Anthropic needs to bring in Amazon-style earnings to justify its $2 trillion valuation—but it’s barely turned a profit
Anthropic investors have been kicking the tires on what could be the most valuable initial public offering in history. A handful of the frontier lab’s backers confirmed to the Financial Times this week that they expect privately held Anthropic to go public in October with a targeted valuation of $2 trillion or higher, which easily eclipses SpaceX’s record-breaking $1.77 trillion IPO in June.
That valuation would more than double the $965 billion the company was worth when it reported a Series H funding round in May. Bloomberg, meanwhile, has reported that Anthropic is also in talks to buy the startup Decart AI for $6 billion. Anthropic filed for an IPO confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, but has not publicly set a timeline. Rival frontier lab OpenAI followed suit shortly after Anthropic, but is not expected to IPO until 2027.
The awkward part of all this, though, is that Anthropic isn’t making money yet. Across the Nasdaq 100 universe, the index of large-cap tech companies Anthropic would join post-IPO, the average company trades at roughly 34 times trailing earnings and 25 times forward earnings. At those multiples, a $2 trillion Anthropic would need to post annual profits in the neighborhood of $59 billion to $79 billion to keep pace.
It could be getting closer, but the Claude chatbot purveyor led by Dario Amodei still has a long way to go. The Wall Street Journal reported that Anthropic’s second-quarter 2026 revenue would more than double to $10.9 billion, while the company would for the first time post an operating profit. But operating profit is not the same as net income. Operating profit tells investors whether the business is covering costs like salaries, compute, and research, but it doesn’t account for interest on debt or taxes. Net income is what’s leftover after all of that is subtracted out. And for a company like Anthropic, with all the needs that go along with sustaining a bleeding-edge frontier lab, the distance between operating profit and actual bottom-line profit could be substantial.
Avery Marquez, director of investment strategies at Renaissance Capital, said approaching that threshold of a profitable bottom line will be key to make Anthropic’s valuation palatable to public investors.
“Just seeing the [$2 trillion] number, it’s definitely jolting,” she said. “Reaching near operating profitability will at least be something that in my mind makes this very large valuation maybe not seem so crazy.”
At $2 trillion, Anthropic would be keeping company with six other businesses in the world with valuations that size or more plus Broadcom, which has been floating near the $2 trillion mark since first crossing it earlier this year. But just look at the profits of those six firms.
Nvidia’s valuation is more than $5 trillion, and it earned $120.1 billion in net income last fiscal year on $215.9 billion in revenue. Alphabet, at $4.55 trillion, made $132 billion on $403 billion in revenue. Apple, at $4.49 trillion, earned $112 billion on $416 billion in revenue. Microsoft, at $3.7 trillion, posted $133.7 billion of net income in the year ended June 30. Chipmaker TSMC, one of the most valuable companies outside the U.S., rounds out the group at $2 trillion.
Anthropic would be closest to Amazon, which booked $77.7 billion in net income in its most recent fiscal year, although a portion of its own profits are a function of Anthropic’s valuation. (Amazon’s most recent second-quarter earnings show $62.6 billion of net income, and $53.4 billion of that was nonoperating pretax income “primarily from our investments in Anthropic,” its earnings release states.)
What’s going right
Anthropic’s run-rate revenue went from about $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $47 billion by mid-May. Outside data shared by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff estimated Anthropic’s run rate had reached $74.1 billion, surpassing OpenAI’s $41.3 billion. (Salesforce is an early investor and customer of Anthropic; neither company has confirmed the figures, and Benioff shared data from TickerTrends.)
“What most impresses me about Anthropic (besides unprecedented revenue growth) is their enterprise hat trick,” posted Benioff. “The best model (Claude), the best coding agents (Claude Code), & the best productivity tool (Cowork).”
What most impresses me about Anthropic (besides unprecedented revenue growth) is their enterprise hat trick: the best model (Claude), the best coding agents (Claude Code), & the best productivity tool (Cowork). Salesforce is proud to be an early investor, customer, and partner. pic.twitter.com/PE1DIGTOnN
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) July 23, 2026
The two rival frontier model developers, OpenAI and Anthropic, are comparable to each other, noted Marquez, which means whichever company files first sets the benchmarks that every company that follows has to measure up against.
Anthropic can tout its enterprise customer base, which is stickier and compounds more predictably than individual consumer subscriptions, which is where OpenAI’s ChatGPT has the name-brand recognition advantage.
Then there’s compute. Evan Schlossman of Neostellar Capital Corp., whose fund holds a position in OpenAI, said the supply side of the business is the second thing he’ll turn to once he has an S-1 prospectus filing for Anthropic, right after he looks at its definitions for revenue and how it defines key financial metrics.
“The question is, what is Anthropic’s source over the next 18 months, 24 months, of how much compute they will be able to access at any given time?” said Schlossman. “Do they own that? Are they leasing it? Is it short-term leases? Is it long-term leases?”
The answers will be revealing. A company that owns its servers or has locked-in, long-term leases has predictable costs and can squeeze performance out of its fleet of chips, making each dollar of revenue less expensive to deliver. Short-term leases can lead to spiking costs and scarce supply, and could leave Anthropic at the mercy of another company’s pricing.
“If you’re able to get slightly better margins out of the hardware you own, what is that showing in terms of overall margin?” asked Schlossman.
For its part, Anthropic has been locking in capacity. It has deals with Amazon, Google, and Broadcom, and GPU access through SpaceX. If the Decart deal closes, it would also bring in software that helps chips run more efficiently, and an inference optimization team that could plug and play in Anthropic’s organization. Marquez said lining up an acquisition before a road show is pretty common in the tech-IPO world. Companies do it so the pro forma financials already reflect the acquisition, even if the numbers describe a combined business that hasn’t actually operated together yet.
What this does to OpenAI
Schlossman said the $2 trillion valuation for Anthropic is “exciting” news as an OpenAI investor.
“If you see strong, credible demand for investments in Anthropic and escalating premiums on that revenue, it would speak to a reasonable analogy that you’re seeing similar market trends for OpenAI,” he said. “It’s the same sort of bull or bear case.”
He’s also not worried about one lab slide-tackling the other.
“If everyone in the world wanted to switch over to OpenAI tomorrow, or Anthropic tomorrow, or Gemini tomorrow, I don’t believe those companies even have the compute to satiate that,” he said. “It seems less likely that you’re going to have one model intelligence company dominate the global demand for intelligence.”
Marquez sees Anthropic’s valuation turning up the heat for OpenAI. Whether it goes public first or second barely matters for Anthropic, but it matters a lot for OpenAI, which will be priced against a live competitor if Anthropic goes first as planned. Anthropic’s enterprise revenues are flattering, but hundreds of millions of people use ChatGPT. OpenAI will likely have to answer the strategic question as to whether it will continue pushing more deeply into enterprise where Anthropic is strong, or if it will lean into scaling more individual customers and monetizing advertising or paid conversions, she said.
But OpenAI doesn’t necessarily need to beat Anthropic at its own game, noted Marquez, it just has to arrive looking comparable with similar growth and a credible path to profitability on an Ebitda basis. The hurdle Anthropic will need to overcome is establishing what financial metrics make sense for the company.
“The big hang-up for the valuation is, what metrics make sense for this company?” said Marquez. OpenAI will not have that problem, but it will have a very clear peer for investors to use for comparison.
“I don’t think that’s going to deter OpenAI at all,” said Marquez. “But I don’t think it helps OpenAI for Anthropic to go first.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
New View’s Michael McCully on the drivers of reverse mortgage M&A
As a wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) continues to impact the broader mortgage space, today’s deal activity in the reverse mortgage sector is less about splashy headlines and more about structural pressure building across the industry, according to Michael K. McCully, a partner at New View Advisors.
As McCully puts it, “there are two things that typically drive M&A.” One is accretion and the other is “lack of risk tolerance or too much exposure to the industry.” In his view, reverse mortgages check both boxes — efficiency is rewarded and balance-sheet exposure is increasingly scrutinized.
One key driver is capacity. “The HECM product has stagnated over the last handful of years and there continues to be excess capacity in the industry,” he says. The result, McCully argues, is predictable consolidation because “it’s more efficient to have fewer, larger originators and specialty issuers of the securities in the marketplace.”
That pressure is already showing up in issuer concentration and business exits. “That’s why you’ve seen the number of major HMBS issuers decline over time,” McCully notes, adding that “it looks like it’s just going to be three large participants now – Finance of America, Mutual of Omaha and Longbridge.”
In an interview with HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily, McCully — a career investment banker with more than 25 years of transaction, investment and operational experience — explains what this consolidation could mean for smaller players and the secondary market.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Flávia Nunes: We see a lot of M&A transactions happening in the broader mortgage space, but how is it impacting the reverse space?
Michael McCully: There are two things that typically drive M&A. There’s accretion; in other words, if two companies can make more money and be more efficient as one. That’s a motivating force for an acquisition. The other is lack of risk tolerance or too much exposure to the industry. Both are true in our space.
The HECM product has stagnated over the last handful of years, and there continues to be excess capacity in the industry. It’s more efficient to have fewer, larger originators and specialty issuers of the securities in the marketplace. That’s why you’ve seen the number of major HMBS issuers decline over time.
That’s a driving force behind why Onity sold much of its business to Finance of America (FOA). In our most recent blog post, we pointed out that they’re no longer issuing new-issue HMBS. It looks like it’s just going to be three large participants now: FOA, Mutual of Omaha and Longbridge.
Nunes: What happens to the smaller players in this context?
McCully: They’ll either continue to sell to those larger consolidators or they’ll go out of business. If they’re not looking to expand their product mix — certainly proprietary products and maybe second liens, such as closed-end seconds or home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) — it’s going to be hard to stay in business. I do think there’s going to be continued consolidation.
Part two is that HMBS 2.0 never got put into place. And some of the parties with the most seasoned portfolios — and the greatest exposure to loss — are making decisions to shrink their balance sheets, if not exit the business entirely, because it didn’t come to fruition. That’s another reason there’s going to be consolidation.
Because the whole industry is so small compared to the forward side, these aren’t splashy transactions. They’re not necessarily even publicly available, but there are sellers of mortgage assets and there are transactions occurring that are shrinking balance sheets. There’s enough activity that if the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) doesn’t make any changes to the program and the industry stays at about 2,000 units a month, it’s just not enough to sustain so many players.
Nunes: Why are so many businesses no longer economically viable?
McCully: There’s a fair amount of infrastructure necessary to run the HMBS business. You’re the servicer of record. You have servicing oversight. You have risk management. There are many scenarios. One of the things that New View does for the market is value those future cash flows, and there are scenarios where you can lose money.
Even though there’s a HUD insurance wrap, it’s not guaranteed for every possible scenario, and there are plenty of situations where issuers lose money. So if you’re not growing your business and you have to maintain that infrastructure for what is essentially a shrinking industry, it becomes economically unviable.
Nunes: How attractive are reverse mortgages to forward lenders in this context?
McCully: I don’t think the forward industry is very attracted to becoming a HECM lender. They’re looking to the nonagency portion of the market and to proprietary products. As that continues to grow — with the high interest rate environment we’re in currently and with volume not likely to improve dramatically on the forward side — they should be looking at adding nonagency reverse mortgages to their product mix.
The industry has tried for years to make it attractive for the forward side of the mortgage market to enter our space, and it’s had modest success, but not nearly as robust as I think we all would have liked.
Nunes: What role does servicing play in the M&A wave?
McCully: Servicing is a scale business, and with our industry not growing materially, I don’t see the advantage of adding servicing — unless the existing lending community is unhappy with the quality of service. In that case, there may be motivation to bring servicing in-house. But from a volume and profitability perspective, subservicers will continue to cover the space adequately.
Nunes: Looking to the secondary market, what should we expect after the HMBS 2.0 proposal did not take off?
McCully: The request for information (RFI) that Ginnie Mae put out last fall — due in December and extended to early January — we thought might stimulate action, but instead we’ve seen inaction. I don’t think the industry is very optimistic that it’s going to come out anytime soon.
Part of that, frankly, has to do with the change of administration. It was a Biden-era product and it didn’t get launched before the new administration. I don’t know if they want to launch a product that came from a previous administration. I’m not optimistic about its launch.
Nunes: What is the current state of the secondary market?
McCully: The secondary market is functioning extremely well. There are two parts to it: new issues and more seasoned paper. For new issues, the secondary market needs supply. We could be originating five times, 10 times as much paper, and there would still be plenty of appetite from the investor community.
Securitization and the secondary capital markets are functioning extremely well. The problem is that the HECM product has become so safe — it’s a belt-and-suspenders product now — and that’s causing origination to stall.
The buyouts have been securitized successfully. The industry has continued to issue securities. They haven’t been as efficient as the HMBS 2.0 program could have been, but the market is working adequately. Spreads have continued to tighten over the last couple of years, and the market has functioned well. We’ve had no hiccups to date. There’s been no dramatic change in interest rates or home price appreciation. There have been no securitizations that have “blown up.” The market is getting more comfortable with the asset class.
Nunes: What changes are needed for the industry, in your opinion?
McCully: If they did one thing, one thing only, it would be to drop the initial mortgage insurance premium or make it very small. They could even increase the ongoing mortgage insurance premium if they needed to, but they don’t need to. The business and the product have made so many improvements to HECM since 2015, when they introduced financial assessment. Ten, 11 years later, they don’t need all that excess insurance, and it’s stalling program volume.
If they were to drop that upfront premium, that’s a huge barrier to entry for borrowers who are concerned about writing a $26,000 check at time zero for insurance. It’s a showstopper.
Nunes: How do proprietary products change this conversation?
McCully: Nonagency is growing. Lenders are lowering the minimum balance necessary to qualify, and proprietary products are going to continue to eat into the HECM business, all else equal. And as long as the securitization market doesn’t have any hiccups or bumps in the road — and spreads continue to tighten and investors gain confidence in the product — the space should drive more proprietary production volume, bring interest rates down and improve structures.
No one can predict the future, but if all goes well, that will continue to outstrip HECM going forward. Lenders that offer proprietary products alongside HECM may not have been able to survive if they only had HECM. It’s been a lifeline for the larger players to have both proprietary and HECM business.
Nunes: How are reverse mortgages competing with other home equity products on the market, such as home equity investments (HEIs), HELOCs and closed-end second liens?
McCully: There’s no question they’re taking away some market share and volume from reverse mortgages. They’re all tapping into senior home equity.
HEIs have some growing pains ahead. There are structural challenges with the product and it’s complex. It’s difficult to explain to borrowers. You may have seen that the CFPB put out a notice that it’s going to consider requiring HEIs to be recategorized as debt rather than equity. That will be a battle, but it says something about the state of that industry. That said, securitizations are getting done, though the subordination levels are not great.
We saw that happen on the reverse mortgage side. There were appreciation-share products in the early and mid-1990s, and borrowers didn’t understand what they were getting into. Two class-action lawsuits were brought against lenders in the reverse mortgage industry, and the reverse mortgage lenders did prevail. They had adequate disclosure and the cases were settled favorably for the industry, but nonetheless it left a negative taint that lingers to this day on the product. I think the HEI space has to be concerned about that.
Seconds and HELOCs are legitimate alternatives. There’s a whole group of homeowners who don’t want to give up their low-interest rate loans. That part of the industry will continue to grow, especially as innovation is added to those products, and these are legitimate alternatives for borrowers. We’ll continue to see those areas grow.
Is Miami really costlier than New York City? Why top developers say the math still favors Florida
While recent economic data suggests South Florida has lost its cost advantage over New York, top real estate developers argue the numbers fail to tell the full story.
Key executives behind major residential skyscrapers in Manhattan and Miami argue South Florida is playing long-overdue catch-up after decades of underpriced real estate, while still offering buyers significantly more long-term value.
“Miami has earned a seat as one of the greatest cities in the world,” Naftali Group EVP of marketing, sales and design Danielle Naftali told Fox News Digital. “As people have migrated down here, [and] made it a location that people are living permanently, obviously, things have become a bit more expensive… world-class restaurants opening here, the most amazing cultural institutions, entertainment, hospitality groups — everything that people really experience in major cities around the world. And, you know, those truly go hand in hand.”
“Globally, Miami was playing catch-up to New York for long periods of time, and you can do this by price per square foot, you can do it by total dollars, what they sell for, but Miami used to trade at — as a local myself — I almost thought it was weird how inexpensive the real estate was here comparatively to cities like New York or London or LA,” PMG managing director Ryan Shear also told Fox Digital.
FLORIDA NAMES N.Y.C. MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR’ IN TIMES SQUARE CAMPAIGN
“A lot of people have moved down here, not just people, but companies and a lot of high-profile people, and you’re seeing big headlines about big trades and big sales and that’s true and that is great for the city. I don’t think it tells the whole story. I think Miami is still a value city,” he added. “I still think it’s a bargain play down here.”
A recent Bloomberg analysis of U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data found that the overall cost of living in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area has surpassed that of greater New York. The analysis separately found that housing costs in South Florida are roughly 5% higher than in New York and its suburbs. Additionally, consumer prices in South Florida have risen 36% since 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, representing the second-highest inflation surge among major American markets, trailing only Tampa.
South Florida home prices have jumped 79% since the pandemic, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data, while Florida’s average annual homeowners insurance premium stands at $8,292, roughly four times the average in New York state, according to Insurify.
“There’s definitely a price gap that has changed. But what we see ultimately is that buyers are less sensitive to the price per square foot as the buyers have become more sophisticated,” Naftali countered. “We see our buyers thinking about everything from lifestyle, services and amenities, finished pallets, and really the best quality. So this is something that people are really willing to pay that premium.”
“Anyone that’s buying in our development today will be able to see their appreciation over the next five to ten years,” she said.
Beyond homebuyer costs, developers also face nationwide borrowing and insurance pressures. However, Shear emphasized that constructing a high-rise in Florida remains vastly more accessible than doing so in New York.
“It is still less expensive to build in Florida than New York. And not by a little, by like a decent, significant amount,” Shear said. “Debt in Florida is the same as debt in Texas… Banks lend nationally and globally. So it’s still affordable to build in Florida.”
“Everything’s relative. You know, we’re relative to the world we live in. So, relative is South Florida trading at faster paces, absorption greater than what we see in a lot of markets… It’s not a Miami thing. I think Florida in general is having a very good moment. And it’s been going on for a while, and I don’t think it’s stopping,” Shear said.
Florida remains one of nine U.S. states with no individual income tax, whereas top earners in New York City face combined state and local income tax rates of nearly 14.8%. ATTOM data show Miami-area property taxes have jumped 62% since 2019. Florida voters, meanwhile, will consider a constitutional amendment in November that would exempt the first $250,000 of a homestead’s value from property taxes other than school district levies.
“There is definitely still tax incentive to Florida. That’s very obvious. What we see, though, especially in the luxury sector, is that global luxury buyers, it’s not that they’re either going to New York or either going to Florida. Most of those buyers have a home in both locations. So there’s definitely a tax benefit to being in Florida, without a doubt,” Naftali said.
“It’s just math. The effective tax rate, I believe, in New York, if you’re in the top tax bracket, is somewhere between 50 and 55%, depending on what borough and so forth. There’s no state income tax and there’s no city tax here. So the top tax bracket is set by the federal government, that’s it. That’s the math. If anybody would tell you different, it’s not an opinion, that just factually is the truth,” Shear argued.
“I’ve read countless articles saying how real estate taxes are going through the roof. Well, it’s not the real estate tax going through the roof. There’s just more expensive real estate. It’s not that the tax rate is changing,” he continued. “But if you want to go to city that’s checking all these boxes that somebody’s looking for — massive growth, massive job[s], large population, high rises and so forth — I think it’s impossible to find one. So again, to the point of relativity, it’s all relative to the next option. I think as an option, it does not get better than South Florida.”
U.S. Census Bureau figures show the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area’s median household income was $80,625 in 2024, about $1,000 below the national median of $81,604. The developers also pointed to infrastructure, permitting and school expansion as efforts to accommodate future population growth across South Florida.
While local median incomes may lag national benchmarks, Shear noted the region’s economic engine is fundamentally changing as major employers relocate their corporate headquarters, rather than just opening small satellite branches.
“It’s not just the people that are moving down here. People are moving their companies down here,” Shear explained, noting that PMG shifted its primary headquarters from New York to Miami. “We’ve reached a tipping point where you’re seeing companies… that are planting their flag in Miami and building companies or taking their existing company and moving them to Miami.”
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
“I think specifically in Miami, people will continue to move down here. As we said, this is no longer a seasonal location, right? You have everything here,” Naftali said. “It’s a continuous progression. So when you talk about the next five years, it’s only going to continue to get better. So if you’re able to get in now and invest in a new development down here, I think it’s a great investment opportunity.”
“Ask people, where do you want to spend the rest of your life?” Shear said. “Not everything’s about price per square foot, and I still think it’s a value play down here, but I think it is about a lot more down in Florida… Work hours, quality of life, weather, state income tax, restaurants, who’s down here. I mean, Miami’s culture now is incredible… how lucky are we to experience the world’s cultures in one city? Fundamentally, people are moving down here and still are continuing to, not just because you save on taxes or there’s good sun. I think people have finally figured out that living in Florida may just be a better life that they want, and that’s invaluable.”
Israeli birdwatcher finds 30 migrating white storks dead under utility poles in Jordan Valley
Around 30 electrocuted white storks were found near the Tovlan waste site in the Jordan Valley by a birdwatcher from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) on Sunday.
Yotam Bashan, a senior birdwatcher with SPNI, noticed the dead storks lying beneath the power poles while driving along Route 90.
“While driving, I noticed white storks lying dead beneath the utility poles,” Bashan said. “I left the road and drove along the dirt road running parallel to it, and within a relatively short stretch, I counted about 30 dead storks, or remains of storks.”
Bashan noted that the situation is not a one-time phenomenon, explaining that “every year, dozens of stork carcasses are found in the area after being electrocuted to death.”
The Tovlan waste site attracts migrating storks during their yearly flight, providing a place to rest temporarily before continuing their journey or hunker down for the winter.
Exposed utility poles are danger to storks
“The nearby utility poles serve as places for them to perch and rest,” Bashan said. “The danger is primarily created by poles with exposed electrical components.”
“Because of their size and broad wingspan, when the storks land on a pole or spread their wings on it, they may simultaneously touch two points with different electrical voltages, or a conductive component and a grounded part of the pole. This closes an electrical circuit and electrocutes the bird, which usually ends in death.”
SNPI’s Birding Center Director Dr. Yoav Perlman called the Tovlan waste site and adjacent compost site “death trap[s] for white storks and black kites.”
“Over the past 10 years, every year, this line has killed many white storks during the migration seasons and many black kites during the winter,” according to Perlman, who added that several of the power lines in the area belong to the Israel Electric Corporation.
Authorities must act immediately before sites become further ‘death traps’
At the Israel Nature and Parks Authority’s (INPA) request, several of the utility poles in the area have been protected against electrocution while others have been buried underground.
“However,” noted Perlman, “many poles remain unprotected, and the evidence shows these are the ones electrocuting the birds. The problem is particularly serious with transformer poles, where protective solutions are more expensive.”
He called on the IEC and the Jordan Valley Regional Council to “act immediately” and either protect or bury all the power lines around the Tovlan waste site to ensure that they do not stay as “death traps” to migrating storks.
“About half a million white storks pass through Israel during every migration season, about half of the global population,” Perlman added. “Along their migration routes, white storks are exposed to many dangers, including hunting in the countries surrounding us and harm from energy infrastructure.”
“The State of Israel is a signatory to several international conventions for the protection of migratory birds. It would be good if the state fulfilled its commitment to the issue and solved this recurring problem once and for all.”
Firefighters work to extinguish bus fire on Highway 1 between Jerusalem, Ma’aleh Adumim
Highway 1 toward Ma’aleh Adumim from Jerusalem was closed to traffic after a bus caught fire near the Az-Za’ayyem Crossing, Israel Police announced on Monday morning.
Firefighters are currently working to extinguish the flames.
Police have asked drivers to operate with caution and follow the instructions of the police officers on scene.
This is a developing story.
El Al cancels Tel Aviv-Hanoi flight route after Shin Bet denies security authorization
El Al canceled a planned flight route between Tel Aviv and Hanoi, Vietnam‘s capital, after it couldn’t obtain security approval from the Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency), the airline announced on Thursday.
According to the airline, it sought permission from Israel’s security establishment to operate the flights but was told that it was not possible to grant the airline the permits necessary to fly the route using Israeli crew and planes.
El Al apologized to customers, offering to reimburse canceled flights with replacement flights to other locations, connecting flights to Hanoi with alternate airlines, or full refunds in the form of cash or vouchers.
The route was scheduled to launch in October.
El Al announces new routes to Asian, European countries
El Al had announced the route in February, alongside new routes to Manila, Seoul, Sardinia, Sicily, Switzerland, and Croatia.
According to El Al’s announcement at the time, the new routes would “provide an optimal solution for business travelers and will strengthen economic ties between Israel and Asia.”
Esther Davis contributed to this report.
Somalia troops and armed opposition clash in heavy Baidoa fighting as civilian toll rises
Somalia’s federal troops and armed opposition groups clashed in heavy fighting in Baidoa city center on Monday, a local resident and an army officer told Reuters.
The administrative capital of South West state, Baidoa, is home to international peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies. It is one of Somalia’s largest cities with a population of over a million people.
Fresh fighting in the city could compound a dire humanitarian crisis in the area. Baidoa hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people, and one in four children at displacement sites there are severely malnourished, according to a July survey by Médecins Sans Frontières.
“Militias loyal to the former Baidoa president entered Baidoa from two sides, challenging two battalions of federal military. Fighting has intensified now,” Farah Nur, a shopkeeper in the city, told Reuters.
Federal troops have been in charge of the city since March, when they seized control, which prompted South West state leader Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen to resign.
Heavy weapons deployed, civilians killed by stray bullets
Nur told Reuters federal forces were using heavy weapons and that he had seen at least two civilians killed in their houses by stray bullets and that several others who were injured were being taken to hospital.
Hassan Mohamed, Laftagareen’s spokesperson, said in a post on Facebook that their troops had captured Baidoa and asked federal forces to surrender. His claim could not be independently verified.
“The armed militias attacked Baidoa this morning; we are pushing them back…. There are casualties as stray bullets enter houses,” Captain Osman Abdullahi, a Somalia federal military officer, told Reuters.
Remembering IDF soldiers who lost their lives to hidden wounds – opinion
As I am watching and hearing the loud noise from an IDF helicopter flying above my house, two names that are deeply embedded in my heart come to mind – Alex and William. I will explain why in a moment.
I continued to watch the helicopter as it traveled over the beautiful Sea of Galilee, where jet skis and speed boats race around on the lake as people enjoy vacation time in Israel, instead of being hunkered down in bomb shelters.
For a brief while, it looked like that would be our reality again, as we were out shopping and mentally preparing ourselves for another war with the evil regime in Iran. However, once again at the last minute, the American president called off a major strike, which reportedly would have included Israel.
So once again it was a very surreal reality for almost all of us living in Israel, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.
As my time of staying here in the Galilee is coming to an end, I am thankful for this time that has allowed me to continue healing and recovering from so much trauma and death.
Two souls tormented by war
And yet, my heart once again is torn and hurting from receiving more devastating news. The names I mentioned above – William and Alex- were two young Jewish Americans who, out of love for their people and Israel, traveled alone to Israel to enlist in the IDF.
Both of them fought bravely for the Jewish Homeland against her enemies, it brought scars and traumas so deep, that out of the desperation and trouble in their souls, they both ended their lives after leaving Israel and returning to America. This news is absolutely devastating!
Alex Miller was a 23-year-old man was moderately wounded in one of the many the heinous terror attacks we had in Israel! It happened in a 2022 car-ramming attack near the Nebi Mousa training facility while he waited with his fellow soldiers.
Alex later returned to military service alongside his comrades in the Kfir Battalion after undergoing a painful and difficult rehabilitation process.
His family and friends explained how Alex fought deep trauma for a long time that remained with him since that horrible terror attack that wounded him. In addition to this, there was the emotional pain and trauma that followed from the loss of his close friend, Noam Shemesh, who was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip.
Alex later returned to America, where he tragically ended his life. May he rest in peace and may his memory forever be a blessing!
William Shakin immigrated to Israel following the October 7 massacre and bravely enlisted in the IDF through the Mahal program for overseas volunteers. He served as a combat soldier in the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion in Gaza, where he lost dear friends fighting alongside him, which left him deeply traumatized.
During his service, Shakin lived at HaBayit Shel Benji, which provides housing for lone soldiers. After he completed his service, he returned to America, where he tragically ended his life. May he rest in peace and may his memory forever be a blessing!
My heart aches for the families of Alex and William, because there are just no words I can find to comfort them.
Suicides and suicide attempts among IDF soldiers and veterans have surged since the October 7, 2023, onslaught and massacre against Israel and the subsequent wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
At least 60 active and reserve soldiers died by suicide between October 2023 and April of this year, including 10 lives lost in this year alone.
279 active-duty soldiers attempted suicide in a short period
A report published by the Knesset Research and Information Center last October found that between January 2024 and July 2025, 279 active-duty soldiers attempted to take their own lives. I must admit that all of this tragic information is making me weep deeply.
According to the report, combat soldiers made up 78 percent of all suicide cases in Israel during 2024, a sharp rise from previous years. The rate hovered between 42% and 45% from 2017 to 2022, and stood at just 17% in early 2023.
We can’t even begin to imagine what our precious soldiers have endured in facing these savages from Hamas and Hezbollah – year after year -fighting this demonic evil that has attacked us.
The toll from Israel just defending her nation and people, with so many soldiers killed in battle, thousands of soldiers losing their limbs, or thousands of soldiers permanently injured in varying degrees, including soldiers with PTSD, is staggering.
As we now see some of them being so deeply traumatized, they see no other way than to end their lives; just how much is a nation supposed to take? And on top of all of this, Israeli soldiers are being hunted around the world when they go on some much needed vacation, its despicable!
On top of that, we continue to get heartbreaking news from the battlefields: Two reservist soldiers were just killed, and four were seriously wounded after being hit by an explosive device in the southern Lebanon town of Majdal Zoun.
The slain troops were named as: Maj. (res.) Harel Birenstock, 34, a company commander from Nokdim; and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Tamir Vaknin, 33, from Eilat. Both served in the 55th Paratroopers Brigade’s 2855th Battalion.
May their memory be a blessing
May they rest in peace and may their memory be a blessing.
It’s just devastating; our hearts are breaking for their families.
The Jewish Nation continues to bury its sons, either killed in battle or killed by their own hands after experiences of unimaginable horror and trauma; it shatters our hearts!
However, here is some good news and some justice in the midst of so much heartbreak: the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet have acknowledged that a special operation has been established with a dedicated unit named “Nili” to hunt down and kill every single despicable terrorist involved in the October 7, 2023, massacre on Israel.
Speaking to Channel 12 news, some of the Nili officers openly described their mission for the first time, detailing who has been targeted and the means used to locate and kill them.
According to the report, 2,800 people on Nili’s list have been killed, including the 1,200 terrorists killed by Israeli security forces in southern Israel during the horrific October 7th onslaught.
Among those eliminated have been the terrorists who kidnapped 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, 12-year-old Yagil Yaakov, Yarden Bibas, and Avinatan Or.
The hate is not limited to our precious soldiers only; we see over and over how Israelis are attacked while being on vacation around the world, just like what just happened to an Israeli mother and daughter vacationing on Thailand’s Koh Phangan Island.
They went to visit a waterfall where they encountered a man who asked where they were from.
After the daughter replied that they were from Israel, the man began confronting them over the war in Gaza, telling them, “I don’t like what Israel is doing there,” and “I’m against violence,” and then he launched a brutal physical assault on both women.
This evil attacker beat the mother, repeatedly kicking her and striking her in the head until she reportedly lost consciousness. When the daughter ran to help her mother, she was brutally assaulted also.
The mother underwent emergency treatment for internal bleeding in her head and surgery on her ear. She is expected to have another operation, while her daughter underwent surgery to repair injuries to her nose.
This is just one of the horrific attacks we see on Israelis travelling around the world, its horrifying.
What has the world come to? But we know that a lot of this goes back to the lies and nasty propaganda that Hamas sends out from the Gaza Strip, and then it is broadcast by mainstream media without any filter to the world.
This includes the never-ending lies about starvation and genocide in Gaza (which never happened), but the media ate these lies, and they ran with it, as if it was the truth.
On the “consumer side” of mainstream media, it makes ignorant people around the world believe these outrageous lies by Hamas and serves to build up an unprecedented hatred towards the Jewish people and Israel.
It is for that reason, when hateful people now encounter Israelis citizens or Jews around the world, the hunt is on and they are being attacked in the most brutal ways.
At the same time, we continue to bury our sons and daughters in Israel, and others find themselves being discriminated against, boycotted, and marginalized, while the world looks away in shameful silence.
These enemies can only spread lies, hate, and propaganda against the one nation they can’t defeat militarily or politically, because Israel is divinely protected by the One Who created the Holy Land.
As for me, this is why I am here; this is why I endure the pain, the trauma, and the tears, because I will not stay silent!
I will continue to cry for each and every one of them, and share their names and stories with the world and stand united and mourn with all of their families!
Today we honor Alex, William, Tarel, and Tamir!
How precious you were, you all died so young not getting to live a long and good life, my heart is just breaking.
We will never forget you!
Rest in peace, brave warriors!
Trump Drug-Price Policy Is Already Changing Where New Medicines Get Launched
President Donald Trump’s effort to bring U.S. prescription-drug prices closer to those paid overseas is already changing pharmaceutical companies’ behavior far beyond America.
Drugmakers are increasingly holding back applications for insurance reimbursement in Switzerland because lower Swiss prices could eventually be used as benchmarks under the administration’s most-favored-nation drug-pricing policy.
A survey released Thursday by Swiss pharmaceutical industry group Interpharma found that seven of 22 newly introduced innovative medicines between January 2025 and June 2026 were never submitted for inclusion on Switzerland’s mandatory health-insurance reimbursement list. Three additional medicines were not submitted for Swiss market approval at all.
The reimbursement list matters because it determines whether Swiss compulsory health insurance will cover a drug and also helps establish the price paid in the country.
That is now becoming a strategic concern for manufacturers.
Trump’s most-favored-nation approach seeks to prevent Americans from paying substantially more for medicines than patients in other wealthy nations. Switzerland is among the markets that can be used as an international pricing reference.
For drugmakers, that creates a new calculation.
Launching a medicine at a relatively low reimbursed price in Switzerland could potentially put pressure on the much larger and more profitable U.S. market. Companies therefore have an incentive to delay reimbursement, hold back a launch or seek a higher overseas price rather than risk creating a cheaper benchmark that could follow them back to America.
Interpharma said just 15 new medicines were submitted for Swiss reimbursement during the 18-month period, compared with an average of 24 during comparable periods between 2019 and 2025.
The business consequence is one of the most important unintended effects emerging from international reference pricing.
A policy designed to lower American drug costs does not necessarily change only what Americans pay. It can also influence where pharmaceutical companies launch medicines, how quickly they seek reimbursement and what prices they demand from foreign governments.
That could leave countries accustomed to negotiating lower drug prices with less leverage.
The trend is not limited to Switzerland. Drugmakers have also delayed some European launches amid concern that lower prices there could undermine U.S. pricing under the administration’s international benchmarking push.
For American consumers, the administration’s objective remains straightforward: use the enormous size of the U.S. pharmaceutical market to push domestic prices closer to the lowest prices paid by other developed countries.
But the early response from manufacturers suggests the policy may change the global pricing system itself.
Instead of simply lowering American prices to European levels, pharmaceutical companies may increasingly try to prevent European prices from falling far below American ones.
That means the next phase of the drug-price battle may not be fought only inside U.S. pharmacies and insurance companies.
It may be fought over which countries get new medicines first — and how much they will have to pay to get them.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Why Warehouses Are Rolling In More Robots
The U.S. government wants allies to pick a side in the AI race
Good morning,
It was another tough week to be Phoebe Gates.
Bloomberg’s latest investigation found Gates and cofounder Sophia Kianni knew for seven months that their AI shopping extension, Phia, was quietly taking credit for sales it never drove—not just the 24 hours the company initially claimed. The trick, called “cookie stuffing,” had Phia silently hijacking checkout pages to swap in its own referral code over legit ones, until Bloomberg revealed the practice in tests of more than 50 sites.
Phia says it killed the feature, is reversing bad transactions, and is hiring a compliance chief. Whether that’s enough to keep the startup afloat, and what Gates’ path forward resembles, remains to be seen .
Here’s what else happened in tech this weekend.
Want to send thoughts or suggestions to Fortune Tech? Drop a line here.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Inside Japan’s climate-adaptation playbook
- In today’s CEO Daily: What Japan teaches us about climate change reaction.
- The big leadership story: Is there more than one AI bubble?
- The markets: Rising higher as volatility eases.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning from Japan, where my son and I have been traveling the past two weeks. We landed in Tokyo amid 102.4-degree heat (39.1°C), which almost made it kokushobi or a “cruelly hot day”—a designation introduced in April to warn the public when temperatures rise above 40 degrees Celsius. There’s also the torrential rainfall this summer, including last week’s historic downpour in Chiba Prefecture that stranded travelers, disrupted power, and killed at least 8 people. But Japan is not just a nation having another frighteningly hot summer—it has become one of the world’s most advanced climate-adaptation labs, one U.S. leaders and companies may look to as temperatures climb here.
It’s a tough battle, even in a country that’s long been used to dealing with earthquakes, eruptions, tsunamis, typhoons, heat waves and floods. Almost every Japanese household has access to air conditioning while only a fifth of European households do, which a new Swiss Re report warns has left much of the continent ill-equipped to handle the shock of current heat waves.
One challenge for Japan is changing office culture, which has long expected men to dress in suits while women are expected to wear stockings and formal skirts. Despite a city government campaign to encourage workers to wear polo shirts and shorts to the office this year amid record-breaking heat and the Iran energy crisis, I saw plenty of men in jackets and ties.
The government strengthened workplace heatstroke-prevention rules last year, requiring employers to have reporting, cooling and medical-response procedures in place. And employers are stepping up. Contractor Obayashi Corp. shifted construction work from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at heat-exposed sites this summer, instead of the usual 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. Seibu Railway has installed air-conditioned rest areas with refrigerators, and companies are issuing cooling garments, salt tablets, fans, and heat-monitoring devices. And Japan’s growing use of robots in agriculture to supplement its shrinking population of farmers carries the added advantage of creating workers immune to heat.
Of course, rescheduling work hours or sports tournaments, much like shifting crops or fishing practices amid warming oceans, doesn’t address the fundamental issues contributing to more extreme weather or reduce the overall risks. Allianz estimates countries like France, Italy and Spain could face cumulative heat-related GDP losses of up to 7% by 2030.
While the business case for dealing with climate change is obvious, the growing impact coincides with silence from the private sector, especially in the U.S. Maybe that’s because of the rollback of climate-change policies in Washington, a backlash against ESG or sensitivity about the growing emissions toll of AI. Japan didn’t feel it could afford to wait for the world to agree on climate change before adapting to it. The question for U.S. business leaders is, how much heat can they take before they start to do the same?
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Stripe clinches over $7 billion deal to buy AI firm OpenRouter
Stripe Inc. has finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter Inc., a startup that helps companies switch between artificial intelligence models, for more than $7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal, just months after OpenRouter raised money at a reported $1.3 billion valuation, underscores the demand from businesses to find the most cost-friendly AI solutions. It could also give Stripe, a payments processing firm, a stronger footing in the fast-growing artificial intelligence sector.
The final price for the acquisition could change. The discussions were described by people who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.
A spokesperson for Stripe said the firm doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation. OpenRouter declined to comment.
Founded in 2023, OpenRouter provides access to hundreds of AI models, with the goal of matching developers with the most efficient and affordable options for the job at hand. The New York-based company has attracted some of the biggest investors in Silicon Valley, including CapitalG — one of Alphabet Inc.’s venture arms — as well as Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures. OpenRouter has raised more than $150 million in capital to date.
The startup’s rise coincides with greater scrutiny on AI costs. While firms like Anthropic PBC and OpenAI are still widely viewed as offering the most capable AI models, a long list of Chinese firms provide cheaper alternatives that are often viewed as good enough for many tasks.
In May, OpenRouter said it serves 8 million developers who rely on it to access more than 400 different AI models. The startup’s main growth is coming from developers who experiment with different models when building agentic capabilities into their software, a process that requires a mix of infrastructure that can work across different providers and data sources.
OpenRouter also offers services that help companies access backups in case the model they use fails and understand which options are most popular across the broader tech ecosystem.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported Stripe was in talks to buy OpenRouter for about $10 billion.
OpenRouter Chief Executive Officer Alex Atallah previously co-founded OpenSea, a nonfungible token marketplace, which raised more than $400 million in capital but saw usage crater. Atallah stepped down from OpenSea in July 2022, and less than a year later started OpenRouter.
Earlier this year, Atallah described OpenRouter as the AI equivalent of Stripe.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Jane Street Absorbs $15 Billion AI-Related Hit — and Is Still Having a Record Year
Jane Street, one of the most powerful trading firms on Wall Street, suffered an extraordinary $15 billion hit in July after an AI-stock selloff battered positions connected to one of the market’s most aggressive artificial-intelligence investment funds.
Yet the loss reveals something equally remarkable: Jane Street has still generated more than $40 billion in trading revenue this year, already surpassing the $39.6 billion it produced during all of 2025.
The July setback was tied partly to Jane Street’s investment in Situational Awareness, an AI-focused hedge fund run by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner.
The fund had grown rapidly as AI-related stocks surged during the first half of the year. But when semiconductor, memory and other AI-linked shares suddenly reversed in July, leveraged positions came under severe pressure.
Situational Awareness ultimately unloaded much of its stock portfolio in a distressed sale to Citadel after losses triggered margin calls.
Jane Street was caught in that reversal both through its investment in the fund and through other technology positions of its own.
Several major memory and semiconductor stocks fell roughly 50% during the July rout, according to a Jane Street communication to employees.
The result was Jane Street’s first negative month of trading revenue since 2016.
For perspective, a $15 billion loss would be catastrophic for almost any investment firm in the world.
For Jane Street, it interrupted an otherwise extraordinary year.
The privately held trading company has approximately 3,500 employees and operates across more than 200 trading venues worldwide, buying and selling stocks, bonds, ETFs, options, currencies and commodities.
Its scale allows the firm to hold enormous positions while providing liquidity to global markets.
That model can be extraordinarily profitable when markets move as expected.
July demonstrated what happens when they do not.
Jane Street said it has since reduced risk in some strategies and closed significant portions of positions associated with the losses.
The episode also offers investors a rare glimpse into how concentrated the AI trade has become.
Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a collection of popular technology stocks held by retail investors. Hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, banks and institutional investors have committed enormous amounts of capital to many of the same semiconductor, data-center, cloud-computing and memory companies.
That concentration can amplify gains when AI stocks rise.
It can also accelerate losses when investors attempt to exit similar positions simultaneously.
The most unusual part of Jane Street’s July loss may therefore be what happened afterward.
Despite absorbing approximately $15 billion in a single month, the firm remains on pace for what could still be the most profitable year in its history.
That says as much about the extraordinary amount of money being made around today’s markets as the loss itself.
But July delivered a warning that applies far beyond Jane Street:
A trade can become enormously profitable without becoming less dangerous.
And when billions of dollars are crowded into the same AI bets, a relatively short market reversal can produce losses measured not in millions — but in tens of billions.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
STAT+: Kennedy’s split-screen week: Talk of vaccines in D.C., fraud and addiction out West
LOS ANGELES — In the chapel of a homeless shelter, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood behind a lectern with a “Cancel Corruption” sign and lambasted local officials for mishandling the city’s homelessness and substance use crisis.
Just 24 hours earlier, Kennedy was in the Oval Office, standing alongside President Trump, as the president signed an executive order calling for major changes to childhood vaccinations.
The change in tone — from day to day and coast to coast — shows how Kennedy’s sprawling political messages tied to his Make America Healthy Again movement vary depending on the audience he is in front of.
STAT+: UnitedHealth faces IRS probe over potential tax avoidance
The Internal Revenue Service is investigating UnitedHealth Group, with an initial probe determining the health care conglomerate underpaid taxes during a four-year period by funneling money through a foreign subsidiary.
The IRS is “seeking to significantly increase taxable income” from 2017 through 2020 and may force UnitedHealth to pay more “for subsequent years after 2020,” UnitedHealth revealed in a recent regulatory filing. UnitedHealth received the notices, which have not been reported, from the IRS in March.
These types of audits from the IRS are exceedingly rare and focus on how big companies transfer profits within themselves. Given UnitedHealth’s size as one of the five largest companies in the world by revenue, this examination likely involves substantial sums of money.
STAT+: Epic confronts unprecedented challenges as it prepares to address customers and unveil road map
Every August, Epic Systems founder Judy Faulkner holds court with over 20,000 people, including staff and executives from her most devoted customers, in an auditorium buried five stories into the Wisconsin earth. At the company’s annual meeting, she takes the stage to unveil her company’s latest innovations — products that inevitably form a technological road map for America’s hospitals.
This year, the crowd will also be watching Faulkner’s speech for another reason.
The company she founded nearly half a century ago, now the nation’s dominant seller of electronic health records software, is facing an unprecedented series of challenges driven by antitrust lawsuits, questions about its artificial intelligence strategy, an exodus of key technology leaders, and, most recently, the disclosure that state and federal investigators are looking into the company’s business practices.
Opinion: We proved bipartisan health care reform works in North Carolina. Let’s bring it nationwide
America’s health care affordability crisis is not a partisan problem. It is bankrupting families, straining state budgets, and overwhelming emergency rooms from rural Appalachia to downtown Seattle.
While it is not a cure-all, we want to share something that worked in the purple state of North Carolina, in some of the most underserved rural communities in America, built with support from both sides of the aisle. We call it the Healthy Opportunities Pilots, and the results recently came in. They are worth everyone’s attention.
Opinion: Paid paternity leave is pediatric preventive care
The father cradled his newborn daughter as we reviewed routine infant care. Her mother, still recovering from childbirth, joined by video from home. He held his daughter with the tentative confidence and unmistakable love of a first-time parent. As we wrapped up our visit, he shook his head and said, “I can’t believe I have to go back to work tomorrow.”
As a pediatrician, I am unfortunately familiar with this type of story. Parents want to be present during the first days of their children’s lives. Too often, they cannot afford to be — especially fathers.
Middle East Crisis Costs Hapag-Lloyd $600 Million in Just Three Months
The Middle East shipping crisis cost Hapag-Lloyd approximately $600 million in the second quarter alone, putting a concrete price tag on how geopolitical disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz are flowing directly into global supply-chain costs.
The German container-shipping giant said Thursday that higher fuel, insurance, storage, rerouting and inland-transportation expenses tied to the disruption sharply weighed on earnings.
Net profit fell to just $83 million, down from $306 million a year earlier, even as revenue increased to about $5.84 billion.
The result shows how a shipping company can move more cargo and collect more revenue while still making dramatically less money when major trade routes become unstable.
Hapag-Lloyd has been forced to reroute vessels and reorganize its network as Middle East tensions disrupt normal shipping patterns. Those diversions add sailing time, consume additional fuel and create congestion throughout the company’s global system.
Insurance costs also increase when vessels operate near conflict zones, while containers delayed or stranded in the wrong ports create additional storage and repositioning expenses.
The impact does not stop with the shipping company.
When carriers spend hundreds of millions of dollars more to move cargo, those costs can eventually reach manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers through higher freight charges and surcharges.
That makes Hapag-Lloyd’s $600 million figure important far beyond one corporate earnings report.
The company said stronger exports from Asia and improved U.S. demand helped offset part of the damage. Second-quarter EBITDA reached $829 million, slightly above the comparable period last year, as higher spot freight rates provided some relief.
But profitability remained under heavy pressure.
Hapag-Lloyd’s experience also highlights how quickly geopolitical disruptions can reshape transportation economics. A container that once traveled through the most efficient route may suddenly require a longer voyage, additional handling or a combination of ocean, rail and truck transportation to reach the same customer.
Those changes create costs at nearly every step.
For businesses importing goods, the lesson is that shipping disruptions do not have to stop cargo completely to become expensive. Even when products continue moving, slower routes and higher operating expenses can significantly increase the final cost of getting merchandise onto shelves.
Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s largest container carriers, meaning the company’s experience provides a window into pressures affecting international trade more broadly.
Its rival Maersk also reported higher costs from Middle East disruptions Thursday, although strong freight rates and global container demand helped the Danish carrier raise its earnings outlook.
The contrast shows another unusual feature of the shipping industry: disruption can hurt operating costs while simultaneously pushing freight rates higher.
For individual carriers, the outcome depends on whether those higher rates are enough to compensate for the extra expense.
For Hapag-Lloyd during the second quarter, they were not.
The company’s $600 million hit demonstrates how quickly a regional security crisis can turn into a global business expense — and eventually into another cost embedded in the products moving through the world economy.
JBizNews Desk | Hamburg
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Israel should kill ‘30-40’ Gazans every night, Ben-Gvir says on ex-hostage’s podcast
Israel should be killing 30 to 40 Gazans in precision strikes every night, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on a podcast with former hostage Rom Braslavski on Sunday.
“It’s no secret, I disagreed with the prime minister,” Ben-Gvir said. “I think that we need to do targeted strikes in Gaza every night, take out 30, 40 – not just those who endanger us in that moment. There are people there who aren’t worthy of life; they shouldn’t be alive; they aren’t people at all.”
Ben-Gvir also said that even Gaza citizens whom some “might consider uninvolved” shouldn’t be exempt.
“She’s a terrorist for all intents and purposes,” he said about a woman who brought Braslavski food during his time in captivity.”
“She needs a bullet in the head. She didn’t bring you food because she worried about your health – she brought you food because she wanted to preserve you so you could be a resource afterward, in that murdering terrorists would be released. Someone like that needs a bullet in the head.”
He added that he was proud to be the most feared man in Gaza, after Braslavski described the terrorists’ hatred and fear of him.
“I see all of Gaza as ours,” Ben-Gvir said. “Settlements not just in Gush Katif but throughout Gaza, encouraging as much emigration as possible, sending them to their countries, and for the terrorists, no emigration, nothing, just to kill them one by one.”
Braslavski also asked to be the one to execute captured terrorists using Ben-Gvir’s death penalty for terrorists law.
“I don’t want a rope, and I don’t need a button. With my own hands, I will execute every terrorist here.”
Ben-Gvir promised to do everything in his power to make that happen, saying, “It is one of my greatest dreams to see you there.”
Imprisoned terrorists ‘suffer greatly,’ Ben-Gvir says
Later in the interview, the minister talked about the conditions in Israeli prisons, saying that he had removed as many extraneous luxuries as he could.
“They suffer greatly; it’s awful for them, and I’m glad that it’s bad for them. They get the minimum of the minimum of the minimum of the minimum. But you’re right: in the end, it’s only a death sentence that will bring, not even a full restoration, but some kind of restoration.”
Organizations such as Peace Now or Standing Together, which push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, should be outlawed, Ben-Gvir stated.
“I’m not bothered when they come and demonstrate against me – I actually find that amusing,” he claimed. “But the fact that these organizations support terrorism, support terrorists, support refusal to serve – they should be outlawed.”
However, Ben-Gvir also emphasized how important the principle of peace was to him.
“Peace is one of the most beautiful things,” he said. “You know what is written? ‘The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.’ You destroy your enemies, kill them, and then there will be peace.”
Italian FM condemns Itamar Ben-Gvir
Antonio Tajani, Italy’s Foreign Minister, condemned Ben-Gvir‘s attempt to impose the death penalty on prisoners in a Sunday post on X/Twitter.
Ringrazio Papa Leone per il suo appello in favore di una soluzione a due Stati tra Israele e Palestina. La stessa che l’Italia persegue attraverso la sua attività diplomatica. Proprio per questo nelle scorse settimane abbiamo ospitato a Roma la Conferenza dell’Alleanza Globale…
— Antonio Tajani (@Antonio_Tajani) August 16, 2026
“No one can arrogate to themselves the right to take someone’s life,” Tajani stated.
He added that Italy would continue condemning attacks against Palestinians done by settlers in the West Bank.
Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing departs for Russia to expand energy and economic ties
Myanmar junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing left for Russia on Monday for his first official visit to the country since he assumed the presidency in April, according to state media.
Russia will be the fifth country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming president, with official trips to India, China, Laos, and, earlier this month, Thailand.
The former general is the subject of a raft of Western sanctions and has been on a quest for international legitimacy since winning a vote in parliament to become president, which came after an election dominated by an army-backed party in the absence of a viable opposition.
Min Aung Hlaing made four visits to Russia as junta chief, the first in June 2021 to attend a security conference, five months after seizing power in a coup. He visited twice in 2022 and again in March 2025, when he held formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Russia is hoping to open up opportunities in Myanmar for its energy companies. The two countries signed an agreement to construct a small-scale nuclear power plant in Myanmar when Min Aung Hlaing met Putin in 2025.
Russia, Myanmar strengthening defense ties
Russia and Myanmar signed a memorandum on investment cooperation for the strategically located Dawei Special Economic Zone in February 2025, including the construction of a port and an oil refinery.
Min Aung Hlaing’s latest trip includes a Myanmar-Russia business forum. Joining him will be the chief minister of the Tanintharyi region, where Dawei is located, and the head of Myanmar’s aerospace agency, according to state media.
Defense ties have grown in recent years, with Moscow providing army training and university scholarships to thousands of Myanmar soldiers, as well as selling arms to a military blacklisted by some Western countries.
Russia also said earlier this year that it would help train Myanmar’s first cosmonaut.
Two drones attack Kurdistan Regional Government prime minister, head of protection agency
Two drones attacked the office of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s prime minister and the residence of the head of the protection agency on Monday, the KRG announced in a security statement.
The statement added that the attacks were launched from Iranian territory and that no human casualties had been reported.
This is a developing story.
WATCH: Israel’s ‘Alliance of Brothers’ delegation aids in search and rescue efforts across Colombia
The IDF’s Home Front Command continued working alongside search teams working through the rubble of collapsed buildings in western Colombia nearly a week after a powerful earthquake devastated cities and towns across the country’s west, killing hundreds and leaving many more missing, injured or homeless.
Israel’s “Alliance of Brothers” delegation has also assisted with efforts to map and assess buildings damaged in the earthquake, led by the delegation’s engineers, to help determine which buildings are still stable.
The 7.4-magnitude quake struck Monday morning in San Jose del Palmar, causing severe damage from the Pacific port of Buenaventura to Colombia’s coffee-growing region and major western cities including Cali and Pereira.
Official estimates issued on Sunday put the death toll at around 290, with more than 140 people still missing and 4,200 injured. More than two-thirds of the deaths were concentrated in Cali and Pereira, where apartment blocks, homes, churches, schools and hospitals were damaged or destroyed.
No signs of life
In Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, emergency workers continued searching unstable piles of concrete and twisted metal on Sunday as rescue efforts increasingly gave way to the recovery of bodies.
“Unfortunately, there are no signs of life,” Cali fire department Captain Alberto Hernandez said. “Miracles can happen, but honestly – as a believer and based on what we have seen – there is no indication that anyone is still alive.”
Aftershocks have added to the danger for crews working in damaged neighborhoods and for residents still unable to return home.
De La Espriella said on Sunday that Colombian billionaire banker Jaime Gilinski, who also controls food company Nutresa, would donate 150 billion pesos ($47.75 million) to rebuild hospitals and schools in Gilinski’s hometown Cali. The Santo Domingo family, which controls a vast media empire in the nation, had already pledged $32 million on Friday.
Anthropic’s $2 Trillion IPO Bet Rests on Revenue Surging to $200 Billion by 2028
Anthropic is preparing for what could become one of the largest initial public offerings in history, but the potential $2 trillion valuation comes with an extraordinary assumption: investors are being asked to price the AI company largely on revenue it expects to generate two years from now.
The Claude maker is projecting roughly $190 billion to $200 billion in revenue for 2028, according to people familiar with its financials.
That would represent a massive expansion from the roughly $47 billion annual revenue run rate Anthropic reported as recently as May.
The numbers explain how Wall Street could arrive at a valuation approaching or even exceeding $2 trillion — territory occupied by only a handful of the world’s most valuable companies.
Rather than relying primarily on today’s earnings, bankers and investors are examining what Anthropic could be worth if its rapid growth continues and applying revenue multiples to those future sales.
That is an unusually aggressive way to value a company of this size, but Anthropic’s growth has been unusually aggressive as well.
Its revenue run rate stood at about $9 billion at the end of 2025 before climbing above $47 billion by May. Anthropic has said its revenue run rate increased more than tenfold annually in each of the three years through early 2026.
The company has also projected at least $10.9 billion of revenue for the second quarter of 2026 and its first quarterly operating profit, at approximately $559 million.
The enormous valuation therefore rests on more than whether businesses continue buying Claude.
Anthropic currently spends heavily on GPUs, data centers, model training, inference and employees. Investors betting on a multitrillion-dollar valuation are effectively betting that those expenses will consume a smaller percentage of revenue as Anthropic becomes larger and AI technology becomes more efficient.
Bankers are looking at companies including Palantir, Cloudflare and SpaceX for clues about how aggressively investors may value a rapidly growing technology company whose future scale is considerably larger than its current financial results.
That creates both the opportunity and the risk.
If Anthropic comes close to generating $200 billion annually by 2028 while improving its margins, today’s seemingly extraordinary valuation could eventually be supported by an enormous operating business.
If growth slows, however, investors buying into an IPO at a valuation approaching $2 trillion would have paid today for hundreds of billions of dollars in sales that have yet to materialize.
That may ultimately be the defining question surrounding Anthropic’s IPO.
Investors would not simply be buying one of the world’s fastest-growing AI companies. They would be making one of the largest bets yet that the AI boom can deliver the extraordinary revenue now being projected for it.
JBizNews Desk | San Francisco
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Billionaire founder agrees with Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos: We will live and work in space—and could be commuting to the moon by 2030
Some of the world’s most powerful tech billionaires think your next job posting could come from another planet. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman have all predicted a future where humans live and work in space. Now, Voyager Technologies founder and CEO Dylan Taylor is backing them up—and he’s putting a very soon timeline on it.
According to Taylor, you could be commuting to the moon within a decade.
“Humans will definitely be living and working in space,” the billionaire space exec exclusively told Fortune.
“The next step would be the moon. That’ll happen in the 2030s—probably early 2030s,” Taylor added. “We’ll have a moon base, people living and working on the moon. You’ll be able to look up at the moon and see lights on the moon.”
Technically, Taylor points out that a tiny portion of humanity is already working in space at the International Space Station, which has had “humans continuously up there for 26 years.” But the CEO added that the industry is “working actively” on scaling that up from a handful of trained astronauts to the general population.
As for what jobs will eventually exist up there? Taylor points to resource mining, orbital data centers, and power grid construction—work he doesn’t think humanoid robots can fully replace. “You’re not going to be able to program Optimus to do everything on the moon,” he added. “You’re going to have to have humans to figure it out.”
Unlike the moon, Mars is humanity’s backup plan—not its new home
Taylor isn’t just speculating from the sidelines. Despite making millions before even 30 and running public companies across electronics, finance, banking, and real estate, he started again at 37 to chase his childhood dream: working in space.
In 2007, Taylor became an angel investor in Space Adventures. He was also an early investor in Relativity Space, along with Mark Cuban. In 2017, he founded his first space venture, Space For Humanity, a nonprofit that plans to purchase seats on commercial spaceflight for people who wouldn’t typically have access. And then two years later founded Voyager—and that bet paid off last year, when the company went public on the NYSE, hitting a $3.8 billion valuation, and turning Taylor into a billionaire at 53. Fortune reviewed a summary of his financial records, which verifies his billionaire status.
Voyager is now building the replacement for the International Space Station and holds multiple NASA contracts. Taylor himself has even flown to space on a 2021 Blue Origin flight—and became the 606th human to go to space.
But Mars, he said, is a different story entirely: “Just because it’s so much further away. Radiation is so much more of a bigger problem.”
For the majority of us regular folk, Taylor doesn’t see Mars becoming our new home—unless a major catastrophe hits Earth. “I agree with Elon (Musk) that we want to have some diversification, in case something really bad happens here—an asteroid or something like that,” he explained. “The moon really isn’t sufficient diversification. The moon and the Earth are really the same planetary system.”
Who actually goes, he says, will mostly come down to who wants to.
“A lot of people don’t want to live on Mars,” he said, adding that he’s not one of them. “I’d rather do the adventure. We’re all on a one-way trip, whether we know it or not. It’s just where you want to end up.”
And he believes enough people think like him that you could eventually end up with a town or city on the Red Planet.
“They have the adventurer gene, which I think I have,” Taylor added. “There’s enough people that would do that that you could start a small colony—but this whole notion that we can create an entire civilization, terraform ours, it’s going to take a long time to do that.”
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman have made similar predictions about space and work
It’s not just Taylor who’s predicted that you could be applying for jobs and a mortgage from another planet in the future.
Musk, Tesla CEO and the richest person on the planet, has single-handedly been one of the most influential leaders in pushing for 21st-century space accessibility. After all, he’s the cofounder and CEO of $1.8 trillion SpaceX, which has worked hand in hand with NASA to advance space exploration. He thinks humans will be on Mars as soon as 2028—but it’s worth noting his past predictions haven’t always hit the mark. In 2016, Musk said he wanted to send humans to Mars by 2024, but it didn’t happen.
Bezos, meanwhile, has predicted that by 2045, “millions of people” will be living in space—and robots will commute on our behalf to the moon.
“I don’t see how anybody can be discouraged who is alive right now,” the Amazon and Blue Origin founder said on stage at Italian Tech Week 2025. “If you need to do some work on the surface of the moon or anywhere else, we will be able to send robots to do that work.”
And in less than 10 years’ time, OpenAI’s CEO Altman says college graduates will be working “some completely new, exciting, super well-paid” job in space. The ChatGPT creator even said that he’s jealous of young people because his generation’s early-career jobs will look “boring” and “old” by comparison.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Conditions aboard USS Lincoln ‘exacerbated by decision to start Iran war,’ senators tell Hegseth
Twelve US officials have sent a formal letter to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth regarding the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, demanding “honest answers” to reports of deteriorating conditions and mental health crises onboard the ship.
Lincoln has spent nearly 250 consecutive days at sea without making land since its departure from San Diego in November 2025. US military newspapers Navy Times and Stars and Stripes last week reported that several service members had attempted to jump overboard, citing concerned family members.
Criticizing Hegseth and US President Donald Trump for dismissing the reports earlier this week, the senators argued in their letter that the situation on Lincoln was “preventable” and similar to issues USS Gerald R. Ford faced during its over 300-day deployment earlier this year.
“The USS Lincoln was redirected to the Middle East as the war with Iran began and has remained there as that war has dragged on with no clear endpoint,” stated the letter. “This is a symptom of poor planning by both you [Hegseth] and the President and exacerbated by the deeply unsound decision to start a war with Iran.”
Regarding reports that the USS George Washington would be deployed to the Middle East to relieve Lincoln, the letter stated that while the move would leave the US without an aircraft carrier, returning the Lincoln to port takes precedence.
Senators demand Hegseth take accountability
It further demanded that the US Department of Defense inform Congress and the families of Lincoln’s service members of the timeline and plan to bring the carrier home.
“Denial and defensiveness are not acceptable responses. Congress and these families need accountability,” the letter said.
The senators presented Hegseth with a list of 12 questions about Lincoln’s current status, living conditions, morale, and the health of its crew, as well as the well-being of the families of the service members onboard, and demanded written answers.
Secretary Hegseth owes the American people answers about the situation aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Our servicemembers and their families deserve more than the denials we’ve gotten from this Administration. pic.twitter.com/jEE7nUEC6e
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) August 17, 2026
“As the Secretary of Defense, you [Hegseth] are accountable to the men and women who serve our nation. It is time for you to demonstrate leadership, rather than peddle excuses,” the letter concluded. “The service members we send into harm’s way deserve nothing less.”
The letter was signed by US Committee on Armed Services Ranking Member and Senator Jack Reed (Rhode Island), Senator Gary C. Peters (Michigan), Senator Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), Senator Mark Kelly (Arizona), Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patty Murray, Senator Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Senator Mazie K. Hirono (Hawaii), Senator Tammy Duckworth (Illinois), Senator Elissa Slotkin (Michigan), Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (New York), and Senator Angus S. King Jr (Maine).
Last week, Blumenthal sent his own letter to Hegseth and Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao about Lincoln.
Citing reports of supply shortages, water contamination, and several other issues that have arisen over the past months, Blumenthal granted the US Navy until August 27 to provide answers.
In his questions to the naval force, Blumenthal requested details on Lincoln’s extended deployment, how the Navy assesses the mental health and morale of its soldiers, and how it has worked to solve the quality-of-life problems reported on board the carrier.
Further, Blumenthal asked the Navy to explain what military objective Lincoln’s ongoing deployment is meant to achieve and how the US Defense Department “assess[es] whether the carrier’s continued presence is necessary to accomplish that objective.”
Footage allegedly shows poor conditions aboard USS Lincoln
Footage purporting to show the poor conditions aboard Lincoln was published in a TikTok post by a US Navy sailor on Sunday.
The footage, allegedly recorded onboard the ship, shows one of the carrier’s bathrooms, with the sailor describing the conditions as “atrocious.”
“Y’all expect me to take a doo-doo in this, y’all? Nah,” the alleged sailor can be heard saying in the footage while showing the toilets. “Come on now, right? Join the navy, all right? Join the navy,” he said sarcastically.
“This is what we go through on the carrier,” he said. “This ain’t even the worst part.”
In addition, text messages attributed to another sailor aboard the Lincoln describe the alleged food shortages onboard, saying that they “haven’t had anything fresh but meat cause it’s freezed.”
“The supply ship that comes here can’t bring fruits and stuff cause it can’t stay fresh enough with the time it gets them to get here,” the alleged sailor wrote. “Sometimes it gets here rotten.”
“Even people that have been deployed a hundred times claim this one to be the worst,” he continued. “The Navy does not care.”
Goldie Katz contributed to this report.
The mortgage industry’s AI problem is not what you think it is
Every conference I go to right now has the same conversation happening in every room. AI is going to transform the mortgage industry. AI is going to eliminate jobs. AI is going to make everything faster, cheaper, smarter. And maybe all of that is true, eventually. But I keep sitting in those sessions thinking we are spending a lot of energy on the wrong question.
The question everyone is asking is: How do we adopt AI as fast as possible? The question worth asking is: What has to be true about your business before AI actually helps you?
When the market tightened in 2022, the conventional wisdom was to cut. Trim the operations team. Outsource processing. Run lean and wait for things to turn. It was a rational response to a brutal environment, and a lot of companies did it.
But here is what that decision actually produced: companies now patching together workflows across multiple vendors, training new staff from scratch and trying to deliver a consistent client experience through a system never designed to hold under pressure. The overhead went away for a while. The problems came back compounded.
The companies best positioned to use AI well are not the ones that moved fastest on technology. They are the ones that never let their operational foundation fall apart in the first place. AI amplifies what you already have. If what you have is a patchwork, that is what you are amplifying.
We asked ourselves during that period: If we cut here, what breaks? Almost every answer led back to the client experience or a referral relationship; the two things that are nearly impossible to rebuild once they’re gone. A referral partner who leaves quietly rarely tells you why.
The number that lenders need to watch is pull-through rate. When operations are fragmented, pull-through suffers and pull-through is the metric your referral partners actually care about, even if they never say it in those words. Protecting the people and the process that keeps that number strong should be a priority. An astute lender who implements the use of AI responsibly will never have to call a Realtor to apologize for a deal that fell apart because of internal chaos.
The real problem with how we’re talking about AI
Most of the AI conversation in mortgage treats technology as the solution to a business problem, when in most cases the business problem came first.
A five-minute phone call with a borrower can change the entire structure of a loan. They mention something in conversation that no intake form captures, and suddenly you’re looking at a completely different product or timeline. AI cannot replicate that yet. The companies treating it like it can are going to find out the hard way.
Deploying AI should be intentional, not to adopt it for the sake of adopting it. Internally, our COO and CFO are using AI to transform reporting and business tracking; so what used to take days now gets done in a fraction of the time. That’s a real operational advantage that doesn’t make it onto conference slide decks, but it compounds.
On AI underwriting: The accuracy rates look impressive on paper, but impressive is not the same as complete. If the output still requires a human to review every decision, and it does as of now, you haven’t removed the human from the process. You’ve added a step. We’ve run trials. No one has cracked this yet. When someone does, we’ll be ready to move. Until then, we’re waiting for the solution that’s actually finished, not just promising.
What smaller companies should actually be doing
The largest lenders have a structural advantage in AI that is not going away. A small shop cannot out-AI a mega-lender, and trying to probably isn’t the best use of resources.
What smaller companies can do is compete on the things AI is genuinely bad at: local market knowledge, long-term relationships, the ability to pick up the phone at 7 p.m. when a deal is in trouble, the judgment to tell a borrower something they don’t want to hear because it’s the right advice. These are not consolation prizes. They are genuine competitive advantages in a market where borrowers are increasingly skeptical of automated everything.
Automate the back-office work your team finds tedious and error-prone. Keep the client-facing work human. And be very careful about signing long-term contracts with vendors in a space moving so fast that today’s cutting-edge solution may be obsolete before implementation is finished.
The part nobody wants to say
The mortgage industry has always been a relationship business that happens to use technology and not a technology business that happens to do mortgages. The loan officers who will still be thriving in five years won’t be the ones who adopted AI earliest. They’ll be the ones who understood what it was actually good for, kept doing the things AI couldn’t replicate and built businesses strong enough to absorb a technology shift without losing what made them worth coming to in the first place.
The infrastructure question and the technology question are the same question. Getting that foundation right is not the boring part of the conversation. It is the whole conversation.
Emmanuel St. Germain is the CEO and Founder of Choice Mortgage Group.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: zeb@hwmedia.com.
How VantageScore 4.0 is expanding opportunity in wholesale lending
Mortgage lenders and brokers are navigating an affordability-constrained market in which a borrower’s qualifying score can determine not only eligibility but also pricing, cash-to-close and purchasing power. UWM moved quickly to introduce VantageScore 4.0 through a new pilot, giving independent mortgage brokers an additional option for evaluating eligible borrowers.
Desmond P. Smith, UWM’s chief growth officer, explains how the scoring option is creating new opportunities, where brokers and borrowers are seeing meaningful savings and why fast execution matters for the future of wholesale mortgage lending.
Moving quickly to create broker advantage
HousingWire: UWM was the first mortgage lender to launch VantageScore 4.0 after approval was granted. What allowed your team to move so quickly when others were still evaluating their approach?
Desmond P. Smith: Everything we do at UWM starts with trying to give brokers a competitive advantage and we were able to move quickly because innovation is part of our culture. At UWM, we’re constantly evaluating ways to help brokers serve more borrowers, so when VantageScore 4.0 was approved, we weren’t starting from scratch. Our teams had already been preparing for the industry’s shift, aligning technology, operations, underwriting and compliance so we could act quickly when the opportunity became available
More importantly, we didn’t view VantageScore as just a new credit model. We viewed it as another way to help qualified borrowers achieve homeownership and give brokers more flexibility to find the best path forward for their clients. Because we’re focused on execution and delivering value to our broker partners, we were able to move from approval to implementation faster than many others in the industry. The early results have reinforced that decision, creating opportunities for borrowers who may not have qualified otherwise and, in some cases, providing access to better pricing
HW: How does having additional credit scoring options help brokers better serve their borrowers and create opportunities that may have otherwise been missed?
DPS: We have seen two major benefits. First, VantageScore 4.0 can help make certain loans eligible that UWM could not previously do. UWM has a minimum qualifying score of 620. In some cases, a borrower who may not have qualified using a traditional credit score can qualify when evaluated using VantageScore, creating additional homeownership opportunities.
Second, a higher qualifying score can reduce loan-level price adjustments. We have seen cases where the difference meant less cash to close, a better payment or the ability to qualify for more home. That is especially meaningful in today’s affordability environment.
Changing the broker-borrower conversation
HW: In what ways is VantageScore 4.0 changing conversations between brokers and their clients?
DPS: VantageScore 4.0 is changing the conversation from ‘Can this borrower get approved?’ to ‘What’s the best path forward for this borrower?’ It gives brokers another way to evaluate creditworthiness, which can open doors for borrowers with limited credit history or borrowers whose financial profile may not be fully reflected by a single score. In some cases, borrowers who might not have qualified based on their FICO score can now qualify for a mortgage. In others, a higher VantageScore can reduce loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs), resulting in a lower payment, less cash needed at closing or potentially greater purchasing power.
That changes the conversation from simply telling someone they may not qualify to helping them understand the options available. It also allows brokers to deliver a better client experience and demonstrate the value of having an independent mortgage broker working on the borrower’s behalf. Not every loan will see a meaningful difference, but when the scores differ significantly, the impact for the client can be substantial.
HW: Can you share a few examples of how VantageScore 4.0 has helped brokers or borrowers since launch? Are there any success stories that stand out?
DPS: The stories that stand out are brokers saying they otherwise would not have been able to help a borrower get approved or where costs were substantially cut.
In one case, the qualifying score created more than $4,000 in borrower savings by reducing the LLPAs. Not every loan changes, but where the score difference is substantial, the effect can be meaningful. It helps the broker win a loan, helps UWM serve that broker and helps the consumer save money or access financing.
What VantageScore 4.0 could mean for wholesale lending growth
HW: Beyond individual loan transactions, what impact do you believe VantageScore 4.0 can have on the long-term growth of the wholesale channel?
DPS: The wholesale channel grows when brokers can help more borrowers. VantageScore 4.0 gives brokers another way to qualify creditworthy borrowers, expand access to homeownership, and create more opportunities to say ‘yes.’ That’s a win for consumers and a win for the independent mortgage broker channel.
If another scoring option helps people who thought they could not buy a home qualify for financing, that expands opportunity. When those borrowers work with an independent mortgage broker and receive a world-class experience, it also demonstrates the value of wholesale. Over time, that can lead to more consumers choosing brokers, more referrals and growth for the channel.
HW: What does the success of VantageScore 4.0 say about the importance of innovation and execution in today’s wholesale mortgage market?
DPS: The worst thing a company can do is stop innovating or stop trying new things. UWM’s speed to market meant brokers could begin using this option sooner, helping some borrowers qualify for loans or save money they might not have saved otherwise.
We have to keep testing new approaches because that is how we improve the client experience. Some innovations primarily help a lender’s internal process. This one aligns benefits across the market: It can help the business, help brokers and help consumers qualify for a home, purchase more home or potentially reduce their costs.
Click Here
Vietnam targets natural birth sex ratio by 2035 with crackdown on fetal sex selection
Vietnam wants to bring its sex ratio at birth down to the natural level of about 106 boys for every 100 girls by 2035, according to a draft plan from the Ministry of Health that proposes action against sex-selection services and efforts to challenge long-standing preferences for sons.
The draft plan, which was released on Saturday for consultation and was reviewed by Reuters, targets a reduction in the sex ratio at birth to below 109 boys per 100 girls by 2030 and then to the natural level by 2035.
The skew towards boys in Vietnam’s sex ratio at birth has been among the highest in Asia for years. The draft says the ratio stood at 112.2 boys per 100 girls in 2016, peaked at 114.8 in 2018 and eased to 110 in 2025.
Among the proposed measures to achieve the goal are stricter enforcement of laws banning fetal sex selection, stronger inspections of medical facilities, greater monitoring of online advertising for sex-selection services, as well as public campaigns.
Ministry attributes persistent preference for sons
The ministry attributed the imbalance in Vietnam’s sex ratio to a persistent preference for sons, pressure to produce male heirs, shrinking family sizes and easier access to prenatal sex-identification technologies.
The draft paper warned that a prolonged surplus of men could create long-term demographic and social pressures, including difficulties in the marriage market, rising gender inequality, gender-based violence, trafficking in women and girls, and broader challenges to social stability.
Likud Party threatens Central Elections Committee petition over Fly&Vote initiative
The Likud Party is threatening to petition the Central Elections Committee and take legal action against the organizations behind the Fly&Vote initiative, which aims to help Israelis abroad travel to Israel to vote in the elections.
In a warning letter sent Sunday through attorney Ilan Bombach, Likud said the initiative’s activities raise concerns about potential violations of election laws, particularly rules barring the provision of benefits to voters and attempts to influence how they vote.
The letter was sent, among others, to the America Israel Democracy (AID) Coalition, the “Israeli Camp,” and parties involved in operating the AID Coalition. Likud is demanding that the organizations provide a series of documents and data related to the initiative’s activities within five days and immediately halt any activity that the party says could influence the electoral process.
According to the letter, the initiative operates on a broad scale, with details of its activities made public through media interviews and various events. Likud’s attorneys cited provisions of the Knesset Elections Law on “election bribery,” arguing that providing services or benefits to citizens to influence their vote could constitute an offense.
One of Likud’s main claims concerns information it says the organizations running the initiative hold. The letter alleges that a database contains identifying information about voters in the Knesset elections, as well as information about their voting intentions.
The letter also claims the initiative is working to transport voters on Election Day outside the framework established by law and is contacting voters to discourage them from voting for Likud’s candidate list.
Likud further claims that the initiative’s activities include publishing advertisements and election propaganda intended to influence voters. The party argues that the activities should also be examined under laws governing election propaganda and the financing of political activity, saying such activity cannot be carried out without considering the relevant legal requirements.
Likud seeks data, documents on Fly&Vote initiative
As part of its demands, Likud is seeking the data and documents on which the initiative’s activities are based within five days, saying the material is needed to determine whether further legal action is warranted.
At the same time, the organizations have been instructed to immediately cease the activities, including any activities carried out jointly, remove related publications, and halt any other activity connected to the initiative.
Likud is also demanding that, by August 24, the organizations approach the chairman of the Central Elections Committee for the Knesset, request the necessary orders, and make any payment required by law for publications and activities the party claims are prohibited.
Letter sent by Likud in May demanded end to activities
The letter also refers to previous correspondence between the parties. In May, Likud sent a similar request demanding that the activities be stopped. The organizations responded, but Likud now claims that the explanations failed to address the allegations it raised.
If Likud’s demands are not met, the party says it intends to petition the chairman of the Central Elections Committee and ask him to order the activities to be stopped. Likud is also reserving the right to pursue additional legal proceedings.
Six killed, several injured, after electric pole falls near Ashok Dham temple in India
At least six people died, and several were injured in an incident police suspect was triggered by a falling electricity pole that alarmed a crowd of worshippers at a temple in India‘s eastern state of Bihar, officials said on Monday.
Authorities were checking the cause of the incident among devotees observing a Hindu holy month at the Ashok Dham temple in the district of Lakhisarai.
“It is being said that an electric pole fell there and people were electrocuted, which led to a stampede-like situation,” Shivam Kumar, a senior police officer, told news agency ANI. “We can tell you the exact reason only after verifying everything.”
At least five people were injured in the incident, a senior official told Reuters.
Television showed images of relatives thronging hospitals as rescuers brought in people on stretchers.
Thirty dead at India’s Maha Kumbh festival
India‘s history of crowd accidents includes 30 deaths at the giant Maha Kumbh festival last year, when tens of millions gathered to bathe in sacred waters.
American ‘Heroes,’ ‘Nashville’ actress Hayden Panettiere dies at 36, representative says
American actress Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in TV shows such as “Nashville” and “Heroes,” has died at the age of 36, US media outlets, including ABC News, reported on Sunday, citing a statement from her father.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” ABC quoted her father, Alan “Skip” Panettiere, in the statement.
The cause of her death was not reported by ABC. Her agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
A former child actor, Panettiere gained widespread recognition voicing Dot, the young princess ant in Pixar’s 1998 animated hit “A Bug’s Life.” Her work on the film’s read-along album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.
She shot to fame playing the high school cheerleader with superpowers, Claire Bennet, on NBC’s serialized hit “Heroes,” which debuted in 2006. She also appeared in the 2000 football drama “Remember the Titans,” starring Denzel Washington.
Brother, Jansen, died at 28 from heart condition
Panettiere earned two Golden Globe nominations, in 2013 and 2014, for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for her role as Juliette Barnes in the musical drama “Nashville.”
She was also part of the satirical horror “Scream” franchise.
Panettiere’s most recent appearance was in the psychological thriller “Sleepwalker,” released in the US in January 2026, in which she played a grieving mother plagued by sleepwalking episodes, according to IMDb.
Her brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died in 2023 at 28 from complications related to an enlarged heart and an aortic valve condition, according to a family statement made to US media later that year.
STAT+: State laws may be curbing private equity takeovers of physician group
Over a dozen states now have laws enhancing their oversight of private equity deals in health care. A new report says that’s putting a crimp in dealmaking.
Physician practice management is on track to see about half the number of deals this year as it did in 2025. Investments in the businesses, which run clinics’ billing and operations, have plummeted from a high of 851 deals in 2021 to just 105 in the first half of 2026, according to new data from PitchBook.
“It’s certainly been a big decrease,” said Paul Pitts, a partner with Reed Smith who works with health care providers.
Earnings from Walmart and other top retailers will give investors more clues on the housing market and how consumers are grappling with inflation
Wall Street will get financial updates from some of the nation’s biggest retailers this week, along with more details from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting.
Home Depot reports its latest results on Tuesday, followed by Target and Lowes on Wednesday, and then Walmart on Thursday. The results will help give investors a more detailed picture of how businesses and consumers are handling stubbornly high inflation.
The rate of inflation remains solidly above 3%. The ongoing U.S. war with Iran prompted a surge in oil prices, which jolted gasoline prices. Higher prices on everything from gasoline to groceries and any goods that are shipped could prompt people to shift or cut spending.
Results from Home Depot and Lowes could provide more insight into the housing market and whether people are spending more or less on home improvements. Results and forecasts from retail giants Target and Walmart could provide more insight into how households are budgeting and spending.
Wall Street and economists will get more details about the Fed’s interest rate policy when the central bank releases minutes from the July meeting on Wednesday.
The Fed once again held its interest rate steady in July amid worries about stubborn inflation, the jobs market and the direction of the economy. But three officials dissented in favor of higher rates during the meeting. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh described the policy discussion to reporters as a “good family fight.” Wall Street expects at least one rate hike before the end of 2026.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
ServiceNow CFO: Trillions are being spent on AI initiatives. Are companies asking these 3 key questions?
The hardest investment decisions in business are rarely between a good idea and a bad one. More often than not, they’re between many good ideas, all backed by smart people, credible data, and a convincing argument for why they need to happen now.
This is further complicated by the fact that AI is moving fast. Trillions of dollars are being spent globally on new initiatives, and the competitive landscape is being turned on its head. Every quarter, the list of worthy investments grows longer, and every leader I speak with can make a compelling case for why their initiative matters most.
Here’s what hasn’t changed: capital is finite. Yes, you could raise more money, but there is no inexhaustible pot of gold waiting to be given out. If money is going to one area, you’re making a trade-off and spending less somewhere else.
At ServiceNow, that is not a theoretical exercise. We recently completed our $7.75 billion acquisition of Armis — one of the biggest capital allocation decisions in our history, and a bet that closing the gap between asset visibility and cyber risk mattered more right now than half a dozen other initiatives competing for the same dollars. These are decisions about where we believe enterprise AI is going, what capabilities we need to own, and how much conviction we have before the ROI is obvious to everyone.
As President and CFO, I sit at the intersection of growth and financial discipline. It is my job to make deliberate calls about where to invest, when to wait, and when to say no — and, like many other enterprise leaders right now, I’m aiming at a moving target.
Here are the questions I believe every major investment decision must answer.
1. Does it deepen our competitive moat?
I stress-test every investment decision against a simple question: does it strengthen what is hardest to copy about our business?
Right now, that question carries more weight than ever. When intelligence is cheap and AI can produce functional code in minutes, a meaningful feature advantage can be matched by your competitor in weeks. That raises the bar for what is actually worth funding.
Investment must now balance strategic parity — ensuring you aren’t left behind — with the differentiation required to be a market leader. Increasingly, one path to achieving this is pairing AI with proprietary data, hard-won expertise, and systems built over years.
Take JPMorgan Chase, which built its LLM Suite platform in-house and connected it to the firm’s own data and systems, creating a unified and unique AI resource that others can’t easily duplicate. At ServiceNow, we’re building on a different set of advantages: 20+ years of helping customers execute more than 100 billion workflows, which has given us deep domain expertise, proprietary data, and a massive install base of customers embedded broadly and deeply across our platform.
For every company, the moat will look different. The point is to be honest about the aspects of your business that are genuinely hard to replicate, and to invest in whatever compounds that advantage.
It also means being practical about the path you take to get there. We pride ourselves on being an organic growth and innovation machine. In a market moving this quickly, though, even organizations with a strong build-it-ourselves culture must be open to inorganic plays that bring in critical capabilities and talent faster than they can be developed internally. For many companies, it’s one of the harder shifts this moment requires.
2. Are we funding a real customer need?
The voice that should drive investment decisions is often the one that is not in the room: your customer.
One of my top priorities is making sure we have incredible feet on the street, working with customers to understand their pain points and challenges so we can help them innovate and create value.
One example: we heard from many enterprise customers who were struggling with fragmented AI efforts across their organization. Multiple initiatives were running in parallel with no central visibility or governance. That feedback led directly to an investment in developing what we call the AI Control Tower, a central hub for managing AI across the enterprise.
Some of the most expensive investment mistakes happen when there is a disconnect between what customers need and the products or innovations a company chooses to invest in. If you cannot trace a direct line from a customer insight to a major investment decision, that is a red flag.
3. Are customers adopting what we built and getting measurable business value from it?
An investment decision does not end once an initiative is greenlit — or even when sales are made and customers are onboarded. You have to care about whether customers are actually using what you built, and if it is embedded deeply in their operations and delivering real value.
I believe the teams closest to customers post-sale are often the best early-warning systems in the business. They see friction first and hear where adoption is stalling, or workflows are breaking down.
This is even more critical in this moment of AI adoption, where we know the real challenge lies in execution. According to ServiceNow’s own Enterprise AI Maturity Index, 59% of organizations are using agentic AI, but only 9% have made significant progress in creating autonomous, multistep AI workflows. That means companies are paying for capabilities they haven’t yet unlocked, so they’re not seeing the value they’re hoping for.
Of course, when your customers don’t see value, you’re inviting churn. At enterprise scale, even a single point of revenue retention can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This is money that should be driving investments in the right innovations and funding projects that create a competitive edge. Instead, it simply vanishes from the balance sheet.
Balancing bold bets with discipline
In my career, I have led through periods of real pressure. But the pressure companies feel right now to move quickly on AI is at a whole new level. That means companies must stay agile without becoming reactive. As I often tell my team, AI is creating incredible opportunities, but opportunities without prioritization are just noise.
These decisions are also never made in a vacuum. The key to success lies in making sure they are aligned across the business, grounded in what customers actually need, and tied to real value creation, not just experimentation. This is where discipline matters most: when something is not working, you have to be willing to close off the spigot and reallocate capital toward what is.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Mamdani fans flames of antisemitism by pairing false allyship with anti-Israel rhetoric – editorial
The cycle is repeating itself almost daily. Anti-Israel rhetoric is uttered by progressive US officials like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. An antisemitic attack takes place, and those same officials rush to condemn the attack, defend the Jewish population, and express outrage.
What duplicitous trickery, transparently cynical manipulation, and utter refusal to see the blatant cause-and-effect of the cycle is taking place on the American landscape.
The latest incident occurred Friday night when Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, disrupted services at the famed Central Synagogue in Manhattan (which are streamed live to congregants around the world), allegedly hitting a woman, head-butting a security guard, and yelling antisemitic tropes before being escorted out of the sanctuary and arrested by the NYPD. He was later charged with six hate crimes.
Mamdani quickly responded to the attack, predictably stating that he was “horrified.”
“I can only imagine the pain and fear an attack like this, during Shabbat services, causes for the congregation and for Jewish New Yorkers across our city,” the mayor said. “Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence. This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.”
Mamdani ignores connection between anti-Israel rhetoric, antisemitism
However, Mamdani is ignoring the clear connection between his frequent statements calling Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” and launching a campaign to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal, which are fanning the flames that he’s trying to extinguish with his crocodile tears.
Less than a month ago, the synagogue’s senior rabbi, Angela Buchdahl, had warned Mamdani about the consequences of his anti-Israel rhetoric. In a July 23 statement addressed to the mayor, Buchdahl urged him to refrain from making statements that “demonizes Jews and the Jewish state” and “helps create the climate in which threats and violence flourish.”
Just last week, 10 New York rabbis also met Mamdani at City Hall to raise concerns about his statements about Israel and their effect on Jewish New Yorkers. The rabbis told the mayor that presenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a simple story with Jews cast as the villain could prove dangerous.
“I told the mayor directly, the way you continue to talk about Israel endangers the Jewish community at large,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs. “If, instead of vilifying Israel, you spoke constructively, in measured tones, that would move the needle more than anything else, and I’m hopeful you’ll use that power.”
NYC’s Jewish minority targeted in majority of hate crimes
According to NYPD data released last month, 56.9% of all hate crimes in 2026 (205) were targeted against Jews (an 8.5% increase since last year), despite Jewish New Yorkers representing just 10% of the city’s population.
Mamdani called the disproportionate targeting of Jewish New Yorkers “unacceptable” and emphasized that his administration increased the budget for the Mayor’s Office of Hate Crime Prevention by 800% ($26 million).
However, as long as the mayor continues to spew his accusations of “horrific genocide” against Israel, refuses to condemn phrases like “globalize the intifada,” and continues to skip events like the annual Israel Day Parade, he’s part of the problem, not the solution.
New York Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Congress, stated that “just as troubling as the violence itself is the political climate that emboldens it.”
“Antisemitism has risen to historic highs in America’s most Jewish city, with more hate crimes against Jews than against all other communities combined. Instead of cooling tensions, both the far Left and the far Right keep pouring gasoline on the fires of hate, fear and blame,” he said.
Israel remains a convenient villain, Jewish New Yorkers remain a convenient target, and the cycle of incitement followed by antisemitic attacks and then hollow condemnations continues.
As the Simon Wiesenthal Center said after Friday’s assault against Jews in New York, “Attacks like this are never isolated eruptions. They take root in a climate where antisemitism is dismissed as exaggeration, where language that targets Jews is excused or ignored, and where ancient resentments are dressed in the language of the present.”
That’s the unfortunate and dangerous reality today in New York City, fanned by the unbridled demonization of Israel.
Missing Israeli found dead on side of road in Finland after disappearing during solo cycling trip
The body of a 66-year-old Israeli citizen from Tel Aviv was found on Sunday by the side of a road in Finland, about a week after contact with him was lost while he was on a solo cycling trip.
According to information received from local police, authorities believe he was struck by a passing vehicle.
A search was launched after contact with the Israeli was lost about a week ago.
On Sunday, local police reported that his body had been found by the side of the road. The exact circumstances of his death are still under investigation, but the initial assessment is that he was struck by a vehicle while cycling.
ZAKA is working with Finnish government to return body to Israel
After receiving the report, ZAKA’s International Unit began working with the Foreign Ministry, the man’s family, and local authorities in Finland to arrange the procedures required to release the body and transfer it to Israel.
The Israeli consul in Helsinki is also working, with assistance from ZAKA, to expedite the release of his body and its transfer to Israel. The deceased, a Tel Aviv resident, is expected to be buried in Safed.
Haim Weingarten, ZAKA’s deputy director of operations, said: “From the moment we received the report, we have been accompanying the family and working with the authorities in Finland to arrange the necessary procedures. We will do everything possible to bring the deceased for burial in Israel as soon as possible and with the proper dignity.”
ZAKA’s International Unit said it would continue to work with the relevant authorities in Finland until the procedures are completed and the body is brought to Israel.
Jewish watchdog urges NYPD to increase officers in hot spots after synagogue attack
A Jewish security watchdog is doubling down on safety measures in the wake of a Friday night attack against worshipers at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, calling on police to identify cutting edge tactics to identify hot spots for potential hate crimes and to place more officers in those areas.
But Mitchell Silber, CEO of the Community Security Initiative, acknowledged that preventing situations like Friday’s is not straightforward.
“It’s difficult, because you’re trying to balance being open for the public for worship, and at the same time, keeping our sanctuary safe,” Silber told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Sunday.
On Friday night Larry Montes, 46, was able to make his way into Central Synagogue’s main sanctuary before he disrupted the service with antisemitic slurs and was apprehended by a security guard. Silber said he’s been in contact with Central Synagogue security leadership about the incident and understood that Montes had not initially raised any red flags when he entered the building.
“There wasn’t something so out of place that it required them to pull him aside, but they noticed him as not someone they were familiar with,” he said. According to CSI, the synagogue’s team was able to quickly defuse the situation anyway due to the training it had received.
In the wake of the incident, Silber said the CSI is sending a bulletin to synagogues about steps to improve synagogue safety, a copy of which was shown to JTA.
The CSI has begun discussions with the NYPD about using tools like “datamining, crime cluster mapping and pre-emptively deploying against hot spots” in order to prevent hate crimes before they can happen. The CSI coordinates security for Jewish institutions and communities in the New York area, and is jointly funded by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council. (70 Faces Media, the parent company of the JTA and New York Jewish Week, receives UJA funding.)
The CSI bulletin is also encouraging other synagogues to partner with the Community Security Service, another Jewish nonprofit that trains congregants to volunteer as greeters who can provide more personalized discernment of possible threats.
“Central Synagogue isn’t Park East, Park East isn’t KJ, KJ isn’t Congregation Beth Elohim – they’re all so different, and that’s why having members of the synagogue trained can really be a force multiplier,” Silber said, listing some of the city’s most prominent congregations.
Man disrupted synagogue service and attacked congregants
In the incident on Friday night, Montes yelled during the service, disrupting it, and then struck a 63-year-old congregant and headbutted a member of security personnel who was escorting him out.
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the congregation’s senior rabbi, was away for a family event when the incident occurred on Friday, according to The New York Times. But she wrote on Instagram that the security director “heroically restrained and escorted” Montes out of the synagogue, which occurred within one minute of him disrupting the service.
Montes has three previous arrests in New York City, each for a robbery between 2019 and 2023, according to police.
He was arrested at the scene and arraigned in criminal court immediately that night, where, according to police, he was charged with four counts of assault as a hate crime, two counts of assault, criminal mischief as a hate crime, criminal mischief, disruption of a religious service, criminal trespassing as a hate crime, two counts of aggravated harassment and two counts of harassment.
The District Attorney’s office requested bail at $50,000 cash with $150,000 bond and the judge set bail at $10,000 cash with $30,000 bond. Montes’ next court date is August 20, according to the DA’s office.
The attack comes as antisemitic hate crimes against Jews in New York City have risen by 8.5% compared to 2025, as of the end of July. Debate has swirled this year over whether North American synagogues need to step up their security in the mold of European congregations in the wake of attacks like the attempted one in West Bloomfield, Michigan, in which a man drove a fireworks-laden truck into a synagogue.
A number of politicians have weighed in to condemn Friday’s attack
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, wrote, “When American Jews say they feel unsafe, this is why. Antisemitism is real and it’s increasing by the day.”
Some have ascribed a lack of safety to rhetoric used by the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, a longtime Israel critic who turned heads with his recent video panning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York, called the attack “a direct result of Mayor Mamdani’s sustained campaign of incitement” in a post on X.
Meanwhile, some of Mamdani’s Jewish allies have pointed out that a Facebook profile that appears to belong to Montes has shared a number of posts criticizing the mayor.
Mamdani wrote that he was “horrified by the assault” at the synagogue, and that all New Yorkers “must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence.”
Montes’ social media posts include sharing a video of a Prager U commentator taking down Israel critics and multiple photos that suggest support for Israel, including a hand shaded with the Puerto Rican flag shaking another hand shaded with the Israeli flag.
His aunt, who lives in Puerto Rico, told the New York Post that her nephew “might not have been in his right mind,” and that he has expressed a desire to become Jewish.
“I told him he had to be careful with that because those things are sacred, you have to approach them seriously,” she told The Post in Spanish.
A woman named Michele Anenberg-Poma posted a photo of herself on Instagram with wounds on her lip and arm, and wrote, “I am the woman who was assaulted last night at Central Synagogue.”
She added, “You will not punch out our Jewish light. You will not stand and cause harm to our eternal light.”
IDF Unit 8200 Alumni Association uses network to drive Israeli innovation, start-ups
Over 1,200 members of Israel’s Unit 8200 alumni community are expected to gather for the 8200 Alumni Association’s annual conference next month, bringing together entrepreneurs, technology professionals, investors, and business leaders as the organization looks to strengthen connections across one of Israel’s largest professional networks.
The conference, which draws participants from a range of industries, will take place at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and focus on innovation, adapting to new technologies, and navigating a rapidly changing business environment. Most of the participants are expected to come from Israel, with the association also maintaining alumni communities around the world, particularly from the United States.
The event comes as artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are reshaping the technology sector and forcing companies and professionals to adapt to new realities.
For Yulia Bassan, CEO of the 8200 Alumni Association, that ability to adapt is one of the community’s defining characteristics.
“What gives our alumni the special edge is that we are all very agile,” Bassan told The Jerusalem Post. “We adjust really well to new technologies.”
Among the companies and organizations expected to be represented are cybersecurity companies Zafran, Zenity, and Dream, along with Bank Hapoalim, Decart AI, and PlayPerfect. Hi-Tech Zone is a partner of the event.
Conference focuses on innovation, navigating change
The conference will also build on discussions held at last year’s gathering, which took place during the war and focused in part on entrepreneurship during challenging times.
This year, the association hopes to focus on innovation and the ability to navigate change, Bassan said.
“We want to hear about innovation and living in a fast-paced world but also the ability to adjust to the new reality and navigate it,” she explained.
The changing composition of the conference’s attendees is also notable. According to Bassan, approximately 30% of participants last year had more than eight years of professional experience, compared with about 50% of this year’s registrants.
Bringing together former soldiers from Unit 8200
The association, which brings together former members of Unit 8200, has sought to expand its role beyond simply maintaining connections among former soldiers. Its activities include professional communities, mentoring, and initiatives designed to connect alumni at different stages of their careers.
Bassan, who served in 8200 before studying chemical engineering at the Technion and spending more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, joined the association around three and a half years ago.
At the time, she was on her second maternity leave and was thinking about how she could contribute to Israeli society. She had been following the Russia-Ukraine war closely; the birth of her daughter had also prompted her to think about whether Israeli society was doing enough to promote women.
She saw an opening in the association’s newsletter for the director of its Women2Women program and joined the organization in that role. After working on the program, she was appointed CEO of the association in December.
Her current focus is on using the skills and experience of the alumni community for a broader purpose.
“Our work is focused on doing good for Israeli society, not necessarily only for those who served in the unit,” Bassan said. “We want to leverage the talent for doing good.”
The association has developed programs aimed at different groups within its alumni community, including mentoring for people searching for their first job and for those who have lost their jobs and are looking for their next position.
It also seeks to create opportunities for entrepreneurs and other professionals to connect with one another.
“We believe in the power of networking, community, and in the fact that good things happen when people come together,” Bassan said.
Connecting potential start-up founders and CEOs
That philosophy is particularly relevant to the association’s focus on Israel’s technology sector. Bassan said the organization hopes to facilitate connections between founders and potential CEOs and chief technical officers (CTO), as well as between companies and investors.
“We are the Start-Up Nation,” she said. “Israeli start-ups are critical to our economy, and I think the 8200 founders are a critical part of that.”
The alumni network has already seen companies receive investments from other alumni, others being acquired or merged, Bassan noted.
“That’s the power of this community,” she said.
The Post understands that an exclusive side event will be held alongside the conference that will focus on creating additional opportunities for investment and mergers among alumni-founded companies.
The aim of the event will be to strengthen connections that can help companies grow and contribute to Israel’s hi-tech industry and broader economy.
For Bassan, the value of the network lies both in the professional credentials of its members and in their ability to help one another navigate change.
“We want to see and understand the best way to adjust to what’s new, such as AI, new tech, and new verticals,” she explained. “It’s all about the change and how fast and how best you can adjust.”
The association’s role is to ensure that alumni have a community to turn to as they make those adjustments.
“What makes this community unique is that there’s always a way to adjust and adapt, or find someone to support and guide you through the process,” Bassan said.
“And our association is there.”
Quality over quantity: Unified systems are future of drones – opinion
The rapid growth of the military drone market has created a dangerous illusion: that more unmanned platforms automatically mean more operational power.
Armed forces can now choose from hundreds of systems, each with different payloads, controllers, batteries, communications links, and software environments. On paper, this diversity looks like progress. In practice, it often creates fragmentation.
Every additional platform introduces another supply chain, another training requirement, another maintenance process, and another cybersecurity risk. During short demonstrations, this variety may appear innovative. During prolonged operations, especially under electronic warfare and logistical pressure, it can become a burden.
The future of military drone procurement should therefore not be based on continuously adding new platforms. It should focus on a smaller number of complete, reliable, and connected systems that can operate at scale.
Such a system must deliver five essential advantages.
Operational independence begins with the supply chain
A country cannot claim full operational independence if its drones depend on a potential strategic competitor for batteries, critical components, software updates, spare parts, or technical support.
This is not only an economic concern. It is a military one.
If a crisis disrupts access to components, if software support is withdrawn, or if production cannot continue during wartime, the platform may become unavailable precisely when it is needed most. A low purchase price means little if the system cannot be sustained under real operational conditions.
Procurement authorities should therefore examine where a drone is designed, where its critical components are produced, who controls its software, and whether the manufacturer can guarantee continuity during conflict.
Supply-chain security must be treated as part of operational readiness.
A drone is an intelligence system
A military drone does not merely collect images. It processes and transmits sensitive data: coordinates, video, telemetry, flight routes, unit locations, and patterns of activity.
A compromised system may therefore expose not only the target being observed, but also the force operating it.
Cybersecurity must be built into the platform from the beginning. Secure communications, encrypted data, controlled software updates, transparent architecture, and the ability to operate without dependence on an external commercial cloud should be basic requirements.
Protecting drone data is part of protecting the force.
Connectivity creates the force multiplier
The greatest future value of a military drone will not come only from how well it flies. It will come from how well it connects.
A drone that sends information only to its own operator remains an isolated flying sensor. A drone that securely shares information with command-and-control systems, intelligence networks, defensive systems, and strike capabilities becomes part of a wider operational ecosystem.
That is the difference between another platform and a force multiplier that can help you to gain tactical dominance.
Future systems should be designed to connect with other sensors, support decision-making, and pass relevant information rapidly to the right operational element. They should be modular enough to carry different payloads and flexible enough to integrate with future capabilities.
A drone should not create another technological island. It should strengthen the entire force.
The real performance metric is mission availability
Manufacturers often compete over looks, range, or camera resolution. These figures matter, but they do not always reflect operational value.
The more important question is how long the system can provide long endurance and reliable intelligence where it is needed.
A drone may advertise impressive flight time, but after transit, battery changes, maintenance, and communications interruptions, the effective observation window may be much shorter. Likewise, an advanced payload is of limited value if the aircraft cannot remain over the mission area long enough to influence decisions.
Military evaluations should therefore focus on mission availability: continuous coverage, payload performance, acoustic signature, deployment speed, weather resistance, operator workload, and the logistical effort needed to sustain the system.
The question should not be only, “How fast can the drone fly?”
It should be, “How long can the system reliably support the mission?”
A system that fails under disruption is not ready for war
Modern battlefields are increasingly shaped by electronic warfare. Communications can be jammed, GNSS signals can be degraded, and false positioning data can be introduced.
A military drone should not be judged only in a clean demonstration environment. It must be tested under realistic disruption.
Resilience must exist across the entire system: the aircraft, the navigation architecture, the communications link, the controller, and the software. A platform that performs well only when the spectrum is clean is not a combat-ready capability.
Resistance to communications and GNSS disruption is no longer a special feature. It is a basic condition for relevance.
An Israeli vision for the next generation
Israel has the operational experience, technological infrastructure, and defense ecosystem required to lead this transition.
The goal should not be to create another Israeli drone. It should be to build a complete Israeli unmanned system.
That system should operate continuously across different mission profiles: tactically with forces in the field, persistently from automated boxes, and as part of wider intelligence, defense, and strike networks.
It should be sovereign, secure, modular, resilient, and scalable. It should allow new capabilities to be added without replacing the entire platform. Most importantly, it should be designed from the outset as part of the operational force, not as an aircraft that must later be connected to it.
The next generation of military advantage will not belong to the country that owns the greatest number of drone models.
It will belong to the country that builds one complete, reliable, and connected unmanned system and can deploy it at scale.
The author is a former IDF lieutenant- colonel who commanded an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance unit during the war and currently serves as chief marketing officer of Aero Sentinel, an Israeli tactical unmanned-systems company. The views expressed are his own.
Eisenkot’s Yashar unveils plan to support new olim integrating into Israel
Yashar presented its absorption plan for new olim (immigrants) on Sunday, aiming to reach a goal of two million olim by 2048 if elected.
The plan seeks to make absorption into Israeli society “simpler, more accessible, and more effective,” a statement from the party said.
Presented to representatives from aliyah and absorption programs, the plan has three key points: establishing a “unified framework” to support olim from while they are abroad until their complete absorption into Israel, to make it easier for olim to enter employment suited to their skills, and to remove barriers that prevent integration.
The unified framework aims to bring together resources to support immigrants across different areas, from language to education to access to rights.
Ease to enter employment would focus on making it easier to get international degrees recognized in Israel, lessons in professional and practical Hebrew, and providing olim with direct connection to employers.
The final step of Yashar’s new aliyah absorption plan aims to “remove barriers that prevent integration” by making essential services such as banking and social support accessible in different languages.
Yashar members speak at unveiling of aliyah plan
Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot spoke at the meeting where the plan was unveiled, saying “The strength of the State of Israel rests on the ingathering of the exiles, on constant development, and on the aspiration to be leaders in every field.”
“We will propose a national plan that will call on young people to return home and on Jews around the world to make aliyah to Israel, because this is our national home, and this is the country that should be the most advanced and leading in the world,” Eisenkot added.
Yashar’s aliyah absorption program leader Alex Rif said “aliyah is not a favor that is done for immigrants, it is the miracle thanks to which the state was established, and thanks to which it can flourish again.”
“I want to build an Israel here where every immigrant will know from the first day, not only did I choose it. It chose me.”
Justice Department Probes Iron Ore Trader Radiant World
The Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating transactions tied to Radiant World, the privately held firm that grew into one of the world’s largest iron ore traders, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Justice Department officials are examining the company’s business, while the futures regulator is looking at trades that moved through it.
Here is what the case turns on. Radiant World buys iron ore from miners and resells it to steelmakers, and like most trading middlemen it borrows money to bridge the gap between paying the seller and getting paid by the buyer. The collateral it hands the bank is paperwork — an invoice showing that a large, creditworthy customer owes it money for a shipment. Lenders accept that paper because the name on the invoice is good for it. The allegation is that some of those shipments never took place.
One case has been documented in detail. Radiant World used invoices bearing Vitol’s name to obtain financing from Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo. When the bank checked, Vitol told it some of the trades had never happened. Intesa has said its exposure runs to roughly €200 million and is largely provisioned for. Jefferies Financial Group’s Point Bonita fund has less than $300 million at stake. Between those two lenders alone, close to half a billion dollars is riding on the answer.
The commercial fallout arrived first. Vitol and Cargill have ended their business with Radiant World, and Glencore has stopped writing new deals with the firm after questions surfaced about the validity of its trade documents. That is three of the largest commodity houses on earth walking away from the same counterparty within weeks.
The paperwork concerns are not new. Bloomberg has reported that an internal investigation at Rabobank concluded in 2020 that Radiant World had been involved in multiple trades using falsified bills of lading — the shipping receipts that prove cargo actually exists — and that the Dutch bank cut off its credit that year. The findings never traveled beyond Rabobank. There is no shared registry in commodity trade finance, so a document rejected at one bank can be presented at the next one without triggering any alarm.
Radiant World has denied the reporting and said previously that it had never been investigated or prosecuted by regulators. The company could not immediately be reached regarding Friday’s report, and neither agency has confirmed an investigation.
The scale explains why lenders are paying attention. Radiant World handled about 7 million tons of iron ore in 2014 and roughly 43 million tons by 2024 — six times the volume in a decade — on about $12 billion in annual revenue, financed by bank and credit-fund lines running into the hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it secured by trade paperwork.
For Jefferies, the timing is unwelcome. Point Bonita was already being wound down after investors demanded their money back when the fund’s largest exposure turned out to be First Brands, the auto parts supplier that collapsed. The structure was the same one now under scrutiny: investors were told the fund’s biggest positions were with household corporate names, when what it actually held were invoices those companies owed to a middleman, bought from the middleman.
The market has already moved. Iron ore prices slid to a 13-month low as China’s construction sector contracted to its weakest reading since the start of the pandemic, with the financing scare on top of it. Iron ore is the raw material for steel, and steel prices feed into cars, appliances, machinery and construction — the reason a paperwork dispute among traders eventually reaches American buyers.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Israel and Honduras deepen defense ties with new memorandum of understanding
Israel and Honduras entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Honduras in a Sunday signing ceremony, the Defense Ministry announced in a statement.
Defense Minister Israel Katz and his Honduran counterpart, Enrique Rodríguez Burchard signed the deal, which is meant to “deepen defense cooperation” between the countries, the ministry said.
The ceremony was also attended by Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) Director General Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram, the Senior Deputy Head of the Policy and Political-Military Bureau, Israel’s Defense Attaché to Honduras, and other senior officials from both countries.
During the visit, said the statement, the Honduran Minister of Defense, the Minister of Internal Security, and the Chief of the Joint Staff of the Honduran Armed Forces participated in “wide-ranging security discussions” with Baram.
A part of the discussions held included shared strategic and security issues, as well as ways to expand cooperation, the ministry said. Further, the Honduran officials were briefed on “key lessons” learnt from Israel’s wars in the past few years. Additionally, the delegation was informed about the IMOD’s current activities, “as well as key aspects of Israel’s defense and defense-industrial establishment.
Honduras considered key ally in Jerusalem recognition, embassy move
This Memorandum of Understanding is a part of a series of agreements designed by the IMOD over the past year, the statement said, casting these moves as “part of the Ministry’s strategy to expand Israel’s circle of defense partnerships, strengthen strategic ties with friendly nations, and deepen cooperation between Israel’s defense industries and international markets.”
The statement described Honduras as an “important partner” in Central America, and one that has supported Israel internationally over the years. In 2017, Honduras was among the nine countries who voted against a UN General Assembly resolution condemning the US’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
In 2021, Honduras became one of the first countries to move its embassy to Jerusalem, joining the US, Guatemala, and Kosovo.
After withdrawing its ambassador from Israel in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Honduras appointed a new envoy in early August, who was received by President Isaac Herzog.
Iran’s Secret Plan to Escalate the War
What to Expect in Markets This Week: The American Consumer Takes Center Stage
Wall Street enters the new week near record territory, but investors are about to get a much clearer answer to the question hanging over the economy: Are American consumers finally pulling back?
The week of Aug. 17 through Aug. 21 brings earnings from Home Depot, Target, Lowe’s and Walmart, fresh manufacturing and housing data, and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. Together, they will provide one of the broadest real-time checks yet on consumers, housing, business activity and interest rates.
That matters after July retail sales fell 0.6%, raising concerns that higher fuel costs, expensive borrowing and persistent inflation are beginning to change household behavior.
Monday: Manufacturing and Housing Open the Week
Monday starts with the Empire State Manufacturing Survey, an early monthly reading on factory conditions in New York State.
Investors will be watching new orders, employment and prices paid for signs that manufacturers are seeing demand weaken or costs rise.
At 10 a.m. ET, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index provides another look at the strained housing industry.
Housing matters far beyond homebuilders. Weak home sales can ripple through mortgage lending, furniture, appliances, building materials, contractors and home-improvement spending.
That connection becomes even more important Tuesday.
Tuesday: Home Depot Tests the Housing Consumer
Home Depot reports Tuesday, giving investors a direct look at whether homeowners are still willing to spend on renovations and repairs.
Wall Street expects roughly $47.2 billion in quarterly revenue and $4.73 per share in earnings.
The headline numbers will matter, but investors may focus even more closely on customer traffic, transactions and purchases of expensive items.
Homeowners can postpone a kitchen remodel or new deck much more easily than they can postpone buying groceries. Home Depot therefore provides a particularly useful gauge of discretionary household confidence.
Wednesday: Target, Lowe’s — and the Fed
Wednesday could be the week’s most important session.
Target and Lowe’s both report earnings, giving Wall Street two very different views of the consumer.
Target provides a window into discretionary spending on clothing, household goods, electronics and other products consumers can easily delay.
Lowe’s provides another measurement of housing-related spending and will allow investors to compare its results directly with Home Depot.
Then at 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July 28-29 meeting.
The Fed held its benchmark interest rate at 3.50% to 3.75%, but the vote exposed an unusually significant disagreement among policymakers.
Markets will search the minutes for clues about how many officials believe inflation remains dangerous enough to require another rate increase — and what economic evidence could change their minds before September.
That could quickly move Treasury yields, mortgage rates, the dollar and rate-sensitive stocks.
Wednesday is also the scheduled start of a potentially important trade development: 50% U.S. tariffs on a broad group of Canadian goods are due to take effect Aug. 19 unless Washington and Ottawa reach an agreement.
For manufacturers and distributors operating across the highly integrated U.S.-Canadian supply chain, that deadline could matter as much as any earnings report.
Thursday: Walmart Gives the Broadest Consumer Read
Then comes Walmart on Thursday.
Few companies provide a better snapshot of the American household.
Walmart serves consumers across income levels and sells everything from groceries and medicine to televisions, clothing and furniture. The mix of what shoppers are buying can therefore tell investors almost as much as the company’s total sales.
Wall Street expects approximately $186.9 billion in quarterly revenue and earnings of 74 cents a share.
The most revealing question may be whether shoppers are continuing to prioritize necessities while reducing discretionary purchases.
If Walmart reports strong grocery sales but weakness in electronics, furniture and apparel, it could signal that consumers are still spending because they have to — not because they feel financially comfortable.
Investors will also listen closely for commentary about tariffs, supplier costs and whether Walmart is absorbing higher costs or passing them along through higher prices.
Weekly unemployment claims and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey are also due Thursday, providing additional evidence on employment and business activity.
Friday: Businesses Give Their Own Economic Forecast
Friday brings preliminary August purchasing-managers indexes, giving investors one of the earliest readings on business conditions during the current month.
PMIs track areas including new orders, hiring, production and prices across manufacturing and services.
That makes Friday’s numbers particularly useful because most government statistics describe conditions several weeks earlier.
If businesses report slowing orders while prices remain elevated, markets could face the uncomfortable combination of weaker growth and persistent inflation.
Retail Earnings May Matter More Than the Economic Reports
The week’s four major retailers cover remarkably different pieces of American spending.
Home Depot and Lowe’s measure homeowners and construction-related demand.
Target measures discretionary middle-income spending.
Walmart provides one of the broadest windows into household budgets and necessities.
Put them together and investors should have a considerably better picture of whether July’s 0.6% drop in retail sales was simply a weak month or the beginning of a more meaningful consumer slowdown.
That distinction is important because consumer spending represents roughly two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
If shoppers remain resilient, corporate earnings and the broader economy may have more room to run.
If retailers begin reporting weaker traffic, smaller transactions and customers aggressively trading down, Wall Street may have to reconsider how much economic strength is already priced into stocks near record highs.
The Other Wild Card: Oil
Oil remains capable of overwhelming almost everything else on the calendar.
Brent crude ended last week near $88.50 a barrel after another sharp weekly increase as disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz kept global energy markets tense.
Another move higher would affect gasoline, freight, airlines, manufacturing and consumer spending — while potentially making the Federal Reserve even more reluctant to lower interest rates.
A meaningful decline in crude could have the opposite effect.
What Investors Should Watch Most
The week’s central question is not whether Walmart or Home Depot beats Wall Street’s earnings estimate by a few cents.
It is what their customers are doing.
Watch traffic.
Watch how much shoppers spend per visit.
Watch whether consumers are buying necessities instead of discretionary products.
Watch whether companies are discounting more aggressively.
And watch what executives say about the next three months.
Economic reports tell investors what consumers did.
This week, some of America’s largest retailers will tell Wall Street what consumers are doing right now.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Scott Bessent fired a currency bazooka, but global finance still looks like a ‘giant Jenga tower’ propped up by a Japanese yen that’s in deep trouble
The first U.S.-Japan joint intervention in three decades aimed at boosting the yen has come and gone without doing much to ease anxiety in currency markets.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s notepad suggested the U.S. bought $5 billion-$10 billion worth of yen, while Japan’s move topped $50 billion. The exchange rate initially strengthened to about 157 yen per dollar from nearly 164, but has since given back some gains and hovered around 159 on Friday.
To be sure, efforts to prop up the yen were seen as short-term measures to address the symptoms rather than the root causes of the currency’s weakness. Those include Japan’s massive debt that exceeds 200% of GDP, fiscal stimulus that’s expected to worsen the deficit, and a central bank that’s been slow to raise rates in the face of high inflation.
But given that the yen’s recent instability was enough to trigger the U.S.-Japan intervention, a key underpinning of global financial markets appears riskier.
“Now traders are watching the ‘yen carry trade,’ where cheap yen borrowing funds bets on higher-yielding assets worldwide, and wondering if it’s about to blow up,” Wall Street veteran Ed Yardeni wrote in a note on Tuesday. “The financial system right now looks like a giant Jenga tower with the yen as a load-bearing piece.”
The way the U.S. and Japan intervened had already raised other concerns, especially the fact that the U.S. sold euros, not dollars, to buy yen and that Japan borrowed against its Treasury holdings rather than selling them.
The tactics called into question the dollar’s dominance and revealed the Trump administration’s underlying fears of how a spiraling yen could worsen the U.S. debt outlook.
With a stockpile of more than $1 trillion in Treasuries, Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt. So any drawdown of that reserve would send Treasury yields higher and add further to U.S. debt costs.
Other countries in Asia could sell Treasuries too. But Yardeni pointed out they are in better shape than they were during the 1998 Asian financial crisis, when currencies across the region crashed. Still, risks remain.
“Team Bessent isn’t exactly hat in hand,” he added. “But decades of assuming that Asia’s central banks dutifully would keep buying U.S. debt are catching up with Washington. Each Jenga piece gets harder to pull without something toppling.”
The yen’s post-intervention pullback was also notable since it happened despite cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data that lowered the odds of an imminent rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
Previously, the Bank of Japan’s reluctance to raise its own rates coupled with fears the Fed would hike as soon as next month had been driving the yen’s recent slump.
But relatively tame readings on U.S. consumer and producer prices this past week offered no reprieve for the yen.
“This should be a setting where the Yen rallies versus the Dollar, because US rates are falling relative to Japanese ones, but that didn’t happen. The Yen continued to fall, which is a really worrying sign,” wrote Robin Brooks, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, in a Substack post titled “The Yen is in Deep Trouble.”
He has been sounding the alarm on the yen for a while, warning its extended slide is actually a sign of a simmering debt crisis. Eventually, markets will ignore intervention, which is doomed to fail and merely creates the illusion of stability, Brooks has said.
On Friday, he called for a “profound shift” in the Bank of Japan’s policy, going well beyond incremental increases to its benchmark rate.
Instead, long-term yields on Japanese government bonds must rise to narrow the gap versus U.S. yields that’s been sending the yen lower.
“BoJ buying of government bonds needs to be scaled back so that this can happen,” Brooks added. “That’s the only thing that will strengthen the Yen.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Tenant filing disputes landlord claims in NYC rent freeze case
New York City tenant advocates aren’t sitting out the legal battle over a rent freeze. They came off the sidelines and entered the courtroom fray to ensure the freeze stays in place.
In a Thursday court filing, Tenants and Neighbors and the Metropolitan Council on Housing pushed back against landlords who sued in a Staten Island court over a rent freeze for stabilized apartments.
The city’s Rent Guidelines Board decided in June to set a 0% increase on one- and two-year lease renewals starting October 1. The decision gave Mayor Zohran Mamdani a victory, as he won office on a promise to improve housing affordability.
Landlords argue the board’s decision was unlawful and ignored data showing a rent increase was warranted. They also say Mamdani stacked the board with people who “agreed with his vision of a freeze.”
The tenant groups agreed that the board must consider hardships facing both landlords and tenants. But they argue that landlords “wrongly assume that as long as any landlords face hardship, the RGB must increase rents, even if the increase worsens tenant hardships.”
Tenant groups interpret numbers their way
Line by line, the tenant group’s response parses the landlords’ 356-paragraph petition. It concedes narrow factual points while rejecting the broader legal spin the landlords put on the evidence.
The tenant advocates lean heavily on the numbers to make their case. More than 45% of rent-stabilized households are “rent-burdened,” spending more than 30% of income on rent, and more than 27% are severely burdened, paying over half, the filing notes.
Landlords aren’t hurting nearly as much as their lawsuit claims, the filing says, noting that fewer than 10% of stabilized buildings report negative operating income. The filing cites Fiscal Policy Institute testimony before the RGB showing operating income across the sector has climbed 56.6% after inflation over the past 25 years.
The board’s decision wasn’t made in a vacuum, the filing adds. It followed seven public meetings, four hearings and testimony from experts at the Fiscal Policy Institute, NYU’s Furman Center and Columbia’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, among others.
RGB Chair Chantella Mitchell’s own statements on the rent freeze are quoted at length. She described two concurrent realities. Most tenants are struggling to keep up. A smaller group of landlords faces real financial strain, often in the same neighborhoods, such as the Bronx.
Raising rents that tenants can’t afford wouldn’t help those landlords, she argues. Instead, it would just speed up evictions. What’s needed, she says, is direct financial intervention from the city and state.
Mamdani appointees disputed
Mitchell is one of the six Mamdani appointees the landlord lawsuit mentions.
“I’m confident that, under the leadership of Chantella Mitchell as chair, the board will take a clear-eyed look at the complex housing landscape and the realities facing our city’s two million rent-stabilized tenants, and help us move closer to a fairer, more affordable New York,” Mamdani said in a statement at the time.
All his appointees voted for the rent freeze.
Landlords seized on former board member Christina Smyth’s resignation before the vote, citing her letter as evidence that Mamdani’s appointees had rigged the process.
In their filing, the tenant group confirms the lawsuit accurately quoted Smyth’s letter. But they dispute that it proves what the landlords claim. Smyth’s letter “merely alleged certain things,” the filing states, and did not confirm that Mamdani’s appointees had predetermined the outcome.
They want the case dismissed outright, arguing the board acted within its authority and wasn’t arbitrary or capricious, as the landlords claim.
US probe on Mark Walter focused on four intermediaries, WSJ says
US federal investigators probing Mark Walter are focused on four entities that acted as intermediaries for loans issued by the Guggenheim Partners chief executive’s insurance companies to other companies also within his business empire, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into whether Walter or the businesses he controls committed fraud by concealing financial connections while borrowing billions from the insurers, Bloomberg News has previously reported.
The investigators have narrowed their focus to Miami-based ABS Capital, investment firm Amistad Financial, commercial real estate broker Bradford Allen and Hudson Trading, the Wall Street Journal said.
Bloomberg News previously reported federal prosecutors’ inquiries about Hudson Trading.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
U.S. to trim military exercises with South Korea after Trump says Seoul declined to help on Iran while the North is ‘unthreatening and respectful’
President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back planned joint military exercises with South Korea after the Republican president said South Korea declined to help denuclearize Iran.
Trump said in a social media post that the exercises slated to begin this week are costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” while Trump has been in the White House.
“Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!” Trump wrote.
The 11 days of exercises involving 18,000 South Korean soldiers were designed to beef up readiness against North Korean threats.
U.S. and South Korean forces were expected to practice joint operations in complex scenarios, including a live-fire exercise to test joint precision targeting and maneuver, a wet gap crossing, and distribution of prepositioned military equipment, according to the U.S. military.
A day earlier, Trump posted a photo of himself standing next to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, writing that the two leaders get along great “despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture.”
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has called the U.S.-South Korean training “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” that is triggering a different level of instability in the region.
Trump met with the reclusive North Korean leader three times during his first term to discuss the country’s nuclear program, most recently in 2019. Since returning to office, Trump has expressed interest in continuing those discussions.
This is not the first time that Trump has sought to end the exercises. During his first term he also issued a surprise announcement that called the wargames “provocative.”
“We will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should,” Trump told reporters after his 2018 meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Another IAF officer arrested after placing Polymarket bets on attacks in Iran, Yemen
Another Israeli Air Force officer has been arrested on suspicion of breach of trust after allegedly placing bets on Polymarket on attacks in Iran and Yemen, N12 reported on Sunday.
The officer, who is an IAF major, faces a hearing for the use of sensitive information to gamble on Polymarket. In previous cases the suspects have been indicted on the more serious charges of exploiting classified military information to place wagers on Polymarket.
Polymarket is the world’s largest decentralized prediction market, allowing users to trade shares by betting on the outcomes of real-world events, such as politics, economics, and sports, with prices reflecting real-time, crowd-sourced probabilities.
It serves as a forecasting tool with some experts touting it as more accurate than traditional polls.
Previous indictments against IAF reservist for use of classified information
In February two suspects were arrested in a joint operation involving the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), a Defense Ministry investigative unit, and the Israel Police. The investigators suspected that reservists had been betting on the timing of military operations based on classified information they had access to during their service.
Prosecutors said they had discovered evidence that incriminated the civilian and the reservist and would prosecute them for “serious security offenses,” bribery, and obstruction of justice.
The affair follows weeks of reporting about Polymarket activity tied to Israeli military developments. In January, the Shin Bet examined suspicions that someone inside the defense establishment had used classified information to place bets on Polymarket, KAN News reported.
In a similar case in May, an IAF officer was charged with allegedly betting on Polymarket over operations conducted by the military. The prosecution in that case said he demonstrated a willingness to sell information for financial benefit that could put the entire force at risk.
During his defense, the officer claimed he was unaware of the severity of his crime, as “everyone in the force” gambles on similar platforms.
“The entire Israel Air Force is involved in gambling,” the officer claimed.
White House warned staff against using insider information to place bets
The White House warned its staff against using their insider knowledge to place well-timed bets on sites such as Polymarket in a staff-wide email, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.
Calls came from Congress for investigations into the prediction market after the latest instance in which groups of traders placed bets on major geopolitical events in the hours before they happened.
Several significant bets were placed on a US-Iran ceasefire by new accounts, shortly before President Trump announced the ceasefire, AP reported.
Similarly, an anonymous user won nearly $200,000 when Israel and the US struck Iran, having bet on February 28 as the date of the attack while the site gave it only a 17% chance.
There are at least two bills calling for bans on these sorts of bets pending in the US Congress.
Shir Perets and Tobias Holcman contributed to this report.
Rapper ‘The Shadow’ removed as police volunteer amid investigation
Rapper Yoav Eliasi, known by the stage name “The Shadow,” was removed on Sunday from his volunteer position as commander of a civilian emergency response squad in the Tel Aviv District amid an ongoing criminal investigation by the Police Internal Investigations Department.
The move marks the latest development in an affair that began with an investigative report and recordings in which Eliasi was heard boasting about his connections within the Israel Police.
On August 5, Eliasi reported to the department’s Tel Aviv branch, where he was questioned under caution on suspicion of breach of trust. Following the questioning, he was barred from police facilities for one week.
Three police officers, including an intelligence coordinator, were also questioned on suspicion that they assisted a nightclub owned by Eliasi’s brother and provided it with favorable treatment from police. The three officers were barred from police facilities for three days.
Police Commissioner Insp. Gen. Danny Levy had already decided to remove Eliasi from his position as commander of the emergency response squad before the Police Internal Investigations Department opened its criminal investigation.
Police allegedly gave Eliasi’s brother favorable treatment
The decision followed an investigation published by Haaretz, which alleged that Eliasi used his connections with police personnel to benefit a Tel Aviv entertainment complex. His removal has now become official following the opening of criminal proceedings against him.
At the center of the affair are recordings in which Eliasi can be heard discussing his ability to resolve problems involving the police.
In one recording, he told one of the partners at the venue, “I am educating them there in the police that you can’t touch this club,” and later instructed him to contact Eliasi regarding any incident involving the police and the club.
In another recording, after the club was closed at 4:30 a.m., Eliasi asked which police officer had ordered the closure. When he was told that the club manager had spoken with police officer Menashe Mansour from the Lev Tel Aviv station, Eliasi replied, “Menashe is a friend like a brother, I’ll talk to him now.”
Employees at the venue also described Eliasi as the person to turn to whenever problems arose with police, according to the investigation. Idan Harpak, who served as head of the club’s security team, said employees understood that if an issue arose involving police officers, Eliasi was the person expected to resolve it.
According to the report, the entertainment complex includes the “John Doe” nightclub and the “Q Gallery” restaurant located above it. The businesses operate separately, although some of their shareholders overlap.
One of the companies connected to the restaurant, A.Y. Eliasi Ltd., was established in January 2025 by Itamar Eliasi, Yoav’s brother. Three weeks later, 45% of the company’s shares were transferred to Yoav Eliasi and another 5% to their father, Rafael Eliasi.
The shares were later returned to Itamar, who is currently registered as the company’s sole owner. According to the investigation, the company’s registered address remained Yoav’s home address. Itamar Eliasi is also a partner in the nightclub.
The Police Internal Investigations Department is continuing to investigate the affair and has taken testimony from additional people involved. Eliasi’s weapon was taken from him, and amid the ongoing criminal investigation, he is no longer serving in his volunteer role with the police.
Eliasi says reporting on investigation misses facts of the case
Eliasi rejected reports that he had been permanently removed, saying instead that his volunteer activity had been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation into his case.
“Every time they say someone else ‘removed’ me. At first it was reported that I was removed by the police commissioner, who was quite surprised to discover that he had removed me, when in practice I was the one who suspended my volunteering until the matter was clarified.
“Now they are recycling headlines again: ‘The Shadow permanently removed after the hearing.’ That isn’t true either. When a volunteer is under investigation, the system stops their activity until the investigation is completed.”
“If the investigation ends without findings, they can return to activity. But apparently ‘The Shadow removed’ gets better ratings than the facts, so every few days they recycle the same headline in new packaging.”
“And in any case, there is one thing no headline can take away from me: I am proud of the three years I gave to the Israel Police. Proud of the people I saved. Proud of the sleepless nights, the scenes, the terrorist attacks, and the thousands of hours of volunteering. Proud of the unit I had the privilege of establishing and the amazing people who served alongside me. I did not come to the police for a rank, a position, or a headline.”
“I came to give. And what I gave, no one can remove,” Eliasi said.
BBC asks U.S. court to help get testimony from Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Don Jr., saying they have ‘personal knowledge’ on defamation claims
The BBC asked a U.S. court for help in getting documents and testimony from members of U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s family in connection with his $10-billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster, a court document showed.
Lawyers for the BBC argued that Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump, Jr. have “personal knowledge” and likely have records relevant to elements of Trump’s claims against the broadcaster, according to a filing Friday in federal court in Florida.
The broadcaster has been unable to serve subpoenas because the three have Secret Service protection and other security personnel around them, the filing says.
Trump filed the lawsuit in December seeking $10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing it of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices.
The allegations center on the way a 2024 documentary edited a speech Trump gave on Jan. 6, 2021, before protesters attacked the Capitol in Washington. The lawsuit accuses the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate parts of President Trump’s speech” to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President Trump said.”
It added that the editing was “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The BBC has apologized to Trump for the misleading edit, but said it had not defamed him.
The latest court filing said that Trump’s family members had knowledge of issues that were relevant to Trump’s argument “that it would be materially false to imply that he incited violence” on Jan. 6, 2021.
It cited that Donald Trump, Jr. and Ivanka Trump were both present in the Oval Office when Trump was still revising his speech, adding that Donald Trump, Jr. spoke directly with his father after violence had broken out at the Capitol.
The filing says the BBC asked Trump to accept the subpoenas on his daughter and son-in-law’s behalf or to direct the Secret Service to allow the subpoenas to be served, but he refused. The broadcaster asked the court to allow the subpoenas to be served by email and certified mail.
The judge has given Trump’s legal team until Friday to respond to the BBC’s request.
Trump’s legal team said that “the BBC is simply trying to distract away from their own obvious liability.”
“The BBC intentionally defamed President Donald J. Trump, and now the BBC is seeking to harass him, his family, and supporters by abusing the deposition process,” according to the team.
A trial has been provisionally set for February in the case.
Last week, a federal judge in Florida granted Trump a temporary reprieve from an order that he provide details of his business empire’s financial performance as part of the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman agreed to put that order on hold while he considers an amended complaint from Trump that would narrow his claim that he suffered damage to both business and reputation.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Dimon warns UK’s Healey against raising taxes on banks, FT says
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon warned UK Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey in a call last week against higher taxes on banks as Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government prepares its budget for October, the Financial Times reported.
Dimon said higher taxes often drive away jobs, citing a decline in finance jobs in New York that he blamed in part on the city’s tax burden, the report said, citing unidentified people briefed on the conversation.
Burnham has left the door open to increasing bank taxes in the budget as strong profits in the financial industry spur calls, including from organized labor, to increase levies on lenders.
Dimon reiterated his criticism of the UK’s bank tax surcharge in recent weeks, saying an increase could drive capital away. “If you have a uncompetitive tax system, capital leaves your country,” Dimon said on the Master Investor Podcast with Wilfred Frost, as part of a conversation on July 16.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Walmart Rolls Back Coke and Pepsi Prices While Tariffs Raise Tomatoes
A 24-pack of Coca-Cola that cost $14.97 at Walmart now costs $9.97. A pound of fresh tomatoes costs about a fifth more than it did a year ago. Both are true at the same store on the same trip, and the reason is that one price is set by a retailer competing for your business and the other is set by a tax in Washington.
Start with the good news, because it is the part shoppers can act on. Walmart cut prices across thousands of items at its stores, Sam’s Club locations and its apps. The 24-packs of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar dropped to $9.97 from $14.97 — a third off. Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Dr Pepper and Diet Mountain Dew 24-packs went to the same $9.97 from $13.97. A pound of 73% ground beef fell to $5.94 from $6.74. A 2.25-pound bag of red cherries dropped to $5.63 from $11.18. Sweet corn went to 25 cents an ear from 68 cents. Great Value ice cream and an 8-ounce bag of Lay’s Classic both went to $2.50 from $2.97.
“Customers count on Walmart to deliver the value they need every day,” said Julie Barber, the chain’s U.S. chief merchant, describing the move as investments in price across beef, produce and beverages. The company frames these as seasonal reductions under its longstanding everyday-low-price approach rather than short-term promotions, and President Trump praised the retailer and sought credit for the cuts. Target lowered prices on some foods in March.
Now the other direction. In July of last year the administration put a duty of about 17% on fresh tomatoes from Mexico. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the import taxes were needed to protect American farmers from “unfair trade practices that undercut pricing on produce like tomatoes.” The move ended the 2019 suspension agreement that had governed the trade, replacing it with an antidumping duty of 17.09% on most fresh Mexican tomato imports.
The problem is arithmetic. The United States imports roughly 70% of its tomatoes, and about 90% of those imports come from Mexico. When you tax nearly two-thirds of the national supply, there is no domestic crop large enough to absorb the shift, so the tax lands on the shelf price.
Tomato prices rose roughly one-fifth from June 2025 to June 2026, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. An agribusiness economist at Arizona State University had estimated a 17% duty would push retail tomato prices up about 8.5%. The actual increase came in more than double that, because the duty was not the only pressure. Fertilizer prices paid to manufacturers jumped more than 20% year over year in June, with nitrogen fertilizer up 46%, driven by disruptions to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Freezes in Florida early this year damaged tomatoes, strawberries, citrus and sweet corn. Mexican tomato imports fell 13% year over year. Lettuce is up 32%. Diesel, which moves produce from farm to store, has topped $7.50 a gallon in some states.
Anyone hoping the tariff lifts should plan otherwise. The International Trade Commission reviewed the order on June 30 and upheld the 17% duty, finding no sufficiently changed circumstances to revoke it, after Mexican producers requested revocation. Mexican tomato production is forecast to fall 9% this year to 2.6 million metric tons, with planted acreage down 11% — meaning less supply heading north, not more.
Two practical notes for the grocery list. First, the tomato duty largely hits the fresh produce section. Canned tomatoes, sauce and paste are substantially less affected, according to economists — so a recipe that can use canned instead of fresh saves real money right now. Second, the retailer price cuts are on shelf-stable and freezer items: soda, chips, paper plates, ice cream. Those are worth buying deep while the rollback holds. Cherries and corn are seasonal and the discount goes with the season.
The wider pattern is worth understanding, because it explains why the inflation reports keep saying prices are cooling while the register says otherwise. Bain and NielsenIQ found American shoppers bought fewer grocery items in the second half of last year, with the decline sharper by February. Retailers are fighting for those shrinking baskets by cutting prices where competition is fierce. Where the cost comes from a policy decision rather than a competitor, nobody is cutting anything.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Trump says US military to reduce military exercises with South Korea, cites North Korea relations
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea in a social media post that also mentions Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against Iran.
Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site that, although it was too late to cancel the exercises entirely, he was “not happy” that the United States had previously agreed to participate. The US president also cited his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“These exercises are not only costly… but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” he wrote.
Trump asked South Korea to join in denuclearizing Iran
Trump also pointed to South Korea’s stance on the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.
“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, ‘No thanks!'” Trump wrote.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military drills are scheduled to run from August 17 to 27.
US-allied Gulf States increasingly frustrated with Trump’s Iran approach – report
US-allied Gulf states are increasingly concerned that US President Donald Trump may not be able to secure peace with Iran through diplomatic channels, the Washington Post reported Saturday citing Arab and Western officials.
Three officials and one former US diplomat alleged to the Washington Post that the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain are united in their frustration with Trump.
One Gulf state official stated that anger with the US has reached its highest point since the war with Iran began in February. “Trump started this war,” the official told the newspaper, “and we are paying the price.”
While Washington is a close security partner and arms supplier to Gulf nations, some governments in the region are reportedly beginning to question the utility of continuing to host US military bases within their territory.
Due to growing frustration with the Trump administration’s handling of Iran, they may be considering exploring new arrangements, according to the report.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan entered into NATO-like alliance
One European official pointed to the recently signed Mecca Joint Defense Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan as “a signal to the US” that some states in the region “are trying to diversify their security and defense partnerships.”
“In their mind, the US is not enough,” the official noted to the Washington Post.
One Western diplomat familiar with the region disputed that sentiment toward the US has shifted significantly, saying US military forces were not enthusiastically welcomed to the area before the war began.
“It was more something that was a necessary evil,” the diplomat told the Washington Post. “Now, the necessity of it is being put in question.”
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan entered into the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in early August, after months of attacks by Iran against Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia.
The agreement stipulates that all three countries will treat an attack on one of them as an attack on all, similar to NATO’s Article 5 demanding collective defense of the alliance.
Trump praised the joint defense treaty in a post to Truth Social on Sunday afternoon, calling it a “big, bold, and important first step.”
Very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have recently, and finally, signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,” Trump wrote.
“It shows how the Middle East is coming together, and how Countries will finally be able to defend themselves in a more meaningful way,” he added.
Dario Amodei admits AI suffers from a crisis of trust, saying people worry companies or governments are ‘cooking up some new way to screw them over’
Anthropic cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei pushed back on the notion that he’s responsible for the public’s overall sense of doom around AI, but acknowledged there are trust issues.
In a lengthy post on X on Saturday, which is unusual as he generally stays away from social media, he first addressed AI regulation, describing a false choice between those who argue it leads to regulatory capture and concentration of power versus those who think widely distributing AI, including via open models, is the best way to keep the technology in check.
Amodei pointed out that institutions like the court system can decentralize power, while noting Anthropic has been in favor of policies that slow down frontier AI companies and also give smaller rivals an advantage.
Still, he conceded that AI is structurally a technology that tends to concentrate power. But that’s not because of regulation. Instead, he attributed it to AI scaling laws, referring to how a model’s performance improves as resources used to build it increase. Open-weight models are a bit better but merely shift the concentration of power to those with the most computing capacity and chips.
“By contrast I think the right ‘rules of the road’ can simultaneously (a) address AI’s cyber/bio/alignment risks, (b) institutionally constrain the power of the frontier AI companies, and (c) leave room for open-weights models while also addressing the specific risks that they bring,” Amodei wrote, adding that he supports creation of a FINRA-like entity and the Trump administration’s stance on AI testing.
Then he tackled his rhetoric about AI and denied that he has been overly negative, pointing to essays he’s written that equally present the technology’s risks and benefits. Social media clips, however, often characterize his statements as excessively gloomy to get clicks, Amodei added.
To be sure, the Anthropic CEO famously predicted AI could wipe out 50% of white-collar jobs. But more recently, he toned down the warning and called AI a multiplier of output, not a destroyer of jobs. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has similarly pivoted his messaging, as both companies head for IPOs.
In his X post, Amodei agreed that the public has a negative view of AI, which he considers a big problem, but didn’t place the blame on himself or any other individual AI executive.
“I think it is fundamentally a crisis of trust. I think that ordinary people don’t trust companies, governments, or the tech industry and always suspect that we are cooking up some new way to screw them over,” he explained.
Such distrust has been around for decades, and a marketing campaign won’t undo it, Amodei said, cautioning that an ad that says AI will cure cancer would likely be dismissed as deceptive.
“The thing that will work is actually curing cancer,” he added. “I think by far the most accurate criticism of AI companies including Anthropic is that we haven’t yet delivered on our big promises to benefit the world.”
For its part, Anthropic is trying to improve trust by producing such results, namely by doing more in the fields of biology and medicine, according to Amodei.
There are “early glimmers” of what could be incredible results, he teased. But until there are actual accomplishments, he vowed to avoid making empty promises and instead honestly address AI risks in the meantime.
“Honesty is the right thing on the merits, and in terms of public credibility and trust it is no worse than, and may in fact be better than, an approach that ignores or distracts from risks which people instinctively understand are real,” Amodei concluded.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Owning the Lakers would provide billionaire investor Joshua Kushner with an iconic sports franchise — and a ‘powerful tax shield’
Thrive Capital founder Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger stunned the sports world this week with a deal to buy the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5 billion.
If approved, the acquisition would provide the new owners with an iconic NBA franchise that boasts 17 championships as well as ties to legends like Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and LeBron James.
But ownership of the Lakers would also provide tax benefits. In fact, sports teams have long been considered great tax shelters for wealthy individuals.
That was not lost on Ram Ahluwalia, founder of Lumida Wealth Management, who said Kushner’s Lakers deal has nothing to do with sports teams as an asset class.
“It’s a powerful tax shield,” he posted on X on Saturday. “My guess is he is preparing to offset a boatload of carried interest income. If you own a sports team, done correctly, you can get a deduction against income. The goal in acquiring a sports team is to setup a ‘non-passive’ deduction.”
Ahluwalia pointed out that Kushner is likely facing big gains from his holdings in SpaceX, OpenAI and Stripe. Meanwhile, tax deduction benefits from owning a team are more favorable than owning real estate.
He added that Warren Buffett mastered the art of depreciating goodwill expenses from high-quality brands like See’s Candies and Dairy Queen that are owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
Similarly, when Mark Cuban was the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA franchise, he handled it very well, according to Ahluwalia.
“He also grew the equity value at the same time. Net net he transformed high income tax into lower taxed capital gains. That’s a trifecta,” he explained.
Thrive Capital didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The blockbuster Lakers acquisition comes as pro teams have become hot commodities. Just last month, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla agreed to buy the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks for $9.6 billion.
And in 2025, the Boston Celtics were sold for $6.1 billion, a record at the time—until Mark Walter bought the Lakers for $10 billion later that year.
By amortizing key assets like media rights and treating other assets as depreciable like contracts and the stadium, team owners can lower their tax bills.
For example, a team’s roster of players can be counted as an intangible asset that depreciates over time, generating hefty paper losses that offset an owner’s taxable income elsewhere. Similarly, depreciation on stadium infrastructure can further shield an owner’s income.
That’s possible even as a team appreciates in value while its actual business operations are also profitable.
Broadcast rights have also emerged as a major factor in team valuations, especially as sporting events have retained their ability to draw viewers and advertisers. Regional broadcast deals can be structured to allow team owners to shift income to units with better tax rates.
Thanks to long-term media deals, team revenue has become far steadier. Because of this, a team can stay profitable “regardless of the number of people that shows up” on a given night, David Silverman, a partner in Cooley’s M&A group who worked on the Celtics sale, told Fortune’s Catherina Gioino last month.
In addition, consumers are spending more on in-person experiences generally, and sports captures that spending better than most entertainment options, he noted. As a result, franchise values have compounded at a pace few other asset classes can match over the long run.
“It is being part of a very elite and exclusive club of owners that control those franchises,” Silverman said. “There are unique business opportunities that come from both being part of that club and being notable in that way.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Amazon Makes It Harder for Customers to Sue as Class Actions Are Shut Out
Amazon has quietly changed the legal rules governing millions of U.S. customers, bringing back mandatory arbitration and barring most consumers from joining class-action lawsuits against the company.
The new terms took effect immediately for customers who continue using Amazon’s services. Instead of taking most disputes to court, customers will generally be required to pursue claims individually through binding arbitration. Small-claims court remains available for eligible disputes.
The change matters because class actions allow large numbers of customers with similar complaints to combine their claims into one case. Without that option, a consumer alleging a relatively small financial loss may have to decide whether pursuing an individual claim is worth the time and effort.
Amazon says arbitration provides a faster and less expensive way to resolve disputes.
But the company has seen firsthand how expensive arbitration can become when customers organize at scale.
Amazon previously abandoned mandatory arbitration in 2021 after roughly 75,000 individual arbitration claims were filed over allegations involving Alexa recordings. Because companies can be responsible for substantial filing and administrative fees in arbitration, the wave of cases created a costly problem for Amazon.
The new rules appear designed to address that vulnerability as well.
Amazon now defines 25 or more similar claims filed within a six-month period as “mass arbitration.” Those cases can be processed in batches rather than all moving forward simultaneously.
That gives Amazon greater control over one of the strategies plaintiffs’ lawyers have increasingly used against companies with arbitration clauses: filing thousands of individual cases at once.
The implications extend beyond Amazon.
Many consumer businesses have spent years adding arbitration clauses and class-action waivers to contracts covering everything from credit cards and cellphone plans to ride-sharing apps and subscription services.
Amazon’s reversal could encourage other large companies to reconsider whether arbitration provides stronger protection from large consumer lawsuits.
For customers, however, the practical change is straightforward.
A dispute involving a damaged purchase, subscription, privacy allegation or another Amazon service may now be significantly harder to turn into a large collective lawsuit.
Customers can still bring legitimate claims.
They will simply be far more likely to have to do it one person at a time.
JBizNews Desk | Seattle
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Jane Street Absorbs $15 Billion AI-Related Hit — and Is Still Having a Record Year
Jane Street, one of the most powerful trading firms on Wall Street, suffered an extraordinary $15 billion hit in July after an AI-stock selloff battered positions connected to one of the market’s most aggressive artificial-intelligence investment funds.
Yet the loss reveals something equally remarkable: Jane Street has still generated more than $40 billion in trading revenue this year, already surpassing the $39.6 billion it produced during all of 2025.
The July setback was tied partly to Jane Street’s investment in Situational Awareness, an AI-focused hedge fund run by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner.
The fund had grown rapidly as AI-related stocks surged during the first half of the year. But when semiconductor, memory and other AI-linked shares suddenly reversed in July, leveraged positions came under severe pressure.
Situational Awareness ultimately unloaded much of its stock portfolio in a distressed sale to Citadel after losses triggered margin calls.
Jane Street was caught in that reversal both through its investment in the fund and through other technology positions of its own.
Several major memory and semiconductor stocks fell roughly 50% during the July rout, according to a Jane Street communication to employees.
The result was Jane Street’s first negative month of trading revenue since 2016.
For perspective, a $15 billion loss would be catastrophic for almost any investment firm in the world.
For Jane Street, it interrupted an otherwise extraordinary year.
The privately held trading company has approximately 3,500 employees and operates across more than 200 trading venues worldwide, buying and selling stocks, bonds, ETFs, options, currencies and commodities.
Its scale allows the firm to hold enormous positions while providing liquidity to global markets.
That model can be extraordinarily profitable when markets move as expected.
July demonstrated what happens when they do not.
Jane Street said it has since reduced risk in some strategies and closed significant portions of positions associated with the losses.
The episode also offers investors a rare glimpse into how concentrated the AI trade has become.
Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a collection of popular technology stocks held by retail investors. Hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, banks and institutional investors have committed enormous amounts of capital to many of the same semiconductor, data-center, cloud-computing and memory companies.
That concentration can amplify gains when AI stocks rise.
It can also accelerate losses when investors attempt to exit similar positions simultaneously.
The most unusual part of Jane Street’s July loss may therefore be what happened afterward.
Despite absorbing approximately $15 billion in a single month, the firm remains on pace for what could still be the most profitable year in its history.
That says as much about the extraordinary amount of money being made around today’s markets as the loss itself.
But July delivered a warning that applies far beyond Jane Street:
A trade can become enormously profitable without becoming less dangerous.
And when billions of dollars are crowded into the same AI bets, a relatively short market reversal can produce losses measured not in millions — but in tens of billions.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Hamas’s popularity is falling, but Khalil al-Hayya remains more popular than PA’s Abbas – poll
Though Hamas’s popularity has declined among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya still commands more support than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to a new poll published by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research on Wednesday.
The survey was conducted among 1,270 Palestinians between August 5 and 8, with 830 respondents in the West Bank and 440 in the Gaza Strip. Researchers conducted face-to-face interviews using tablets or mobile phones, with the data automatically transmitted to the research center’s server to prevent interception or manipulation. The poll had a margin of error of 3.5%.
The most popular candidate for Palestinian leadership was Fatah figure Marwan Barghouti, who is currently imprisoned in Israel and played a key role in the Second Intifada, with 54% of likely voters saying they would vote for him in a hypothetical presidential election. Al-Hayya would receive just over a quarter of the votes, 26%, and the current Palestinian Authority president would receive only 14%, according to the poll. Notably, only 10 months ago, 36% of respondents said they would support Hamas figure Khaled Meshaal, showing a drop in support by 10%.
Satisfaction with Abbas’s performance as president stands at just 20%, down slightly from 23% ten months ago, while 76% of Palestinians expressed dissatisfaction, according to the poll. Satisfaction was higher in the Gaza Strip, at 26%, than in the West Bank, where just 16% approved of his performance. The large majority, 82% in the West Bank and 74% in the Gaza Strip, want to see Abbas’s resignation.
Likely connected to Abbas’s lack of popularity, 83% of respondents said that they believed that there is corruption in PA institutions and 65% said they view the PA as a burden for Palestinians.
Despite more than half expressing support for Barghouti, 40% said they would not participate in the presidential elections.
Election turnout could be high if factions from the 2006 vote participate in today’s elections
However, if legislative elections were held in which all electoral lists or factions that participated in the 2006 elections competed, turnout would be 66%.
Fatah would receive 32% of the votes in the legislative elections, according to the poll, followed by Hamas at a close 29%.
However, among Gazan respondents alone, Hamas would receive 34%, Fatah 30%, and the combined third parties 27%.
Though more than a quarter of respondents maintained their position in favor of Hamas, the poll showed a significant decline in support for the terrorist group. Just 10 months ago, 44% of respondents overall said they would vote for Hamas, and support in Gaza specifically stood at 49%.
When asked which political party or political orientation they supported, 24% said they preferred Fatah, and 24% answered that they preferred Hamas; 14% chose third parties, and 38% said they supported none of them or did not know.
Continuing to demonstrate a trend in declining support for Hamas, ten months ago, 35% said they supported Hamas, including 41% in Gaza, but the figure now stands at only 18% in the West Bank and 33% in Gaza.
Though the survey did not seek to determine if, when, or why respondents’ views of Hamas had changed, it found that only 20% believed Hamas emerged victorious from the war against Israel. A majority, 60%, said neither side won, while 15% said Israel emerged victorious. In the Gaza Strip, 20% said Hamas won, while an identical 20% said Israel emerged victorious.
The proportion of respondents who believed Hamas had won the war nearly halved from 39% in October 2025. The decline was particularly pronounced in the West Bank, where just 21% now believe Hamas emerged victorious, down from 48% ten months ago.
Not as popular as it once was, 72% of respondents were still against Hamas disarming before a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Only 20% of respondents felt Hamas should disarm first. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip were slightly more in favor of Hamas disarming first, with 62% opposed, compared to the West Bank where 79% insisted Israeli presence must first be removed.
Respondents believe war would resume if Hamas disarmed, Israel would not withdraw from Gaza
An overwhelming majority, 72%, said they believed that if Hamas were to disarm, the war in Gaza would resume and Israel would not fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Only 22% believed that Hamas’s disarmement would not be the cause of a continued war.
One in five respondents said they believed a full-scale war would resume, while only 30% believed Gaza would move toward a period of peace and stability. Another 41% said they expected the current situation, marked by occasional Israeli strikes, to continue.
Support for a two-state solution has remained largely unchanged over the past 10 months, with 44% of respondents in favor, down 1 percentage point from October, while 50% opposed the proposal, according to the poll. Some 58% said that the two-state solution is no longer practical because of settlement expansion, while 36% answered that they believe that it remains practical. Similarly, 64% say that the chances of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel within the next five years are low or nonexistent, while 32% say that the chances are medium or high. With the two-state solution being a divisive issue among Palestinians, 36% said they supported the alternative of returning to confrontations and armed intifada, and 33% said they supported a single Palestinian state.
More than half (53%) also said they believed that even if Hamas gave up its weapons, it would remain an “armed resistance movement” and a political movement, while only 36% believed it would focus solely on politics.
Trust in the US-backed alternative to Hamas, the Board of Peace, was low but was considered a viable political option, the survey found. If the Palestinian elections scheduled for November are held as planned and a new government is formed, 32% (43% in Gaza and 24% in the West Bank) would prefer that NCAG maintain responsibility for the Gaza Strip over the elected government. Only 28% (34% in Gaza and 24% in the West Bank) would prefer a newly elected government to assume responsibility for the administration of Gaza, while 34% do not prefer either option.
Asked their opinion of external actors, the Iran-aligned Houthi terror group was highly popular among respondents in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The majority, 61% (63% in the West Bank and 58% in Gaza), said they were satisfied with the Houthis.
Qatar (51%), Hezbollah (50%) and Iran (50%) were also popular among Palestinian respondents, though satisfaction with Iran has grown over the past 10 months and Doha’s popularity has slightly declined since the last survey.
When asked whether they were with or against Iran during the recent war between the United States and Iran, which resulted in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and retaliatory attacks against US bases in the region, 45% of respondents said that they were with Iran, 12% answered that they were against Iran, and 40% said that they were neither with Iran nor with the United States.
Definium’s One-Dose LSD Pill Cuts Anxiety Within Days in Historic Phase 3 Win
A psychiatric drug unlike anything currently approved in the United States just cleared a major hurdle.
Definium Therapeutics said Wednesday that a single dose of its LSD-based tablet significantly reduced symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder within days, delivering a major Phase 3 victory that could put the company on a path toward the first FDA-approved LSD-based treatment for anxiety.
The drug, DT120, is a pharmaceutical-grade form of lysergide — better known as LSD — delivered as a tablet that dissolves in the mouth. Unlike conventional anxiety medicines that patients may take every day for months or years, participants in Definium’s trial received one 100-microgram dose under medical supervision.
The effect appeared rapidly.
Patients receiving DT120 showed statistically significant improvement shortly after treatment, with the benefit becoming evident within days following the single administration. The study continued tracking patients for 12 weeks and found that the treatment advantage remained at the study’s final measurement.
That distinction matters: patients did not take the pill for 12 weeks. They took it once.
One Dose Produces Major Phase 3 Result
The Voyage trial enrolled 214 adults ages 18 to 74 with generalized anxiety disorder at roughly 35 U.S. clinical sites.
Patients began the study with moderate-to-severe anxiety and were randomly assigned to receive either DT120 or placebo.
At the study’s primary endpoint, patients receiving DT120 experienced an average 11.6-point reduction on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, compared with a 6.2-point reduction for placebo.
That produced a 5.4-point advantage over placebo, comfortably clearing the trial’s statistical threshold and giving Definium the positive Phase 3 result investors and regulators were waiting for.
The individual patient results were equally striking.
About 43% of patients receiving DT120 cut their anxiety symptoms by at least half, compared with 16% in the placebo group.
And 14% of patients receiving DT120 reached remission, versus 4% receiving placebo.
Definium said the drug was generally well tolerated and the trial met its primary endpoint and all key secondary efficacy endpoints.
A Different Way to Treat Anxiety
What makes DT120 potentially groundbreaking is not simply that LSD reduced anxiety.
It is the possibility that a chronic psychiatric condition normally managed with daily medication could instead be treated with a single supervised dose producing rapid and lasting improvement.
Many conventional antidepressant and anti-anxiety medicines must be taken every day and can take weeks before patients know whether they are working. Patients may cycle through several medications before finding one that helps.
Definium is proposing a fundamentally different model.
The patient comes to a qualified medical facility, receives a single tablet, remains under supervision while the psychedelic effects wear off and then goes home. No daily prescription follows from that treatment session.
And unlike some psychedelic programs being developed elsewhere, Definium is not requiring psychotherapy to accompany the drug, potentially making the treatment easier for clinics to administer and insurers to reimburse if it eventually reaches the market.
There is currently no FDA-approved LSD medicine for generalized anxiety disorder.
That means DT120, if it successfully completes development and wins regulatory approval, could create an entirely new category of psychiatric treatment.
The FDA has already granted the drug Breakthrough Therapy designation for generalized anxiety disorder, a designation intended to accelerate development and regulatory review of medicines showing substantial potential improvement over existing treatments.
Investors Send Shares Higher
Wall Street immediately recognized the significance.
Definium shares surged in premarket trading Wednesday after the results were released, reversing much of Tuesday’s decline as investors reassessed the likelihood that DT120 could eventually reach the market.
The company also has considerable financial resources behind the program, reporting approximately $1.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments at the end of June.
And anxiety is only one part of the opportunity.
In June, DT120 also produced positive Phase 3 results in major depressive disorder, meaning the same one-dose LSD tablet has now generated successful late-stage results in two of the largest psychiatric treatment markets.
One More Anxiety Trial Matters
Definium still has another major hurdle before it can declare the anxiety program complete.
Its second Phase 3 anxiety study, Panorama, is expected to report results in September.
If that trial also succeeds, Definium could have the pivotal evidence needed to move substantially closer to an FDA submission for generalized anxiety disorder.
That is why Wednesday’s announcement goes well beyond another biotechnology trial result.
For decades, LSD has been known primarily as an illegal psychedelic associated with recreational drug use and the counterculture of the 1960s.
Definium is now attempting to turn a precisely manufactured pharmaceutical version of that compound into something entirely different: a regulated medicine that a patient could potentially take once and experience meaningful relief from severe anxiety within days.
If the remaining trials confirm what Voyage has shown, psychiatry may be looking at the beginning of an entirely new treatment model.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Arab-Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad enters politics with new party ahead of elections
Arab Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad registered a new political party ahead of the upcoming elections and has been holding talks with various figures about joining his slate, Haddad’s office confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Haddad is a vocal supporter of Israel, advocating consistently for the country on news outlets and social media. He has also gone on numerous international speaking tours.
Haddad’s spokesperson said that he has been in contact with several political figures about joining the party, including Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter, a controversial figure on the Right who has reportedly been weighing which political framework to join ahead of the elections.
“Yoseph Haddad hasn’t hidden that he’s considering entering politics and has recently been weighing his options,” his spokesperson told the Post.
“Among other moves, he’s registered a new party with partners who believe in his path.”
“At the same time, he’s been holding discussions and meetings with various figures to examine his possible next steps,” he added.
Haddad has recently returned from an advocacy trip to the US, and “will soon decide how he can best affect positive change for the State of Israel,” his office noted.
Especially after the start of Israel’s war, Haddad’s online platform grew rapidly, and he became a prominent and well-known voice on social networks, often appearing as a guest on TV programs throughout the country.
Haddad was seriously wounded in the Second Lebanon War in 2006, while serving in the IDF.
Together Vouch for Each Other aims to connect Arab and Israeli society
He has also established a nonprofit foundation, Together Vouch for Each Other. It calls to connect Arab society with Israeli society at large and to find solutions to the issues of Arab society.
In February, a Midgam Institute survey was released that showed a party led by Haddad could win four Knesset seats.
The survey found that a party led by Haddad would cross the electoral threshold, outperforming some parties currently represented in the Knesset, including MK Benny Gantz’s Blue and White.
The survey also showed that he would receive support from voters both from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and the rivaling opposition bloc, creating the possibility for his potential party to shift the dynamic in the political sphere.
In May, sources close to Haddad told the Post that he was considering partnering with former deputy mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahoum in a political alliance.
Haddad aims to translate his social media following into real influence
Haddad is aiming to translate his social media support to the general public and into real influence from within the political apparatus in Jerusalem, a source close to Haddad said at the time.
Hassan-Nahoum currently serves as special envoy for trade innovation at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. In 2024, she became secretary-general of Kol Israel, a faction of the World Zionist Congress.
She led the Yerushalmim party in 2013. From 2018 until 2023, she served as deputy mayor of Jerusalem and was previously a member of the Jerusalem city council.
In 2022, Hassan-Nahoum ran in the Likud primaries ahead of the elections, where she scored 73 on the party’s list and therefore did not make it into the Knesset.
General elections are set to take place on October 27.
Waymo Prank Exposes Robotaxi Fleet Weak Spot in California
Fifty people standing on one San Francisco dead-end street, each tapping the ride button at the same moment, were enough to take a slice of Waymo’s fleet out of service for the night. The total cost to them was about $250.
That is the incident now driving a much larger conversation about who really controls a driverless fleet. The stunt itself was pulled in July of last year by a San Francisco tech prankster named Riley Walz, who publicized it that October and jokingly called it the world’s first Waymo denial-of-service attack. What is new is the scrutiny it is drawing this week from cybersecurity specialists and the questions it raises about California’s rules for autonomous vehicle operators.
Here is what happened, in plain terms. Fifty participants gathered on the city’s longest dead-end street and ordered rides simultaneously. Fifty driverless cars did exactly what they were built to do and came. None of the riders got in. The vehicles clustered at the dead end, blocked traffic, idled for roughly ten minutes and then left. Each no-show triggered a $5 fee, which is where the $250 figure comes from. Waymo responded by shutting off pickups and drop-offs in that area until the following morning.
No one hacked anything. That is the point. The system was not broken into — it was simply used as designed, all at once, and it buckled. Fifty ordinary phone taps, at five dollars apiece, redirected a working commercial fleet and forced the operator to take a neighborhood offline. For an American reader trying to size up the risk, the ratio is the story: roughly one dollar of cost for every ten dollars a single Waymo ride might generate, and a service area dark until morning.
That is what has security professionals uneasy. Louay Abdelkader, director of product management at QNX, told Fortune that lawmakers should treat vehicle cybersecurity as a primary design requirement in the way airbags are, rather than as something bolted on afterward. His concern is not pranksters. It is that generative AI has collapsed the time and expertise a real attacker needs. Finding vulnerabilities, automating attacks and writing exploits used to take significant resources; tools now available compress that work dramatically, and a bad actor would not stop at a $5 no-show fee.
The reason robotaxis are more exposed than an ordinary car comes down to how many parts are talking to each other. A driverless vehicle runs on dozens of interconnected electronic control units plus high-speed networking, cloud connectivity, GPS, cameras, lidar, radar and AI models continuously reading the road. Every one of those is a door. Security people call the total number of doors the attack surface, and a robotaxi has far more of them than a car with a steering wheel.
Hollywood imagines someone seizing the wheel remotely. Specialists say the realistic threat is the ecosystem around the car — the booking system, the mapping and positioning feeds, the communications links. An attacker who never touches the driving software can still degrade what the vehicle knows about the world around it, or, as fifty people with phones demonstrated, decide where the fleet goes.
California already has rules on the books. The state requires autonomous vehicle manufacturers to show they can safely monitor, update and maintain their fleets while complying with federal vehicle cybersecurity guidance. Waymo runs commercial service in both San Francisco and Los Angeles under that framework. The prank happened anyway. Waymo and the California Department of Motor Vehicles did not respond to requests for comment.
Other states have moved in the same direction. Arizona has folded cybersecurity planning into its broader autonomous vehicle deployment policy, and Michigan has stood up cybersecurity initiatives through partnerships with industry and research institutions. International regulators have gone further still, with United Nations vehicle cybersecurity rules that require manufacturers to manage cyber risk across a vehicle’s life.
The scale involved is why this is now a commercial question rather than a curiosity. Alphabet-owned Waymo has grown from its Arizona start to 11 major American cities, partnering with Uber in several of them, and the company says it delivers hundreds of thousands of fully autonomous trips a week across a fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles.
The fix is not complicated, and parts of it are standard practice in every other online business. Booking systems need the same abuse controls that airlines, ticketing sites and payment processors already run: rate limits on simultaneous requests to a single location, verification that flags a coordinated surge, and dispatch logic that refuses to send an entire neighborhood’s worth of cars to one address. Beyond the app, the harder work is what Abdelkader is arguing for — writing cybersecurity into the vehicle and fleet design at the start, and having regulators check it the way they check crash protection, rather than discovering the gap after somebody films it.
JBizNews Desk | San Francisco
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Granola sold nationwide on Amazon recalled over salmonella contamination fears
Granola marketed to breastfeeding mothers and sold nationwide is being recalled over concerns that it may be contaminated with salmonella.
The Hampton Grocer, Inc., a New York-based company, is recalling certain 8-ounce packages of its Lacnola Lactation Granola after an ingredient used in the product was linked to a positive salmonella test, according to a company announcement posted Aug. 14 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The granola was sold nationwide through The Hampton Grocer’s website, Amazon and other online retailers between Oct. 21, 2025, and Aug. 12, 2026.
WALMART TOMATO BISQUE SOUP RECALLED OVER POSSIBLE LISTERIA CONTAMINATION
“The Hampton Grocers, Inc. of Montauk, NY is recalling Lacnola Lactation Granola, 8oz, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the announcement noted.
The recalled product comes in a pink stand-up pouch with UPC 850035324554.
Consumers should check their packages for either of the following lot codes and expiration dates:
POPULAR REESE’S, ALMOND JOY ICE CREAM BARS RECALLED OVER LABELING ERROR
The lot code and expiration date are printed in black ink on the upper-left side of the back of the package.
No illnesses have been reported in connection with the recall, according to the notice.
The potential contamination was discovered after a supplier said one of its products tested positive for salmonella. The granola contains the same organic moringa powder used in that product.
TOYOTA RECALLS 655K CAMRYS GLOBALLY OVER DISPLAY DEFECT THAT CAN KNOCK OUT SAFETY INDICATORS
CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO
Production has been halted while the company and FDA investigate.
Consumers who purchased the recalled 8-ounce packages are being urged to throw them away and contact the place of purchase for a full refund.
The Hampton Grocer could not immediately be reached by FOX Business for comment.
Iran’s oil is trapped while rivals’ exports from the Persian Gulf are poised to surge, but Tehran could do whatever it takes to break the chokehold
The U.S. can’t fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran can’t stop every ship from transporting oil through narrow waterway.
At the same time, the U.S. is preventing Iran from exporting its crude supplies or importing critical goods, while American forces grapple with munitions and readiness issues.
The result has been a stalemate where oil prices stay choppy but relatively in check and missiles are still launched without all-out war returning. This uneasy equilibrium, however, isn’t likely to last.
For now, significant volumes of oil are still sneaking through the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting Tehran’s claims that it’s completely closed off, as rivals Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE use a “dark” fleet to shuttle supplies in and out clandestinely via ship-to-ship transfers.
The Trump administration has claimed 8 million-9 million barrels a day are getting out this way, though analysts have put it closer to 7 million. While that’s far less than the prewar level of 20 million, the oil flows through the strait plus exports via pipelines add up to about half that amount, buying global energy markets more time before going off a cliff.
And the amount of oil coming out of the Persian Gulf is poised to jump soon despite occasional Iranian attacks on tankers. Export powerhouse Saudi Arabia looks like it’s about to join its neighbors in a big way, as satellite images show the kingdom’s ships on both sides of the strait positioning themselves for shuttle service.
Meanwhile, the U.S. naval blockade that President Donald Trump reimposed is cutting off Iran’s oil exports as well as the revenue the regime generates from it. Officials and business leaders in Tehran are increasingly warning that the blockade will crush the Iranian economy, which was already in shambles before the war.
Experts have cautioned that Iran’s repressive regime is unlikely to be swayed by the suffering of ordinary citizens and is prepared to wait out economic hardship longer than the U.S. public can endure high gas prices.
But Iran is also unlikely to do nothing while its economy keeps crumbling, forcing Trump to pivot back to a kinetic war from an economic war.
Majidreza Hariri, the head of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce, recently admitted the U.S. blockade will eventually inflict more economic damage than actual war.
To avoid this, he urged the regime to do whatever it takes to end the blockade, “whether through negotiation, supplication, threats, or even war.”
“We must also eliminate the perception in the U.S. that it can resort to such an action whenever it wants, and make it understand that the consequences of such a move could be severe,” Hariri added.
In fact, Iran has reorganized its military to be more aggressive and has seen its tactical situation improve despite conventional forces being decimated by U.S.-Israeli bombardment earlier in the war.
Iran has developed new missiles that are better at evading air defenses, making U.S. military assets and allied oil infrastructure around the region more vulnerable.
The U.S. military has also expended much of its interceptor stockpile, which is now so low that it reportedly factored into Trump’s decision to call off a major re-escalation of war.
In addition, even maintaining the naval blockade has strained U.S. forces as the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier struggles with mental health and supply issues amid a record-long time at sea. Another carrier is on the way to take its place, but other ships performing blockade operations are likely facing similar logistical concerns.
“Could the U.S. naval blockade worsen Iran’s already dire economic situation? Absolutely, which is why nobody should expect Iran to just sit idly by as that happens. It will hit back,” Eric Brewer, a former U.S. intelligence official, told the Wall Street Journal. “Iran has proven to have a higher pain tolerance than the United States. I’ve seen nothing to suggest that’s changed.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
New Jersey councilwoman to Zohran Mamdani: You are the mayor – act like it! – opinion
Dear Mayor Mamdani,
Local politics is complicated, believe me I know more than most.
People run for local office without knowing the job. Without ever stepping foot in a public meeting. Without knowing how to read an agenda packet, let alone how to make a motion. Most run without understanding that campaigning and governing are two entirely different things. It baffles me.
The first act of a mayor matters.
It tells everyone who you are going to be once the lawn signs come down. It tells your colleagues how you intend to lead and your constituents what matters to you. One oft he most powerful things I have ever watched a mayor do on day one was apologize.
Imagine that. The first act as mayor for Michael Pagan was to publicly acknowledge that a vote he had cast on a Planning Board appointment had hurt a colleague and the community he served. That is leadership.
Yours? You inherited a city in the middle of an antisemitism crisis you had already helped fuel. You also inherited the largest Jewish population outside Israel. That should have imposed a special seriousness on the way you approached this issue from your first hour in office. So your first act was to walk into City Hall and rip the protections in place for your Jewish constituents out from under their feet! You played politics with your constituents lives and safety by revoking the IHRA definition of antisemitism. You revoked mayor Eric Adams’s order directing the NYPD and Law Department to figure out how to better protect people going to pray.
Why?
Seriously.
Why?
Antisemitic protestors were already screaming “we are Hamas.”
Jews were already being harassed walking into shul, school, showing their Magen David or wearing a kippah.
Your predecessor looked at that and said “this is dangerous, we need to do more.”
No, Eric Adams did not eradicate antisemitism. Antisemitism surged after October 7 while he was mayor too, but he looked at what was happening and said this is dangerous, we need to do more, and he did! He understood his job and he protected his constituents, every one of them!
So let’s stop pretending the IHRA decision was some meaningless administrative cleanup. You knew exactly why it mattered.
Antisemites figured out a long time ago that they can say “Zionist” instead of “Jew” and suddenly everyone gets very confused about whether they are allowed to call it antisemitism. Your first act as mayor made that easier. Your first act as mayor gave progressive Nazis exactly what they wanted, permission to target Jews while escaping the one label society only knows how to condemn when the Nazi happens to be on the right. You told every Jew in New York and worldwide watching what was happening outside our shuls that your ideological purity mattered more than the warning signs sitting right in front of you and now look where we are!
I do not care what you intended when you signed your first executive orders. Intent is for campaign speeches.
Consequences are what you govern.
We’ve see what happens when people put ideological purity over safety of the people they serve, whether they voted for them or not. We have seen where that train ends, Mr. Mamdani!
We watched you defend “globalize the intifada.”
Do you understand what Jews hear when someone says “globalize the intifada”? We remember the intifada.
We remember buses exploding.
Restaurants.
Cafes.
Families.
Blood.
Bodies.
Fear.
It is very easy to find a different definition for a word when your children are not the intended target.
Friday night, Larry Montes walked into Central Synagogue, one of New York City’s most prominent shuls during Shabbat services, disrupted services, struck a 63-year-old Jewish woman in the face, spat on a 65-year-old security guard and head-butted him, and damaged shul property.
Jews worldwide already need police officers standing guard while we pray, and a woman was still attacked inside the shul while praying on your watch!
You say you are horrified.
What are you going to do with that horror?
Your job is not commentator-in-chief.
Mayor Mamdani, I am tired of horror after the fact.
I am tired of your thoughts and prayers!
You were not blindsided by what is happening to Jewish New Yorkers, you were warned! The outgoing mayor literally left you an executive order telling you that Jews and houses of worship needed more protection.
This very week, Jewish leaders sat across from you at City Hall and told you directly that the way you continued to talk about Israel endangered the Jewish community at large. They were not asking you to become a Zionist. They were asking the mayor of New York City to be a leader.
You are the mayor, act it!
You made Israel, Zionism and the Jewish state a recurring target of your politics in a city where Jews were already being attacked at grotesquely disproportionate rates, and every time Jews told you there was a connection we got another lecture about the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
!די
We know the definition. There is no difference! When you say Zionist, you mean Jew!
The person screaming “Zionist” at a Jew does not stop and ask whether the Jew has ever voted in an Israeli election.
The person showing up at a synagogue is not checking everyone’s position on Netanyahu. The man wearing a kippah on the Upper West Side is not suddenly protected because someone insists their hatred is technically about Israel.
A shul full of Jews does not become a legitimate political target because you call the people inside “Zionists.”
This distinction you keep defending so carefully on paper is collapsing on Jewish bodies. We am tired of watching Jews have to become victims before everyone suddenly discovers it’s too late.
Words matter, Mayor Mamdani!
Why does a Jew have to bleed before the vocabulary gets easy?
You do not get to spend years pouring gasoline into an already combustible argument about Jews, Zionism and Israel and then stand over the flames expressing shock that the room is hot. Jews have been standing in front of you telling you exactly what the atmosphere feels like, but you keep arguing with the weather report while we are standing in the rain.
You said your administration would do everything in its power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe. It’s too late. The intifada is globalized!
Listen to the Jews, and not only the Jews who make your politics comfortable. Listen to the Jews who are angry with you.
Listen to the Jews who hear “intifada” and remember what intifada actually looked like. Listen to the Jews who hear crowds screaming about Zionists and know exactly who is being addressed.
Listen to Jewish parents wondering how much security their children need to go to school. Listen to the Jew who sees a police officer outside synagogue and feels both grateful and sick that he has to be there.
Listen before someone else is hurt.
We were afraid
We told you.
So no, Mayor Mamdani, “horrified” is not enough.
Your words carry the authority of City Hall.
What you normalize matters.
What you condemn matters.
What you refuse to condemn matters.
What you repeal matters.
What you excuse as political debate matters.
At some point, you have to govern the city that actually exists instead of the semantic distinction you wish existed.
There is a reason hatred aimed at a country thousands of miles away keeps landing on Jews in New York.
I say this to you not as someone unfamiliar with public office.
I know what it means when residents come before government and tell us they are afraid. Our responsibility is not to tell them their fear and experiences are wrong! Our responsibility is to hear the warning while there is still something we can do about it.
Restore the protections your predecessor left for Jewish New Yorkers today, or resign!
Stop treating “globalize the intifada” like a linguistic misunderstanding.
Stop using the mayoralty of New York as a platform for an obsessive prosecution of the Jewish people and their homeland.
Tell your political allies that a protest does not become progressive because Jews are the ones being intimidated.
Tell them that t replacing the word “Jew” with “Zionist” does not give them moral immunity. Most importantly, Listen!
Friday night should have been Shabbat. A woman should have been able to enter Central Synagogue without becoming another hate-crime statistic. A security guard should not have been spat on and head-butted while protecting Jews at prayer. A police officer should not have to stand between a Jewish congregation and violence for Jews to worship in Manhattan. That is where New York is and you are its mayor.
I will put this on the table.
I publicly offer a public open meeting with Mayor Mamdani and his team to offer any help that will keep Jewish New Yorkers safe, and by extension mine. Name the time and place and let’s get to work. The ball is in your court Mr. Mayor. Motion to adjourn.
The writer is a councilwoman in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Musk Returns to Trump’s Side With $100 Million Midterm Push
Fourteen months ago Elon Musk accused the president of being named in the Epstein files, threatened to primary every Republican who voted for the White House’s signature tax bill, and announced he was starting his own political party. That party is now dormant, and Musk has authorized his super PAC to spend up to $120 million getting Republicans to the polls on Nov. 3.
The reconciliation happened in stages, and money moved even when the words were hostile. Musk cut $15 million in checks to three Republican committees roughly two weeks after apologizing for the Epstein post, saying he had gone too far — and then, days later, resumed threatening Republicans who backed the bill. Federal Election Commission filings showed the money split among Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund.
The thaw ran through Vice President JD Vance, who is close to Musk and organized a dinner at the Naval Observatory attended by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, former deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, and Jared Birchall, the low-profile lieutenant who manages Musk’s political giving. In early January, Musk posted a photograph from Mar-a-Lago describing a dinner with the president and first lady and predicting a strong year ahead.
The result, reported in late July, is a commitment of $100 million to $120 million for a field program in at least eight states. The initial targets are Senate races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Ohio, with possible involvement in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas, alongside several House contests. The group has described the plan as a large-scale get-out-the-vote operation working both offensively and defensively. Axios reported the focus is on mobilizing Republican voters who typically skip non-presidential elections.
The commercial logic is not hidden. Musk’s companies depend heavily on the federal government: SpaceX holds substantial NASA and Defense Department contracts, its Starlink business runs on federal spectrum and licensing decisions, and Tesla operates under vehicle-safety and autonomous-driving regulators. SpaceX is also moving toward the public markets, a process in which regulatory posture and political stability carry real value. A third party competing for conservative votes would have split the coalition Musk’s businesses do business with, which is the practical case against the America Party that observers cited when it went quiet.
The scale is smaller than last cycle. Musk gave roughly $291.5 million in 2024, most of it to elect Trump, making him the largest donor of that campaign. America PAC has spent about $52.3 million since January 2025 against roughly $50.3 million raised, nearly all of it from Musk, who has personally contributed more than $85 million to political organizations this cycle. The new authorization would roughly triple that.
It lands on top of an already lopsided money picture: Republican super PACs and committees hold an advantage of more than $300 million over Democratic counterparts, before counting the $400 million in Trump’s MAGA Inc. Axios reported the cash edge is meant to offset a political environment favoring Democrats, with the president’s approval ratings weak on the economy and the Iran war putting House control, and possibly the Senate, in play. A senior White House political adviser, James Blair, called the PAC’s return a significant boost for Republicans nationally.
There is reason for caution on the number. Announced super PAC spending is an authorization, not a wire transfer, and Musk’s political commitments have moved quickly in both directions before. Commentators noting his record have cautioned that the pledge should not be treated as fixed, nor assumed to grow toward 2024 levels. The 2024 operation itself drew scrutiny when Reuters reported that canvassers had fallen short of door-knocking targets and that some were alleged to have overstated their work.
For business readers, the takeaway is less about the personalities than about what the episode demonstrates. The wealthiest individual in the country severed ties with an administration his companies depend on, discovered the cost of that position, and rebuilt the relationship inside a year — with a nine-figure check as the closing argument. Whether the money delivers turnout in November is a separate question, and one the filings will answer only after the votes are counted.
JBizNews Desk | Washington, D.C.
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Iranian army chief places $30,000 bounty on killed, captured US soldiers
A $30,000 reward for captured or killed United States service members has been announced by Iranian Army Commander-in-Chief Amir Hatami, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) revealed in a Sunday post on X/Twitter.
The reward will reportedly be granted to any Iranian soldier from “the Iranian people.”
The Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army: With public participation, any Iranian force that captures or kills a American aggressor will receive a $30,000 reward from the Iranian people.
— IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) (@iribnews_irib) August 16, 2026
“Given the large volume of requests to participate in the financial jihad, a plan was prepared according to which, for every person who kills or captures and hands over an American aggressor force, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, with the support of the loved ones participating in the financial jihad and under its own guarantee, will receive a gift equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion Tomans. Zealous Iranian women who succeed in this action will also receive double the reward,” Hatami stated.
“The weapon of any person who succeeds in killing an American aggressor will be purchased at double the price and will receive a new weapon. The individual’s weapon will also be kept in a planned museum,” he added.
“The Americans made many claims about their military power, and through this, they had received a lot of ransoms and money, but the war with Iran broke that hegemony. America no longer has the authority it once had, and the sign of this is the movement of countries towards other paths to generate security for themselves,” Hatami said.
“The claims of the Zionist regime and the expression of its dreams are also, of course, effective in this direction because countries realized that they must think about their own security and cannot trust America,” he added.
Iranian general denounces Trump’s Hormuz ‘US territory’ statements
Hatami also denounced US President Donald Trump’s statements that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz as a “territory of the United States” after Iran is defeated.
“The delusional US president is trying hard to create a winning image of himself. But today, few people in the world take him seriously. The image that the Western media itself is broadcasting of America today is the image of a loser. The image of someone who hides in a food truck out of fear and leaves other members of the government and journalists on a plane that the US Secret Service claims was under threat is the image of a big loser,” Hatami added, referencing the Secret Service smuggling Trump onto a different plane after leaving the NATO summit in Turkey in July.
He also threatened US bases in the Middle East. “Everyone should know that in no way can the American bases return to their previous status, and Iran will never allow centers to be established in our neighborhood that aim to threaten Islamic Iran. The only way is for the Americans to leave the region. They have been effectively expelled and are no longer permitted to enter the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Strait of Hormuz. We have won on this path and are consolidating our victory,” he stated.
Drone strikes, intelligence chief’s killing expose Libya’s fragile balance – analysis
Drone attacks on energy facilities in western Libya and the assassination of a senior intelligence official in the east have renewed fears of instability as Libyan factions maneuver ahead of possible political negotiations.
No evidence has emerged connecting the two sets of events, and no group has claimed responsibility for either. Their timing has nonetheless raised questions about whether Libya faces another brief outbreak of violence or a broader contest for influence.
Maj.-Gen. Fawzi al-Mansouri, head of military intelligence for Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based forces, was killed in Benghazi on Monday night, August 10, when an explosive device detonated at his vehicle in the Hawari district, according to security officials and the eastern General Command.
Al-Mansouri was buried the following day at a funeral attended by senior military figures, including Saddam Haftar, one of Khalifa Haftar’s sons. A security committee has opened an investigation, but authorities have not publicly identified a suspect or motive.
The assassination eliminated one of the most senior officials in an eastern security establishment that has portrayed Benghazi and much of eastern Libya as having left behind the instability of earlier years.
Hundreds of kilometers to the west, attacks were hitting some of the country’s most important energy facilities.
Drone strikes began targeting facilities in Zawiya on August 9. The following night, a drone hit a gasoline-storage tank at the Zawiya oil complex, west of Tripoli, causing a major fire and the tank’s collapse. The tank held approximately 4.5 million liters of gasoline when it was struck, according to Libya’s National Oil Corporation.
Zawiya drone attacks continued through August 11
Another drone landed near a second tank without causing reported casualties or damage. Further attacks continued into August 11.
The National Oil Corporation said firefighters had contained the blazes and that the refinery itself was not damaged, although production was briefly disrupted. It warned that more attacks could force it to suspend operations.
The complex includes Libya’s largest operating refinery, which can process approximately 120,000 barrels per day. It is connected to the Sharara oil field and plays a central role in the country’s energy production and fuel-distribution network.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads the internationally recognized Government of National Unity in Tripoli, condemned the strikes as organized crime and promised to hold those responsible accountable.
Another drone struck the South Zawiya electricity substation on August 12, setting it ablaze and causing widespread outages. Libya’s state-run General Electricity Company said more than 700 megawatts of the nearby power plant’s 1,300-megawatt capacity remained unavailable.
US energy company GE suspended work at the power station and withdrew its technical teams because of the security situation.
The attackers and their objectives remain unknown. Zawiya is divided among armed groups with shifting alliances, and tensions have grown between Dbeibah’s government and forces associated with Mohamed Bahroun, a powerful commander in the city.
Libya has been divided between rival centers of authority for more than a decade. Dbeibah’s government operates from Tripoli, while authorities backed by Haftar’s forces control the east. A 2020 ceasefire ended the last major nationwide war but failed to produce unified political, military, or security institutions.
The latest violence comes as Libyan leaders and foreign governments seek arrangements that could narrow the east-west divide.
Misbah Omar, a Libya-based analyst at the Institute for Integrated Transitions and a member of the Mediterranean Platform, said the attacks could be part of a larger contest, although no wider pattern has yet been established.
“If this assessment is correct, what we are witnessing may represent an initial phase in the restructuring of Libya’s political and security landscape – one aimed at allowing the main actors to consolidate or redefine their respective spheres of influence before moving toward a clearer political process,” Omar told The Media Line.
Zawiya’s significance to the contest over western Libya
Zawiya is particularly important in any contest over western Libya. The city sits west of Tripoli at the junction of armed influence, energy infrastructure, migration routes, and economic networks.
The attacks raise the possibility that armed factions or their opponents are shifting their focus from direct clashes to the resources and supply systems that sustain military power.
“Such actions would represent a significant shift in the nature of the confrontation,” Omar said. “Rather than focusing exclusively on the armed formations themselves, pressure could increasingly be directed toward the economic and logistical networks that sustain their influence and operational capacity.”
Potential targets could include infrastructure, revenue sources, supply routes, and other assets that help armed groups maintain their position, he added.
Ibrahim Mousa Said Grada, a former Libyan ambassador to Sweden and former UN adviser, also described Zawiya as central to the struggle over political power and economic resources.
“This happened in Zawiya, a city that deserves to be described as afflicted and targeted because it has become a meeting point for the contradictions of politics, conflicts of interest, and disputes over the division of power and resources in Libya,” Grada told The Media Line.
The violence coincides with renewed US efforts to encourage cooperation between Libya’s rival authorities.
Massad Boulos, senior adviser to US President Donald Trump for Arab and African affairs, has promoted an initiative focused on institutional reunification and economic cooperation. He has met Haftar, Dbeibah, and other political and military figures across Libya.
Published accounts describe the initiative as an effort to reach agreements between Haftar’s eastern authorities and Dbeibah’s Tripoli-based government, with energy investment and economic development offered as incentives.
The plan remains controversial, and many of its details have not been made public. Critics warn that a power-sharing agreement could preserve the authority of Libya’s current leaders and armed factions rather than build representative national institutions.
Omar said the US approach seemed to favor a series of limited agreements rather than a comprehensive settlement.
“If this trajectory continues, the initiative could enter a more practical phase during the final quarter of this year and the beginning of next year, operating along two parallel tracks: economic and political, supported by corresponding security arrangements on the ground,” he said.
Grada was less optimistic about its immediate prospects.
“The Boulos initiative ‘appears’ to have been placed in a freezer during this scorching summer, so that it does not die or become buried altogether,” he said.
The recent attacks do not show that Libya’s factions have agreed on a new division of power. They could instead represent attempts by competing groups to improve their positions before negotiations, whose timing and structure remain unclear.
Al-Mansouri’s assassination creates another problem for the east. Grada said the loss of its military intelligence chief came at a sensitive time for Libya’s divided security services.
“At the same time, the absence of the head of military intelligence for the eastern Libyan forces coincides with the continuing dispute over the leadership of the General Intelligence Service, or external security apparatus,” Grada said. “This means an intelligence vacuum and state of confusion at a particularly dark and sensitive moment domestically and during a highly unstable and critical international environment.”
Foreign involvement adds to the uncertainty. Russia, Turkey, the US, European powers, and regional governments retain varying degrees of political, economic, and security influence in Libya.
“There is an increasing possibility that Libya could be transformed into an arena for proxy warfare between intelligence services and their military and media arms, as international and regional conflicts and rivalries expand and deepen,” Grada said.
The latest violence does not necessarily mean that Libya is heading back to nationwide war. Omar said a series of limited moves intended to change the balance of power was more likely than an immediate, large-scale confrontation.
“However, these developments should not necessarily be interpreted as evidence of an imminent comprehensive military confrontation,” he said. “A more plausible scenario may be a series of calibrated and limited moves designed to alter the balance of power gradually, while leaving room for negotiations and political accommodation.”
The next political agreement may depend as much on events outside formal negotiations as on what happens at the table. Control of territory, energy assets, and security institutions will help determine what Libya’s competing factions are willing – and able – to accept.
The Zawiya strikes and al-Mansouri’s assassination do not prove that anyone is carrying out a coordinated plan to redraw Libya’s balance of power. They do show how quickly an attack on an oil tank, power station, or security chief can unsettle a country whose rival authorities have never fully resolved the conflict between them.
A historic shortage is squeezing an American dinner staple and relief could be years away
Relief from high beef prices may depend on something that can’t be fixed overnight: rebuilding America’s shrinking cattle herd.
America’s ranchers are facing their smallest cattle herd in 75 years, a shortage now rippling from pastures to some of the nation’s largest meatpackers.
Tyson Foods announced last week that it will close beef facilities in Illinois and Utah and pursue the sale of another in Washington as it reshapes its beef business amid what the company called one of the most historic cattle shortages the country has ever experienced. Tyson said recent USDA data suggest supply constraints are likely to persist.
THE UNEXPECTED FORCE KEEPING BEEF PRICES HIGH AND WHY THE PRESSURE COULD LAST FOR YEARS
USDA data shows the U.S. entered 2026 with about 86.2 million cattle and calves, the smallest herd since the early 1950s. That’s down from roughly 94.7 million cattle and calves in 2019, a decline of more than 8 million animals.
Rebuilding that lost supply will take time, particularly after years of conditions that pushed ranchers to shrink their herds.
Chief among them is persistent drought.
“The biggest thing has been drought,” Eric Belasco, head of the agricultural economics department at Montana State University, previously told Fox News Digital.
He said years of dry weather have depleted grasslands across the West and Plains, leaving ranchers without enough feed or water to sustain their herds. Many have been forced to sell cattle early, including cows needed to produce the next generation of calves, making the road to recovery even longer.
The effects are reaching beyond ranches and into grocery stores, where consumers are paying more for beef.
IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS
According to USDA data, the retail value of Choice beef rose from about $8.51 per pound in August 2024 to $10.49 per pound in July 2026, an increase of roughly 23%.
Behind that price pressure is a cattle supply crunch that experts say has been years in the making.
“The biggest thing has been drought,” Eric Belasco, head of the agricultural economics department at Montana State University, previously told Fox News Digital.
BEEF PRICES ARE CLOSE TO RECORD HIGHS — BUT AMERICANS AREN’T CUTTING BACK
He said years of dry weather have depleted grasslands across the West and Plains, leaving ranchers without enough feed or water to sustain their herds.
Many have been forced to sell cattle early, including cows needed to produce the next generation of calves, making the road to recovery even longer.
For consumers waiting for cheaper beef, the path to relief starts with rebuilding America’s cattle herds, a process that could take years.
Lakers Owner, Needing Cash, Agrees to Record $12.5 Billion Sale
Mark Walter bought the Los Angeles Lakers about 14 months ago. This week he agreed to sell them for $2.5 billion more than he paid, to a pair of buyers who were not looking to buy the Lakers at all, in a negotiation that took three days.
Walter acquired the Buss family’s controlling stake at roughly a $10 billion valuation in 2025. Bob Iger, the former Disney chief executive, and the venture capitalist Joshua Kushner approached him on Sunday, Aug. 9, and had terms agreed by Wednesday, Aug. 12, at $12.5 billion — the highest price ever paid for a North American sports franchise. There is no indication Walter solicited competing bids.
What turns a sports transaction into a business story is the balance sheet sitting behind it. Federal prosecutors and securities regulators have been examining roughly $16 billion in private-credit transactions tied to Walter’s businesses, and specifically whether the connections between those holdings and Walter-affiliated companies were properly disclosed. Bloomberg reported in July that prosecutors in Manhattan were looking at whether Delaware Life Insurance Co. and Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co., insurers Walter controls, failed to disclose that their private credit holdings backed other ventures he also controlled, and that the inquiry extends to Guggenheim Partners, the financial firm he leads. Bloomberg Law reported that F.B.I. agents seized a phone and a computer belonging to Walter last fall, in a search executed aboard his private plane in Chicago.
Walter has not been charged with a crime. The Lakers are not accused of any wrongdoing and the franchise is not a subject of the investigation.
The structure of the problem is worth stating plainly, because it explains the speed. An insurance company takes in premiums and invests the money, and it is supposed to invest that money at arm’s length. When an insurer lends heavily into businesses its own owner controls, the arm’s length disappears — the insurer’s ability to pay claims becomes tied to the fortunes of the man who runs it. That is the disclosure question regulators are asking, and unwinding it requires cash to replace those loans.
Walter’s holding company, TWG Global, has approached multiple investment firms, including Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, about deals to raise money that would go toward paying down the loans involving his insurance companies and other ventures. A controlling stake in a $12.5 billion asset, sold for cash, does a substantial amount of that work in one transaction.
For the buyers, the pivot was opportunistic. Iger and Kushner had been exploring an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas before turning to an outright offer for the Lakers. Expansion teams take years of league process and produce a franchise with no history and no built-in audience. The Lakers are the sport’s most valuable property and were, briefly, available.
The deal is not done. The NBA Board of Governors has to approve any transfer of control, and the league’s next scheduled board meeting is in September. Until that vote, Walter remains majority owner. Under the agreed terms, the Buss family keeps a 15% stake and Jeanie Buss stays on as team governor for at least five years, carrying over provisions from her 2025 agreement with Walter.
Walter also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, which are not part of this transaction.
The pricing here matters beyond Los Angeles. Franchise valuations across American sports have climbed steeply through a run of sales that included the Celtics, Trail Blazers and Timberwolves, and each record resets the benchmark other owners borrow against and sell into. Walter’s purchase of the Lakers was itself the largest of that wave. Fourteen months later the same asset changed hands for a quarter more. That kind of appreciation, on an asset class with no earnings multiple that would justify it in a conventional business, is the reason sports teams have become a favored place for very large amounts of private capital.
It also demonstrates the other thing a trophy asset can do: convert into cash quickly when its owner needs cash quickly. The sale gives Walter a fast return at a moment when his broader operation is working to reduce the loans under scrutiny. The public record does not establish a single reason he sold, and it would go beyond current reporting to say the investigation caused it. What it does establish is that an offer he was not seeking arrived at a useful time, and he took it in 72 hours.
JBizNews Desk | Los Angeles
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Hezbollah disarmament ‘integral’ to Lebanon-Israel security process, US official tells ‘Post’
The United States reaffirmed on Sunday its support for a security process aimed at strengthening stability along the Israel-Lebanon border following a recent escalation, stressing that the disarmament of Hezbollah is an essential component of the framework.
A US State Department spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post that the “pilot zone” process remains the only viable path toward achieving long-term peace and security for both Lebanon and Israel.
“We look forward to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)’s completion of clearance operations in the first pilot zones and, after clearance is verified, the process will expand,” said the spokesperson.
The spokesperson emphasized that Hezbollah’s disarmament is an integral part of the process, signaling that Washington views the removal of the Iran-backed group’s military capabilities as a central element of any lasting security arrangement.
“The United States will continue to support the Trilateral Framework in keeping with our interest in regional stability, the prevention of further conflict, and [US] President [Donald] Trump‘s agenda of promoting peace between nations,” he added.
Hezbollah responsible for Lebanese economic, security issues, spokesperson says
Washington further delivered an unusually direct assessment of Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon, blaming the terrorist organization for the country’s economic and security challenges and arguing that its continued armed presence is incompatible with Lebanon’s long-term stability.
“Hezbollah has been the primary obstacle to Lebanon’s economic recovery, the only blemish on its international reputation, and the biggest threat to the safety and stability of Lebanon,” the spokesperson said.
He added that the terror organization bears sole responsibility for Israel’s presence on Lebanese soil, saying, “This is precisely why Hezbollah must be disarmed and dismantled.”
Highly competitive Likud primaries set as Netanyahu holds expanded control over Knesset slate
More than 140,000 Likud registered members are set to vote on Monday in the party’s highly competitive primaries, as candidates made their final campaigning push on Sunday.
The primaries come amid fierce internal tensions over changes that have expanded chairman Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s control over the party’s Knesset slate.
The polling will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 8 p.m. at stations throughout the country.
Netanyahu stated ahead of the primaries yesterday that he will vote “for a winning slate.”
“I trust you, Likud members, to choose your representatives correctly, according to your own judgment. I am not interfering in the national list, and I wish everyone success,” Netanyahu added.
Netanyahu pushed to change Likud’s long-standing primary system for selecting its Knesset slate
Likud has for years prided itself on conducting primaries in which its registered members are eligible to vote for the Knesset list. Netanyahu pushed to change the system in recent weeks ahead of the primaries, leading to an especially competitive race with even fewer slots available than usual.
Netanyahu was granted the authority to determine eight slots within the first 30 spots on the party list last month following a vote on the controversial decision by the Likud Central Committee.
There were reports that Netanyahu had threatened to leave Likud if the proposed changes were not advanced.
Those within the party who oppose changing the primaries have argued that it will cause those who would otherwise score highly in the primaries to fall further down the list.
The Likud primaries are further competitive because the party currently has around 40 ministers and MKs serving in the government and Knesset, but recent polls project the party winning only about 22 seats, leaving many at risk of losing their places on the party’s Knesset list.
The vote comes ahead of the general elections, which are set to take place on October 27. Parties are not required to hold primaries in Israel, and only a few do so.
Court rejects bid to ease Likud district primary restrictions ahead of vote
Further tensions surrounding the slots also come after the Tel Aviv District Court on Monday rejected Likud MK Afif Abed’s attempt to restore a narrowly approved change allowing current and former MKs, ministers and deputy ministers to run in the party’s district primaries, leaving the restrictions in place ahead of the vote.
Likud had announced last week that one of Netanyahu’s first reserved slots would go to entrepreneur and businessman Oren Dobronsky.
Additional reserved slots were later granted by Netanyahu to three ministers: Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and Likud Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz, who also holds multiple ministerial portfolios.
The party said its internal court ruled that the defense minister should receive a reserved slot in order to “allow him to focus on security needs rather than engage in politics at this time.”
Likud also stated that Sa’ar would receive a reserved slot as part of the merger agreement between his party and Likud and that the Likud Central Committee chairperson would receive a slot due to his senior position in the party.
Sa’ar had announced in 2025 that his New Hope-United Right would be merging with Likud, and would be returning to the party. He previously resigned from Likud in 2020, heavily criticizing Netanyahu at the time.
The changes to the party’s primaries that have expanded Netanyahu’s control over the Knesset list have led to fierce internal tensions, with some party members in favor and others strongly against.
A fierce critic of changing the system has been MK Tally Gotliv, who is viewed as a candidate who would receive broad support from registered party members.
Gotliv has sharply criticized the Tuesday decision to reserve the slots for the three ministers, condemning the defense minister.
She called the decision to grant the defense minister a reserved slot “a disgraceful move that mocks Likud voters, who understand one thing more than all the veteran ministers: the need to fight the legal establishment that is persecuting the right-wing government and right-wing figures.”
Likud MK Amit Halevi calls upcoming primaries a ‘democratic celebration’
Likud MK Amit Halevi, who has expressed support for allowing the premier to reserve slots, told The Jerusalem Post that the primaries “will be a democratic celebration in the Likud.”
“I wish more parties conducted themselves democratically like the Likud. Some 140,000 members, active, engaged citizens who make their voices heard and have an influence, will go to the polls tomorrow,” he added.
“Together, God willing, we will put together a winning team that will be able to meet the national challenges ahead of us.”
“I am confident that Likud members will vote correctly for the sake of the country. The war exposed the many ills in the country’s systems, particularly the legal and security systems, which require fundamental reform. We will make those changes,” Halevi told the Post.
An internal Likud poll released on Sunday projected Gotliv, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, and Transportation Minister Miri Regev to rank among the top candidates in the primaries.
Likud primaries combine national, district, reserved slots to shape Knesset slate
The primaries determine the Likud’s Knesset slate, with the party chairman placed first. Registered members then vote for candidates on the national list, while members from geographic districts vote for candidates from their respective districts.
Candidates chosen on the national list are combined with district representatives and places that guarantee representation for groups including women, immigrants, young members, and minorities. The regulations also reserve certain positions for candidates chosen by the party chairman.
In the 2022 primaries, for example, the first group of positions after the party chairman was largely filled by nationally elected candidates, while district positions and guaranteed-representation slots were inserted farther down the slate. Netanyahu was also given several reserved positions.
The precise locations of those different categories are determined before each election through the party’s temporary election regulations. That is why the current fight has centered not only on whether primaries will take place, but on how much of the resulting slate the members will actually control.
Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.
Reagan National Flights to Stop for Three Hours Aug. 23
Travelers using Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport later this month face a planned three-hour shutdown of flight operations as Washington prepares for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it expects to temporarily pause flights at DCA from 10:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23 to support the IndyCar race taking place on the streets of Washington.
The FAA cautioned that the times could still change.
The closure is tied to the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, a two-day racing event Aug. 22 and 23 that will run through parts of downtown Washington and around the National Mall as part of celebrations marking the United States’ 250th anniversary.
For travelers, this is more than a routine delay warning. For roughly three hours, arrivals and departures are expected to stop.
That means airlines may cancel flights, shift departure times earlier or later, hold aircraft at other airports or rebook passengers through Washington Dulles, Baltimore/Washington International or other hubs.
Reagan National is particularly vulnerable to disruption because of its constrained airspace and tightly packed schedule. When operations stop, aircraft scheduled during the closure do not simply disappear from the system; airlines have to reposition planes, crews and passengers across the rest of the day.
The FAA has used similar temporary pauses at Reagan National during major Washington events involving restricted airspace and large-scale aerial activity.
The practical advice for consumers is straightforward: anyone booked through DCA on Aug. 23 should check their reservation well before traveling to the airport.
Passengers with connections may face an added risk because even flights scheduled outside the official 10:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. window can be affected by aircraft and crews displaced by the shutdown.
Airlines have not yet finalized every schedule adjustment, and the FAA says the operating window remains subject to change.
For travelers with flexibility, avoiding Reagan National around midday Aug. 23 may be the simplest option. For everyone else, the important thing is to watch for airline notifications as carriers begin rebuilding their schedules around a three-hour period when one of the nation’s busiest urban airports is effectively taken out of service.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Isaac Herzog meets with ‘Make-A-Wish’ child who wished to know the feeling of being president
President Isaac Herzog met with a critically ill “Wish Kid” at the President’s Residence on Tuesday for a visit organized by Make-A-Wish Israel, an organization that grants life-changing wishes to such children.
“I was excited to host 14-year-old Arbel Rot, who bravely fought his illness, as part of a special Make-A-Wish Israel day, and to fulfill his wish of being the king of the world and to feel what it’s like to be the president of the country for a day,” Herzog said in an X/Twitter post.
התרגשתי לארח את ארבל רוט בן ה-14, שנלחם במחלתו בגבורה, במסגרת יום מיוחד של Make a Wish ישראל, ולהגשים את משאלתו להיות מלך העולם, ולהרגיש איך זה להיות נשיא המדינה ליום אחד.
בכל שנה, עמותת Make a Wish ישראל מגשימה כ-300 משאלות לילדות ולילדים המתמודדים עם מחלות מסכנות חיים. מאחורי… pic.twitter.com/HdC4AYGngJ
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) August 11, 2026
“I was privileged to meet the intelligent, curious, and exciting Arbel, and to answer his questions,” Herzog continued. “I wish him health, and may he continue to fulfill wishes!”
According to a statement by Make-A-Wish Israel, the president shook Rot’s hand and warmly welcomed him to the residence, describing the moment as “deeply moving” for Rot and his family.
Make-A-Wish Israel founders Denise and Avi Bar-Aharon accompanied the Nahariya resident during the visit, the third such event for the founders, who had accompanied children during meetings with former presidents Shimon Peres and Reuven Rivlin during their terms.
Herzog thanked the founders and their organization for arranging the visit, describing the group’s volunteers as people who “give the children and their families moments of joy, strength and hope.”
An ‘enormous privilege’ for the organization’s founders
The founders noted the visit as “an enormous privilege and a deeply moving experience.”
“Seeing Arbel walk into the President’s Residence and have the opportunity to feel, even for just a few moments, what it is like to be President for a day is the kind of moment that is impossible not to be moved by,” they said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to President Herzog for his warm welcome, his sensitivity, and the time he dedicated to Arbel and his family.”
“Moments like these remind us, time and again, why we are here,” they added. “We hope to continue granting many more wishes and creating moments for our children that will stay with them for a lifetime.”
After the visit, Rot was given a tour of the Knesset, followed by a family vacation in Jerusalem, according to the organization.
Pay-for-slay: Could the Palestinian Authority be held legally liable for October 7?
Can the Palestinian Authority (PA) be held civilly responsible for the October 7 massacre even if the plaintiffs cannot produce records showing that it directly paid the Hamas terrorists who planned and carried it out?
That question sits at the center of litigation brought by more than 8,000 plaintiffs now moving through the Jerusalem District Court, where they are seeking to hold the PA responsible for deaths, injuries, and other harm caused by the massacre and the war that followed.
Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, a former director of the IDF Military Prosecution in the West Bank whose recent study examines the PA and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) prisoner-payment system and its possible connection to October 7, does not expect the litigation to uncover a neat paper trail linking individual Hamas leaders to PA payments.
“I don’t think we’re going to see individual links to the PA,” Hirsch told The Jerusalem Post in a Monday interview. “I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to find that type of evidence.”
That evidentiary gap is central to the cases. Hirsch argued that the question is broader than whether a particular October 7 terrorist received a particular payment. The question is whether the PA’s long-standing system of paying, supporting, and employing prisoners and released prisoners can itself provide a sufficient connection to people who later returned to terrorism.
“What will most likely happen is that most of the discussion will be about the prima facie [initial] responsibility of the PA, if that can even be shown,” Hirsch said. “It will very much depend on whether the judge accepts this argument that the PA is responsible because of the payment of the salaries.”
The court has not decided that question.
In a July 1 decision, Jerusalem District Court Judge Eran Shilo set a common procedure for the thousands of lawsuits, separating the shared question of the PA’s potential responsibility from the individual circumstances and damages claimed by each plaintiff. The plaintiffs’ law firms were initially ordered to submit short written arguments, while the PA is due to file a single response by October 18.
Case remains in early stages of written arguments and information gathering
The case is still in that written-argument and information-gathering stage. Under Shilo’s timetable, plaintiffs’ attorneys were required to send written questions to the PA by August 11, with the PA due to provide answers and relevant documents by October 29. Expert reports are also expected to address whether the PA’s conduct can be connected to the massacre.
In a later August 3 decision, Shilo said a deadline for supplemental written arguments would be extended to August 16 if no objection was filed by August 6.
Shilo has left open the possibility of eventually deciding the common question of the PA’s responsibility before dealing with damages in thousands of individual cases, but said it was too early to know whether the evidence would allow that.
In 2024, the Knesset passed a law allowing victims of terrorism to seek exemplary damages from perpetrators and entities that reward terrorism.
The law provides for NIS 10 million for each person killed in a terrorist attack and NIS 5 million for a victim left permanently disabled, and was designed to make it easier for victims to establish a legal link to entities with an institutional policy of rewarding terrorism.
October 7, however, presents a more difficult question. Hamas led the massacre, meaning the plaintiffs suing the PA must first establish why the PA’s own conduct or policies make it legally responsible for the harm caused by the attack.
Hirsch’s study argues that the relevant PA/PLO system went considerably beyond monthly payments made while prisoners were in Israeli custody.
Drawing on Palestinian legislation, regulations, and financial records, Hirsch’s study describes a broader framework that included payments to prisoners, grants upon release, employment rights in PA institutions, and continued financial support in some cases where employment was unavailable.
A 2013 amendment and implementing regulations provided that released prisoners who had served more than 10 years would be employed and paid by PA institutions, with their rank and salary determined in part by time served. The regulations also required those employed under the arrangement to report for work only if called upon to do so.
For Hirsch, that employment component is crucial. He argued that the framework could provide released prisoners with an income while leaving them free to return to activity in terrorist organizations.
Much of his study focuses on Palestinians freed in the 2011 exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, in which Israel released 1,027 prisoners. They included Yahya Sinwar and several others who later rose to senior positions in Hamas’s political, military, security, and financial structures.
Hirsch’s study points to Sinwar, Rawhi Mushtaha, Tawfik Abu Naim, and Zaher Jabarin, among others, and argues that their prison terms entitled them to benefits under the PA framework.
It also cites Ali Qadi, a Hamas Nukhba commander who led one of the groups that invaded Israel on October 7, and argues that based on his known prison term, he would at least have qualified for the fixed payment available to released prisoners who had served between five and 10 years.
There is an important distinction between eligibility and proof of payment
But there is an important distinction between eligibility and proof of payment; Hirsch’s study does not point to individual records showing precisely what those Hamas figures received, whether each was formally placed on a PA payroll, or whether any payments continued until October 7.
Hirsch acknowledged that gap, but said his theory of responsibility does not depend entirely on proving a particular salary was transferred to a particular individual.
“I don’t have to show that they’re specifically receiving a salary, because there is this policy,” he said.
Whether the court accepts that argument remains to be seen.
Hirsch also pointed to the history of prisoners who returned to terrorism following their release. His study documents numerous Schalit-deal prisoners who resumed terrorist activity, some of whom later reached senior positions within Hamas.
For Hirsch, those cases matter because they raise a separate question of what the PA knew about the people benefiting from its policies.
“They were on notice, as it were,” he said. “These released terrorists that you’re employing, they’re going back to terrorism.”
His study does not argue that the payment system alone caused October 7. Rather, Hirsch contends that the financial and employment framework reduced the economic consequences of involvement in terrorism and materially assisted some experienced terrorists who later returned to Hamas activity.
The PA and PLO shifted responsibility for the prisoner-payment system between different bodies over the years, according to Hirsch’s study. He argued that those administrative changes did not, however, alter the underlying policy and attributes the framework jointly to the two organizations.
The latest major change came in February 2025, when PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree revoking provisions underpinning the previous prisoner-payment system, and transferring assistance to the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI).
The restructured system was presented as one in which assistance would be distributed according to financial need rather than according to imprisonment or sentence length.
PA says reforms ended sentence-based payments, with aid now determined solely by social need
The PA has said the reform ended sentence-based payments and that assistance under the new system is determined solely by social need.
Hirsch, however, argued that the overhaul changed the mechanism rather than ending the underlying policy. His study points to subsequent 2025 financial data as evidence that payments to prisoners and released prisoners continued after the reform.
The study notes that an independent audit concluded that the restructured mechanism complied with its stated mandate, while Hirsch argued that financial figures cited in the audit and other available data nevertheless show the continuation of substantial prisoner-related payments.
For the October 7 lawsuits, however, the central question remains what happened before the massacre and whether the plaintiffs can establish a sufficiently close legal connection between the PA’s conduct and the harm they suffered.
Hirsch does not argue that the PA was solely responsible for October 7 but, “the PA certainly does have at least joint responsibility with Hamas for the massacre,” in his opinion.
For now, the litigation is still several steps away from answering it. The plaintiffs must first put forward the evidence and legal theory connecting the PA to October 7, and the PA has yet to file its substantive response to the common liability claims.
Whether that broader system can establish a sufficient legal link to October 7 without individual payment records is now one of the questions the litigation will have to test.
Metula’s Israeli Poets’ Festival returns to Jerusalem with all disciplinary guns blazing
“You’re a poet, and you don’t know it” was a schoolyard chant back in the day if some kid or other inadvertently said something that rhymed.
Of course, most of us are now aware that the line endings don’t have to follow suffix suit – à la blank verse – in order for a literary work, generally divided into stanzas, to be recognized as a bona fide poem.
Besides its sonic-flexibility freedom, poetry is an eclectic domain with vastly diverse styles and subgenres that have evolved almost since time immemorial.
Just how far Israeli poetry has come will be examined, discussed, and imparted in this year’s Israeli Poets’ Festival in Metula, produced for the 29th time by Confederation House, taking place in the capital August 25-27.
For the last three years, the titular location has, sadly, been out of commission, as our northernmost community remains something of a ghost town after being decimated by Hezbollah rocket fire from Lebanon.
But in the interim Confederation House, and its head, Effie Benaya, under whose auspices the event ran up North, picked up the baton and kept the venture going in relatively safe Jerusalem.
The lineup for the forthcoming edition reflects the breadth of styles of poetic pursuit here, and delves into the whys and wherefores of ideological, religious, personal, artistic, and cultural substrata that underpin the literary bottom line.
Artistic directors Benny Ziffer and Shiri Lev-Ari have cooked up a multipronged agenda which features major players in the development of poetry in this part of the world, such as the late Amir Gilboa and Dan Pagis, author-painter Yoram Kaniuk, and author, playwright, screenwriter, and translator Nava Semel.
They all get deserved tributes over the three days, as do a whole host of literary leading lights, including contemporary writers 84-year-old Algerian-born Israel Prize-winning poet Erez Biton and Agi Mishol, who was born in Romania and completes her fourscore years a couple of months hence.
Roaming the Israeli poetry field
The festival’s thematic banner is taken from Gilboa’s celebrated line: “Suddenly a man gets up in the morning and feels he is a people, and begins to walk.”
The excerpt serves as a thread connecting the festival’s events, which will explore memory, society, language, and hope. The program ranges from tributes to key figures in Hebrew culture, to tête-à-têtes between veterans of the scenes and fresh blood, to discussions of burning contemporary issues such as war, identity, and artificial intelligence.
That’s a pretty generous spread, and one that most may not readily associate with poetry. Ziffer and Lev-Ari duly shed some light on their programmatic philosophy: “This year, once again, the festival seeks to demonstrate that poetry is far more than literature,” they say.
“It is a place of encounter, listening, and hope – until the day the festival returns to its natural home in Metula.” From their lips to divine realms.
They have also culled a diverse and quality cast for the festival, including, in addition to the aforementioned, celebrated award-winning stalwarts such as Haim Be’er, Aharon Shabtai, Sami Shalom Chetrit, 87-year-old Hebrew literature professor Ruth Kartun-Blum, and Eyal Megged.
The younger crowd of writers who deservedly share the festival spotlight includes the likes of Yali Shenar, Adam Ratzon, and Gilad Kahana.
Kahana is, says Lev-Ari, a striking case in point. “He is best known as a member of the [long-running rock group] Girafot, but is a super-textual person.”
That much is clear from his writing offerings, which, to date, include several film scripts and books. “He has just put out a book which comprises three novellas under the provocative title It’s Good That My Dad Got Cancer.” That’s quite a teaser and, presumably, an efficacious marketing hook.
There is, however, a perfectly acceptable and emotive reason behind the choice of name. “Gilad says the cancer enabled him and his father to get closer and really talk.” That must have been a boon. It’s just a shame it took a terminal illness for that to happen.
Lev-Ari is a fan of Kahana’s mode of storytelling. “He communicates his texts. You see that in this book. He performs what is going through his mind in real time. It’s the same with poetry, and the songs he writes, and this book. You could call it improvisation.
“But I think it’s more than that. I call it [spiritual] channeling, because he achieves very interesting and deep insight at a given moment when you talk to him, or when he writes a song, or when he wrote this book. He is brave. He is unfettered. He does what he wants.”
Surely that is a basic tenet of any artist. Not according to Lev-Ari, who recently published a Hebrew-language book of conversations she held with poets from here and abroad, called Otzar Millim (Treasure of Words). “Not every artist does what they want. Not every poet does what they feel is right. Not everyone is brave.”
Going with the poetry flow
If that is the case, that doesn’t reflect well on some of our men and women of letters. But it also serves to underscore Kahana’s worth and, presumably, the value of his spot in the festival.
Lev-Ari certainly expects him to deliver the goods at his session at Mishkenot Sha’ananim on the last day – one of several she will moderate herself. “I feel poetry is much broader and flexible [than most people think].”
She strays into other creative climes in which, incidentally, Kahana is also a leading light. “Often you get rappers and hip-hoppers, and Gilad, who does something in between, sort of soft pop, who write wonderful poetry. Also, the writers we know as lyricists, like [81-year-old award-winning writer] Rachel Shapira, who is a songwriter, but she is also a poet. Gilad Kahana is also a poet.”
Her confluence with Kahana – like many dotted across the three-day program – will also feature musical entertainment. Internationally renowned guitarist-bassist Yossi Fine will do the honors at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim slot.
There will also be fitting salutes to some of the founding fathers of contemporary Israeli poetry. “Dan Pagis and Amir Gilboa both left their families behind when they escaped the Holocaust and came here,” Lev-Ari notes. “I think Pagis was also in Auschwitz. They have a lot of light and a lot of darkness, together, [in their poetry].”
Tribute to Amir Gilboa
That features front and center in the official festival curtain-raiser, which takes place at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim Auditorium on August 25 at 8:30 p.m.
Gilboa was, in marketing terms, less “sexy” than contemporary Yehuda Amichai and, hence, had a lower public profile.
However, he unwittingly attained a degree of celebrity when pop-rock icon Shlomo Artzi performed his Shir Baboker Baboker (Song in the Morning, in the Morning), taken from Gilboa’s third book, at the 1973 Song Festival. The number took second place at the festival, and thousands of radio listeners subsequently became acquainted with at least some of Pagis’s oeuvre.
The festival linchpin quote comes from Pagis’s aforementioned work. Lev-Ari feels that heartfelt post-Holocaust vision is just as pertinent today, in post-Oct. 7 Israel. “Citing that today has a lot of meaning. Gilboa has this inner language, with both light and shadow.”
That conjured up thoughts of wartime artistic efforts, and how the starkness of hostilities can spark creativity as it latches onto visceral energies. “The muses are not silent as the guns roar,” Lev-Ari posits.
Indeed, immersive reflection and raw emotion are staples of the average poet’s fueling system. And the reader, Lev-Ari suggests, gets that. “There were encounters in the past two years, when the festival was hosted in Jerusalem, when everyone sat, including those on the stage, and simply cried.
“They recited poetry and talked with tears in their eyes. It was like group therapy.”
Besides appreciating the basic beauty of the creations, the audiences will hear, read, and discuss at the festival, some of that restorative and alleviating power would do all of us very nicely, thank you.
The Gilboa session takes in a glittering cast of writers, poets, and scholars who have engaged deeply with Gilboa’s world and will discuss his life and oeuvre, including Prof. Ariel Hirschfeld, Biton, literary scholar Bilha Ben-Eliyahu, poets Mishol and Roni Someck, and Rabbi-poet Elhanan Nir.
The musical addendum to the festival opener will be provided by an A-lister lineup of composer-writer-singer Israel Bright, voice artist Victoria Hanna, santour player Adi Forti, Yossi Fine, and singer-songwriter-poet Hadara Levin Areddy.
Reality as seen through poetry
Poetry, by definition, utilizes language and juxtapositions in its own special way, generally divorced from the prose flow. As such it also reflects the zeitgeist as well as current word usage.
That may be truer of Hebrew than most languages, given the relative youth of the modern form of the ancient biblical language, and the nature of Israel as a cultural melting pot, with each wave of olim bringing its cultural and sociopolitical baggage to the unfolding national fray.
The latter also infers errors made in day-to-day speech by newcomers who have yet to master the local lingo, and the way some of those mistakes eventually found their way into the fabric of spoken and written Hebrew and even, over the years, were sanctioned by the Academy of the Hebrew Language as kosher.
How does all of that come into play compared with Gilboa’s time?
“I have confidence in our language,” Lev-Ari declares. “Even when I see people making errors around me, or youngsters who don’t know how to enunciate words, I continue to believe in the Hebrew language. I just think it is so deep and ancient, and it has wisdom. It is wiser than its speakers,” she adds somewhat enigmatically. “It is more ancient that the people that use it.”
Poets are, it seems, out there on the front line. “There is a constant flow of innovations. And you see that in poetry first, before prose. Poetry responds faster than anything else. It comes from the guts, and the poets’ ears are very much trained on that.”
As exemplified by Adam Ratzon, who intentionally and merrily incorporates linguistic blunders in his writing. One error in daily vernacular is the use of the masculine third-person singular instead of the first person.
Consider Ratzon’s “Habayit Ha’aher.” The title translates as “The Other House,” “The Other Home,” or even “The Other Stanza.” The first line reads: “Ma ani yagid lecha adam” (what can I tell you, man), whereby “yagid” should have been “agid.”
The following line compounds the left-field grammatical free flow with the use of “komo” instead of “kemo” (like). His work fuses incorrect wording with refined literary vocabulary in seamless fashion, much like late poet-troubadour Meir Ariel, who gained the sobriquet “the singing paratrooper” after taking part in the IDF conquest of the Old City of Jerusalem in the Six Day War. Ariel was a wiz at sculpting phrases and words and coaxing them away from their original – official – form.
According to Lev-Ari, there is nothing new there. “If you look at the beginnings of Hebrew poetry, the [Hebrew] revival poetry by the likes of Bialik, Tchernichovsky, and their contemporaries, they raised major issues concerning the Jewish people and Israeliness, and they used biblical wording together with many layers of ancient Hebrew. That was a sacred language. You could really feel the holiness in them.”
Israeli poetry through the ages
I get a guided tour through our linguistic literary timeline. “Then you get the generation of Natan Alterman and Leah Goldberg and [Avraham] Shlonsky,” she notes, none of whom was born in Israel or pre-state Palestine.
“Although they were born in Europe, they were part of the Hebrew renaissance here. They ‘imported’ European poetry here, with the European metrics, rhyming, and symbolism. They brought those European elements into Hebrew poetry, and they did it in an exquisite manner.”
We trundle on further down the evolution of Israeli poetry. “Then you had the generation of the State [of Israel], although not all were born here. You had Natan Zach and Yehuda Amichai.”
Both were born in Germany but made aliyah as children.
“There was also Amir Gilboa and Dan Pagis. Natan Zach was considered the great rebel of Hebrew poetry. He shattered all the conventions and made poetry freer. His use of language in poetry was free and not chained to metrics or rhyming.”
It was a time of seismic shifts in Hebrew poetry circles. “They used very harsh language, with sexuality and willfulness. Amichai took colloquial words and brought it into lofty domains. He brought the street, the mundane, into the previously hallowed realms of Hebrew poetry. Lots of poets now do that, including Agi Mishol.”
In addition to spotlights on individual men and women of letters, the widely-reaching program encompasses political poetry, ideology, religious poetry, Arabic poetry, writing in the aftermath of Oct. 7, the place of poetry in contemporary Israeli society, and even AI and literary creation.
The festival will close with a tribute to poet Alexander Penn, marking the 120th anniversary of his birth in Russia, and there will be appearances by some celebrities from other cultural fields, including 86-year-old TV personality and author Yaron London and irrepressible 88-year-old grande dame of the Israeli showbiz scene, Rivka Michaeli.
Michaeli will front a tribute to playwright and Hebrew language hell-raiser, late Israel Prize recipient Nissim Aloni.
If your idea of poetry is a neatly rhyming ditty, attending the Israeli Poets’ Festival in Metula should thoroughly disabuse you of that constricted notion and open up broad new vistas for your literary epiphany enjoyment.
For tickets and information:
(02) 539-9360 and confederationhouse.org
Norwegian Center for Conflict Resolution engaged directly with Hamas, NGO Monitor claims
The Oslo-based Norwegian Center for Conflict Resolution (NOREF) engaged in direct, systematic coordination with high-ranking Hamas officials, according to internal Hamas documents recovered from Gaza, declassified by the IDF and translated by NGO Monitor.
NOREF describes itself as an “independent foundation” that works to prevent, mitigate, and resolve international conflicts. It was, however, established on the initiative of the Norwegian government and remains primarily funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
According to NGO Monitor, the newly uncovered documents indicate that Hamas explicitly viewed NOREF as a strategic channel for influencing European Union policy and mitigating Hamas’ international isolation.
The evidence also reportedly shows that NOREF’s activities extended beyond occasional mediation and included at least one unpublicized joint project with EU-designated terrorist organizations.
Specifically, a July 2021 document details how Hamas explicitly sought to utilize NOREF’s access to Western political circles to manipulate European foreign policy.
Hamas officials met with NOREF staff in push to sway European position
The document said a meeting took place on May 15, 2021, between high-ranking Hamas officials – including Basem Naim (Head of Hamas’ Foreign Relations Office in Gaza) and Abdallah Walid (from the same office) – and a senior NOREF delegation consisting of Deputy Head Dr. Marte Heian-Engdal, Middle East Department Head Dr. Frida Nome, and Advisor Dr. Ziad Abu Mustafa.
The meeting’s stated agenda included “Mediating the relationship between Hamas and the European Union.”
During the meeting, Hamas detailed its strategy to capitalize on the “negative reality in the Palestinian territories to push toward changing the European position.”
The NOREF delegation allegedly solicited Hamas’ input on how to interface with European leaders to maximize benefit for Hamas, and asked, “What are the channels of communication that are currently working on dialogue between the movement [Hamas] and the European Union? How are we able to contribute to this dialogue without obstructing these efforts?”
A NOREF representative also praised Hamas’ cooperation on a joint initiative, stating, “We have the youth project, and we value your effort with us in facilitating some of the meetings and communications on this matter.”
NOREF trained Hamas, PIJ, PFLP, Fatah terrorists in ‘political reconciliation’
A separate internal Hamas document from August 2022 provided evidence of sustained engagement between Hamas and NOREF regarding a planned Norwegian delegation visit to Gaza, NGO Monitor reported. According to the internal record, Hamas authorities met with Ziad Abu Mustafa (the NOREF advisor identified in the May 2021 document) to coordinate the delegation’s entry into Gaza, in consultation with Hamas’ Foreign Relations department.
The project carried out by NOREF aimed to conduct “training” for “Palestinian factions and civil society organizations” to achieve “political and social reconciliation.”
According to the document: “The current project being carried out includes 30 people who are members of Palestinian factions, such as Hamas, Fatah, [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”
“It is clear from the internal documents that, rather than serving as a neutral facilitator, NOREF was viewed by Hamas as a channel to influence European positions, while operating with a distinct lack of public transparency,” NGO Monitor said.
“That a Norwegian-funded organization provided a platform for Hamas officials to discuss influencing European policy, and directly coordinated projects involving members of multiple EU-designated terrorist organizations, raises serious questions about the Norwegian government’s role in legitimizing Hamas across Europe.”
The Jerusalem Post reached out to NOREF and the MFA for comment.
‘I’m fine with Jews, just not Zionists’: Time to rip off the anti-Zionist mask – opinion
There’s a distinction being drawn in Western minds right now, and it’s ubiquitous: the problem isn’t Jews, we’re told – it’s Zionists. You can be philo-Semitic and still march against “Zionism.” You can love your Jewish neighbor and still chant against the Jewish state. It’s a tidy distinction. It’s also a lie.
Try it in a different register entirely: “I have nothing against Christians. I just can’t stand people who believe Jesus is the Messiah.”
That sentence is absurd on its face – believing Jesus is the Messiah isn’t an add-on to Christianity, it’s the whole religion. Object to that belief, and you haven’t found a narrow, reasonable exception to your tolerance. You’ve objected to the thing itself, wearing a mask of reasonableness.
Try the same sentence with a different word closer to home. “I’m fine with women – so long as they’re not feminists.”
Everyone recognizes that sentence instantly, because everyone understands what it actually means: a woman is acceptable as long as she knows her place and doesn’t insist on standing up for herself.
Push it further, and the mask gets thinner still: “I have nothing against women, so long as they’re not traditional feminists who want things like suffrage.” No one would say that sentence out loud and expect to be taken seriously – because everyone can hear instantly that suffrage isn’t some radical fringe demand; it’s the floor.
“Anti-Zionism” runs on the identical mechanism. Zionism is simply the belief that Jews, like every other people on Earth, have the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.
Strip the belief out, and there’s no “anti-Zionist” position left to hold – only a demand that Jews be the one people on Earth willing to give that right up.
You can take the Jew out of the Diaspora. You cannot take the Diaspora out of the Jew. That is what this argument is actually asking for.
Here’s the inconvenient number for anyone insisting this is only about Zionists, not Jews: across the most rigorous recent surveys of American Jews – Jewish Federations of North America’s 2025 study, AP-NORC’s 2026 poll – only about a third describe themselves using the word “Zionist.”
Critics have seized on that gap as proof that “Zionist” is a fringe minority position. It isn’t. The same surveys found that upwards of 88% of American Jews affirm the actual substance of Zionism, unadorned: that Jews, like other peoples, have the right to a state of their own. What’s collapsed isn’t the belief – it’s the word.
JFNA’s own research found that Jews who reject the “Zionist” label overwhelmingly do so because they’ve absorbed a redefinition of the term invented by its opponents: that “Zionist” now means “supports whatever Israel does” – a claim most self-identified Zionists themselves reject.
Strip the word back down to what it actually means, and the number of Jews who hold the belief looks nothing like a fringe. The people telling you “it’s just Zionists, not Jews” have, often without realizing it, redefined the word specifically so that the number sounds smaller than it is.
Watch what actually happens on social media, and the “just Zionists” distinction collapses further. Search any large account – not a political one, not an Israeli government account, just a public figure or organization (Jewish or not) – posting something as apolitical as “Shabbat Shalom” or a note about a Jewish holiday.
No mention of Israel. No mention of Zionism. No policy claim of any kind.
The replies fill with “Free Palestine,” with “Zionists should die,” with the same venom aimed at people who said nothing about a state, a war, or a policy – only that they’re Jewish, on a Jewish holy day.
If the target were really “Zionism” and not “Jews,” that reply pattern wouldn’t exist. A belief about Israeli statehood isn’t insulted by a Shabbat greeting. Only the person saying it is.
Zionism isn’t a fringe concept
The land the argument is fought over isn’t incidental to the Jewish story – it is the Jewish story. Hebron is where Abraham bought a burial cave for Sarah, the first parcel of the land ever legally purchased and deeded to the Jewish people, and where Jewish presence has been continuous for millennia.
Shechem, in the heart of Samaria, is the traditional burial site of Joseph. Mount Moriah, in Jerusalem, is where Abraham bound Isaac and where the Temple stood.
Shiloh, further north in Samaria, held the Tabernacle for over three centuries before Jerusalem ever became the center of Jewish worship – a place scripture describes as where heaven and Earth met.
Most Jewish holidays are about returning to the land – further illustrating how you can’t separate Zionism from Judaism. Judea and Samaria aren’t a backdrop to the biblical narrative; they are its return address.
That’s the poisoned root the anti-Zionist argument grows from, and everything built on top of it inherits the same poison. Consider what’s actually happening on the ground in Area C, the roughly 60% of the West Bank that the Oslo Accords place under exclusive Israeli civil and planning authority.
In August 2009, Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad launched what became known as the Fayyad Plan: building “facts on the ground” – institutions, infrastructure, and entire unauthorized settlements – with quiet backing from the European Union and the Obama administration, explicitly designed to establish Palestinian statehood without negotiating it.
The Israeli watchdog Regavim has since documented over 100,000 unpermitted Palestinian structures constructed in Area C by this method, funded by hundreds of millions of EU euros, flying the EU flag over land its own signed treaty says isn’t theirs to build on.
This is land theft, carried out by the very governments that lecture Israel about the rule of law – funded by fruit from a poisoned tree, then sold to the West as a grassroots liberation movement.
The “settler violence” narrative that dominates Western coverage runs on a similar sleight of hand. It’s the difference between dying with a diagnosis and dying from it. An incident becomes “settler violence” the moment a settler is anywhere near it, regardless of who instigated it, who was defending whom, or whether a settler was involved in the harm at all.
The label does the work the evidence hasn’t done yet, and by the time anyone checks the underlying facts, the headline has already traveled around the world.
And the movement claiming to speak for “Palestine” doesn’t even speak for everyone it claims. Bedouins living in Israel are Sunni Muslims, ethnically and culturally distinct from Palestinian Arabs, and a great many of them don’t identify as Palestinian at all – some serve, voluntarily, in the Israeli military.
Druze citizens of Israel serve in the IDF at some of the highest rates of any community in the country, including in elite combat units, and have for generations.
Both communities have been targeted by the same terror organizations that the anti-Zionist movement excuses or romanticizes. The story requires a single, unified “Palestinian” identity in permanent opposition to Israel. The people on the ground are more complicated than the story has any use for.
Erasing Israel is just the first step in the agenda to colonize the West
The legal terrain is just as tangled, and just as telling.
I’m currently tracking a case where a widow is trying to sell property that’s been in her husband’s family for generations.
Because of ambiguity over exactly when title to the land was established, the transaction defaults to whichever legal regime was in force at that unclear starting point – which, in this case, may reach back to Ottoman-era law, under which women couldn’t independently buy or sell property at all.
The workaround exists: her sons sign on her behalf, power of attorney, layers of paperwork. The sale gets done. But stop and notice what that means: in the year 2026, a living woman’s ability to sell her own family’s land can still hinge on what a defunct empire’s legal code said about women a century before Israel existed.
That’s not ancient history. That’s Tuesday, in a legal system nobody has bothered to finish updating.
None of this requires Israel’s defenders to agree on everything, or even like each other very much.
Coalitions are never clean. Anyone waiting for a perfectly pure ally before taking a side will wait forever, in this fight or any other – that standard has never once been met by any coalition in the history of politics, and demanding it now is just another way of ensuring nothing gets defended at all.
You don’t have to agree with every Israeli policy, or love the government, or approve of the full uniform of anyone standing on that side, to recognize the actual choice in front of you. If the terror organizations currently fighting to erase a state and its people are not defeated, nothing is standing between them and the rest of us.
The mask doesn’t change what’s underneath it. It just makes it easier for people who’d never say the quiet part out loud to say the loud part instead.
“I’m fine with Jews, just not Zionists” is “know your place” with a different target.
The writer is a Brownstone author in California who worked closely with Robert F Kennedy Jr. She is the founder of Spirit of 1776, an organization building strategic infrastructure for the Course Correct.
Jewish educators should stop relying on archaeology to prove Israel’s history – opinion
I sat with a good friend on a sunny afternoon, sharing a cigar and enjoying the views of the mountains around my home. The air carried the faint scent of desert sage. He handed me a small gift, an old coin from the time of the Hashmonaim, the era of Hanukkah. I turned the tiny coin between my fingertips, feeling its uneven edges and the weight of centuries.
At that moment, I was carried back more than 2,000 years. I pictured the Hashmonaim themselves walking these same hills, trading and buying with coins just like this one. The feeling grounded me to the land in a way few things can. It was concrete, immediate, almost physical; a quiet reminder that our story is not abstract.
That is the power archaeology holds for Israel education. For a student who has never held an ancient artifact, the relic seems to prove our history beyond argument. It connects us to distant times with a tangible demonstration of the Jewish people’s bond to this soil. Through pottery shards, coins, and inscriptions, students encounter Jewish history on the land itself.
The lesson becomes vivid rather than abstract.
Early Zionist thinkers understood the force of such rootedness. Theodor Herzl called Palestine our “ever-memorable historic home,” a name that itself draws Jews with remarkable potency. David Ben-Gurion later declared that the Mandate was not our Bible; the Bible was our mandate.
These were not romantic flourishes. They reflected a continuous national claim grounded in memory, text, and presence across generations of exile and return.
Yet archaeology is not the solid foundation it first appears to be. It is not a pure science sealed against dispute. Interpretation runs through every layer of every dig.
William G. Dever, a leading archaeologist of the ancient Near East, put it plainly: “Good scholars, honest scholars, will continue to differ about the interpretation of archaeological remains simply because archaeology is not a science. It is an art. And sometimes it is not even a very good art.”
Sir Mortimer Wheeler, one of the 20th century’s most influential excavators, was even blunter: “Archaeology is not a science; it is a vendetta.”
These are not fringe voices. They come from within the discipline itself. Findings can be dated, measured, and cataloged with growing technical precision. Meaning, however, remains open. Different experts read the same material in conflicting ways, shaped by their methods, assumptions, and sometimes their politics.
That openness creates real danger in the classroom. Showing students archaeological finds works well when the room is content to be impressed and does not dig deeper. The teacher must remain honest about how provisional any given interpretation is. Present the material as definite fact, and trouble follows.
Students who later discover the debates, and they will, especially those who encounter anti-Zionist arguments, often conclude they have been misled. They wonder whether their teachers knowingly overstated the case or simply failed to grasp its limits.
Once educators lose credibility on this point, everything else they taught can collapse with it. The connection to the land itself risks being dismissed as propaganda. The baby is thrown out with the bathwater, and the damage to a young Jew’s sense of belonging can last for years.
Anti-Zionist claims frequently seize on these interpretive gaps. They assert that Jewish ties to the land are invented or exaggerated, that archaeology fails to “prove” continuous sovereignty or exclusive rights. The historical record answers differently and more fully. Jewish communities persisted in the land through Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods.
Prayer, pilgrimage, and settlement never fully ceased. The modern return built on that unbroken chain of memory and presence, recognized in international instruments from the Balfour Declaration onward and rooted in the unique history of a people who never renounced their homeland.
An anchor to the land
Yet archaeology alone cannot carry the full weight of the argument. When it is pressed into that role, the inevitable scholarly disagreements become weapons against the larger claim. Students left with only material “proofs” find themselves unprepared for the assault.
Israel educators, particularly those whose work rests on Torah, cannot afford to sidestep the deeper truth. God gave this land to the Jewish people. The promise is written in the text that has sustained us across exile and persecution. It is an abstract claim. It lacks the immediate drama of a coin one can hold or a wall one can touch.
Yet when we shy away from it in favor of material proofs, we open a Pandora’s box. The material proofs prove more fragile than they first appear. Students who once felt the thrill of the artifact later encounter its contested readings and begin to doubt the connection itself. Conviction that once seemed secure starts to erode under the pressure of campus hostility or online argument.
The Torah claim, by contrast, does not depend on the latest excavation report or the prevailing scholarly consensus of the decade.
The draw of archaeology is obvious and powerful. It delivers an instant sense of wonder. Students leave a lesson excited, feeling the past in their hands, seeing their people’s story written in stone and clay.
An educator, however, must think beyond the classroom hour and the short-term spark. Lessons built primarily on the superficial wow risk a later awakening. When students confront the limits of archaeological certainty, the very bond the teacher sought to strengthen can weaken.
The long-term work of forming identity requires foundations that do not shift with the next scholarly debate or the next campus challenge. We owe our students more than a momentary thrill. We owe them a conviction that can endure.
The coin in my hand still moves me. It links me to the Hashmonaim who walked these hills and fought for Jewish independence in this very landscape.
Yet I will teach my students that the Jewish people’s right and responsibility in this land rest on something older and more enduring than any single find: the covenant, the continuous memory, and the return that has already reshaped the hills I see each morning. That is the conviction worth building carefully and honestly.
It does not depend on the latest excavation report. It does not collapse when interpretations differ. It is the argument that will still stand when the students leave the classroom and face a world ready to question every claim we make.
The writer is a Zionist educator at institutions around the world and recently published a new book, Zionism Today.
Likud election billboard puts Mamdani alongside Erdogan, Khamenei, and Qassem as Israel’s enemies
Likud launched a billboard ahead of election season featuring New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside Iran’s Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, writing that the four “want Netanyahu to lose” the October election.
The billboard further calls to “not let them win.”
Netanyahu also reposted a picture of the billboard and captioned the post: “Don’t let them win.”
אל תתנו להם לנצח pic.twitter.com/JgvJXAPtia
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) August 16, 2026
The billboard, which social media posts claim stands in Jerusalem, features superimposed images of the four men with the caption: “They want Netanyahu to lose, don’t let them win.”
However, the Likud billboard stands in Tel Aviv overlooking the Ayalon Highway.
‘Don’t let Netanyahu win’: Israeli politicians troll Likud ad
In response, several Israeli politicians and political parties posted their own versions of the billboard.
Yashar, the party led by former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, responded with a version that read: “They want the IDF to collapse, don’t let Netanyahu win.”
נתניהו, תיקנו לך.
רק איזנקוט יקים ממשלת גיוס ציונית על מלא. pic.twitter.com/rvNeQ4f1W1— ישר! עם איזנקוט. (@yashar_eisenkot) August 16, 2026
“Netanyahu, we fixed for you,” the X/Twitter caption read. “Only Eisenkot will establish a fully Zionist government.”
In a different post, MK Naama Lazimi posted the same billboard, but with pictures of Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Netanyahu’s former strategic adviser Yonatan Urich, Netanyahu’s former security spokesperson Eli Feldstein, and former Netanyahu political adviser Srulik Einhorn, all of whom are believed to be involved in the Qatargate affair.
Qatargate is based on an investigation into Netanyahu’s aides, which alleges that they were involved in a scandal in which they were paid by Qatar while managing hostage negotiations with Hamas.
In her post, Lazimi changed the billboard to read: “They want Netanyahu to win, don’t let them lose.”
נתניהו, עדכנתי לגרסת הקמפיין הקטארי.
חשבונית תוגש בעשרים ו7/10. pic.twitter.com/kyWtgUNft8
— Naama Lazimi – נעמה לזימי (@naamalazimi) August 16, 2026
“Netanyahu, I updated this to the Qatargate version,” she wrote in her caption. “The invoice will be submitted on October 7.”
To date in the polls, Eisenkot’s Yashar is leading with 24 Knesset seats, Netanyahu’s Likud has 22, and Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad has 15.
Mecca pact unites Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan – but what does it mean? – opinion
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed in the holy city by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, marks one of the most significant strategic developments in the Islamic world in decades.
The agreement brings together a Sunni bloc stretching from Anatolia through the Arabian Peninsula to South Asia, uniting three countries with a combined population of approximately 380 million people (320 million Sunnis).
At its core, the pact treats an armed attack on any one member as an attack on all three. It also deepens military cooperation, intelligence sharing, defense industry collaboration, and strategic coordination.
The three governments describe the agreement as defensive, aimed at no specific country and intended to complement rather than replace existing alliances. In effect, it builds on the Saudi-Pakistan Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement signed in 2025.
Sunni Islam unites the three countries, although their political and religious traditions differ considerably. Saudi Arabia, as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, derives much of its legitimacy from being the birthplace of Islam and of the first Rashidun Caliphate.
Turkey was home to the Ottoman Caliphate, the last universally recognized Sunni caliphate before its abolition in 1924. Pakistan, lacking comparable religious symbolism, has long aspired to a leadership role within the Islamic world through its military strength and nuclear capability.
Beneath this apparent unity lie profound differences. For decades, Ankara and Riyadh competed for influence across the Sunni world. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), rooted in Turkey’s Islamist political tradition, has frequently been associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is viewed with deep suspicion by the Saudi monarchy.
Pakistan’s longstanding military partnership with Saudi Arabia has been underpinned by Saudi financial support and extensive military cooperation, including the deployment of Pakistani officers and troops to the kingdom and the training of its forces.
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan was the hub of the US-Saudi program supporting the Afghan mujahideen, which was the genesis of the Taliban and modern-day terror organizations in South Asia.
The largest strategic question surrounding the Mecca Pact is Iran, despite the agreement identifying no adversary. Even though there is a mutual defense clause, it remains difficult to envisage Pakistan or Turkey entering a direct military conflict with Iran or its proxies in defense of Saudi Arabia.
The increase in Pakistan’s diplomatic importance following the US-Israeli conflict with Iran rests on its ability to maintain communication with Tehran.
Field Marshal Asim Munir’s relationships with Iranian military and intelligence actors have enhanced Islamabad’s value as an intermediary. A military commitment against Iran would undermine precisely this regional relevance.
Turkey is similarly constrained. Ankara has developed a pragmatic relationship with Tehran despite competing interests in Syria, Iraq, and the Caucasus, avoiding direct military confrontation.
Neither Pakistan nor Turkey appears eager to confront the Houthis, although Ankara could provide naval or logistical support given its growing Red Sea presence.
The absence of integrated command structures or permanent headquarters also suggests the pact remains a framework for defense cooperation rather than a NATO-style military alliance.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey join forces
The three countries also have different approaches to Israel. Turkey formally recognizes Israel despite relations being at an all-time low, while Saudi normalization remains possible and would strengthen projects such as the India-Middle East-
Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). Pakistan faces greater constraints, as any move towards recognition could provoke serious unrest in an already fragile country.
One of the pact’s most immediate consequences may instead be closer integration of the three countries’ defense industries.
Saudi Arabia contributes capital and procurement capacity; Pakistan, one of the world’s largest Muslim armed forces, the Islamic world’s only declared nuclear arsenal, and a bridge to Chinese military technology.
Turkey brings NATO-standard expertise alongside a rapidly expanding defense industry. As Beijing expands defense exports across the Global South, Pakistan, with Saudi funding, could facilitate cooperation in Africa and elsewhere, allowing China to expand its strategic influence with reduced political exposure.
Saudi Arabia has already brokered and financed Pakistani defense and infrastructure initiatives in Sudan and Libya.
While Pakistan’s implementation capacity has sometimes been questioned, Turkey has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to execute complex military and industrial projects abroad.
For New Delhi, Jerusalem, and Washington, the Mecca pact deserves attention but not alarm. Despite Turkey’s support for Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, Ankara continues to court India, making direct involvement in an India-Pakistan conflict unlikely.
Saudi Arabia’s deepening strategic and economic ties with India make such intervention even less plausible.
The pact’s greater long-term significance may therefore lie elsewhere.
With an increasingly visible Israel-India-UAE strategic partnership emerging across defense and technology, the Mecca Pact could become an alternative platform for military-industrial cooperation across parts of the Islamic world and the Global South.
Its greatest impact may lie not in collective defense but in military technology transfers, industrial partnerships and security assistance to third countries.
This deserves attention in Western capitals. Washington should continue engaging Saudi Arabia while discouraging destabilizing technology transfers through Pakistan.
NATO similarly has an interest in ensuring Turkey’s expanding defense exports remain consistent with its security interests. Particularly sensitive are would-be indirect transfers of advanced Turkish or Chinese military technology to fragile states or non-state actors.
History provides a cautionary lesson. US, Saudi, and Pakistani cooperation launched in 1979 to support the Afghan mujahideen against the USSR contributed to modern terrorist networks whose consequences extended far beyond Afghanistan, ultimately culminating in the 9/11 attacks and leaving a legacy of Islamic terrorism globally.
The significance of the Mecca pact will depend less on the language of the agreement than on its implementation.
Whether it becomes a genuine collective security architecture or primarily a vehicle for defense industrial cooperation and proxy engagement will determine whether it reshapes regional security or simply adds another layer to an already complex geopolitical landscape.
The proof is in the pudding, and the alliance has its first challenge: Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure in Jizan this week.
The writer is the president of Glocal Cities. He is a political researcher, consultant, and entrepreneur, and has worked in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for two decades.
HaMiffal cultural center marks ten years and counting of community-oriented creation
HaMiffal is an oasis, albeit not exactly one of peace and quiet right now. That is due to the invasive, extraneous roar emanating from construction sites in downtown Jerusalem. Still, there is a definite tranquility vibe about the place – a feeling that positive energies abound, and that good things are in the offing.
“On that side, there’s the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, over there there’s some oligarch who’s building a new house and, on that side, they are building a visitors’ center for the Third Temple,” Doron Gallia-Kind advises as we sit down to chat on the upper floor of the timeworn stately edifice that has been home to a veritable gem in the local cultural-social firmament for the past 10 years.
That last item sounded unreal. I was always given the impression that the Third Temple would materialize only after the Messiah comes riding in on a white mule. There really is no wilder, more variegated, more spiritual, or more colorful place like Jerusalem.
A whole decade of creative derring-do, on all sorts of fronts, is as good a pretext as any for sitting down with Gallia-Kind, who has served as artistic director and co-director of HaMiffal, alongside general director and head curator Neta Meisels, for the past two years.
That momentous juncture in the institution’s timeline was marked on August 13 with a typically broadly-roaming program that, inter alia, took in the dulcet tones of the Great Gehenna Choir, envelope-pushing ensemble project Castle in Time, and a reprise of Max Epstein’s Yeshivat Tzevet (Staff Meeting) sculpture he first created nine years ago and which – surprise surprise – depicted a session of the HaMiffal staff members who founded the nonprofit in 2015.
Yes, in 2015, so, in fact, yesterday’s shebang took place as HaMiffal continues on through its 11th year. But Gallia-Kind is not one to split temporal hairs. “We’re making a fuss of our 10 years of existence as a sort of rolling celebration,” he smiles. That sounds perfectly logical for an ever-evolving venture.
A cloistered world of quiet and art
There indeed appears to be a lot to celebrate and enjoy. You get some of that as soon as you pass through the wrought-iron gate on Hamaaravim Street, an easily missable narrow alleyway that leads off the nether regions of Agron Street. As you leave the constant din of traffic on the main artery behind, your pulse starts to slow a mite, and the tension level diminishes even further the moment you step into the dappled leafy confines of the HaMiffal yard. It is almost like entering some inner sanctum where the spirits stretch a protective wing across your shoulder, particularly as you hear, and then espy, the soothing sound of dripping water from the diminutive fountain by the pathway.
When I cycled over there, a week or so prior to the 10th birthday bash, the yard was populated by a motley array of people – folks hunched in front of a laptop screen, presumably working through the technical specifications of some artistic and/or community-oriented initiative, others smoked or tucked into an early lunch. Prior to my meet-up with Gallia-Kind and a couple of youngsters who put together the definitively heartwarming and person-friendly Crochet Club, I also grabbed a couple of mouthfuls while I soaked up the ambiance of the pool of calm slap bang in the epicenter of the aforementioned nonstop ongoing urban renewal dynamic.
The blurb for the new decade-opening event includes a fetching self-description as “the Jerusalemite home of creators celebrates 10 years of creation, ludicrousness and community.” It was the middle epithet that caught my eye. What, then, is so absurd and irrational about HaMiffal?”
For starters, the edifice is a bona fide member of the yesteryear stratum of Jerusalem’s evolution. You don’t find that too often in this real estate-fixated country where every square meter of land or of floor space of extant buildings costs the potential buyer or tenant a fortune. Naturally, that is particularly true of urban milieus.
A Jerusalem historical gem
A little historical backdrop would not go amiss here. HaMiffal resides in the Seraphin-Lorenzo House, a spectacular building constructed in the late 19th century by brothers Anton and Pascal Seraphin, who came from a well-heeled Jerusalemite Christian Arabic family. Over time, the house hosted a wide range of residents – from Arabs to Jewish educational institutions – and stood sentinel as the city underwent seismic political shifts. By 2006, the building was left derelict and was summarily consigned to the garbage heap of municipal goings-on until HaMiffal started up. Through research and preservation endeavors and artistic collaborations, the house became a lively cultural center, inviting anyone who entered its doors to mine and uncover the rich history and culture hidden within it.
Truly, there is plenty to unearth. As you open the sturdy main entrance door, you enter a veritable Aladdin’s Cave as you begin to discern the exquisite ornamentation on the walls and vaulted ceiling in the dimly lit hall. To the right lies a spacious room that, by the looks of things, serves as a place where people hang out, either to socialize or get some serious stuff done. There is a café-bar, a store where one can find all kinds of knickknacks of an artistic nature, as well as New Agey fare and plain old fun items. Peeking through a transparent door just past the gift shop, I spied a bunch of artists getting on with their innovative pursuits in the studio. It all came across as an alluring mix of earnest hands-on creative endeavor, discussions thereof, and Jerusalemites dropping by for a breather from the rat race.
“I think, for many people, this is a sort of home away from home,” says Gallia-Kind, neatly encapsulating the home base philosophical flux. For the people that come here, it is a third space, which isn’t your home or place of work.” The accent is, the director continues, very much on enabling and accommodating. “They can find themselves doing all sorts of things here. They can work on their computer and drink coffee, grab a bite, or they can visit the gallery or pop into the store to buy something.” Much of the latter is conceived and crafted in the studio space right next door.
Visitors may even find themselves getting down and dirty with some creative process or other, or come over for some entertainment. “They can take part in a course in the studio, or stay on to see a show in the evening. HaMiffal strives to embrace all the lifestyles of the liberal person in the city, or people who believe in freedom. They are looking for inspiration, but also a place or a space that feels like home.”
That laissez-passer sensibility is definitely in the air on the ground floor, although, in stark contrast, the upper level felt pretty desolate as we chatted. That is where the exhibitions run, and there are rooms for meetings, rehearsals, and other artistic groundwork, and offices. I was privy to a delightful slice of the Great Gehenna Choir going through its angelic paces ahead of the event on the 13th. The choice of vocal ensemble for the occasion was something of a given, considering the veteran choir also performed at the HaMiffal opener in 2015.
A close-knit crowd
The celebratory lineup also featured a bunch of folks clicking away with needle and thread as they took their crocheting enterprise along its way to some practical or fun bottom line. The slot was devised to wed Sorgot Et Hazman (Knitting the Time) with Moadon HaKrosheh (The Crochet Club). The former is an activist group of older women who vented some of their post-Oct. 7 anguish and frustration by convening to engage in a wholesome activity – which became highly visible and much talked about – while the war raged in Gaza, and our hostages continued to languish there. As we all painfully know, the hostilities and hostage release impasse dragged on and on, and the women ended up with several kilometers of various knitted creations. The confluence of the two groups covers an expansive age range, with Moadon HaKrosheh – established by twentysomethings Yarden Lichterman and Noam Hezroni – including participants in their teens all the way through to the over-70s crowd.
The diverse nature of the club extends beyond the age factor and the broad range of walks of life whence the knitters come. There is, apparently, a mass appeal side to the craft. “We get people from outside Jerusalem too,” Lichterman tells me. “They come from Kiryat Ono, Petah Tikva, Tel Aviv.” Tel Aviv? Surely there must be some kind of knitting circle in the metropolis. “I don’t think so,” Lichterman suggests, “at least not for free.”
The gratis element is integral to the club organizers’ credo. “One of the most important things about the club is that anyone can come. Anyone who wants to knit can come, and we don’t charge. There is no commitment to attend either,” Hezroni points out. “The sessions take place on Tuesday evenings, and no one knows who is going to turn up, or how many.” Attendance never drops below 15 knitters each time, sharing the space provided by HaMiffal. That can rise to 20-plus or even more. “We have around 200 people in the WhatsApp group, but it varies each time,” Lichterman explains.
Meeting on a regular basis to crochet is clearly a fundamentally socially oriented activity. “You can never know what people think about while they are knitting,” Lichterman observes. “It is, on the one hand, a very communicative activity, but it is also perfect for doing on your own. But there is also something about doing it on your own, alongside others. You focus on your work, but you can chat while you’re doing it and ask for help with your work.” That sounds an ideal state of affairs, suited to people of all societal leanings. As per Humphrey Bogart’s immortal words in the closing scene in Casablanca, as he and Claude Rains walk away from the airport runway, getting together to knit can bring people closer and can spawn new friendships.
“People sit around, next to each other or apart and knit,” Lichterman says. Fittings logistics also come into the social intercourse ebb-and-flow. “We’re not always sure what furniture we’ll have in the room,” Hezroni adds. “Once we had a big oval table, so everyone sat around together and interacted while they were knitting. Other times, there may be a couple of small tables and other chairs dotted around. That changes the way the session goes.”
Knitting debutants welcome
The activity is also open to folks who have never held a needle and yarn in their hand. “This is a community of amateurs. This is knowledge that is passed on from one person to another,” Lichterman notes. The organizers also keep the framework as loose and inviting as possible. “I tell people they don’t need to get notifications via Facebook, or WhatsApp, or whatever. They know there is a particular activity which happens at a particular place every Tuesday at 7 p.m. People can come just once, or as many times as they want.”
Knitting is, indeed, a time-honored craft practiced in communities across cultures the world over. I was happily surprised to hear there are quite a few menfolk who engage in crocheting. “There is a man from Petah Tikva who had never knitted before. He made an amazing tunic for himself,” Hezroni smiles. When I subsequently met up with Gallia-Kind, he corroborated the story and showed me a photo of the determined character, clad in his creation. It was mightily impressive and, I must admit, got me thinking about turning up at HaMiffal on a Tuesday evening myself. In any case, it has to be healthier and more rewarding – physically and emotionally – and more fruitful than, for example, spending an hour or two disappearing down YouTube rabbit holes.
The knitters also produce all manner of end products, from clothes for grandkids, kippot, toys, and even the results of yarn bombing that brighten up otherwise dull standard street furniture and other outdoor spaces. “People sometimes come up with crocheted political graffiti messages,” Lichterman laughs. “You never know what you’re going to get.”
Regardless of the knitted outcome, the confluence between Sorgot Et Hazman and Moadon HaKrosheh promised to be a decidedly enjoyable and, in all likelihood, emotive experience for all concerned.
Getting together in the middle of it all
The group arrangement suits the HaMiffal community-oriented ethos. “As soon as you come into contact with art, you feel you belong,” Gallia-Kind declares. Hopefully, the people who drop by the storied building on Hamaaravim Street for coffee, a business meeting, some creative meet-up, or to view the artworks on the upper level will be able to do so for decades to come. “This is an urban building, and we are a private nonprofit supported by the municipality. But there are lots of [construction-financial] interests around us,” he cautions.
The artistic director believes the road to survival, and even growth, lies in joining forces. “We are trying to work out how a community takes responsibility for a place.” That’s where the Friends Association comes in. The relevant slot of the organization’s website talks about sharing: “a deep belief in culture, community and creative freedom” and working together “to build resources and ensure HaMiffal’s future as an independent, innovative home for art, culture, and collaboration in Jerusalem.”
Amen to that. And with an exhibition lined up for Toronto in the coming months, and another for New York next year, hopefully that message will soon get out to an ever-widening circle of people around the world whose idea of life here is governed by the political agenda behind the media outlet from which they get their information. “We understand we can show Jerusalem in a different light,” says Gallia-Kind, “not the one shown in newspapers and on the news. We can show how Jerusalem can be. It is possible. Art can do that.”
For more information about HaMiffal: hamiffal.com/en/home/
American Saving Nears a Record Low, Putting Spending at Risk
Americans are putting away less money than at almost any point on record, and the cushion that has kept household spending going is nearly flat.
The plain version is this. For every dollar of take-home pay in June, the average American household set aside about three cents and spent the other ninety-seven. That works out to roughly one dollar saved out of every thirty-seven earned. The Bureau of Economic Analysis put the personal saving rate at 2.7 percent in June, its most recent reading, with total personal saving at $646.1 billion.
To see how thin that is, compare it to the long run. Since 1959, Americans have saved an average of 8.4 percent of their disposable income — closer to eight cents on the dollar. The all-time low in the series is 1.4 percent, hit in July 2005. The current rate sits barely more than a percentage point above it. At the other extreme, during the shutdown month of April 2020, the rate spiked to 31.8 percent, when checks were arriving and there was nowhere to spend them.
The direction over this year tells the story. The rate was 2.6 percent in April, ticked up to 3.0 percent in May, then slid back to 2.7 percent in June. It has been stuck in that narrow, historically low band all spring and summer.
What is driving it is simple arithmetic. In June, personal income rose 0.2 percent and disposable income rose the same 0.2 percent, while consumer spending rose 0.3 percent. When the spending line grows faster than the income line, month after month, the difference has to come out of savings. That is exactly what has been happening.
The squeeze is not coming from Americans buying more. It is coming from the same basket costing more. The war that began in late February and the resulting disruption at the Strait of Hormuz pushed energy prices sharply higher, and gasoline was among the single largest drivers of increased household spending this spring. Groceries, utilities and insurance have all followed. Households are writing bigger checks for the same amount of goods.
That leaves the credit card as the shock absorber. Total card balances reached $1.252 trillion in the first quarter of this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — up 63 percent from the pandemic-era low of $770 billion in early 2021. Average interest rates on new card offers stand near 23.79 percent, meaning a household carrying a balance is paying roughly a fifth of what it owes every year just in interest. Savings down and card balances up is the same squeeze measured two different ways.
Why this matters beyond the household budget: consumer spending is about two-thirds of the American economy. Retailers, restaurants, airlines, homebuilders and auto dealers are all downstream of it. A saving rate this low means there is very little reserve left to draw on. If a household loses hours, faces a car repair or gets hit with an insurance renewal, the money to absorb it is not sitting in an account — it goes on credit or the spending gets cut. That is why economists watch this number as a warning light for the quarter ahead rather than a report card on the one just finished.
There is a counterargument worth stating. A low saving rate is not automatically a sign of distress. During the 2008 crisis the rate climbed above 8 percent as frightened households hoarded cash, and that was a bad sign, not a good one. A low rate can reflect confidence that income will keep coming. The problem this time is that it is pairing with falling real incomes and rising card debt, which is the unhealthy version of the same reading.
So what actually fixes it. Three things, in order of how quickly they could work. Energy prices coming down would do the most and the fastest, because fuel costs feed directly into groceries, freight and utilities — which is why any easing of the Hormuz disruption shows up in household budgets within weeks. Second, wage growth needs to run ahead of prices again rather than behind them, which restores the gap between income and spending that savings come from. Third, at the household level, the highest-return move available right now is retiring card balances carrying rates near 24 percent, because no savings account pays anything close to what that debt costs.
The next reading arrives Aug. 26, when the Bureau of Economic Analysis releases July personal income and outlays. That figure will show whether the summer squeeze eased or whether the saving rate is still grinding toward a level Americans have not seen since 2005.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
During the Costco apparel attack, customers detained an arm-suspect with a spade and a machete: reports
.
According to WSPA 7News, Greenville officers responded to the Costco on Woodruff Road on Thursday after receiving information that an armed robbery was taking place, citing the Greenville Police Department.
Jose Alejandro Giraldo, 24, allegedly entered the store and entered the jewellery counter-top through the display cases.
Giraldo reportedly indicated that he had a weapon when confronted, and reportedly had a knife and spade.
Common RESTAURANT AT DISNEY SHOPPING Region BROUGHT IN SCUBA GEAR
Callers first described the weapon used to split the display cases as appearing to be a nail, according to FOX Carolina, according to a citation from the police. Eventually, according to the store, police confirmed that Giraldo had a pickaxe and a knife.
Until officers arrived, users detained Giraldo inside the warehouse, according to FOX Carolina.
Employees of the retailer apparently assisted in restraining the suspect.
WSPA reported that one client suffered an injury while helping to defeat Giraldo, which necessitated the intervention of disaster medical personnel. The company’s injuries were not promptly disclosed by the store.
According to both media reports, Giraldo was accused of third-degree assault and battery and armed assault.
The Greenville County Detention Center later made available a mugshot of Giraldo.
FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO: Press HERE.
The Greenville Police Department has requested post and more information from FOX Business.
This post was originally published here
JBizNews Business Roundup — August 16, 2026
German Investment in U.S. Plunges Nearly Two-Thirds as Companies Hold Back New Capital
German companies sharply reduced new investment in the United States during the first half of 2026, offering one of the clearest indications yet that trade-policy uncertainty is beginning to influence where multinational companies put their money.
German direct investment into the U.S. fell nearly two-thirds from a year earlier to €4.3 billion, or about $5 billion, according to calculations by the German Economic Institute using Bundesbank data. That was the lowest first-half level since 2023 and almost 80% below the comparable 2024 figure. Before the pandemic, German companies averaged €15.8 billion of first-half U.S. investment.
There is an important distinction: German companies already operating in America are still reinvesting profits. What has weakened is the willingness to commit fresh equity capital to new projects. That makes the data less a verdict on the U.S. market itself and more a warning about what policy uncertainty can do to future factories, expansions and jobs.
India Orders Major Cooking-Gas Production Push as Hormuz Disruption Hits Supplies
India has ordered its refiners and energy companies to build the country’s domestic production of liquefied petroleum gas to as much as 63,810 metric tons per day, an extraordinary intervention aimed at protecting household fuel supplies after Middle East disruptions exposed India’s dependence on imports.
Before the war, India sourced roughly 90% of its imported cooking gas from the Middle East. The government’s August 13 order requires companies to maintain enough storage and transportation infrastructure to handle the new targets, with production requirements updated every January and July. Reliance Industries alone was assigned a target of 18,000 tons per day from its domestic-market refinery.
The significance goes beyond India. One of the world’s largest energy consumers is effectively redesigning part of its fuel supply chain because of the Strait of Hormuz crisis — another example of geopolitical risk turning into permanent infrastructure spending.
Nvidia Discusses Another $3 Billion Bet on OpenAI Infrastructure
Nvidia is in talks to invest as much as $3 billion in SB Energy, the SoftBank-backed company developing a massive Ohio data-center project for OpenAI, according to a report by The Information cited by Reuters.
The proposed investment would sit alongside discussions involving roughly $100 billion of credit support for the Ohio campus. Nvidia has reportedly considered investing half when the project is signed and the remainder around a possible SB Energy IPO. Reuters said it could not independently verify the report, and Nvidia and SB Energy had not commented.
The bigger story is how deeply chipmakers are becoming intertwined with the financing of their own customers. Nvidia is no longer benefiting only from companies buying GPUs; increasingly, the AI ecosystem is exploring structures in which capital, chips, power infrastructure and data-center financing all support one another.
Europe Discovers a $50 Billion Heat Problem That Insurance Barely Covers
Europe’s extreme heat is emerging as a major business-interruption risk — but one that traditional insurance policies often do not cover.
Moody’s estimated that last summer’s European heatwaves caused about €43 billion, or $50 billion, in lost economic output, while insured payouts totaled only about €500 million. In and around Padua, Italy, more than 80% of roughly 600 hospitality businesses surveyed reported sales declines of around 20% during the latest heatwave.
Unlike a hurricane that destroys a building, heat can empty restaurants, reduce worker productivity, disrupt rail networks and raise factory cooling costs without producing obvious physical damage. Insurers are increasingly exploring temperature-triggered “parametric” policies that automatically pay when heat crosses specified thresholds.
For businesses, the lesson is changing quickly: extreme heat is becoming a balance-sheet risk even when nothing visibly breaks.
Kalshi and Nevada Escalate Fight Over $120,000-a-Day Penalties
The legal fight over prediction markets intensified over the weekend as Kalshi accused Nevada regulators of violating federal law while the state seeks penalties of $120,000 per day over alleged failures to block Nevada users.
Nevada’s Gaming Control Board previously required Kalshi to implement a multi-source geofencing system by August 12 after investigators were able to enter sports, election and entertainment contracts from inside the state. The state’s agreement specified the $120,000 daily penalty if Kalshi missed that deadline.
Nevada investigators later said they were still able to place nine trades using cellular networks. Kalshi says it hired GeoComply at Nevada’s request and argues investigators misrepresented their residences and, in at least one instance, circumvented blocking measures.
The case is becoming an important test of whether federally regulated prediction markets can operate nationwide over the objections of individual state gambling regulators.
Peter Thiel Makes $76 Million Bet on Argentina’s Oil Boom
Peter Thiel’s Thiel Macro fund has purchased approximately 1.2 million American Depositary Shares of Vista Energy worth about $76 million, giving the investor roughly 1% of one of the leading producers in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale region.
The position was disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Vista currently produces around 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and has invested more than $6.5 billion in Argentina.
Thiel Macro’s disclosed portfolio totals about $418.7 million and also contains significant exposure to U.S. electricity and power companies, making the Vista purchase consistent with a broader bet on energy demand and infrastructure.
Vaca Muerta contains the world’s second-largest shale-gas resources and fourth-largest shale-oil resources, turning Argentina into an increasingly important destination for global energy capital.
India Opens One-Time Offshore Asset Amnesty
India opened a new tax-amnesty program Sunday allowing smaller taxpayers to voluntarily disclose previously unreported foreign income and assets.
Taxpayers with up to 10 million rupees, roughly $105,000, of undisclosed foreign income can participate by paying a 30% tax plus an equal penalty. Separately, taxpayers who already paid tax on overseas assets but failed to report assets worth as much as 50 million rupees, about $524,000, can regularize them through a 100,000-rupee payment.
The program runs through December 31, 2026 and particularly targets smaller cases involving students, non-resident Indians and taxpayers who accumulated overseas assets without properly reporting them.
No U.S. Markets Today — Consumer Weakness Is What Wall Street Carries Into Monday
U.S. markets are closed Sunday, leaving Friday’s close as the starting point for the coming week.
The S&P 500 finished Friday at 7,785.76, down 0.17%, while the Nasdaq fell 0.28% and the Dow slipped 0.20%. The S&P still gained 0.4% for the week, its third consecutive weekly advance.
The bigger economic signal came from consumers. July retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.6%, the first monthly decline in nine months, while the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer-sentiment index dropped to 51.0 from 55.2 in July.
Those numbers have weakened the case for an immediate Federal Reserve rate increase. The Fed’s current target remains 3.50% to 3.75%, with three policymakers having voted for a quarter-point hike at the July meeting.
The question heading into Monday is therefore no longer simply whether inflation is cooling. It is whether the consumer is cooling faster.
JBizNews Desk | New York / Washington
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Alphabet Turned a $900 Million SpaceX Investment Into More Than $90 Billion
Alphabet’s early investment in SpaceX has become one of the most valuable corporate bets of the past decade, turning roughly $900 million invested in 2015 into a stake worth more than $90 billion at its recent peak.
That is roughly a 100-fold increase in value on an investment that was originally small relative to Alphabet’s overall balance sheet.
The Google parent backed SpaceX when the company was still a private rocket manufacturer focused primarily on launch services. Since then, SpaceX has expanded into satellite internet through Starlink, defense and government contracting, commercial launches, communications infrastructure and other space-based businesses.
As SpaceX’s overall value climbed, Alphabet’s stake became an increasingly significant asset of its own.
At more than $90 billion, the position was worth more than the entire market value of many large publicly traded companies and represented one of the largest outside investments held by a major technology company.
The return also highlights a different side of Alphabet’s business model.
Investors usually value Alphabet based on Google Search, YouTube, advertising, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. But the company has also spent years making strategic investments in outside technology businesses that could benefit from long-term shifts in computing, communications and infrastructure.
SpaceX became the standout.
Alphabet did not need to build a rocket company itself. It invested early, maintained its position and benefited as SpaceX grew from a private aerospace startup into one of the most valuable technology companies in the world.
That matters because the gain is not simply theoretical venture-capital upside.
A stake worth more than $90 billion is large enough to materially affect how investors think about Alphabet’s broader asset base and the value sitting outside its core operating businesses.
The investment also shows how powerful early ownership can become when a private company grows across multiple industries at once.
SpaceX’s value is no longer tied only to rocket launches. Starlink created a global communications business. Government contracts added another revenue stream. Defense, satellite infrastructure and future space services expanded the company’s potential market even further.
Each step increased the value of Alphabet’s original investment.
The numbers are what make the story remarkable.
Alphabet put in about $900 million.
At its recent peak, that stake was worth more than $90 billion.
That is the kind of return that can turn what once looked like a strategic side investment into a major corporate asset.
For Alphabet shareholders, SpaceX has effectively become a second layer of value sitting alongside Google’s dominant operating businesses.
And it is a reminder that sometimes the most profitable move a giant company makes is not building the next breakthrough itself.
It is recognizing one early enough to own a piece of it.
JBizNews Desk | Silicon Valley
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Eight Arab, Islamic nations accuse Israel of derailing Trump’s Gaza peace plan
The foreign ministries of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt condemned Israel’s rejection of the Gaza Board of Peace’s (BoP) 15-point roadmap for implementing US President Donald Trump’s peace plan in a joint statement released on Sunday.
In the statement, the countries accused Israel of undermining efforts to fully end the war with Hamas in Gaza and derailing Trump’s push to cement conditions necessary for long-lasting peace.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the proposed plan on August 9 during a cabinet meeting, stating that “the IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”
Joint Statement by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, KSA, and Egypthttps://t.co/ka4iFxXDFy https://t.co/A3yYqNUuG1
— MoFA وزارة الخارجية (@mofauae) August 16, 2026
The BoP’s plan, detailed by BoP head Nickolay Mladenov in May, outlined that Hamas disarmament and IDF withdrawal would occur in stages, continuing as progress is verified.
The joint statement emphasized that Hamas’s acceptance of the plan was a “vital milestone” in the Palestinian terrorist group’s disarmament, a move that Hamas has previously refused to engage in.
FMs call on US to ‘enforce’ Israeli compliance with BoP plan
The foreign ministers called for the US to “enforce Israel’s full compliance with the commitments and arrangements envisaged under the Comprehensive Plan,” despite Netanyahu’s rejection.
They continued to claim that Israel “bears direct and full responsibility for any consequences resulting from its continued rejection, obstruction, delay or non-compliance, including any resulting deterioration of the situation on the ground and disruption of ending the war in Gaza.”
The ministers asserted that the full and immediate implementation of the plan is urgent and necessary in order to obtain security and safety for Gazans.
Canadian man charged after targeted vandalism of Saskatchewan synagogue
A 31-year-old man from Dundurn, Saskatchewan, has been charged following a targeted vandalism attack against the Congregation Agudas Israel Synagogue, police announced on Thursday.
The Saskatoon Police Service confirmed that the suspect turned himself in to police headquarters last Friday, and is facing three counts of mischief under $5,000. The charges stem from an investigation into reports of eggs being thrown at a building and vehicles associated with the congregation.
The attack took place during morning Shabbat services on August 1. Following the incident, the synagogue implemented additional security measures to protect its members and facilities.
“As a police service, we recognize the significance of incidents that target faith-based communities and the impact on their sense of safety and belonging,” Superintendent James Oliver said in a statement. “Any evidence that an offense was motivated by bias, prejudice, or hate is considered by the court as an aggravating factor during sentencing.”
CIJA says synagogue attack reflects hate targeting Jewish Canadians
Reacting to the arrest in a statement shared on social media, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) stated that they “welcome this update from the Saskatoon Police Service and commend its investigative teams, including its hate crimes unit, for moving swiftly to identify, arrest and charge the individual responsible for vandalizing Agudas Israel Synagogue in Saskatoon.” CIJA added that “attacking a place of worship is deeply disturbing and represents yet another example of extremists spreading hate and targeting Jewish Canadians, in this instance while members of our community were praying inside the synagogue,” and emphasized that they “expect this hate criminal to be held fully accountable under the law.”
The incident forms part of a wider wave of attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli institutions across Canada over the past month. These include suspected antisemitic arson and shooting attacks targeting Jewish-owned Kiva’s Bagel Bar locations in Toronto, the destruction of the kosher restaurant Nöam in Montreal.
Avocado pickers in Mexico restart exports as security alert is lifted but are ‘at the mercy of whatever the U.S. market and government decide’
It didn’t take long for Mexican avocado picker Francisco Isidro to get back to work after authorities announced the lifting of a U.S. security alert that temporarily halted avocado exports.
Back on the job the morning after the alert was lifted, Isidro threw a rope over an avocado tree about 20 feet (6 meters) high and climbed up. Fifteen minutes later, he had filled a box with avocados bound for the United States.
“Thank God … and now we’re getting paid!” he shouted happily after several days without work.
Eight days after the alert affecting Michoacán state and the deployment of more Mexican troops in the region, U.S. authorities fully lifted the restrictions that spurred producers to shut down operations, and exports resumed. Michoacán is Mexico’s main avocado-producing state and a region where four cartels designated by the Trump administration as terrorist organizations operate.
By the weekend, orchards were operating again, packing plants were running at full speed and U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors had returned to certify the fruit and ensure it was free of pests before entering the United States.
The workers were happy to get their daily wages back. Some producers hoped the increased security would reduce violence and extortion. Others feared the calm would not last long.
“We’ll be safe for a while, we’ll see what happens next,” said Valentín Rodríguez, a longtime avocado industry businessperson.
Many threats are possible in a violent state
The U.S. alert caught Isidro high in a tree in an orchard in Santa Ana Zirosto, an area of green, low hills in western Michoacán where criminal groups are very active. There were no explanations, just the foreman’s shout to stop cutting.
Isidro, 39 years old and with two decades of experience as a harvester, knew that this meant either starting to look for another job until the situation returned to normal — since they’re paid by the day — or supporting his family solely on what his wife earned from a small store.
More than 90 miles (145 kilometers) away, in the town of Tacámbaro, an engineer at an avocado packing plant received the alert in the early hours of the morning: The facility should be kept sealed and under quarantine.
Some 200,000 people employed by Michoacán’s avocado industry were left in limbo.
Authorities did not say what threat triggered the alert. But in a state where numerous local cartels make money not only from drugs but also from extortion, there are plenty of possibilities.
Some growers have come to consider extortion an unavoidable production cost. A producer from Michoacán told The Associated Press recently that he pays 1 peso per kilo exported in extortion fees and exports about 90 metric tons a day, which amounts to more than $5,000 in daily payments.
In March alone, Mexico shipped nearly 4,800 tons of avocados a day to the United States.
Trucks loaded with avocados are also sometimes robbed on roads in western Michoacán. And some farmworkers have been stopped and beaten by armed men near the border with Jalisco without being told why, according to one worker who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Mexican avocado production is US-controlled
U.S. inspectors have been assaulted and temporarily detained in the past, triggering similar export suspensions. On some occasions, threats arose after inspectors detected pests and were pressured not to report them, said an official familiar with their work who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The U.S. Embassy does not usually provide details about the incidents.
Inspectors now have less of a presence in the orchards, which are located in isolated hills where armed groups operate with little interference, and concentrate on packing plants.
“If the United States says that it is suspending technical services for security reasons, it’s impossible to export. If it’s for a plant health, it’s the same,” said Rodríguez, who grows, packs and sells avocados. “We are at the mercy of whatever the U.S. market and government decide to do with the industry.”
There is also a political dimension, he said, adding that Mexico didn’t export avocados to the United States for eight decades after a worm was found in an avocado pit in 1914. The U.S. ban was lifted in 1997 as domestic production could no longer meet growing demand.
Exports rely on inspection and certification
More than 80% of Mexican avocados are sold to the U.S. Thousands of tons of avocados travel daily to the United States, especially at the beginning of the year, when demand for guacamole surges ahead of the Super Bowl. To keep that volume moving, certification is key.
Isidro is a “certified” picker. He knows how to disinfect cutting tools before using them, handle the fruit quickly and carefully, and report any spots or damage. The orchards where he works are also certified, providing dining and bathroom facilities for workers.
Jesús Méndez, his supervisor, inspected the boxes before they were loaded onto a truck with the tracking details. The trucks wait until all those in the area are ready before traveling in convoys to packing plants, accompanied by police patrols to prevent robberies.
At the packing plants, inspections continue, checking quality, the fruit’s flesh and possible pests. The avocados then move along mechanical lines that sort them by size before workers place them into boxes.
Once labeled and sealed, the trailers head for the U.S. border. At the slightest security alert, every point along the route can be brought to a standstill.
Fears remain despite the return to work
The deployment of more than 1,500 soldiers to protect Michoacán’s avocado-growing region and recent arrests of people allegedly involved in extortion have eased concerns, but only partially.
Luis Manuel Soto, a 36-year-old grower and packer from western Michoacán, hopes the increased security will bring improvements. So far, he says, he has not felt them.
In 2024, he said, armed men pulled him from his vehicle and threatened to kill him unless he paid them and withdrew a complaint over extortion and an attempt to seize his orchards. The threats returned last July, even though one person involved in the earlier case has been convicted.
“They left me a funeral cross and … a written message saying I had only days left,” Soto said from a town near Morelia, Michoacán’s capital.
The threats have continued by phone. Now he divides his time between occasional visits to his orchards, managing his businesses and social projects remotely, and going to prosecutors’ offices to request protection.
In Santa Ana Zirosto and surrounding communities, residents welcome the military presence.
“It gives us some peace, but it also scares us a little because it could lead to confrontations with some of the groups,” said Méndez.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Maine Draws Hamptons and Nantucket Prices as $10 Million Sales Multiply
A house in Maine used to be the cheap alternative. Now a stretch of its coastline is trading at prices that would not look out of place on Long Island’s East End, and the reason is simple: the buyers are the same people. They are coming from Boston and Manhattan, they are paying cash, and there is very little on the market for them to fight over.
The arithmetic that started it is the plainest part of the story. The median price of an existing single-family home in Greater Boston was $1,032,500 in April, against $590,000 in Cumberland County, Maine, where Portland sits. A Redfin analysis found Portland is the top destination for homebuyers leaving Greater Boston. Among out-of-state buyers driving Cumberland County prices, the two largest sources are Manhattan and Boston. Roughly speaking, one Boston-area house buys nearly two in the Portland area — and remote work made that trade practical for people who once needed to be at a desk five days a week.
At the top end, the shift shows up in a count of transactions rather than a percentage. Five Maine homes sold above $5 million in 2019. By 2024 that number had reached 21. Last year four properties in the state changed hands for more than $10 million. Before that, only seven homes in Maine had ever been publicly listed and sold above $10 million, and every one of them was in the Mount Desert Island area. That is the entire history of eight-figure Maine real estate, and a single recent year accounted for a meaningful share of it.
The deals themselves have the speed that marks a market with more money than supply. A five-bedroom oceanfront property on Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport, less than half a mile from the Bush family compound, sold for its full $12 million asking price after 90 minutes on the market. The buyer came from Chicago. It was the highest sale ever recorded by Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, the Portland firm that handled it, and the second-highest statewide in five years. A Cape Elizabeth home once owned by the actress Bette Davis went for $13.4 million. The state record remains a $19 million sale of the late David Rockefeller’s summer estate on Mount Desert Island.
The current asking-price leader is on Cunner Lane in Cape Elizabeth, about seven miles from Portland, which came to market on May 1 at $16.5 million. It is owned by a Sinclair Broadcast executive. If it sells anywhere near that figure, it lands directly behind the Rockefeller sale.
Put alongside the markets Maine is being compared to, the gap is still wide, and worth stating so the trend is not oversold. Nantucket set an all-time record median around $2.34 million, up 34% from a year earlier, with 82 sales above $5 million. In the Hamptons, the median luxury sale price jumped 30% to $13 million in the first quarter, and deals of $10 million or more accounted for $560 million of volume in three months. Maine does that kind of eight-figure volume in a year, not a quarter. What has changed is that it now does it at all.
The ceiling is not unlimited, and Maine sellers who assume otherwise are learning it the hard way. A cliffside estate on Cooksey Drive in Mount Desert, ten bedrooms and 10,200 square feet on six wooded acres, has sat unsold for four years through price cuts that removed nearly half the original ask, and is now listed at $14.5 million. The listing agent attributes it partly to a market that has shifted: inventory is rising, homes are sitting longer, and price cuts are more common than they were during the frenzy.
That is the broader condition underneath the luxury headlines. Maine had 6,664 homes for sale as of December, up 27.3% from a year earlier, with new listings up 21.2% — though the state still carries only about three months of supply. And the volume market remains far below the record sales: of 532 Maine homes sold above $1 million in the first half of last year, nearly 80% were between $1 million and $2 million, and roughly 93% went for under $3 million.
Maine’s coast is not the Hamptons. But for the first time, the same buyers are shopping in both.
JBizNews Desk | Portland, Maine
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Kushner, Blair, BoP head Mladenov meet Hamas delegation in Cairo over Gaza roadmap, sources say
US envoy Jared Kushner, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and Gazan Board of Peace (BoP) Director-General Nikolay Mladenov met with a Hamas delegation in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the implementation of the BoP’s 15-point roadmap for the Gaza Strip, a source familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.
The source stated that the objective of the meeting was to translate the steps outlined in Mladenov’s roadmap into concrete, verifiable actions aimed at maintaining the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and removing Hamas from power in Gaza.
The meeting also covered the transfer of all governing responsibilities in the strip to the technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) and deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF).
According to the source, the US and Hamas delegations also discussed the decommissioning of Hamas weapons and terror infrastructure, IDF withdrawal, and reconstruction and humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza.
The source told the Post that ‘there can be no ambiguity: Hamas must relinquish governing authority and all weapons and military infrastructure. And Gaza can never again be a source of terror for Israel.”
Kushner, Mladenov, Blair to meet with Netanyahu over Gaza future
Additionally, Kushner, Mladenov, and Blair will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials on Monday, with the aim of advancing Trump’s 20-point plan for the Gaza Strip.
“The United States and Israel agree on the end state, which is a demilitarized Hamas. We will hear the concerns raised and discuss the next steps. What matters is that both sides agree on the desired outcome and are working to find ways to accelerate progress,” a BoP source told the Post.
The council maintains that there are “no significant gaps” between the BoP and Israel, and that it is possible to reach a point where the process moves to the next stage of the plan, namely the disarmament of Hamas.
“Israel rejects the Board of Peace’s 15-point document on Gaza. The IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed,” Netanyahu said last week.
In recent days, Israel resumed targeted killings in the Gaza Strip after halting them for several days.
Israeli officials said that Hamas not only failed to use the period during which the targeted killings were suspended to prepare for the disarmament process, but instead used it to further strengthen its military capabilities.
Trump announced Board of Peace agreement in July
Trump announced that the Board of Peace had reached a “historic” agreement for the complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza at the end of July.
He added that the agreement marks a “critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people.”
“At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.”
According to Trump, the agreement will be carried out in “carefully structured phases.”
A Board of Peace official at the time had told The Jerusalem Post that while Hamas had many concerns regarding the deal, it and other Palestinian factions had agreed to the entire proposed outline for the first time.
About a week later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had formally rejected the plan during a cabinet meeting, affirming that “the IDF will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed.”
Esther Davis, Idan Kweller, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Safeway closing more locations as Albertsons reopens its doors following the unsuccessful merger
of Kroger.
While the Kroger exchange was pending, Albertsons claimed to have slowed its “portfolio marketing” efforts before starting to evaluate its store network after the deal collapsed. In order to make what Albertsons described as the hard decision to close some locations, the company has begun the process of opening stores where it anticipates long-term desire.
According to Albertsons&rsquo’s most recent monthly filing, the company closed 35 shops in fiscal 2025, more than triple the number it did the previous year. It had 2, 244 sites spread across 35 states and Washington, D.C. at the end of the fiscal year that it had opened nine retailers during governmental 2025.
The results of those closures were tangible. Sales from governmental 2025 decreased by$ 63.4 million, after closing the doors, and costs associated with surplus qualities increased by$ 45.9 million from$ 15.9 million in the first year.
After a two-year presence, COSTCO BRINGS BACK THE FAN-FAVORITE KIRKLAND TREAT.
Woolworths continued to make investments in other divisions of its chain. In fiscal 2025, the business completed 94 renovations and opened nine new locations as part of an estimated$ 1.83 billion in cash expenses, which also included investments in digital and technological systems.
As of February 28, 2026, Albertsons had nearly 280, 000 employees under its 280, 000 flags, including Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Shaw&rsquo, s and Tom Thumb.
A complete list of prepared Safeway closures was not provided by the company to USA Today. The outlet reported that Safeway areas in Hayward, California, 2220 N. Coast Highway in Newport, Oregon, and 1601 Maryland Ave. in Washington, D.C., have all since shut down in 2026.
According to USA Today, Albertsons said it is attempting to employ as many of the damaged people as possible.
The business review comes after Albertsons ‘ planned merger with Kroger, which was announced in 2022 and would have resulted in one of the nation’s largest food companies.
The$ 24 billion transaction was brought in by the Federal Trade Commission, contending that it would result in higher food prices and less competition for the workers who work there.
The FTC&rsquo’s ask for a tentative injunction blocking the merger was granted on December 10, 2024 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Nine state attorneys general were present when the FTC brought the issue.
Kroger and Albertsons filed a lawsuit after the proposed bargain was rejected.
Kroger after filed assertions in Delaware alleging that Albertsons owed the payment and that it had violated the regulations. Kroger’s bill has been challenged by Woolworths.
FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO: Press HERE.
Woolworths refused to respond to FOX Business’s request for comment on the cutbacks right away.
This post was originally published here
Brazil’s Right Has a New Bolsonaro
Israeli election committee: Parties will see polling station turnout, but not who voted
The Central Elections Committee will publish turnout figures for individual polling stations several times on election day while keeping the identities of those who have voted confidential, committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg ruled on Sunday.
The decision gives political parties a new way to identify areas where turnout is lagging ahead of the October 27 election, but leaves in place Sohlberg’s earlier ban on party representatives inside polling stations reporting the names of individual voters to their campaign headquarters.
For voters, this means that parties will be able to know that, for example, turnout at a particular polling station is low, but representatives stationed there will not be allowed to tell their parties that a particular voter has or has not cast a ballot.
For the parties, that removes a tool that has allowed campaigns to compare information coming directly from polling stations with their own databases and identify individual supporters who have not yet voted. The new system will still allow campaigns to focus get-out-the-vote efforts geographically, but not on the basis of information about a particular person’s participation supplied from inside the polling station.
Sohlberg said the committee will publish aggregate turnout rates for every regular polling station at least four times during election day. The same information will be available to all candidate lists and will not show whether any named individual has voted.
The arrangement follows Sohlberg’s rejection on Sunday of Likud’s request that he reconsider an August 4 decision barring members of polling committees and party observers from sending campaigns real-time information identifying voters who had arrived to vote.
Likud argued that the earlier ruling overturned a long-standing practice in the middle of an election campaign and asked Sohlberg either to reverse it or postpone its application until a future election. The party maintained that recording whether a person voted does not reveal how that person voted and therefore does not compromise the essential secrecy of the ballot.
Sohlberg rejects Likud’s argument: Decision does not change election law, but clarifies existing enforceable laws
Sohlberg rejected that argument. He said Sunday that his earlier decision had not changed election law shortly before voting day, but clarified the law already in force and applied an existing legal provision.
He also noted that previous Central Elections Committee chairmen had raised doubts about the legality of passing information about individual voters from polling stations to political parties. Parties therefore should have been prepared for the possibility that the practice would be prohibited, he said, including by seeking legislation to regulate it.
The original August ruling concerned applications such as Elector and similar voter-management systems used by political parties. Party representatives could record which voters had arrived at polling stations, allowing campaign headquarters to identify supporters who had not yet voted and contact them directly.
Sohlberg found that information about whether a person voted – as well as details such as the time or type of polling station at which they voted – concerns that person’s privacy. Election law, he ruled, does not authorize party representatives to take information they receive while carrying out their official duties at a polling station and transfer it for party campaigning.
Parties may contact voters using lawful data, but cannot track in real time whether they voted
The ruling did not prohibit parties from using the voter-roll information lawfully provided to them before the election to contact members of the public. What they cannot add to those databases from inside the polling station is a real-time indication of whether a particular voter has already cast a ballot.
Per reports, the August proceedings began following an application by attorney Shahar Ben-Meir, joined by Tel Aviv University’s Privacy Protection Clinic, which argued that the practice violated voters’ privacy. Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Religious Zionist Party argued during the original proceedings that the existing practice did not violate the law, according to reports.
Sohlberg subsequently asked the Knesset factions and other participants in the proceeding to propose practical alternatives that would allow parties to encourage voting without compromising the privacy principles established in his ruling.
The polling-station turnout figures announced Sunday are the compromise he ultimately adopted. Rather than telling campaigns who voted, the Central Elections Committee itself will tell all parties equally how many people voted at each regular polling station.
The result preserves much of the parties’ ability to identify communities or neighborhoods where turnout is low, while ending the person-by-person flow of voter participation information from polling stations that Sohlberg found the law does not permit.
Trump used Iraqi Kurdistan leader as secret line of communication with Iran’s IRGC – report
The Trump administration spoke with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps by using Kurdistan Regional Government President Nechirvan Barzani as a secret backchannel, Axios reported on Sunday, citing three sources with direct knowledge of the talks.
The KRG administers a semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq and is headquartered in Erbil.
Axios said that on May 10, the US government was unsure as to who was technically leading the IRGC.
Then, former director of the US’s national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, called Barzani with President Donald Trump’s approval. In the call, she asked if Barzani could get in touch with the IRGC’s top commander, Ahmad Vahidi.
Gabbard stressed to Barzani that the White House wanted to know if the IRGC’s leadership agreed with what Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were pitching at the negotiating table, or if they had any other demands, one source with knowledge of the call told Axios.
Why did the White House call Iraqi Kurdistan President Barzani to talk to Tehran?
Notably, Barzani lived in Iran during the Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s, studied at the University of Tehran, speaks fluent Farsi, and has personal relationships with several members of the IRGC.
“Nechirvan Barzani is a pragmatic problem solver. He’s respected across the region. He knows nearly everyone in Tehran as well as Washington. That’s who you call in a pinch,” former US National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk told Axios.
Barzani agreed to the administration’s request and reached out to his contacts in the IRGC. He stressed that he had a message from the administration and wanted to speak directly to Vahidi, one source told Axios.
The pair spoke over the phone on May 14. Barzani asked Vahidi if he agreed with the negotiations, and the latter said he supported them.
“I fully support them, and this is also the position of the IRGC. We prefer to solve this crisis through negotiations,” Vahidi said, a source with direct knowledge told Axios.
Barzani then briefed Gabbard about the call, who, in turn, briefed the administration.
The Trump administration then responded with another proposal and floated the idea of Barzani hosting secret talks in Erbil.
The Iranians didn’t rule the idea out, but were concerned over a few security issues, a source told Axios. In particular, the Iranians were concerned that Israel had intelligence agents in the area and would assassinate them either during the talks or when they were traveling there or on the way back.
As a result, the meeting never happened, and Pakistani and Omani mediators continued to help with the talks.
Recently, Barzani sent messages to the administration that he would be willing to help restart talks, which are at an impasse over the Strait of Hormuz.
McGurk told Axios the mediators were not the issue.
“It’s Iran’s policy on the Strait, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon,” he said.
Covert mideast oil flows are keeping global prices in check
Middle Eastern oil producers are pressing ahead with shuttling large volumes of crude out of the Persian Gulf, helping keep a lid on prices and assuaging fears of an energy-driven inflation spike, even as the Iran war drags on.
The trade of ferrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz undetected to transfer the barrels onto tankers in the Gulf of Oman is running at full tilt, despite recent attacks on vessels, people with knowledge of the shipments said.
The incognito crossings of the world’s most vital energy chokepoint have become a major lifeline for global markets that were bracing for a much worse supply shock when the Iran war broke out. For producers in the region, the situation is far from normal, however, with ships subject to repeated hostility even though they have some military protection, the people said.
The shuttling has been ongoing for months, but tracking how much oil those “dark” ships are moving is a challenge for traders and analysts alike because vessels are protecting themselves by giving little clue about their locations. The volumes are running higher than market estimates of 4 million barrels a day, the people said, without specifying by how much. They spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.
Before the Iran war, about 20 million barrels a day crossed Hormuz, roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply. Last week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that 9 million barrels a day crossed Hormuz over the previous seven days — a figure that surprised many traders and would be on the high end of estimated flows, at almost half of pre-war rates.
The embattled shipments are one of the reasons that Brent oil futures have spent much of August trading between $80 and $90 a barrel, traders and analysts say. That’s far from the most alarming levels foreseen at the onset of the conflict if the Iran war lingered through the summer. Some were bracing for $150 oil.
The dark shuttle transits have combined with pipeline workarounds, stockpile releases and reductions in demand across the world to limit the economic hit from the war.
“Despite the repeated targeting of our vessels, we are determined to continue meeting our responsibility to safely deliver energy to global markets and to meet our customer commitments and needs as much as possible,” the United Arab Emirates’ state oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said in response to a request for comment for this story. “Like other energy companies in the region, we continue to bear the direct consequences of unprovoked attacks on our people, our ships and our facilities — attacks that place employees, contractors and seafarers at increased risk while disrupting critical energy flows.”
In addition to the UAE, barrels from Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait have all been ferried through Hormuz, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, as well as Kpler and Vortexa data.
The shuttle trade shows up clearly outside the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman, where around 150 ships from giant oil tankers to bulk commodity carriers are floating — compared with roughly 40 in January, based on data from the European Union’s Sentinel 1 satellite. Many are waiting for cargo transfers from the vessels that are sailing in and out of Hormuz with their transponders turned off.
People with knowledge of the UAE’s shipments said there was little indication of a slowdown, even after it reported more Iranian attacks on its ships in recent days. Adnoc has already sold about 135 million barrels of crude to buyers across the world and issued another round of sales last week.
Still, exporting large amounts of oil in the middle of a war is far from straightforward. The people with knowledge of Hormuz transits said there had been more incidents involving vessels than were publicly recognized, including both attacks on merchant ships and defensive actions by western forces targeting vessels that harass freighters trying to cross the waterway.
They offer a reminder that the cost of keeping energy prices low across the globe isn’t without risk — several seafarers have died transiting Hormuz and there are a growing number of regional oil spills. One appeared in satellite images in the Gulf of Oman last week, but there was no sign of where it came from, underscoring the clandestine nature of transits.
Since the beginning of the conflict, 23 of Adnoc’s vessels have been attacked while transiting Hormuz, resulting in one fatality and 20 injuries to crew members, the company said, adding the impact was also felt by businesses and households around the world.
“An attack on the infrastructure that keeps energy flowing is not simply an attack on a company,” it said. “The disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is inflicting profound damage far beyond those directly impacted in this region.”
Read more: Oil Spills Show Cost of Moving Middle East Barrels
The attacks can occasionally delay shipments, and while hold-ups are usually brief, they add to market uncertainty, buyers in Asia said.
Saudi Shipments
One country that hasn’t yet been shuttling large volumes of its own barrels is Saudi Arabia. However, there are tentative signs of more activity from the kingdom’s ports inside the Persian Gulf, now that its alternative Red Sea route is being threatened by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.
Two ships were seen loading at Saudi Arabia’s giant Ras Tanura export hub in the Gulf last week, while the nation’s tanker company Bahri has been steadily positioning vessels off Oman’s coast, where the transfers from shuttling vessels are carried out. In total, 16 supertankers are there now, with three more on the way in the coming days. Collectively they can haul 38 million barrels.
Oil producer Saudi Aramco declined to comment. Bahri didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Elsewhere, a handful of companies have recently been buying Iraqi barrels and shuttling them out of Hormuz, providing an outlet for one of the Gulf countries that has struggled most to move its barrels during the war.
In addition, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, as well as Kpler and Vortexa data, show that cargoes from Qatar and Kuwait have also left Hormuz under shuttling arrangements.
Insurers say that they’re seeing a steady stream of requests for business from a range of Gulf producers, too.
“It’s a dark trade,” said Pankaj Khanna, chief executive officer of Heidmar Maritime Holdings Corp. “It’s the only option right now as not all owners are willing to take the risk.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
U.S. EV Sales Collapse 27% After Tax Credits Disappear
American electric-vehicle sales are moving sharply in the opposite direction from much of the world, offering one of the clearest real-world tests yet of what happens when a major government subsidy disappears.
North American sales of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids fell 27% in July from a year earlier to about 140,000 vehicles, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Through the first seven months of 2026, sales totaled roughly 900,000, down 18%.
The decline comes after the federal tax credit of as much as $7,500 on qualifying new electric vehicles expired Sept. 30, 2025.
For consumers, that effectively increased the purchase price of many EVs by thousands of dollars overnight.
And the market reacted.
The contrast with the rest of the world is striking.
Global EV sales still increased 9% in July to approximately 1.85 million vehicles. Europe jumped 33% to about 450,000 vehicles, including gains of 81% in France, 46% in Germany and 43% in Britain.
In other words, Americans are not necessarily witnessing a global collapse in electric vehicles. They are witnessing a distinctly North American slowdown.
That distinction matters enormously for automakers.
Companies including General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, Volkswagen and others invested billions of dollars in U.S. battery plants, electric-vehicle factories, charging infrastructure and new models based partly on expectations that American EV adoption would continue climbing.
Without the tax credit, they are learning how much of that demand was dependent on the government helping consumers pay the bill.
Consider what the old subsidy meant to an ordinary buyer.
A qualifying $50,000 EV could effectively become a $42,500 purchase after the maximum $7,500 federal credit. Without it, the buyer once again has to finance or pay the entire $50,000.
At a hypothetical 6% auto-loan rate over five years, financing that additional $7,500 adds roughly $145 a month to the payment.
For a consumer deciding between an electric vehicle and a similarly equipped gasoline or hybrid model, that difference can completely change the decision.
The numbers also help explain why traditional hybrids are becoming increasingly important in the U.S.
Hybrids generally cost less than full EVs, do not require buyers to install home chargers and eliminate concerns about finding charging stations on longer trips. They also deliver substantially better fuel economy than traditional gasoline vehicles.
Automakers therefore face an uncomfortable question: Did consumers actually want electric vehicles at their previous prices, or did they want electric vehicles after Washington paid $7,500 of the bill?
The answer matters far beyond dealerships.
Battery manufacturers, lithium suppliers, charging-station operators, utilities, construction companies and thousands of component suppliers have invested around projections for rapid U.S. EV growth.
If American demand settles permanently below those projections, some factories could operate below capacity and planned investments may need to be delayed, reduced or canceled.
Automakers have already begun adjusting.
The U.S. EV market share fell sharply after the credit disappeared, and manufacturers have responded with cheaper trims, incentives and changes to their EV product plans. Some have increasingly emphasized hybrids as a bridge between gasoline vehicles and fully electric models.
There is also a global competitive issue.
While U.S. demand has weakened, Chinese manufacturers continue expanding aggressively overseas, particularly across Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and other markets. Europe’s strong July growth demonstrates that electric vehicles themselves have not suddenly become unwanted.
The bigger question may be price.
Chinese manufacturers have spent years driving battery and manufacturing costs lower, while many U.S.-market EVs remain relatively expensive. Heavy tariffs also largely keep inexpensive Chinese electric vehicles out of the American market.
That leaves U.S. automakers trying to reduce costs while simultaneously recovering billions already invested in domestic EV production.
For consumers, however, July provided a remarkably simple lesson.
Government incentives can change purchasing behavior dramatically.
Remove a $7,500 discount, and a meaningful number of buyers decide they would rather purchase something else.
For Detroit and the broader auto industry, the 27% decline now forces the more important question: Can electric vehicles become inexpensive enough that Americans will buy them without Washington paying part of the price?
The next several years may determine whether the billions invested in America’s EV transition were building ahead of inevitable demand — or building ahead of demand that depended heavily on a subsidy.
JBizNews Desk | Detroit
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Israeli journalists attacked in N. Ireland while filming documentary on antisemitism – interview
A crew from i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel was attacked over the weekend in Belfast, Northern Ireland, while filming for a documentary series on Europe’s rising antisemitism.
The incident happened while i24NEWS reporter Yonatan Raveh and cameraman Nadav Abbas were conducting street interviews near a well-known bar complex. Raveh told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that he believed the attacker, a man, had overheard them telling two Irish interviewees that they were from Israel.
“He came over to us and started asking questions. We put the camera on him, and then he gave us the middle finger, and shouted “f*** Israel.”
“We were not looking for any trouble, we were trying to be as peaceful as we can get, and we just walk away. But he started to follow us.”
“פאק ישראל!”: צוות i24NEWS הותקף בצפון אירלנד בעת צילום סדרת כתבות על אנטישמיות, התוקף השליך כוס בירה לעבר הצוות לאחר שגילה שהם מישראל@yonatanraveh11 https://t.co/okRXEdNYbw pic.twitter.com/orP08FgAvE
— i24NEWS (@i24NEWS_HE) August 16, 2026
The man attempted to grab Raveh and Abbas’ camera equipment, and made inappropriate gestures toward the camera. Raveh and Abbas called for police or security from any of the nearby establishments to intervene while the man followed them threateningly.
Raveh told the Post that bar security came over, saw what was happening, but “didn’t do anything.”
Beer mug thrown at i24NEWS cameraman
The man then threw a large glass beer mug at Abbas, hitting him in the head and cutting him. Security then intervened and put the journalists in the bar.
“They said they called the police, but we didn’t care. We saw that the man didn’t show up again, so we [left] we didn’t want to wait for the police.”
As it was their last day in Northern Ireland, the crew decided to return to Israel so Abbas could receive medical treatment there instead.
While this was the first physical assault the crew suffered in Northern Ireland, Raveh told the Post that there were numerous verbal altercations, curses and slurs prior to that.
Reflecting on what he saw in the country, Raveh said there is a “big divide,” especially in Belfast, when it comes to views on Israel.
“In the specific case of Belfast, the city is kind of divided, it’s like two tribes inside the same city. The Irish Catholics were very anti-Israel, very pro-Palestinian, and the Protestants were pro-Israel.
The crew, which as mentioned are filming about antisemitism in different locations, have experinced violence and threats before.
Raveh spoke of an incident in Madrid, Spain, where “the pro-Palestinians were surrounding us, and we had to delete the material that we shot. It was a threat.”
“It wasn’t super, super violent, but it was a pretty scary situation. The protesters surrounded us and said, ‘now you delete the photos, now you delete the materials.'”
A similar thing happened in New York.
Raveh reflected on the most recent incident with a message of praise for his videographer: “I would like to thank Nadav because he’s really a brave man who dealt with a problematic situation and was super cool with it, and he’s the best cameraman that I can get.”
Iran attempting to ‘flip narrative’ by accusing Qatar of holding pilots captive, analyst says
Iran’s accusations that Qatar is holding three Iranian pilots shot down during attacks on Gulf states are an attempt to “flip the narrative” on Tehran’s “failed military gamble,” Gulf analysts told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff wrote in a letter published by the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency on Saturday that it had appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to help secure the release of three Iranian pilots it claims have been held by Qatar since a failed mission to attack US military bases in March.
Qatar denied holding the Iranian pilots. The Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed on X that search-and-rescue teams had found the remains of one of the pilots and that Doha had contacted Iran to coordinate their handover. The spokesperson also said Tehran had yet to respond to an invitation to review details of Qatar’s search-and-rescue operations.
Dr. Ahmed Alkhuzaie, a Bahraini political analyst and managing partner at Khuzaie Associates LLC, told the Post that he believed Iran had deliberately chosen to make the accusation at this point to “flip the narrative after a failed military gamble.”
Alkhuzaie said Iran’s decision to drag a “neutral Gulf state,” which has largely acted as an ally for Tehran, into its war with the United States was a clear miscalculation, and that Doha had reacted “as any sovereign nation would” to the attacks.
“Its air defenses downed two Iranian Su-24s that violated its airspace. This was not aggression; it was self-defense,” he insisted. “The facts are clear: jets were shot down, one pilot’s remains were recovered, and no evidence supports Iran’s claim of captured servicemen.”
By depicting Qatar as having disappeared its pilots, Alkhuzaie said Tehran was attempting to “recast itself as the victim” to stir sympathy, pressure Doha and “distract from the reality that its plans failed.”
“This is political theater, not truth,” he said, adding that this reframing was part of Iran’s broader pattern. When its attacks succeed, they are depicted as a sign of the Islamic Republic’s strength, while when it loses, it “reframes the outcome to claim victimhood.”
Iran seeks to recast failed strategy as victimhood
“In the end, the narrative is simple. Iran struck Qatar, Qatar defended itself, and Iran is now trying to rewrite the story. The world should see this for what it is: a failed strategy dressed up as victimhood,” he said.
Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, also accused Kuwait of withholding information about the fate of four Iranians held in the country.
Iran admitted in May that the four Iranians, who were affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, had entered Kuwaiti waters, claiming that the incident was caused by a navigational disruption. Kuwait said the four were suspected of planning hostile actions against the country and arrested them.
Qatar’s ‘complete transparency’ on issue works in its favor
Qatar’s complete “transparency” on the issue has worked in its favor, Alkhuzaie said. Doha invited Iranian officials to review its search operations in April, an offer that was “declined” by Tehran, he said, adding that Tehran’s refusal to accept Qatar’s invitation undermined its own claims.
The stakes for Doha are also too high for it to risk secretly holding Iranian pilots, he argued. Its position as a mediator would be threatened, as would its reputation and credibility in the Gulf.
Alkhuzaie said the issue was “less about facts than about credibility.” Iran has not provided evidence to support its accusations, offering little more than the pilots’ names, and has no reason to believe the men are alive, he said, making “the accusation look like propaganda timed to distract from a failed strike on al-Udeid Air Base.”
Muslim Association of Canada apologizes for ‘Jew free’ appearing in word cloud during youth convent
The Muslim Association of Canada has apologized for the phrase ‘Jew free’ appearing during an interactive word-cloud exercise at its recent convention.
During the three-day conference in May 2026, MAC carried out “a public, anonymous audience-participation exercise” that produced a word cloud image, built on responses to the question of what kind of community the participants wanted. Fifty entries appeared in the cloud, including the phrase “jew-free.”
This was widely shared, with groups such as HonestReporting condemning it as an act of “normalized Jew hate.”
In a recent statement, MAC announced it has completed an internal investigation into the incident.
It acknowledged that the phrase was “offense and hurtful to Jewish Canadians” as well as “Muslim Canadians, and to anyone committed to a pluralistic society.”
MAC rejects antisemitic word cloud entry, says submitter could not be traced
“Offensive and discriminatory statements of any kind have no place in the Muslim community, and MAC unequivocally states that the submission of this word was unacceptable and does not represent its values.”
MAC said the phrase was submitted to the word cloud by an “anonymous, bad-faith” actor. However, despite the internal inquiry, MAC said it was not able to identify the person behind the “antisemitic” phrase as all submissions were anonymous.
It further claimed that the investigation found that the phrase did not reflect the views of the Muslim youth participants of the session, however did not state how this conclusion was made.
MAC did, however, conclude that the incident was preventable, as controls were not in place within the third-party application which would have screened submissions, despite such technology being available.
The organization promised to implement additional training for youth facilitators ahead of future sessions, in order to ensure that any attempt “to express hate during a live session is identified and addressed in the moment.”
MAC defends Hasan al-Banna discussion as study of Islamic history
The word cloud was not the only point of contention regarding the conference. HonestReporting noted that, prior to the workshop, speaker Khaled Al-Qazzaz of Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC) spent 20 minutes praising Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna as a model for youth organizing and Islamic revival.
“This isn’t just a disturbing and all-too familiar phrase on a screen,” said HonestReporting. “It’s a warning sign of what happens when Jew-hatred is institutionalized and normalized in spaces meant to shape the next generation.”
MAC defended the speech, saying it was “a historical biographical session using Imam Hassan al-Banna’s life to educate attendees.”
“Imam Hassan al-Banna built a movement significant in the modern history of the Muslim world. The message was that Canadian Muslim youth with far more access and freedom should not underestimate themselves,” MAC said in a substack.
“Imam Hassan al-Banna is a renowned figure in Islamic history, and his life is taught in Islamic studies programs across Western universities. Discussing his biography is part of studying Islamic tradition.”
Al-Qazzaz publicly responded saying: “I spoke in my personal capacity about a letter written by Imam Hasan Al-Banna to Muslim youth in the early 20th century, using his words to inspire young people to positively contribute to their communities.”
“All Canadians, including Muslim Canadians, have the right to explore ideas and draw from their heritage. That is what free societies protect. I will not accept attempts to censor this exercise, least of all from fringe pseudo-journalists whose priority is Islamophobic smear campaigns.”
‘It was like a godsend’ —GLP-1 drugs show promise against hormonal disorder that causes constant weight gain and forces women to shave facial hair
Charlotte Touzalin was still a young teenager when she began struggling with weight gain, abnormal periods and unwanted facial hair — the same puzzling symptoms that plagued her mom for decades and that no doctor could piece together.
“I’d go home and I’d cry,” said Touzalin, an 18-year-old college student from Colorado. “I didn’t understand why all this weight was coming back or why my friends didn’t have to shave their faces and I had to.”
Touzalin and her mom, Anne Schultz, were finally diagnosed with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal condition affecting 1 in 8 women worldwide. But unlike her mom, Touzalin is beginning young adulthood with new hope after taking part in a study testing blockbuster GLP-1 drugs as a treatment.
A small but growing body of research shows that these obesity medications may also work for the disorder known as PMOS — not only by promoting weight loss but also by improving insulin resistance, hormone balance and ovulation. These things are key to the disease, which used to be called polycystic ovary syndrome but was renamed earlier this year to shift the focus away from ovaries and cysts.
“We need to do a better job taking care of it,” said Dr. Melanie Cree, who has led three studies testing GLP-1 drugs for PMOS including the one Touzalin joined. “We are finding them incredibly effective and really exciting for improving symptoms in women with this condition.”
PMOS is a mysterious and maddening disease
Touzalin and her mom’s long, frustrating journey with PMOS is common.
Diagnosis often takes years because symptoms overlap with other conditions, vary widely and may be dismissed by doctors. The disorder tends to run in families, and many but not all women affected carry excess weight. But there’s no known cause or specific treatment, just symptom management such as taking birth control pills to regulate periods and keeping weight in check with diet and exercise.
Two hormones are key drivers of PMOS: insulin, which acts like a key to let blood sugar into cells, and testosterone, which among other things helps maintain sexual desire, bone density and muscle mass.
Most women with PMOS, regardless of their body size, have insulin resistance, which means this hormone doesn’t work as well as it should, said Cree, PMOS clinic director at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In many women, the high insulin can go directly to the ovaries, spurring them to make more testosterone and leading to problems like skipped periods, severe acne and even beard growth.
Schultz, 43, didn’t even know the condition existed when she first began having irregular periods and bloating around age 18. In addition to struggling with the same symptoms as her daughter, she had problems with her ovaries and numerous miscarriages, which are more common with PMOS.
Schultz received various diagnoses before learning she had PMOS around the same time as her daughter, who faced a similar medical runaround.
Schultz recalled talking about Touzalin’s symptoms with a pediatrician who was seeing her for what they thought was primarily an issue with binge eating and ADHD.
Schultz told the doctor: “There’s gotta be something else going on here.”
Touzalin said she felt “heard for the first time” when a nurse practitioner began piecing things together a few years ago. Cree definitively diagnosed her last year.
“It was like a godsend,” said Schultz, tearing up. “We finally had an answer and some kind of a path for her.”
In Cree’s study, Touzalin gave herself shots of semaglutide weekly for 10 months. The abnormal hair growth slowed and her periods normalized. For the first time, she felt full after eating and stopped gaining weight constantly.
“I became a happier version of myself,” she said. “I felt like a normal person.”
While research on GLP-1s for PMOS continues, insurers put up barriers
Touzalin’s results weren’t unique. Early data from the study, published in June in the journal Fertility and Sterility, said eight of 11 participants completing the trial lost at least 10% of their body weight. The median weight loss among them was about 42 pounds; the median drop in testosterone was 52%. Six women had more periods and four of them went to monthly periods.
In all three of Cree’s studies, women on GLP-1s lost more weight than those in control groups, and levels of testosterone, blood sugar and insulin dropped. While the study involving Touzalin looks at semaglutide shots, the other studies examined semaglutide pills in one and exenatide shots in the other.
Other studies globally have shown similarly positive results. Although the studies are small, some researchers say GLP-1s are already showing promising potential for targeting metabolic issues in PMOS. Others say the evidence remains uncertain, and more studies are underway.
As research continues, more and more doctors are prescribing the drugs “off label” for PMOS and seeing improvements in their patients. But insurance coverage is often a problem because the drugs are not approved to treat the condition.
“I use these medicines a great deal,” said Dr. Rana Malek, an endocrinologist with the University of Maryland Medical System.
Among patients with insulin resistance, she said she usually uses them to help with weight loss.
Doctors stress that results vary. GLP-1s don’t work for everyone and can have side effects, like nausea and constipation. If people stop taking them, weight can return.
Still, they can help a lot of PMOS patients, Malek said, and it’s frustrating that many can’t get them because of insurance issues. Not only are they unapproved for PMOS, some insurers don’t cover them for weight loss.
Touzalin recently ran into this barrier herself. After finishing her study participation, she no longer gets free GLP-1s and had to go off them in June.
Schultz is determined to get her back on them. She’s fighting with her insurer and has a backup plan to get medications through a drug company program. She’d also like to try GLP-1s for her own PMOS, but said her daughter comes first.
Touzalin hopes for a day when any PMOS patient can get the treatment if she needs it.
“It’s something that could help a lot of other people,” she said.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Donalds Looks to Build on DeSantis Legacy
Inside the Business of Ultra Luxury Travel
What Australian trauma doctors found when they came to Israel
A group of Australian trauma physicians was in Israel earlier this month for a special medical mission focused on ongoing learning and training, with the goal of improving trauma care in both countries.
The mission, organized by AUSiMED and the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, was headlined by Dr. Nir Samuel, head of the Pediatric Trauma Service and an emergency medicine specialist at Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel; Prof. Mark Fitzgerald, director of trauma services at The Alfred Hospital in Australia and director of the country’s National Trauma Research Institute; and Dr. Dany Ben-Eli, a trauma consultant and emergency physician at The Alfred.
The delegation, which arrived on August 1, visited a strong representation of Israel’s leading hospitals and medical institutions, from Hadassah Ein Kerem and the Institute for Research in Military Medicine at Hebrew University to Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, Rambam Health Care Campus and Sheba Medical Center. Along the way, the Australian physicians learned from their Israeli counterparts while sharing their own knowledge and experience, according to Samuel.
“We built a program with ongoing mutual learning and training,” Samuel told The Jerusalem Post, highlighting not only what took place on the ground but also the dialogue that unfolded in departments such as Sheba’s MSR, where discussions focused on full-scale simulations. One possibility discussed was bringing a large team from Australia to Israel to share its expertise while gaining skills that could help advance medical simulation in Australia.
MSR-Azrieli, the Israel Center for Medical Simulation at Sheba, is a global leader in simulation-based medical education.
“It was very strong professionally, but on a personal level, as an Israeli physician, it was really heartwarming,” Samuel added. “To have one of the leading [trauma] teams in the world come to Israel and support us at a time like this, that’s far from the norm.”
Israel and Australia have long maintained close ties. Yet since October 7, 2023, headlines have often focused on rising antisemitism in Australia and disagreements between Australian and Israeli leaders, including the countries’ prime ministers. Missions like this one highlight another side of the relationship, built around professional cooperation and person-to-person connections.
Those kinds of opportunities will also be part of the conversation in November at the first-ever Jerusalem Post Australia Summit, scheduled to take place in Sydney on November 19.
The event, which includes a gala the night before and a private cocktail reception at its conclusion, will feature a two-hour business and innovation program held in collaboration with the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Leaders from companies, hospitals and startups will have an opportunity to meet and discuss potential collaboration and investment.
Samuel said his relationship with The Alfred began when he decided he wanted to build Schneider’s first pediatric trauma service dedicated specifically to children. In early 2022, he traveled to The Alfred on a scholarship to train. The hospital is Australia’s largest trauma center and ranks among the world’s leading trauma centers.
He trained there for about 18 months before returning to Israel in May 2023. At the time, Samuel could not have envisioned what would happen on October 7. Ultimately, however, the skills and connections he developed in Australia proved invaluable over the next few years.
Samuel explained that while Israel has one of the world’s leading medical systems, even the best medical systems must continue learning from their counterparts abroad if they want to remain at the forefront of their fields.
“You have to learn different approaches,” he told The Post. “Going to Australia, there was no treatment or a device or whatever I heard about for the first time, but it’s about how you apply things, about processes, about doing things differently. It’s not a low resource country going to learn from a high resource country. It’s really two mature systems interacting to the benefit of both.”
He said that in clinical leadership in Israel, doctors often train abroad and bring home new approaches and techniques.
“Collaboration is super crucial,” he said. “If Israel gets shunned and people don’t go to study, we’re going to be in a difficult position.”
But for Samuel, the mission carried significance beyond its professional benefits. Australian colleagues made the effort, physically, mentally and financially, to come to Israel, offer their support and train alongside Israeli physicians.
He called it “reassuring that there are still people like this in the world and it goes beyond the practical implications.”
During the mission, in addition to visiting medical facilities, the participants ate together, toured Jerusalem’s Old City and spent time getting to know one another. Those experiences, Samuel said, helped strengthen the personal relationships behind the professional collaboration.
Samuel said he now envisions the partnership developing along at least three tracks. The first is increased people-to-people exchanges, including short- and long-term fellowships in Australia and Israel for doctors from both countries. The second is binational research. The third is innovation, connecting Israeli and Australian startups within the medical ecosystem and finding opportunities for them to work together.
Companies and professionals interested in exploring similar Australia-Israel partnerships can take part in the Jerusalem Post Australia Summit in November. For more information, visit the conference website at www.jpost.com/Australia2026.
Partnership opportunities are also available through the conference organizers. Please email conferencep@jpost.com.
Centcom chief calls carrier’s mission ‘one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era’ amid mental health and supply issues
Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea during a 10-day tour in the region that concluded on Saturday, U.S. Central Command said.
Israel said its strikes in southern Lebanon, which killed at least 11 people, targeted two Hezbollah commanders. And a Hamas delegation is in Cairo on Sunday for Gaza ceasefire-related talks with Egyptian officials.
Here’s a look at the latest developments on Sunday in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
US Central Command chief visits aircraft carrier
Adm. Cooper visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed aircraft carrier. The Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in January and has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran, including the blockade on Iranian ports. Its deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days.
Extended deployments of carriers – which can have more than 5,000 sailors and Marines on board – have raised concerns about the impact not only on the ships but on service members.
“History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said of the Lincoln strike group in a statement released Saturday.
Cooper also went to Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to meet with civilian and military leaders, according to the Central Command statement.
The U.S. Navy’s blockade was in response to Iran’s asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz after the war started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes. About one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf before then.
Talks between the U.S. and Iran have stalled while Iran is in discussions with Oman about how to manage the strait that runs between them and had been considered an international waterway.
Israel targets two Hezbollah commanders in Saturday’s strikes
Israel’s military said it targeted two Hezbollah commanders in strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, in the deadliest attacks since a trucebetween Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went into effect in June.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said at least 11 people were killed in two strikes.
Israel’s military said early Sunday morning that the latter strike killed Abu Hassan Alaa, whom it described as a “senior commander” for Hezbollah who had taken part in attacks against Israel’s soldiers in southern Lebanon as well as led militants who targeted Israeli soldiers and civilians over several years.
Earlier, Israel’s military had said the strike on Ansar killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, also described as a Hezbollah commander, adding that his family was with him, but was not targeted.
Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” in late June, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament. It envisions steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the countries, which remain technically at war nearly 80 years after Israel’s establishment.
Hezbollah has refused direct talks and wasn’t party to the U.S.-mediated deal.
Hamas delegation is in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks
A Hamas delegation, chaired by the group’s leader Khalil al-Hayya, is in Cairo Sunday for Gaza ceasefire-related talks, the group said. Al-Hayya met with Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, head of Egypt’s intelligence service, Egyptian state-run media reported.
Al-Hayya reiterated Hamas’ commitment to implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan in Gaza “end the suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip and to begin the reconstruction process,” al-Qahera News television reported.
The talks come as mediators push for the implementation of a roadmap that calls for the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area, as well as handing over power to Palestinian technocrats.
Israel’s Netanyahu has rejected Trump’s latest plan to advance the stalled ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel will not withdraw from any of the roughly 60% of the territory it controls until Hamas has been completely disarmed — something the militant group controlling the other 40% has long resisted.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether al-Hayya would meet with Trump’s son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner, the Board of Peace’s high representative Nickolay Mladenov, or executive board member and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who are scheduled to travel to Israel and Egypt this week.
Iran says Qatar is holding 3 of its pilots
Qatar’s armed forces captured and are holding three Iranian pilots who went missing in March when their jets were downed, the Missing Persons Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff said. Qatar, however, denied it.
Iran’s state TV reported on Sunday that the committee’s commander responded by urging Qatar to allow Iranian Air Force experts to conduct a field investigation.
Saturday’s statement alleged that Qatar had not allowed the pilots to meet or communicate with families or Iranian officials handling their cases. A spokesperson with Qatar’s foreign ministry, Majed Al Ansari, denied the claims and indicated on X that the pilots had been shot down and that Qatar’s search and rescue teams found the remains of one.
This is the first known case in the war where Iran has said a regional country is holding its fighters. Tehran has repeatedly targeted countries in the region with missiles and drones that are hosting U.S. military bases.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Cotality: Wildfire risk threatens $1.4T in properties across western states
More than 2.5 million properties across the 10 most exposed western states face a moderate or greater risk of wildfire damage, representing nearly $1.4 trillion in reconstruction cost value (RCV), according to Cotality’s 2026 Wildfire Risk Report.
The analysis, released Wednesday, highlights a growing concern for insurers, reinsurers, investors and homeowners. It explains that losses are increasingly driven not only by wildfires but by conflagration, when fires spread structure to structure within neighborhoods.
Risk concentrated in California, Colorado, Texas
California remains the most exposed state, with 1.28 million at-risk properties and $850 billion in reconstruction cost value, the report found. But nearly half of all at-risk properties across the top 10 states (49.9%) are located outside California.
Colorado and Texas together account for nearly 560,000 at-risk properties and $252 billion in RCV, almost matching the $277 billion of exposure across the remaining seven states combined. Oregon, Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Washington and Utah round out the 10 most exposed states.
At the metro level, Los Angeles has the highest exposure with nearly 250,000 at-risk properties and $209 billion in RCV. Four of the 10 most exposed metros are outside California, led by Austin with more than 100,000 at-risk properties and $49.2 billion in RCV, followed by San Antonio, Denver and Spokane, Washington.
Conflagration risk reshapes exposure maps
Cotality’s modeling focuses on conflagration risk, in which the “fuel” for fire transitions from wildland into developed areas and then moves home to home. The company said traditional wildfire models, which emphasize terrain and vegetation, can understate this neighborhood-level hazard.
Layering conflagration potential onto a traditional wildfire risk score can add as many as 40 points to an individual property’s score, pushing meaningful hazard risk into areas legacy maps have classified as low risk, according to the report. That shift could materially change mortgage underwriting, pricing and capital decisions in markets previously viewed as relatively safe.
“Hearing that a property has a higher risk score than previously thought should not be thought of as a bad thing. It shows that new data and analytic capabilities create an opportunity to protect properties more effectively in the evolving wildfire environment we’re facing,” said Jamie Knippen, Cotality’s director of hazard insights.
“This represents a significant opportunity for the entire market: it empowers carriers to move away from broad-brush risk assessments and safely expand their underwriting footprint, and actively rewards homeowners who invest in resilience.”
Mitigation drives sharp differences in expected losses
The report also introduces a property-level mitigation score that evaluates three dimensions: community protections, conditions on and around the parcel, and how fire-resistant the structure itself is.
Homes in the top 10% of mitigation scores carry expected losses roughly 78% below the statewide average, Cotality found. Properties in the bottom 10% have more than 10 times the average expected loss — about $47 in expected loss for every $1 on the best-prepared homes.
Cotality said that spread illustrates how targeted risk-reduction measures — such as defensible space, hardening of roofs and vents, and neighborhood-scale fire breaks or fuel management — can materially change loss outcomes even in high-hazard regions.
For housing professionals, the findings underscore a growing divide between highly mitigated and underprepared homes in wildfire-exposed markets. That gap is increasingly relevant for insurance carrier appetite, premium levels and, ultimately, property valuations and mortgage performance.
Implications for insurers and housing markets
Insurers in wildfire-prone states have already been pulling back capacity, raising rates or exiting specific ZIP codes as catastrophic losses and reinsurance costs have climbed. Regulators in California and other states are simultaneously pressing carriers to stay in or reenter high-risk areas, often with new requirements around catastrophe modeling and mitigation credits.
Within that backdrop, more granular property-level data could help carriers distinguish between homes with similar geographic wildfire exposures but drastically different conflagration and mitigation profiles. In turn, this can support more surgical underwriting and pricing rather than broad moratoriums or nonrenewals.
“Property-level data empowers insurers to identify what steps homeowners can take to mitigate the risk on their properties and leverage that additional resilience in their decision making. Expanding the assessment means going beyond terrain and vegetation to look at factors like structure density, building materials, wind patterns and ember exposure,” Knippen said. “Carriers that account for these factors upfront can make sure homes are properly insured for the catastrophe they actually face — not just the forest fire, but the fire next door.”
For lenders, servicers and investors, the report’s findings point to the importance of understanding both insurance availability and mitigation status at the property level, particularly in fast-growing metros such as Austin, San Antonio and Denver where exposure is rising.
As more states consider building code updates, defensible space requirements and community-focused wildfire resilience programs, tools that quantify conflagration and mitigation could influence zoning decisions, disclosure rules, and eligibility for public or private resilience funding.
This article was generated using HousingWire Automation and reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.
Ukraine could launch ballistic missiles in three months, former defense minister says
Ukraine could strike Russia with domestically produced ballistic missiles within the next few months, the country’s former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov told CBS on Sunday.
Fedorov, who was recently ousted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Ukraine could be able to launch the missiles within three to six months’ time
“We need to defeat Russia in every technological cycle, and we have to make decisions 24/7,” he told CBS.
Fedorov has often been credited with being the architect of Ukraine’s current war strategy. While he noted that it would be difficult to predict exactly when Ukrainian ballistic missiles would be deployed, he emphasized that Ukraine has “no choice but to do it.”
In June, Ukrainian defense company Fire Point began testing a ballistic model, which would allow Kyiv to respond to Moscow’s attacks. Fire Point has also said that it aims to begin launching interceptor missiles, but they will likely not be available until 2027.
While it is on the uptick, Ukraine struggles to intercept Russian ballistic missiles because of its mass interceptor shortage.
Zelensky: If the US sells us 10% of Patriot missiles, ‘we will destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles’
On Sunday evening, the Ukrainian Air Force was unable to intercept any of the ballistic missiles that Russia fired at the country.
As such, Ukraine has mainly relied on long-range drones and cruise missiles to attack Russia.
Zelensky has been publicly pleading with the US and Europe for more interceptor missiles. In an interview with CNN, he said he has only about 10% of the interceptor missiles he needs.
If the US “sells us 5%, we will go through the winter and save people’s lives. If they can sell us 10%, we will destroy all the Russians’ ballistic missiles. I have 1%,” he said.
After Trump walked back his public commitment to give Ukraine the Patriot missile interceptors, representatives from Lockheed Martin, which produces the Patriots, went to Kyiv to start discussions. But even if Ukraine does get the license, it would take at least a year, if not more, to produce them.
Ukraine has notably been receiving even fewer Patriot missiles than before due to the US interceptor shortage that stemmed from the war with Iran.
“I hope that I will get it,” Zelensky told CNN, regarding the interceptors.
“I don’t have 5% now, and I don’t have such an acceptance. And this is for me a big challenge, one of the biggest I have had from the very beginning of this war.”
In response, a White House official told CNN that the Pentagon “is currently exploring several potential pathways for future defense industrial cooperation with Ukraine.
“These discussions are in the exploratory phase; no specific industrial cooperation initiatives have been decided upon or guaranteed at this stage,” the official added.
“We must prioritize protecting these exquisite systems and expanding overall production of critical weapons systems for the US warfighter and for our partners and allies.”
Zelensky also told CNN that he would not concede any territory in Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Russia has repeatedly sought to control.
“Russia begins to speak about this war, and they speak about territory,” he said.
“The key question is why he will not come again with 1 or 2 additional million soldiers after a big pause. Why will he not come again to occupy us?”
He then signaled that he agreed with some assessments that Putin could try to expand the war in Ukraine to take on NATO.
“He doesn’t know how to end this war without big occupation or big victory for his society,” he said.
“It’s more simple to find some smaller country … for him, it will not be important if this country is in NATO or not in NATO. He wants quick victory, 100% sure that he will win, occupy or destroy or control.”
Recent Kurdistan Region attacks expose Baghdad’s struggle with Iran-backed militias – analysis
Three drones were intercepted over Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, on Friday.
The Kurdistan Region has been targeted by more than 1,000 drones and missiles launched by Iran and Iranian-backed proxies since February. Iraq has vowed that it will rein in Iranian-backed militias in Baghdad; however, the continued attacks illustrate that Baghdad has not been able to stop all the attacks.
The drone attack on Friday was intercepted by “US-led Global Coalition forces,” Rudaw media in Erbil said. “In the early hours of this morning, Friday … between 2:17 a.m. and 2:25 a.m. [local time], Coalition forces intercepted and shot down three bomb-laden drones in the skies over Erbil,” the Erbil-based Directorate General of Counter Terrorism said in a statement. “Fortunately, there were no casualties,” the statement added.
The report noted that Iran had also targeted an area in the Alana valley with missiles and drones last week. The attacks targeted the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran and Komala, which are two Kurdish Iranian opposition groups.
“According to Rudaw tracking, the Kurdistan Region has recorded more than 950 drone and missile attacks launched by Iran and allied armed groups in Iraq since the outbreak of the six-week war in late February, killing 32 people and wounding 154 others as of early August,” Rudaw noted.
After the latest attack on Friday, an Iranian-backed militia denied responsibility for the attack. Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), which is one of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and is also sanctioned as a terrorist group by the US, denied it had attacked Erbil. It claimed there was a “partial agreement” to stop attacks.
Along with groups such as Kataib Hezbollah, the KSS group is one of the major Iranian-backed threats in Iraq. These groups are also part of the Iraq paramilitary group called the Popular Mobilization Forces. As such, they operate as both illegal militias and also as a semi-official government force.
Kadhim al-Fartousi, spokesperson for the KSS group, told Rudaw that the attack “was not carried out by our groups…there is currently a partial agreement that no operations or attacks should be carried out, and that responding to Saudi Arabia’s attacks should also be delayed.”
Erbil backs Baghdad plan to bring militias’ weapons under state control
The Kurdistan Region has very good intelligence regarding which militias have targeted the region over the last year. It appears that Erbil is trying to work with Baghdad on a pragmatic solution that won’t require confronting the militias directly. Baghdad was to disarm the militias or move their arms to be completely controlled by the government. Erbil supports this. So does the US, Saudi Arabia and others.
Kurdistan Regional President Nechirvan Barzani said in an interview with Iraq’s privately owned Al Sharqiya TV that the region has been targeted by 1,000 attacks using drones and missiles. “According to Rudaw tracking, the attacks have killed 32 people and injured nearly 150 others,” Rudaw noted.
To understand the complexity of the situation, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said their 52nd Brigade would be deployed in Amirli district in eastern Saladin province. This means that while the government reins in the militias, the PMF is still active throughout Iraq.
Iraq seeks to bring armed groups under state authority despite PMF ties
“The handover is part of a reorganization of security sectors and responsibilities aimed at enhancing field integration and coordination between the forces,” a statement from the PMF said, according to Rudaw. “The development comes as the Iraqi government is seeking to place all armed forces and weapons under state authority.”
“The PMF is a constitutional and legal institution and a major title and foundation for the movement of forces,” Iraqi officials say. It remains to be seen how the Iraqis will rein in the militias so long as they also function within the PMF as official brigades.
WATCH: Archaeologists unearth 1,300-year-old ‘shopping hub’ beneath stadium in central Israel
A 1,300-year-old industrial and commercial complex was uncovered during excavations over the past few months in the Winter Stadium parking lot in Ramat Gan, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Sunday morning.
The excavations, which took place ahead of the construction of a large bus terminal by Netivei Ayalon at the site, revealed ancient streets, pottery kilns and several industrial buildings.
According to the IAA, the earliest parts of the site date to the seventh or eighth century CE, during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, and the later sections date to the Fatimid period.
While nearby communities at the time were home to Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Samaritans, the excavations did not uncover any artifacts with a clear indication of a certain religious or ethnic group.
However, IAA researchers have proposed two main theories about what the site served as: either a major trade and industrial station or part of a currently undiscovered nearby settlement.
Site abandoned twice
The site is estimated to have been operational for about 150 years before being abandoned for reasons researchers do not yet know, but it was later resettled in the 10th century CE.
Residents built buildings and production facilities there, and installed numerous tabuns (clay baking ovens).
In the late 11th century CE, before the Crusader conquest, the site was abandoned once again and was never resettled.
In addition to the ruins, archaeologists unearthed dozens of pottery vessels and intact oil lamps, along with numerous bronze tableware, cosmetic implements, iron pickaxe heads, a sickle, numerous nails, dozens of coins, and a large quantity of fragments of local and imported pottery and glass vessels.
The discoveries provide vivid insight into the period’s culture, trade, and economy.
Discovery ‘exceeds all expectations’
While ancient buildings and artifacts have previously been discovered in the area, the recent discovery has “exceeded all expectations,” said IAA Excavation Directors Dr. Yoav Arbel and Lior Rauchberger.
“The excavation uncovered an organized, planned complex featuring straight, intersecting streets,” they said. “Lining these streets were a series of rooms that served as shops or warehouses, plastered industrial facilities, pottery kilns and more.”
“Clearly, its main phase was planned in advance in detail by engineers and was built with the knowledge of the regional authorities, and perhaps even on their initiative and with their funding.”
“Its location was also likely not coincidental,” explained Arbel Rauchberger. “The site was situated near the main road that connected Jaffa, Ramla, then the district capital, and Jerusalem.”
The excavation directors noted that the complex may have stood on a secondary road branching off the main one, adding that the area also offers “fertile agricultural land and available water sources.”
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu stated that the discovery once again demonstrates Israel’s “historical and archaeological wealth,” where “windows onto distant periods of the past may open anywhere.”
The IAA will hold an open day to view the finds on Wednesday, August 19. Afterward, they will be covered to preserve them, and the IAA will weigh the possibility of displaying them to the public again in the future.
Registration for the IAA’s open day can be found here.
Shots fired, several arrested after Palestinians surround IDF soldiers in Hebron – report
Several Palestinians were arrested by the IDF after attempting to attack Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron, Ynet reported on Sunday.
The report cited an IDF spokesperson, who said the military arrived on the scene following an altercation between Palestinians and Israeli settlers who were throwing stones at each other.
Upon their arrival, a group of Palestinians surrounded the IDF soldiers and attempted to attack them, with the soldiers responding by firing shots at two of the attackers and arresting several others, according to Ynet.
The IDF noted that an investigation into the incident will be conducted, including whether or not there was an attempt to steal a weapon from one of the soldiers, Ynet added.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that it treated ten Palestinians injured in the incident, including two severely, according to a separate report by Ynet earlier on Sunday.
According to Ynet, the organization said it arrived on the scene to treat the injured Palestinians after receiving reports of an attack by Israeli settlers, noting that gunshots were heard in the area.
Palestinians attack shepherd, shots fired at Israeli settlement
The Hebron incident came following several attacks against Israelis in the West Bank over the weekend, according to United Hatzalah, citing the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Spokesperson.
In an attack on Saturday, a shepherd was attacked by a group of around 30 masked Palestinians, with the attackers rioting and setting up several roadblocks in the area.
Earlier on Saturday, a bullet was found near a synagogue inside the Psagot settlement after residents heard gunshots.
The Binyamin Regional Council said such attacks are becoming more common despite rarely receiving public attention.
“The prominence of extreme events while ignoring ongoing Arab terrorism creates a partial picture of the security reality in Benjamin, Judea and Samaria,” said the council.
Gen Z is eyeing up ‘secure’ healthcare jobs to AI-proof their careers, but be warned: Chiropractors, doctors and paramedics are the unhappiest workers
Tech leaders have consistently warned AI is already as good as entry-level workers and it could halve white-collar jobs by 2030. So it’s no wonder they’re eyeing up jobs in health care, which offer low unemployment rates, the potential to earn over $200,000, and are unlikely to be replaced with robotic doctors and nurses anytime soon.
But there’s one thing they should know before filling out medical school applications: Pursuing job security doesn’t necessarily guarantee job satisfaction.
That’s because 2025 research from shift work platform Deputy, which surveyed 1.28 million users, ranks doctors, paramedics, and even chiropractors as the unhappiest workers.
In fact, doctors’ offices and medical clinics recorded the highest levels of dissatisfaction, with nearly 38% of respondents saying they’re unhappy in their jobs. Chiropractors and staff in critical and emergency services weren’t far behind. And if you include animal health roles, 4 out of the 5 worst jobs for happiness in the UK right now are in healthcare.
Despite health care’s reputation for meaningful work, these roles are often more likely than most to leave workers burned out and ground down by long hours and high stakes.
“Staffing shortages, emotional strain, unpredictable rosters, and an ageing population are cited as key contributors to declining morale,” the report highlighted.
Top 10 unhappiest industry sectors, per the research
- Doctors Office/Medical Clinic – 37.84%
- Animal Health – 17.95%
- Chiropractors – 12.93%
- Critical & Emergency Services – 12.05%
- Call Centres – 12.00%
- Catering – 8.60%
- Delivery and Postal Services – 6.97%
- Care Facilities – 6.22%
- Cleaning Services – 5.80%
- Private Services (Chefs, Gardeners etc) – 5.62%
Gen Z may be happier in hospitality jobs
What’s perhaps most surprising is that jobs many recent grads might have once looked down on—like fast food or waitressing roles—are emerging as a safer bet for a more satisfying career.
Hospitality fared well in Deputy’s study, making up half of the 10 happiest job sectors, despite the sector’s reputation for high stress, unsociable hours, and low pay.
Hospitality jobs dominated the happiness rankings. Sit-down restaurant staff (89.7%), fast food and cashier restaurant workers (82.9%), food pop-up teams (82.5%), and café or coffee shop employees (82%) all reported some of the highest job satisfaction scores of any sector.
Florists, childcare workers and cleaners also reported notably high levels of job contentment.
What makes these roles so satisfying? The report suggests it’s less about pay or prestige, and more about the day-to-day experience: “These roles may benefit from clearer routines, manageable workloads, and stronger team camaraderie, highlighting the emotional value of operational structure and positive workplace culture.”
Although probably not at the top of most graduates’ dream career list, separate data also show wage growth for bartenders and baristas is outpacing that of desk workers.
Top 10 happiest industry sectors, per the research
- Tobacco, E-cigarette and Vape Stores – 93.4%
- Sit Down Restaurants – 89.7%
- Fast Food/Cashier Restaurants – 82.9%
- Florists – 82.9%
- Food Pop-Ups – 82.5%
- Cafes/Coffee Shops – 82%
- Dentists – 81.8%
- Childcare/Community Centres – 78.4%
- Catering – 75.3%
- Cleaning Services – 64.3%
A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on August 31, 2025
Read more on the future of work from Fortune’s Orianna Rosa Royle:
- Forget the four-day workweek: Despite what Bill Gates and Elon Musk predict, the CEO of the world’s largest workspace provider says it’s not happening
- Forcing staff back to the office is an outdated ‘factory-style’ approach, says CEO
- AI won’t steal your job—but it might cut your paycheck, Europe’s central bank says
- Elon Musk shares 4 bold predictions for the future of work: Robot surgeons in 3 years, immortality, and no need for retirement savings
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Maker of ice cream sold at grocery stores nationwide files for bankruptcy as it appeals $23.8M judgment
Rebel Creamery has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Utah, reporting approximately $13.78 million in assets and $23.85 million in liabilities as it appeals a $23.785 million judgment awarded to rival Van Leeuwen Ice Cream in a trade-dress dispute.
Rebel ice cream is sold at Walmart, Kroger, Safeway and other grocery stores nationwide.
Rebel Creamery LLC filed for Chapter 11 protection on Aug. 14 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah, according to court records.
Van Leeuwen is listed among Rebel’s unsecured creditors with a $23.785 million claim stemming from the federal judgment. Rebel listed the claim as disputed and noted that the judgment is under appeal.
MAJOR CARL’S JR OPERATOR REPORTEDLY SET TO SHUTTER, SELL DOZENS OF CALIFORNIA LOCATIONS
The Van Leeuwen judgment accounts for nearly all the unsecured liabilities that Rebel listed at fixed amounts in its bankruptcy schedules. The company also reported approximately $5.22 million in cash and cash equivalents, $2.59 million in accounts receivable and $5.65 million in inventory.
Rebel’s voluntary petition estimated both its assets and liabilities at between $10 million and $50 million and said funds would be available for distribution to unsecured creditors. The filing lists Austin Archibald as the company’s manager and member and Michael Johnson of Ray Quinney & Nebeker as bankruptcy counsel.
The bankruptcy filing came less than a month after U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee ruled that Rebel had intentionally infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen’s trade dress through its ice cream packaging.
“The evidence at that trial left no doubt that Rebel infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen’s trade dress and did so intentionally,” Komitee wrote in a July 16 memorandum and order.
Van Leeuwen sued Rebel in 2021, alleging that the company’s packaging copied the distinctive appearance of its ice cream pints.
DETROIT BANKRUPTCY CASE OFFICIALLY CLOSES MORE THAN 13 YEARS AFTER HISTORIC FILING
The court described Van Leeuwen’s trade dress as including monochromatic cardboard pints with matching lids, a primarily pastel color palette, black script lettering and an overall minimalist design.
Komitee found that Rebel’s packaging was similar and that the evidence supported findings of consumer confusion and bad faith. The judge ordered Rebel to stop selling products bearing trade dress likely to be confused with Van Leeuwen’s and required the company to redesign its packaging.
Van Leeuwen sought $36.4 million in Rebel’s profits, but the court reduced the award by 33%, finding that some sales were driven by demand for keto and better-for-you ice cream rather than the packaging at issue.
The reduction left Van Leeuwen entitled to $23.785 million in Rebel’s profits from sales of ice cream pints bearing the infringing trade dress.
Court filings do not establish that the Van Leeuwen judgment was the sole cause of Rebel’s bankruptcy filing.
CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO
Rebel’s bankruptcy paperwork lists the Van Leeuwen litigation as being on appeal.
This post was originally published here
Married Americans Got Their Happiness Back, Splitting the Consumer Base in Two
The only Americans showing a clear positive balance of happiness after the pandemic are married ones, according to Sam Peltzman, an economist at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business who has tracked the General Social Survey’s happiness question for years. Unmarried adults — about 45% of the adult population — are now net unhappy. Peltzman calls it a happiness-segregated society by marriage.
The overall picture is not a rebound so much as a hole that has barely filled in. The balance between “very happy” and “not too happy” held steady from 1972 through 2018, then dropped 25 points when the pandemic hit. It has recovered five. For comparison, Peltzman put the Great Recession’s hit at 10 points at most, and said it came back right away.
Split by marital status, the two lines diverge sharply. Married respondents moved from roughly +30 to +50. Unmarried respondents went from near breakeven to about -15. Both groups took a hit in the crash, and Peltzman said if anything the unmarried were hit slightly harder. The married cohort held its ground and then improved; the unmarried cohort did not.
The obvious explanation — fewer people are married, so the average fell — does not hold. Peltzman said the marriage rate has not moved in 15 years, sitting at roughly 55/45. Rates did decline from the 1970s through the early 2000s, and his earlier work found that decline explained most of the pre-pandemic happiness slide, but that slide had leveled off well before 2020. What changed was not how many people are married, but how much worse it now feels to be unmarried.
The affordability explanation does not hold either, at least not in the direction most people would assume. Peltzman’s data show the steepest declines among the groups that started with the most — white, high-income, college-educated, right-leaning Americans — and he noted that affordability pressure is a lower-income concern while upper-income people were hit hardest in the crash. Explanations resting on inequality, he said, are not consistent with the facts.
He is emphatic about the limits of the finding. Happy people get married and married people become happy, he said, and warned against making personal decisions on the basis of the data. A separate 2025 paper of his found the marital premium holds across nearly every group tested — age, race, income, education, sexual orientation — with cohabiting couples getting a smaller version, about 10 points. Correlation, not a prescription.
Other researchers point at the social side rather than the balance sheet. Brad Wilcox of the Institute for Family Studies said economic pessimism contributes, as young people worry about inflation and housing costs, but that the negativity bias of social media and declines in socializing, dating and marriage loom larger, because young adults’ social ties have deteriorated far more than their economic position has. The age data support the emphasis: from 2000 to 2019, roughly 10% to 15% of every age group reported being not too happy, but from 2021 to 2024 the 18-to-35 group jumped to 26%, against 20% for the middle-aged and 21% for those 56 and up. Peltzman also found that Americans’ belief that other people treat them fairly crashed in the same year and by the same scale, which he described as social glue coming apart.
For businesses, the practical content is that the American consumer is not one consumer. Gallup’s wellbeing data from 2009 to 2023 found 61% of married adults aged 25 to 50 classified as thriving against 45% of those who never married, a 16-point gap. That gap is not new; what is new is a large unmarried bloc that has moved into net-negative territory on the broadest happiness measure available.
The economic sorting behind it is well established. Researchers describe a marriage divide in which people with more education and stable earnings are both more likely to marry and less likely to divorce — 69% of college-graduate women were married by 2010 against 56% of women with only a high school diploma, and the gap has widened since — concentrating the advantages of marriage in higher-income households. The marriage rate has fallen 26% since 2000 while the divorce rate has fallen by nearly half, which produces fewer married households that are, on average, more financially stable than the ones they replaced.
Where that shows up in transactions is at the wedding itself and after. Bank of America’s card and payment data show wedding spending per customer up 8.5% year over year through May, against an average national wedding cost of $36,000 in 2025, up $3,000 from the prior year. Marriage volume recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, with 34 of every 1,000 unmarried adults marrying that year. Fewer weddings, more expensive ones, sold to a narrower and better-off customer.
The takeaway for anyone selling to households is that aggregate consumer sentiment is now averaging two populations moving in opposite directions, and the smaller, wealthier one is the one feeling better about the future. Marketing built on a single American mood is measuring something that no longer exists.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Meet the self-made billionaire who bought a nearly bankrupt company off Warren Buffett for $1,000 and turned it into a $85 billion giant
A small investment made at the right moment has the power to launch ordinary people to millionaire status. All it took was $1,000 and an out-there idea for Jeffrey Sprecher, the founder and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, to set his business on a path to becoming a $85 billion behemoth.
“I had this idea that you should be able to trade electric power, buy and sell electric power, on an exchange,” Sprecher recalled at the Rotary Club Of Atlanta earlier this year. But there was a huge caveat: He “had no idea how to do that. I’d never worked on Wall Street, I never traded.”
At the time, Sprecher had heard that Continental Power Exchange—owned by Warren Buffett’s electric utility company, MidAmerican Energy—was about to go bankrupt. Despite Buffett’s business pumping $35 million into it, the company was still struggling. And so Sprecher saw this as an opportune moment to swoop in and pursue his entrepreneurial vision.
“I bought the company for a dollar a share, and there were a thousand shares,” he said. “So I bought it for $1,000, and I used that as the basis to build Intercontinental Exchange.”
Thanks to his quick thinking and business savvy, Sprecher currently boasts a net worth of $1.2 billion. But the journey to the top was not very glamorous.
Living in a 500-ft studio and driving a used car while scaling the business
That measly $1,000 investment made back in 1997 served as the launchpad for Intercontinental Exchange, founded just three years later. A small team of nine employees set off to build the technology in 2000; setting up shop in Atlanta, Sprecher and his staffers went all-in on building the business up from its former demise.
It was all hands on deck, and even as the founder and CEO, Sprecher was doing the menial labor to keep everything in order. With money being tight, the entrepreneur lived in a small apartment and drove a used car to the office to keep Intercontinental Energy afloat.
“I bought a 500-foot, one room studio apartment in Midtown…I bought a used car that I kept and I’d go into the office from time to time,” Sprecher explained, adding he “took the trash out, shut the lights out, answered the phone, bought the staplers and the paper for the photocopier. That was the way the company started.”
Nearly 26 years later, the company boasts a market cap of $85 billion and a team of more than 12,000 employees—and has proudly owned the NYSE for over a decade.
Entrepreneurs who made a key investment at the right moment
Some of the wealthiest entrepreneurs made their billions by spotting the perfect window to invest small and earn big.
Take Kenn Ricci, as an example: The serial American aviation businessman and chairman of private jet company Flexjet is a billionaire thanks to his intuition to buy a struggling business four decades ago. After being put on leave from his first pilot job out of the Air Force, he turned a sticky situation into a 10-figure fortune.
“I worked for [airline] Northwest Orient for a brief period of time. I get furloughed. Unemployed, back living with my parents,” Ricci told the Wall Street Journal in a 2025 interview, reminiscing on how he made his first $1 million.
But instead of throwing in the towel, he spotted a golden opportunity. Ricci took a contract pilot job at Professional Flight Crews, and one of the companies he flew for was private aviation company Corporate Wings. The budding businessman was intrigued when its owners put the business up for sale at $27,500 in 1981—and jumped on the opportunity to buy it. By the early 1990s, the business was pulling in $3 million a year.
But people don’t need to buy and scale a company to make a worthwhile investment; millennial investing wiz Martin Mignot became a self-made millionaire thanks to his ability to spot unicorn companies before they make it big. One of his biggest wins was an early investment in Deliveroo—back when the business was just a small, London-based operation.
“They had eight employees. They were in three London boroughs. Overall, they had a few thousand users to date, so it was very, very early,” Mignot told Fortune last year. “They didn’t have an app. Their first website was pretty terrible and ugly, if I’m frank, but the delivery experience was incredible.”
Lo and behold, Deliveroo grew to become a $3.5 billion company with millions of global customers. And as a partner at Index Ventures, Mignot is part of a team reaping billion-dollar rewards from forward-thinking investments in tech businesses including Figma, Scale AI, and Wiz. Aside from his day job, Mignot has also strategically put money towards iconic European start-ups including Revolut, Trainline and Personio. Before he was even 30, he solidified himself as a notable investor—and advised others that “It’s about owning equity, that is the key.”
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on January 16, 2026.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
China-based Hengli Group main importer of sanctioned Iranian crude oil, analysts say – report
Hengli Group, a Chinese company that employs over 300,000 people and earns over $100 billion per year, is a primary importer of Iranian crude oil, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing industry analysts, shipping brokers, and the US Treasury.
Hengli is one of the largest companies in a network of “teapot” refineries in China that purchase sanctioned oil, according to the officials cited by WSJ.
Since 2023, Hengli has received at least five million barrels of Iranian oil from multiple ships sanctioned by the United States, the US Treasury and shipping brokers claimed.
In response, the Treasury sanctioned Hengli’s refinery business earlier this year, although China’s Commerce Ministry instructed companies not to comply, and China‘s Foreign Ministry described the sanctions as “illegal and unreasonable unilateral sanctions.”
Iran evades US oil sanctions via ‘shadow fleet’
Iran has been evading US sanctions and the blockade using a system of ship-to-ship transfers in which sanctioned ships laden with Iranian oil offload their cargo onto another ship in the water before it is sent to China, the WSJ reported in May.
The ships receiving the oil are often part of Iran’s “shadow fleet,” a fleet of old, rusting tankers that obscure their owners and may switch their flags to those of countries with little shipping oversight to conceal their identities. Ships will often turn off their tracking device and may paint over identity numbers.
Danya Saperstein contributed to this report.
Renewed Moscow-Damascus flights signal revival of ties after Assad’s fall – analysis
A Syrian Airlines flight from Moscow arrived at Damascus International Airport on Sunday, August 16, the first civilian flight from Moscow since the fall of the Assad regime. This “marks the resumption of the carrier’s air services between Syria and Russia,” Syrian state media SANA said.
This is important and comes after Russia and Syria agreed to a deal that will lead to Syria returning to control two bases in northwestern Syria that had been run by the Russians.
A week ago, the Associated Press noted that “Russian forces in Syria will give up control of two strategic bases on the Mediterranean coast, which will be used as joint Russia-Syrian training centers under a new agreement between the two countries, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday.”
Russia backed the Assad regime. Moscow was a key strategic ally of Syria for decades, going back to the Cold War.
When the Assad regime faced a rebellion in 2012 in the wake of the Arab Spring, the Russians came to support Assad. In 2015, Russia intervened militarily in Syria, sending aircraft and forces. As such, Russia’s backing of Assad became a symbol of the former regime’s brutality. It appears Russia used its intervention in Syria to test the international system and attempt to increase its clout.
In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia was therefore distracted from what was happening in Syria. Moscow assumed the Assad regime was secure after the regime made major gains in 2019. However, in November 2024, the Syrian rebels in Idlib launched a rapid offensive that led to the collapse of the regime. It was not clear how the new government in Damascus would get along with Russia. Some assumed that the new government would want to eject the Russians.
However, the new leadership in Syria has sought to find a path forward with Russia that doesn’t lead to antagonism. This has led Syrian officials and leaders to travel to Moscow.
The new agreement is clearly the fruit of this outreach and engagement. Syria has sought to have positive ties with most countries in the world. Most countries have embraced the new government of Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Final agreement on joint bases has yet to be reached
It remains unclear how the bases will be handled. AP reports that “under the new agreement between Damascus and Moscow, Syria will take control of the Hmeimem air base and the commercial berth at Tartus port as part of its civil administration. The military facilities at both sites will become “joint training” centers, the Foreign Ministry said.”
Meanwhile, SANA added details on the new flights. “Omar Hosari, director general of Syria’s Civil Aviation Authority, told SANA that the resumption of the route was part of broader efforts to rebuild Syrian Airlines’ regional and international presence,” SANA added.
“We are working to reconnect Syria with the world, launch more direct routes and provide wider travel options for citizens,” Hosari said. Syria’s strategy is to expand its airline network. Syria has received new flights from many countries over the last year. This has helped Syria reconnect with the region and Europe.
Syria continues to rebuild its international network
SANA added that “Hosari said Syrian Airlines is expected to resume services to several regional and international destinations in the coming period.” This means that the “expansion will also include new European destinations, which will be announced gradually as the airline continues to rebuild its international network.”
What matters now is that Syria and Russia are able to work together, and this will impact the region and also likely aid Syria’s need for support at the UN. Russia is a member of the UN Security Council. Syria has been working to end sanctions that were put on the former regime.
For Israel, this matters because some voices in Jerusalem see Syria as an enemy under its new government. Israel is one of the only countries in the world not to do outreach to the new government and seek to turn over a new leaf with Syria.
During the Assad regime, Israel sought to de-conflict with Russia in Syria and also maintain ties with Moscow regarding the situation in Syria. As Syria is now also working with Moscow, it is not clear how Israel will view this policy move.
Iran Pressure Campaign Lacks Clear Off Ramp
Cold-Calling in France Now Costs $87,000 a Call
France banned telemarketing calls made without prior consent as of Tuesday, Aug. 11, with penalties of up to €75,000 — about $87,000 — for each illegal call placed by an individual, and up to €375,000, roughly $435,000, for each one placed by a company. The fines are assessed per call rather than per campaign, which is the provision that actually matters. A single afternoon of dialing a purchased list is now an existential number rather than a cost of doing business.
The rule is simple: businesses may not contact consumers without prior consent, according to Alice Vilcot, chief of staff at the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control. Consent can be withdrawn at any moment. If a consumer objects during a call, the call must stop and the caller may not make contact for that purpose again.
The change is structural, not incremental. France has moved from an opt-out system to mandatory opt-in — from a world where the burden sat on the person being called to one where it sits on the company doing the calling. Under the old arrangement, anyone who wanted to avoid sales calls had to register with a government service, and consumer groups said some call centers simply ignored the list. Bloctel, that registry, launched in 2016; a survey by the consumer group UFC-Que Choisir later found nearly half of registered users still receiving calls. An Ireland-based company was fined €6 million last year for calling numbers on it.
Two exceptions keep normal commerce intact. A company may call if it already has the customer’s agreement — obtained at a purchase, in a shop or through a form — and it may call about a contract the customer has already signed. That preserves service calls, renewals and follow-ups on existing accounts. What it eliminates is the cold list.
The scale of the problem explains the severity of the response. Government estimates put about three-quarters of people in France receiving at least one unsolicited sales call every week, many receiving several. In 2024, eleven consumer organizations jointly demanded a ban, describing relentless harassment across landlines and mobiles. Fifteen years of narrower measures had preceded it — bans on calling from certain mobile prefixes, restrictions on times of day and weekends, and sector-specific rules covering training accounts, home adaptations for disability or old age, and energy-efficiency renovation. Those covered a handful of industries. The new rule covers nearly all of them.
The law was framed officially as an anti-fraud measure tied to public assistance programs, aimed at the high-pressure sales scripts common in energy renovation and financial services rather than at annoyance alone.
Businesses had time to prepare. The legislation was promulgated on June 30, 2025 and published the following day, taking effect more than thirteen months later. The practical work is unglamorous: auditing call lists, deleting every number without documented consent, and building consent capture and withdrawal into whatever system the sales team runs on. That applies to any contact center, CRM platform or sales operation dialing French numbers, wherever it sits.
The employment consequence lands outside France. Morocco has warned that between 40,000 and 50,000 call center jobs are at risk — an offshore industry built substantially on serving French consumers by telephone, now facing the removal of its largest use case. Those centers will either convert to inbound service work or shrink.
France is not the first mover, but it is the strictest. Germany has required consent for telemarketing since 2009, while the United Kingdom and United States still run opt-out systems. British companies that call people who have opted out face fines up to £500,000, about $670,000, per call. The British number is larger, but it applies only to calls placed to numbers on the preference list. France’s smaller per-call figure applies to every call without documented consent, which is a far wider base. The exposure is the fine multiplied by the number of calls that qualify, and France has enlarged the multiplier enormously.
For American companies, the reach is the thing to check. The obligation attaches to calling a French consumer, not to being a French company. Any firm with a French customer base, an outsourced dialing operation or a lead list that includes French numbers is inside the rule as of this week. Consumers can report violations through a government website, which means enforcement does not depend on regulators discovering the calls themselves.
The broader signal for anyone building a sales operation is that the telephone is losing its status as an open channel in Europe. Consent is becoming the asset, and a list of numbers without it is becoming a liability priced at €375,000 apiece.
JBizNews Desk | Paris
© JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
Knesset asks High Court to unfreeze budget transfers approved during election recess
The Knesset asked the High Court of Justice on Sunday to allow five frozen budget transfers to proceed, arguing that Speaker Amir Ohana acted within his authority when he approved a Finance Committee meeting during the election recess.
The court is due to hear the petition on Tuesday, with hundreds of millions of shekels in disputed allocations still on hold. The case could also determine how far the Knesset speaker may go in authorizing parliamentary business after the usual coalition-opposition mechanism for approving recess meetings has rejected it.
Justice Alex Stein temporarily halted nearly all the transfers on August 5, citing apparent problems with the way the committee had been convened. He allowed one allocation concerning civilian emergency expenses to proceed and referred the case to a three-justice panel.
The temporary order did not determine whether the meeting or the transfers were unlawful. It will remain in place unless the court lifts or changes it.
The Hiddush religious-freedom organization and Democrats MK Naama Lazimi filed the petition. They argue that the August 4 meeting breached special restrictions governing the Knesset during the election recess and allowed the coalition to approve politically sensitive spending less than three months before the October 27 election.
The Knesset’s central response is that its rules provide two separate ways to convene committees during a recess.
Under the ordinary route, meetings require approval from a Coordination Committee representing both the coalition and opposition. A separate provision allows the speaker to authorize additional meetings in “special cases” at the request of the government, the committee chairman, or one-third of its members.
Knesset: House Committee decision cannot cancel speaker’s authority
The Knesset argued that the second route remains available even when the Coordination Committee has refused approval. It said a decision adopted by the House Committee for the election recess could not cancel authority expressly granted to the speaker.
The dispute began after the Knesset entered its election recess on July 18. The recess is due to continue until the next Knesset is sworn in following the October election.
The House Committee had approved rules allowing the Finance Committee to hold one meeting concerning budget transfers during the first two weeks of the recess. Meetings generally required four days’ notice, although the speaker could shorten that period in urgent and exceptional circumstances.
The Finance Committee held the permitted meeting on July 29. According to the Knesset’s response, 33 budget requests had been published before the meeting. The committee considered 23 by the time the sitting ended at 7:30 p.m. and approved 22.
Finance Committee chairman MK Hanoch Milwidsky subsequently sought another meeting to consider 13 requests that had not been addressed, along with three requests for reconsideration.
Government ministries were asked to explain which transfers were urgent. The government ultimately prioritized six, and the Knesset’s legal advisers concluded that those six could be discussed because of their stated importance and urgency.
The Coordination Committee did not approve another meeting after opposition coordinator MK Merav Ben-Ari objected. Milwidsky then asked Ohana to authorize it through the separate “special cases” provision.
Ohana accepted the legal advisers’ position that the six transfers justified another meeting. He also shortened the required notice period from four days to three, despite the Knesset legal adviser’s position that no reason had been given for departing from the four-day rule.
All requests approved by Finance Committee despite objections
The Finance Committee convened on August 4 and approved all six requests. Opposition lawmakers argued at the meeting that it had been unlawfully called and that some of the spending was inconsistent with the restraint expected during an election campaign.
The allocations covered a broad range of spending and internal budget changes. The Knesset said the ministries had identified needs including defense expenditure, preparations for the school year, salaries, payments to suppliers, summer education programs, and preventing the shutdown of the rabbinical courts’ computer systems.
The requests also included coalition funds for religious and haredi education and programs connected to the National Missions Ministry. One Education Ministry request included approximately NIS 268 million in coalition allocations. Other requests included NIS 125 million for the National Missions Ministry and about NIS 78 million for the Religious Services Ministry.
The Knesset said all six requests had completed the government approval process, including review by government legal advisers, before reaching the committee. It argued that claims concerning improper government spending should be directed principally at the government, rather than used to invalidate the parliamentary meeting.
It also said approval by the Finance Committee only makes funding available and does not independently authorize a government program or permit unlawful expenditure.
The Knesset further argued that the present government is not formally a caretaker government because it has not resigned, lost a no-confidence vote, or been replaced following an election. Restrictions developed by the court for caretaker governments therefore cannot simply be applied to the Knesset’s internal work, it said.
Ohana’s use of the provision was not unprecedented, according to the response. The Knesset said the speaker authorized three Finance Committee meetings during the 2022 election recess after the Coordination Committee declined to approve them. Some of those meetings also concerned coalition funds.
The Knesset concluded that courts intervene only rarely in the internal management of parliamentary proceedings and that no defect in this case justified overturning the committee’s decisions.
It asked the court to dismiss the petition and lift the order. The petitioners will argue on Tuesday that the August meeting bypassed safeguards intended to prevent the governing coalition from using public funds without sufficient opposition oversight during an election campaign.
UK Dept Ed. reviewing Muslim schools run by Al-Khair Foundation following reports of Hamas ties
The UK’s Department of Education (DfE) is assessing information regarding four Muslim independent schools after the Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into the Al-Khair Foundation, the organization that runs the schools.
As reported by the The Jerusalem Post on August 9, the UK Charity Commission is investigating the prominent Muslim-registered charity Al-Khair Foundation following reports of alleged Hamas connections.
Al-Khair was set up to advance religion, promote education, support social welfare, build religious harmony, and offer relief to victims of disasters.
However, the Commission said it received a complaint alleging the charity and its partners had connections to Hamas and had also funded Hamas.
The regulator immediately started examining the serious concerns raised and gathered more information to inform its assessment. The Commission has now escalated its engagement to a statutory inquiry.
Al-Khair employee charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas
This follows the arrest of Mohammad Yousef Hasna, an individual employed by Al-Khair Foundation, in the UK last week. Hasna was extradited to the US and charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas.
This prompted UK Lawyers for Israel (UKFLI) to send a report to the DfE’s Counter-Extremism Division on 10 July 2026, detailing Al-Khair’s links to the Hamas terrorist group and raising concerns about safeguarding, extremism, and compliance with the Prevent duty at schools operated by the charity.
The Post viewed correspondence between UKFLI and the DfE regarding the Al Khair Foundation. DfE said it is “continuing to work with other government departments and agencies to assess all the information that has been provided to us and determine next steps”
The four schools run by Al Khair Foundation are Al-Khair Preparatory School in Croydon; Al-Khair Preparatory School in Oldbury, Birmingham; and Al-Khair Secondary Schools for Boys and Girls in Croydon. Over 550 children attend the four schools. The annual school fees are £5468 for the Croydon schools and £3600 for the Birmingham school.
UKLFI’s letter to the DfE warned that the schools could be exposed to safeguarding and Prevent-related risks arising from Al-Khair’s employment of individuals allegedly linked to proscribed terrorist organizations. UKLFI’s investigation found that at least two people employed by Al-Khair Foundation had been identified as Hamas operatives, while another employee had significant links with Hamas figures.
UK schools required to assess risk of pupils being drawn into extremism
Schools are subject to the statutory Prevent duty, requiring them to assess the risk of pupils being drawn into terrorism, challenge extremist narratives and manage potentially harmful external influences. UKLFI said the evidence it had gathered justified examination of whether those safeguards were operating effectively at the Al-Khair schools.
A UKLFI spokesperson said, “The allegations concerning Al-Khair Foundation are extremely serious in themselves, but they become still more concerning when an organization facing such allegations is also responsible for the education and safeguarding of children.”
“UKLFI alerted the Department to these concerns because schools must have robust procedures to protect pupils from extremist influence and from being drawn into support for terrorism. We hope the Department will now examine carefully the governance of all four schools, their relationships with the Foundation and its personnel, and whether their safeguarding and Prevent obligations have been properly discharged.
“The Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry and the separate criminal allegations now being pursued by the US authorities underline why these concerns required urgent investigation.”
‘Time to come home’: Seven families from New York’s Persian Jewish community make aliyah together
This article was written in collaboration with Nefesh B’Nefesh
Seven families from the Persian Jewish community of Great Neck, New York, arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport last Tuesday, exhausted from their journey but excited for their lives as new immigrants to Israel.
“We’re running on fumes, but exhilarated,” Jordan, one of the new olim (immigrants) and a father of six girls, told The Jerusalem Post at the airport, adding that there were “too many emotions to process properly” but that he felt as though he was “flying.”
The families, which included some 26 children, made aliyah (immigration to Israel) with the help of Nefesh B’Nefesh, the non-profit organization that facilitates immigration to Israel from the United States and Canada, in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, and Jewish National Fund-USA.
“The decision of these seven families to make aliyah together and choose Israel as their home is both visionary and deeply meaningful,” said Naftali Derovan, Head of the Aliyah Guidance Division at Nefesh B’Nefesh. “They remind us that while Aliyah is often a deeply personal decision, it can also be a communal one. In this case, these families are bringing the strength and spirit of their close-knit community with them to Israel. We are excited to continue providing them with the professional support and resources they need to integrate successfully, build their lives here, and truly feel at home in Israel.”
After arriving, the new olim received their official Israeli ID cards before eventually being shuttled to their new homes in the central city of Ra’anana.
Ra’anana mayor says city is proud to absorb new immigrants
“We warmly welcome the new families joining our community and are deeply moved by this inspiring step, which embodies Zionism and faith,” said the Mayor of Ra’anana, Chaim Broyde. “Ra’anana is proud to be one of Israel’s leading cities in the absorption of new immigrants, serving as a home to olim from dozens of countries and bringing together diverse communities.”
“We embrace the new olim and are committed to providing them and their children with the support they need to integrate, thrive, and feel at home in Ra’anana,” he added. “I wish the families a smooth transition into their new lives, and assure them that we will be there to support them every step of the way.”
Before leaving the airport, though, as they passed through customs and entered the Terminal 3 arrivals hall, the new olim were greeted by a jubilant crowd of mostly teenagers who sang and cheered as they welcomed them to Israel.
Among those were a group of girls who had done Sherut Leumi (national service) in Great Neck, alongside the very members of the Persian community who made aliyah.
Amid the scramble to make sure everything was in order after entering the arrivals hall, the new olim told the Post that the American-Persian Jewish community was “hearing the call to come back” to Israel.
“We’re expecting many more in the next year, and b’ezrat Hashem (with God’s help), this is going to be something for many years to come. You’re going to see a lot of the Persian communities coming back,” Jordan said.
Adam, another of the olim and a father of five, said that the community members had gotten together and “decided it’s time to come home.”
“Each family wanted to do it for a long time, and suddenly we came together and said, ‘It’s so hard to come alone. You feel lonely. You feel like you miss people. Why not do it together?’ Seven families are here together today, back home. It’s a dream come true.”
Adam added that he also expected many more from the Persian Jewish community to make aliyah from the US, saying that the movement to come to Israel was “on fire.”
Persian-Jewish aliyah group hopes to entice other community members
Jen, another member of the group, said that they hoped that, because they came as a group, it would help entice other community members and make their moves easier.
That community back in New York, she said, was elated for those who had made the move to Israel.
“Over the course of the past few weeks, every Shabbos we were being celebrated,” she said. “They’re honoring us in shul (synagogue), and they had a whole group of people who came and met us by the coach bus yesterday and sent us off.”
Talia, another woman in the group and a mother of three, said the decision to move to Israel was made in part because, despite “an amazing life in New York,” they are “thinking about our kids and the future of Jewish life.”
“We believe that the future of ‘Am Yisrael’ (the Jewish people) is in Israel, and we have this opportunity to do it all together,” she said.
This article was written in collaboration with Nefesh B’Nefesh