s private exclusive listings, at least one brokerage is looking to ensure its buyers know that they might not be able to see all possible listings due to potential private listings. 

On Thursday, Windermere Real Estate, a Seattle-based independent brokerage released an optional purchase addendum it created, which it said is aimed at increasing transparency for homebuyers amid the growth of private listing networks and off-market marketing strategies. The firm said the new “transparency addendum” is designed for use with standard residential purchase and sale agreements and is freely available to any licensed real estate agent or brokerage in the U.S.

Windermere said it developed the form in response to practices that can limit public visibility into a home’s listing and pricing history. According to the announcement, the form is meant to support buyer agents’ fiduciary duties by alerting buyers that publicly available information about days on market and price changes could be incomplete or inaccurate and by providing a structure for buyers to ask whether any relevant marketing or pricing history is being withheld. 

Ob Jacobi on concerns about transparency

“Select real estate brokerages are increasingly promoting private listing networks and off-market marketing strategies,” OB Jacobi, the president of Windermere Real Estate, told HousingWire. “While these approaches are not new, their growing prevalence raises concerns because they can obscure important market history from buyers, including days on market, prior pricing activity and prior marketing exposure. Windermere believes this trend risks leaving buyers unaware that critical information is being withheld from them, so we developed this transparency addendum to provide an added layer of protection.”

Jacobi added that the company felt that in Washington, the form would fill any gap still left unprotected by the new law.

“Consumers have been clear: they expect transparency. Buyers want confidence they’re seeing the full range of homes available, and sellers want assurance their property is reaching the widest possible audience,” Jacobi said. “When transparency erodes, so does trust in the system. Washington’s new law provides that extra layer of protection that consumers expect and deserve so that they can make educated buying and selling decisions about one of the largest financial investments of their lives.”

It remains to be seen if the law will have a material impact on agents and consumers in Washington or if it will be just a “speed bump.” But either way, Cothes said he is glad that the practice of publicly marketing a property for all consumers to see has been codified. 

“I am very much in favor of the law and support it. We all think it is very consumer friendly. Buyers generally have a better chance when inventory is broadly available instead of being limited to a small network,” Cothes said.

This post was originally published on here.

MIAMI (VINnews)-Hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin has updated his ambitious plans for a supertall headquarters tower in Brickell, further expanding his bet on Miami as a financial hub.

The revisions to the project at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive include converting the proposed mixed-use supertall into a larger all-office building by removing the hotel component, according to filings and statements from Citadel. Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel and Citadel Securities, announced the changes in early May amid tensions with New York City leadership, stating the need to “double down on our bet in Miami.”

Recent updates also add a 300-unit apartment building and a 1,420-space parking garage to the development, alongside another office building owned by Griffin. He has acquired all units in the 22-story Solaris condominium across the street, with plans to demolish it for future expansion.

The 54-story tower, designed by Foster + Partners, is expected to total about 1.7 million square feet of office space. Citadel and its sister company plan to occupy roughly one-third of it. The overall project is estimated at $2.5 billion.

Site work is underway, with vertical construction anticipated later this year. The development continues to include public waterfront access and aims to reshape Miami’s skyline while supporting the city’s growing status as a finance center.

Griffin relocated Citadel’s headquarters to Miami in 2022.

SpaceX’s record-setting IPO is creating a financial windfall for thousands of the company’s current and former employees who received stock as part of their compensation.

Workers who hold stock in non-public companies are subject to restrictions that can keep them from selling those shares under most circumstances before an IPO occurs. Once the stock goes public, it starts a timeline under which they can begin to sell some of those shares as so-called “lock-up periods” gradually allow employees to sell shares in tranches that expand over time.

The ranks of SpaceX workers who will see an influx of wealth as a result of the IPO include not only those who design the rockets and satellites that have made the company famous, but also baristas, janitors and other workers who helped keep the company running.

FOX Business spoke with workers outside of SpaceX’s facility in Hawthorne, California, about their plans for the monumental IPO turning into a reality.

SPACEX MAKES HISTORIC DEBUT; MUSK SOLIDIFIES STATUS AS WORLD’S FIRST TRILLIONAIRE

One SpaceX employee, who said that he’s a process planner, said that he wants to “try to stay healthy” and that the IPO is “a beautiful thing… I mean, Elon is the best. Go Elon!”

Another SpaceX employee said that, “I’ve been a millionaire for a while, but it’s always nice to have money. It’ll be great when the lock-up period is out, of course, and we can actually sell some of it and that’ll feel a little more into the wealth, but it’s a great day.”

Juan Hernandez, who previously worked as a welder at SpaceX, told CBS News that when he was first hired by the company in 2015 he was offered $10,000 in stock. He explained that it “wasn’t a big deal” to him at the time and, “I didn’t know it was gonna be this big, at this point.”

Hernandez, who now works at Blue Origin after a 10-year stint at SpaceX, told CBS that he has around 6,500 SpaceX shares that would represent a nearly $880,000 windfall based on the IPO listing price of $135 a share. He added that giving employees stock options encourages them to “perform a lot better because, I mean… it’s their company as well.” 

He went on to tell the outlet that he wants to maintain a strong work ethic after the IPO and plans to keep working, and expressed gratitude to Musk for “making all these lives much better and meaningful for their families as well.”

SPACEX SET A NEW RECORD FOR IPOS: THESE ARE THE WORLD’S 5 LARGEST

The Wall Street Journal reported that J. André Lavoie, a 63-year-old former SpaceX engineer who moved to Italy five years ago, has shares valued at over $28 million based on the IPO price. Lavoie plans to use the funds to renovate a hotel he purchased and is considering helping others in the community transition from heating their homes with burning wood to cleaner heating sources.

“I don’t want to just die with a pile of money in the bank,” Lavoie told the Journal. He added that the rise in the value of the shares has caused him to reconsider his plans. “Every year the shares have been going up so radically it keeps messing up my life plans.”

The Journal also spoke with 27-year-old Maryellen Musselman, who joined SpaceX in 2022 and worked on a ship used in retrieving rocket parts from the company’s launches that splashed down off the coast of Florida. 

Musselman used 10% of her pay to purchase additional shares during the two years she worked at SpaceX and said that while she’s unsure of how quickly she’ll look to sell, saying it’ll likely be “an 11th-hour decision.”

SPACEX’S FIRST EMPLOYEE SAYS HISTORIC $1.7T IPO WILL BE ‘LIFE-CHANGING’ FOR THOUSANDS OF WORKERS

She wants to use the money to help her start a ship repair business in Chesapeake, Virginia, saying that, “Mariners are not usually stock owners in their companies, they’re not always under benefits.”

Tom Mueller, who was hired as SpaceX’s first employee in 2002 and led projects including the Merlin Engine that powers the Falcon 9 rocket, the Raptor Engine that powers Starship and other key propulsion systems, told FOX Business’ “The Claman Countdown” on Thursday that the IPO would be life-changing for employees.

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“Elon always said that ‘Your salary is one thing, but it’s the equity that’s gonna be worth something.’ And we are all like, ‘Yeah, okay someday,'” Mueller said. “That day is here. It’s great.”

A routine school outing took an unexpected turn when approximately 70 girls from a Monsey school found themselves navigating a massive drainage tunnel beneath Nyack, New York, before safely emerging from various manholes throughout the village, Matzav.com has learned.

The students, from Bais Yaakov Toras Imecha in Monsey, were participating in a school trip about 50 miles north of New York City when they entered a large drainage system near Nyack’s downtown area.

According to reports, authorities were alerted after a police officer noticed a large group of young girls climbing out of a manhole cover in an alley near a local restaurant. Additional students were reportedly seen emerging from other manholes in different parts of the village. Despite the unusual circumstances, all of the girls exited the drainage tunnel on their own and no serious injuries were reported.

The incident drew attention throughout the community as dozens of students unexpectedly surfaced from the underground drainage network after what officials described as an unauthorized excursion through the tunnel system.

Nyack Mayor Joe Rand said the girls had been visiting Memorial Park during the school trip when they discovered the entrance to the drainage tunnel and decided to explore it.

“They saw the channel, they saw the cave, and thought, let’s go take a look, let’s see what’s in there,” he said. “And they started walking, and they just kept walking and walking and walking.”

Speaking to CBS, Rand said the group traveled roughly a kilometer through the dark tunnel, navigating rocks and uneven terrain before eventually exiting safely near a local restaurant, much to the surprise of owner Matt Hudson.

“I was in my office when I heard kids chattering,” Hudson said. “I thought to myself, where is that coming from?”

Hudson said he was stunned when he discovered the girls climbing out of a drainage opening above a stream behind his restaurant.

“We looked, and it filled up with girls,” he said. “They were okay, but they were talking excitedly. They were happy to get out of there.”

While relieved that the incident ended safely, Mayor Rand stressed that the situation could easily have turned dangerous.

“Everyone was safe, and I’m so grateful for that. I’m grateful to the emergency responders,” Rand said. “But it was dangerous, they shouldn’t have done it. Because it could have rained this afternoon, and if it had rained, this thing becomes much more powerful, and the water could really build up.”

Following the incident, Rand said village officials would review safety measures around the drainage site and again urged residents and visitors to stay out of stormwater tunnels and drainage systems, which are not intended for public access.

For Hudson, the episode was unlike anything he had experienced in decades of business ownership.

“We’ve been here almost 36 years,” he said. “We thought we’d seen everything, but no, no, there are still some surprises here.”

This post was originally published on this site.

As I’ve said so many times, President Trump is not going to make a bad deal with Iran.

And what we are learning from White House sources is an 80 percent to 85 percent chance of what they are calling the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. It could be completed in the next few days, maybe this weekend.

Hat tip to Fox News digital for comprehensive coverage.

All of Mr. Trump’s red lines are included in this MoU. And importantly, the entire deal is premised on Iran changing its behavior in verifiable ways that meet clear performance benchmarks.  

The key points of this MoU begin with a plank that would prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. That includes removal and destruction of already-enriched uranium.

It also includes a number of technical details where inspectors from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Administration and American personnel will be involved in the process of destroying, removing, and verifying the end of Iran’s enriched material.

Additionally, Iran’s long-term nuclear ambitions will be ended. Technical inspection procedures will be included. Quote, “our approach here is to verify, verify, verify. And that the Iranians won’t get the benefit of the bargain unless they perform,” end quote. That is according to administration sources.

Also Iran must stop funding terrorism in the region. A full regional peace deal is included. Plus, Iran will agree to opening the Strait of Hormuz, and the blockade will then be lifted if Iran follows through.

Importantly, according to sources, Iran will receive no money upon signing the MoU. Any sanctions relief must be tied to actual performance. If they change their behavior, and start acting like a normal country in accordance with this deal, then money will be forthcoming.

But after all, this is not the final deal, this is a memorandum of understanding. So hard bargaining on technical details and verification processes still lies ahead, even if this MoU is signed. That’s very, very important.

You might think of this as the beginning of the end of the war, but it’s not yet the end of the war.

Undoubtedly, though, Mr. Trump’s coercive diplomacy, or negotiations with bombs, is going to continue if Iran doesn’t measure up. 

I have the feeling that Mr. Trump’s threat to destroy their infrastructure — bridges, power and water facilities — moved this MoU along pretty rapidly.

But performance incentives are the heart of this deal.

Behavior must change.

Trust, but verify.

Nicotine usage among Americans has taken a new form as traditional tobacco usage has reached record lows.

Nicotine pouches, an alternative to traditional chewing tobacco, have seen explosive growth. A study by Monitoring Tobacco Product Use showed that U.S. monthly dollar sales of pouches surged 250.8% from January 2023 ($145.5 million) to August 2025 ($510.5 million).

Investors are paying attention, and some top celebrities are getting in on the action. Fox News Digital spoke with music artist and renowned DJ “Diplo” about his stake in the nicotine pouch company Sesh.

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“[Nicotine pouches were] very helpful and controlling my ADHD, so, I try to do it, not in the evening, but in the morning when I’m starting to work. And it was pretty effective,” he said.

Diplo, whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz Jr., is not the only top name invested in Sesh. Nick and Joe of the Jonas Brothers, Post Malone, The Chainsmokers, and billionaire Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale’s venture capital firm, AVC.

The CDC Foundation reported that teen usage of nicotine pouches nearly quadrupled from 2022 to 2025, and flavored products have played a role in young Americans using nicotine.

While vaping and e-cigarette devices face stricter regulatory scrutiny when it comes to flavors, as some states have outright banned flavored products, nicotine pouches have more leeway.

FDA APPROVES FRUIT-FLAVORED VAPES FOR FIRST TIME AFTER REPORTED TRUMP PRESSURE

“There’s no smoke, nicotine isn’t tobacco,” Diplo said. “I’ve never been into tobacco, I’ve never been into smoking.”

Access to nicotine products is becoming increasingly easy. Delivery services like GoPuff and others allow for products like Sesh to be ordered straight to the home. Nicotine and vape shops have popped up on streets in big cities and across the U.S. as demand rises.

The Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump pressured former FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to speed the authorization of flavored vapes, a shortfall that became a factor in Makary resigning from the job in May.

TRUMP’S FDA BOSS RESIGNING AS ADMIN TAPS NEXT ACTING LEADER

Although the FDA has authorized nicotine pouch products for sale in the U.S., health experts warn against the effects they can have, particularly on younger people.

While these products are designed to be discreet, odorless and convenient, Maggie Britton, the clinical director of health initiatives at National Jewish Health, warned that it is particularly dangerous for developing brains, as nicotine can alter the brain circuits involved in attention, learning, memory, mood regulation and impulse control.

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Long-term health effects remain in question, including its impact on oral health, cardiovascular function and cancer risk, she told Fox News Digital.

“Caution should guide both public health decisions and individual choices,” she said. “When we don’t yet fully understand the long-term health effects of a product, the responsible approach is to limit use rather than expand it.”

SpaceX made history Friday with a spectacular stock market debut that pushed Elon Musk’s fortune past the trillion-dollar mark, making him the world’s first trillionaire and delivering the largest initial public offering ever completed. The blockbuster listing is also fueling expectations that other artificial intelligence giants could soon follow with record-breaking public offerings of their own.

The company’s shares began trading at $150, well above the $135 offering price, and ended the day at $161.11. By the closing bell, SpaceX was valued at more than $2 trillion, placing it ahead of many of America’s largest corporations and exceeding the combined market value of companies such as Walmart and General Motors.

The offering surpassed every previous IPO on record, overtaking the 2019 debut of Saudi Aramco, which entered public markets with a valuation of $1.7 trillion and raised more than $29 billion. SpaceX’s sale generated an unprecedented $75 billion, outpacing the combined proceeds of all U.S. IPOs conducted during the previous two years, according to Renaissance Capital.

The strong first-day performance also elevated Musk’s net worth to unprecedented levels. Already the richest person in the world, the 54-year-old entrepreneur saw his fortune soar beyond the trillion-dollar threshold, further expanding his financial power and global influence.

The IPO also produced enormous gains for investors close to Musk, including venture capital firms, private investment funds, and longtime associates. Thousands of employees who held equity in the company suddenly found themselves with millionaire status.

Musk spent the day at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, where he celebrated the milestone alongside employees, investors, family members, and friends. Reflecting on the company’s early days, he remarked, “It is certainly hard to believe that a little company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now going public.” He added, “I gave SpaceX less than a 10 percent chance of succeeding at all.”

The successful launch onto public markets is expected to open the door for other massive offerings, particularly from artificial intelligence leaders OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which are reportedly approaching trillion-dollar valuations. If those companies follow through with public listings, 2026 could become one of the most remarkable years in Wall Street history.

Such developments would further cement the dominance of technology firms in the global economy, placing SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic alongside established giants including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple, Netflix, and Meta.

For SpaceX, the IPO marked the culmination of more than two decades of growth. Musk established the company in 2002 with the ambitious goal of enabling humanity to become a multiplanetary civilization, a vision many initially viewed as unrealistic.

Over the years, however, SpaceX transformed the aerospace industry through the development of reusable rocket technology and expanded its reach with Starlink, its satellite-based internet network. Earlier this year, the company also acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, which controls the social media platform X, creating an even broader technology conglomerate.

Throughout much of its history, SpaceX also served as a financial cornerstone for Musk’s wider business empire. The company provided him with loans and financial flexibility that helped support other ventures. That influence was reinforced by Musk’s overwhelming control of shareholder voting power through supervoting shares and other corporate mechanisms, which gave him approximately 85 percent of the voting rights before the IPO.

As part of the offering, SpaceX sold more than 555 million shares, representing slightly more than 4 percent of the company’s outstanding stock. The company and its underwriting team actively sought participation from both institutional investors and individuals, with retail investors accounting for roughly 22.5 percent of the offering, according to people familiar with the transaction.

SpaceX also pushed for accelerated inclusion in major stock indexes, a move that could eventually require large index funds to purchase significant amounts of its shares.

Analysts expect the stock to remain volatile in the near term. With relatively few shares available for trading and intense investor demand, the stock could experience sharp swings as the market adjusts. Over time, however, additional shares may enter circulation and enthusiasm could moderate.

J.P. Morgan analysts noted this week that recent IPOs have gained an average of 32 percent on their first trading day, but on average have fallen 26 percent below their debut prices after one year.

Daniel Hanson, a portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman whose fund owns approximately $200 million in SpaceX stock, credited the company’s leadership team for the speed and effectiveness of the IPO process.

“It’s exciting to see the team recognized by the public for what they have accomplished since their founding 24 years ago,” he said.

Despite investor enthusiasm, questions remain about the company’s finances and valuation. SpaceX disclosed in its IPO filing that it lost more than $4.9 billion last year, compared with a profit of $791 million in 2024, largely due to increased spending on artificial intelligence initiatives. Revenue, however, climbed 33 percent to $18.7 billion.

The company’s valuation now exceeds that of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, even though Meta generated substantially larger revenue and profits. Meta reported $201 billion in revenue and $60.5 billion in profit last year while carrying a market value of just over $1.4 trillion.

SpaceX has said proceeds from the offering will be used to reduce debt and finance a series of ambitious projects, including orbital AI data centers, a manufacturing facility on the moon, and eventually human missions to Mars.

Although critics question whether those goals can be achieved, enthusiasm among Musk supporters remains strong. In New York, dozens of fans gathered outside the Nasdaq building in Times Square to witness the company’s public debut.

Among them was Zach Boucher, 45, who traveled overnight from California to attend the occasion.

Mr. Boucher said he was buying more than 2,200 SpaceX shares through Wells Fargo and was “never going to sell — I’m holding for the long term.”

Comparing the moment to some of the most significant investment opportunities in modern history, he added:

“This moment is “like getting in on the ground floor of GE or G.M., or being here when Microsoft opened,” he said.

The IPO generated a windfall not only for investors but also for Wall Street’s largest banks. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and 18 additional financial institutions served as underwriters and were expected to collect a record $550 million in fees.

The celebrations extended beyond SpaceX itself. Goldman Sachs transformed portions of its Manhattan headquarters into a space-themed venue complete with moon-rock-inspired desserts and a “mission control” brunch. JPMorgan and SpaceX commissioned artist Leo Villareal to create a large-scale celestial light display atop the bank’s headquarters.

Meanwhile, festivities at Starbase were expected to continue well into the evening, with company executives scheduled to address employees during a celebration and at least one nearby venue reserved for additional events honoring the company’s historic achievement.

{Matzav.com}

HOUSTON — About half of the oil and fuel shipments disrupted by the war with Iran are moving again through the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, offering a measure of relief to global energy markets and supply chains.

Speaking on Friday, June 12, at the Bloomberg Energy Security Executive Briefing in Houston, Wright said approximately 7 million barrels per day of oil and fuel are once again flowing through the strategic waterway, representing roughly half of the volume that had been stranded when the conflict began.

He also made clear that the United States intends to restore full access to the route regardless of whether Iran cooperates.

For consumers, businesses, and investors, the Strait of Hormuz remains the most important energy chokepoint in the world.

The narrow passage carries nearly 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, making it one of the most critical arteries of the global economy.

When traffic slows or stops, the effects quickly spread beyond energy markets.

Fuel prices rise.

Shipping costs increase.

Manufacturers face higher expenses.

Consumers ultimately pay more for everything from gasoline to groceries.

Traffic through the strait had been severely disrupted since fighting erupted between the United States and Iran at the end of February.

The conflict sent oil prices sharply higher, unsettled financial markets, and created significant uncertainty across global supply chains.

A fragile truce took hold this week after President Donald Trump pushed both sides to halt direct military attacks, allowing shipping activity to begin recovering.

Wright first signaled improvement earlier this week during an energy conference in Washington, where he said vessel traffic was increasing “very meaningfully” compared with recent weeks.

Even so, he cautioned that restoring normal operations would take time.

Many shipping companies rerouted vessels during the conflict, while supply chains adjusted to avoid the region altogether.

Returning those networks to normal will likely take months.

According to Wright, the challenge extends beyond simply reopening the waterway.

Shipping companies, crews, insurers, and energy traders must regain confidence that the route is secure before traffic fully returns to pre-war levels.

Some vessels have continued moving through the strait under extraordinary circumstances.

Reports indicate the U.S. Navy has assisted dozens of commercial vessels through the passage during the crisis.

Other ships reportedly crossed at night with communications and tracking systems turned off to reduce perceived security risks.

Financial markets have responded positively to signs of progress.

Earlier this week, after Wright reported improving traffic conditions, U.S. crude oil prices fell approximately 3.4% to around $88 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped to its lowest level in seven weeks.

Lower crude prices generally translate into lower gasoline and diesel prices, although those savings often take time to reach consumers.

The recovery remains fragile.

Iranian officials have repeatedly suggested the strait could remain restricted, and the broader conflict has not been formally resolved.

As long as the possibility of renewed fighting exists, shipping companies are likely to face elevated insurance costs and security concerns.

Those additional expenses ultimately flow through the global economy.

The economic stakes are enormous.

Energy costs influence nearly every industry, from manufacturing and transportation to agriculture and retail.

A prolonged disruption at Hormuz acts as a hidden tax on economic growth, raising operating costs for businesses and reducing purchasing power for consumers.

The faster shipping returns to normal, the faster that pressure can ease.

For now, the administration appears committed to maintaining both diplomatic and military pressure to keep the route open.

Wright’s message in Houston was clear: the United States intends to restore normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and is prepared to secure the route if necessary.

The key number remains 7 million barrels per day.

That represents meaningful progress but still falls well short of pre-war traffic levels.

Every additional tanker that moves through the strait helps ease pressure on energy markets.

Every new escalation risks sending those gains back into reverse.

JBizNews Desk — Energy

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A small condominium project in Denver’s West Colfax neighborhood may be the best evidence yet that Colorado’s housing reforms are producing real results.

The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority this month closed a $5.7 million low-interest construction loan for Wolff Street Flats, a 23-unit affordable for-sale development by Osina Development and Modus Real Estate. It is the first project to close under CHFA’s Drive It Home Construction Loan program, which draws from a $50 million bond investment authorized by bipartisan legislation enacted last year.

Scott Speil, principal of Osina, told HousingWire TBD that construction will begin next week. Completion is scheduled for August 2027.

Homes at Wolff Street Flats will sell to households earning 80% of Area Median Income or less — roughly $89,000 annually for a two-person household — at an estimated average price of $285,000.

Since 2024, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has signed laws requiring greater density near transit corridors, removing parking minimums for some multifamily housing and limiting condo construction liability. In March, he signed the HOME Act, letting schools, transit agencies and nonprofits build housing on their land regardless of local zoning.

Denver upzoned long before state action

Denver rewrote its zoning code in 2010, allowing more diverse housing types in residential neighborhoods.

“They did well with the rezoning,” Speil said. “That really stimulated quite a bit of development and growth.”

Speil founded his company in 2016 to develop condos and townhomes on urban infill lots. His projects average 10 to 12 units each, selling for $550,000 to $750,000.

Denver home prices skyrocketed during the pandemic as residents fled high-cost states such as California. The market is now cooling, with the median home price around $600,000 after years of rapid gains. For-sale inventory has climbed to roughly six months of supply, and mortgage rates above 6% have slowed demand.

“There isn’t a shortage of housing but still a shortage of affordable housing,” Speil said.

Wolff Street Flats is Osina’s first affordable project, one Speil said would not have been feasible without state and city financing. The construction loan carries a 3.5% interest rate, well below the going rate. Osina also received a state grant and a City of Denver performance loan.

“It’s very expensive to build anything right now because of interest rates and construction costs,” Speil said.

Expanding affordability

City officials are pushing to expand affordability further. Roughly 40% of Denver’s land remains zoned exclusively for single-family homes. Denver’s Unlocking Housing Choices initiative proposes to legalize duplexes, triplexes and small apartment buildings in those neighborhoods.

A spring 2026 public engagement process drew 843 survey responses. Many residents said financing barriers and market forces remain stubborn obstacles even where zoning allows more density.

Lawmakers who backed the state financing program say projects like Wolff Street Flats prove the approach is working and a model for the state.

“Projects like Wolff Street Flats show how this policy translates into real homes in our communities,” said Rep. Manny Rutinel, a co-sponsor of last year’s legislation. “It’s a practical step toward making homeownership more accessible across Colorado.”

CHFA spokesman Matt Lynn told HousingWire TBD that the $50 million bond investment generated strong demand and is now fully committed. It will produce an estimated 182 affordable for-sale units statewide. The agency will report regularly to the Colorado General Assembly on the program’s results as lawmakers weigh further steps to address the state’s housing shortage.

“CHFA is considering ways the Drive it Home program may be expanded by seeking additional investment in the future from mission-driven funders, so that more units may result from the program,” Lynn said.

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that negotiations with the United States are progressing toward a final agreement, though key issues remain unresolved. He disclosed that the emerging framework is structured in two phases, with the controversial nuclear component intentionally deferred until the second stage.

Discussing the outcome of the recent conflict, Araghchi projected confidence about Iran’s position and argued that Tehran entered negotiations from a position of strength.

“The best time to end a war is when we hold the upper hand; we are truly victorious on the battlefield.”

He also highlighted the duration and intensity of the confrontation, portraying Iran’s resistance as a significant achievement.

“We stood against the world’s apparent superpower for 40 days.”

Addressing questions surrounding the ongoing negotiations, Araghchi said the public would receive a full explanation once discussions are completed, while emphasizing that the process has not yet reached its conclusion.

“The final agreement hasn’t been reached yet; if it is finalized, I promise to explain every single clause,” he stated, further clarified the structural sequencing of the emerging framework, “The agreement includes two stages, and we have moved the nuclear issue to the second stage.”

The foreign minister also reiterated Iran’s commitment to Hezbollah and other allied groups throughout the region, insisting that any end to hostilities must address multiple fronts rather than Iran alone.

“We will never leave Hezbollah in Lebanon alone, and the end of the war will also encompass Lebanon and all other fronts.”

Expanding on that point, Araghchi said Iran has made clear that any broader settlement must include developments in southern Lebanon as well.

“Ending the war in the agreement also means Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied areas in southern Lebanon, and we have stated this explicitly to the other side.”

Turning to the diplomatic provisions under discussion, Araghchi claimed the United States is prepared to formally acknowledge Iran’s sovereignty as part of the arrangement.

“In this agreement, the United States will state in writing that it respects Iran’s sovereignty.”

He added that the memorandum currently being negotiated reaches well beyond military matters and includes economic and financial issues as well.

“The memorandum of understanding includes the nuclear issue, sanctions relief, reconstruction, and blocked/frozen funds.”

Araghchi’s comments came after President Donald Trump told Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Friday that he believes a deal with Iran could be finalized as soon as this weekend or by Monday.

Later in the day, a senior administration official echoed that optimism, telling reporters that the two sides appear to be nearing the finish line.

“We do expect to be signing this agreement with Iran over the next few days. We assess it at 85%, but not 100%. We feel very good about the deal. We are not quite at the finish line but we are very close,” said the official.

The official outlined several major elements expected to be included in the agreement, among them the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the American blockade on Iranian ports, and the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program. Under the proposed arrangement, Iran’s enriched nuclear material would be transferred to U.S. custody, destroyed, and removed from the country.

According to the official, Iran would receive substantial economic relief if it fulfills its obligations under the agreement.

The official stated that Iran would be “relieved of a lot of the economic pressures that they’ve been under for many, many years” if the country complies with the deal’s provisions. The official further stressed, “Those benefits only accrue if they actually deliver.”

{Matzav.com}

WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews)-Sam Salz, who walked on to the Texas A&M University football team with no prior experience and became the first Orthodox Jew to play at the Division I level, recounted his remarkable path during the Jewish American Heritage Month Congressional Breakfast.

Salz delivered the personal story at the event, highlighting the challenges of thriving in the high-pressure world of major college football while remaining steadfast in his Orthodox Jewish faith. His account underscored themes of resilience, determination and the ability to balance competing worlds without compromising core values.

In his remarks, Salz described the intense demands of a Division I roster and the additional hurdles of maintaining religious observance, such as dietary laws, prayer times and Shabbat considerations amid rigorous team schedules. Despite entering the program without football experience, his commitment propelled him forward, turning initial obstacles into opportunities for growth.

“You gain insight into the personal pride that keeps him moving forward,” event attendees noted of his presentation. Salz’s experience illustrates that dedication to one’s roots need not hinder athletic or professional ambitions.

The profile resonates with athletes seeking motivation and those drawn to stories of cultural and religious perseverance in unexpected arenas. Salz’s breakthrough as the first Orthodox Jew in Division I football stands as a milestone, offering inspiration across the Jewish community and beyond.

His message at the congressional event reinforced a broader celebration of Jewish American contributions, showcasing how individual perseverance can bridge diverse identities and environments.

A growing number of companies are shifting operations out of Singapore and into neighboring Malaysia, drawn by lower costs, tax incentives, and room to expand. The trend gained momentum this spring when global apparel retailer H&M announced in May that it would relocate its Southeast Asia headquarters from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, affecting 78 jobs. In March, brewer Heineken said it would move portions of its production from Singapore to facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam.

These are not isolated moves. Since the start of 2026, a visible wave of businesses has relocated at least part of their operations across the border. “These moves are significant and mark a clear acceleration,” said Alwyn Lim, associate professor of sociology at Singapore Management University. The shift reflects a broader global trend as companies search for lower costs, greater scale, and improved competitiveness.

The economics are straightforward. Singapore remains one of the world’s most expensive places to operate a business, with high commercial rents, rising labor costs, and limited land availability. Malaysia, separated by only a narrow causeway, offers substantially lower operating expenses and significantly more industrial space.

“Malaysia offers significantly lower overheads, attractive tax incentives, and the industrial land space companies need to scale,” said David Blasco, country director of Randstad Singapore.

Importantly, most companies are not abandoning Singapore altogether. Instead, many are adopting a strategy known as “twinning,” keeping headquarters, research centers, and senior management functions in Singapore while moving manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics operations to Malaysia.

Singapore continues to offer advantages that remain difficult to replicate elsewhere in Asia. The city-state remains one of the world’s leading financial centers, provides political stability, strong legal protections, efficient logistics, and access to highly skilled talent. Malaysia, particularly the state of Johor, offers lower labor costs, more abundant land, and lower energy expenses.

Lennon Tan, president of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation, describes the trend as “rightsizing geography” rather than a loss of confidence in Singapore. Companies are strategically placing each function where it makes the most economic sense.

Food manufacturers provide a clear example. Many are retaining brand management, procurement, and supply-chain leadership in Singapore while moving physical production north to Johor. Gardenia, the well-known bread producer, operates a major facility in Senai, Malaysia, capable of producing approximately 8,000 loaves of bread and 20,000 tortilla wraps per hour.

A major government initiative is helping accelerate the shift. The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, formally agreed upon by both governments in early 2025, is designed to integrate the two economies more closely. Covering more than 3,500 square kilometers, the zone spans an area more than four times larger than Singapore itself and targets eleven key industries, including manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and digital services.

The incentives are substantial. Eligible companies can qualify for a special corporate tax rate of just 5% for up to 15 years, significantly below Malaysia’s standard 24% corporate tax rate. Since the agreement was signed, Singapore-based companies have committed more than 5.5 billion Singapore dollars in investments into Johor, according to Singapore government officials.

Major multinational companies are already expanding across both markets. Firms including ResMed and FedEx have announced investments designed to take advantage of the growing integration between Singapore and Johor.

For years, the biggest obstacle to such arrangements was transportation. Crossing the border could take hours during peak periods, creating costly delays for employees and businesses. That barrier is about to shrink dramatically.

A new Rapid Transit System (RTS) rail link, scheduled to begin operations by the end of 2026, will connect Johor Bahru and Singapore in approximately six minutes and is expected to carry up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction. Authorities have also introduced QR-code immigration processing and streamlined customs procedures.

As travel times fall and border crossings become easier, the economic logic behind splitting operations between the two countries becomes even stronger.

The stakes are significant. For Malaysia, particularly Johor, the influx brings new factories, jobs, infrastructure investment, and economic growth. For Singapore, the challenge is preserving higher-value industries while allowing lower-margin operations to relocate elsewhere.

Officials in both countries argue the arrangement can strengthen the broader region rather than create winners and losers. By combining Singapore’s strengths in finance, innovation, and management with Malaysia’s advantages in manufacturing, land availability, and cost efficiency, the region hopes to compete more effectively against other Asian economic hubs.

The trend also reflects a broader global movement. Businesses worldwide are reevaluating where they locate factories, offices, and supply chains, balancing labor costs, taxes, logistics, and market access. Similar conversations are unfolding across Europe, North America, and Asia as companies seek greater efficiency and resilience.

For now, the momentum appears to favor further integration. With operating costs in Singapore continuing to rise, Malaysia expanding incentives, and new transportation links nearing completion, more companies are expected to adopt a cross-border model.

Rather than choosing one country over the other, many businesses increasingly see Singapore and Malaysia as complementary parts of a single economic ecosystem.

JBizNews Desk — Asia

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Shlach 5786

A newly published editorial on the website of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is shedding light on how Tehran is seeking to portray the aftermath of its recent conflict with Israel and the United States. The article argues that Iran emerged from the war with enhanced strategic leverage and outlines what appears to be a new security doctrine centered on the Strait of Hormuz and deeper coordination with Hezbollah.

The commentary, published in the regime-affiliated online outlet Voice of Iran under the headline “A New Security Equation: From Hormuz to Beirut,” presents the war as a turning point that strengthened Iran’s position despite the damage it sustained during the fighting.

Throughout the piece, President Donald Trump is depicted as a leader whose rhetoric exceeds his actions. The editorial claims Trump “speaks more about his dreams than about realities” and portrays him as publicly threatening Iran while privately pulling back from confrontation.

According to the article, Washington has entered a “strategic deadlock” in which it is unwilling to make concessions to Tehran but lacks the ability to wage a broader conflict. The editorial contends that the United States has already expended its strongest leverage while Iran has gained new tools to advance its interests.

Central to the article’s message is the assertion that Iran intends to continue leveraging the Strait of Hormuz as a strategic pressure point while strengthening ties with Hezbollah and other regional proxy organizations.

According to the editorial, “Iran will not return to the prewar era — not regarding Hormuz, not regarding the U.S. military presence in the region, and not regarding the equation surrounding resistance groups.”

The article argues that the recent conflict expanded Iran’s opportunities to pursue its regional ambitions and specifically points to “control over the Strait of Hormuz” as a strategic advantage enhanced by the war.

The publication also suggests that relations between Iran and Hezbollah have entered a new phase marked by even closer integration.

The article states that the Lebanese group is now part of Iran’s “security equation” and declares that “defending Iran is equivalent to defending the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, and defending the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon is equivalent to defending Iran.”

It further describes Hezbollah as “an integral part of Iran’s national interests,” indicating that Tehran views the organization as a core component of its deterrence posture and regional security framework.

While the editorial reflects the Iranian regime’s own interpretation of events rather than an independent analysis, it offers a rare public look at how Tehran is framing the postwar landscape: one in which the Strait of Hormuz remains a powerful source of leverage, Hezbollah becomes more deeply woven into Iranian security planning, and the United States is portrayed as having lost strategic momentum.

The editorial opens by arguing that periods of war create confusion through competing narratives and conflicting reports, making it especially important, in the authors’ view, to present events from what they describe as Iran’s perspective rather than that of its adversaries. The piece says that media coverage should help readers understand the significance of events and distinguish between truth and misinformation.

It explains that Voice of Iran, an online publication associated with Khamenei’s website, was established during what it calls the Zionist regime’s 12-day war against Iran. The publication says its mission is to identify the most important developments amid a flood of information and present what it views as the true strategic position of the Islamic Republic. The editorial also dedicates its latest issue to Brigadier General Morteza Jamali of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who it says was killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli missile strike.

Turning to President Trump, the article argues that his conduct during the conflict demonstrates a disconnect between public statements and policy decisions. It claims Trump “speaks more about his dreams than about realities” and alleges that while he publicly threatens Iran, he ultimately retreats when faced with what the authors characterize as credible Iranian deterrence. The piece summarizes its assessment of Trump’s approach as “Tough talk in words; retreat in action.”

The editorial goes on to argue that recent developments suggest the United States lacks the ability to sustain a large-scale military conflict with Iran. According to the article, the 40-day war exposed the limits of American power, leading the White House to conclude that it could neither force concessions from Tehran nor achieve its objectives through military means. The authors characterize this situation as a “strategic deadlock” and argue that, despite suffering damage during the conflict, Iran emerged with greater leverage because of strategic assets such as its position near the Strait of Hormuz.

The piece further contends that the United States has exhausted its most valuable pressure tools while Iran has gained new advantages. It claims American leaders expected a rapid victory but instead strengthened Iran’s position. The article argues that Tehran now has a clearer understanding of its path forward than Washington does and credits that outcome to what it describes as resistance on the battlefield.

According to the editorial, the war fundamentally altered the regional landscape. It insists that “Iran will not return to the prewar era — not regarding Hormuz, not regarding the U.S. military presence in the region, and not regarding the equation surrounding resistance groups.” The article argues that the conflict created new opportunities for Iran to shape regional security, economic, and geopolitical developments.

The authors further maintain that Iran’s relationships with Hezbollah and other allied groups will no longer resemble those that existed before the war. Instead, they argue, these ties will be strengthened and redefined by the realities that emerged during the conflict. Hezbollah, the editorial says, has become part of Iran’s broader security framework because its participation contributed both to Iran’s defense and to what the article describes as resistance to American and Israeli influence.

The editorial concludes by asserting that “defending Iran is equivalent to defending the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, and defending the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon is equivalent to defending Iran.” It portrays Hezbollah as “an integral part of Iran’s national interests” and argues that tools such as the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s ability to influence relations with Washington can be employed not only to advance Iranian interests but also to protect Hezbollah. The article closes by insisting that neither Iran nor its relationships with regional resistance movements will return to their prewar state, claiming that the conflict significantly expanded Tehran’s ability to shape regional security arrangements and deepen its ties with allied groups.

{Matzav.com}

Former Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski says President Donald Trump asked for his opinion on Iran during a private Oval Office meeting this week, just hours after an American Apache helicopter was reportedly brought down by an Iranian drone.

Speaking at a conference in Washington, D.C., Braslavski, 22, recalled his emotional White House meeting with Trump, which came months after he was freed from 738 days of captivity in Gaza as part of a U.S.-brokered hostage deal.

According to Braslavski, Trump raised the helicopter incident during their 15-minute conversation and appeared concerned about the escalation with Iran.

Screenshot

“He asked me what I thought,” Braslavski said. “I told him, ‘You should bomb Iran right now.’”

Braslavski said Trump responded by asking if he was comfortable with such a move.

“He said, ‘You don’t mind, right?’ and I told him, ‘I support you 100 percent.’”

The former hostage traveled to Washington to personally thank Trump for helping secure his release. He also credited Jewish Breaking News Editor-at-Large Eddie Devir for helping arrange the long-awaited Oval Office meeting.

Braslavski said the encounter was deeply emotional.

“He had his hands open and welcomed me,” Braslavski recalled. “I shook his hand, kissed his hand, and told him, ‘You are my hero. Thank you.’”

Trump had previously hosted a group of released hostages at the White House, but Braslavski was too weak to attend at the time due to the severe physical and emotional toll of his captivity.

On October 7, 2023, Braslavski was working security at the Nova music festival when Hamas terrorists launched their brutal attack. Despite being off-duty, he remained at the scene for hours helping festivalgoers escape and preventing terrorists from abducting victims before ultimately being taken hostage himself.

During his visit to Washington, Braslavski also met with Senator John Fetterman, a vocal supporter of Israeli hostages. Fetterman told attendees he had displayed posters of Braslavski and other captives in his office throughout their imprisonment.

“In the Bible it says you must show gratitude to those who help you,” Braslavski said. “John Fetterman is one of the people I owe a thank you.”

Grocery inflation may appear relatively modest in government reports, but shoppers are encountering a very different reality depending on where they shop inside the supermarket.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that food prices rose 3.1% over the past year, while grocery prices — officially categorized as food at home — increased 2.7%.

That is lower than the overall inflation rate of 4.2%, but those averages mask dramatic differences among individual products.

Produce Prices Lead the Increases

The sharpest increases are occurring in the produce aisle.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fresh vegetable prices were 11.5% higher in April than a year earlier.

Fresh tomato prices rose nearly 40%.

Transportation costs remain a major factor.

Higher diesel prices have increased shipping expenses for fresh produce, one of the most transportation-dependent categories in grocery stores.

The USDA currently forecasts fresh vegetable prices will rise approximately 7.8% during 2026.

Eggs and Chicken Offer Relief

Other grocery categories have moved in the opposite direction.

Egg prices, which surged to approximately $6.23 per dozen during the bird-flu outbreak earlier this year, have fallen to roughly $2.86 per dozen as production recovered.

Chicken prices have remained stable or moved lower, providing consumers with a relatively affordable protein option.

Potato prices were also down about 3% compared with a year ago.

Coffee and Beef Remain Problem Areas

Not every staple has benefited from improved supply conditions.

Coffee prices have risen approximately 19% over the past year following weather-related crop problems in major coffee-producing countries.

Beef prices have reached record levels as the U.S. cattle herd continues to shrink.

The result has been significantly higher costs for steaks, roasts, and ground beef.

Different Aisles, Different Economies

Economists note that food categories are influenced by entirely different forces.

Produce prices often track transportation and fuel costs.

Egg prices respond heavily to disease outbreaks and flock recovery.

Coffee depends on weather conditions in producing nations.

Beef prices largely reflect herd size and livestock production cycles.

Understanding those factors can help consumers make more informed shopping decisions.

Consumers Continue Adjusting

Retailers report that many shoppers are changing purchasing habits in response to higher prices.

Consumers increasingly purchase store brands, buy smaller quantities, and substitute lower-cost items when possible.

Recent surveys found that a majority of Americans have reduced grocery spending to stay within household budgets.

Looking Ahead

For consumers, the lesson is simple: headline inflation figures often fail to reflect actual shopping experiences.

The price increases families encounter depend heavily on what they buy and where they shop.

Until transportation costs ease and cattle inventories recover, grocery inflation is likely to remain highly uneven across the supermarket.

JBizNews Desk — Washington

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MK Meir Porush issued a sharply worded statement Thursday evening following the vehicle incidents that occurred during chareidi protests on Highway 4 and elsewhere in central Israel, placing blame on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg for what he described as a dangerous escalation.

Porush accused the legal establishment of creating the conditions that have fueled growing tensions surrounding the arrests of yeshiva bochurim and the broader confrontation over the status of Torah learners.

“Attorney Baharav-Miara and Justice Sohlberg, thank you for bringing this calamity upon the people of Israel,” Porush said in a statement.

The veteran UTJ lawmaker argued that chareidi representatives had repeatedly warned that continued arrests of yeshiva students and other measures directed at the Torah world would deepen divisions and intensify confrontations within Israeli society.

“We warned you again and again that your conduct would lead the people of Israel to a civil war, and you did not listen,” he said.

Porush concluded by calling for an immediate change in policy and urging decision-makers to reverse course before the situation deteriorates further.

“Come to your senses before it is too late,” he said.

The remarks came after a tense evening of demonstrations and traffic disruptions across central Israel, during which two people were injured in separate vehicle-related incidents. Authorities are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the events, and officials have not determined whether either incident was intentional.

New York (VINNEWS/Rabbi Yair Hoffman)  Heart disease is still the leading cause of death in the world. One big reason is cholesterol – a waxy substance in the blood that is very similar to plaque on your teeth – but is really plaque in your arteries.

Too much of the wrong kind builds up inside the arteries, slowly narrowing them. Often there are no warning signs at all, until the day there is a heart attack or a strokem r”l.

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have just put out new rules for doctors on how to handle cholesterol. Here is what is new.

1. Start checking earlier.
In the past, cholesterol testing usually began in middle age. The new guidance says to start sooner, especially for people whose families have a history of heart disease. Children with a rare inherited condition that causes very high cholesterol should be checked as early as age nine.

2. A new one-time blood test.
There is a part of the blood called Lp(a). The amount a person has is mostly set by their genes and stays about the same for life. A high level raises the risk of heart disease – by roughly forty percent at one level, and about double at a higher one. Because it does not change, a person only needs this test once. It used to be ignored. Now it is recommended for everyone.

3. A smarter risk calculator.
Doctors use a calculator to estimate a person’s chance of a heart attack or stroke. The old one looked ten years ahead and started at age forty. The new tool, called PREVENT, looks both ten years and thirty years ahead, starts at age thirty, and adds in blood sugar and kidney health. The old calculator was built from about twenty-six thousand people. The new one was built from 6.6 million.

4. Lower targets.
The goal numbers for “bad” cholesterol (LDL) are now lower. For a healthy person, below 100 is the aim. For someone at medium risk, below 70. For someone at high risk, below 55. Lower is better when it comes to preventing heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure.

5.More ways to treat it.
Statins are still the main medicine. But for people who need more, there are now newer options – including pills and injections – that can be added to bring the numbers down further.

6. In Our Own Power.

One more thing the experts stressed: most heart disease – some eighty to ninety percent – is tied to things a person can change. Eating well, staying active, not smoking, sleeping enough, and keeping a healthy weight are still the foundation. The medicines build on top of that, not instead of it.
The big shift is simple: catch problems earlier, look further into the future, and aim lower. (As always, what any one person should do is a question for their own doctor.)

The Six Mitzvos of Guarding One’s Health

Why does any of this matter to halachic Yidden? Because guarding one’s health is not just common sense – it is a mitzvah. In fact, our Poskim point to as many as six of them.
1. There is the mitzvah of “veNishmartem me’od b’nafshosaichem” (Devarim 4:9) – the mitzvah of protecting our health and well-being.
2. Few have heard of the second mitzvah. The verse later on (Devarim 4:15), “Rak hishamer lecha,” is understood by most Poskim to comprise an actual second mitzvah (see Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l, Shaar HaTeshuvos #25) – to take special care.
3. There is a third mitzvah, “V’Chai Bahem – and you shall live by them” (VaYikra 18:5).
4. There is a fourth mitzvah found in the verse in Parshas Ki Saytzei (Devarim 22:2), which discusses the mitzvah of Hashavas Aveidah, returning a lost object, with the words “vahasheivoso lo – and you shall return it to him.” The Gemara in Sanhedrin (73a) includes within these words the obligation of returning “his own life to him as well.” In other words, this verse is the source for the mitzvah of saving someone’s life. This is the general mitzvah the Shulchan Aruch refers to in Orach Chaim 325.
5. “Lo Saamod al dam rayecha” – there is a fifth, a negative mitzvah, of not standing idly by your brother’s blood. This is mentioned in Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 426:1) and in the Rambam. It includes yourself, and your spouse and children too, by leaving them without you, chalilah.
6. And finally, there is a sixth mitzvah – “Lo suchal l’hisaleim,” a negative commandment associated with the positive commandment of Hashavas Aveidah, in the verse in Devarim (22:3): “You cannot shut your eyes to it.” This verse comes directly after the mitzvah of Hashavas Aveidah. The Netziv (HeEmek She’eilah) refers to this mitzvah as well.

So in conclusion – Don’t overdo the cholent or the kugels.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

The riskiest corners of the global bond market are signaling trouble, warning that the world economy may be sliding toward stagflation, the painful combination of high inflation and weak growth. Investors have become increasingly cautious as inflation pressures remain elevated in many economies while geopolitical tensions continue to threaten global growth.

Stagflation is the economic nightmare that defined much of the 1970s. It occurs when prices continue rising even as economic activity slows and unemployment increases. Policymakers fear it because the traditional remedies often work against one another. Raising interest rates can help control inflation but may further weaken growth. Cutting rates may support growth but risks reigniting inflation.

One of the clearest places to watch for early warning signs is the junk-bond market. Junk bonds, also known as high-yield bonds, are issued by companies with lower credit ratings and greater risk of default. Investors demand higher yields to compensate for that risk. The difference between those yields and the yields on safer government bonds is known as the credit spread.

When investors grow concerned about the economy, those spreads typically widen. Companies with weaker balance sheets become the first casualties of rising borrowing costs and slowing demand.

Recent market activity suggests investors are becoming increasingly selective. The lowest-rated segment of the high-yield market, particularly bonds rated CCC, has underperformed higher-rated junk debt. Market strategists view that divergence as a warning sign that investors are moving away from the most vulnerable borrowers.

The pressure comes at a difficult time for corporate America and many businesses around the world. A large volume of debt issued during the era of ultra-low interest rates is approaching maturity over the next several years. Companies that previously borrowed at historically low rates now face significantly higher refinancing costs.

For stronger firms, higher borrowing costs may simply reduce profits. For heavily indebted companies, refinancing can become a major challenge, potentially leading to restructurings, layoffs, asset sales, or defaults.

The concern extends beyond the United States. Policymakers and economists across Europe and Asia have warned that energy-market disruptions and persistent inflation could create conditions resembling stagflation. Rising commodity prices increase costs for businesses and consumers while simultaneously slowing economic activity.

Higher energy prices have historically played a major role in stagflation episodes. Oil-price shocks ripple through transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, and consumer spending. Businesses often pass those costs to customers, fueling inflation while reducing economic growth.

History offers a sobering comparison. During the late 1970s, geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East contributed to sharp increases in oil prices. Inflation accelerated, interest rates surged, and economic growth weakened. The result was one of the most difficult periods for policymakers, investors, and businesses in modern economic history.

Today’s environment is not identical. Banks generally hold stronger capital positions than they did before the 2008 financial crisis, and many corporations entered this period with healthier balance sheets. Nevertheless, investors remain focused on whether inflation can be controlled without triggering a significant slowdown.

For ordinary investors, junk bonds matter because they are widely held through mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, pension plans, and retirement accounts. Rising defaults can reduce returns and increase volatility. More importantly, the companies that rely on high-yield financing employ millions of workers, making their financial health important for the broader economy.

The bond market is not forecasting an economic crisis. Credit spreads remain well below the extreme levels seen during major recessions and financial panics. However, the growing weakness among the lowest-rated borrowers is attracting attention because these companies often experience stress before problems spread to the wider economy.

The message from the junk-bond market is not that stagflation is inevitable. Rather, investors are increasingly pricing in the possibility that inflation could remain stubborn while growth slows. Whether those concerns intensify will depend on inflation trends, energy prices, central-bank policy decisions, and the resilience of businesses facing higher borrowing costs.

For now, the signal from the world’s riskiest debt markets is a warning worth watching.

JBizNews Desk — Global

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A looming shortage of aircraft parking space at Ben Gurion Airport could force airlines to scale back flights during the busy summer and Yom Tov travel season, potentially impacting as many as 2.4 million passenger bookings, according to Israel Airports Authority CEO Sharon Kedmi.

In remarks to Ynet, Kedmi warned that the continued presence of dozens of American cargo planes at both Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport has created a severe capacity problem that could disrupt commercial aviation if a solution is not found in the coming days.

He said airlines are expected to be informed by June 16 that they should begin preparing contingency plans, including the possibility of canceling some scheduled flights during the peak travel window that includes the High Holiday period from September 11 through October 4.

According to Kedmi, the strain on airport infrastructure has been building steadily since February. He noted that roughly 70 aircraft are currently using Ben Gurion Airport for routine operations such as arrivals, departures, and refueling, while another 25 cargo planes remain stationed at Ramon Airport.

“As long as the US fleet does not leave Ben Gurion Airport and is not relocated elsewhere, we have no choice but to prepare for a situation in which airlines will have to cancel part of their scheduled flights,” Kedmi said.

He explained that at least 30 American cargo aircraft would need to be moved from Ben Gurion Airport in order to free sufficient space for the commercial flights already planned for the summer and Yom Tov season.

The shortage, he said, is no longer merely a future concern. Airport operations are already feeling the effects, with delays affecting arrivals and departures. In some cases, passengers have been forced to remain onboard aircraft for extended periods because no parking positions or boarding gates were immediately available.

Ben Gurion Airport is currently serving approximately 65,000 travelers each day. During the busiest weeks of the summer, that number is projected to climb to roughly 100,000 daily passengers.

Kedmi also revealed that talks held several weeks ago had fueled hopes that a potential understanding between the United States and Iran would result in the relocation of American military aircraft currently based in Israel. Those expectations faded when no agreement materialized, leaving the aircraft in place and the parking crunch unresolved.

He stressed that any eventual decision to cancel flights would rest with the airlines themselves, which would weigh both operational realities and commercial considerations. If reductions become necessary, the impact could be felt across the aviation sector, affecting both Israeli carriers and foreign airlines currently flying to Israel or planning to restore service.

{Matzav.com}

New York City Councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez and some of her colleagues are pushing a proposal to require the establishment of at least five municipal grocery stores per borough.

The proposal comes as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration aims to establish one municipal grocery store in each of the Big Apple’s five boroughs by the end of his first term.

“Let’s make sure it’s not something that just our current mayor invests in, but something we can codify into in perpetuity,” Gutiérrez said, according to The City Reporter.

Fox News Digital reached out to Gutiérrez’s office on Friday to request a comment from the councilmember.

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI SAYS FIRST OF NYC’S FIVE GOVERNMENT-RUN GROCERY STORES WILL OPEN IN THE BRONX NEXT YEAR

The proposal calls for the commissioner of small business services or the leader of a different agency designated by the mayor to create at least five grocery stores per borough “in consultation or partnership to the extent feasible with a contracted entity,” according to the measure.

A press release pertaining to the mayor’s effort earlier this year noted, “The city-owned grocery initiative is designed to lower costs on everyday staples by using public ownership to eliminate costs that are currently passed on to consumers.”

MAMDANI TOUTS MASSIVE TAXPAYER-FUNDED INVESTMENT FOR TRANS HEALTHCARE: ‘FIRST STEP’

“The initiative aims to deliver affordable, high-quality groceries that provide meaningful savings to New Yorkers and strengthen neighborhood food access citywide. Mayor Mamdani has allocated $70 million in capital funds for the development of the five sites,” the release noted.

“Under the model, the City will own the land and cover overhead costs like rent and construction. A private operator, selected through a request for proposals, will manage daily operations and be contractually required to pass savings directly to customers on a core basket of everyday staples,” the release explained.

HEDGE FUND BILLIONAIRE EXPANDS MIAMI DEVELOPMENT PLANS AFTER MAMDANI FEUD

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Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, took office this year after winning the New York City mayoral election last year while running as a Democrat.

NEW YORK (VINnews) – Rep. Ilhan Omar criticized comedian Jerry Seinfeld after a video of his exchange with a pro-Palestinian activist outside Madison Square Garden went viral on social media.

The video, recorded after the New York Knicks’ playoff victory Wednesday night, shows a streamer asking Seinfeld to say “Free Palestine.” Seinfeld responded, “It doesn’t exist,” before walking away.

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, later commented on the exchange during an interview with TMZ, calling Seinfeld’s remarks “disgusting” and “disturbing” while reiterating her criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Seinfeld, who is Jewish, has been a vocal supporter of Israel and has frequently spoken out against antisemitism since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The brief encounter quickly spread online, drawing reactions from both supporters and critics and highlighting the continued divisions surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The straightforward truth-telling quickly went viral, earning praise from those who reject the fictional narrative of a “Palestine” that never existed as a sovereign Arab state. In contrast, Omar — who has repeatedly trafficked in antisemitic tropes and defended anti-Israel extremism — rushed to condemn Seinfeld in the strongest terms.

Speaking to TMZ, the Minnesota Democrat launched into a familiar tirade, calling Seinfeld a “horrific human being” and smearing Israel’s defensive actions against Hamas as “genocide.” Omar described his comments as “very disgusting, very disturbing, and very genocidal,” while accusing him of prioritizing Jewish lives over others.

A remarkable discovery in Moscow has brought to light a long-lost manuscript of one of the greatest medieval Torah commentators, ending decades of uncertainty surrounding a work that scholars believed had vanished forever.

The find was made in the Russian capital’s State Library, where countless historical treasures confiscated during turbulent periods of European history have remained hidden for generations. The revelation comes at a time when Jewish life in Russia is experiencing a significant resurgence, with Torah institutions, yeshivos, and shuls flourishing across the country.

The historic manuscript was uncovered by researcher Yisrael Dubitsky during his work on the famed Ginzburg Collection, which is housed in the State Library. The document contains a Torah commentary authored by Rabbeinu Shmuel ben Meir, the Rashbam, one of the most distinguished figures among the Rishonim. A grandson of Rashi, the Rashbam was renowned for his emphasis on the straightforward meaning of the biblical text and his unique reliance on Hebrew grammar and syntax in explaining the Torah. In some instances, his interpretations differed from those of his illustrious grandfather.

The manuscript discovered in Moscow is known among scholars as “Manuscript No. 103” from the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau. It served as the primary source for the first printed edition of the Rashbam’s Torah commentary, which was published in 1881.

After that publication, however, the manuscript seemingly disappeared without a trace and was long considered irretrievably lost. Researchers now believe that following World War II, the document made its way into the Soviet Union, where it became absorbed into archival collections.

According to scholars, the manuscript remained hidden in plain sight for decades because it was mistakenly cataloged as a commentary by Rashi. The error was apparently caused by the absence of a title page, combined with the fact that the surviving text begins in the middle of Sefer Bereishis.

News of the discovery generated excitement among rabbanim and Chabad shluchim throughout Russia, who work under the leadership of Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Harav Berel Lazar shlita. Researchers and Torah scholars alike have described the find as one of great historical significance for the study of medieval biblical interpretation.

Reacting to the discovery, Rav Lazar reflected on its deeper significance.

“In a generation as spiritually impoverished as ours, we suddenly see such light revealed—light that deepens our understanding of Torah and gives us strength to live with the Torah, a Torah of life and a Torah of light that illuminates our lives. The Jewish people are not forsaken. From Above, we are being granted a special light to encourage us and give us the strength to continue spreading Torah everywhere and to every Jew.”

Rabbi Boruch Gorin, chairman of the Jewish Museum in Moscow and head of the L’Chaim publishing house, also expressed enthusiasm over the discovery, calling it a matter of importance for the entire Jewish world.

“We are following these developments with anticipation and great curiosity as we examine the findings more closely. Every word of our great Rishonim that comes to light is a reason for excitement, and we eagerly await the researcher’s full report to understand the magnitude of the treasure that has been revealed.”

As word of the discovery spreads throughout the Torah world, Jewish communities across Russia are celebrating what many see as far more than a scholarly breakthrough. For them, the reemergence of a manuscript thought lost for generations stands as a powerful symbol of the enduring vitality of Torah and the promise that its light can never be extinguished.

The remarkable find serves as a reminder that even after decades hidden away in forgotten archives, the words of the Rishonim continue to illuminate the Jewish people and inspire future generations.

Every mortgage AI demo this year ends the same way: the loan closes itself. The most valuable AI deployments in mortgage end differently, with the underwriter finishing in a fraction of the time what once took most of the day and still signing their name to the result.

That gap, between what the industry is being sold and what is working in production, is the most important thing for mortgage leaders to understand right now. The useful question isn’t whether AI belongs in this industry. It does. It’s where AI belongs first, and what it must earn before it gets to do more.

Value shows up well before autonomy does

The most common misconception about mortgage AI is that the payoff only arrives when the system runs the full workflow on its own. The production data tells a different story. The meaningful early gains come from AI in assistive roles, where the model prepares and recommends and the human still owns the decision.

Underwriting is the clearest example. On conventional conforming production at a top 25 lender in the western USA, AI assistance has compressed underwriting from seven hours per loan to roughly 90 minutes, a reduction of more than 80%. The AI does the bulk of the work, pulling the right documents into view, calculating income, surfacing the conditions most likely to apply, flagging inconsistencies and producing a clear set of findings. The underwriter reviews those findings and recommendations and makes the credit decision. The part of the job that requires judgment stays human. The keystrokes around it don’t.

Condition document validation tells the same story from a different angle. AI is taking more than five days of cycle time out of the loan by cutting the back and forth between operations teams and borrowers, checking documents against requirements as they arrive, surfacing gaps in plain English and shortening the loop where a missing pay stub used to trigger another round trip.

These are not small gains. With production costs at $11,109 per loan in Q3 2025, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), well above the historical average of $7,799 since 2008, every basis point of operational lift compounds directly into lender economics. More importantly, each of these use cases lays the groundwork for broader transformation, because they are practical, measurable and easier to govern.

Trust in mortgage is operational, not sentimental

When mortgage leaders talk about trust, it is tempting to hear it as soft language. It is not. Trust here is regulatory and operational. Models that touch credit decisions fall under the model risk management framework laid out in SR 11-7. Anything that influences adverse action sits in fair lending territory. Compliance and risk teams need to be able to explain to an examiner what the model did, why it did it and what controls the decision.

That requirement also shapes the technology itself. Early on, we made the obvious mistake of throwing a single large language model into the problem. It looked clean in pilot but broke at production volume due to cost and latency. What holds up is an architecture that combines multiple model types, each bound to what it does well and grounded in the lender’s own guidelines.

That is not a technical footnote. It is part of how you build something a compliance team can defend, and it is why staged deployment matters: assistive first, then supervised, then bounded autonomy in lower-risk areas where performance has been proven. That sequence is how you meet regulatory expectations while still moving. 

The right design is shared execution

The frame I keep coming back to with lenders is shared execution. AI prepares and recommends. People review and approve. In some workflows, that will be the permanent design. In others, autonomy can expand once performance is well understood and the controls are in place. The goal is not to take people out of the loan. It is to put them where their judgment matters, in exceptions, edge cases, borrower conversations and escalations, and let AI absorb the surrounding repetitive work.

The pattern is showing up at every level of industry. When Fannie Mae and Palantir launched the Crime Detection Unit in May 2025 to use AI against mortgage fraud, the design was not for autonomous fraud prosecution. It was AI surfacing suspicious patterns across the GSE’s $4.3 trillion portfolio in seconds; patterns that previously took human investigators months to find, and then human investigators building the case. AI prepares and surfaces. People review and decide. If that is the design pattern for the GSE, it is the design pattern for the lender, too.

That model is easier to adopt because teams see AI as leverage rather than a threat. It is also easier to defend, because there is a human accountable at every decision boundary. The mortgage AI you want is one that knows when not to be autonomous.

What mortgage leaders should do now

Pick a high-friction workflow where readiness is the bottleneck: underwriting, condition clearing, initial disclosure review and post-close trailing docs. Run AI in live operating conditions, not just sandboxes. Measure against KPIs your CFO already tracks – cycle time, files per FTE per day, condition clear rate, escalation rate, repurchase exposure, etc. Expand autonomy where both performance and trust are increasing. Hold the line where they are not.

By 2027, two kinds of mortgage lenders will exist. The ones that scaled AI the loud way and are managing the cleanup. And the ones that scaled it the quiet way and are pricing loans the rest cannot match. The difference between them will not be ambition. It will be sequence.

Other industries are learning the hard way that AI productivity and AI governance cannot be separated. Mortgage’s regulatory floor forced that lesson on day one. That sounds like a constraint. For the lenders that get it right, it is the moat.

Mortgage AI should earn trust before it earns autonomy, not because autonomy is the wrong destination, but because in this industry, trust is what makes the destination reachable at all.

Sandeep Shivam
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: [email protected].

This post was originally published on here.

The traditional American pastime of gathering at a local sports bar to watch Sunday football is being strangled by a technical and financial bottleneck, one restaurateur is warning.

“It’s why we’re speaking up, because the simple matter is that it is hard to watch all of the streaming things… Is it on YouTube TV? Is it the [NFL] Sunday Ticket? Is it Amazon?” Texas restaurateur and Tailgators Pub & Grill founder Jim Hallers said on “Varney & Co.” Friday.

“For the last 30 years, it’s come to us through DirecTV, and it’s just worked,” he continued. “And so we like a centralized approach, but we just need technology that works, and streaming is still very immature.”

Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, Hallers explained to lawmakers that the sports media landscape’s sudden fragmentation into separate streaming apps is creating an expensive tech maze for hospitality venues, threatening the business model of – often-rural – neighborhood pubs that rely on NFL fans to keep their doors open in the fall.

TOM BRADY LAUNCHES GOOD NUT COCONUT WATER LINE WITH GOPUFF IN MARKET EXPECTED TO REACH $11B BY 2030

“Everybody has to move to streaming. And so, literally, now, we have to buy streaming boxes. And in a typical smaller bar where I have maybe 30 or 40 TVs with a DIRECTV box mounted behind every television, I now have to get an EverPass streaming box. But you can’t put an EverPass streaming box behind every TV. It doesn’t work like that,” Hallers said on Capitol Hill. “Just imagine at home, if you tried to stream, you know, 30 Netflix’s at once, your internet’s just going to die. Well, it’s the same way for most bars and restaurants today.”

“One commercial video switch with enough inputs and outputs can cost in excess of $15,000. A full upgrade including equipment, wiring and the labor, will cost $30,000 to $40,000 per restaurant,” he also testified. “So instead of simplifying the business, the transition is adding another layer of cost and complexity.”

Wednesday’s congressional hearing stemmed from the Iowa Restaurant Association and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, which each represent thousands of independent restaurant and bar owners, sending letters to high-powered GOP lawmakers in their states urging them to act on “a significant shift in the commercial distribution of NFL Sunday Ticket that threatens to impose immediate and substantial burdens on small businesses” across their states.

The concern comes after streaming service EverPass Media announced it would become the exclusive commercial option for NFL Sunday Ticket starting with the 2026 season. The Iowa letter was sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, while the Wisconsin edition went to Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust.

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“We understand that transitioning to a streaming-based solution for NFL Sunday Ticket may require planning, from connectivity and hardware to overall venue readiness. That’s why our team is committed to helping customers make the transition with confidence and be fully prepared before kickoff. Our goal is simple: make sure your venue is ready well before the first Sunday of the season, so you can focus on what matters most: delivering a great experience for every guest who walks through the door,” EverPass’ website reads.

“We really need it to work,” Hallers pleaded on Friday. “It’s not a matter of price. We just want technology that works, and that’s what they’ve been taking away from us.”

READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.

Notice the newly-branded box on the right now lacks the Hechsher.

Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed serious concerns Friday about reports describing a potential agreement with Iran, arguing that the terms being circulated would amount to a deeply flawed arrangement if they prove accurate.

The South Carolina Republican said he was encouraged by President Donald Trump’s rejection of Iranian media reports regarding the proposed framework and praised the administration’s efforts to weaken the Iranian regime through military and economic pressure.

“I am very glad to hear from President Donald Trump that Iranian media reports about the so-called deal are fake because the deal as described by Iran would be awful. President Trump and our military deserve a lot of credit for making Iran the weakest they’ve been since 1979 through a combination of highly effective military strikes and a crushing blockade. However, we must remember the Iranian regime has killed 42,000 of their own people for simply wanting a better life, and their leadership are radical religious Nazis.”

Graham said any future agreement should be measured against the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Obama-era nuclear accord that many Republicans viewed as fundamentally flawed. He specifically criticized reports suggesting Iran could receive a massive reconstruction package while the current regime remains in power.

“As to any potential deal, it must be compared to the JCPOA, and I am hopeful that it will be vastly different. The idea of a $300 billion reconstruction fund, given who is in charge of Iran, seems to be tone deaf. It would be akin to a Marshall Plan for Germany with the Nazis still in charge. That wouldn’t have been a good idea then, and any reconstruction fund that benefits this terrorist regime wouldn’t be a good idea now.”

The senator also emphasized what he views as the most important benchmark for any nuclear agreement, saying the administration must maintain its longstanding opposition to Iranian uranium enrichment.

“As to the Iranian nuclear program, President Trump’s red line has been no enrichment. I hope that holds – as it must.”

Graham further argued that allowing Tehran to continue enriching uranium was among the most significant shortcomings of the JCPOA and insisted that lawmakers should have the opportunity to examine and approve any future accord.

“Allowing Iran to enrich under the JCPOA was one of the major flaws of that terrible deal. As I’ve stated before, any deal with Iran must come to Congress for scrutiny and approval.”

{Matzav.com}

After losing a leg and an arm while defending Israel, Alon’s life changed in a moment. One day he was serving, and the next he was starting over in a hospital bed, trying to understand what the rest of his life would even look like.

Later, came surgeries, recovery rooms, and long stretches of rehab that tested him in ways most people will never see. But he kept going. 

And this week, that journey reached a powerful moment.

Alon walked onto the graduation stage at Tel Aviv University and received his degree with excellence. It wasn’t just an academic milestone; it felt like something bigger than that. A moment that represented years of effort most people in that room will never fully know.

His message to the world was that, “Nothing can stand in the way of your will to succeed.”

His story isn’t about what was lost. It’s about what he refused to let end there. It’s about rebuilding, slowly, quietly, and choosing not to stop, even when the easier option would’ve been to.

And standing there on that stage, it was clear: this wasn’t the end of a journey. It was proof of how far he’s already come.

Mazel Tov & Am Yisrael Chai!

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Images: @AlonKaminer1

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge refused on Friday to stop the White House from staging a UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] show this weekend in an elaborate ring already built on the South Lawn to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary — on President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling allows organizers to use the White House lawn as the venue for Sunday’s planned UFC mixed martial arts event.

Mehta concluded that the plaintiffs likely don’t have legal standing to challenge the event and have failed to prove that they would suffer irreparable harm by the event going forward as planned. The judge also cited the plaintiffs’ “unreasonable delay” in suing to challenge an event that’s been in the works for months.

“In the context of an emergency application — and coupled with the fact that the UFC fight date was long ago known — it is fair to say Plaintiffs unreasonably delayed bringing suit, undercutting their claims of irreparable harm,” Mehta wrote.

Attorneys from the nonprofit Public Integrity Project sued to challenge Trump’s “UFC Freedom 250” event on behalf of an activist and a Vietnam War veteran. The two plaintiffs also asked the court to block organizers from building anything for the event on White House grounds, including a 92-foot-tall, 600-ton steel structure called The Claw.

The plaintiffs’ alleged “aesthetic harms,” the judge noted, are temporary since The Claw will be disassembled starting Monday morning and staging equipment at the Lincoln Memorial must be removed before then. “The President’s musings about permanency of the Claw does not move the dial in the face of a White House official’s clear representation,” the judge wrote.

The White House called the lawsuit is a baseless attempt to prevent Trump from hosting an event that’s no different from many others routinely hosted at public forums in the nation’s capital.

Trump’s administration can’t issue permits for sporting events on the South Lawn or at the Lincoln Memorial, where UFC fighters planned to hold a press conference in front of fans on Friday, according to plaintiffs’ attorneys. They noted that the event is a privately organized, for-profit business venture, with VIP packages costing millions of dollars.

“The President’s administration is granting the UFC an extraordinary business opportunity it may not lawfully grant, and in exchange the UFC is throwing an event at which its leadership, fighters, advertisers, and various celebrities will all pay tribute to the President on his birthday,” plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.

The National Park Service and the Interior Department are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

In 2019, during his first term in office, Trump became the first sitting president to attend a UFC show. Trump, a Republican, is a friend of UFC president and CEO Dana White.

Mehta was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Mehta has presided over other Trump-related cases, including civil litigation accusing Trump of inciting a mob of his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, a Democrat.

NEW YORK — The New York Knicks are one win away from their first championship in more than half a century, and the city is cashing in on every game.

In an announcement on Wednesday, June 3, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the New York City Economic Development Corporation estimated the team’s 2026 playoff run had already generated approximately $202 million in economic activity from home games, with the total potentially climbing to $465 million if the NBA Finals reach a full seven games.

“When the Knicks win, New York comes alive,” Mamdani said.

The math is straightforward.

City officials estimate each additional home playoff game generates roughly $90 million in economic activity, including spending on tickets, food, merchandise, transportation, and hotel accommodations.

That money flows through the local economy, benefiting arena workers, restaurants, bars, transportation providers, retailers, and hospitality businesses throughout the five boroughs.

As of Friday, June 12, the Knicks hold a 3-1 lead over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.

They can clinch the championship on Saturday in Game 5 in San Antonio.

A victory would give the franchise its first NBA title since 1973 and its first Finals appearance in 27 years.

The road to the Finals has been dominant.

The Knicks defeated the Atlanta Hawks before sweeping both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Cleveland Cavaliers to earn a spot in the championship series.

There is, however, an unusual business twist.

Because the Knicks advanced so quickly through earlier playoff rounds, they actually hosted fewer playoff games than they did during last year’s postseason run.

According to city estimates, New York hosted seven home playoff games in 2026, compared with nine in 2025.

That means a dominant team can sometimes reduce the economic benefit to the city.

If the Spurs extend the Finals and force a Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, another significant economic boost would follow.

For the company that owns the team, the playoff run has been highly profitable.

Madison Square Garden Sports, the publicly traded parent company of both the Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers, has seen its valuation climb sharply.

The Knicks franchise is now estimated to be worth approximately $9.85 billion, representing roughly a 30% increase over the past year.

Analysts estimate the playoff run alone could generate approximately $140 million in additional revenue.

The company reported roughly $1.04 billion in revenue during its most recent fiscal year, and management has explored ways to provide investors with more direct exposure to the Knicks as a standalone asset.

Each home playoff game has become a significant profit center.

Industry analysts estimate a single postseason game at Madison Square Garden can generate approximately $5 million in profit, driven by premium ticket prices, concessions, sponsorships, and merchandise sales.

The ticket market reflects the excitement.

Resale prices have fluctuated dramatically depending on whether a championship-clinching game could take place in New York.

Heading into the week, the least expensive tickets for a potential Game 6 at Madison Square Garden were listed for more than $9,000.

Many of the biggest beneficiaries may be local small businesses.

Restaurants, bars, hotels, and retailers surrounding Madison Square Garden have reported heavy traffic throughout the playoff run.

Business owners describe the surge as a major boost after years of challenges following the pandemic.

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, said local restaurants and bars “are just doing amazing.”

Mitch Modell, former chief executive of Modell’s Sporting Goods, was even more direct.

“Never have we seen the city like this, ever,” he said.

Economists caution that championship-related economic studies often overstate their impact.

Many argue that some of the money spent on playoff games would otherwise have been spent on other forms of entertainment within the city.

Others note that large sporting events can sometimes discourage regular tourists from visiting crowded destinations.

As a result, the actual net economic benefit may be smaller than headline estimates suggest.

Still, the excitement surrounding the Knicks’ run is undeniable.

The crowds are real.

The spending is real.

And for a city that has waited nearly three decades to see its basketball team return to the NBA Finals, the packed restaurants, sold-out bars, and booming ticket sales have become their own form of scoreboard.

One more victory, and both the celebration and the economic activity are likely to grow even louder.

JBizNews Desk — New York

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

The New York Knicks are just one win away from an NBA Championship, and the city is alive with excitement. For fans, it feels like something special is finally within reach. But alongside the celebration, there’s also a moment of reflection. We remember Captain Omer Neutra hy”d.

Image Credit: The New Yorker

Omer was a proud New Yorker, an American-Israeli soldier, and a passionate Knicks fan. Basketball was something he loved deeply. He followed the team closely, wore Knicks gear with pride, and shared that passion with family and friends who knew him best.

Like so many fans, he was part of the rhythm of Knicks basketball – the highs, the lows, and the hope that always comes with a new season.

On October 7, 2023, Omer was taken hostage during the Hamas attack on Israel. After a long period of uncertainty and immense pain for his family and community, his body was later returned and brought home for burial.

As the Knicks make this historic run, it’s hard not to think about everything he is missing. The late-night games, the playoff tension, the group chats, the celebrations after big wins. These are the moments fans live for. Omer hy”d should have been here for all of it.

Sports have a way of connecting people across distance and time. They become part of our stories, our friendships, and our memories. For Omer, the Knicks were part of his story too.

So as New York stands on the edge of a championship, we carry his memory with us in this moment as well. May the memory of Captain Omer Neutra hy”d be a blessing. 🧡💙

Degel HaTorah MK Uri Maklev said Thursday that his party was not responsible for the collapse of the latest effort to advance legislation regulating the status of yeshiva students, insisting that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu simply could not guarantee the votes needed to pass the measure.

In a wide-ranging interview with Avi Blum on Kol Chai’s main news program, Maklev addressed the proposed Basic Law on Torah Study, the arrests of yeshiva bochurim, relations with the Prime Minister, and the recent political battle over legislation concerning Torah learners.

Maklev offered his account of the events that led to the shelving of the legislation. According to him, Degel HaTorah never opposed the bill itself and never instructed Netanyahu not to bring it forward. Rather, he said, the process stalled because the Prime Minister was unable to demonstrate that he had a coalition majority to approve it.

“No one stood at the door and told him not to submit it,” Maklev said. “Did anyone tell him not to bring the bill to committee? If he wanted to move forward, he should have submitted it and advanced the process.”

Maklev explained that once it became clear Netanyahu could not provide assurances that the legislation would pass, the party’s rabbinic leadership instructed Degel HaTorah to distance itself from the coalition bloc and refuse to rely on future promises.

“The Gedolei Torah asked one simple question: Is there a commitment that a majority exists for this law, and is the Prime Minister prepared to guarantee that majority? The answer that came back after two days was that there was no such commitment and that significant difficulties remained in securing enough support.”

According to Maklev, Likud later suggested applying legislative continuity to the proposal and advancing it in the next Knesset, hoping a different coalition makeup would improve its chances. Degel HaTorah, however, viewed that as insufficient.

“We saw that perhaps there was a desire within Likud to continue business as usual and live on promises,” he said. “That is what led to the declaration that we are no longer committed to the bloc.”

Asked about reports that Netanyahu later renewed his willingness to promote the legislation but was rebuffed by Degel HaTorah, Maklev rejected that characterization.

According to him, even during the second round of discussions, Netanyahu did not provide a concrete commitment that the bill would pass, offering only optimism that support would materialize as the process moved forward.

“He came and said, ‘In the end there will be a majority, but there has to be a dynamic process,’” Maklev recounted. “There was no clear commitment. Ultimately, it was impossible to move forward with legislation based on statements like that.”

Blum pressed Maklev, suggesting that the party did not oppose the bill itself but simply never received assurance that it could actually be passed.

“Yes,” Maklev replied. “That is exactly the issue.”

He added that had Netanyahu formally submitted and advanced the legislation, Degel HaTorah would not have blocked it.

“We were not authorized to give anything in exchange for promises. He could have acted. No one told him not to submit the bill.”

Turning to the proposed Basic Law on Torah Study, Maklev acknowledged that the measure does not address the immediate fears facing yeshiva students and avreichim who worry about arrests and economic sanctions.

“That concern is constantly before us,” he said. “We have not taken our minds off the fear, the reality, the economic decrees, and the severe restrictions.”

Nevertheless, he argued that formal recognition of the value of Torah study carries both public and legal significance, even if it does not replace comprehensive legislation regulating the status of Torah learners.

“At a time when bnei Torah and the chareidi public are being targeted, maligned, and attacked, the very act of elevating the importance of Torah study is significant,” he said. “There is value in ensuring that recognition is reflected in legislation as well.”

Maklev emphasized that his priority remains comprehensive legal protections for yeshiva students and avreichim. He even expressed discomfort with the term “draft law,” preferring instead to call it a “regulation law.”

“The Basic Law on Torah Study was meant to be one component of broader legislation recognizing and regulating the status of Torah learners,” he explained. “Of course, the primary goal should have been the regulation itself.”

He said the intention remains to advance the Basic Law through all three Knesset readings rather than settling for preliminary approval. Maklev added that he recently consulted a legal expert involved in drafting the proposal years ago, who advised continuing to pursue it despite the current legal climate.

Addressing recent meetings between Prime Minister Netanyahu and UTJ chairman Moshe Gafni, Maklev insisted that Degel HaTorah has not restored its political commitment to the coalition bloc.

According to him, the party has deliberately avoided public meetings that could be used to create the impression of reconciliation or a return to full political partnership. Requests for highly publicized meetings, he said, were not approved by the Gedolei Torah.

At the same time, Maklev stressed that routine working relationships with the Prime Minister and government ministries continue because the chareidi public requires assistance on a wide range of daily issues.

“We have much work to do in the various ministries, in education, welfare, and many other areas,” he said. “These are working meetings and nothing more. We received instructions, and we are acting accordingly.”

He emphasized that meeting with Netanyahu should not be interpreted as a renewed political commitment to the coalition or any decision regarding future governments.

Reflecting on the lengthy negotiations over the legislation, Maklev said he remained involved because even a small chance of securing protections for Torah learners justified continued efforts.

“The price being paid by those who study Torah is simply too high,” he said. “That is why we could not abandon the process as long as there was still hope. But once it became clear that no real commitment existed to pass the law, we could no longer rely on vague assurances.”

Maklev argued that the episode demonstrates that Degel HaTorah did not derail the legislation. Rather, he said, the proposal collapsed because Netanyahu and the coalition failed to secure a workable majority.

“If they had placed a bill on the table and guaranteed its passage, Degel HaTorah would not have stood in its way,” he said.

Maklev also took aim at the Religious Zionist camp, arguing that it has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years.

“Religious Zionism has gone through a major upheaval, and they need to recover from it,” he said. “Most of the opposition, even within Likud, comes from people influenced by Religious Zionism. Edelstein, Illouz, Saada, Tur-Paz, Stern—look where they have ended up. Tur-Paz has been holding meetings against the chareidi public for years. There is no precedent for this.”

Commenting on the removal of MK Moshe Solomon from Knesset committees, Maklev delivered one of the interview’s sharpest remarks.

“There was no need for much explanation as to why he was removed from committee assignments,” he said. “Anyone who betrays Torah will ultimately betray his party as well. Everything they are saying about us today, they will eventually say about you. They incited them against the Torah world, and they were influenced by it.”

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews)-The Israel Defense Forces have killed more than 10 Hezbollah field commanders responsible for directing operations against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, the military said.

In March, IDF forces killed Hassan Salameh, the commander of Hezbollah’s Nasr Unit, one of the terror group’s three regional divisions in southern Lebanon. Since then, the military has eliminated two of his successors, Mahdi Bazi and Ashraf Salloum, one after the other, according to the IDF.

Separately, within a recent 12-hour period, the IDF killed Nasser Shakir, the commander of Hezbollah forces in the Beaufort Castle area, and his replacement, Ahmad Sablini, who had previously served as deputy commander in that sector.

The military also announced the deaths of several other senior Hezbollah operatives in the region:

Ali Abbas, commander of Hezbollah forces in Bint Jbeil

Kamil Younes, commander of the Tyre sector

Fouad Moussa, commander of the Hajir sector

Hussein Salami, commander of the Jibshit sector

Ali Haik, commander of the Khiam sector

Muslim Harb, commander of the Qana sector

The targeted killings come amid ongoing IDF operations aimed at degrading Hezbollah’s command structure and operational capabilities along Israel’s northern border. Hezbollah has not yet commented on the reported deaths.

VINnews will continue to monitor developments.

Today, June 12, would have been Anne Frank’s 97th birthday.

Anne was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. She quickly became one of the most lasting voices of the Holocaust. Despite dying at the early age of 15, Anne’s writings have reached millions of people all around the world and educated countless generations of the horrors of hatred, antisemitism, and discrimination.

Facing increasing persecution from the Nazi regime, Anne’s family moved to Amsterdam in search of safety. However, when the Nazis took over Holland, they were forced into hiding. Thus, for over two years, the Franks along with four other people lived in hiding inside an annex located above the building where Otto Frank had his business.

Throughout this period, Anne wrote in a diary, describing her experiences, worries, problems, and even hopes and aspirations. With the help of her writing, Anne left behind an insightful first-hand account of what it is like to be in hiding in some of the darkest times of human history. Although she faced unimaginable hardships, Anne showed an incredible amount of wisdom and resilience through her writings.

The Secret Annex was raided in August 1944, and its inhabitants were arrested and deported to Nazi concentration camps. Both Anne and her sister Margot ended up in Bergen-Belsen, where they both died early in 1945, a few weeks before their liberation. Anne was only fifteen. Anne Frank’s father was the only member of the direct family who survived the war.

Otto Frank went back to Amsterdam following the war and got back his daughter’s diary that had been kept safely by Miep Gies, one of the brave people who assisted in hiding the Franks and other Jews. Realizing how important his daughter’s words were, Otto went ahead to ensure the publication of the diary. Anne Frank’s Diary is among the best-selling books of all time since its publication in 1947. It has been translated to more than seventy languages around the world.

Anne Frank’s influence in the world remains undiminished over seven decades after her death. Apart from being evidence of the atrocities during World War II, her diary is a testimony of hope and bravery in times of despair.

Perhaps no quote better captures Anne’s spirit than her famous words:

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

Today is Anne Frank Day which occurs annually to celebrate Anne’s birthday and remember the six million Jewish people who were killed during the Holocaust. Though Anne’s life ended early through terrorism, her message lives on inspiring hope in even the darkest of times.

New York (VINNEWS/Rabbi Yair Hoffman) THE QUESTION: A career scammer, who has taken the life-savings of several people is sitting in prison. He declares with perfect calm that Hashem will surely engineer his acquittal. Deep down he looks at his incarceration as a mere setback and he has not done Teshuvah. Is this bitachon? Should he, in fact, even have bitachon? In short, may a rasha have bitachon?

And if the answer is “no” – then who is bitachon for? Don’t all of us do something wrong?

THE ANSWER: This is a preliminary answer and it could be subject to several revisions. There are, of course, numerous sources and different girsaos (versions) of the sources. As far as end-conclusions – there seems to be six possible views on the topic. They are quite far-ranging and we may be tempted to vehemently disagree with at least one of them.

1. Yes, a rasha should have bitachon – and it will be effective but he must first do Teshuvah.
2. Yes, a rasha should have bitachon – and it will be effective but he must change for the future, but not necessarily do Teshuvah.
3. Yes, a rasha should have bitachon – even if he does not do Teshuvah nor even change in the future.
4. No, a rasha should not have bitachon.
5. No, a rasha should not have bitachon and it is an aveira – for him to have it!
6. The way it works is that bitachon is a power in and of itself – and it can even work for a bank-robber to rob successfully.

The pasuk in Tehillim (32:10) states, “Many are the pains of the wicked, but as for him who trusts in the Hashem- kindness will encompass him.” The Medrash on Aicha Rabba 4:23 cites the pasuk in Tehillim and states that “even a Rasha – Hashem accepts him.” The Matnas Kehunah – the commentary of Rav Yissachar Ber HaKohen of Szczebrzeszyn, Poland (d. after 1608), a talmid of the Rema, completed in 1584 and printed in Cracow in 1587-88 – explains that when the Midrash refers to a rasha, it adds the words “vechazar bo” – as a caveat. The rasha being “accepted” is not the rasha of the first half of the pasuk; he is a rasha who has already turned back. On this reading the second clause of the pasuk is not describing the wicked man at all, but the former-wicked man, and the chessed is the reward for his return. This would seem to indicate position #1 – bitachon works for a rasha, but only after Teshuvah unlocks it.

The Yefei Toar – the commentary of Rav Shmuel Yafeh Ashkenazi of Constantinople (c. 1525–1595), first printed in Venice in 1597 – on Aicha Rabbah 4:23 does not add the words “vechazar bo” but states that he took it upon himself not to go that way in the future. The RaShaSh – Rav Shmuel Strashun of Vilna (1794–1872), whose glosses appear on nearly every daf of the Vilna Shas – on Vayikrah Rabba 15:4 understands it this way as well. The line of reasoning that separates this from the Matnas Kehunah is subtle but real. The Matnas Kehunah requires a completed act of return, a “vechazar bo” that addresses the past. The Yefei Toar asks for something forward-looking instead: a kabbalah, a firm resolve regarding the future, without insisting that the slate of the past has yet been wiped clean. A man may be unable to undo what he has done, and may not yet have reached full charatah on it, yet still resolve with sincerity that he will not continue down this road. That resolve, on this reading, is enough to make his bitachon valid. This forward-facing condition – change without full Teshuvah – is precisely position #2. [Note: the original draft labeled this source as position #4; on the description given, it maps more naturally to #2, and is placed there here.]

On the other hand, the simple reading of the pasuk is that the beginning seems to inform the context of the last part of the pasuk – that the pasuk refers to a Rasha who has neither done teshuvah nor changed his plans for the future – and his act of bitachon will cause Hashem to act in the manner of Chessed with him. The strength of this reading is that it takes the pasuk exactly as written: it is the boteach, the one who trusts, who is surrounded by chessed, and the pasuk attaches no further qualification to him. To insert a “vechazar bo” or a kabbalah for the future is to add words the pasuk itself does not supply. On the plain meaning, the very act of trusting is what draws down the chessed, and it does so on its own terms. This seems to be the approach of the Yalkut Tehillim #719. The Midrash Tehillim #25 relates a moshol of a thief who got caught and claimed he was a relative of the king. When the king asked him, “You are my relative??” He answered, “I trusted you would save me.” The king said, “Since you had faith in me, I will save you.” The moshol is striking precisely because the thief is still a thief – he offers no repentance and promises no reform – and yet the act of casting himself upon the king is itself what earns him rescue. The trust, not the worthiness of the one who trusts, is the operative cause. These would be possible sources for position #3.

The Chovas HaLevavos Shaar HaBitachon Chapter III, in the fourth requirement for Bitachon, specifically writes that it is ineffective for someone who rebels against Hashem. The reasoning here flows from the Chovas HaLevavos’s entire framework of what bitachon is. For Rabbeinu Bachya, bitachon is not a standalone technique that produces results; it is the natural fruit of a relationship of loyalty between a person and his Creator. One reasonably relies on another only where there is a basis for that reliance – and the rebel has severed the very basis. A man who is actively defying the One in whom he claims to trust has placed himself outside the relationship that bitachon presupposes. His “trust” is therefore hollow at the root; there is nothing for it to rest upon. This is in line with position #4 – not that Hashem refuses him out of anger, but that the rasha’s bitachon simply lacks the foundation that would make it bitachon at all.

The Chsam Sofer writes in his Drashos Vol. II page 236 that not only is there no Bitachon for a rasha – but it is even a sin for him to do so. The reasoning moves one step beyond the Chovas HaLevavos. For the Chovas HaLevavos the rasha’s bitachon is merely empty; for the Chsam Sofer it is affirmatively harmful, and the harm is spiritual. A rasha who tells himself that Hashem will rescue him has handed himself the perfect excuse never to change. His “bitachon” becomes a cushion for his wickedness – a way of converting the comfort of faith into a license to keep sinning. Far from drawing him closer, it anesthetizes him against the very discomfort that might have prompted Teshuvah. Because it actively entrenches him in his sin, the act is not neutral but itself an aveira. This would fit with position #5.

Finally, this author had heard in the name of Roshei Yeshiva in the Telze Yeshiva that Bitachon acts as a power in and of itself. The reasoning runs parallel to the way Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz explains the power of Mida Kneged Mida in the case of Penina and Chana. Penina did nothing wrong – she acted 100 percent leshaim shamayim, prodding Chana only so that Chana would daven with greater intensity. She was nonetheless punished, because she was in fact the source of pain to Chana. The lesson Rav Chaim draws is that certain spiritual realities operate mechanically, by their own internal logic, independent of the intentions or the merit of the person who sets them in motion. Pain caused produces consequence, regardless of motive.

On this model bitachon is the same kind of force: a real spiritual power that, once activated, exerts its effect on its own, without first weighing the righteousness of the one who wields it. Just as Penina’s pure intentions did not exempt her from the mechanism, the rasha’s wickedness would not exempt him from this one. Carried to its logical end, this means the koach of bitachon could in principle “work” even for a bank-robber bent on a successful heist. This would fit with position #6, although most people vehemently disagree with it.

The author is indepted to Sefer Sha’ar Elchonon for much of the source material. The author can be reached at [email protected]

The world of dayanus was plunged into mourning Thursday with the passing of Harav Nachum Sheinin zt”l, a longtime member of the Beis Din HaRabani HaGadol and former Av Beis Din of Tel Aviv. He was 89 years old.

Widely regarded as one of the leading and most respected dayanim of his generation, Rav Sheinin devoted decades to Torah, hora’ah, and public service, leaving an enduring impact on countless talmidim, colleagues, and members of the broader Torah community.

A distinguished alumnus of Yeshivas Ponevezh, Rav Sheinin developed into a prominent talmid chacham under the guidance of the yeshiva’s revered roshei yeshiva. His years in Ponevezh laid the foundation for a lifetime dedicated to Torah scholarship, judicial leadership, and communal responsibility.

For many years, he served as Av Beis Din of the Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court, where he became known for his mastery of complex halachic issues, particularly in difficult family law matters. He handled sensitive and challenging cases with exceptional wisdom, helping resolve numerous agunah situations and adjudicating intricate disputes with both precision and compassion.

In 2008, Rav Sheinin was appointed to the Beis Din HaRabani HaGadol, Israel’s highest rabbinical court, where he continued to serve with distinction until his passing.

Alongside his judicial responsibilities, Rav Sheinin served as Rav of the Heichal Moshe Yitzchak beis medrash in Bnei Brak and headed Kollel Tov HaTorah. Over the years, he taught thousands, delivered countless shiurim, and became a respected address for Torah guidance and halachic counsel.

He maintained close relationships with many of the leading Torah figures of the generation, including Maran Harav Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt”l, from whom he drew inspiration and guidance throughout much of his public career.

His levayah took place Thursday afternoon, departing from his beis medrash on Baal Shem Tov Street in Bnei Brak. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of Yeshivas Ponevezh.

The family is sitting shivah at their home on Rashi Street in Bnei Brak.

Yehi zichro baruch.

All of Ocean County remains under Severe Drought drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data, as a prolonged precipitation deficit continues to affect water supplies, vegetation, and environmental conditions across the state and the region.

The latest federal drought assessment shows 100% of Ocean County experiencing drought conditions, with more than 576,000 residents affected. Conditions have remained unchanged in recent weeks despite occasional rainfall, reflecting a longer-term moisture deficit that has persisted across much of New Jersey.

Some areas of the state, in Cape May and Cumberland counties, are now designated as “Extreme Drought.”

The state has now experienced 10 consecutive months of below-normal rainfall and below normal precipitation for 20 of the last 24 months since September 2024.

State or Ocean County officials have not announced mandatory water restrictions, but drought monitoring agencies continue to urge residents and businesses to use water efficiently as the summer season approaches. Drought conditions can increase stress on water systems, reduce streamflows, affect agriculture and landscaping, and heighten wildfire risk in wooded areas.

The U.S. Drought Monitor, which is updated once a week to show the location and intensity of drought conditions across the country, show experts’ assessments of conditions related to dryness and drought including observations of how much water is available in streams, lakes, and soils compared to usual for the same time of year.

It should be noted that in New Jersey, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection makes the official calls on drought status in the state.

Earlier this year, the DEP issued a statewide Drought Watch, strongly urging residents and businesses to voluntarily conserve water, as the state experienced below-average rainfall in recent months, contributing to diminished streamflow, reservoir, and groundwater levels, as well as an increase in wildfire activity.

The declaration of a Drought Watch is intended to increase public awareness and appreciation of the stress water supply sources are facing and encourages the public to practice voluntary water conservation measures. If conditions do not improve, declaration of a Drought Warning or a Drought Emergency with mandatory water use restrictions may become necessary.

The last drought emergency lasted almost a year, between March 2002 and January 2003.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Meta’s biggest apps stopped working for huge numbers of people on Friday, June 12, as a widespread outage knocked Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger offline and locked users out of their accounts.

The company confirmed the trouble through spokesperson Andy Stone, who posted on X on Friday: “We’re aware people are currently having trouble accessing our services. We’re working on it.”

The scale was significant.

The outage-tracking site Downdetector logged more than 100,000 user reports by 10 a.m. Eastern time as a server-side failure logged people out of Facebook and partly disrupted Instagram.

Reports came in from across the United States, with heavy concentrations in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco, as well as from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Users described a similar pattern.

They were suddenly logged out and then unable to sign back in.

Feeds went blank.

Error messages appeared reading “unexpected error” or “query error.”

Messenger was among the hardest-hit services, with users appearing offline to friends and messages failing to send.

The disruptions affected both desktop and mobile applications.

For everyday users, an hour without Instagram is an inconvenience.

For businesses, it can mean lost revenue.

That is the part of the story that does not appear in the error messages.

Millions of small businesses rely on Meta’s platforms for customer service, advertising, and online sales.

When those platforms go dark, transactions stop.

On Friday, Meta Ads Manager, the company’s advertising platform, experienced major disruptions. Advertisers were advised to pause campaigns to avoid spending money on ads that users could not properly access.

The financial exposure can be substantial.

Meta generally does not provide automatic credits or refunds when outages occur.

A small business spending hundreds of dollars per day on advertising can lose valuable campaign time with little opportunity to recover those costs.

Restaurants accepting orders through Instagram, retailers selling through Facebook, and content creators who depend on the platforms for income can all feel the impact immediately.

Meta did not immediately identify the cause of the outage.

However, the symptoms point to a familiar type of failure.

When Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger all experience problems simultaneously, the issue is often tied to backend authentication systems that verify user identities across Meta’s network.

If that shared login infrastructure encounters problems, multiple platforms can fail at once even though the broader internet remains fully operational.

That helps explain why users were being logged out and unable to sign back in rather than simply experiencing slow loading times.

Meta has experienced similar outages in previous years linked to authentication and backend service failures.

In many cases, services have been restored gradually over several hours, with some regions returning online before others.

The timing is notable.

Meta continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies while relying on Facebook and Instagram as the core drivers of its advertising business.

Those platforms generate the revenue that funds much of the company’s broader strategy.

An outage affecting all major services at once highlights how dependent both users and businesses remain on infrastructure that typically operates unnoticed in the background.

As of Friday afternoon, Meta had not provided a timeline for full restoration of services and had not posted detailed updates regarding recovery efforts.

For users, there is little that can be done when the problem originates on Meta’s systems rather than their own devices.

For businesses relying on constant connectivity, the most expensive part of the outage may simply be the time spent waiting.

JBizNews Desk — Technology

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

A video posted to social media by Casey Babb, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and policy adviser to Canada’s former minister of defense, shows a young man identified only as Omar saying he will kill as many Zionists as he can.

The video appears to have been shot in midtown Manhattan.

“Omar, are you going to go kill Jews?” the man taking the video asks the masked, keffiyeh-clad youngster, who also sports a Hamas headband.

“I’m going to kill Zionists,” the youth says.

“You’re going to kill Zionists?” the man asks. When Omar replies in the affirmative, the man asks, “How many Zionists do you want to kill?”

“As many as I can,” Omar replies.

After some back and forth in which the man twists Omar’s brain into knots by telling him he is an Arab, a Jew and a Zionist all rolled into one, he warns the young man that he will get into a lot of trouble for threatening to kill Jews, because despite his mask he can still be identified.

“What you just did now on video is one of the dumbest things you ever did, because I’m going to post it,” the man says. “It’s going to go viral; it’s going to get ID’d; and then you’re going to get arrested for what you just did.”

Babb warned that the development of young people threatening violence will exact a high price if left unchecked.

“A young man in New York City casually looks into the camera and states that he’s going to kill as many Zionists as he can,” Babb wrote in his social media post. “We can’t allow this to be a normal, acceptable occurrence. If we do — we’ll end up paying a very, very high price.”

A fierce dispute erupted Thursday between chareidi parties and Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich after he decided at the last minute not to bring a funding package worth more than one billion shekels for new communities in Judea and Samaria to the cabinet for approval. Instead, the proposal will now be discussed at Sunday’s Security Cabinet meeting.

Associates of the finance minister said the decision stemmed from diplomatic concerns and international sensitivity surrounding settlement development. Chareidi political sources, however, argue that moving the matter from the government table to the Security Cabinet was also intended to reduce public scrutiny over both the source of the funds and their distribution.

The controversy follows a letter sent by United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf, who urged Smotrich to include the chareidi cities of Immanuel and Modiin Illit in the funding package. Goldknopf argued that there was no justification for excluding chareidi communities located in Judea and Samaria from the program. According to party sources, Smotrich declined the request.

A senior chareidi official sharply criticized the move, telling local media, “You killed and then inherited. Smotrich took more than a billion shekels for Judea and Samaria, including funds that had been frozen from the chareidi public, and instead of bringing the decision to a government meeting and facing criticism, he transferred it to the Security Cabinet under the pretext of diplomatic pressure.”

The official claimed that the move was designed to avoid a public debate over how the money is being allocated, why chareidi communities were left out, and why funds that had previously been removed from the Torah world and chareidi institutions are now being redirected elsewhere.

“This is an attempt to avoid a public discussion about how the money is being distributed, why the chareidi cities were excluded, and why funds taken away from the Torah world and chareidi institutions are now being directed to other purposes,” the source said.

The anger within the chareidi camp has also focused on a recent increase in funding for hesder yeshivos. According to sources in United Torah Judaism, Smotrich approved an increase in the funding formula for hesder institutions worth approximately 30 million shekels, even as chareidi yeshivos continue to contend with budget freezes and reductions.

Party officials argue that the decision reflects a pattern of favoritism toward institutions associated with Smotrich’s constituency while the chareidi educational system faces growing financial challenges.

“At a time when Gedolei Yisroel are traveling across the globe to raise money to sustain the Torah world, the finance minister is making sure to increase funding for the yeshivos identified with his own community,” the official said. “You cannot demand political partnership from the chareidim while systematically favoring the institutions and communities of one sector over another.”

{Matzav.com}

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Republican political candidates routinely highlight their devotion to President Donald Trump. But in upstate New York, Anthony Constantino is taking it to another level.

Constantino, a political newcomer and candidate in the June 23 Republican primary to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik, boasts a giant “Vote for Trump” sign atop his successful sticker business in the city of Amsterdam. He recorded a hip-hop album titled “Thank you President Trump.” He even gifted Trump a big bronze statue of Trump himself last year at his West Palm Beach golf course.

Constantino’s antics have not earned him fans among local party officials, who overwhelmingly support his opponent, state Assembly Member Robert Smullen, in the 21st Congressional District race. But Constantino has won over one powerful Republican who still has the power to sway primaries: Trump.

“Anthony is strongly supported by many of the most Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in our Movement, including Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Roger Stone!” Trump wrote in an endorsement of Constantino.

The president added: “The sign is still there!”

Constantino’s battle against Smullen, a former U.S. Marine Corps colonel, is shaping up to be another test of Trump’s pull at the ballot box, pitting the brash MAGA disciple against a more traditional conservative in the solid-red district.

Constantino has relentlessly attacked Smullen, calling him a “Trump hater” and giving him a derisive nickname out of the Trump playbook — “Slimebob.” He also doesn’t miss a chance to feud with the state’s Republican leadership.

“The New York GOP is a failing establishment, it’s a losing establishment,” Constantino said in an interview. “They reject outsiders. This happened with Donald Trump. The Republican Party tried to keep Donald Trump out, as well, because they knew he was going to reform things.”

Smullen has cast himself as the adult in the room, stressing his experience in the state Legislature, his military service, and his own ties to Trump.

“I think I directly represent the vast majority of the people in this district, their values, what they think about issues,” he said.

The district is ‘not your country club Republican party’
The largely rural district sprawls across most of New York’s northern tip and includes the Adirondack Mountains, the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum, dairy farms and dozens of small cities, towns and villages.

It’s solid GOP territory — Stefanik won her last race by 24 points — with registered Republicans outnumbering Democrats 215,000 to 134,000. Voters there skew older and white, with many prison guards, police officers, farmers and devoutly religious people, according to Jack McGuire, an associate professor of politics at the State University of New York at Potsdam.

“It’s not your country club Republican party,” he said.

Stefanik shocked the New York political world when she announced late last year that she was suspending her campaign for governor and would not seek reelection to the House.

Her decision came after she didn’t get full-throated support from Trump in the governor’s race, and it followed an episode where Trump withdrew her nomination to be his ambassador to the United Nations over concerns about Republicans’ threadbare majority in the House.

Local Republicans first began angling for the seat after she was tapped to head to the United Nations, only to begin circling again when she launched her run for governor.

A clash of candidates and styles
Smullen, who represents parts of the district in the state Assembly, is running a traditional campaign, chatting up voters at volunteer firehouses and community events.

He highlights a 24-year military career that included three tours of Afghanistan and combat experience, along with his more than seven years in the state Legislature. His 2018 appointment by Trump to serve in the White House Fellows program, along with attending both of Trump’s inaugurations, was a go-to line when Constantino moved to cast himself as the Trump candidate during a recent debate.

“The idea that I have never been a supporter of President Donald Trump is a lie, it really is,” Smullen said during the debate. “And what’s happening here is that if you say it long enough and if you say it hard enough then it’s going to be true. But it’s not true.”

Local GOP officials and committees are backing Smullen, as is the chair of the state Republicans. He also has the support of the state Conservative Party, which guarantees him a line in the general election even if he loses the GOP primary.

Matt Capano, who owns a hardware store in Gloversville, a small city in the district, said he knew Smullen as his local state lawmaker and had to “give him a lot of credit” because of his experience.

Constantino — who found success with his company Sticker Mule — is more of a showman. His style has forced his buttoned-up opponent to let loose. Smullen’s campaign launched an anti-Constantino website that excoriates him for, among many other things, his past registration as a Democrat.

“I am the conservative Republican in this race,” Smullen said at the debate.

Constantino responded that he registered as a Democrat to vote for a childhood friend who was running for political office while calling himself a “lifelong conservative.”

It didn’t take long for him to steer the conversation back toward the president.

“I’ve always had his back through the whole thing,” he said of Trump. “In fact, in 2020, when he nicely exited the White House and a terrible person named Joe Biden entered, I went and I supported the president quietly by buying a Mar-a-Lago membership.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Catapulted by the market debut of his rocket company SpaceX, Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire by the end of the day.

That level of wealth, all owned by just one person, was once unfathomable. Before Friday, the trillion dollar mark was reserved for measures like the GDP (or staggering debt ) of a handful of major economies — and, in the last decade alone, the value of some of the biggest companies to ever trade on the stock market.

Musk’s new title arrives amid a wider acceleration for the richest of the rich. Year after year, his former (although now very distant) billionaires club has reaped a growing number of members — from tech titans to celebrities. All the while, more and more people worldwide are struggling to pay their everyday bills. Many have decried the arrival of the first trillionaire as the latest and most alarming example of that wealth gap.

The number “one trillion” is hard in itself for the human mind to comprehend. One trillion dollars is a thousand times greater than $1 billion. And a million times more than $1 million.

Still, here are some ways to think about how far that amount of money could go.

To the moon and back, over 200 times
Thinking about what $1 trillion looks like is almost as astronomical as the interplanetary — and at this point, still far from realized — goals SpaceX has laid out for itself.

In terms of physical cash, one trillion U.S. dollar bills laid end to end would stretch nearly 97 million miles (or almost 156 million kilometers). That would account for the distance of more than 200 round trip journeys to the moon — which NASA says sits an average of 238,855 miles (nearly 384,400 kilometers) away from Earth. It would also surpass the roughly 93 million miles (about 150 million kilometers) between Earth and the sun.

$122 for every person on Earth
There are nearly 8.2 billion people living on Earth today, per the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. If $1 trillion was divided among the entire population, each person would receive almost $122.

Double the GDP of South Africa
One trillion dollars is more than double the annual GDP of South Africa, the country where Musk was born. According 2026 numbers from International Monetary Fund, the nation’s output of goods and services stands at nearly $480 billion.

Only about 21 countries in the world have a GDP over the trillion dollar mark today. The U.S. and China lead the pack at more than $32.38 trillion and $20.85 trillion, respectively, but that’s far ahead most other economies.

2.5 million homes in the US
Houses sold in the U.S. have a median sales price of about $403,200, per the latest numbers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. With $1 trillion, you could buy nearly 2.5 million homes at that cost.

243 billion gallons of gas
At current U.S. gas prices — which averaged at nearly $4.11 a gallon Friday per AAA — $1 trillion could buy more than 243 billion gallons of regular fuel.

To help put that in context, that far surpasses the nearly 137 billion gallons Americans used on finished motor gasoline all last year. And prices at the pump were much less expensive in 2025. Steep oil prices, spanning from the U.S. and Israel’s ongoing war against Iran, propelled the national average above $4 a gallon for the first time in four years.

Over $700 billion ahead the world’s second richest person
According to Forbes, the second richest person in the world today is Google co-founder Larry Page — who carried a net worth of nearly $293 billion as of Friday morning. That’s $707 billion under the trillion dollar mark.

In fact, the combined net worth, as of Friday, of the four men following Musk on Forbes’ richest list — which, beyond Page, includes fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin ($270 billion), Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($251 billion) and Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($230 billion) — amounted to just over $1.04 trillion.

Those fortunes can oscillate by tens of billions of dollars by the day, or sometimes a matter of hours. Musk’s own net worth has rapidly ballooned in value. Just last year, his net worth sat at $342 billion per Forbes — up from $195 billion in 2024.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the United States is advancing an agreement with Iran centered on American interests, including preventing the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons, while Israel expects the deal to also address missiles and Tehran’s terror proxies.

Katz noted that joint actions by Israel and the U.S. have significantly degraded Iran’s capabilities, setting them back by many years. He stressed that Israel must preserve its independent ability to act against any Iranian nuclear threat.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have instructed the IDF to prepare accordingly,” Katz said in a statement Friday.

Israel will not withdraw from security zones it established in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, Katz said. The Israel Defense Forces will continue defending Israel’s borders and citizens from the peak of Mount Hermon through the mountains of Lebanon, areas in the Samaria region and most of the territory of Gaza against threats from jihadist forces.

“The IDF will not withdraw from the terrorist camps in northern Samaria, which have been evacuated of residents, and if necessary, the operation will be expanded to additional terrorist camps,” he added.

Katz outlined Israel’s security doctrine as one that confronts both near and distant threats and seeks decisive outcomes rather than compromises.

“Much is at stake in this period, and we are determined to continue leading a firm security policy that will prevent harm to our security achievements and will not endanger our ability to fight against the Shiite axis of evil led by Iran and the Sunni axis of evil led by the Muslim Brotherhood,” Katz said.

He expressed appreciation to the IDF command, soldiers in the regular forces, standing army and reserves for their achievements, and to residents of the north for their steadfastness.

Katz also sent condolences to bereaved families and wishes for recovery to the wounded.

The comments come amid ongoing regional tensions following Israeli military operations against Iranian-backed groups and efforts to shape post-conflict arrangements in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

Shikma Bresler, one of the most prominent leaders of the protests against judicial reform, ignited a fierce backlash on social media Thursday night after sharply criticizing demonstrations by Peleg Yerushalmi activists that brought major roads across central Israel to a standstill.

Bresler took aim at the protests in a post on X, comparing the demonstrators to other groups she views as disregarding the rule of law.

“There is no difference between the chareidi factions of the government on the roads, for whom the law has no meaning, and the factions of the government in Judea and Samaria,” Bresler wrote.

She continued, “There’s no need to get angry. We need to understand who they are, what they want (a dark religious state), and then understand that we are fighting for the soul of the state.”

Her comments quickly drew criticism online, with many users pointing to her own role in organizing and supporting the anti-judicial reform protests, which frequently included major highway blockades, transportation disruptions, and demonstrations that paralyzed key traffic arteries throughout the country.

One commenter responded, “No, can you be any more lacking in self-awareness? You can be foolish, but to this extent? Did you forget Kaplan and what you did here?”

Another social media user wrote sarcastically, “Oh, so the left suddenly discovered the law? The same people who set the country on fire in Balfour and Kaplan are now preaching against blocking roads.”

A third response that gained significant traction online stated: “It’s unbelievable how much chutzpah this takes. Aren’t you the one who personally called for disrupting roads?”

Bresler’s remarks came amid a wave of Peleg Yerushalmi demonstrations held Thursday evening at several major locations throughout Israel. The protests were organized in response to the arrest of yeshiva students and their transfer to military authorities, leading to severe traffic congestion and road closures across the Gush Dan region and other parts of central Israel.

{Matzav.com}

A massive fire broke out at a Jewish-owned events warehouse Thursday night near Golders Green, London, consuming most of the building and inflicting about £3 million in damage.

The incident is being investigated but is not deemed suspicious.

The London Fire Brigade deployed 25 engines and 150 firefighters to fight the blaze and evacuate about 70 residents due to heavy smoke.

Uzziel Sassoon, the owner of the events business SVS Productions, said that most of the warehouse was destroyed, but thanked the community for the messages of support he received.

The fire follows a frightening wave of arson attacks on London’s Jewish community, including one in which four ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer ambulance group Hatzola were torched. Nevertheless, a fire at a London grocery store recently was also not due to arson.

Here’s a word that trips people up: when a company “backstops” a deal, it is not backing out. It is doing the opposite — standing behind it and promising to pay if something goes wrong.

And that is exactly what Google has now done for Anthropic, the maker of the Claude artificial intelligence assistant.

According to people familiar with the financing, in details that came to light Tuesday, June 9, Google agreed to guarantee the lease payments behind a roughly $35 billion deal that gives Anthropic the computer chips it needs to run its AI systems. Google agreed to backstop those payments at five data centers, helping Anthropic obtain what amounts to a $35 billion loan, and Anthropic’s role in these specific data centers had not previously been reported.

Why Anthropic Needs Outside Financing

Running advanced artificial intelligence requires enormous amounts of computing power, and the chips that make it possible cost a fortune.

Buying tens of billions of dollars of hardware outright would strain even the best-funded technology companies.

So Anthropic and its partners structured the deal differently.

A separate company was created to purchase the chips and lease them back to Anthropic, allowing the company to spread the cost over time instead of paying everything upfront. Apollo Global Management and Blackstone arranged approximately $35 billion in debt financing for the transaction, making it one of the largest private-credit deals ever assembled.

The money is being used to acquire Google’s custom-designed AI processors known as Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs. Anthropic then leases those chips, and the lease payments are used to repay the debt.

[AP pic: Rows of servers and processors inside a modern data center used for artificial intelligence computing.]

How Google Became the Safety Net

This is where the story becomes unusual.

Lenders providing $35 billion want protection in case something goes wrong.

Two major companies are providing that protection.

Broadcom, which helps manufacture the chips, guarantees that the processors will retain a minimum resale value, reducing risk for lenders.

Google is providing another layer of security by guaranteeing the lease payments tied to five data-center locations.

In practical terms, if Anthropic were unable to make certain payments, Google’s commitment helps cover the obligation.

That guarantee is a major reason financing on this scale became possible.

Why Would Google Help a Competitor?

At first glance, the arrangement seems strange.

Anthropic’s Claude competes directly with Google’s Gemini AI assistant.

Yet the two companies are connected in several important ways.

Google was one of Anthropic’s earliest investors and has repeatedly increased its stake in the company. Google also supplies the chips that sit at the center of this transaction.

That means Google is simultaneously:

• An investor in Anthropic
• A supplier of the hardware
• A beneficiary of the chip purchases
• A guarantor behind part of the financing

In short, Google invests in Anthropic, sells it chips, and now helps secure the financing that allows Anthropic to buy even more of those chips.

The Concern About “Circular Deals”

That complexity has raised concerns among some industry observers.

Critics point to what are sometimes called circular financing arrangements, where a small group of technology companies become increasingly dependent on one another.

The concern is that money can appear to move in a loop:

• Google invests in Anthropic.
• Anthropic uses financing to buy Google’s chips.
• Google helps secure the financing.
• The financing supports further growth at Anthropic.

Supporters argue that such partnerships accelerate innovation and help fund the massive infrastructure required for AI.

Critics worry that the growing web of financial connections could create broader risks if one major player encounters trouble.

Why the Stakes Are So High

The deal comes at a pivotal moment for Anthropic.

The financing surfaced only days after the company reportedly filed confidential paperwork for an initial public offering and completed a $65 billion fundraising round that valued the company at approximately $965 billion.

Anthropic has also committed substantial resources to expanding its computing capacity, including participation in a data-center partnership valued at approximately $50 billion.

The company is spending aggressively to secure the infrastructure needed to compete with rivals including OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and xAI.

What This Says About the AI Boom

For everyday readers, the story offers a glimpse into how the artificial intelligence boom is actually being financed.

Most headlines focus on new AI models, chatbot features, and flashy product demonstrations.

Behind the scenes, however, the industry increasingly relies on:

• Multi-billion-dollar debt financings
• Complex leasing arrangements
• Massive data-center construction projects
• Long-term chip supply agreements
• Financial guarantees from major technology companies

The infrastructure required to power advanced AI is becoming almost as important as the software itself.

The Bottom Line

For now, the arrangement reflects confidence.

Lenders are willing to commit tens of billions of dollars, Google is willing to stand behind part of the financing, and Anthropic gains access to the computing power it needs without paying the full cost upfront.

The larger question is what happens as these relationships grow more intertwined.

The same partnerships helping fuel the AI boom today could also make the industry’s biggest players increasingly dependent on one another tomorrow.

That is the hidden meaning behind the word “backstop.” A safety net works only as long as the company holding it remains strong enough to catch everyone else.

JBizNews Desk — Technology

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

Multiple vaccinated children attending a local playgroup recently contracted chickenpox after an unvaccinated child became infected and apparently spread the virus to others, TLS has exclusively learned.

At least three additional children subsequently developed symptoms after being exposed to the initial case, the sources told TLS.

Sources indicate that the other affected children had previously received the recommended chickenpox vaccinations, though health experts note that breakthrough infections can occasionally occur in vaccinated individuals. In such cases, symptoms are generally milder than those experienced by unvaccinated patients.

Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious viral illness that spreads through coughing, sneezing, and direct contact with the rash or blisters of an infected individual. Common symptoms include an itchy blister-like rash, fever, fatigue, headache, and loss of appetite. The illness typically lasts between four and seven days.

There is no specific cure for chickenpox. Treatment generally focuses on relieving symptoms through rest, hydration, fever reduction, and anti-itch measures. In certain cases, particularly for those at higher risk of complications, antiviral medications may be prescribed by a healthcare provider.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children receive two doses of the chickenpox vaccine. The first dose is typically administered between 12 and 15 months of age, with a second dose given between ages 4 and 6. Two doses are approximately 90% effective at preventing chickenpox, and vaccinated individuals who do contract the illness generally experience a much milder case.

According to federal health data, the vast majority of American children receive the recommended chickenpox vaccinations as part of the routine childhood immunization schedule. Since the vaccine’s introduction, chickenpox cases in the United States have declined dramatically, with hospitalizations and deaths becoming far less common.

Interestingly, this playgroup – like many others – has a policy which only allows vaccinated children, but somehow this particular unvaccinated child’s data slipped through.

Parents whose children may have been exposed are encouraged to monitor for symptoms and consult their pediatrician with any concerns.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal judge agreed on Friday to extend a court-ordered block on the Trump administration’s creation and operation of a $1.8 billion settlement fund for compensating people who claim to be victims of a weaponized government.

Earlier this month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress that the government is scrapping its plans for the fund in the face of a fierce bipartisan backlash. Government attorneys have argued that lawsuits challenging the fund are now moot, but plaintiffs’ attorneys aren’t satisfied by Blanche’s assurances that the fund won’t move forward.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has not publicly and unequivocally endorsed its cancellation.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that the government’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will remain blocked until further notice from the court. She gave the parties a week to negotiate an agreement for Blanche to submit a sworn declaration that the administration won’t revive the fund.

Brinkema previously agreed to temporarily block the administration from proceeding with the fund for at least two weeks. Her May 29 order was due to expire on Friday.

Trump’s Republican administration created the fund to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

Plaintiffs who sued to block fund payouts argue that the government can’t legally divert taxpayer money into what they argue is a slush fund for compensating Trump’s allies.

China’s factory-gate prices rose at their fastest pace in nearly four years in May, climbing 3.9% from a year earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. The increase in the Producer Price Index (PPI) was the strongest since July 2022, exceeded economists’ expectations of 3.8%, and accelerated from 2.8% in April.

The report highlights a growing divide inside the world’s second-largest economy: factory costs are rising rapidly while consumer inflation remains subdued.

The Producer Price Index measures prices businesses receive for goods before they reach consumers, including raw materials, industrial products, machinery, and fuel. The Consumer Price Index, by contrast, measures what shoppers pay in stores. In May, factory inflation accelerated sharply while consumer inflation remained modest.

Two major forces appear to be driving the increase.

The first is energy and commodity costs. Rising oil and petrochemical prices have increased costs throughout China’s manufacturing sector. China remains one of the world’s largest energy importers, making its factories particularly sensitive to changes in global commodity markets. Higher transportation, fuel, and materials costs have filtered through industrial supply chains.

The second driver is the global boom in artificial intelligence and electrification. Dong Lijuan, Chief Statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics, said the expansion of AI infrastructure, electrification projects, and computing demand helped lift prices in sectors tied to metals, machinery, and technology hardware.

According to the bureau, non-ferrous metal mining prices rose 36.5% year-over-year, while non-ferrous metal smelting and processing prices increased 24%. Demand for copper, aluminum, rare-earth materials, electrical equipment, and data-center infrastructure has surged as countries and companies race to build AI capacity and expand electric-power systems.

In simple terms, the world’s push toward AI, cloud computing, electric vehicles, and upgraded energy infrastructure is consuming enormous quantities of industrial materials, pushing prices higher.

Consumer inflation told a different story.

China’s Consumer Price Index rose 1.2% from a year earlier in May, below economists’ expectations of 1.3%, while prices slipped 0.1% from April. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, eased to 1.1%.

Food prices remained weak, falling 1.7% year-over-year, reflecting continued softness in household spending and consumer demand.

One notable exception was energy. Consumer gasoline prices climbed sharply from a year earlier, reflecting higher global crude-oil prices and rising transportation costs.

The gap between factory inflation and consumer inflation is important because it suggests many manufacturers are struggling to pass rising costs on to customers. Businesses are paying more for raw materials and energy, but consumers remain cautious, limiting companies’ ability to raise prices.

That squeeze can pressure profit margins across manufacturing industries.

The implications extend far beyond China.

As the world’s largest manufacturing hub, China produces a significant share of global electronics, machinery, appliances, industrial components, and consumer goods. Rising production costs inside China can eventually ripple through international supply chains and affect prices paid by businesses and consumers around the world.

For much of the past several years, China experienced factory-gate deflation, meaning producer prices were falling. That trend helped keep global goods inflation under control. The recent turnaround suggests that dynamic may be changing.

The May report also reflects broader policy shifts in Beijing. Chinese authorities have been working to reduce excess industrial capacity and discourage aggressive price competition in certain sectors, measures that can contribute to firmer pricing across manufacturing industries.

There are reasons for caution, however.

Many of the strongest gains were concentrated in commodity-related industries such as energy and metals, which can be volatile. If commodity prices retreat, producer inflation could cool quickly. On a monthly basis, producer prices rose more slowly than they did in April, suggesting some moderation may already be underway.

At the same time, weak consumer demand remains one of the biggest challenges facing China’s economy. Without stronger household spending, manufacturers may continue facing pressure despite rising factory output prices.

For now, the picture is one of two very different economies operating side by side: an industrial sector facing rapidly rising input costs driven by energy, metals, and AI-related demand, and a consumer sector that remains far more cautious.

Whether those rising factory costs eventually flow through to shoppers in China and around the world may become one of the most important inflation questions for the global economy in the months ahead.

JBizNews Desk — Asia

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

After his latest detention, Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef was released from Israeli prison Thursday without charge after two and a half years of detention.

Yousef is the father of Mosab Hassan Yousef, also known as the Green Prince. Mosab became disillusioned with Hamas and worked with Israeli intelligence against the terror group from 1997 to 2007, eventually writing about his experiences in a memoir titled Son of Hamas. While working for the Shin Bet, Mosab provided intelligence that helped thwart terror attacks such as suicide bombings, helped Israel find Hamas cells, and helped lead Israel to the arrests of senior officials, including the repeated arrests and incarcerations of his own father.

Yousef was arrested in October 2023 in the territories after the Oct. 7 attack, during a sweep of the territories in which dozens of Hamas terrorists in the region were arrested and imprisoned. Upon his release, he was taken to a hospital in Ramallah, where he appeared to have a hand injury. It’s unclear how he incurred the injury.

Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef is wheeled out of a Ramallah hospital after his release from an Israeli prison. (From a post on X)

Yousef’s son Oweis confirmed that his 71-year-old father was released near Hebron and taken to the hospital.

The Green Prince himself posted a press release on X about the incident:

“Mosab Hassan Yousef warns Sheikh Hassan Yousef against any attempt to revive Hamas in the West Bank and ignite an Intifada,” the press release stated. “Sheikh Hassan Yousef has been released yesterday from Israeli prison on humanitarian grounds due to his poor health. He is one of the most prominent Hamas leaders in the West Bank and one of its original founders. His influence on the Palestinian street remains significant.”

Yousef is seen greeting friends and relatives after his release. (From a post on X)

“After nearly 30 years in and out of prison, one would hope he would finally rest and take care of himself,” the press release continued. “However, if he attempts to revive Hamas, rebuild its infrastructure, or activate its sleeping cells in the West Bank, he must fully understand the consequences and not take advantage of this humanitarian gesture.”

The press statement adds that the actions of those who serve the Hamas leadership living in luxury abroad are not serving the “exhausted and suffering Palestinian people.”

“He should look at Gaza, Lebanon, and Tehran and think very carefully before allowing Hamas to exploit his influence and set the West Bank on fire,” the statement warned. “There will be no more mercy, and he will bear direct responsibility for the consequences.”

“This is the reality, the same man who stood with armed Hamas militants now lies weak in a hospital bed,” the press release concluded.

Nearly a year after launch, Tesla’s self-driving taxi service remains limited to just 59 vehicles across three Texas cities, raising fresh questions about Elon Musk’s ambitious autonomy targets.

Nearly a year after Tesla put its first robotaxis on the road, the service remains far smaller and less reliable than the company originally projected. As of late May 2026, Texas motor-vehicle filings and independent tracking data showed a fleet of roughly 59 robotaxis, operating only in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.

That is far from the vision outlined by Elon Musk, who has repeatedly described a future in which Tesla operates thousands of autonomous vehicles across the United States. Musk previously indicated the company could reach 1,000 robotaxis by the end of 2026, a target that now appears increasingly difficult.

The gap between promise and reality became more visible this week as riders and reviewers documented operational issues that suggest the service is still functioning more like a public test program than a mature transportation network.

Users reported wait times frequently exceeding 30 minutes, while the Tesla Robotaxi app periodically displayed messages such as “High Service Demand” and “No Rides Available.” In at least one reported case, a vehicle arrived but failed to begin the trip, requiring intervention from customer support.

Passengers have also cited inconvenient pickup and drop-off locations, sometimes forcing riders to walk significant distances despite available curb space nearby.

Tesla launched the service in Austin in June 2025 with approximately a dozen modified Model Y vehicles. Access was initially restricted to selected users, influencers and Tesla enthusiasts who shared favorable early experiences online.

During Tesla’s July 2025 earnings call, Musk outlined plans for rapid expansion into additional states, including California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. While Tesla expanded into Dallas and Houston in April 2026, the broader national rollout has yet to materialize.

The vehicles themselves remain more limited than many consumers expected.

Most rides continue to include a human safety operator, and Tesla restricts operations to carefully defined geographic areas known as geofences. The service therefore remains well short of Musk’s long-standing vision of fully autonomous vehicles operating nationwide without human supervision.

The stakes for Tesla are significant.

As vehicle sales growth has slowed, investors increasingly view robotaxis and Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology as key drivers of the company’s future value. Expectations surrounding autonomous transportation have become a central component of Tesla’s market valuation.

The numbers highlight the challenge ahead.

With approximately 59 vehicles currently operating, Tesla would need to expand its fleet by roughly 17 times in just seven months to reach Musk’s stated goal of 1,000 robotaxis by year-end. That expansion would also require regulatory approvals, operational infrastructure and proof that the vehicles can safely operate with reduced human oversight.

Meanwhile, competitors have established a substantial lead.

Waymo, the autonomous-driving division of Alphabet, operates a significantly larger robotaxi network. Estimates suggest Waymo’s Texas fleet is roughly ten times larger than Tesla’s. In Austin alone, public reports indicate Waymo operates more than 250 vehicles, compared with approximately 50 for Tesla.

Waymo also routinely operates vehicles without safety drivers, a milestone Tesla has not yet achieved at comparable scale.

Wall Street analysts have taken notice.

Garrett Nelson, an analyst with CFRA Research, recently said Tesla’s Austin deployment has fallen short of expectations. Independent road tests in Dallas and Houston have reported similar concerns, including lengthy wait times, unavailable vehicles and routing issues.

In one Dallas test, a trip expected to take roughly 20 minutes reportedly stretched to nearly two hours because of service interruptions and availability problems.

For consumers, the current limitations are difficult to ignore.

A service marketed as convenient, on-demand transportation remains available only in limited areas and often struggles to deliver rides quickly and consistently. Until reliability improves and availability expands, robotaxis are unlikely to replace traditional ride-hailing services—or personal vehicles—for most riders.

Tesla maintains that its camera-based approach to autonomous driving will ultimately allow it to scale more quickly and at lower cost than competitors that rely on expensive lidar and sensor systems.

That strategy could still prove successful over time.

For now, however, the company’s Texas deployment highlights the considerable distance between Tesla’s long-term vision and the current state of its robotaxi service. Nearly a year after launch, the business remains small, geographically limited and operationally inconsistent.

Whether Tesla can close that gap before the end of the year remains one of the most closely watched questions in the autonomous-vehicle industry.

JBizNews Desk — Texas

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

A Lakewood resident today shared with TLS that they received this week two batches of wedding return cards, both of which were found to have been opened and their contents missing.

The return cards – all which were clearly tampered with – have apparently been gone through in search of checks.

If you’ve also experienced this, be sure to report it to authorities and the local post office.

Additionally, if you’ve recently sent out checks with a return card, you may want to keep an eye on the check to ensure it wasn’t stolen and fraudulently cashed.

LONDON (VINnews) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Friday that he will fight to stay in office after the sudden resignation of his trusted defense minister left his shaky leadership weakened still further.

Starmer has seen the departure of several junior and senior ministers in recent weeks, as Labour Party lawmakers revolt and rivals plot, in despair at the government’s relentless unpopularity.

But the sudden resignation of Defense Secretary John Healey is a heavy blow. Healey quit Thursday, warning that the government is not spending enough on the military to keep Britain safe “at this time of rising threats.”

His departure hits Starmer in the one place the often embattled prime minister has won consistent praise: the world stage.

Since taking office after a landslide election victory in July 2024, Starmer has bolstered support for Ukraine, working with French President Emmanuel Macron on a multinational “coalition of the willing” to help guarantee the country’s security if a ceasefire is reached.

France and the U.K. also have put together a maritime security force that would help keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping if the Iran war ends.

Starmer has also argued strongly that European nations must do more to fund their own defense in response to President Donald Trump ’s criticism of the United States’ NATO allies.

“Starmer has been consistently staunch about warning of the security risk from Russia,” said Olivia O’Sullivan, head of the U.K. in the World program at the Chatham House think tank. “He’s been given quite a bit of credit by the public for having to deal with Trump and doing so with a level of steadiness and calm. And he has been, in line with previous U.K. governments, a close and consistent ally of Ukraine.”

At issue is money for defense
At issue is the government’s long-awaited Defense Investment Plan, a road map for how the U.K. will increase military spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035. The U.K. military is also seeking to reverse years of decline in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which invaded its neighbor Ukraine in 2022 and increasingly tests the defenses of European nations with overt and covert activity.

Healey says defense spending must reach 3% of GDP by 2030. He quit in frustration after Treasury chief Rachel Reeves refused to budge on a plan that falls short of that.

He cited a British intelligence assessment that Russia could attack a NATO member country as soon as 2030 and said a lower-than-needed spending plan “could make the country less safe.”

Critics argue that military spending can be a bottomless pit, and point out that procurement projects regularly run over time and over budget.

Former Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, who quit on Thursday a few hours after Healey, said it is not just a question of spending more money, but spending it wisely. He said the investment plan was not “transformative enough.”

“I want to see a higher percentage for uncrewed systems, AI, data — data is the new gunpowder — and we’ve got to move that forward if we are going to win the next war,” he told the BBC.

Resignations could hasten Starmer’s exit from office
Healey is not the first government minister to resign. Last month Starmer lost several junior ministers and then Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who quit so that he can run for party leader if a contest is triggered.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is widely expected to challenge Starmer for the leadership if he is elected to Parliament in a special election on Thursday.

But the departure of Healey, long seen as a loyal minister without personal leadership ambitions, “suggests that Starmer’s credibility, even with his inner circle of ministers, is perhaps draining away,” O’Sullivan said.

Starmer insisted Friday he is staying put, saying it’s his job to make “hard-edged decisions.”

He told the BBC that defense is “my number one priority. And I have taken the difficult decisions to make sure that we are safe as a country.”

“I’m not going to go away. I don’t think we should plunge the country into the chaos of a leadership election,” he said. “I don’t think it should happen, but if it does, then I will fight.”

(AP) – The man accused of killing Charlie Kirk is due back in court Friday as his attorneys seek to hold prosecutors in contempt for comments they made in the media about a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk’s body.

Defense attorneys for Tyler Robinson have accused prosecutors of going on a “media tour” to discuss expert reports about the bullet. The defense claims those statements violated restrictions imposed by Judge Tony Graf against speaking about the case outside of court.

But prosecutors said they had a right to correct misinformation from Robinson’s attorneys about an inconclusive, preliminary finding by ballistics experts, who could not immediately match the bullet fragments with a gun allegedly used by Robinson. Details about the preliminary finding spurred stories speculating about Robinson’s possible exoneration.

“The rules expressly allow lawyers to set the record straight,” Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard wrote.

Robinson’s lawyers have tried to guard against media coverage that they say sometimes misrepresents their client, as his case has drawn tremendous public attention. The 23-year-old from southwestern Utah is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, cofounder of the conservative Turning Point USA organization, on the Utah Valley University campus.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted. He has not yet entered a plea.

Robinson’s attorneys did not specify what sanctions should be levied against prosecutors if Graf agrees they violated his orders and holds them in contempt. But in court filings, the defense team pointed to another criminal case where prosecutors were accused of contempt and said one potential remedy was to bar the state from seeking the death penalty.

While the judge in that earlier case disagreed that an order barring the death penalty was merited, Robinson’s attorneys noted that, “the court did not conclude that such a remedy was beyond its authority where the facts support it.”

Graf has said he will issue his decision about the contempt allegation at a later date.

A key hearing in the case is scheduled for next month, when prosecutors must show they have enough evidence to warrant a trial. That would mark the most significant presentation of evidence to date in the case that has so far focused on matters of media access.

Robinson’s attorneys have asked Graf to halt the proceedings while they appeal a June 1 order in which the judge declined to bar cameras from the courtroom.

A dramatic overnight confrontation in Ashdod ended with police releasing a yeshiva bochur who had been detained as an alleged draft evader, after dozens of chareidi protesters descended on the scene and demanded his immediate release.

The incident unfolded late Thursday night near the Big shopping complex in Ashdod. Police officers conducting a traffic stop pulled over a vehicle carrying several yeshiva students. During the inspection, officers discovered that one of the passengers had been classified by the IDF as a draft evader.

Police detained the bochur and summoned military police to take custody of him.

Within minutes, messages began circulating through chareidi communities under the headline “The kidnappers have arrived,” prompting a rapid mobilization. Dozens of protesters quickly gathered at the location, surrounding the officers and calling for the release of the yeshiva student.

As concerns mounted that the situation could escalate into a larger public disturbance and potentially block a major traffic artery at the entrance to the city, the officer in charge reportedly ordered the immediate release of the bochur and instructed that the checkpoint be dismantled.

Following the release, the protesters broke out into dancing, singing “Utzu Eitzah V’sufar,” celebrating what they viewed as a successful effort to prevent the transfer of the yeshiva student into the custody of the military police.

The crowd subsequently dispersed from the area without further incident.

{Matzav.com}

(AP) – At least three tornadoes battered communities outside Chicago on Thursday, leveling homes and ripping down trees and power poles, while storms grounded flights for some and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands in the Midwest and Northeast.

As a large column of air descended on Merrillville, Indiana, a town about 33 miles (53 kilometers) southeast of Chicago, the city’s police warned residents to take cover. By the evening, downed trees and power lines blocked the streets, homes were torn up and part of a high school’s roof was ripped off.

Meanwhile, emergency crews were in the nearby manufacturing and farm city of Streator, Illinois, as the community reeled from tornado damage. A reunification center for displaced residents was set up in its city hall and the Red Cross opened a shelter.

Streator Mayor Tara Bedei said there were no reported deaths. “We are incredibly grateful for the safety of our residents and the quick action of emergency personnel,” she said in a statement.

Strong storms delayed or halted flights at airports in some cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia and New York on Thursday. Parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic also strained under high heat and humidity.

Grounds crew remove water from the field after severe thunderstorms came through the Chicago area before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Atlanta Braves, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)

The tornadoes came after severe storms swept through the Midwest Wednesday, knocking out power, damaging buildings and canceling flights.

In Des Moines, Iowa, a 54-year-old man died at a homeless encampment in a park Wednesday after being hit by a tree that “broke apart and fell during strong storms,” police said in a statement. There were no immediate reports of other deaths or injuries from the storms.

Tree limb breaks through roof
Tornado warnings were also in place in Chicago and in parts of Indiana and Michigan Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. In Chicago, a series finale between the White Sox and the Atlanta Braves was postponed due to rain.

Jennifer Hall was in her garage in Elkhart, Indiana, as the winds and rain picked up Thursday evening. Suddenly, she said, she heard a loud crash and discovered a tree limb had gone through the roof of her rental home. She used buckets to catch the rain coming in from the hole.

“I’m just nervous because it’s just been one thing after another,” said Hall, explaining she just had surgery and her husband is out of town.

This frame grab from aerial video shows a building in Stickney, Illinois, after its roof was damaged by the severe storms that struck the Chicago area on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Courtesy WMAQ-TV in Chicago) TELEVISION OUT

A home vanishes before residents’ eyes
Shane Tipton stepped out of his truck in Unionville, Missouri, Wednesday afternoon to find a twister bearing down, said his daughter, Kylie Rouse. He rushed to get his 87-year-old dad out of his mobile home.

They made it back to the truck, drove just far enough away and watched as the tornado obliterated the home. Shattered cabinets, furniture and appliances littered the ground. Clothes hung in trees. They believe they lost one of their hunting dogs, who has been missing since it struck.

“Everything’s destroyed,” Rouse told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday. “It was scattered clear for miles. If my grandpa would have been in there, there’s no way that he would be alive.”

Storm damages animal shelter in Illinois
Residents of Springfield, Illinois, believe a tornado touched down in their area late Wednesday. Two buildings at the Animal Protective League shelter in Springfield were heavily damaged, but none of the nearly 150 cats and 28 dogs housed there were injured, said Deana Corbin, the group’s executive director.

“It pretty much wiped out our shelter facility, took the roofs off both of our buildings,” Corbin said. “It’s a miracle. We were so blessed to not have any injuries of either people or animals.”

The community pitched in to take in all the cats and dogs temporarily, including a local animal control center, veterinarians and residents, she said.

Damage also was reported at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield.

Weather service meteorologist Frank Pereira said the system that produced the storms, including high winds and hail, was moving eastward Thursday, fueled by cool air from Canada clashing with warm, humid air from the South.

Damaged tree branches lie on a street in Elkhart, Ind., Thursday, June 11, 2026, following a severe weather system in the area. (Jennifer Hall via AP)

Record high temperatures expected along East Coast
Potentially dangerous heat and high humidity arrived Thursday and was expected to continue Friday for a swath of the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, where daily high record temperatures could be broken in numerous places, the weather service said. Temperatures in the mid-90s Fahrenheit (mid-30s Celsius) were expected, but with the humidity it could feel like 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) or more, the service said.

Philadelphia declared a heat health emergency for Thursday and Friday, activating cooling centers, home visits by field teams, outreach to people experiencing homelessness and other services. New York City officials were also urging residents to take precautions, including drinking plenty of water and finding a cool place to stay if they do not have air conditioning.

Severe weather wreaks havoc on air travel and power
At various points Wednesday and Thursday, ground stops were issued at Chicago’s O’Hare International and Midway International airports, and at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

The Pittsburgh International Airport experienced a temporary power outage after a storm produced an “extraordinary” power surge, the airport said.

More than 1,000 flights going into and out of Chicago had been delayed or canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

Commonwealth Edison Company, which provides electric service across northern Illinois, said the storms had downed poles and wires. On X, it wrote that it expected “80% restoration” by late Saturday.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Thousands of Puerto Ricans are struggling with water shortages so severe that the governor of the U.S. territory has activated the National Guard and emergency responders are fielding calls every day.

Officials have not publicly pinpointed the cause, with shortages largely affecting some areas in the island’s most populated cities, including the capital San Juan. The island’s utilities company extracts water from rivers, reservoirs and underground aquifers that have in the past provided sufficient supply for the island’s 3.2 million people.

Residents are being forced to buy potable water, spend money at laundromats and haul heavy buckets up several flights of stairs to wash dishes, flush toilets and take showers. The elderly and disabled struggle the most, with community leaders noting that some have been hospitalized as water shortages persist.

Jorge Figueroa, a community leader for several impoverished San Juan neighborhoods, stood by his car one recent morning fielding questions from residents wondering when the next water truck would swing by.

“They are playing with people’s health and lives,” Figueroa said.

Shortages are widespread
Some customers in San Juan began reporting intermittent service more than a year ago, with the governor acknowledging the infrastructure has lacked investment and maintenance for decades.

The water outages have grown so severe that Mayor Miguel Romero sued Puerto Rico’s Water and Sewer Authority in late May.

People like Jeannette Mercado Rodríguez have spent up to two weeks without water as Puerto Rico’s searing summer starts and meteorologists are already issuing heat advisories.

“This is really exhausting; it’s maddening,” she said.

The 52-year-old is among the lucky ones: a water truck is stationed near her public housing complex, Las Margaritas. But she still has to haul five buckets and 10 2-liter (half-gallon) bottles up to her third-floor apartment every day. She recently injured her shoulder doing so.

“We can’t take it sometimes,” Mercado said, confiding that she has broken down and cried. “There are older people here, bedridden people.”

Nearly 40,000 customers were hit with water outages on the first weekend of June. That prompted Gov. Jenniffer González to activate the National Guard, which began distributing water via four trucks with a capacity of 2,000 gallons (7,570 liters) each.

Puerto Rico’s Tourism Company brought in additional water trucks with a capacity of 12,800 gallons (48,453 liters) to help serve hotels and short-term rentals.

The need for water is so great that even Puerto Rico’s Department of Agriculture sanitized two large trucks that transport milk and instead used them to deliver potable water.

Despite those measures, water remains scarce for many in San Juan and beyond. At least one stationary tanker in an impoverished community sat empty for a couple of days, with residents cheering the water truck when it arrived, calling municipal workers “heroes.” Other residents also complain that the government doesn’t inform them when a water truck will stop by, with those at work missing out.

“This has been a disaster,” said Luz Laborde, president of a neighborhood association in Santurce, a working-class community in San Juan. “This is inhuman … It’s destroying the emotional state of a people.”

Puerto Ricans demand water
Dozens of Puerto Ricans young and old crowded into a courtroom on a recent morning, eager to hear a ruling on the lawsuit that San Juan’s mayor filed against the island’s water and sewer company as they questioned when their water would return.

“We are exhausted,” said Marcia Soler París, a 61-year-old community leader. “We shouldn’t be living this way. We don’t deserve this.”

Every day at dawn, phones ping as people in San Juan and elsewhere share whether they have water, just a trickle or nothing at all.

Soler calls the emergency management office every other day to request a water truck for her and her neighbors. She lives with her daughter, who has three boys ages 13, 10 and 4, and they play soccer every day. Like many, they don’t have a cistern.

“I don’t know what it is to see a stream of water,” said Soler, who recently spent $40 at a laundromat and was forced to buy plastic cups and plates for her family.

The extra costs are straining the budgets of many on the island of 3.2 million people where more than 40% live below the poverty line.

Soler said some of her neighbors bedridden and caregivers are forced to use towels and wet wipes to clean them. Another neighbor is blind, so people ferry water up to her apartment.

For years, chronic power outages have been a big frustration for many Puerto Ricans. Water woes also are at the top of the list now.

At Villa Kennedy, a nearby public housing complex, Elizabeth Sánchez, 79, explained how she injured her waist carrying buckets of water. Her husband can no longer help because he injured his back for the same reason.

“What we are going through is horrible,” she said as she began to cry.

Judge orders experts to investigate water woes
In February 2025, Puerto Rico’s governor appointed Luis González Delgado as executive president of the island’s Water and Sewer Authority.

Months later, former regional director Roberto Martínez Toledo was replaced. But Martínez was recently appointed to a new committee ordered by a judge to work with the agency to investigate and solve the chronic water shortages.

The mayor of San Juan, who is a member of the governor’s party, said that if Martínez hadn’t been removed from his position, “we wouldn’t be here talking about this issue.”

The new head of the water and sewer agency blamed Martínez for some of the problems.

“(The crisis) could have been avoided if Roberto Martínez had answered the phone the first day I called him,” González told reporters this week, adding that he is willing to work with him.

Some Puerto Ricans are demanding González resign as they clamor for Martínez to return to his old job, while a growing number are blaming the governor for the situation. On Wednesday night, the governor announced that all projects aimed at fixing water-related infrastructure have started with an investment of $217 million.

Those without water say they are still being billed for it.

“That’s another outrage,” said Laborde, the community leader. “You lose no matter what.”

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Two collisions one after another on a highway in western Hungary early Friday killed eight people, police said.

A truck caught fire after colliding with a construction vehicle near the city of Győr around 4.30 a.m., killing one person and snarling traffic, police said.

About half an hour later, a minibus with Moldovan license plates slammed into a truck that stopped on the highway following the first accident. The second crash killed seven people and seriously injured two, police said.

Authorities closed one lane of the M1 highway toward Austria.

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

Lángok és roncsok az M1-esen, Vitézy Dávid soron kívüli vizsgálatot rendelt el a halálos tragédiák miatt.https://t.co/40Hg6X4wWW

Fotó: Győr HTP / Győr-Moson-Sopron VMKI#Hungary #tragedy #accident #indexhu pic.twitter.com/wKgrtKoXb4

— Index.hu (@indexhu) June 12, 2026

A remarkable moment of gadlus baTorah unfolded Thursday in a Lakewood, NJ home when Rav Yisroel Bunim Schreiber, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Nesiv Hadaas, demonstrated an astonishing command of Torah by recalling the entirety of Maseches Bava Basra from memory before a captivated audience.

The episode took place during the visit of the gedolim of Keren Olam HaTorah, who are currently traveling throughout America on behalf of the yeshivos and kollelim of Eretz Yisroel. While Rav Chaim Mordechai Ausband, Rosh Yeshiva of Ateres Shlomo, was visiting the home of Yanky Stern, a bochur approached him with a challenging question in learning. The inquiry was anything but simple. The bochur asked for a complete accounting of every machlokes between Rabbah and Rav Yosef found throughout Maseches Bava Basra.

Rather than answer the question himself, Rav Ausband directed it to Rav Schreiber, whose reputation as an exceptional baki is well known in the olam haTorah. What followed left those present in awe.

Rav Schreiber began mentally traversing the masechta, moving through the dafim one by one. As he progressed, he identified each machlokes between Rabbah and Rav Yosef, systematically working his way through the entire masechta without opening a Gemara or consulting any notes.

The extraordinary display of mastery transformed an ordinary visit into an unforgettable lesson in the depth and breadth of true Torah knowledge.

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

(AP) – Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries, depots and pipelines. Tanker trucks attacked and left ablaze along the land corridor from Russia to Crimea. Motorists waiting in long lines at gas stations.

In a new blow to the Kremlin’s narrative that Moscow is winning the 4-year-old war in Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces have targeted supplies to Crimea, triggering the worst fuel crisis on the Black Sea peninsula since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

The persistent attacks reflect the growing intensity and efficiency of Ukraine’s drone strikes and have caught Russia off guard and struggling for a response.

As the country marks the Russia Day national holiday on Friday, signaling the start of summer vacations, the gas shortages are threatening to cause further disruptions to the tourism-dependent region with its beaches and resorts.

In a rare public acknowledgment, the Kremlin has recognized the scope of the problem and promised to address the issue quickly.

Ukraine’s successes have highlighted its ability to inflict painful damage on Russia and change the course of the conflict while Moscow’s advances recently have ground to a near halt. On Thursday, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reached its 1,569th day, surpassing the duration of World War I.

Crimea has special importance to Russia
Crimea has been a jewel in Russia’s imperial crown since it was seized from Turkic-speaking Tatars in the 18th century after Moscow defeated the Ottoman Empire.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954 when both republics were part of the USSR. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the diamond-shaped peninsula became part of newly independent Ukraine.

Russia kept a naval base in Sevastopol, and when a Moscow-friendly Ukrainian president was ousted by a popular uprising in February 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent in troops to overtake Crimea. Weeks later, Moscow annexed the peninsula following a referendum that most of the world refuses to recognize.

Soon afterward, a Moscow-backed separatist insurgency erupted in eastern Ukraine, and fighting there raged with varying intensity until the February 2022 invasion. Russian troops concentrated in Crimea quickly seized large parts of southern Ukraine early in the war and secured the land route to the peninsula.

Since early in the war, Ukraine has fired missiles and drones to try to dislodge Moscow’s hold on the territory. The Ukrainian military sank several Russian warships in the Black Sea and at their Crimean bases, crippling Moscow’s naval capability and forcing it to redeploy its fleet to Novorossiysk.

Ukraine also methodically targeted munitions depots, airfields and Putin’s prized asset, the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to Russia. The span was struck by a truck bomb in October 2022 that killed five people, blew up two sections of the bridge and required months of repairs. More attacks on the bridge followed in 2023 and 2025.

Ukraine has attacked the land corridor to Crimea
Since the Kerch Bridge attacks, Russia has channeled most fuel and other supplies along the highway and railroad via the occupied territories along the Sea of Azov coast. Those shipments were interrupted last month, when Ukrainian drones hit fuel trucks on the highway that Moscow once deemed to be safe, leaving behind dozens of burning vehicles.

Other relentless Ukrainian strikes hit refineries, oil depots and pipelines deep inside Russia, hurting its oil exports and causing domestic fuel shortages.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War noted the synergy between the longer-range attacks and those disrupting supplies to Crimea and other occupied regions.

“The long-range strike campaign is therefore reducing Russia’s production capacity, while the midrange strike campaign is hurting Russia’s ability to transport the gasoline Russia is still able to produce,” it said in an analysis.

Making matters worse, Ukrainian drones this week repeatedly hit the Chonhar Bridge, which links mainland Ukraine and Crimea over a shallow strait. Authorities deployed pontoon bridges.

The Ukrainian military said it struck the bridge to disrupt the movement of troops, ammunition and fuel from Crimea.

Natia Seskuria, of the Royal United Services Institute in London, observed that the latest attacks on Crimea’s supply lines have exposed Russia’s vulnerabilities and inflicted significant damage, allowing Ukraine to reclaim momentum.

“It’s a political statement from President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, underscoring that Ukraine does not accept the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and has both the capabilities and intent to contest Russian control in Crimea,” she said. “And on the other hand, it serves a strategic aim to deprive Russia (of) its very important logistics hub.”

Crimea is seeing lines for fuel and gas rationing after Ukrainian strikes
It’s not immediately clear how the fuel disruptions will affect Russian military operations, but residents of Crimea and other occupied territories are keenly feeling the blow.

The peninsula has had periodic fuel shortages from Ukrainian strikes before, but this crisis is the worst since its 2014 annexation.

At the end of May, authorities restricted the sale of gasoline to 20 liters (5 1/3 gallons) per vehicle owner per week using prepaid coupons. Those were snapped up immediately following their release on an official messaging app channel, and motorists lined up for hours, waiting to refuel.

Social networks have been abuzz with requests and advice on where to find fuel, and authorities launched a hotline for tourists who have found themselves trapped.

While fuel shipments over the Kerch Bridge long have been suspended for security reasons since the Ukrainian attacks, fuel also has been carried by ferries. Those shipments are expected to increase.

Some motorists bring their own gas over the bridge from the mainland, but they are restricted to carrying 100 liters (about 26 1/2 gallons) per vehicle. Some speculators are selling gas at double the market price.

Crimea attracted nearly 7 million tourists last year, and it had hoped to top that number this year. The business daily Kommersant reported that nearly 80% of hotel bookings were canceled in late May and early June.

Some hotels offered gasoline as a bonus for new bookings, offers that were quickly snapped up.

Some travelers were unsettled by a Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week on a passenger train traveling from Moscow to Crimea, injuring its driver and killing his assistant. That led to a brief suspension of service, with passengers taken by buses.

An earlier attack on a commuter train in Crimea killed one person and injured three others, forcing authorities to shift schedules to limit service during daytime hours.

The Kremlin pledges action
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the Crimean fuel shortages earlier this week and promised that “measures were being taken” to deal with them.

The Russian Defense Ministry has been silent about the Ukrainian attacks on the land corridor, while some war bloggers have harshly criticized the military for failing to anticipate the strikes and its slow response.

Some suggested military escorts for fuel trucks while others urged stepping up strikes on Ukrainian bridges, fuel storage sites and other infrastructure.

Amid the fuel crisis and the finger-pointing, Ukraine dealt another symbolic blow to Russia, striking a historic Sevastopol building that houses a huge panoramic painting that depicts the defense of the city during the 19th century Crimean War. The painting was effectively destroyed by fire during the attack, according to Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea’s largest city.

Given Putin’s focus on Crimea, military blogger Valery Shiryayev said the attack would certainly anger the Russian leader.

“It’s hard to find another work of art, another part of national heritage, whose destruction would be as painful for Putin,” he said.