Aggregator

The U.S. men's national team might have only had 10 players for most of the second half, but that did not matter on Thursday night.

Executive Order Execution: Three Reactors Achieved Criticality Before July 4th

On July 1st, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced microreactor developer Deployable Energy had achieved criticality on their Unity reactor design at Idaho National Labs (INL). 

CRITICALITY NUMBER THREE! 🎉

On June 30, 2026, at around 11:55 PM MDT, @DeployableE’s Unity microreactor achieved initial criticality at @INL. It is the third nuclear test reactor this year to go critical under @ENERGY authorization.

Congratulations to Deployable Energy on… pic.twitter.com/TaIKbtnNTx

— Office of Nuclear Energy | US Department of Energy (@GovNuclear) July 1, 2026

This is the third privately developed and funded reactor to have obtained the nuclear milestone of sustaining a chain reaction of fissioning uranium atoms inside of a reactor core.

Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy”, was the starting point. The executive order contained, among many other things, a goal for the DOE to start up a reactor testing program that enabled rapid iteration and commercialization of advanced nuclear technology.

Soon after, the DOE launched the Reactor Pilot Program (RPP), as well as a sister program to fuel these reactors (in the future) called the Fuel Line Pilot Program (FLPP).

The selectees of the RPP included 11 different reactor projects:

• Aalo Atomics Inc.
• Antares Nuclear Inc. 
• Atomic Alchemy Inc.
• Deep Fission Inc. 
• Last Energy Inc. 
• Oklo Inc. (two projects)
• Natura Resources LLC
• Radiant Industries Inc. 
• Terrestrial Energy Inc. 
• Valar Atomics Inc.

Over the next several months, the developers raced to iterate through their designs with the goal of achieving criticality before America's birthday, this upcoming weekend. 

First, Antares achieved zero power criticality on their sodium heat pipe design in the beginning of June. This was followed a couple weeks later when Valar achieved criticality on their gas reactor in Utah. Valar took the testing a step further to actually producing nuclear heat and performing critical safety tests on a live stream.

And just before reaching the July 4th holiday, Deployable Energy announced their success in achieving a chain reaction of fission in their core. 

Deployable Energy's success is most notable because the company was not even a part of the RPP. The company was achieving iteration and criticality of their reactor design under the more recently launched Nuclear Energy Launch Pad. This program is the long-term successor project that will succeed the RPP in the FLPP for the years to come.

Multiple other companies are still in pursuit of initial criticality, which will enable them to continue on their path of iteration and preparation for commercializing their designs under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This includes companies like Oklo, Radiant, and Aalo. 
 

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 22:00

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted this year to align the county’s Independence Day event with “equity and racial justice” goals.

Wild video showed the moment someone made off with more than $25,000 in one dollar bills after breaking into a Southern California strip club.

The United States will play the rest of its Round of 32 match on Tuesday night without one of its best players. 

It was the second time in eight months Engelbert has been booed so spectacularly.

The LA City Council yanked its own ballot initiative proposal that, if passed in November, would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections.

As the calendar turned to July, St. John’s was dealt a blow.

Ticket prices for World Cup matches have drastically dropped ahead of the Round of 16. Here's why.

Justice Department To Prioritize Birth Tourism Probes After Supreme Court Ruling

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

Federal prosecutors on June 30 were directed to prioritize investigations into "birth tourism" schemes after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants.

Migrants, including a pregnant Haitian woman seeking to give birth in the United States, are apprehended by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Yuma, Ariz., on Dec. 7, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

Colin McDonald, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for fraud, said in a memo to department employees that the U.S. immigration system is being exploited by foreign nationals who travel to the country "under false pretenses" to give birth and secure U.S. citizenship for their children.

He instructed all U.S. attorneys and the Criminal Division to work with the Department of Homeland Security to investigate and prosecute those involved in such schemes.

"The Department of Justice will investigate and hold accountable those who engage in this unlawful conduct, as well as those who solicit and sell these criminal services to others," McDonald said.

The memo cites some cases related to birth tourism schemes, including one from 2024 that involved a couple who allegedly helped Chinese nationals to give birth in the United States in exchange for money.

The couple, identified as Wei Yueh Liu and Jing Dong, operated a business called "USA Happy Baby Inc." that helped Chinese nationals obtain fraudulent visas to enter the United States. They also provided housing and coached their customers on how to hide their pregnancies from immigration authorities, according to the department. The two were each sentenced to 41 months in prison.

In another case, a Chinese fugitive named Chao "Edwin" Chen allegedly ran a "large-scale birth tourism scheme" that charged hundreds of thousands of dollars to help foreign nationals give birth in the United States. The department said Chen's business claimed to have a "100-person team" in China and the United States and to have served more than 500 Chinese birth tourism customers.

"As these examples make clear, birth tourism schemes exploit our immigration system and violate criminal law," McDonald said.

Many birth tourism-related cases were prosecuted as visa fraud. McDonald said federal prosecutors should consider prosecuting the schemes under laws covering wire fraud, money laundering, illegal use of a means of identification, identity theft, and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

Trump's order on birthright citizenship, issued on Jan. 20, 2025, stated that the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause does not extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.

According to the order, a person born in the United States is not "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" if his or her mother was unlawfully present in the country and the individual's father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of the person's birth.

However, the Supreme Court ruled on June 30 that Trump's executive order ran counter to the U.S. Constitution.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the majority opinion, said that the Constitution's 14th Amendment covers even children birthed by illegal immigrants, citing English legal doctrine that generally treats any person born in a country as a citizen of that country.

After the ruling, Trump posted on Truth Social urging Congress to work on legislation that would restrict birthright citizenship.

"Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship," the president said. "They will have my Complete and Total Support!"

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

Memorandum for DOJ Employees on Prosecution of Fraudulent Birth Tourism Schemes from Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald ⬇️ https://t.co/hoilA5o2TE

— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) June 30, 2026 Tyler Durden Wed, 07/01/2026 - 21:30

California, New York, Virginia and several other states are seeking an emergency court order.

A heartbroken New Jersey father recalled discovering his three-year-old son laying lifeless in the family backyard pool over the weekend.

Metro’s ideological commitment to transit equity appears to stand between a safer Metro and more dead Angelenos.

The biggest news of NBA free agency thus far is LeBron James leaving the Lakers after eight seasons. While the Lakers were interested in bringing James back for what could be his final season, the four-time NBA champion’s departure has caused a stir throughout the league. James is still a desirable addition at 41 years...

We have a duty to fight — as half the country pushes for socialism and the other half sleepwalks through the Trump years thinking we solved all our problems with country music and giant American flags.

There’s still no timetable for all-world Aaron Judge, who is proving once again to be indispensable

Kathy Griffin said she's "banned from most" shows.

Don't miss a Brilliant Minds series finale.

The impact of the Jaylen Brown-Paul George trade on the betting market was immediate.

Between 26,000 and 33,000 US births annually could be attributed to birth tourism, according to experts.