Zero Rss

4 In 10 American Adults Report Having 'Mental Health' Problems

Over the past few years, a lot of progress has been made in accepting and understanding mental health problems.

Having long been seen as a sign of weakness, mental health issues in their many varieties and severities have become much less of a taboo.

As Statista's Valentine Fourreau notes, the pandemic, which left many people feel isolated, powerless or overwhelmed, accelerated that trend, as it not only caused a spike in symptoms of anxiety or depression, but also led more people to open up about their problems.

In a Statista survey from 2025-2026, the prevalence of self-reported mental health problems varies greatly across countries, suggesting that people in some countries, e.g. China or Japan, may be more hesitant to open up about mental health or simply less likely to identify certain problems as mental health issues.

You will find more infographics at Statista

As Statista's chart shows, more than 4 in 10 U.S. adults reported that they experienced symptoms of mental health problems, such as stress, anxiety or depression in the 12 months preceding the survey, making an open discourse about mental health issues all the more important.

With that in mind, we give the last word to AOC, who exclaimed over the weekend that "we are not the crazy ones. We are sane!"...

AOC : "We are not the crazy ones. We are sane!"

If you have to tell people that you're sane in public, you probably...aren't.

Also, have you seen the Democrat platform policies wishlist?

Pretty crazy. pic.twitter.com/oyIQ9Jk3ls

— Justin Theory (@realJustATheory) February 19, 2026

Arguably, if you have to tell people that you're sane in public, you probably...aren't.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 22:10

Chinese Article Warns VPN Use Alone Can Trigger Punishment Under Expanding Censorship Regime

Authored by Michael Zhuang via The Epoch Times,

A widely circulated Chinese social media article warning that internet users can be punished simply for bypassing China's online censorship system has drawn attention to what observers say is an expanding clampdown on access to the global internet.

The article, published June 2 on Chinese social media WeChat and later archived by California-based nonprofit China Digital Times, which tracks China's state censorship, compiled a series of publicly reported cases of suppression on the use of virtual private networks (VPNs).

People play computer games at an internet cafe in Beijing on Sept. 10, 2021. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

The cases included fines imposed on users who accessed overseas websites, penalties for selling VPN services, arrests related to the dissemination of overseas political content, and investigations into internet activity dating back several years.

The article challenged a common assumption among Chinese internet users that using VPNs for research, accessing foreign websites, or utilizing overseas artificial intelligence (AI) tools is unlikely to attract official scrutiny as long as no sensitive content is shared.

"But from publicly disclosed cases, VPN use itself has already become a target of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) investigation," the article said.

The examples highlighted in the article suggest that the CCP is increasingly focused not only on what users do online, but also on how they access the internet.

One of the most notable cases involved a resident of Ningde, Fujian Province, who was penalized in 2024 for allegedly using a VPN to browse overseas websites in 2020.

According to the article, police reviewed historical internet records and later imposed an administrative penalty, prompting criticism from some legal observers who questioned whether the action complied with China's statutory limitations on administrative punishment.

The case stood out because it appeared to demonstrate the communist regime's ability to revisit years-old internet activity rather than relying solely on real-time monitoring and censorship.

Chinese legal professionals interviewed by The Epoch Times said that the enforcement action raised questions about the scope of retroactive investigations. Under China's Administrative Penalty Law, administrative violations generally cannot be punished if they remain undiscovered for more than two years, although certain exceptions apply.

The article also cited cases involving individuals punished for selling VPN services and users fined solely for establishing unauthorized internet connections, when there was no indication they had distributed overseas information.

The reported cases come amid broader efforts by the CCP to tighten control over cross-border internet access.

Under Chinese regulations, businesses and foreign nationals requiring international connectivity are generally expected to use telecommunications channels approved by the regime, while unauthorized VPNs and proxy services remain subject to censorship.

Wang Xin contributed to this report.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 21:45

OpenAI Files Confidentially For IPO, Joining SpaceX and Anthropic In Capitalizing On AI Frenzy

The rush by AI companies to go public before the window closes (i.e., "market conditions" emerge) entered its final lap late on Monday, when OpenAI joined its two mega peers in filing for a blockbuster IPO that could value the ChatGPT creator at more than $1tn as it races rival Anthropic to list its shares publicly, following an imminent offering by SpaceX.

OpenAI said it had confidentially submitted a draft IPO prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, formally kicking off the process for one of the year’s most hotly anticipated debuts. The company is also planning to launch a tender sale of its shares to provide liquidity to employees in the coming weeks, before the company goes public, Bloomberg reported. Why employees would want to sell shares ahead of an IPO is not exactly clear, unless they fear the market reaction to the public offering would disappoint. 

OpenAI’s listing announcement comes days before SpaceX is set to IPO in a deal that could raise a record $86bn and value Elon Musk’s rockets-to-AI conglomerate at $1.78tn. Anthropic, the startup behind the chatbot Claude, said last week that it had filed confidentially for an IPO of its own. The company soared to a $965 billion valuation in its latest private funding round - above OpenAI’s for the first time - as its revenue surged.

The three Wall Street listings comes at a time of unbridled euphoria among investors over AI, which has helped propel US stocks to a series of record highs but also prompted worries that markets are overheating. Last week, Goldman published a note seeking to preempt the big question: "Can Markets Absorb Massive Stock Supply From Coming Mega IPOs Without A Crash:" While Goldman did not express concerns about the coming flood of stock supply (its argument is that demand will more than offset the flood of new shares), the bank which is also a lead underwriter for both SpaceX and Anthropic calculated that recent and upcoming IPOs will result in roughly $500 billion of additional unlocked shares available to sell in 2026 and likely a larger quantity in 2027 as insiders sell and distribute their stakes to public (mostly retail) shareholders. The bank expects the majority of potential equity supply from the current pipeline of IPOs will become free float in 2027. 

OpenAI’s IPO - which also comes at a time when CEO Sam Altman has floated handing out shares to US taxpayers ostensibly in hopes that such an action would lead to a government backstop and/or bailout if and when the AI cycle turns - will mark a test of investors’ appetite for a company posting booming revenue growth but also staggering losses that are forecast to continue for many years as the company spends vast sums on data centres and other infrastructure: its funding commitments to hyperscalar companies are well north of $1 trillion and unless the company manages to dramatically boost its revenue growth it will find itself woefully undercapitalized in coming years. Hence the IPO, as well as a bevy of private credit deals which mask the company's true debt exposure. 

OpenAI has been investing heavily in AI research to compete with rivals including Google and Anthropic, as well as to expand the computing capacity needed to serve ChatGPT’s 900mn users. In February, the company told investors it was planning to spend about $600 billion on AI infrastructure by 2030.

It said in a statement on Monday that it had not “decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company”.

“But it’s a complicated set of trade-offs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best,” it added.

A public debut in 2026 would also pit Altman squarely against Elon Musk on a different plane than the failed lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO. SpaceX, Musk’s rocket, satellite and AI firm, is targeting an IPO at a valuation of roughly $1.8 trillion on Thursday, which would immediately make it one of the world’s most valuable public companies.

As an indication of the staggering demand for AI exposure, OpenAI has already dwarfed even SpaceX’s IPO in a single funding round. The company completed a deal to raise $122 billion from investors at an $852 billion valuation.

The ChatGPT maker also planned to launch an employee share sale ahead of going public at its current $852bn price tag, according to people familiar with the matter. One said OpenAI’s decision to announce its confidential filing was intended to give employees who were considering selling shares “transparency” about the upcoming IPO.

US tech groups often file IPO paperwork privately, keeping their financial figures out of the public eye while the SEC reviews documents. That allows start-ups to gauge investor demand, make revisions and sometimes scrap IPO plans without broader scrutiny.

The San Francisco-based company’s move to progress its listing plans received a boost after a California court last month threw out Musk’s legal case against OpenAI and its chief Sam Altman. 

A public debut in 2026 would also pit Altman squarely against Elon Musk on a different plane than the failed lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO. SpaceX, Musk’s rocket, satellite and AI firm, is targeting an IPO at a valuation of roughly $1.8 trillion on Thursday, which would immediately make it one of the world’s most valuable public companies.

OpenAI had been working with bankers at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and lawyers at Cooley for the past few months, people familiar with its preparations previously told the FT. Monday’s filing sets OpenAI on a path to start trading as early as the autumn, they said.

It is already one of the world’s most valuable private companies, after closing a record funding round of up to $122bn in March. As part of that deal it raised $3bn from retail investors, who will be given a wider opportunity to invest in the start-up when it becomes publicly traded.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 21:20

How A Tiny Insect Decimated Florida's Citrus, And What Orchardists Are Doing About It

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

Lifelong citrus farmer Sidney Tillett cut a path through a grove that has endured in his family for four generations, stopping his SUV between two rows of trees. On one side was a long plot of lush green saplings, covered with protective mesh bags tied to stakes in the ground.

The Citrus Place, a fruit and produce market in Terra Ceia, Florida, on May 21, 2026. The store is popular among vacationers.

Directly on the other side, a row of petite orange trees with withering leaves were all battling a bacterial infection, caused by an invasive insect that has decimated the state's orange industry in just two decades.

"It's a story of survival," Tillett told The Epoch Times, remembering his father's 25-foot-tall citrus trees that could sometimes produce 1,000 pounds of fruit in a single season.

Now, what trees survive are lucky if their canopies get half that size, or produce any fruit that can be sold at market. What was once 600 acres of citrus trees in the 1970s has now dwindled to five.

The orange - Florida's inextricable insignia that emblazons license plates, T-shirts, and bumper stickers from affluent coastal towns to rural farming communities - was once the state's largest cash crop, and positioned the Sunshine State as the country's majority citrus producer.

Florida harvested a record 244 million boxes of oranges during the 1997-1998 season. This year, the Department of Agriculture estimates Florida will only produce 12.2 million boxes, a stunning 95 percent drop in just under 30 years.

While occasional freezes, catastrophic hurricanes, and an on-and-off, decades-long battle with the citrus canker disease proved to be frustrating setbacks for many orange growers, the destruction of Florida's citrus industry kicked into high gear in 2005.

That was the year an invasive insect from China - which made its way to the United States through Mexico - introduced a disease that would ultimately decimate Florida's citrus industry.

The Asian citrus psyllid feeds on citrus tree leaves, causing the plant to contract a bacterial infection known as huanglongbing, commonly called citrus greening.

The disease causes rapid root loss, slowly draining the life from healthy trees as they struggle to absorb and retain nutrients. Oranges languish, struggling to reach full maturity and normal sugar composition - losing the sweet taste that made the fruit an in-demand crop worldwide.

There is no known cure. And the impacts extend far beyond the Sunshine State.

Citrus greening has slashed total U.S. orange production by 80 percent and grapefruit production by 88 percent since 2000, according to a report from the American Farm Bureau Federation. California has now overtaken Florida to become the United States' largest citrus producer, and nations such as Egypt and South Africa now export more oranges worldwide.

But Florida citrus farmers are not giving up.

Recent studies by the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center have offered several paths for the industry to take.

Insecticides are a major component of citrus greening management, the center stated in an August 2025 production guide, but a specialized protective netting known as exclusion mesh "is currently the only tool that can fully prevent [Asian citrus psyllid] infestation in citrus."

Farmers have covered young saplings with translucent mesh bags that tent the tree's canopy to keep the Asian citrus psyllid out long enough for the tree to take hold and mature.

Meanwhile, light and moisture can pass through the cover's fine mesh.

While effective at stopping immediate tree death - as many saplings are infected within the first six months - the bags have some limitations.

They allow citrus trees to produce quality fruit for at least 30 months after they're planted, but the trees eventually begin to falter after the bags are removed two to three years later.

That's why citrus farmers such as Katie and Shane Bevilacqua are trailblazing a different, even more radical approach to fighting citrus greening.

They have built massive permanent mesh tents over their nearly 750 acres of grapefruit trees at Golden Ridge Groves in Bartow, Florida, where customers can self-pick or buy bushels of fruit in the couple's market. The tents are known as "citrus under protective screen" structures.

"It's early, but it's proving to keep the psyllid out, allow the tree to remain healthy, and put on the healthy crop and beautiful fruit that Florida has been known for for decades," Shane Bevilacqua told The Epoch Times.

"Even if this could be our small contribution to keeping it going, we're excited about that."

Road to Ruin

The near-total decimation of Florida's citrus industry did not happen overnight.

When officials first found citrus greening in the state in 2005, farmers had already battled irregular cold seasons with freezing temperatures that damaged their crops.

Citrus canker - a different, but still harmful bacterial infection - arrived in Florida more than 100 years ago, and was believed to be eradicated until subsequent outbreaks in the 1980s and '90s.

Despite strong efforts to eradicate citrus canker, the historic 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons spread the disease far and wide across the state. It was later found in Louisiana, Texas, and Alabama, but is currently considered endemic in Florida.

Those years would not see the end of hurricanes' impact on Florida's once famous orange market either, as the catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Ian would buzz-saw through the center of the state in 2022, slicing through thousands of trees in its path.

Then just two years later, two back-to-back major hurricanes - Helene first, then Milton - would slam into Florida in the course of less than two weeks, further devastating the state's citrus crops.

Tillett lost a fifth of his grove during those storms, as the hammering winds blew over many of his younger trees.

But citrus greening, Tillett said, has been the biggest factor in so many multigenerational growers choosing to leave the state's cherished orange industry.

"The groves fell into nonproduction. Everybody lost," he said. "I mean, it's hard to justify a citrus grove when you're not making money."

The Asian citrus psyllid, spreader of a bacterial infection known as citrus greening, can be seen on an orange tree at Sidney Tillett's farm in Terra Ceia, Fla., on May 21, 2026. The invasive insect has decimated the state’s orange industry in just two decades. Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 20:55

Interim Air Force One Jet Gets Patriotic Paint Scheme Ahead Of America's 250th Party

One month after the U.S. Air Force confirmed that the Boeing 747 donated by Qatar, designated as the VC-25B Bridge and widely described as President Trump's interim Air Force One aircraft, had entered flight testing in Texas and was being prepared for a new red, white, and blue color scheme, an OSINT account on X claims the aircraft has now been painted.

"Ladies and gentlemen… your United States Air Force's new VC-25B," X user TGhormley Photography wrote Sunday morning.

TGhormley Photography said the image was taken Saturday evening, though they did not disclose the location.

pic.twitter.com/LAk8IqnLlR

— TGhormley Photography (@SkunkChaser25) June 7, 2026

The VC-25B Bridge is a former Qatari head-of-state Boeing 747-8i that will serve as an interim presidential aircraft until Boeing's delayed VC-25B replacements are ready, now expected in 2028.

Last month, the USAF said the VC-25B Bridge underwent flight testing in Texas and was being prepared for a red, white, and blue paint scheme.

The military blog TWZ recently noted that there are still many "questions swirling about the legality and ethics of receiving the gifted plane." Last May, the Pentagon took delivery of the aircraft and said it would rapidly undertake the required modifications.

The VC-25B Bridge appears to be ready ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations on July 4, less than one month away

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 20:30

529-To-Roth IRA Rollover Rules In 2026: Five Questions That Help Determine Whether You Qualify

Authored by Adam H. Douglas via The Epoch Times,

After funding a 529 college savings account for years, you realize there is money left over. Maybe your grandchild graduated early, earned a scholarship that covered more than expected, or decided college was not for them [ZH: or maybe your grandkid is an ungrateful little shit] . A federal rule now lets you move that leftover balance into a Roth IRA, tax-free. It may sound too good to be true, and for some account holders, it is.

Leftover 529 funds can now be rolled into a Roth IRA, but strict rules may limit who qualifies. Panchenko Vladimir/Shutterstock

The provision is real, but the eligibility window is narrow, and several states have created a tax trap that most account holders never see coming.

Under SECURE 2.0's Section 126, you can roll unused 529 funds into a Roth IRA, tax-free and penalty-free, up to a $35,000 lifetime limit. But the account must be at least 15 years old, the money being moved must be at least 5 years old, the Roth IRA must belong to the 529 beneficiary, and that beneficiary must have earned income. Several states, including California, impose their own taxes on the rollover regardless of the federal treatment.

Here are five gating questions to help you explore these rules in detail and determine whether the rollover is actually available to you.

Question 1: Is The Account Old Enough?

To qualify for a rollover, the 529 plan must have been maintained for at least 15 years before any funds can be transferred. This requirement starts from the date the account was originally established, not from when contributions began or when the beneficiary was designated.

Changing the beneficiary on a 529 plan will likely restart the 15-year clock. That would mean the new beneficiary must wait 15 years from the date they became the beneficiary before initiating a rollover. Treat any beneficiary change with caution if a rollover is part of your plan.

Question 2: Is The Money Old Enough?

The five-year rule: Any contributions made within the five years before the transfer, along with earnings on those contributions, are ineligible. Only money that has been in the account for a minimum of five years qualifies.

This rule can trip up grandparents who continued making contributions after a grandchild started college. Those recent deposits remain locked out until the five-year window clears, even if the account itself is decades old.

Question 3: Whose Name Is On The Roth IRA?

The funds cannot revert to the owner of the 529 account. They can only be transferred to a Roth IRA held by the 529 beneficiary. If you are a grandparent who owns the 529, the rollover goes into your grandchild's Roth IRA, not yours.

The beneficiary must also have earned income for the year at least equal to the amount transferred. A grandchild with no earned income in a given year cannot receive a rollover that year, even if every other condition is met.

Question 4: How Much Are You Planning To Move, And When?

The aggregate amount transferred from a 529 account to a Roth IRA may not exceed $35,000 per individual, and the amount transferred in any year is limited to the annual Roth IRA contribution limit. For 2026, the IRS has set that limit at $7,500 for those under age 50, and $8,600 for those 50 or older. Moving the full $35,000 lifetime cap takes a minimum of five years at current limits.

The good news is that 529-to-Roth rollovers bypass the usual Roth IRA income limits that phase out contributions for high earners, creating a unique opportunity for high-income families to fund Roth IRAs for their children or grandchildren.

Note that the rollover shares the annual limit with any other Roth IRA contributions the beneficiary makes that year. If the beneficiary contributes $3,000 in cash, only the remaining Roth room is available for the 529 rollover.

Question 5: What Does Your State Say?

This is the question people skip, and it's a costly one to miss. The rollover is federally tax-free - that's federal, not state.

Most states with income taxes, however, have indicated they will follow federal law. As of September 2025, 30 states have confirmed they conform, including New York, Ohio, Virginia, and Illinois, among others.

Several states have not.

• California residents who execute a 529-to-Roth rollover will be subject to both state income tax and an additional 2.5 percent California tax on the earnings portion.
• New Jersey's decision was listed as pending on tax-tracking boards until recently, but the state has since aligned with federal guidelines to allow tax-free transfers.
• Several states and the District of Columbia have indicated that 529 savers may be subject to state income tax recapture if 529 funds are transferred to a Roth IRA.

Verify your state's current position before initiating any rollover. State guidance on this provision continues to evolve.

FAQs About The 529-To-Roth IRA Rollover Does The Rollover Count Against The Beneficiary's Roth IRA Income Limits?

No, and this is one of the provision's most useful features. In 2026, single filers with modified adjusted gross income above $153,000 and married couples above $242,000 typically cannot contribute directly to a Roth IRA. However, 529-to-Roth rollovers bypass these restrictions entirely. This makes the rollover particularly valuable for families with high-earning adult children who would otherwise be shut out of direct Roth IRA contributions.

What Happens If The Beneficiary Has No Earned Income That Year?

The rollover cannot happen. The beneficiary must have earned income for the year at least equal to the amount transferred, just as with any Roth IRA contribution. If a grandchild is between jobs, attending graduate school without a stipend, or otherwise has no earned income in a given year, the rollover must wait. You can carry the unused rollover opportunity forward to a future year, as long as the lifetime $35,000 cap has not been reached.

Does The Rollover Have To Be A Direct Transfer?

Yes. The movement of assets must be completed in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer. Do not withdraw the money from the 529 first and attempt to deposit it into the Roth IRA yourself. That path treats the distribution as a non-qualified 529 withdrawal, which triggers income tax and the standard 10 percent federal penalty on the earnings portion. Contact both the 529 plan administrator and the Roth IRA custodian to coordinate the transfer directly between institutions.

How Is The Rollover Reported At Tax Time?

The movement of assets is reported on IRS Form 1099-R from the 529 plan and Form 5498 from the Roth IRA custodian. The IRS refers to the transaction as a "qualified rollover contribution," reportable in Box 10 of Form 5498. It should appear on the beneficiary's tax return for the year of the transfer. Because the paperwork involves both the 529 administrator and the Roth IRA custodian, most advisers recommend working with a tax professional during the first year you execute a rollover to confirm reporting is handled correctly.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 20:05

"Replacing Lower Value Human Capital": Banks Cut Staff As Recent Grads Face Off Against AI For Jobs

As AI reshapes banking, students entering the industry are confronting a double challenge: navigating AI-driven hiring processes today while wondering how many traditional finance jobs will remain tomorrow, according to Bloomberg.

Warwick University student Andre Bonnick, for example, spends hours preparing for automated screening interviews rather than conversations with human recruiters. While he hopes to secure a role in finance, he is also weighing options such as further study as entry-level opportunities become more competitive.

Industry leaders have been increasingly candid about AI’s impact on employment. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon stated that the technology “will eliminate jobs,” while other bank executives have acknowledged that some roles may no longer be needed as automation expands. Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters described the shift as “replacing in some cases lower-value human capital” with technology investments, comments for which he later apologized.

Bloomberg writes that the pressure is already visible at the junior level. Banks are reducing analyst intake programs and investing heavily in AI capabilities, leading many graduates to question the long-term stability of careers that were once viewed as secure and lucrative. Even so, experts argue that banks cannot eliminate junior hiring altogether because the industry still relies on developing future leaders through apprenticeship-style career paths.

For now, most institutions are deploying AI in specific areas such as customer support, compliance, transaction monitoring, and wealth management rather than replacing entire functions. Banks including Citigroup and Barclays report efficiency gains from AI tools, while digital-first firms such as Revolut are embedding AI directly into customer-facing products.

Yet uncertainty remains. Employment lawyers warn that automation could disproportionately affect middle-office and administrative roles, while some industry observers question whether companies are attributing workforce reductions to AI when broader cost-cutting may be the real driver.

Although major banks continue to recruit interns and graduates, many are seeking productivity gains without increasing headcount. As a result, breaking into finance is becoming more difficult just as AI begins to transform the nature of the jobs themselves.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 19:40

Xi Jinping Applauds Kim's 'Socialist Cause' In Warm North Korea State Visit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warmly greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang Monday, kicking off Xi's two-day state visit to the internationally isolated country - which is his first trip there in seven years.

Xi has called for deepening "strategic coordination and cooperation" with North Korea shortly after receiving a lavish, red carpet welcome at the airport. The two sides should inject "powerful momentum" into their ties, Xi said according to a readout released by Chinese state media Xinhua.

Xinhua/ZUMA Press

The Chinese leader spoke of a friendship that was 'generational' with the DPRK, in advancement of the 'socialist cause'.

There is plenty that is ideological found within the official readout in the wake of the two leaders' initial meeting, per Xinhua:

No matter how the international situation changes, the Chinese party and government's firm stance on highly valuing China-DPRK traditional friendship will not change, the firm support for General Secretary Kim in leading the DPRK's socialist cause will not change, and the firm commitment to safeguarding the shared interests of the two countries and preserving a favorable strategic environment will not change, Xi said.

Xi pointed out that, in the face of the profound changes unseen in a century that are accelerating across the world, the two sides should take a broad and long-term view, build on past achievements and open up a new future, draw wisdom from the development process of the relations between the two parties and the two countries, seize opportunities in the prevailing trend of human history, inject new contemporary connotations and strong impetus into the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK, and open up a brighter prospect for the socialist cause of the two countries as well as regional peace and development.

This cooperation is expected to be on several fronts, including economics and trade, agriculture, health, construction, as well as science and technology, Xi underscored.

Kim along with his first lady, Ri Sol Ju, enthusiastically greeted Xi and were shown clapping as the Chinese presidential plane touched down earlier in the day. Huge portraits of Xi and Kim have been installed over Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung Square, where Xi's motorcade was also greeted with big displays of pageantry, including a mounted cavalry escort.

NBC has some interesting commentary which points out that Kim is in a rare position of strength based on some recent firm, anti-West geopolitical stances taken and maintained:

But the North Korean leader is playing host from a position of rare strength, and his country has come a long way since Xi Jinping’s last visit seven years ago.

Kim’s backing of Russia’s war with Ukraine has paid dividends, his weapons program has cemented North Korea’s status as a de facto nuclear state, and an economy that buckled under the pressure of pandemic isolation and sanctions has since rebounded.

Indeed, Kim has of late been aggressively hyping his country's nuclear modernization and expanse program. There's not doubt he's also closely following and taking notes on the Iran crisis. 

WATCH: Xi Jinping landed in Pyongyang for his first North Korea visit in nearly seven years.

Kim Jong-un rolled out the red carpet personally, greeting Xi and Peng Liyuan with a full honour guard. pic.twitter.com/9X9kK44No0

— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 8, 2026

Iran, which does not yet have nuclear weapons status, has been attacked by the United States and Israel - and so Pyongyang sees its nuclear expanse path as more justified than ever at this point, also given Washington still views North Korea as a 'pariah' state.

Another interesting development mentioned in state media relates to efforts to open borders: "Xi called on both sides to leverage the opportunity of the full reopening of border crossings and the resumption of civil aviation flights and international passenger trains to increase people-to-people exchanges and foster mutual interaction," wrote Xinhua.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 18:50

Researchers Identify World's Largest Scorpion That Roamed Earth 415 Million Years Ago

Authored by Maria Mocerino via Interesting Engineering,

The University of Manchester has discovered that the world's largest scorpion, which lived 415 million years ago, was hiding in the museum's collection for 150 years.

Since the 1870s, researchers have debated the identity of the strange fossil remains lurking in the Manchester archives. They possessed tiny fragments recovered from sites in England and Wales that puzzled them, but they could not piece them together. Was it a large woodlouse-crustacean?

Life reconstruction of Praearcturus gigas.Franz Anthony High Res

In the 1980s, some research suggested that a scorpion might be the source of the fossil remains. However, this hypothesis faced challenges due to a lack of fossil evidence of its most distinctive feature: its tail.

To resolve the debate, paleontologists conducted a study of the remains using modern imaging and analytical techniques, according to a press release from the University of Manchester. They were "able to build a clearer picture of the animal than was previously possible, which is really exciting."

The 3.3-foot-long Praearcturus gigas scorpion now joins the ranks of Earth's ferocious prehistoric beasts, boasting pincers 6.2 inches long. As it roamed the Earth over 400 million years ago, researchers sought to understand the factors that allowed this prehistoric predator to grow to such an astonishing size.

The T. Rex of Scorpions

According to the study authors, "Along with dinosaurs, mammoths, and other charismatic megafauna, giant arthropods are an iconic symbol of the Earth's deep paleontological history in popular culture."

Lead author Dr. Richard J. Howard, Curator of Fossil Arthropods at the Natural History Museum in London, described the imagery often associated with giant arthropods: "Carboniferous rainforests filled with giant millipedes or dragonfly-like insects... but Praearcturus lived at least 50 million years earlier, well before the evolution of trees, when life on land was just beginning."

In other words, researchers may have identified the T. rex of arthropods nearly two hundred million years before the rise of the dinosaurs. The Praearcturus gigas lived during the Early Devonian period - a time when forests had not yet evolved - so this giant scorpion lived among small plants and fungi, as per the press release.

What Did It Eat?

Researchers were stunned: how did the scorpion grow to such a size, surrounded by relatively unassuming and unimposing neighbors? The answer lies in its lack of competition. As few large animals were present at that time, Praearcturus was free to become a predatory giant, according to the NYPost.

Furthermore, the "cool" creature, which might inspire a new figurine in a child's toy collection, may have been partially aquatic, as suggested by its epimera - the descending lateral plates or flaps found on the bodies of crustaceans.

Dr. Howard stated in Live Science, "Without complex ecosystems to support Praearcturus on land, these animals probably spent part of their lives hunting in water." The Praearcturus was even "before its time," and its extraordinary size might be explained by one factor: water.

"This places Praearcturus at a pivotal moment in Earth's history when animals were first experimenting with life outside the oceans," as per a press release.

"The boundary between land and sea was much less defined at this time," Dr Greg Edgecombe, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, and co-author of the study, continued. "Praearcturus gives us a fascinating glimpse into how early animals adapted to these changing environments."

"It may even represent a lineage that returned to the water after earlier ancestors had already begun living on land," AOL concludes.

You can read the study here.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 18:25

On The Kavanaugh Anniversary, Democratic Leaders Swap Me Too For Maine

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

...on the eighth anniversary of the Kavanaugh nomination. It now appears that there are some women who are not to be believed... when the Senate may be in the balance..

“It’s clear the fix is in.”

Those words from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). came with her vote against confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Warren was outraged that her fellow senators refused to believe a woman who came forward with a decades-old allegation against Kavanaugh that lacked any corroboration.

It now appears that Kavanaugh’s former accusers are making the case that he was treated unjustly at their hands. At least they are now willing to swap “Me Too” for Maine.

Warren’s words were part of a mantra from Democratic members that either you believe women about sexual harassment and assault, or you are enabling abusers.

It was almost exactly eight years ago, in July 2018, that President Trump nominated Kavanaugh to fill the seat of retiring Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh, who was at first a very uncontroversial nominee, suddenly became the target of a well-financed, well-orchestrated campaign that would continue to resonate in that fall’s election campaigns. At the time, your failure to accept the word of Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh had assaulted her in high school was just proof that you and the system were sexist.

Long after the Senate confirmed Kavanaugh, the left continued to claim that his presence on the Supreme Court “rests on a mountain of misogyny.” In Ms. Magazine, actress Kathleen Turner reminded people that not believing women was furthering misogyny: “Survivors who come forward break the rules of silence a sexist society demands, and society expects them to pay a price.”

If you recall, the lack of evidence led to the Senate Judiciary Committee combing through Kavanaugh’s personal calendars. Denials that such a thing had ever happened, coming from childhood friends, were treated as still more evidence of sexism.

Screenshot/Judiciary Committee

There was Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who grilled Kavanaugh about using the term “boofing” (apparently referring to passing gas) with a high school friend as if it were a confession to a rape.

His inquisitorial barrage was something straight out of the McCarthy period.

Whitehouse expressed disgust that some would not take Ford’s word for it, declaring, “Today I stand with women who are brave enough to come forward with their stories of abuse and mistreatment. They deserve to be heard and credible allegations must be investigated. We must believe survivors, not bully them.”

Whitehouse is now a major donor and supporter of Graham Platner, the leading Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Maine.

He dismisses the New York Times accounts from women of Platner’s physically and mentally abusive behavior.

Instead of believing these women, he reportedly attacked Lyndsey Fifield, who “bravely” came forward publicly with her story at the request of Times reporters.

Whitehouse is quoted as saying that he was “unimpressed” by the allegations and the multiple women coming forward “seems like a lot of nothing.” He suggested that he is not prepared to believe a woman if she is a conservative. “I mean, the only one who had anything to say that seemed ‘unsettling’ was a woman who works for right-wing political operations,” he said.

That attack was picked up by others like writer Krystal Ball. She too had denounced those who did not believe Ford in the Kavanaugh controversy. In the past, she claimed at that time, “women just didn’t come forward. They knew they wouldn’t be believed.”

Now she cannot imagine why anyone would believe these women, particularly Fifield. “NYT published uncorroborated accusations against [Platner] of ‘unsettling’ and ‘toxic’ behavior that came from a Heritage staffer who previously worked for a conservative org that backs Collins,” she posted online.

Fifield, after sharing stories with the Times of Platner’s alleged abusive behavior, went public to complain that the newspaper had failed to include the corroboration she had provided. She posted that the paper not only failed to include that she has supported Democrats for office, but also asked, “Why does it say ‘nobody could corroborate’ when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate?”

She added, “The Times also failed to include any mention that I DID confide in multiple friends through the years that Graham had been abusive — long before he was running for office. Those friends confirm they told the Times so.”

If true, that is a strikingly different approach from the one taken by the media in reporting on the Kavanaugh allegations.

All the familiar faces are now attacking or dismissing these allegations.

That includes Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who campaigned for Platner this week. Khanna had previously pounded his chest in public over the Kavanaugh allegations: “I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.”

Some of the usual suspects are now quiet, and for good reason. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) dismissed Kavanaugh’s claims of innocence but later resigned from their respective offices after accusations of misconduct and harassment.

Of course, the sexual misconduct and mistreatment of women is not the only controversy surrounding Platner, who has reportedly ridiculed a wounded veteran, dismissed rape victims, and made other comments on his since-deleted Reddit account about Blacks and rural Mainers that would be considered disqualifying for most candidates. He made many other posts that were deeply offensive and some that were, frankly, gross.

Nevertheless, figures like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would not even address the allegations, simply repeating awkwardly, “We’re going to … take back the Senate.”

Back in 2018, Schumer was proclaiming on the Senate floor, “For too long, when women have made serious allegations of abuse, they have been ignored. That cannot happen in this case.”

For her part, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) proclaimed her faith in any woman making such allegations in 2018. Now, she repeats, like Schumer, “I’m very optimistic we’re going to win Maine.”

In “A Man for All Seasons,” there is a scene where Sir Thomas More confronts Richard Rich, a former protege who lied in court to convict him in exchange for being named attorney general of Wales. As Rich passes by, More asks: “For Wales? Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world … but for Wales!”

The response by Democratic leaders today appears to be, “Well, yeah — not for Wales, but we’ll do it for Maine.”

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.“

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 17:40

Campbell's CEO Serves Up Warning For Restaurants As "Resilient" At-Home Cooking Trend Gains Steam

There is not much to get excited about in canned-soup maker Campbell's third-quarter results, with sales slumping and softness in its snack unit weighing on performance. But one revealing detail from management's earnings call earlier on Monday offers a broader read-through on the consumer: households may be spending much more time cooking at home and pulling back from restaurants in the second half of the year. 

The canned-soup maker reaffirmed its full-year outlook, but Wall Street analysts were muted on the third-quarter results. 

BNP Paribas Max Gumport told clients that two key concerns remain: Campbell's ability to stabilize organic sales in the snack unit and to navigate another year of elevated inflation. He noted the quarterly beat was driven largely by SG&A and below-the-line items, while the guidance reaffirmation was partly supported by an expected fourth-quarter tariff refund benefit. 

Third-quarter adjusted EPS printed at 50 cents, beating the 48-cent Bloomberg Consensus estimate but down from 73 cents in the same period one year ago. Net sales fell 4.4% to $2.37 billion, slightly below estimates. Organic net sales declined 4%, worse than the 3.3% drop analysts tracked by Bloomberg expected, with both meals & beverages and snacks down 4%.

Margins remained pressured. RBC Capital analyst Nik Modi said, "The company is navigating a challenging environment marked by inflation-driven margin headwinds and tariff impacts, which compressed adjusted gross margins by -240 bps points." 

Campbell's still expects full-year adjusted EPS of $2.15 to $2.25, versus the Bloomberg Consensus of $2.17, and organic net sales to fall 1% to 2%, versus the estimate of -2.14%. 

Notice how Campbell shares were crushed in the era of food inflation.

After the earnings release, Campbell's held an analyst call.

David Palmer, senior managing director and head of restaurant and food producers at Evercore ISI, asked Campbell's CEO Mick Beekhuizen about trends surrounding the snack-related portfolio:

Obviously, heading into fiscal '27, you're going to be dealing with the inflation you talked about, and the choices you're making around snacks and those things will be cause for noise and varying degrees of sales or profit pressure. But I'm wondering if you're just thinking about your core businesses and the goal of returning those to at least some modest growth, profitable growth. Where do you think are the near and medium-term potential wins, most improved areas that we'll see from organic sales perspective? And then I have a quick follow-up.

Beekhuizen's response revealed one very important trend: he expects at-home cooking to remain resilient in the back half of the year.

His response:

Sure. even if you look at this quarter, I'll highlight a couple of areas, and I appreciate you asking the question because there are very clear proof points in this quarter that we can continue to support. Within the meals & beverage portfolio, the at-home cooking consumer trend is resilient, and we expect that trend to continue. And that is a big part of our meals & beverage portfolio plays right into that consumer trend.

The at-home cooking comment piqued our interest because it dovetails with a recent UBS note from analyst Dennis Geiger, the bank's U.S. restaurants equity research analyst, who expects restaurant spending to remain in a "difficult cycle" through the second half of the year. That only lends credibility to Beekhuizen's view that consumers are likely to continue leaning into home meals as mounting macro pressures weigh on discretionary dining. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 17:20

US Army Develops 'Breakthrough' Quantum Sensor to Pinpoint Radio Signals on Battlefields

Authored by Atharva Gosavi via Interesting Engineering,

US Army scientists have demonstrated a new quantum sensor that can measure the full 3D direction of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields, a milestone that could reshape how signals are detected on the battlefield.

The rubidium vapor cell.US Army

The breakthrough was achieved by scientists at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory.

According to the researchers, the sensor could improve situational awareness, strengthen secure communications, and help soldiers make faster, better-informed decisions in complex battlefield environments.

"Our work in quantum science is about giving our Soldiers new ways to sense and understand the world around them," said David Meyer, ARL research physicist.

"This research opens the door to detecting and pinpointing signals over a broad frequency range in a single sensing package, even in the most challenging environments,"

Measuring Radio Waves in 3D

The new sensor is based on Rydberg atoms, which are atoms placed in a highly excited state that makes them extremely sensitive to electric fields.

The researchers described how the device can determine not only electromagnetic field strength but also the 3D polarization orientation and propagation direction, known as the k-vector.

According to ARL, this is the first time such a measurement has been achieved using a quantum sensor.

Traditional sensors usually measure the strength of an electromagnetic field in only one direction at a time. The ARL-developed quantum sensor, however, can "see" both the direction and motion of the electromagnetic field, providing a complete 3D picture.

Despite being only a few centimeters across, the sensor can determine the direction of incoming signals with an accuracy of about two degrees.

This could make it a highly flexible platform for detecting and locating radio-frequency signals in contested environments.

A Tiny Sensor for a Crowded Spectrum

Unlike conventional antennas, which often need to be physically comparable in size to the signals they detect and are typically limited to narrow frequency ranges, ARL's sensor is independent of signal size. It can also operate across the entire radio-frequency spectrum.

This capability comes from the broadband nature of Rydberg atoms, which can operate from direct current to terahertz frequencies.

"The modern battlefield is an extremely complicated radio frequency environment," Meyer said.

"With the proliferation of autonomous systems, there can be hundreds of distinct signal sources. Having a single sensor platform that covers the entire radio-frequency spectrum and can measure the 3D direction of those fields represents a potentially transformative capability, especially in spectrum awareness," he continued.

Building on Years of Quantum Research

The sensor works by using a tiny glass cell filled with rubidium atom vapor. Researchers shine lasers through the cell to put the atoms into Rydberg states.

When a radio wave passes through, the atoms respond in a way that reveals the field's strength, direction, and movement in three dimensions.

The latest work builds on ARL's earlier development of the Rydberg electrometer. In 2024, the team demonstrated its ability to measure radio-frequency field polarization and decode information encoded in that polarization.

The research was published in a paper called Physical Review Applied.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 17:00

Sam Bankman-Fried 'Absolutely' Wants A Presidential Pardon

From inside a federal prison cell, disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried is making a direct bid for a White House lifeline. In a phone interview with FOX Business, the former FTX founder said he "absolutely" wants a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump.

"Absolutely. It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me," he said.

Bankman-Fried declined to confirm whether his family is currently lobbying the administration on his behalf, saying only, "I can't speak for them."

In March 2024, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted on two counts of wire fraud and five counts of conspiracy. The court found that the November 2022 collapse of his crypto empire resulted in approximately $8 billion in losses for FTX customers, $1.7 billion for equity investors, and $1.3 billion for lenders to Alameda Research.

Key Development Today: Bankman-Fried has formally submitted a presidential pardon application through the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney.

Bankman-Fried Defends His Case

Despite his conviction, Bankman-Fried continued to argue that the prosecution was unjust, citing the recovery in cryptocurrency markets that has allowed the bankruptcy estate to repay customers more than they originally lost.

"I didn't steal user funds either. Customers have been repaid now 170% or so on their deposits. It's one of the very few cases where the platform was over-collateralized, where customers were more than made whole. And yet there was, you know, not just a criminal investigation, but a prosecution. And, you know, dozens of years of sentence[s]." -SBF

He added that it is "a great disservice" to customers that it has taken three years for them to be repaid nearly twice what they had on the platform.

Regrets Missing the AI Boom, Praises Musk

When asked about his fear of missing out on major technological developments, SBF expressed frustration at being unable to participate from prison.

"It's a concern I have. You know, there's a lot that I did try and position... I'd certainly much rather be, you know, able to help that out from the outside than in here where there's very little I can do."

He then praised Elon Musk and SpaceX, saying the company has "extremely large potential" and noting parallels with how few companies are positioned to play a major role in the space industry.

Today's interview is the latest in a months-long effort by Bankman-Fried to secure clemency. He has posted pro-Trump messages via prison-approved proxies and his parents have previously explored clemency options with lawyers connected to the Trump orbit.

For example, back in March...

The current spike only highlights how much oil prices have lowered under @realDonaldTrump.

🛢️:
Trump (2017-2020): $58
Biden (2021-2024): $83
Trump (2025): $68

Average price over the whole of 2022: $99
Price yesterday: $100

Calm down.

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) March 14, 2026

While President Trump has granted clemency to other crypto figures, including Binance's Changpeng Zhao, he previously told The New York Times he does not plan to pardon Bankman-Fried. Some members of Congress and voices in the crypto industry have urged him to deny the request.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 16:40

'Chat Is Dead': OpenAI's Pre-IPO Makeover Into A "Superapp"

The year the private-AI complex finally has to show its work has arrived, and ChatGPT maker OpenAI is about to add some major garnishing to the prospectus before their upcoming IPO - in what FT is calling the "biggest overhaul of ChatGPT since launch."

"It will transcend the actual surface . . . what we’re building towards is where you have your own personal agent that is capable of helping you . . . across everything in your life, be it personally or at work," said Thibault Sottiaux, who previously ran Codex and now leads all of OpenAI’s core product and platform.

Context: Over the last three weeks, the three most valuable private companies in the space announced IPOs. SpaceX filed its S-1 in May, months after folding xAI into itself. Anthropic filed a confidential draft S-1 on June 1, reportedly targeting an October listing. And OpenAI filed its own confidential draft around May 22, aiming for a debut as soon as September at a private valuation of roughly $730 billion to $850 billion, with IPO chatter pushing toward $1 trillion. The back half of 2026 is now the first real test of whether public investors will pay the prices private rounds have set.

"Chat Is Dead"

"Chat is dead," one senior OpenAI employee told the FT - which is a crazy thing to hear given that ChatGPT is what brought us here, and still has nearly a billion users. The obvious interpretation: OpenAI is moving away from chat because chat does not pay, at least not quickly enough to support a near-trillion-dollar valuation.

Adoption was never the problem. ChatGPT has nearly a billion users, most of them on the free tier. The problem is that the flagship product remains a low-margin consumer chatbot while the company burns roughly $14 billion a year against revenue that crossed $20 billion by the end of 2025. Depending on how that revenue is annualized and what multiple investors apply, OpenAI's valuation range implies a price-to-sales multiple from the mid-30s to the low 60s. Walking into a roadshow near $1 trillion while presenting the golden goose as a beloved money-loser is not a viable option.

The company has also reorganized. ChatGPT, Codex, and other product teams have been consolidated under a single leader, Sottiaux, while several senior executives - including former product head Kevin Weil - have departed. Key-person churn in the weeks before an S-1 filing is, notable.

According to FT and other reporting, here's what's new:

• ChatGPT is being redesigned from a standalone chatbot into a gateway for higher-value products. The website and mobile apps are expected to be reworked so users are pushed toward coding tools, image generation, AI agents, and partner-built applications rather than simply returning to a general-purpose chat interface.
   
• OpenAI is adding prompts and interface features that steer users toward monetizable use cases. The company is expected to add new surfaces inside ChatGPT that direct users toward Codex, image tools, and apps from partners such as Canva and Booking.com. The partners themselves are not new; their more prominent placement inside the ChatGPT flow is.
   
• The company plans to remove that scaffolding over time. The longer-term goal is for OpenAI’s models to infer what users want without requiring explicit prompts, buttons, or routing cues. That roadmap detail appears to be one of the more specific new elements in the report.
   
• The “superapp” framing is being elevated as the new investor-facing story. OpenAI is increasingly presenting ChatGPT as a single interface that can absorb chat, coding, agents, search-like tasks, image generation, and third-party services. The underlying components have existed in pieces, but the report frames them as one consolidated product thesis.
   
• Codex is being pushed closer to the center of ChatGPT. OpenAI’s coding product is receiving greater prominence and resources as the company shifts attention toward products with clearer paid usage and enterprise demand. The Codex push was already underway, but the report makes it central to the ChatGPT overhaul.
   
• The personal-agent vision is being packaged as the next version of ChatGPT. OpenAI is positioning the product around a single assistant that can help across personal and work tasks, reachable through mobile, desktop, web, and voice. The company has been moving toward agents for some time; what is newly elevated is the idea that this agent becomes the primary ChatGPT experience.
   
• The enterprise pivot is being tied directly to the ChatGPT redesign. OpenAI’s push toward business customers and competition with Anthropic is not new. What is newly emphasized is the way the consumer interface is being reshaped to support that shift, turning ChatGPT into a funnel for higher-value, work-oriented products.

The revamp is expected to begin rolling out in the coming weeks - right inside the IPO window, when every interface change, resource shift, and product decision doubles as investor messaging meant to burnish the prospectus.

One issue with a 'superapp': structural coherence. A consumer funnel that routes users to third-party apps like Canva and Booking.com, an enterprise business built around Codex, and a long-horizon AGI bet are three different businesses with three different margin profiles, customer-acquisition dynamics, and capital requirements. OpenAI is now trying to staple them together within an agentic ecosystem - something that was always going to happen.

So OpenAI is building the only story that can survive diligence: enterprise seats, Codex, and agents that perform billable work. Codex's weekly active users have grown sixfold to more than five million since the February desktop launch, with the majority of users paying. Enterprise already accounts for around 40 percent of revenue and is expected to reach 50 percent by year-end. That sequencing is, almost line for line, the "make money first" approach Anthropic has followed for years. The convergence is no longer subtle.

That said, the revamp does not amount to panic. Agents and coding tools really are where the technical and commercial frontier is moving anyway. Codex's growth trajectory is real, and a majority-paying user mix is what you want going into an IPO. 

Meanwhile, what's Dario gonna do? Anthropic also burns substantial cash and has told investors it may not reach break-even until 2028. Both companies are walking into the same public-market daylight this year. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 15:40

Judge Blocks Trump's $100,000 Fee For H-1B Visas

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump's $100,000 fee for H-1B visas is not legal, a federal judge said on June 8.

President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Aug. 5, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty Images

The fee for visas for specialty foreign workers "imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress," U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin said in a 42-page decision.

While the president is able to restrict noncitizen entry into the United States, Congress has the power to tax, and federal law does not delegate it, the judge said.

He also ruled that the fee violated a law called the Administrative Procedure Act because it was issued without allowing the public to comment before it took effect, and ordered officials to vacate the policy in its entirety.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts and 19 other states. They challenged the fee, which Trump announced in September as a way to reduce taxes and bring better people into the country.

A different judge in late 2025 had upheld the fee, finding that Trump had the authority to increase the fee from between $2,000 to $5,000 to the $100,000 level. An appeal is pending in that case.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 15:20

UBS Warns America's Restaurants Locked In "Difficult Cycle" As Tax-Refund Sugar-High Fades

There is certainly a growing consensus on Wall Street that the tax-refund sugar high is fading just as consumers' financial profiles deteriorate. The latest read-through comes from UBS analyst Dennis Geiger, the bank's U.S. restaurants equity research analyst, who warns that a toxic cocktail of macro pressures is likely to crimp restaurant spending in the second half of the year.

Geiger warned in a note that elevated gas prices at the pump appear to be offsetting tax-rebate benefits, while lower-income, younger, and Hispanic consumers remain among some of the weakest demand cohorts.

"Challenged traffic and sales trends likely largely reflect depressed consumer sentiment across several cohorts, elevated gas prices, and other macro headwinds," the analyst said, adding, "We are more cautious on restaurant industry trends into 2H26, assuming near-term headwinds persist, rebate check benefits fade, and risk that gas prices stay elevated."

He said that margin pressure will likely persist for restaurants through summer and into fall as commodity inflation remains a problem.

Despite the negative backdrop, he pointed out valuations for restaurant stocks look attractive:

Despite challenged fundamentals, negative investor sentiment, and valuation pressure, we believe restaurants are in a difficult cycle currently, rather than a longer-term structurally challenged position. Valuations appear attractive relative to history, but with shares likely needing a positive inflection in sales / demand trajectory or favorable macro developments / headlines to realize notable upside.

His top picks are Dutch Bros, Brinker International, and Yum! Brands, while his least favorite restaurant stocks are Cheesecake Factory and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

Geiger's chartpack visualizing restaurant trends:

Sales Trends 

QSR Sales and Traffic Trends

Casual Dining Trends

Dismal Consumer Sentiment still a Problem 

The full chart pack can be viewed by Professional subscribers here at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Geiger's caution for the restaurant industry adds to our theme of emerging consumer stress (read the latest here).

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 15:00

6.4 Magnitude Quake Rocks Western Cuba, Sends Tremors Into South Florida

The USGS reported that a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck just off the coast of Cuba around 2 p.m. ET, with residents across parts of Florida reporting feeling the shaking.

Notable quake, preliminary info: M 6.4 - 118 km WNW of Mantua, Cuba https://t.co/EUaVqZo8M1

— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) June 8, 2026

The offshore quake was detected near Pinar del Río, located in western Cuba. Initial reports did not indicate major damage or a tsunami threat.

NWS Miami reported "shaking across Southwestern Florida within the past 30 minutes."

6/8 @ 2:15pm: We've received several recent reports of shaking across Southwestern Florida within the past 30 minutes.

An earthquake has occurred just west of Cuba in the southern Gulf. @USGS_Quakes has since revised the magnitude down to a 6.1 at a depth of 10km. https://t.co/f1OyzUI6Sf pic.twitter.com/MAB4ptNk74

— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) June 8, 2026

*Developing...

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 14:46

DOJ Asks Courts To Strip 17 Criminals Of US Citizenship

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday announced it has asked courts across the country to strip more than a dozen people who have pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes of their U.S. citizenship.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a press conference in Washington on April 27, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Filings in federal court requested judges revoke the naturalization of 17 individuals, including Jean Claude Alfred, a 68-year-old Haitian native who became a U.S. citizen in 1994.

Federal officials said that Alfred, who does not have a lawyer listed on the court docket, was convicted in 1996 of attempting sexual battery and indecent assault on his daughter, for conduct that began three years prior.

Alfred "concealed his crime throughout the naturalization process," DOJ lawyers told the federal court in Miami.

Another man, 39-year-old Armando Mendoza of Mexico, received sexually explicit images of minors as early as 2009 and pleaded guilty in 2013. Mendoza failed to disclose the crime in his 2011 citizenship application and interview, which means his citizenship should be revoked, officials said in a separate filing in federal court in California.

Mendoza has not hired an attorney, according to the court docket.

"When criminal aliens exploit the naturalization process by breaking the law, there are consequences," acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. "Criminal aliens are lying about their past crimes, including drug dealers, sexual predators, and fraudsters."

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added that "American citizenship is a privilege, and it must be earned honestly."

He said, "If you come here break our laws, and lie in your immigration proceedings, you forfeit that privilege."

Developing...

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 14:40

Apple's Long-Awaited AI Siri Fails To Impress As Shares Pump Then Dump During WWDC

Summary: 

• Market Reaction: Buy the rumor, Sell the news  
• Apple Reveals Long-Awaited AI Siri 
• CEO Tim Cook gives his final WWDC keynote speech
• Goldman And UBS Preview Apple's WWDC: AI Siri Takes Center Stage

Apple CEO Tim Cook opened WWDC26 with a keynote on artificial intelligence, software updates, and developer tools across the company's ecosystem.

WWDC26 presentation centered on a broad rollout of Apple Intelligence features across its ecosystem, with the tech giant previewing a more conversational Siri, a dedicated Siri app, Visual Intelligence tools and new AI capabilities across Safari, Mac, Watch, Vision Pro and first-party apps.

Major performance upgrades in iOS 27 #WWDC pic.twitter.com/5Q1BqHJoeH

— Apple Hub (@theapplehub) June 8, 2026

The updated Siri will be available first in English, then expand to other languages. It is expected to work across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro, with deeper device context, back-and-forth conversations, and more integration with Spotlight and system files. Apple also showed a customizable Siri voice, revamped dictation, and a 3D Siri experience for Vision Pro.

Safari is getting AI-powered automatic tab grouping, along with a feature that monitors web pages and notifies users of changes. Apple also highlighted privacy messaging, taking a shot at rival AI browsers that track user activity.

Headlines from MacWorld:

1. Tim opens the show for the last time: Tim Cook is giving his usual intro talking about how great Apple’s devices and tools are and praising its developers. Show a pic of the Earth taken from the journey to the moon. Apple Intelligence and Siri starting things off!

2. Three areas of focus: Platform improvements, Trust and safety, Apple Intelligence, and Siri

3. A new version of macOS has been revealed, called Golden Gate

4. They're not announcing features for each iOS (just yet), but rather talking about system-wide changes that affect all OSes. For example, there’s now a Liquid Glass slider as well as a unified menu bar. In macOS, sidebar icons will be clearer and more consistent. App icons will get a new Liquid Glass layer that add depth and refraction. System optimization is smooth, and “a lot” of things are faster. iPhone and iPad launch up to 30% faster.

5. Improved Search: iOS, iPad, and macOS rebuilt the foundation of search that powers Spotlight, Settings, and Mail. It’s more stable and more efficient, indexed immediately. This is the only thing I wanted and I can’t wait to try it out.

6. A new voice for Siri: Siri AI, as Apple is calling it, has a new customizable voice with sliders for pace and expressivity.

7. Siri does what other chatbots do: Apple is spending a bit of time demoing Siri doesn things that ChatGPT and Gemini already do, like making plans, messaging groups of friends, getting information from the web, create a menu on the iPhone. On the Mac, Siri is integrated into Spotlight, which could be trouble if Apple hasn’t fixed it like it said.

8. Siri, Siri, Siri: The Siri section is long as expected, but there’s not a lot here that wasn’t previewed back in 2024. And of course, other chatbots and AI platforms are already doing a lot of this stuff. It remains to be seen whether the deep integration with Apple products will be enough.

9. WatchOS: It took almost an hour, but Apple finally mentioned watchOS in the WWDC keynote. It will be getting a new app layout and some Apple Intelligence features including the new Siri.

10. Visual Intelligence gets new abilities: Visual Intelligence with Siri can understand more about what’s on your screen and will be able to get contextual answers about the things it sees around you and on your screen. I have to wonder how many of these features will elicit yawns from users. We’ll have to see how it works.

The market reaction was underwhelming.

*APPLE SHARES TURN NEGATIVE AFTER GAINING AS MUCH AS 3.3% https://t.co/L0jRH6shpZ

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 8, 2026

Apple shares initially jumped as much as 3.3% when the AI features were unveiled, but went negative into late afternoon. 

Market commentary in Bloomberg's live blog suggested investors were unimpressed, as many of the features should have been available years ago.

WWDC announcements under Tim Cook (courtesy of Tech Brew):

• 2012 - Apple Maps
• 2013 - iTunes Radio
• 2014 - iOS 8 / OS x Yosemite
• 2015 - Apple Music
• 2016 - macOS rebrand
• 2017 - HomePod
• 2018 - iOS 12
• 2019 - Pro Display XDR
• 2020 - Apple silicon
• 2021 - macOS Monterey
• 2022 - M2 chip
• 2023 - Apple Vision Pro
• 2024 - Apple Intelligence
• 2025 - Liquid Glass
• 2026 - Siri AI Update?

"The WWDC 2024 version was pure vapourware but this looks more legit because Siri responses actually take a while to respond. After getting fined last time for false advertising, Apple can't mess around with this Siri update," tech journalist Trung Phan wrote on X.

Goldman And UBS Preview Apple's WWDC: AI Siri Takes Center Stage

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) begins this afternoon at 1 p.m. EST at Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif.

Ahead of WWDC, Goldman analysts led by Michael Ng provided clients with a preview of what to expect, including the unveiling of a long-delayed AI-enhanced Siri and operating system version "27" across iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS.

The new AI-enhanced Siri will include many delayed features from WWDC24, such as on-screen awareness, personal context, and deeper integration with apps like Messages, Calendar, Photos, and Notes.

"We view these new features as key demand drivers for the iPhone and other products, which should help extend the strong revenue momentum realized to date (e.g., iPhone revenue +23% YoY in F1H26)," Ng wrote in the note.

Expected WWDC announcements:

AI-enhanced Siri launch timing & feature details. After announcing AI-enhanced Siri at WWDC in 2024 and seeing subsequent delays, we expect Apple to share updated details on AI Siri's launch timeline and capabilities.

• Launch timing: During Apple's F2Q26 earnings call, the company stated it expects to launch personalized Siri this year (C2026). We expect Apple to confirm AI Siri should launch with iOS 27 in September 2026 alongside the premium iPhone 18 family launch.
• AI Siri feature details: First, AI-enhanced Siri should have greater on-screen awareness (e.g., using information across iOS Apps including Messages, Calendar, Photos, Notes), which should allow it to provide more detailed, personalized answers to queries/prompts. Second, Apple likely will announce that users will have the ability to choose between various model providers to power AI features (Siri, Image Playground, Writing Tools), per Bloomberg. Third, Apple likely will announce a new standalone Siri app for users to interact in a chatbot-like manner.

Additional AI-driven & ancillary features. Aside from AI Siri, per Bloomberg, Apple likely will announce more sophisticated AI photo editing tools on the Photos App (besides Clean Up) that allow users to (a) generate content within a photo (Extend), (b) enhance photo aspects, and (c) adjust photo framing (Reframe). Apple likely will also announce improved Visual Intelligence capabilities through the Camera app, which will be able to do things like scanning nutrition labels (to sync with the Health app to log food intake) or scan business cards to create new contacts. Lastly, Apple is also expected to announce the ability to make tab groups in Safari and create custom Wallet passes from physical tickets.

Ng noted that Apple's price action tends to be positive heading into WWDC, but shares often trade lower during the event.

Shares have traded up 19% since late April.

Ng remains "Buy" rated on Apple with a 12-month target price of $340.

Separate from NG's note, UBS analyst David Vogt does not expect WWDC26 to be a positive catalyst for shares.

What Vogt expects at WWDC:

• Google Gemini integration: Apple is expected to rebuild its internal models utilizing Gemini, using a combination of Google's and its own in-house model to power Siri features. Apple is reportedly paying around $1 bn annually for access to the 1.2T model, which will run on its Private Cloud Compute servers.
• Link to third-party models: Currently offered with ChatGPT, users will be able to choose which model they use through a feature called "Extensions", a potential tailwind to App Store revenue.
• Dedicated Siri app: The app will function similarly to other AI apps, including a history of prior conversations and an interface for text, voice, and attachments. Chat syncing across devices with iCloud: User conversations will sync across devices with iCloud, potentially increasing its usage.
• Personalization and on-screen awareness: Siri is expected to possess the ability to understand personal data and analyze on-screen content. Users have long awaited these features since they were originally announced at WWDC24

WWDC26 is set to be Apple's first major test of AI Siri. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 14:19

Pentagon Names Alibaba, Baidu, And BYD In Updated Chinese Military Companies List As DoD Contracting Bans Loom

The Department of Defense has filed a major update to its official list of "Chinese military companies" operating in the United States, formally naming or reaffirming high-profile firms including Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, BGI Group, and Autel as companies linked to Beijing's military-civil fusion strategy.

The notice, filed on Monday and scheduled for Federal Register publication on June 10, comes just weeks before new restrictions on Department of Defense contracting with listed entities take effect on June 30. The companies are alleged to have ownership or ties to SASAC (State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission), affiliations with MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), PLA connections, support from China's "Little Giant" industrial program, or a presence in military-civil fusion zones.

Section 1260H requires the Pentagon to identify Chinese companies that conduct commercial business while also supporting or being affiliated with the People's Liberation Army or China's defense-industrial base. The list has existed for years, but the consequences are now becoming more significant. Effective June 30, the DoD will be barred from entering into, renewing, or extending contracts directly with listed companies or entities they control. A broader indirect ban - covering goods or services that incorporate products from these firms - follows in June 2027. Additional rules restrict DoD contractors from working with entities that lobby on behalf of listed companies.

In short, the Pentagon is putting major Chinese companies on notice that it views them as potential extensions of China's military and defense ecosystem, even if those companies are better known globally for consumer products, cloud services, electric vehicles, drones, or biotech.

Key Companies Designated

Several globally significant names stand out in the update:

• Alibaba Group Holding Limited: Indirectly affiliated with SASAC and flagged as a military-civil fusion contributor due to its MIIT ties. The company's dominance in e-commerce, cloud computing, and AI raises long-standing dual-use technology concerns.
• Baidu, Inc.: Similarly linked to SASAC and cited for MIIT affiliation, reflecting U.S. concerns about its AI, search, and autonomous systems capabilities.
• BYD Company Limited: Directly and indirectly tied to SASAC and MIIT. The world's largest electric vehicle maker is highlighted for its critical role in batteries and EVs - sectors with clear strategic and potential military applications.
• BGI Group (including BGI Genomics and other subsidiaries): Noted for direct PLA affiliation and MIIT ties, along with government assistance tied to military planning objectives. The genomics firm has previously drawn scrutiny over data security and collection practices.
• Autel entities (Autel Intelligent Technology and Autel Robotics): Designated for "Little Giant" status and MIIT connections, underscoring concerns around commercial drones and robotics with obvious military uses.

The broader list includes many other major players, including SMIC and memory chip firms (CXMT, YMTC), COMAC and AVIC aerospace entities, CATL and EVE Energy batteries, Huawei-related companies, DJI, Hikvision, Tencent, SenseTime, and various shipping and construction conglomerates. Some firms appear with extensive U.S. or international subsidiaries.

A handful of entities were removed from the previous January 2025 list, including certain CNOOC and COSCO subsidiaries.

Broader Context and Stakes

This update marks the latest step in years of escalating U.S. policy toward China's military-civil fusion strategy. Earlier Pentagon assessments and a February 2026 draft notice had already previewed many of these additions before being withdrawn. The move also fits into a wider U.S. effort that includes Entity List expansions, investment restrictions, export controls, and legislative pushes targeting Chinese biotech and technology supply chains.

Geopolitically, the list reflects Washington's view that key commercial sectors - AI, semiconductors, EVs and batteries, biotech/genomics, drones, and cloud infrastructure - cannot be cleanly separated from China's national security apparatus. It arrives amid intensifying competition over critical technologies and broader strategic tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Listed entities can request reconsideration by submitting evidence to a designated Pentagon email address.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/08/2026 - 14:00