Meta Ordered To Pay $567 Million In New Mexico For Children’s Mental Health Fund
A New Mexico state judge on Aug. 6 ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a fund dedicated to remedying the harm caused to children’s mental health by the company’s social media platforms.
Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
State judge Bryan Biedscheid said in a 68-page order that most of the total youth mental health fund, or $420 million, would go toward treatment services for children harmed by social media.
The remainder of the fund would be directed toward awareness and prevention, screening and assessment, referrals and coordination, and implementation, according to the order.
“The Court finds that the weight of the evidence presented demonstrates that Meta’s platforms are a cause of and substantial contributing factor to the youth mental health crisis in New Mexico,” the judge wrote.
Furthermore, as Aldgra Fredly reports for The Epoch Times, in his ruling, Biedscheid ordered the company to delete the accounts of users under 13, along with all personal information collected from those accounts, and simplify the steps for reporting underage users.
Meta was also ordered to disable push notifications on its platforms for users under 18 between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. on all days, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on school days during the academic year.
The company is also required to implement mandatory usage time limits for those accounts and hide, by default, all like counts on their content unless a parent or guardian authorizes a change to the default setting.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez hailed the ruling as a victory for parents and children, saying that youngsters deserve to have a safer environment online.
“This case has always been about protecting children, standing up for families, and making sure that one of the world’s largest technology companies cannot profit from practices that endanger young people without consequence,” Torrez said in a statement.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a post on X that the company disagreed with the ruling and planned to appeal, noting that Meta had been working to remove bad actors and harmful content from its platforms.
“We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” Stone said.
The latest penalty comes on top of the $375 million fines that a New Mexico jury imposed on Meta in March for violating the state’s Unfair Practices Act by failing to disclose the potential risks of its social media platforms to children.
New Mexico sued Meta in December 2023, alleging that the company’s social media platforms served as a “breeding ground” for predators targeting children for human trafficking, sexual image distribution, grooming, and solicitation.
Meta denied the allegations, saying at the time that it uses advanced technology to root out bad actors and employs child safety experts. The company also said that it shares information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general, to help identify predators.
Wall Street Crowns First Solar As Clear Winner After Trump’s Polysilicon Tariffs Create “Structural Floor” For Industry
Solar stocks are shining in premarket trading in New York after the Trump administration announced a new 15% tariff and a price floor on imports of polysilicon derivatives, including silicon wafers, photovoltaic cells, and solar modules. The move is intended to secure the domestic solar supply chain after years of cheap Chinese panels flooding the country, making it uneconomical for domestic manufacturers to compete.
“Polysilicon is the base material underpinning the security of America’s semiconductor and solar-power supply chains. Yet for decades, America has allowed foreign countries to weaken United States producers in the polysilicon sector ‑- eroding our economic and national security. Today, I am taking action to put a stop to these practices and revitalize the United States polysilicon sector,” President Trump wrote in an overnight executive order.
The Trump administration’s order is less a conventional tariff increase and more of a reset of the US solar-module pricing regime. The new framework, combining a 15% tariff with minimum import prices, could lift utility-scale module prices into the low-to-mid 40-cent-per-watt range from roughly 30 cents.
Analysts from several desks, including BMO Capital Markets, Truist Securities, Citi, and others, point to First Solar as the clear winner.
“We expect the immediate market reaction to favor FSLR given enhanced long-term pricing power and terminal value implications, while utility solar-exposed names including NXT, ARRY, SHLS and FLNC could face near-term pressure as investors reassess project economics and deployment costs,” BMO analyst Ameet Thakkar wrote.
Thakkar noted, “In this report we analyze the structure and implementation of the new tariff framework, the implications for module pricing and domestic manufacturing economics, potential upside to FSLR valuation and ASPs, the 120-day implementation window, and our continued constructive view on NXT despite likely near-term volatility.”
Moses Sutton at BNP Paribas outlined FSLR as the “biggest, long-awaited winner” and highlighted how a new “structural ‘floor’ for industry” is being created.
What other desks are saying (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Citi
Analyst Vikram Bagri notes that the polysilicon tariffs are largely in line with expectations and sees upside for First Solar
“For FSLR, the benefits are a minimum import price for poly/cells/ingots/wafers/modules, which may be adjusted at Commerce’s discretion to reflect market conditions, a 15% ad valorem on downstream poly derivatives, application to warehoused inventory plus anti-stockpiling provisions”
Notes that countries that adopt their own minimum import price may be able to claim favorable treatment for their exports to the US, which would be negative for US firms
Truist Securities
Analyst Christopher Souther sees First Solar as the biggest beneficiary of the tariffs and notes that the company’s module price is below the minimum import price
“In our view, this further reinforces First Solar’s competitive moat, as the company already benefits from a US-based manufacturing footprint, Section 45X tax credits, and existing trade protections”
Notes that the exemption paths for US module manufacturers may reduce the benefit for First Solar in out years
Barclays
Analyst Christine Cho sees the polysilicon tariffs raising the cost of imported modules to around $0.44 per watt
“The Section 232 outcome is more positive for FSLR than we and the Street were expecting and would seem to support ASPs to move somewhere in the low to mid $0.40/w range”
In premarket trading, FSLR is up 4%, Enphase Energy +2%, Array Technologies +2%, SolarEdge Technologies +2%, and T1 Energy +6%. The Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) is up nearly 3%.
Exit Narrative Begins: Trump’s Muted Response To Hormuz Deal Suggests The ‘Declare Victory & Leave’ Moment Is Here
President Trump’s latest Iran comments came Thursday night, after a prior day wherein Iran and Oman unveiled their ‘finalized’ Hormuz management scheme, which most notably includes a ban on all US and Israeli vessels in the energy transit waterway.
As we reviewed earlier, the White House has appeared to genuinely be searching for an exit strategy, but this stipulation alone may be too hard a pill for Trump to swallow, if accurate – given that it obviously leaves Iran in de facto control of the strait. Many pundits have pointed out it even leaves Iran with more leverage and power in the region than before the launch of Operation Epic Fury.
But this is why Trump’s comments to reporters in the Oval Office Thursday evening are surprising, given that instead of reacting angrily and outright condemning the Iran-Oman plan, his reaction was somewhat muted and meager. Doves who see this war as disastrous and hope for quick exit will welcome the development.
“I think it’s going to end pretty soon. I don’t think they can go much longer,“ the president said, while leaving his meaning ambiguous. Asserting once again that the US is involved in negotiations with Tehran (something the Iranians have been vehemently denying all along), Trump added that “I think we’re doing fine.”
The only thing Trump truly got angry about Thursday was related to the domestic side of the conflict, after US major media published several reports saying the Pentagon is perilously low on missiles and interceptors, which have been drained after nearly six months of war. He blasted ‘treasonous’ ‘fake reporting’ and even threatened to jail ‘leakers’ over the reports (the inherent contradiction says a lot here).
But again, Trump’s penchant for raging against ‘dishonest’ and ‘evil’ Iranian leaders has been curiously absent over the last several days as the US bombs have fallen silent – after he called off planned ‘harder’ strikes over the weekend (or the last big TACO moment, among many prior).
This relative quiet at the White House comes even after Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf openly mocked the United States and Trump’s theatrics and constant changes of course on X. He wrote Thursday:
“Massive attack coming… wait, never mind, they want to negotiate.” That’s theater diplomacy on loop. Using bullying + broken promises + fake news as leverage is a failed strategy. Acknowledge the facts and fulfill your commitments. We don’t need more theater.
All of this change in Washington tone and posture suggests this could finally be the moment for a true offramp, as the US faces a ‘go big or get out’ realization, and as the prospect of slogging through months more of a developing quagmire becomes too politically and economically costly. This is potentially the declare ‘victory’ and get out moment. As former Congressman Ron Paul has put it: Just Walk Away!
Trump: I think the war with Iran will end pretty soon. I don’t think they can go much longer.
Q: Have you reached a deal to reopen the strait of Hormuz?
This is further evidenced in Trump’s sudden realism, expressed late Thursday in the same Oval Office presser. When asked about the status of the Strait of Hormuz, he admitted that “it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are.”
“People don’t want” to risk ships worth billions of dollars and expose them to the possibility of accidentally hitting a mine in the Strait of Hormuz, he conceded. Trump also claimed Thursday that Hormuz is “sort of open right now,” although fewer than 10 ships per day transited from Sunday through Tuesday, according to Kpler data.
Of course, the US and Iran have been involved in several of these ‘pauses’ and cooling off periods before, which were later revealed to be the ‘calm before the storm’. Tehran has since wised up and pointed out that the Pentagon used these interim periods of no fighting to just rearm, reposition, and ramp up military supply flights to the region.
Joe Kent, a top national security official who resigned in protest of the Iran war upon the very start of the operation, is welcoming these signs that Trump is finally seeking to extricate the US from the conflict at all costs:
Trump is messaging that he won the war— this is a good first step in extricating us from what would otherwise be a catastrophic mistake. The reality is, the best “deal” we can make with Iran at this point that works in our favor is to just leave—it’s the only case in which POTUS then holds the cards.
He needs to “close the deal” now, before the Iranians force him back into a shooting war. We simply can’t assume that Iran will wait idly for us to make the next move. Alarmingly, it seems we are failing to account for just how aggressively killing the Ayatollah & bombing the girls’ school has radicalized Iranian leadership & its people—it’s very likely that Iran will feel compelled to drag us back into the war in order to force the U.S. to retreat, bloodied, both for the sake of its national honor & for deterrence.
Trump can end this by pulling our troops & ships out of the region now—deprive Iran of targets to hit and the leverage they need to escalate. Trump says we’ve won, therefore we can bring them home.
So either Trump is indeed preparing to go bigger, or this is – belatedly – the final ‘cut and run’ moment that probably the majority of the American public has been hoping for.
Another sign, via his Truth Social latest, that Trump could finally be willing to say ‘mission accomplished’ and get out, while letting the regional and oil transit ‘chips fall’:
The deadly alternative to simply declaring an exit is an eventual introduction of ground troops and full-on regime change. Thankfully, Trump officials have continued to by and large condemn this as a legitimate scenario – given it would surely once again put US forces in a new ‘forever war’ that would last years or even decades.
But in the meantime, the Iranians do smell weakness and blood in the water. Just before US markets closed Thursday, Tehran announced its forces attacked and struck ‘hostile targets’ at Qeshm island, near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran is remaining defiant, and even sees itself in the driver’s seat with its ability to wage asymmetric warfare against a much larger US foe which is confused on what to do next. This was also on display with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian having asserted this week in an interview, “Our enemies expected the country to collapse due to the pressures they have exerted.“ He added that these pressures have “reached their maximum”.
Normally, you can find some parts of the job report that “fight” against the headline. That somewhere in the details is a potentially different narrative.
Maybe it’s because I’m lazy on a summer Friday, but difficult to see what it is in this report.
But let’s start with the most important point
Instead of worrying about Warsh, what he did or didn’t say, how often he might or might not say things, to who he may or may not speak to, maybe we should worry about making decisions based on garbage data?
As you know, I’ve argued for years that it seems insane that in this day and age, where we have real time data on almost every aspect of our lives, we are content to kind of stick a finger in the air, and take a wild stab at estimating jobs. I think the data source task force is the most important (and potentially useful thing Warsh has created). The data task force is too limited in scope, if anything.
Establishment headline is -23k. Estimate was 80k.
Revisions for past two months were -103k! Maybe the estimate would not have been for 80k, if the initial reports for the prior months reflected reality and didn’t need to be revised lower?
Not sure this is “good” news for the workers, but wage growth was anemic (even as the renewed fighting in the Middle East is pushing up the price of energy products).
The unemployment rate has dropped from 4.3% to 4.1% in the past two months. On the surface, maybe that is good. But the unemployment rate is based on the household survey which had a loss of 87k this month, which is “better” than last month’s loss of 507k jobs. The 4 month total number of jobs in the household survey is month than 600,000 lost jobs! The unemployment rate is only lower because the participation rate has dropped from 61.8% to 61.4% in two months (let’s not forget, this is occurring with record cap ex on data center/AI build).
Okay, now my “favorite” the birth/death model. I will admit I’m not sure how the seasonally adjusted birth/death model translates into a number of jobs in the establishment survey, but this “model” showed 235k jobs added by new businesses being formed. Maybe companies are being formed to take advantage of the AI/Data Center spend. It is in line with last July’s birth/death adjustment, so maybe it didn’t impact things. But I always struggle when “plugs” or “models” seem to be bigger than the actual numbers.
Honestly, I have no idea if today’s numbers are the aberration or whether it was what was originally reported, but that is the point!
How are we making decisions based on data that seems to be a wild guess (apologies to wild guesses)?
Sure, if there is no way to get better, more accurate, timely data, then we’d have to live with it. We had to live with carrier pigeons at one time.
I find it difficult to believe that a nation that put astronauts on the moon, cannot figure out a better way to calculate data that is so crucial to decision making!
So, yes, Houston, we have a problem, but the bigger problem isn’t today’s numbers, it is that we don’t really know what numbers are correct or not!
On the other hand, my view that we don’t see a hike this year looks better today, than it did a week ago (and that is with no “deal” in Iran, which any deal, will also help).
The Islamic Society of Tulsa has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and four individual city council members after the city denied its request to build a mosque and Islamic community center.
The suit, which was filed on Aug. 3, alleges the denial violated the U.S. Constitution, the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and Oklahoma law by discriminating against Muslims.
The city of Broken Arrow said in an email to The Epoch Times that it does not comment on lawsuits. The city acknowledged on July 28 that the U.S. Department of Justice had started an investigation into the matter.
“The City Council and Administration are fully engaged with the DOJ in its investigation,” the city stated, adding it would have no further comment.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is investigating whether Broken Arrow violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act after denying the rezoning application for the Islamic Society of Tulsa.
According to the complaint, the Islamic Society of Tulsa bought about 15 acres of land in Broken Arrow in 2014 with the intention of building a mosque, a community center, and a small commercial development.
City planning staff concluded the proposal complied with the city’s comprehensive plan and recommended approval. The Broken Arrow Planning Commission also voted to recommend approval after a lengthy public hearing.
The lawsuit claims the proposal was rejected by the City Council after “a wave of bigoted opposition from members of the community and local politicians.”
Despite recommendations from city staff and the Planning Commission, the City Council voted 4–1 on Jan. 12 to deny both the rezoning request and the conditional use permit.
The lawsuit further alleges the city approved similar rezoning and permitting requests for Christian churches and commercial developments while allowing those applicants to address traffic and engineering issues later in the approval process.
The complaint seeks a court order allowing the project to proceed, a declaration that the city’s actions were unlawful, and monetary damages including attorneys’ fees.
It also notes the DOJ’s investigation into whether the city violated federal religious land-use protections.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is asking the Trump administration to halt the DOJ investigation.
In a letter to President Donald Trump and acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, Drummond called the investigation “federal overreach” and said land-use decisions should be left to state and local officials.
Drummond also asked the DOJ to withdraw requests for records involving private citizens, require senior-level approval for any further investigative steps, and coordinate with the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office before taking additional action against Oklahoma municipalities.
Global Food Prices Hit Three-Year High As War, Chokepoint Chaos And El Nino Spark Perfect Storm
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index climbed to a three-year high in July, extending its upward trajectory as conflicts across Eurasia (the Black Sea and the Hormuz chokepoint) disrupt critical trade routes and mounting El Niño risks threaten global harvests.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 131.09 last month, up .6% from the previous month, led by gains in grain, sugar, and vegetable oils.
Wheat surged 5.8% during the month to a two-year high, while corn climbed 3.6%. Vegetable oil prices reached their highest since June 2022, while meat and dairy prices declined, according to the FAO.
Fueling the price surge is the widening Russia-Ukraine war in the Black Sea, where attacks are increasing and threaten critical bulk-shipping corridors. Disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz are also pushing food prices higher by raising energy, fertilizer, and transportation costs. Layered on top of all this are deteriorating crop conditions in major growing regions across the world as El Niño risks mount, a threat that has been flagged for many months.
“Chances of a very strong El Niño are rising. Risks are concentrated in select EMs, with inflationary and fiscal pressures likely to outweigh growth risks. We view El Niño as a key sovereign credit risk, particularly for countries with weak fiscal buffers,” Morgan Stanley analyst Emma Cerda wrote in a recent note.
Earlier this week, UBS analyst Sreedhar Mahamkali identified five long-term forces likely to keep global food inflation “structurally higher” above its pre-pandemic average of about 2.5%.
“While food inflation globally has fallen from the COVID peak, a new debate is emerging: is the c2.5% LT average obsolete?” the London-based managing director and equity-research analyst said.
Mahamkali’s first and most important long-term driver of elevated food prices is that “climate risk is global,” and the number of institutional desks warning about El Niño is certainly on the rise. Read the full report here.
Perhaps Bank of America analyst Robert Ohmes will be proven right about his warning in mid-June (Read Here) that another food price spike could arrive in supermarkets this fall. He said that grocery inflation “may be on the way,” citing a blended index of wages, diesel, and commodity costs.
Putting it all together, the theme is clear: multiple pressures are converging across the global food supply chain, tilting the balance of risks toward higher prices. That is already visible at the supermarket, particularly in beef, even as chicken and pork remain comparatively affordable. Egg prices, meanwhile, have collapsed, but fresh warnings from Mexico suggest that avocados could be the next grocery staple to surge.
For households, the best hedge may be to strengthen their own local food supply chains, whether by planting a backyard garden, buying directly from nearby farms, or building relationships with local farmers and cattle ranchers.
Mindless arson for online clout is torching farmers’ livelihoods across England. Hay and straw stacks – vital winter feed and hard-earned harvest – are being deliberately set alight in a suspected TikTok challenge that treats the countryside like disposable content.
The force stated: “Following a recent spate of overnight arson attacks on hay stacks in the north of England there appears to be a TikTok challenge to ‘set fire to as much stuff as possible.’ I know the farming community will be aware of the dangers of the dry weather but if it is possible to send out a message to all your members to be extra vigilant.”
“Police believe the trend, targeting hay and straw stacks across northern England, may be linked to a TikTok challenge encouraging people to set fire to things in the countryside.”
Humberside Police are investigating six suspected deliberate bale fires reported overnight on 30 July across North Lincolnshire at East Butterwick, Messingham, Susworth and Kirton in Lindsey. Reports included suspicious dark-coloured vehicles and quad bike tracks near the stacks.
Around the same period, about 1,200 hay bales were destroyed in a major overnight fire near Saxondale Island close to Bingham in Nottinghamshire, treated as suspected arson. In Oxfordshire, a fire involving around 600 hay bales tore through stacks in the village of Hinton Waldrist on 20 July; Thames Valley Police continue to investigate.
Fire service believe major grassland blaze was ‘started deliberately’ https://t.co/dUzST0LAov
Roughly 250 hay bales were deliberately set alight at Hackpen Hill near Swindon in Wiltshire. The blaze, confirmed by police as thought to have been started deliberately, took firefighters more than 28 hours to extinguish. Neighbouring farmer James Hussey described it as “quite a loss” for the owner.
Police believe that a fire involving hay bales near a popular beauty spot in Wiltshire was started “deliberately”https://t.co/ac52ryM5Ui
— ITV News West Country (@itvwestcountry) August 3, 2026
Near South Milford a deliberate hay bale fire spread across 15 acres of fields. North Yorkshire Police stated: “Deliberately setting fire to hay bales not only causes significant financial loss to farmers but also presents a serious risk to life, property, livestock, and the wider countryside, particularly during periods of warm and dry weather.”
Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm was also reported as targeted in a suspected arson attack involving hay bale silos in early May 2026.
Earlier in the season, in late June 2026, a Cambridgeshire farm near Peterborough experienced seven deliberate blazes over two nights that hit fields, hedgerows and a caravan.
Farmer Judith Jacobs said: “Sadly, we experienced similar incidents several times last summer, and this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable.”
Without deterrents crimes are contagious? Do you agree those who deliberately start fires should be financially held responsible for all services required & all damage caused? Huge wildfire sparks major incident in UK village as blaze lit ‘deliberately’ https://t.co/3QjSbP02fE
— At Least The Thick Of It Were Pro UK (@ChaplinLorra) August 4, 2026
Firefighters prevented a large straw bale fire from spreading to a second stack after it broke out on farmland near Naseby:https://t.co/mGMOcQlrUz
Dry conditions have left crops, grassland and stored forage highly vulnerable. Fire services and rural teams are urging farmers to review CCTV, report suspicious activity immediately, lock sheds and outbuildings, install security lighting where practical, and keep hay and straw stored well away from fuels, chemicals and machinery.
Farmers already battle weather, regulation and thin margins. Deliberate fires on top of that threaten winter feed stocks, next year’s harvest and the basic security of the food chain. Rural communities are left footing the cost while the perpetrators chase likes.
Expect the usual suspects to try reframing this as another “climate emergency.” Alarmists have a long record of blaming every dry-weather fire on global warming while ignoring clear evidence of deliberate human action.
This particular brand of idiocy – setting things alight for clicks – is not new and shows no sign of stopping. It keeps happening because the platforms reward it and the consequences rarely stick.
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
$109,796 In Earnings Needed To Afford Typical US Home
The income needed in order to purchase a typical home for sale in the United States in June was $109,796, marginally lower than the record high $110,382 in 2025, real estate brokerage Redfin said in an Aug. 5 report.
Housing affordability has remained largely flat year over year since monthly housing costs and people’s incomes are growing at a similar rate, Redfin said.
However, the income needed to purchase a house has been dropping consistently since October.
While the income required is around $22,000 higher than the earnings of a typical household, it’s an improvement compared to $26,000 a year ago, according to the report.
Redfin Senior Economist Yingqi Xu said that the double-digit gap between what a typical household makes in a year and the income needed to comfortably buy a home is leaving many prospective buyers on the sidelines.
On the plus side, “even if the market isn’t becoming much more affordable, it is becoming a bit more manageable for house hunters,” Xu said.
“It’s a buyer’s market in most of the country, especially places that were once pandemic homebuying hotspots like Nashville and Austin, giving buyers lots of options to choose from and strong negotiating power.”
According to Redfin, the income needed to afford a house surged in 2022 and 2023 as home prices skyrocketed amid the COVID-19 pandemic buying frenzy. Mortgage rates also doubled during this period.
For the week ending Jan. 6, 2021, the average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 2.65 percent, according to data from Freddie Mac. This rose to 7.79 percent for the week ending Oct. 25, 2023.
While rates have come down since then, they remain elevated. The persistently high rates contribute to keeping monthly mortgage payments on the higher side.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in an Aug. 4 statement that home prices rose in 80 percent of tracked metro markets in the second quarter this year, which is considerably higher than the 71 percent of metros in the first quarter.
Despite elevated mortgage rates, home sales increased, NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun said in the statement, suggesting that this points to a buildup in housing demand due to steady jobs and income gains.
“It is welcoming to see incomes rising faster than home prices, which has helped boost affordability—but the big short-term challenge to affordability is coming from rising mortgage rates,” Yun said.
This would not only erode any affordability gains made recently, but also make it difficult for property listings and sales to remain above year-ago levels.
Affordability Situation
While wage growth has outpaced home value growth in most of the United States and thus helped improve affordability, the increase in prices of everyday goods has eaten into those gains. This essentially limits how much prospective buyers can spend on purchasing a home, Zillow said.
The Trump administration has taken several actions to tackle affordability issues in the housing market.
An aerial view of a residential housing development in Los Angeles on April 3, 2025. Mario Tama/Getty Images
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said on June 23 that it was making multiple changes to its Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Single Family mortgage insurance program, aimed at lowering costs and improving affordability for people looking to secure FHA-insured mortgages.
The update eliminated outdated requirements and minimized administrative burdens to ensure that FHA financing becomes more efficient for buyers and lenders.
“Every unnecessary regulation comes with a cost, and too often homebuyers pay the price,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said. “If a policy does not protect taxpayers, improve affordability, or expand opportunity for Americans, we should rethink it. As we recognize National Homeownership Month, these FHA actions reflect that commitment by eliminating barriers to expand homeownership opportunities.”
Earlier in April, HUD and the Department of Agriculture rescinded a policy related to energy standards, the enforcement of which would have pushed up the costs of home construction by $20,000 to $31,000, according to HUD.
Construction workers build a home at a new housing development in Hercules, Calif., on July 1, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
And in March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction.”
In the order, Trump instructed the secretaries of HUD, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Energy to take “appropriate action to reform and, where appropriate, eliminate unduly burdensome or costly energy-efficiency, water-use, or alternative-energy requirements regarding housing.”
Trump wrote that unnecessary regulatory barriers and “onerous mandates” had delayed the construction of new homes and driven up their costs, making housing less affordable for American citizens.
India’s state-run refiners continue their buying spree of crude from West Africa as the Middle East crisis has sapped supply and made deliveries uncertain.
In one of the latest purchases via a tender, India’s state-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has acquired 2 million barrels of Nigerian crude oil from Shell, trade sources told Reuters on Thursday.
HPCL has bought 1 million barrels each of Nigerian crude grades Forcados and Bonga for its Visakh refinery in the state of Andhra Pradesh on the east coast of southern India. The refinery has the capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude.
Earlier this week, reports emerged that HPCL acquired 2 million barrels of Okwuibome and Utapate crudes from Nigeria from commodity trader Glencore via a tender.
The Nigerian crude from Glencore will go to feed HPCL’s refinery in the state of Rajasthan, HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL), which has a capacity to process 180,000 bpd and in which Hindustan Petroleum holds a 74% stake. The remaining stake is held by the state government of Rajasthan.
Several Indian refiners have recently bought crude from Oman and West Africa via tenders, as term supplies from the Middle East remain choked by the shipping constraints at the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb.
State-controlled Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) has acquired about 1 million barrels of crude oil from Oman via a tender, at a premium of some $3 per barrel to Dated Brent, from Mitsui & Co Energy Trading Singapore, trade sources told Reuters earlier this week.
In addition, state-run Indian Oil Corporation, the largest refiner by capacity in the country, has bought from Chevron a total of 4 million barrels of West African crude, including Nemba, Saxi Batuque, and Clov grades from Angola, and Congo’s Djeno crude.
Indian refiners are in search of crude supply from as far as Angola in Africa and Venezuela in South America as their term supplies from the Middle East were trapped again in July and unable to reach India as planned.
Iran Struck ‘Hostile Targets’ in Strait of Hormuz: Fars
After explosions were heard on Qeshm island, near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media is saying that Iranian forces attacked and struck ‘hostile targets’ – though the event still remains shrouded in mystery and few details were offered. The US side has also not confirmed anything, and this could also be the result of drone activity.
Iran remains defiant, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian having newly asserted in an interview, “Our enemies expected the country to collapse due to the pressures they have exerted.“ He added that these pressures have “reached their maximum”. Oil jumped again on the reports of attacks in the Hormuz Strait area:
MS Now continues to report on the ‘agreed upon’ Iran-Oman deal for Hormuz transit:
Oman on Thursday agreed to the framework of a deal with Iran to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the global crude oil export route that Washington and Tehran have been wrestling to control since the war began, two Middle East diplomats with knowledge of the negotiations told MS NOW.
The diplomats declined to describe the details of the temporary agreement or what issues remain unresolved. But an Iranian government official linked to the deal told MS NOW on Thursday morning that it will establish new shipping routes by allowing commercial vessels to enter the Persian Gulf through an Iranian-controlled route and exit through a route controlled by Oman.
This also as Iranian leaders continue to taunt Washington, with fresh messages such as the following from the country’s influential parliament speaker:
“Massive attack coming… wait, never mind, they want to negotiate.”
That’s theater diplomacy on loop.
Using bullying + broken promises + fake news as leverage is a failed strategy.
Acknowledge the facts and fulfill your commitments. We don’t need more theater.
— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) August 6, 2026
Deal Details: US-Israeli vessels Banned from Hormuz (Fars)
Iranian state media (Fars) has issued details of the Iran-Omani draft plan for transit rules through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. The country’s parliament is said to currently be reviewing it, while Tehran still insists that the US has been sidelined, saying that the Oman-Iran contacts are bilateral.
As cited in Bloomberg from state media, key proposals include:
Ban vessels linked to the U.S., Israel, and other hostile states
Block military and civilian cargo tied to Israel
Restrict ships linked to actions against the “Axis of Resistance”
Deny passage to parties owing compensation to Iran
Impose fines of up to 20% of cargo value for violations
The first note about banning US-linked vessels could alone serve to restart the war. The White House has appeared to genuinely be searching for an exit strategy, but this may be too hard a pill to swallow, if accurate.
Fars has spelled out that “The passage of vessels belonging to the US, the Israelis, and other hostile countries through the Strait of Hormuz will be prohibited.” Below are is the fuller outline of the proposed plan as featured by Fars [machine translation]:
The passage of vessels belonging to the United States, Israelis and other hostile countries through the Strait of Hormuz will be prohibited.
Ships related to Israel, whether military or civilian, will not have the right to transit through this area.
Vessels or cargoes that play a role in actions against the Resistance Front will also be subject to the ban.
Countries and individuals that have caused damage to Iran will not receive permission to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf until compensation is paid.
Heavy fines, including up to 20% of the value of the goods, will be imposed on violators. The cargo is anticipated.
The government will be required, in cooperation with the armed forces, to assume responsibilities such as guiding navigation, monitoring vessel traffic, and protecting the security and environment of the Persian Gulf.
This plan is still in the expert review stage, and the parliament has asked experts to submit their suggestions for completing it.
Oil spikes on the headlines of a very clearly ‘Iran-favorable’ ‘deal’ – which Washington is unlikely to simply accept.
Does this portend a return to active conflict?
Yemeni ‘Blockade for Blockade’ Could Threaten Delicate Hormuz Negotiations
Yesterday witnessed at least the eighth Saudi oil tanker attacked by the Houthis since the maritime blockade began on July 22, which is being followed by reports the Yemeni rebel group backed by Iran could be preparing for all-out war with Saudi Arabia.
The group struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Wednesday and coupled the action with a threat to intensify attacks in order to close “all access routes” to Saudi oil shipments. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree confirmed that ballistic missiles were launched at a Saudi tanker called Wafa near the Saudi port city of Yanbu.
A second oil tanker identified as Daisy was subsequently hit in the Gulf of Aden with a ballistic missile and “forced to turn back” – the spokesman said in a social media post. The Houthis are dubbing it a “blockade for blockade” strategy.
But it seems the Saudis aren’t ready to take this laying down, even if the ratcheting Red Sea region conflict threatens fragile Oman-sponsored talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as on Thursday its proxy the Yemeni Armed Forces – representing the official government whose seat is in Aden in the south – announcedpreparations for a large new military operation.
This as Al Arabiya reports a fresh outbreak of ground fighting, in a renewal and intensification of the civil war that goes back to at least 2015 (and has an international proxy war aspect to it). The Arab publication says that a Houthi attack killed 45 government forces in Hadramawt and Marib in Yemen, areas which also happen to be home to the vast majority of the country’s oil and gas fields.
Separately Al Jazeera describes of the same event:
The Yemeni Emergency Forces of the internationally-recognised government, have said that there have been material and human losses following attacks on its camps.
Several causalities have been reported after a suspected Houthi rocket and drone attack targeted bases hosting the forces in Marib and Hadramaut.
So now it seems that even if a grand Hormuz deal to reopen energy transit can be pulled off with some level of sticking power, there will have to be a separate ceasefire to contain the Yemen and Bab al-Mandab Strait crisis.
To some degree, the Houthi closure of the Red Sea to Saudi shipping represents a good cop, bad cop approach to the United States and its Gulf allies. It is a way for Tehran to still maintain some serious tangential leverage over global energy, even as ships in Hormuz could finally get moving again.
The Houthis launched ballistic missile and drone strikes on Saudi-backed Yemeni forces in Marib Governorate, targeting several military sites.
According to preliminary reports, at least 45 personnel were killed and dozens wounded, with Saudi-aligned media confirming the attacks… pic.twitter.com/uThIgebcfe
As a reminder, the Houthis have been part of what Iran sees as the “axis of resistance” going back to when the Shia rebel group first seized power in September 2014:
Saudi Arabia is now being squeezed from three directions in the widening U.S.-Iran war — Iraq to its northeast, Yemen to its southwest, and Iran to its east. (On July 18, Tehran struck Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, its first direct hit on Saudi soil in nearly four months.)
To understand why this matters beyond the price of oil, it helps to picture the crises as a set of nesting dolls.
The innermost doll is Yemen’s own civil war: a decade-old fight between the Houthis (officially known as Ansar Allah), who rule the populous north from Sana’a, and Yemen’s internationally recognized government, formally led by a body called the Presidential Leadership Council. The roots of this war trace to the 2011 Arab Spring revolution, which toppled Yemen’s long-serving president and left a power vacuum the Houthis moved to fill, seizing Sana’a in 2014. Saudi Arabia and a coalition of partners intervened in 2015 with the explicit aim of reversing that takeover and restoring the internationally recognized government, and the war has continued in one form or another ever since.
The middle doll is Saudi Arabia’s broader rivalry with Iran, a contest for regional leadership that has run since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Tehran’s new theocratic government began exporting a revolutionary, Shia-inflected challenge to the Gulf’s Sunni monarchies.
In the meantime, Al Jazeera is reporting Thursday that the Saudi-backed government shot down a drone operated by the Houthis over the city of Marib.
The country’s official SABA news agency said the Houthi targeting of Marib “embodies their escalatory approach and their insistence on continuing their terrorist acts” and that “the air defenses engaged the drone as soon as it entered the city’s airspace and successfully shot it down.”
Over in the Persian Gulf region, Iran officials have said a deal with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is “on the verge of being finalized” which entry and exit routes and protocols having been established. Iran continues to say that Washington has nothing to do with this, and warns against US military interference.
The White House seems to be quite serious about ensuring an offramp from the conflict this time, as the bombs have fallen silent for several days now…
🇺🇸 US Vice President JD Vance said diplomatic negotiations with Iran are “going to be messy” and will “take some time,” in an interview on Fox News, a more cautious tone than President Donald Trump, who claimed earlier this week that “a lot of progress” had been made.
But lots of unknowns and variables remain, as some international reports suggest a final deal could be signed as early as the close of Thursday, or at least by week’s end. Al Jazeera notes: “For Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the US must abide by the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with Iran in mid-June, although that would not be enough on its own, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in comments carried by Iran’s IRNA news agency.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has newly warned that “We’re ready to retaliate, but finding a diplomatic solution is the best way to avoid wider escalation and destruction across the region.“
Perhaps its indicative of general Iran war fatigue, but the US appears poised to agree to a deal that recognizes Iran’s claim to control over the Strait of Hormuz–an unthinkable concession even a few weeks ago–and I’m seeing very little discussion of it among the commentariat.
