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“If the Knicks can come back from 29 down, an American can figure out how to get into Texas."

SAN FRANCISCO — In celebration of Pride Night, every Giants player wore a rainbow logo on their cap representing the LGBTQ+ community when they hosted the Cubs on Friday.  Starting pitcher Landen Roupp, however, made an alteration seen before by some big-league players, inscribing a Bible verse in silver adjacent to the rainbow logo. Giants pitcher...

The US's World Cup run got off to a smashing start.

These Are The Hardest Languages For English Speakers To Learn

For English speakers, learning Spanish or Italian can take less than a year. Reaching the same level of proficiency in Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, or Arabic may require nearly four times as much study.

This wide gap reflects how closely a language resembles English in its vocabulary, grammar, sounds, and writing system.

This visualization, created by Julie R. Peasley via Visual Capitalist, ranks languages by difficulty using categories and study-time estimates from Effective Language Learning and Rosetta Stone, which reference Foreign Service Institute-style benchmarks.

Which Languages Are Easiest to Learn for English Speakers?

Languages are generally easier to learn when they share familiar grammar, vocabulary, sounds, or writing systems. That’s why many Category I languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and Swedish, are considered relatively approachable.

The data table below shows the difficulty rankings and estimated learning time for 70 different languages:

Language Category Time to learn 🇿🇦🇳🇦 Afrikaans I 24-30 weeks 🇩🇰 Danish I 24-30 weeks 🇳🇱🇧🇪 Dutch I 24-30 weeks 🇫🇷🇧🇪🇨🇭🇨🇦 French I 24-30 weeks 🇮🇹🇨🇭 Italian I 24-30 weeks 🇳🇴 Norwegian I 24-30 weeks 🇵🇹🇧🇷 Portuguese I 24-30 weeks 🇷🇴🇲🇩 Romanian I 24-30 weeks 🇪🇸🇲🇽🇦🇷 Spanish I 24-30 weeks 🇸🇪 Swedish I 24-30 weeks 🇩🇪🇦🇹🇨🇭 German II 36 weeks 🇭🇹 Haitian Creole II 36 weeks 🇮🇩 Indonesian II 36 weeks 🇲🇾🇧🇳 Malay II 36 weeks 🇹🇿🇰🇪 Swahili II 36 weeks 🇦🇱🇽🇰 Albanian III 44 weeks 🇪🇹 Amharic III 44 weeks 🇦🇲 Armenian III 44 weeks 🇦🇿 Azerbaijani III 44 weeks 🇧🇩🇮🇳 Bengali III 44 weeks 🇧🇬 Bulgarian III 44 weeks 🇲🇲 Burmese III 44 weeks 🇨🇿 Czech III 44 weeks 🇦🇫 Dari III 44 weeks 🇪🇪 Estonian III 44 weeks 🇮🇷 Farsi III 44 weeks 🇫🇮 Finnish III 44 weeks 🇬🇪 Georgian III 44 weeks 🇬🇷🇨🇾 Greek III 44 weeks 🇮🇱 Hebrew III 44 weeks 🇮🇳 Hindi III 44 weeks 🇭🇺 Hungarian III 44 weeks 🇮🇸 Icelandic III 44 weeks 🇰🇿 Kazakh III 44 weeks 🇰🇭 Khmer III 44 weeks Kurdish III 44 weeks 🇰🇬 Kyrgyz III 44 weeks 🇱🇦 Lao III 44 weeks 🇱🇻 Latvian III 44 weeks 🇱🇹 Lithuanian III 44 weeks 🇲🇰 Macedonian III 44 weeks 🇲🇳 Mongolian III 44 weeks 🇳🇵 Nepali III 44 weeks 🇦🇫🇵🇰 Pashto III 44 weeks 🇵🇱 Polish III 44 weeks 🇷🇺 Russian III 44 weeks 🇷🇸🇭🇷🇧🇦🇲🇪 Serbo-Croatian III 44 weeks 🇱🇰 Sinhala III 44 weeks 🇸🇰 Slovak III 44 weeks 🇸🇮 Slovenian III 44 weeks 🇸🇴 Somali III 44 weeks 🇮🇳 Telugu III 44 weeks Tibetan III 44 weeks 🇮🇳🇱🇰🇸🇬 Tamil III 44 weeks 🇹🇯 Tajiki III 44 weeks 🇵🇭 Tagalog III 44 weeks 🇹🇭 Thai III 44 weeks 🇹🇷🇨🇾 Turkish III 44 weeks 🇹🇲 Turkmen III 44 weeks 🇺🇦 Ukrainian III 44 weeks 🇵🇰🇮🇳 Urdu III 44 weeks 🇺🇿 Uzbek III 44 weeks 🇻🇳 Vietnamese III 44 weeks 🇿🇦 Xhosa III 44 weeks 🇿🇦 Zulu III 44 weeks 🇸🇦🇪🇬🇦🇪 Arabic IV 88 weeks 🇭🇰🇲🇴 Cantonese Chinese IV 88 weeks 🇨🇳🇹🇼🇸🇬 Mandarin Chinese IV 88 weeks 🇯🇵 Japanese IV 88 weeks 🇰🇷🇰🇵 Korean IV 88 weeks

One of the most striking findings is the size of the gap between the easiest and hardest languages. While Spanish or French can often be learned in 24–30 weeks, mastering Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, or Arabic may require roughly 88 weeks of study.

Many Category I languages use the Latin alphabet and share vocabulary roots with English through Germanic or Romance-language connections.

This may also help explain why European languages often rank highly in language-learning apps and why Duolingo’s most popular languages globally include several widely taught European options.

What Makes a Language Harder to Learn?

Category III languages tend to have greater linguistic distance from English. This can include unfamiliar grammar structures, new alphabets, or pronunciation patterns that require more time to master.

For example, languages like Russian, Greek, Hindi, Turkish, and Vietnamese all fall into this category. Some use different scripts, while others introduce grammatical systems that are less intuitive for native English speakers.

The “Super-Hard” Languages

Category IV languages are considered exceptionally difficult for English speakers. This group includes Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean.

Many of these languages present multiple learning hurdles simultaneously. Mandarin and Cantonese require mastery of tones, Japanese combines several writing systems, Korean introduces a unique alphabet and grammar structure, and Arabic uses an entirely different script. Together, these differences significantly increase the time needed to reach professional proficiency.

To learn more about language use across the U.S., check out Mapped: America’s Most-Spoken Languages After English and Spanish on the Voronoi app.

Tyler Durden Fri, 06/12/2026 - 23:00

IShowSpeed's presence at Friday's USA World Cup match caused quite the headache for several security guards at Los Angeles Stadium.

Alwyn and Swift parted ways back in 2023 after six and a half years together.

Alwyn and Swift parted ways back in 2023 after six and a half years together.

LA Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua looked happy and healthy Thursday night as he took in the Team USA World Cup match at SoFi Stadium alongside New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart.

Half Of Israelis Agree Deterrence 'Weakened' Following Wars In Iran, Lebanon: Poll

Via The Cradle

Israelis are raising doubts about their government and military's ability to provide security after more than three months of renewed war against Iran and Lebanon. 

According to a Maariv poll released on Friday, 50 percent of Israelis believe their country's deterrence has declined following the recent escalation with Iran and Lebanon, compared to 28 percent who say it has strengthened, while 22 percent are undecided.

via Le Monde

The US and Israel launched a renewed bombing campaign on Iran on February 28. The Islamic Republic retaliated by firing missiles and drones at Israel and US bases in Persian Gulf states until a ceasefire was reached on April 8, largely halting the fighting amid negotiations.

According to the Maariv poll, 49 percent think the Israeli army's freedom to carry out strikes in Lebanon has decreased after the latest confrontation, versus 30 percent who say it has improved and 21 percent who are unsure.

On 2 March, Hezbollah took advantage of Tel Aviv's vulnerability from the war with Iran by renewing its own missile and drone attacks on Israel. Hezbollah had refrained from retaliating to thousands of Israeli bombings of Lebanese territory that violated the previous ceasefire reached in November 2024. 

Israel responded by intensifying its airstrikes and sending ground troops to occupy additional Lebanese territory. At least 30 Israeli soldiers have since been killed and 1,302 injured, primarily by Hezbollah's newly introduced FPV drones.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to launch an attack on Iran despite US President Donald Trump's supposed request not to do so.

In an interview with the Financial Times (FT), Trump stated, "I call the shots. I call all the shots. He [Netanyahu] doesn't call the shots."

However, Netanyahu ordered a strike on Iran just hours after Trump's comments. Iran responded by striking targets in Israel.

According to the poll, Israelis are divided in their opinion on Netanyahu's decision to ignore Trump and order the bombing. Around 29 percent said he acted correctly, 36 percent said a stronger strike should have been carried out, and 19 percent preferred to follow the US position.

Meanwhile, 62 percent of poll respondents expressed distrust in Trump, while 21 percent said they trust him regarding Israeli interests in any agreement, and 17 percent said they did not know. A poll published by Israel’s Public Broadcaster (KAN) on 28 April found that a majority of Israelis believe the state has failed to secure victory in any war since October 2023.

According to the survey, 57 percent of respondents said no victory had been achieved, while 28 percent believed success had been reached in at least one arena, and a further 15 percent said they were unsure. 

The findings came after more than two years of Israel's reported genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, during which Tel Aviv waged multiple offensive military campaigns against Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, alongside attacks in Yemen and Syria and a campaign of destruction and displacement in the occupied West Bank. 

On Thursday, Trump warned that in the coming hours the US would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of Tehran's oil and gas industry before reversing course and claiming that a deal with Iran is expected to be “finalized” soon.

Tyler Durden Fri, 06/12/2026 - 22:35

Teen girls in bikini tops threw punches at each other in the frenzy that ensued, prompting a number of local residents to call the police.

Three Muslim men were murdered at the Islamic Center of San Diego last month. Amin Abdullah, the security guard, met the attackers with gunfire and kept them from reaching the classrooms, where roughly 140 children were learning. He saved those children with his life.

Wembanyama has seemingly quieted any talk about who’s the next face of the league. Or has he?

A North Carolina-bound flight was forced into a U-turn just 30 minutes into its journey after multiple lightning bolts blasted the plane in UK airspace, according to a report.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup officially began in Los Angeles with a star-studded opening ceremony featuring Future, Tyla, LISA, Anitta, Rema, Katy Perry and Jason Sudeikis before the United States faced Paraguay in the tournament opener.

The championship match of the global soccer tournament is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 

"Flying Beer Cooler": Pentagon's Next Kamikaze Drone Ushers In Era Of Cheap Mass-Produced Airpower

Our focus on the rise of the "war unicorn" theme over the last four months, shaped by technological innovation seen in the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, has allowed us, in countless notes, to inform readers very early that 2030s warfare has already arrived. In fact, hyperinnovation in Ukraine, now the world's AI weapons laboratory, is what pulled forward these extremely advanced, low-cost weaponry.

Modern battlefields are now defined by low-cost robotics, whether on the ground, at sea, or in the air, as well as drones, other autonomous systems, and AI-enabled kill chains. Meanwhile, the Department of War's shift toward funding and procuring from defense startups, rather than solely from big defense primes, thanks to DOGE, has accelerated the U.S.'s ability to spur a boom in the defense universe as President Trump's broader war economy ramps up, mainly for stockpiling reasons. 

Let's not forget our view in late January, when nearly all of Wall Street was misguided on alleged water and climate threats from data centers, completely missed that with hundreds of billions of dollars in data center buildouts by hyperscalers, now around $800 billion this fiscal year, these facilities had, and still have, a missing layer of air defense against FPVs and fiber-optic one-way attack drones.

We warned at the time:

• Explosion In AI Data Center Buildouts Will Demand Next-Gen Counter-Drone Security

Then noted:

• "Detect, Track, Neutralize": Autonomous Turrets With Low-Cost Firepower To Counter Kamikaze Drones

In fact, it only took two Iranian attacks targeting Gulf-area data centers with Shahed drones to become a major wake-up call to Wall Street and private equity about the urgency of understanding this threat and how to capitalize.

More importantly, it triggered the urgent need for private equity to begin raising capital for war unicorns that will eventually become major suppliers of interceptors, counter-UAS products, and much more, because much of America's critical infrastructure, data centers, and the list goes on and on, remains entirely exposed to FPVs.

We understand that multiple private equity funds, each with billions of dollars in AUM, have sent personnel to Ukraine to assess the investment landscape across FPV drone, counter-drone, passive acoustic threat detection, and battlefield AI companies. That alone underscores how quickly the "war unicorn" theme is being adopted on Wall Street, one set to surge in the coming quarters.

Going mainstream on Wall Street: 

• JPM Call With Axon Reveals Race To Fortify U.S. Data Centers Against Kamikaze Drone Swarms

• Goldman Sits Down With Anduril As 'War Unicorns' Reshape Defense Tech

This leaves us with the innovation question: the "evolve or die" moment now confronting America's military-industrial complex. The focus must shift away from high-cost weapon systems built around titanium, carbon fiber, and decade-long procurement cycles, and back toward what made the U.S. an industrial powerhouse during World War II: the ability to mass-produce low-cost weapons at scale, rapidly, repeatedly, and in volumes that overwhelm foreign adversaries.

Answering the innovation question above, deep inside America's drone industry is California-based DZYNE Technologies, a company building one-way attack drones from the same material used in beer coolers.

The wings are formed by steam chest molding. That's the process behind beer coolers, bike helmets, and the packaging your TV arrived in. Hot steam, expanded foam, a mold, done. No autoclaves. No exotic supply chain. No aerospace machinists charging aerospace rates.

"We joke that it's a flying beer cooler, and honestly, we lean into it," said CEO Matt McCue. "If your airframe costs almost nothing and pours out of a mold by the thousands, you've solved the problem Ukraine has been screaming about for three years."

That problem is mass: cheap, expendable, attritable mass. Every report from the Black Sea to the Red Sea to the Hormuz chokepoint points to the same conclusion: the side that can afford to lose drones wins. Firing a $2 million missile at a $1,000 drone is a losing trade.

DZYNE's Blitz drone fits in the standard-issue rucksack. It assembles in under two minutes. A new operator is mission-ready in a couple of hours. Range runs 80 to 150 kilometers, with swappable payloads for surveillance or jamming, or it can be easily converted into a one-way attack drone.

Notice what Blitz is not. It's not one of those quadcopters filling your X feed from Ukraine. Those are real and they work, and nobody will say otherwise. But they're one layer of a bigger stack. Multi-rotors burn through batteries just to stay airborne, which makes them deadly in a close fight and spend a lot of energy before the fight gets deep.

A fixed wing gets its lift for free, so Blitz extends the same expendable logic out to 150 kilometers, loiters for hours instead of minutes, hauls heavier payloads, and keeps flying in wind that grounds FPVs. Picture the FPVs owning the last mile while waves of cheap fixed wings seek targets, jam radars, and strike staging areas far behind it. That's not a rivalry. That's a kill chain.

Blitzing is a bet that pressure is cheaper than coverage. NFL football fans understand that, and so does every air-defense crew that has watched a million-dollar interceptor chase a cheap Iranian or Russian drone. That brings us to DZYNE's BlitzBox, a nondescript shipping-container system designed to autonomously launch up to 100 Blitz drones into the air for a coordinated swarming raid.

The American company Dzyne has introduced the BlitzBox system, a container for covertly launching a swarm of attack drones. On the outside, it looks like an ordinary cargo box, but inside, it can hold up to 100 Blitz drones, ready to launch in minutes.#DroneWars #UAS #UAV pic.twitter.com/w9aRaZYrCZ

— Drone Wars (@Drone_Wars_) May 27, 2026

"Adversaries have spent twenty years planning around our big, fixed, easy-to-find bases. A hundred drones in a box that could be anywhere changes that math overnight...

... BlitzBox looks like every other container out there on any truck, ship, port, or railyard. That's a feature," said Ryan Holcomb, DZYNE's VP of Expendables.

That is exactly the logic Ukraine demonstrated last year when it launched a drone swarm deep inside Russia from a modified shipping container positioned near an airbase, targeting strategic bombers.

A drone made from cheap beer-cooler material directly answers the Trump administration and Pentagon's call for low-cost, scalable defense war tech. The question now is how many of these drones the Pentagon will stockpile and how quickly these drones can be produced.

Tyler Durden Fri, 06/12/2026 - 22:10

Most of the USA men's national team's starting 11 was set in stone heading into the team's June 12 World Cup debut match against Paraguay.

While Landon Donovan's days on the soccer pitch are far behind him, the former USA men's national star star is stealing the show before Team USA's 2026 World Cup match against Paraguay on June 12 because of the fresh hairstyle he's sporting.

Strongman Vladimir Putin was forced to halt his annual Russia Day showcase in Moscow’s Red Square Friday, after a Ukrainian attack battered key energy targets and sparked massive fires on Russian soil.

As farfetched as a trade to the Yankees might be, Aroldis Chapman created a stir this week when he told ESPN Deportes that he would want an apology from general manager Brian Cashman before potentially being dealt to The Bronx.