US home sales surged in May to the fastest pace this year despite higher mortgage rates and prices.
Trump says pilots are fine after US helicopter crashes near Strait of Hormuz
The Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas has been struck down by a federal judge in Boston, contradicting an earlier ruling in Washington, D.C. upholding the fee hike. The administration announced the much-higher fee as a way of preventing foreign workers from taking American jobs. Schools and states say filling teacher and doctor jobs was already hard enough before the fee hike. President Donald Trump says he’ll nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the full-time job, setting up a Senate test of his use of the Justice Department to pursue his foes and give himself immunity from potential tax crimes.
Voters across Maine, Nevada, South Carolina and North Dakota head to the polls for another day of primary elections in America, but much of the political world will be focused on Maine’s high-stakes U.S. Senate contest. The results aren’t in question. Neither Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins nor Democratic challenger Graham Platner faces serious opposition for their party’s nomination. Elsewhere, President Donald Trump’s clout within his party will be tested anew in states like South Carolina and Nevada, where he’s endorsed his favored candidates. Democrats hope to build momentum in Nevada in their broader push to reclaim key governor’s seats.
Nick Reiner, son of Rob Reiner, is seeking funds from a trust his parents established. He says he needs the money for his defense against charges that he killed them. His attorneys filed a petition Monday in Los Angeles County court, saying trustees have unjustly denied him access to the funds. Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder. He retained a high-profile lawyer, but funding issues led to the lawyer's withdrawal. The trust, established in 1993, was supposed to provide Reiner with funds at ages 30 and 35, but he says he never received them.
The U.S. stock market is climbing as artificial-intelligence stocks regain more of their sudden and sharp losses from last week, while oil prices ease. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% early Tuesday and pulled back within 2% of its all-time high set a week ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 291 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher. Companies selling computer chips, memory and other building blocks of the AI boom again helped lead the market. Micron Technology rose 2.5%, for example, a day after jumping 9.9% and two days after plunging 13.3%. Brent crude fell 2.4%.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency official is set to testify in federal court about the U.S. government’s plans for refunding billions of dollars in tariffs that the Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump imposed illegally. A Court of International Trade judge says he wants to hear details to help him decide whether to order the government to expand its system for repaying businesses that paid the now-defunct import taxes. The Justice Department has appealed the judge's order to make all importers eligible for refunds plus interest. The government says only companies that were parties in any of the more than 2.500 lawsuits that challenged the tariffs are legally entitled to seek refunds.
MIT researchers channel AI to turn hand gestures into robot training data
Humanoid robots struggling with tasks like grasping a cup have a new teacher — a person wearing an ultrasound wristband that captures the movement of muscles, tendons and ligaments beneath the skin. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed the tool to collect data of human hand motion that could eventually help robots achieve the dexterity that has been difficult for machines to master. As much of the tech world is still captivated with artificial intelligence assistants that are taking on computer-based tasks, the researchers are among the scientists trying to imbue AI with more sensory data from the physical world.
Southern Baptist delegates have gathered in Orlando, Florida, for their annual meeting and they're expected to vote on a constitutional amendment to formally ban churches with women pastors. This is the fourth consecutive year they're voting on this issue. The SBC's statement of faith opposes women pastors, but churches are independent and the denomination can't tell them what to do. However, the denomination can exclude churches with women pastors and has done so. The proposed amendment would require a two-thirds vote in two consecutive years. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler is proposing the amendment. The meeting will also address resolutions on antisemitism and immigration.