Headlines

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World leaders tell Israel to end “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. In a joint statement yesterday, the leaders of Britain, France, and Germany renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire and urged Israel to let aid into Gaza, a day after France said it would recognize Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly this fall. Dozens of Palestinians in Gaza have died of starvation this month, according to health officials, and the UN says a third of the population hasn’t eaten in days due to a total border blockade. Earlier this week, the UN’s human rights office said Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians seeking aid since May, mostly around sites run by a US- and Israel-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israel denies shooting aid-seekers, and said yesterday it would soon let countries parachute aid into Gaza, which humanitarian experts criticized as insufficient.—ML

Trump heads to Scotland for EU tariff talks and golf. President Trump is in Scotland, where he’s scheduled to visit two golf courses his family owns and to meet with world leaders. It’s possible that an EU trade deal could emerge from his meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tomorrow. The EU leader said they had “agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong,” amid reports that the two sides have been discussing a deal for 15% tariffs similar to the one the US recently made with Japan. Before boarding his plane to Scotland, Trump said the chances for a deal were “50/50.” He’ll also meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to finalize a tra
de deal they discussed in June.—AR

Education Dept. to release $5.5 billion in frozen funds. The Trump administration said it plans to release the grant money, which had previously been approved by Congress, but was withheld from schools as part of a funding freeze at the beginning of the month while the administration reviewed the allocation. With the new school year approaching, the money will now be available to support English language instruction, adult literacy, and other programs. Another $1.3 billion of funds for after-school and summer programming was unfrozen last week. The freeze was challenged by lawsuits, and lawmakers from both parties had also urged the funds’ release.—AR

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At A Glance

Bookkeeping
> About $1.75: Bonus Ryanair staff receive for every oversized bag intercepted; could soon be more.
> Up to $3M: Expected hammer price for an original Darth Vader lightsaber when it goes to auction in September.
> 21 weeks: The gestation period of the youngest prematurely born baby to live.

Browse
> How some people don't pay any federal income taxes.
> Danish artist inspires stewardship by creating trash trolls.
> Seeded watermelon is making a comeback.
> Fully remote work is least popular among Gen Z.
> Map of the world’s firefly hotspots.

Listen
> Hacks for smarter, cheaper trips from a travel reporter.
> What makes for the perfect summer read?

Watch
> Director's take on a key scene in the new Superman movie.
> Strange and fascinating facts about human blood.
> Why lightning forms—and how to avoid being struck.

Long Read
> Reflections from the last survivors of Japanese American incarceration.
> How an ancient ice age shaped the world as we know it.
> Over 20 years later, she found the stranger who changed her life.

Most Clicked This Week: The numerous benefits of walking backward.

10 Easy Mediterranean Recipes | Top Mediterranean Diet Meals for Beginners

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Comic-Con International 2025, the world's biggest comic book and pop culture convention, kicks off in San Diego; see full schedule of TV and movie panels (More)

> Chuck Mangione, two-time Grammy-winning jazz musician who released more than 30 albums, dies at age 84 (More)

> The 112th Tour de France wraps this weekend; see updated standings heading into final stages (More) | All five charged members of Canada's junior world hockey team found not guilty of 2018 sexual assault (More)


Science & Technology
> OpenAI to release GPT-5, the latest version of its flagship large language model, in August; reports suggest upgrade will include a new version of its video generator, Sora (More) | The neural network that preceded OpenAI's models (1440 Topics)

> Grand Canyon fossil discovery reveals a number of new complex species; discovery helps fill in the fossil record during the Cambrian explosion, roughly 500 million years ago (More)

> Researchers identify genes that, when "turned off," inhibit the ability of the Ebola virus to infect hosts; findings may lead to new treatments for emerging diseases (More) | What makes Ebola so deadly? (1440 Topics)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow -0.7%, Nasdaq +0.2%); S&P 500, Nasdaq close at fresh records (More) | Southwest shares close down 11% after airline trims full-year profit (More) | Intel beats Q2 revenue estimates; plans to cut 15% of workforce (More)

> UnitedHealth faces federal criminal and civil investigations over its Medicare billing practices; America’s largest private insurer also launches third-party review of its business policies (More) | Federal Communications Commission approves Skydance Media's $8B acquisition of Paramount (More)

> President Donald Trump visits Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC, to tour the central bank's estimated $2.5B renovation project; Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell publicly disagree on estimated cost (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Justice Department launches strike force to investigate claims by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard of wrongdoing by Obama-era intelligence officials following 2016 election (More) | DOJ meets with Ghislaine Maxwell, former associate of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein (More)

> The US cuts short Gaza ceasefire talks, accuses Hamas of negotiating in bad faith after group's response to latest proposal (More) | Two people in Gaza die of malnutrition over the past 24 hours, per Gaza health officials (More) | France says it will recognize Palestine as a state in September, first G7 country to do so (More)

> Russian passenger plane crashes in the country's far east, killing all 48 people onboard; cause of the crash was not immediately clear (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Home Ownership

 

I purchased my first home in the 1970s in North Carolina via a VA loan that required no down payment.  This is another reason why spending a couple of years in the military can work to your advantage.

Our first home cost $120,000 and I purchased an additional ten acres of land associated with the property but not part of the original deal.  I have no idea how much it was sold for or when it was sold as a few years later, I got a divorce and moved to Tennessee.

My second home was also purchased using a VA loan but my partner and I each put $20,000 down to reduce our mortgage payments.  This house purchased for $110,000 was much bigger that the house owned in NC because property values were lower in TN.

I have own five homes during my thirty plus year residency in TN, with each home selling for much more than it was purchased for making owning homes financially profitable.

Over time, home values, regardless of state markets, typically increase although they may also decline every now and then before adjusting.

Investments, including real estate usually show gains over long periods of time say ten to twenty years.

However, it takes money to maintain a home properly otherwise, the value of the home will decline regardless of how long you own it.  Typically, improvements only need to be made in the bathrooms and kitchens in order to increase a home's value.

Somewhat Political

 

Scientists develop nuclear clock method to detect dark matter using thorium-229

For nearly a century, scientists around the world have been searching for dark matter—an invisible substance believed to make up about 80% of the universe's mass and needed to explain a variety of physical phenomena. Numerous methods have been used in attempts to detect dark matter, from trying to produce it in particle accelerators to searching for cosmic radiation that it might emit in space.

Yet even today, very little is known about this matter's fundamental properties. Although it operates in the background, dark matter is believed to influence visible matter, but in ways so subtle that they currently cannot be directly measured.

Scientists believe that if a nuclear clock is developed—one that uses the atomic nucleus to measure time with extreme precision—even the tiniest irregularities in its ticking could reveal dark matter's influence. Last year, physicists in Germany and Colorado made a breakthrough toward building such a clock, using the radioactive element thorium-229.

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Janis Joplin // Me and Bobby McGee // Acoustic Version // 1970

Photographer

 

VINCE

 

The Shannon Joy Show

 

The Sarah Westall Show

 

Yellow

 

Dinesh D'Souza

 

Bongino Report

 

Diamond & Silk

 

Through the Mountains

 

Russell Brand

 

Alex Jones

 

The Big MIG

 

Sailing

 

The White House

 

News Variable

 

Thrivetime

 

Back Porch

 

The Big THINK

 

Kick the algorithm where it hurts

Headlines

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images


UnitedHealth confirmed it’s being investigated. The healthcare giant said in a securities filing that it’s cooperating with the Justice Department in civil and criminal investigations following recent reports from the Wall Street Journal that the DOJ was looking into the company’s Medicare billing practices. WSJ reported that UnitedHealth had added unnecessary diagnoses to Medicare patients’ records that increased payments. It’s the latest setback for a company that ousted its CEO in May after its stock price cratered.

TikTok could go dark in the US, commerce secretary warns. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said yesterday that TikTok will be banned in the US if China does not agree to cede control of the app to an American majority owner by a Sept. 17 deadline. “We’ve made the decision. You can’t have Chinese control and have something on 100 million American phones,” Lutnick told CNBC. President Trump has extended the deadline for a deal three times since taking office in January. CNBC reported that it’s unclear where talks currently stand, though Trump said in June that there was a group of “very wealthy people” ready to buy the app.

Hulk Hogan died at 71. The Hall of Fame wrestler
died of cardiac arrest yesterday about two months after undergoing spinal fusion surgery. Considered the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, signed with the WWE (then the WWF) in 1983, going on to win six championships. He also had a prolific acting career, playing the role of “Thunderlips” in Rocky III and appearing as himself in countless films and TV shows. In 2015, he was briefly dropped by WWE following reports that he had used racial slurs in a leaked sex tape. A year later, he was awarded $115 million after suing Gawker Media, which had published a snippet of the leaked tape, for invasion of privacy. Hogan also spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, where he endorsed President Trump before ripping his shirt off.—AE

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Robert Reich

The silencing

Credit: Jackie Lay/NPR

Colbert, The Washington Post, Columbia University … and on it goes






Friends,

The latest casualty of Trump’s efforts to silence media criticism is Eduardo Porter, one of the most thoughtful and intelligent critics of this heinous regime.

On Tuesday, Porter wrote his last column for The Washington Post. In it, he criticized Trump’s attempt to dismantle the global trading system.

Porter didn’t stop there. He also explained why he was leaving the Post:


“Jeff Bezos and his new head of Opinion are taking the paper down a path I cannot follow, directed toward the relentless promotion of free markets and personal liberties…. I have no idea to what extent this is driven by Mr. Bezos’ fear of what Donald Trump could do to his various business interests, most of which are more valuable to him than The Post.”

Well, I do have an idea. Bezos stopped the Post from endorsing Kamala Harris. He made a huge contribution to Trump’s inauguration. And he stood directly in front of Trump at Trump’s swearing in.

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At A Glance

Time magazine ranks 100 best podcasts.

Company seeks to turn mercury into gold.

Man accused of running fake embassy for "Seborga" and "Westarctica."

Study finds evidence of multispecies dinosaur herd.

World's largest turtle nesting site contains 41,000 females.

Revisiting the short-lived game of auto polo.

See photo series showcasing connection, coincidences.

How to make banana boat s'mores.

Clickbait: Speed dumping is the new ghosting.