The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday it struck 15 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon yesterday, according to a post on X. Israeli air force struck the militant group’s facilities in the eastern Beqaa Valley and the village of Toul. The IDF previously warned civilians to evacuate before attacking Hezbollah targets in the settlement.
US-Iran talks said to end after three hours
The fifth round of talks between Iran and the United States has concluded, as reported by Axios correspondent Barak Ravid on Friday. The discussions lasted approximately three hours, but specific details about the topics and incidents have not been made public. However, Iranian state media outlet IRNA contradicted the report, stating that the discussions are still ongoing. The US delegation, led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and State Department official Michael Anton, has insisted that Iran cease all uranium enrichment as a condition for lifting economic sanctions. Conversely, Iran maintains that it will not agree to any deal requiring the halt of enrichment, viewing it as a sovereign right.
Iran and US hold a fifth round of nuclear negotiations in Rome with enrichment a key issue
ROME (AP) — The fifth round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program began Friday in Rome, Iranian media reported. The reports across several news outlets follow the arrival of multiple convoys to the Omani Embassy in Rome just after 1 p.m. The embassy previously served as the site of another round of talks. Iran’s enrichment of uranium has emerged as the key issue in the talks. U.S. officials up to President Donald Trump insist Iran cannot continue to enrich uranium at all in any deal that could see sanctions lifted on Tehran’s struggling economy. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi early Friday insisted online that no enrichment would mean “we do NOT have a deal.” Their is rising concern over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program .
see blackmask market update titled:
Soon It will be to late
Big US banks said to be exploring stablecoin launch
Several major United States banks are discussing the launch of a joint stablecoin, a type of digital currency meant to maintain a fixed value, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The talks involve JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. along with companies they co-own such as Early Warning Services LLC, which operates Zelle, and The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC, which runs a real-time payments network. The proposed stablecoin aims to speed up payments, especially for cross-border transactions and help banks “compete with the crypto industry.” The effort reportedly remains in early stages and may shift depending on demand and regulation.
NN: This is a big mistake
Houthis claim missile attack at Ben Gurion airport
Yemen-based Houthi rebels on Friday launched a missile attack, targeting Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, the rebel group’s spokesperson Yahya Saree (pictured) said in a statement. “The operation has successfully achieved its objective, causing millions of herds of usurping Zionists to flee to shelters and halting airport operations,” the spokesman stated. He added that all Houthis’ actions against Israel are conducted as a sign of support to “the oppressed Palestinian people” in Gaza and vowed that the Iran-backed group will continue launching strikes on Israel until “the aggression against Gaza stops.” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not yet commented on the latest Houthi attack.
nn: many flights were diverted for a half hour waiting for the threat to clear, incoming missiles were shot down midair
Home Sales Suffer Slowest April Since 2009…… Landlords defaulting on mortgages. Rents drop 40% in inner cities
Home sales fell for the second straight month in April, dropping to their slowest pace for the month since the global financial crisis more than 15 years ago. Existing-home sales slipped 0.5% from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of four million homes, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) said on Thursday, May 22. The median price for an existing home rose to $414,000, setting a new April record and marking the 22nd straight month of annual price increases. Sales hit their slowest April pace since 2009. They were down 2.0% from April 2024, despite housing economists expecting a 2.7% increase. The data reflects contracts likely signed in February and March, before mortgage rates jumped again in April. “Home sales have been at 75% of normal or pre-pandemic activity for the past three years, even with seven million jobs added to the economy,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “Pent-up housing demand continues to grow, though not realized. Any meaningful decline in mortgage rates will help release this demand.” In the Northeast, home sales dropped 2.0% from March to an annual rate of 480,000 – unchanged from April 2024. The region’s median price surged 6.3% to $487,400. Nationwide inventory also jumped 9.0% from March to 1.45 million homes for sale. “At the macro level, we are still in a mild seller’s market,” said Yun. “But with the highest inventory levels in nearly five years, consumers are in a better situation to negotiate for better deals.” April’s real estate slowdown echoes a warning from homebuilders about slower spring sales, fueled by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Experts have warned that the duties will raise prices on many raw materials needed to construct houses.
Builder confidence in May plunged to 34, the worst reading since December 2022 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.
A score below 50 means more builders see conditions as poor than good. The NAR also said first-time buyers accounted for 34% of April sales, up 2% from March.
NN: not looking good… .here we go again
Major NYC Landlord Puts Thousands of Units In Bankruptcy
Joel Wiener, a major owner of New York City apartments, has put properties with thousands of residential units into bankruptcy months after a bank sought to foreclose on them. Numerous property holding companies tied to Wiener’s Pinnacle Group sought court protection Wednesday in New York
The properties listed assets and liabilities of between $500 million and $1 billion on Chapter 11 petitions, each of which was signed by Wiener, who is Pinnacle’s chief executive officer.
The bankruptcies were filed months after Flagstar Bank initiated foreclosure actions in state court against the properties. Filing Chapter 11 immediately pauses legal actions brought against the companies. The companies put into bankruptcy cover apartment buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, according to court documents. Lawyers representing the companies in the foreclosure actions notified the state court of the bankruptcy filings on Thursday. A Pinnacle spokesperson declined to comment. Pinnacle and its related corporate affiliates aren’t part of the Chapter 11 filings. The holding companies are represented by the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and financial adviser FTI Consulting Inc., according to court documents. The case is Broadway Realty I Co. LLC, number 25-11050, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Araghchi: Iran’s uranium enrichment will continue
Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that his country will continue its uranium enrichment plan, despite the pressure from the United States to halt it. Araghchi stated that Iran will not back down from its nuclear rights, but is ready to adopt “confidence-building and transparency measures.” The minister said that Washington is fundamentally opposed to enrichment plans, believing them to be a step towards obtaining nuclear weapons. “If they pursue such a goal, an agreement will definitely not be reached,” he warned. Earlier this month, senior adviser for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hossein Ranjbaran said that the enrichment program is a “non-negotiable demand of Iranian people.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed hope that the US will be successful in its effort to halt this program.
nn: their is only one way to stop iran from enriching uranium. And by extension getting viable nukes small enough to fit on their rockets. That is to bomb the shit out of their nuclear program. this will happen before iran nukes israel or after
Israel withdraws from talks with Hamas
The Israeli government has decided to pull its negotiating team from Qatar after talks with Hamas stalled, Israeli media reported on Thursday. “There is no movement in the talks and Hamas continues to demand an end to the war,” Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited a senior Israeli official as saying.Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the negotiating team is considering “every possibility,” including ending the conflict. Reports also claimed United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is pressing both Israel and Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal.
NN: cease fire deal kill them all, take their guns away and like Cesar said keep your boot on their throat and don’t let them up
OPEC+ Discusses Output Hike for July
OPEC+ members are discussing making a third consecutive oil production surge in July, to be decided at the group’s meeting in just over a week, delegates said.An output hike of 411,000 barrels a day for July — triple the amount initially planned — is among options under discussion, although no final agreement has yet been reached, said the delegates, asking not to be named because the information is private. A final decision is due to be taken at a gathering on June 1. The cartel has helped sink crude prices since announcing 411,000-barrel hikes for May and June — equivalent to about 1% of current OPEC+ output — in a historic break with years of defending oil markets. Oil made a fresh plunge on Thursday, dropping 0.9% to $64.31 a barrel as of 9:13 a.m. in London.
While OPEC+ says the supply increases are to satisfy demand, officials have privately proffered a range of motives, from punishing over-producing members to recouping market share and placating President Donald Trump.
Group leader Saudi Arabia warned errant members such as Kazakhstan and Iraq at their last meeting that it could deliver further production increases unless they fall in line with their quotas. Despite some promises of atonement, the Kazakhs have made little effort to rein in international oil companies operating in the country and continue to export near record levels.
“Our call is for another 411,000 barrel-a-day increase in the OPEC quota in July, similar to May and June,” said Martijn Rats, global oil strategist at Morgan Stanley. “Compliance by the over-producing countries has not changed much, and so far, the previous quota increases have been absorbed by the market.”
See also: Kazakhstan Oil Data Show Impossible Task of Hitting OPEC+ Target
In a Bloomberg survey, 25 of 32 traders and analysts predicted OPEC+ will indeed approve a hike of 411,000 barrels a day. Five said they expect the group to revert to a previous schedule of more modest increases, with a boost of 138,000 barrels.
Coinciding with the launch of Trump’s trade war in April, the surprise supply hikes from OPEC+ initially took a brutal toll on oil prices, sending crude to a four-year low near $60 a barrel in London. Futures have recovered since then as the White House rolled back some of its tariffs. Even so, many forecasters now have a bearish outlook for the market this year. Last week, the International Energy Agency predicted that global oil demand growth will slow during the remainder of 2025 after a robust first quarter due to economic headwinds.
Consequently, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has predicted that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners will pause further hikes after agreeing on the increase for July.
Eight key OPEC+ nations will hold a video-conference on June 1 to settle July production levels. The full 22-nation alliance will also hold a set of virtual meetings on May 28, where it will have the opportunity to review underlying production quotas for 2025 and 2026. “If there is indeed a shift in policy toward market share and away from price defense, it then makes sense to unwind quickly,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of oil research and analytics at Onyx Commodities Ltd. “It’s a little like a band-aid: you pull it off in one swoop and not slowly.”