After more than ten hours of talks in Switzerland, Vice President JD Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner closed the first round of negotiations with Iran, with mediators Qatar and Pakistan reporting "encouraging progress" and the two sides agreeing to a 60-day roadmap overseen by a high-level committee. They also opened a communication line aimed at "safe passage for commercial vessels" through the Strait of Hormuz. Technical talks now move to the next phase.
With talks underway, President Trump warned Iran against closing the Strait of Hormuz, saying "You close it and you won't have a country," and floated collecting tolls or seizing the waterway outright if diplomacy fails — noting 19 million barrels of oil transited Saturday. Iran's security spokesperson dismissed the threats as "empty bluffs" whose shelf life "has expired." Oil markets edged up, with Brent crude rising $1.09 to $81.66 a barrel.
A massive fire at the Lineage cold-storage warehouse in Boyle Heights — burning since Wednesday and blamed on rooftop solar panels — has crews working a fifth straight day, with Governor Newsom issuing a state-level emergency declaration and Mayor Karen Bass declaring a local emergency. Roughly 85 million pounds of meat, fish and wheat are spoiling inside the 491,000-square-foot facility, raising biohazard fears, while a particle pollution advisory blankets central LA County. An ammonia hazard has been mitigated and no injuries have been reported.
A bit of relief for buyers: the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.47% this week, down from 6.52%, its lowest point in over a month, according to Freddie Mac. The dip lands as the Fed holds rates steady while warning inflation risks are climbing. Whether it nudges a sluggish housing market remains to be seen.
The fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire is straining: Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that IDF troops will remain inside the southern Lebanon security zone, with PM Netanyahu vowing to hold it "as long as necessary." Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem demanded Israel withdraw, warning there would be "no safe zone" for Israeli soldiers and that any violation would draw a response. The standoff comes after Hezbollah launched more than 50 projectiles overnight Saturday.
Security around the FIFA World Cup in the US is ramping up after an ISIS newsletter editorial branded the tournament a "feast of filth" and urged "lone mujahideen" to strike host cities. Iran's national team has felt the squeeze directly — moving its training base from Tucson to Tijuana and flying into the US only the day before each match. After Sunday's tense draw with New Zealand at SoFi Stadium, coach Amir Ghalenoei said his squad came to the World Cup "in the worst condition possible."
Officials in Russia-occupied Crimea halted civilian gasoline sales Sunday as Ukraine intensified attacks on fuel supplies across the Black Sea peninsula. The move points to mounting strain on Russian logistics as Kyiv targets depots and infrastructure feeding the front. It's a fresh sign the war's energy squeeze is biting on the occupied side.
A sodium-ion battery from Chinese maker Hina matched the manufacturing quality and power performance of Tesla's lithium cells in independent testing of 120 cells across temperatures from −20°C to 45°C. Researchers were "positively surprised by how uniform the cells are," noting a tabless, double-aluminum design similar to Tesla's. Sodium is far cheaper and more abundant than lithium, though the cells still lag on low-temperature charging and energy density.
Researchers discovered that as newborn neurons migrate through the developing brain, the journey routinely inflicts double-strand breaks — among the most severe forms of DNA damage. The surprise is that the young brain repairs that damage almost instantly, suggesting the breakage is a built-in feature of development rather than a flaw. The finding could reshape how scientists think about neurological disorders.
An Australian town crier, McGrail-Bateup, claimed the Guinness World Record for the loudest shout by an individual male, registering a thunderous 122.4 decibels. He and his daughter experimented to find the perfect word, ditching "quiet" for the punchier "now." He's also a former archery record holder, so apparently precision and volume run in the family.
