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At least eight oil tankers that had been delayed in the Persian Gulf headed toward the strait after Iran and the U.S. announced the waterway was open.
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Iran said Saturday that it had reasserted control over the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian officials and President Trump announced Friday that the critical waterway was open.
President Donald Trump also said Friday that Iran had agreed to suspend its nuclear program indefinitely, raising hopes for a deal to end the war, though Tehran had not commented on the claim.
Trump said any moratorium on Iran’s nuclear activities would be “unlimited.”
“Most of the main points are finalized. It’ll go pretty quickly,” Trump said. He also said the U.S. would not release frozen Iranian funds.
Details of any potential agreement remained unclear. Iran has long said it has the right to enrich uranium.
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Hegseth cites Bible in criticism of news media
Hegseth has frequently criticized U.S. news media as biased against Trump. He also has challenged Pentagon media credentialing rules in court. A federal judge last month ruled the policy violated the U.S. Constitution, and the Pentagon is appealing.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a Bible passage at a Pentagon briefing to criticize what he called negative news coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
In opening remarks, Hegseth said a Sunday sermon had focused on Pharisees trying to undermine Jesus after witnessing a miracle. Quoting scripture, he said, “the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him.”
“I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees,” Hegseth said in the Pentagon briefing room. He added that he was not referring to all reporters, but to “the legacy, Trump-hating press.”
“The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation. Only looking for the negative. The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn,” he said.
Hegseth’s remarks came as President Donald Trump and Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born leader of the Catholic Church, remained at odds over the war. The article said Pope Leo had criticized the conflict. This week, Trump posted images on social media showing Jesus embracing him and depicting Trump as a Jesus-like figure.
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DOJ prepared egg antitrust suit, WSJ reports
The lawsuit alleged the producers coordinated through an industry price-benchmarking service.
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The U.S. Justice Department was preparing an antitrust lawsuit against several major egg producers, including Cal-Maine Foods and Versova, over alleged price coordination, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The lawsuit alleged the producers coordinated through an industry price-benchmarking service. The Justice Department and the companies could still reach a settlement to avoid litigation.
Cal-Maine shares fell nearly 5% in extended trading after the report.
U.S. egg producers have faced a growing number of class-action lawsuits alleging price-fixing as consumers contend with higher food prices, including eggs.
Earlier this month, Cal-Maine said it was cooperating with a Justice Department investigation into potential price-fixing by egg producers after receiving a civil investigative demand. The company said the scope, duration, and outcome of the probe were uncertain.
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Air Force, Space Force meet FY2026 recruiting goals
The Air Force aimed to enlist 32,750 active-duty airmen, while the Space Force set a goal of 730 enlisted recruits.
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The U.S. Air Force and Space Force reached their fiscal 2026 recruiting goals five months ahead of schedule, according to a Tuesday Facebook post from Air Education and Training Command.
The Air Force aimed to enlist 32,750 active-duty airmen, while the Space Force set a goal of 730 enlisted recruits, according to a fiscal 2026 Air Force Accessions Center recruiting snapshot.
“Recruiting success like this reflects the mission of the Air Force Accessions Center, which integrates recruiting and officer accession programs to attract and develop the next generation of Airmen and Guardians,” the Facebook post said.
In a Wednesday social media post, the Air Force said “mission accomplished” after meeting its goal and pointed to its Delayed Entry Program, a pool of recruits approved to join the military who were waiting for openings in Basic Military Training.
The Air Force said in a June 2025 release that it had more than 14,000 recruits in the Delayed Entry Program in 2025, its highest level in the past decade.
“With our Delayed Entry Program at its largest level in a decade, the future of our force is secure and ready,” the service said in its social media post.
With fiscal 2026 beginning in October 2025, the Department of Defense said it had already met nearly 40% of its Delayed Entry Program accession goals.
The military services overall met or exceeded their recruiting targets in fiscal 2025 after shortfalls in recent years that officials linked to a competitive job market and a smaller share of young Americans qualifying for service.
At a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised the Air Force and Space Force for meeting their recruiting goals early and said the Army and Marine Corps would “soon do the same.”
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U.S. judge rejects Bayer bid over J&J drug claims
Bayer sued Johnson & Johnson on Feb. 23, alleging the company falsely claimed patients had a “51% reduction in risk of death” if treated with Erleada instead of Nubeqa, based on testing that met “rigorous” U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards.
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A U.S. judge denied Bayer’s request for an injunction to block Johnson & Johnson from advertising that its prostate cancer drug Erleada cuts the risk of death by 51%.
In a decision issued Friday night, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho in Manhattan said Bayer had not shown it was likely to succeed on the merits of its false advertising claims or that it faced irreparable harm. Bayer had argued that Johnson & Johnson’s campaign threatened to erode trust in Bayer’s prostate cancer drug, Nubeqa.
Bayer sued Johnson & Johnson on Feb. 23, alleging the company falsely claimed patients had a “51% reduction in risk of death” if treated with Erleada instead of Nubeqa, based on testing that met “rigorous” U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards.
The German drugmaker said those claims were unreliable because most Nubeqa patients in the study received the drug off-label. Bayer also said the Food and Drug Administration did not review Johnson & Johnson’s retrospective, real-world analysis as a substitute for traditional clinical trials.
In his 41-page decision, Ho said Johnson & Johnson’s statements accurately reflected the study’s conclusions, and Bayer had not identified methodological errors “so substantial” that the claims were materially false or misleading.
“Based on the current record,” Ho wrote, “the methodological choices made by the authors of the study were not errant or out-of-step within the relevant scientific community.”
Bayer spokeswoman Sue Ann Pentecost said in a statement: “Bayer continues to believe the full body of evidence supports its false advertising claims and looks forward to the court’s determination on the merits of the case.”
Johnson & Johnson said the ruling was “a win for scientific exchange and a strong win for patients…. Real-world evidence helps clinicians make informed treatment decisions, especially when head-to-head clinical trials data are not available.”
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Better.com CEO warns recession could spur home buying
Mortgage preapprovals and refinancing applications are rising, while home purchase activity remained subdued, suggesting many buyers were still cautious.
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Better.com CEO Vishal Garg said he expected a recession and argued that an economic downturn could create an opening for some renters to buy homes.
Speaking at the Semafor World Economy event in Washington, D.C., Garg said, “I personally believe a recession is coming, and recessionary times are the best time to stop paying rent and be your own landlord.” He added that downturns can be a good time to move from renting to owning.
His comments came as mortgage rates eased. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.42% in the week ending April 10, 2026, the second straight weekly decline and the lowest level in about a month. The group said the drop was tied in part to lower Treasury yields.
At the same conference, Citadel founder Ken Griffin also warned that energy-market disruptions could trigger a downturn. He said a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20% of global energy flows, would likely push the world into recession. “Let’s assume the strait is shut down for the next six to 12 months, the world’s going to end up in a recession,” Griffin said. “There’s no way to avoid that.”
Garg also cited labor-market changes tied to artificial intelligence and signs of consumer strain, including the financing of large purchases through payment plans.
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2 U.S. men sentenced in North Korea IT fraud
According to the Justice Department, the operation brought North Korea about $5 million.
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Two U.S. citizens were sentenced for helping North Korea place remote IT workers at American companies, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Kejia Wang and Zhenxing Wang, both of New Jersey, received prison terms of 7 1/2 years and nine years, respectively. Prosecutors said they provided infrastructure for the scheme, including running or managing “laptop farms” in the United States that let North Korean workers connect remotely and appear to be based in the country.
Co-conspirators also stole the identities of more than 80 Americans and obtained jobs at more than 100 U.S. companies, including some Fortune 500 firms.
The Justice Department said the jobs gave North Korean IT workers salaries and, in some cases, access to trade secrets and source code. In one instance, the department said, a worker stole export-controlled data from an unnamed California artificial intelligence company.
“The ruse placed North Korean IT workers on the payrolls of unwitting U. S. companies and in U.S. computer systems, thereby harming our national security,” John A. Eisenberg, the department’s assistant attorney general for national security, said in the announcement.
Prosecutors said that from 2021 to 2024, Kejia Wang oversaw laptop farms made up of hundreds of computers, while Zhenxing Wang hosted laptops at his home. They also created shell companies and financial accounts linked to the fake IT workers to move millions of dollars in payments overseas.
“In exchange for their services, Kejia Wang, Zhenxing Wang, and the four other U. S. facilitators received nearly $700,000 for their respective roles in the scheme,” the Justice Department said.
The U.S. government also announced rewards of up to $5 million for information that could help counter the schemes, including information on nine people who allegedly worked with the two men.
The case was the latest legal action tied to North Korea’s effort to place suspected IT workers at U.S. and Western companies. The article said U.S. officials have linked such activity, along with cryptocurrency thefts, to funding for the country’s government and weapons program.
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House Democrats file impeachment articles against Hegseth
Pentagon officials dismissed the effort as politically motivated and said all military actions were carried out within legal authorities and established rules of engagement.
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House Democrats introduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on April 15, accusing him of abusing power, mishandling classified information, and authorizing military action without proper legal authority.
The resolution, led by Rep. Yassamin Ansari, included six articles tied largely to recent U.S. military operations involving Iran. Lawmakers cited allegations including civilian casualties, unauthorized use of force, violations of the law of armed conflict, use of unsecured communications, politicization of the armed forces, and conduct they said brought disrepute on the United States and its military.
The resolution also cited specific incidents tied to recent operations, including a strike lawmakers alleged caused significant civilian casualties and a series of maritime strikes targeting suspected drug-trafficking vessels.
Pentagon officials dismissed the effort as politically motivated and said all military actions were carried out within legal authorities and established rules of engagement. Supporters of Hegseth said the move reflected broader opposition to administration policy, particularly on Iran.
The effort was unlikely to advance. Removal would require a majority vote in the House and a two-thirds vote in the Senate, a threshold that appeared out of reach under current political dynamics.
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House rejects measure to withdraw U.S. forces, Iran
Under the War Powers Act of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorize the use of force within 60 days, a deadline in the Iran war that will arrive at the end of April.
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The House on Thursday rejected a resolution requiring President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the war with Iran unless Congress authorizes military action, the latest failed effort to limit the operation as most Republicans backed the president.
The measure failed 213-214, one day after a similar effort fell short in the Senate. The United States and Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28, and a ceasefire was in its second week.
Democrats said they were concerned the United States could become more deeply involved in another prolonged Middle East conflict and said they would continue pushing war powers votes in the coming weeks.
“We’re standing at the edge of a cliff and Congress must act before the president pushes off,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Every day we delay, we inch closer to a conflict with no exit ramp.”
Republicans said Democrats were applying a different standard than they did under President Joe Biden. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, the committee chairman, said Congress did not vote on a war powers resolution when the U.S. attacked Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in 2024.
“When Joe Biden was responding to merchant marine vessels being attacked, it was OK. No war power needed. It went on for about a year,” Mast said. “President Trump responds — war power, war power, war power. … That’s the hypocrisy.”
Under the War Powers Act of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorize the use of force within 60 days, a deadline in the Iran war that will arrive at the end of April. The law allows a possible 30-day extension. Lawmakers said they wanted the administration to outline a plan for ending the war.
Democrats used the vote to point to the war’s costs, including billions of dollars in spending, the deaths of at least 13 service members, higher gas prices, and strains with allies that do not support Trump’s actions.
“Gas prices at home are up to $7 in my home state, and families are hurting,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. “Another 10,000 U.S. troops are being sent in to join 50,000 already stationed in the Middle East with absolutely no strategy, no plan and no exit.”
Republicans defended Trump’s actions. “President Donald Trump has sent a message that those who threaten the United States and our partners will be ultimately held accountable,” said Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote for the measure. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to oppose it. A previous House vote to curb Trump’s military action with Iran failed in early March, 212-219.
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Minnesota charges ICE agent in highway gun case
Officials said it was the first state criminal case tied to the federal government’s 10-week Minnesota operation.
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Minneapolis prosecutors on Monday charged a federal immigration agent with assault, alleging he pointed a gun at motorists on a state highway during a federal immigration operation in the Twin Cities in February.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the case was one of 18 incidents involving federal agents under investigation by her office and that additional charges were possible.
Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., 35, of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, faces two counts of second-degree assault.
According to the criminal complaint, Morgan pointed a handgun at two people in a car while trying to pass them in an unmarked vehicle on the shoulder of a highway near Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Feb. 5.
“Driving while pointing a weapon out of your moving vehicle at the victims who are in another moving vehicle could have led to yet another disastrous incident in a community that has already suffered too many,” Moriarty told reporters.
Morgan told state investigators he “feared for his safety and the safety of others” after a vehicle swerved in front of him and “cut him off.” He said he was returning to a federal building for gas near the end of his shift.
The motorists told investigators they saw a black sport utility vehicle speeding on the shoulder with no markings, lights, or sirens and did not know its occupants were law enforcement. The driver said he moved slightly into the shoulder to “cut him off a little bit,” causing the SUV to slow and return to the traffic lane.
Prosecutors said Morgan then pulled alongside the car, rolled down his window, and pointed a gun at the occupants while yelling. Morgan told investigators he shouted, “Police, stop!” after drawing his weapon. The driver later said he believed there was “a crazy person driving down the road aiming guns at people,” according to the complaint.
Moriarty said this case lacked many of the legal and practical obstacles involved in other investigations tied to the operation. Prosecutors said they interviewed both motorists and the two ICE agents in the SUV and obtained highway camera and cellphone video. An ICE supervisor told investigators neither Morgan nor his partner reported the incident after returning to base.
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Trump arch plan advances, faces legal reviews
Trump wrote on social media that the project “will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “an architectural masterpiece to celebrate our history.”
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President Donald Trump’s proposed United States Triumphal Arch moved forward Thursday after the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved the design for Memorial Circle, near Arlington National Cemetery.
The proposal called for a 250-foot arch across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, which would make it taller than similar monuments in other capital cities, according to the plans. The commission said nearly 1,000 public comments submitted before the vote were all opposed.
Architectural renderings showed a stone arch with classical features and extensive gold details, including lions, medallions, inscriptions, and three statues on top. Vice Chairman James C. McCrery II questioned whether the statues were necessary; without them, the structure would be about 166 feet tall.
The design evolved from an earlier proposal for a temporary structure under 60 feet, then to 76 feet, before Trump said he wanted it to exceed Paris’ 164-foot Arc de Triomphe. The 250-foot height was also tied to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The administration did not release a budget or cost estimate. The White House told The New York Times the project would likely be funded through a mix of public and private money.
The administration said it expected to break ground this summer and complete construction before the end of Trump’s term. A separate rendering released Thursday by Freedom 250 showed a smaller, possibly temporary version of the arch for this summer’s “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall.
The project still faced additional reviews. After the fine arts commission vote, the proposal was expected to go to the National Capital Planning Commission.
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Congress awards Gold Medal to Nuremberg prosecutor
Congress posthumously awarded Benjamin Ferencz the Congressional Gold Medal for prosecuting Nazi death squads at Nuremberg.
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Congress on Tuesday posthumously awarded Benjamin Ferencz the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest U.S. civilian honor, for his work prosecuting Nazi death squads at the Nuremberg Trials.
Ferencz died in 2023 at 103. In 2022, Congress voted to award him the medal. His family received it this week during the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual Days of Remembrance commemoration at the Capitol.
Ferencz was 27 and had no previous trial experience when he served as chief prosecutor in the case against the Einsatzgruppen, Nazi mobile killing units that targeted Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and political dissidents in Eastern Europe.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said during the ceremony: “Mr. Ferencz was a tremendous force for good, a fierce New Yorker with a heart of gold and a backbone of steel, a man who saw the worst of humanity and spent the better part of a century fighting for the best of it.”
Born in Transylvania in 1920, Ferencz emigrated to the United States with his family as an infant, fleeing anti-Jewish pogroms. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1943, enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was initially assigned as an anti-aircraft artillery gunner.
He later rose to sergeant in Gen. George Patton’s Third Army and took part in the Normandy invasion, the push through the Maginot and Siegfried lines, the crossing of the Rhine, and the Battle of the Bulge.
After his honorable discharge in 1945, chief Nuremberg prosecutor Gen. Telford Taylor recruited Ferencz to return to Germany to help investigate Nazi war crimes. Working for the Army’s War Crimes Branch, he collected death records from the camps at Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenbürg, and Ebensee.
“When I passed the figure of one million, I stopped adding,” he said in an interview with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. “That was quite enough for me.”
Ferencz and his colleagues also found Einsatzgruppen records used in the subsequent trial. The International Military Tribunal determined that nearly 2 million Jews were murdered by the units.
All 22 men prosecuted by Ferencz were convicted. Most were sentenced to death.
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USS Gerald R. Ford Sets Post-Vietnam Deployment Mark
The deployment surpassed the 294-day deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic
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The USS Gerald R. Ford on Wednesday set a U.S. record for the longest aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam War, reaching 295 days at sea.
The Ford deployed in June 2025 from Norfolk, Virginia, to the Mediterranean Sea. In October, the military redirected it to the Caribbean as part of the largest naval buildup in the region in generations.
The carrier took part in the operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. It later moved toward the Middle East as tensions with Iran rose.
The ship participated in the opening days of the Iran war from the Mediterranean before transiting the Suez Canal and entering the Red Sea in early March. A fire in a laundry space later forced the carrier to return to the Mediterranean for repairs.
The extended deployment renewed questions about the strain on sailors and equipment. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said it had taken “a serious toll” on the crew’s mental health and well-being, and said the fire temporarily left 600 sailors without places to sleep.
Pentagon officials had not said how long the Ford would remain deployed, but the Navy’s two highest-ranking officers both said publicly they expected it to last about 11 months, which would put its return in late May.
“You’re going to see a record-breaking deployment by Ford,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Navy’s top officer, said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in late March.
Caudle said in January he would “push back” on extending the Ford, and he told The Associated Press in February that he wanted commanders to use smaller, newer ships in combat zones instead of repeatedly sending aircraft carriers.
Navy officials had not formally described the Ford’s deployment as record-breaking, but they did not dispute the U.S. Naval Institute News data. Another carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, deployed two weeks ago and is now in waters off Africa, with plans to head to the Middle East.
The Ford’s deployment remained shorter than the Cold War-era 332-day deployment of the now-decommissioned USS Midway in 1972 and 1973. The USS Nimitz crew was away from home for 341 days in 2020 and 2021, but that total included extended quarantine periods ashore in the United States.
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Bluesky says DDoS attack caused service outages
On Thursday evening, the company said a “sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack” was behind the issues, which began April 15 at about 8:40 p.m. ET. Chief Operating Officer Rose Wang attributed the interruptions to an ongoing cyberattack.
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Bluesky said a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack caused service disruptions that continued Friday, affecting its website and app.
In a post on its Bluesky account, the company said the attack was “impacting our operations, with users experiencing intermittent interruptions in service for their feeds, notifications, threads, and search.” Bluesky said it had not seen evidence of unauthorized access to private data.
Distributed denial-of-service attacks typically flood apps or websites with traffic intended to overload servers and knock services offline. Bluesky did not provide an estimated time for a fix when reached for comment Thursday, directing inquiries to its status page and status account for updates. Its status page was later unavailable.
Bluesky said it would provide another update on the attack and mitigation efforts by 1 p.m. ET Friday.
The disruptions were intermittent. At times, the site and app loaded slowly; at others, they showed error messages. In the app, some users saw: “This feed is currently receiving high traffic and is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later. Message from server: Rate Limit Exceeded.” Popular feeds such as Discover and the official Bluesky Team feed were often affected, even when users’ personal feeds were working.
The site also sometimes showed an error message when users tried to visit a profile, requiring a refresh.
Bluesky protocol engineer Bryan Newbold wrote at about 3:46 a.m. ET Wednesday, “oof, our services are getting hit pretty hard tonight.”
The disruptions affected Bluesky, but Blacksky and other communities running their own infrastructure on the underlying protocol remained operational. Blacksky told TechCrunch the Bluesky outage led to a “significant spike” in migration requests from Bluesky users over the previous 12 hours, as users, developers, and other ATmosphere founders, including Sebastian at Eurosky, promoted its services.
One status-page message during the incident included a typo, saying Bluesky was “investigating an incident with service in one of our reginos [sic].”
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Disney begins 1,000 layoffs across divisions
The company had already cut at least 8,000 jobs after former Chief Executive Bob Iger returned in November 2022.
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The Walt Disney Co. began a round of layoffs Tuesday that is expected to eliminate 1,000 jobs across several divisions.
The reductions affect Disney’s television and film studios, ESPN, product and technology, corporate functions, and marketing, the person said. Disney had about 230,000 employees at the end of last year. Its theme parks, resorts, and cruise businesses have so far avoided most of the cuts.
Chief Executive Josh D’Amaro told employees in a note Tuesday morning that the company had begun notifying affected workers.
The move followed Disney’s January announcement that it would consolidate its marketing division, though the layoffs extended beyond that unit. Disney’s traditional television business has been under pressure as consumers shift to streaming services, which have lower profit margins and more variable subscriber bases.
The cost-cutting was one of the first major steps since D’Amaro became chief executive last month. After taking the role, he told employees he wanted Disney’s film and television studios, tourism division, streaming services, and sports programming to operate as “one Disney.”
Disney has been centralizing operations this year, including combining marketing for entertainment, sports, and experiences into one division reporting to Chief Marketing Officer Asad Ayaz.
Disney was among several media companies reducing headcount. Sony Pictures Entertainment said last week it planned to cut hundreds of jobs worldwide. Paramount Skydance has eliminated more than 2,000 jobs since David Ellison’s takeover, and Amazon and Netflix have also cut positions.
Disney shares traded around $102.40 on Tuesday. “I remain optimistic about where we’re headed as a company,” D’Amaro said. He added, “Compassion and respect remain at the heart of our company.”
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Uber commits $10 billion to robotaxi push
The company faces competition from Alphabet-owned Waymo, Tesla, and Amazon-owned Zoox. Waymo has partnered with Uber in markets including Austin and Atlanta, but plans to operate independently in places such as London. Zoox and Tesla are also pursuing their own apps in markets where they deploy vehicles.
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Uber has committed more than $10 billion to buy thousands of autonomous vehicles and take stakes in their developers, a shift from the asset-light model that helped define its ride-hailing business.
The company expanded its dealmaking over the past year, announcing partnerships with more than a dozen providers, including Baidu and Rivian, and plans to launch robotaxi services in at least 15 cities in 2026.
On Tuesday, Lucid said Uber had expanded an earlier agreement to invest a total of $500 million in the electric-vehicle maker and buy at least 35,000 of its cars, likely costing Uber at least $2 billion.
According to Financial Times calculations based on analyst estimates and people familiar with Uber’s deals, the company is on track to invest more than $2.5 billion in equity stakes and spend more than $7.5 billion on robotaxi fleets in the next few years. The agreements depend on partners meeting deployment milestones.
Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi told investors in February: “We are putting our capital up in order to guarantee supply [of robotaxis] going forward. Much of that supply is going to be on profitable economics . . . And we will continue making these kinds of commitments.” The total exceeds Uber’s $9.8 billion in free cash flow last year.
Uber sold its in-house autonomous vehicle unit in 2020 in a $4 billion deal as it focused on profitability. The company became profitable in 2023 after more than $30 billion in operating losses.
Its shares have fallen nearly 23% over the past six months, reflecting investor concern that autonomous vehicle providers could displace Uber’s role as a marketplace for drivers. Higher fuel costs and concerns about consumer demand have also weighed on the stock.
Uber is trying to position itself as a distribution channel for robotaxi operators and as a provider of related services, including insurance. It has also worked to connect autonomous vehicle developers with carmakers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Uber has not disclosed what share of each autonomous trip fare it will receive. It said its reported take rate included insurance and that, after those costs and incentives, its U.S. take rate was less than 20%.
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U.S. Says Iran Ship Interdictions Extend Globally
Gen. Dan Caine said the U.S. would interdict ships of any nationality traveling to or from Iranian ports and that enforcement would occur in Iran’s territorial seas and international waters.
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The U.S. military said Thursday that its campaign to interdict Iranian-linked shipping extended beyond the Middle East, alongside a blockade of Iranian ports and coastline.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine said U.S. forces in other commands, including the Pacific under Adm. Samuel Paparo, would pursue Iranian-flagged vessels and ships providing material support to Iran, including so-called Dark Fleet oil tankers. He said no Iranian ships had been boarded in the U.S. Central Command region so far, but did not say whether any had been interdicted elsewhere.
Speaking at a briefing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper, Caine said the Navy had issued warnings to ships approaching the blockade and had carried out 13 such actions since it began.
CENTCOM later said vessels subject to boarding and seizure included Iranian ships, vessels under active Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions, and ships suspected of carrying contraband, including weapons, ammunition, fissile materials, enrichment equipment, metals, oil, and lubricants.
Hegseth said U.S. forces were prepared to resume combat operations if directed by President Donald Trump and said the U.S. was monitoring Iranian efforts to reopen underground missile facilities damaged in the war. Reuters reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators were now seeking a temporary memorandum to prevent renewed conflict, rather than a broader peace deal, though no date for further talks had been set.
The International Energy Agency’s Fatih Birol said that Europe had “maybe six weeks of jet fuel left,” underscoring wider economic risks from reduced Middle East oil exports.
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Beijing satellite hub core area due by late 2026
According to Beijing Daily, Beijing Satellite Town will support aerospace industry development by promoting industrial clustering and helping talent, capital, and technology move more efficiently.
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The core area of Beijing’s Satellite Town, planned as a hub for satellite manufacturers and operators, will be completed in the second half of 2026, state-owned Beijing Daily reported on Saturday.
Beijing Daily said commercial launches now account for more than 60% of all space launches, and a number of companies are seeking to go public.
Gao Yibin, head of the Strategic Research Department at Future Aerospace, said China’s commercial space market was moving toward standardization and scale as launch approvals accelerated, components were localized, and industrial funds continued to invest.
“The accelerated implementation of scenarios such as low-Earth orbit constellation networking, satellite internet, space computing power, and 6G air-space-ground integration suggests sustained growth is expected in 2026,” Gao said.
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Australia veteran granted bail in war crimes case
The charges followed a 2020 military report that found evidence that elite Special Air Service Regiment and commando troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and other noncombatants.
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Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living veteran, was released on bail from a Sydney prison Friday, 10 days after he was charged with war crime murder over the deaths of five Afghans in Afghanistan.
Judge Greg Grogin granted bail in Sydney after finding the former Special Air Service Regiment corporal had shown exceptional circumstances warranting release. Prosecutors opposed bail, arguing Roberts-Smith, 47, could flee Australia or interfere with witnesses and evidence.
Roberts-Smith was arrested April 7 and charged with five counts of war crime murder tied to killings in Uruzgan province in 2009 and 2012. Under Australian law, war crime murder is the intentional killing during armed conflict of a person not taking an active part in hostilities, such as a civilian, prisoner of war, or wounded soldier.
He was driven from Sydney’s Silverwater Correctional Complex late Friday, apparently wearing the same clothes he wore when police removed him from a commercial airliner at Sydney Airport last week, according to media images.
Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross and the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan. He is the second Australian veteran of that war to be charged with a war crime.
The charges followed a 2020 military report that found evidence that elite Special Air Service Regiment and commando troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and other noncombatants.
In a 2023 civil case, a judge found similar allegations against Roberts-Smith were substantially true when rejecting his defamation claims against newspapers. At that trial, Roberts-Smith said he had never killed an unarmed Afghan and denied committing a war crime, saying he was the victim of false claims by fellow soldiers and of others’ envy of his medals.
The civil ruling applied the lower standard of proof of balance of probabilities. The criminal case will require proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors said Roberts-Smith was accused of personally shooting two victims and ordering subordinates to shoot three others. Prosecutor Simon Buchen called the allegations “among the most serious known to the criminal law” and said Roberts-Smith had been “on the cusp of relocating overseas” without informing authorities.
Roberts-Smith has not entered pleas. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on each conviction.
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South Lebanon bridge reopens after ceasefire begins
The 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was announced by President Donald Trump.
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Hundreds of displaced residents waited Friday for bulldozers to reopen the Qasmiyeh bridge in south Lebanon, hours after an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire took effect.
The bridge over the Litani River, a main route between southern areas and the rest of the country, was bombed by Israel shortly before the truce began at midnight. Three bulldozers working under Lebanese army supervision started filling the crater at dawn.
As soon as the crossing became passable, motorcycles and then cars moved through single file. By 9 a.m., the highway between Sidon and Tyre was backed up for kilometers, with tens of thousands of vehicles heading south, many carrying mattresses, kitchenware, and blankets.
Many of those returning had fled at the start of the war and said they did not know whether their homes were still standing.
“We set off an hour before the ceasefire took effect so we could reach the bridge once it opens, allowing us to return to our town,” said Amani Atrash, 37, who had been waiting with her family in a line of cars northeast of Tyre. “The wait is very difficult because we want to get there as quickly as possible.”
The war began on March 2 after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel, which the group said was retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader at the outset of the Middle East war. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities said the war killed more than 2,100 people and displaced more than 1 million, especially from Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs and south Lebanon.
Despite warnings against returning to the south from Hezbollah, Lebanese officials, and the Israeli army, displaced people continued moving back.