Iranian crude has been slashed for Chinese buyers in an effort to entice interest from independent oil refiners, which have reduced operating rates to stem losses from weaker margins.
Prices for Iranian Light for July arrival were offered at a discount of more than $1 a barrel to ICE Brent benchmarks, compared with a premium last month, said traders who participate in the market. Russian crude that is shipped from the country’s far east has also been lowered, they added.
by Monica Showalter
California is well known for driving its productive citizens to other states.
A proposed new 'billionaire tax,' that's coming up on the November ballot has already driven many of its most successful citizens -- Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Spielberg -- to other states like Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada, any place where the greedy hand of the state is not fixing to take another dip into their pockets.
The Wall Street Journal last week noticed something weird: A lot of them are moving to nearby Nevada ... and they're seemingly losing money by buying up properties around Lake Tahoe at inflated prices.
According to the Journal:
As wealthy Californians flee the state, deep-pocketed buyers are taking refuge in Nevada, which is starting to rival Florida as a tax haven for the elite. Amid surging demand for prime Tahoe property in Nevada, a recent string of megadeals reflects the premium buyers are willing to pay for a lower tax bill—and the widening price gap between the two sides of the lake.California’s proposed wealth tax effectively “sprinkled rocket fuel” on the ultraluxury market on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, said Bill Dietz of Tahoe Luxury Properties.
The proposal would levy a one-time, 5% tax on the net worth of residents with net assets of $1 billion or more, and would apply to anyone who resided in California as of Jan. 1, 2026.
In December 2025, just after the tax was proposed, Google co-founder Sergey Brin paid $42 million for a lakefront home in Crystal Bay, Nev., property records show. The same month, a 210-acre estate in Zephyr Cove, Nev., sold for $80 million to an undisclosed buyer. Then in March, an entity tied to venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson shattered the Nevada and Tahoe records with the $125 million purchase of an estate in Incline Village, Nev. Jurvetson also picked up an adjacent $7 million property, and paid $46 million for a separate Incline Village home, for a total spend of $178 million. Brin didn’t respond to requests for comment. Jurveston declined to comment.
Then came the kicker from the Journal:
Ironically, the wealthiest Nevada home buyers may be saving money on their taxes, but they could be paying at least twice as much for real estate. In the Tahoe area, Nevada homes typically carry a roughly 20% premium over similar California properties, Dietz said, and the delta is far wider for the priciest homes. “A $20 million property on the California side will be $40 million to $50 million on the Nevada side, that’s how dramatic the spread is,” he said.
I used to cover billionaires for the Forbes list, and learned that all billionaires pay attention to their fortunes, don't like to lose money, and always calculate the ratios and odds in various deals and scenarios. There's no question the billionaires knew they'd be paying more for Nevada-side Tahoe property.
Obviously, they've judged that a better deal than staying in California, where the odds of California's ruling Democrats leaving billionaires alone after taking 'their' five percent were pretty unlikely. Wealth isn't just a matter of money sitting in a pile, it's a matter of intentions and investments, what is invested to provide returns in the future. That seems to be what's operational here, not merely the cash in the checkbook as California's lawmakers seem to 'think.'
Democrats go to the tax-the-billionaire well again and again as they mouth claptrap about 'affordability' and they certainly have no intention at stopping with billionaires. Anyone who owns a home, no matter how humble, is a millionaire, after all, with Democrat policies that create inflated property values and yes, they will be coming for people with those homes as greedy millionaires. Meanwhile, the billionaires won't stand a chance in the face of that kind of greed from government that will continue so long as Democrats hold power. Who wants to wait around to be the next harvest.
By contrast, the Tahoe property looks cheap. What's more, unlike taxes, property an investment they get to keep -- they can sell it, rent it, make money off it if they like, or just kick back and enjoy it.
So yes, they got a good deal by paying those premiums, even if some quoted by the Journal think they are losing money. Sometimes it's worth it to lose money for peace of mind -- the certainty that California's lawmakers won't take a thwack at their piñata is clearly worth paying a premium for.
And the fact that this is happening tells a lot about just how bad California's governance is, which, augmented by election fraud, is probably impossible to change for the foreseeable future.
So adios, idiots, the billionaires have better places to go and they're happy to pay a premium to do it.
The reports said the attacks were launched from outside Iran's borders, though no further operational details were immediately provided.
“Israel is now targeting Iranian surface-to-surface missile launch sites, as well as infrastructure facilities unrelated to the energy sector,” he wrote on X.
Leiter said Israel would strike Hezbollah command centers in Dahieh, the group’s stronghold in southern Beirut, if the Iran-backed group fired at Israel.
“The people of Lebanon have rejected Iran’s proxy, Hizballah, and have told Iran to get out of their country,” he said. “Everyone has had enough of this maniacal Iranian regime.”
Khuzestan’s deputy governor for security affairs said projectiles struck the site and damaged part of the facility.
The military asked the public to continue following Home Front Command instructions.
Two California men have been charged over an ISIS terror plot to kill US Special Forces operatives with grenades and drones.
Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, near San Diego, and Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville in Tulare County were arrested Friday alongside Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, from Leawood, Kansas.
Prosecutors allege the three paid $2,000 to someone they thought was from the jihadi group to buy rocket-propelled grenades and UAVs for the attack.
According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Kansas, the three men allegedly spent more than a year communicating about extremist plans, including discussions about leaving the US to join ISIS.
Dzayee allegedly proposed using drones to target Special Forces personnel while Shamsaldeen is accused of expressing a desire to carry out a knife attack against a US serviceman.
The DOJ alleges Ghafoor made a series of violent statements, including saying it would be “sick” to have his name placed on a drone used in an attack.
Prosecutors also claim he spoke about beheading a female soldier and stated that he wished he could kill 300 million Americans.
Pentagon officials confirmed Dzayee served in the Navy in 2023 and separated in 2024. Neighbors and a former classmate also shared with NBC 7 photos of him in a sailor’s uniform.
Several residents, including veterans and military family members, said the arrest was difficult to reconcile with their understanding of his background.
“We looked out — it seemed to me like it was a white van that pulled up and tactical guys jumped out and surrounded the house,” a neighbor said.
“Very odd in this neighborhood. So the neighbors started coming out. We didn’t approach, but we were watching.”
Agents remained at the residence for several hours, searching the home and garage while interviewing Dzayee’s parents.
“You immediately — you see Terrorist Task Force, your alarms go up,” the neighbor added. “I actually walked up to the FBI agent and asked if the house was going to blow up, whether the neighborhood should be concerned, and he assured me, ‘No, we’re arresting someone. That’s all we’ve got.'”
Residents said Dzayee kept mostly to himself.” He doesn’t really speak to folks around here, which is, again, unusual for this neighborhood,” the nearby resident said.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei's senior adviser Ali Velayati warned on Monday that Iran could block the Bab-el-Mandeb, a strait separating the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. It is a major shipping route, including for oil exports.
"The current security situation in Bab al-Mandab should not lead the enemy into miscalculation. The choice is yours: stop this foolishness or enter a balanced equation for disciplining the two straits," Velayati said, referring to Bab-el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz, according to CNN.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Iran-threatens-to-block-Bab-el-Mandeb-strait/66455687
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Telegram that it detected a missile launch from Yemen aimed at Israeli territory.
"Aerial defense systems are operating to intercept the threat," the IDF added in a statement.
It comes after the Israeli military said it attacked military targets in Iran.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/IDF-detects-missile-from-Yemen/66455775
South Korean stocks are expected to bounce back after a drop that triggered a circuit breaker, said Timothy Moe, Goldman Sachs chief Asia-Pacific regional equity strategist.
“In the longer run, this will prove to be a technical correction, albeit a scary one in a longer-term bull market,” Moe said in a Bloomberg TV interview, adding that “the underlying fundamentals are still very, very strong.”
Graham Platner raised $200,000 in a single day on Friday, pulling in donations from more than 5,000 supporters, averaging $40 each. For a party trying to win back the Senate, it should be cause for celebration, but for Democrats trying to quietly push him toward the exit, it is a disaster.
The money came pouring in just hours after the New York Times published a damaging account based on interviews with several of Platner's former girlfriends. The timing made everything worse. The Times story days after Platner reportedly assured Democratic allies that nothing further would surface. The report described "unsettling" behavior, including an allegation from Lyndsey Fifield, a GOP operative, who claimed Platner bragged about having a Nazi tattoo and grabbed her by the shoulders. Platner denied any physical abuse and said he was unaware of the Nazi connection to the now-covered tattoo. The only thing he would concede to is being a bad boyfriend during a period when he was using alcohol to cope after returning from combat.
In addition to the fundraising, Platner's campaign released an internal poll from Public Policy Polling this week showing him with a 4-point lead over Collins. While that may seem like a positive development, analyst Nate Silver was skeptical, noting the results are "not super reassuring given that internal polls typically exaggerate their candidate's standing by 4 points or so." A campaign releasing its own polling in the middle of a scandal is usually a sign of pressure, not confidence.
Despite Platner’s fundraising boon, he has lost some support.
“I pulled my endorsement of Graham Platner because the information that has come to light at this point is inexcusable," liberal activist Cheyenne Hunt said on CNN.
"From comments on Reddit that excuse rape to now multiple allegations from a number of women that detail behaviors that are just grotesque, from demonstrably poor judgment to physical altercations, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, it's disqualifying for someone seeking to hold higher office, and we have to do what is right, even when it is politically and electorally inconvenient."
Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington are struggling to figure out how to handle Platner’s candidacy.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) repeatedly dodged questions about whether he supports Platner, recycling the phrase "We're going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate" each time reporters pressed him. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) declined to endorse Platner during an awkward CNN interview.
The problem for Democrats is simple.
A candidate who can bank $200,000 in an afternoon, even amid allegations this serious, has little incentive to listen to nervous party leaders.
Platner told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Thursday, hours after the Times story dropped, that he had not once considered stepping aside. "No, not once," he said, when Hayes asked whether he had thought about dropping out. Earlier in the same interview, Platner tried to contextualize the allegations by framing them as a byproduct of the trauma he brought home from war. "In this piece, there's a lot about my struggling, not being a good boyfriend, certainly self-medicating with alcohol, and I've been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign that that was a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service," he said.
Democrats had mapped out a straightforward path to flipping Maine, the most important state in their plan to win control of the U.S. Senate: The race was supposed to function as a referendum on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a longtime incumbent whose brand of moderate Republicanism has always made her a target. That strategy is now in tatters. "There is dramatically higher concern about losing Maine now across the caucus than there was before the stories broke," a senior Democratic Senate aide told Politico. "Everyone realizes that without Maine, the path to taking back the Senate is impossible." The aide added, "Everyone is apoplectic."
Democratic strategist Joel Payne diagnosed the problem with uncomfortable precision. "There's no way he's going to win a referendum on himself," Payne told The Hill. "He's got to make sure that when Maine voters go to the ballot, they ask, 'Am I really comfortable with Susan Collins for another six years?'" He acknowledged the campaign had failed to keep that frame intact. "They've lost the thread on that," Payne added.
None of this appears to be moving Platner. He rallied supporters in Bar Harbor ahead of Tuesday's primary, signaling that his base remains energized even as the party apparatus quietly panics around him.
That enthusiasm is exactly what makes this such a clean trap for Democrats. They cannot force him out. They cannot openly abandon him without handing Republicans a gift. And every day he stays in the race, the question Maine voters will answer in November shifts further away from Susan Collins and closer to Graham Platner. His donors just made sure he understands he does not need the party's permission to stay. And if more damaging information comes out, and there’s every reason to believe it will, the party may be stuck with a candidate who cannot win an election critical to their strategy for flipping the Senate.
Update (2200ET): In a stunning shift, 9 days after the actual election day, LA City Councilmember Nithya Raman has suddenly overtaken former reality TV star Spencer Pratt for second place in the Los Angeles mayoral primary race on Sunday, the latest election results show.
With 83.2% of the expected vote in, Democratic incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, who NBC News projected on election night will advance to the November runoff, maintained her lead with 250,871 votes, or 34.68%, according to the updated vote tally released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on Sunday afternoon. Raman has 27.12% of the ballots counted so far, surpassing Pratt, who has 26.69%. She is now ahead of him by 3,113 votes.
Although no news outlet has projected which candidate will face Bass in November, Bass' campaign released a statement following Sunday's drop, referring to Raman as the mayor's "general election opponent."
Spencer Pratt took to social media:
This post on X summed up the general farce well...
Don't forget, "democracy" itself is at stake here...
What a fucking joke!!!* * *
Spencer Pratt entered election night with momentum, a measurable polling advantage, and what looked like a path to one of the two runoff spots in the Los Angeles mayoral race. Days later, the outcome is still unknown, and Pratt's path to the runoff is narrowing fast. Late-arriving mail-in ballots have methodically eroded his margin over Nithya Raman, and the trajectory has prompted pointed questions about how California counts its votes and who benefits when the process drags on for weeks.
California's jungle primary structure allows two candidates from the same party to advance to the general election, and it is widely believed that Democrats intentionally designed this system to ensure Republicans would be shut out of general elections. If Raman overtakes Pratt, the November ballot will feature two Democrats, freezing out the candidate who ran as the race's most prominent outsider voice on crime and homelessness in a city that has become a symbol of both.
As of the latest available count, Pratt's lead over Raman sits at just over 7,000 votes, a margin of under one percent, with roughly 22 percent of ballots still waiting to be counted. Pre-election polls had Pratt leading Raman by three to four points, and the expectation was that he would advance to the November runoff.
The gap between those projections and the current count grows harder to square with each new ballot drop. In the most recent batch, Raman pulled approximately 40 percent of the vote, compared with Pratt's 18 percent. Even Democratic incumbent Karen Bass, the race's front-runner, captured only 33 percent of that same drop. The remaining candidates split what was left.
The slow-rolling count and the bizarre trend of Raman getting the lead over all candidates in the mail-in vote have drawn national attention.
And former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), is blaming Gov. Gavin Newsom. "The question to the rest of the world is what happened to California elections? Well, I'll tell you, it's Gavin Newsom," McCarthy said on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures. "When Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California, you knew who was elected in a day to two days. Now it takes more than weeks, almost a month."
He continued, "Gavin changed a number of election laws in which you want to see is what did he do and why did he cause it?" He went further on the structural shifts that preceded the current chaos. "We had cut off voter registration 30 days before the election. That helps the registrars to know who's going to vote and the candidates. Now we have same day voter, and you don't have to show ID. Gavin changed the rules where he mails ballots to everyone. So he took away the choice to Californians to vote in person or to vote absentee. Everybody gets mailed a ballot. But he didn't clean up the rolls. So that raises doubt in people's minds."
That doubt has found a louder audience online. Robby Starbuck posted a breakdown on X that laid out the ballot-drop pattern in stark visual terms.
Starbuck followed that with another post on Sunday morning that demonstrates just how unlikely it is that Raman would be performing so well in the mail-in ballots.
Elon Musk entered the conversation by pointing to what he sees as the underlying mechanism. "The reason ID is banned in California (and New York) elections is to enable large-scale fraud," Musk wrote on X, replying to Starbuck's post. "When you combine no ID and mail-in voting, fraud is de facto legalized."
Voters watched Pratt finish a solid second in the polls and on election night, then saw that lead steadily shrink as waves of late-arriving ballots were added to the count. When a state with California's resources still can't produce timely, transparent results in one of the nation's most closely watched elections, skepticism is inevitable.
If Pratt ultimately loses a runoff spot, it will become yet another flashpoint in the growing national debate over whether Americans can trust how elections are conducted and counted.
