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June 5 (UPI) — The Justice Department has seized more than $7.74 million dollars related to an illegal employment and cryptocurrency scheme operated by North Korea, officials announced Thursday.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District court in Washington, alleges that IT workers were illegally hired and collected cryptocurrency for the North Korean government as a way to avoid sanctions imposed by the United States.

“This forfeiture action highlights, once again, the North Korean government’s exploitation of the cryptocurrency ecosystem to fund its illicit priorities,” Matthew R. Galeoti, director of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a release. “The department will use every legal tool at its disposal to safeguard the cryptocurrency ecosystems and deny North Korea all its ill-gotten gains in violation of U.S. sanctions.”

The Justice Department said North Korean workers used false identities to obtain employment with U.S.-based companies, often remotely, as a way to avoid sanctions and illegally obtained cryptocurrency, which they then sent back to North Korea.

“Those IT workers have generated revenue for North Korea via their jobs at, among other places, blockchain development companies,” the Justice Department release continued.

To send the cryptocurrency to North Korea, the IT workers allegedly laundered it by setting up accounts with fictitious names, sending funds in small amounts, converting funds or moving them to other blockchains or converting them to other forms of currency. They also allegedly commingled their funds with other money to hide their origins.

Earlier this year, the FBI issued guidelines on how to recognize extortion and theft of sensitive company data, and offered rules on how to address it.

The United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that called for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as Israeli strikes across the enclave have killed nearly 100 Palestinians in the past 24 hours amid a crippling aid blockade.

The US was the only country to vote against the measure on Wednesday while the 14 other members of the council voted in favour.

The resolution also called for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza, but Washington said it was a “non-starter” because the ceasefire demand is not directly linked to the release of captives.

In remarks before the start of the voting, Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea made her country’s opposition to the resolution, put forward by 10 countries on the 15-member council, painfully clear, which she said “should come as no surprise”.

“The United States has taken the very clear position since this conflict began that Israel has the right to defend itself, which includes defeating Hamas and ensuring they are never again in a position to threaten Israel,” she told the council.

China’s Ambassador Fu Cong said Israel’s actions have “crossed every red line” of international humanitarian law and seriously violated UN resolutions. “Yet, due to the shielding by one country, these violations have not been stopped or held accountable.”

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara noted that the US veto makes it “so isolated.”

“Clearly there is a gathering storm … with so many countries” that are standing against the US at the UNSC. “It’s only the US that is trying to block this converging and rising current against Israel and what it’s doing in Gaza … Israel is not defending itself in Gaza, Israel is defending its occupation and siege in Gaza,” Bishara added.

‘Open the crossings’

Despite global demands for a truce, Israel has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional or permanent ceasefire, insisting Hamas cannot stay in power, nor in Gaza. It has expanded its military assault in Gaza, killing and wounding thousands more Palestinians and maintaining a brutal blockade on the enclave, only allowing a trickle of tightly-controlled aid in where a famine looms.

At least 95 Palestinians have been killed on Wednesday and more than 440 injured, according to health officials in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said, “There has been a clear surge of attacks.” He said there were relentless Israeli strikes there in central Gaza and throughout the territory.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military warned starving Palestinians against approaching roads to the US-backed aid distribution sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), saying the areas will be “considered combat zones” while it halted aid for a whole day.

That move came after Israeli forces opened fire at aid seekers several times, killing more than 100 Palestinians and injuring hundreds more since the GHF started operating on May 27.

Witnesses said Israeli soldiers opened fire on crowds that massed before dawn to seek food on Tuesday. Images of starving Palestinians scrambling for paltry aid packages, herded in cage-like lines and then coming under fire have caused global outrage.

The Israeli military admitted it shot at aid seekers on Tuesday, but claimed that they opened fire when “suspects” deviated from a stipulated route.

At a hospital in southern Gaza, the family of Reem al-Akhras, who was killed in Israel’s mass shooting on Tuesday, mourned her death.

“She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her,” her son Zain Zidan said through tears. Her husband, Mohamed Zidan, said “every day unarmed people” are being killed. “This is not humanitarian aid – it’s a trap.”

The new aid distribution process – currently from just three sites – has been widely criticised by rights groups and the UN, who say it does not adhere to humanitarian principles. They also say the aid model, which uses private US security and logistics workers, militarises aid.

Ahead of the UNSC vote, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher again appealed for the UN and aid groups to be allowed to assist people in Gaza, stressing that they have a plan, supplies and experience.

“Open the crossings – all of them. Let in lifesaving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in. Ensure our convoys aren’t held up by delays and denials,” Fletcher said in a statement.

The UN has long blamed Israel and lawlessness in the enclave for hindering the delivery of aid and its distribution in Gaza. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group vehemently denies, and the World Food Programme says there is no evidence to support that allegation.

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesman James Elder, currently in Gaza, described the “horrors” he witnessed within just 24 hours. Speaking from al-Mawasi, Elder told Al Jazeera that Gaza’s hospitals and streets are filled with malnourished children. “I’m seeing teenage boys in tears, showing me their ribs,” he said, noting that children were pleading for food.

The UNSC has voted on 14 Gaza-related resolutions and approved four since the war began in October 2023. Wednesday’s vote was the first since November 2024.

Hamas is still holding 58 captives, a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in previous short-lived ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Scholes says Man Utd must KEEP Hojlund

Paul Scholes has fired a rocket at Manchester United, insisting they must BACK under-fire striker Rasmus Hojlund.

Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, he said: “I’d keep Højlund.

“I know he’s not been great, but he’s a 22-year-old kid who has been asked to play centre-forward for Manchester United on his own for the last two years.

“He’s had to play every week. He’s the only one there, and he’s a 22-year-old kid.

“With the way they play, Man United should have at least three top centre-forwards, and I’d bring him into that group.

“Get [Victor] Osimhen and [Viktor] Gyokeres. Hojlund has struggled – like mad of late especially but he’s not had the chance to sit down and watch.

“If a striker is lacking confidence the manager should sit him down and say, ‘Have a look, get a bit of hunger back, a bit of feeling back for the game’.

“We all know he has centre-forward qualities — we’ve seen it. Not enough, I know that. But if he had experience around him.

“Say he had Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke around him, it would bring him on so much. He’s been absolutely flogged to death.

“People forget how young he is. A lot of it is confidence.”

“Manchester United said they didn’t want to sell me,” he said. “They said if I wanted to go I could, but they didn’t need the money. I spoke to coach Ruben Amorim who, throughout that period, he was pushing for me not to go.”

Fernandes said it was an “exciting offer” from Al-Hilal and it would have been “easy” to move to Saudi Arabia, with several Portuguese players including Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Cancelo and Ruben Neves currently there.

However, he added: “I want to play at the highest possible level.

“I want to play major competitions. I know I still can and I want to be happy doing the thing I love the most.

“For better or worse, this is how I see football and I’m passionate about football and this is the decision I’ve made.”

United are understood to be delighted by the news, which came after boss Amorim expressed his belief on Friday that Fernandes would stay.

There were no direct conversations between United and Al-Hilal, so they were never presented with a bid they could turn down.

However, it was expected the Saudi side were prepared to offer between £80m and £100m to sign him in time for this month’s Fifa Club World Cup.

It is not clear whether Al-Hilal will now pursue new targets.

Fernandes has made 290 appearances and scored 98 goals for the club since his £47m move from Sporting in January 2020.

Former Manchester United right-back Gary Neville told Sky Sports he believes the transfer would not have been a poor deal for the Old Trafford club but added: “He’s so important.

“The fact that he wants to stay, the fact that he wants to go through this and come out the other side, because it would have been easy for him at the end of this season to say, ‘Look, I’m done here’, will endear him towards Manchester United fans even more.

“To turn that money down at a point where Manchester United are at their lowest ebb and say, ‘No, I want to fight through this, I want to see it through the other side, I want to come out and achieve things’, I think it says a lot about him as a person, as a character.

“The club needs people who are going to run through a brick wall for them.”

A Football Association report into the circumstances surrounding the death of former Sheffield United player Maddy Cusack found several players “did not feel supported and felt unable to raise concerns” at the club.

The FA commissioned the report in early 2024, following the midfielder’s death, aged 27, in September 2023, and it has not yet been published.

A hearing on Tuesday at Chesterfield Coroners’ Court was told the copy of the report that had been shared with the family and others was “provisional”, and would only be finalised at the conclusion of the inquest.

However, Dean Armstrong KC – representing the Cusack family – quoted excerpts from it, including that “most [players] particularly did not feel supported and felt unable to raise complaints against their manager and others”.

He also read another part of the report that stated “the investigation has shed light on the resourcing issues particularly acute in the women’s game and the related welfare and safeguarding issues that might arise”.

Nottingham-born Cusack was the first player to reach 100 appearances for Sheffield United, having started her career at Aston Villa and had spells at Birmingham and Leicester City.

Ex-Blades manager Jonathan Morgan, who was appearing via video link, accused Cusack’s family of “manipulating information” and fuelling a “narrative” in the 18 months since she died.

He said witnesses put forward by the family were “very one-sided” and there was “no-one to challenge the credibility of those individuals”.

Morgan added people who did not “echo” the views of the family had been “cast aside”, and requested that he be permitted to put forward witnesses.

Manchester United have agreed a deal with Wolves for the signing of Brazil striker Matheus Cunha.

The 26-year-old is set to become United’s first signing of the summer after the club activated a £62.5m release clause in Cunha’s Wolves contract.

The former Atletico Madrid forward will sign a five-year deal at Old Trafford, with the option of a further 12 months.

Cunha was in Manchester over the weekend to complete a medical with the club.

The deal, which is subject to visa approval and registration procedures, is expected to be completed once Cunha returns from international duty with Brazil later this month.

The forward has scored 31 goals in 76 appearances since completing a permanent move to Wolves in 2023.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe initiated cost-saving measures after he became a minority owner of the club last year.

Last summer, around 250 staff were made redundant, saving the club an estimated £8m-£10m. A further 200 staff could lose their jobs this summer.

In March, United revealed plans for a new £2bn stadium on the site of Old Trafford.

Real top the rankings with a value of $6.75bn and revenue of $1.129bn, while Barcelona are third.

Manchester City boasted the second largest revenue in 23-24 ($901m), but are fifth in terms of total value ($5.3bn), a 4% rise on the previous year.

Liverpool are the fourth most valuable football club in the world with a value of $5.4bn) and a revenue of $773m in 23-24.

Forbes’ team valuations are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) based on historical transactions and the future economics of each league and each team.

Revenue and operating income – such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization – reflect the 23-24 campaign.

The team values include the economics of each team’s stadium but not the value of the stadium real estate itself.

Debt is measured in terms of interest-bearing borrowings due in more than one year (including stadium debt).

Forbes’ valuations came from club annual reports and documents, team executives, investors, credit rating agency reports and sports bankers.

When one competition becomes your season’s lodestar, all else on offer will feel diminished.

Prop Andrew Porter made as much clear in a 2023 interview that pops up again and again on social media after Leinster’s European defeats.

“You don’t see many URC or Pro14s or whatever you have on the jersey. You see those stars that are on the jersey,” he said in 2023 before the second of those finals against La Rochelle.

Yet, there is a sense that this year the domestic bread and butter has taken on a greater significance this year.

After a run of four straight titles between 2018 and 2021, Leinster have not won any of the last three, a time period that encompasses the inclusion of South African sides Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions in the competition.

Forwards coach Robin McBryde said it would represent “a step in the right direction” and it will not have gone unnoticed that this particular piece of silverware has also proved to be elusive of late.

While plenty of their squad have enjoyed successes with Ireland, after three seasons, there would be value simply in the act of winning silverware again.

“For Ireland we have been able to do that in recent years, but we haven’t been able to transfer that with Leinster,” said Lowe.

“It doesn’t mean that because you have won with Ireland you are going to win with Leinster.

“You still have to come back here and perform on the biggest of days and under the most amount of pressure. That’s what we want to do.”

May 29 (UPI) — The United States ambassador’s residence in Damascus, Syria, re-opened Thursday after being closed for 13 years, presaging a warming of relations between the two countries.

Tom Barrack, the current U.S. ambassador to Turkey, has also been appointed special envoy to Syria, and raised a U.S. flag outside the residence to inaugurate it, according to the Syrian run news agency SANA.

“Tom understands there is great potential in working with Syria to stop Radicalism, improve Relations, and secure Peace in the Middle East,” a statement from the State Department on X said. “Together, we will make America and the world, SAFE AGAIN!”

Barrack met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to witness the signing of an agreement with Middle Eastern countries aimed at developing a $7 billion, 5,000 megawatt energy project that would revitalize Syria’s aging and worn electricity grid and use it as the backbone of the new power project.

The new energy project could supply Syria with 50% of its electricity needs, according to a statement from Qatari-based UCC Holding, which is among the partners in the project.

In a further sign of warming relations between the United States and the Middle East, President Donald Trump met earlier this month with al-Sharaa in Riyadh, a move that prompted the United States to begin walking back sanctions imposed on Syria during the repressive regime of Bahsar al-Assad.

During the reopening of the ambassador’s residence Thursday, Barrack called lifting the sanctions a “bold move,” and said it comes with “no conditions, no requirements.”

Barrack credited Trump for “your bold vision, empowering a historically rich region, long oppressed, to reclaim its destiny through self-determination.”

Al-Hilal move for Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, Manchester City join the race for Rayan Cherki and Leroy Sane could return to the Premier League.

Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal have offered a deal for Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, 30, and told the Portugal midfielder he has 72 hours to make a decision. (Mail, external)

Manchester City have joined the race to sign Lyon’s 21-year-old French midfielder Rayan Cherki, who has also been linked with Liverpool and Chelsea. (Telegraph – subscription required, external)

Everton have joined Leeds United in the race to sign 33-year-old Newcastle United and England striker Callum Wilson, who is out of contract next month. (The Sun, external)

Tottenham have been offered the chance to sign 29-year-old Bayern Munich and Germany winger Leroy Sane, who will become a free agent at the end of next month (Sky Sports, external)

Aston Villa look poised to sign Feyenoord’s 18-year-old Dutch striker Zepiqueno Redmond on a free transfer this summer. (Sky Sports, external)

Arsenal have held talks with Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres’ agent in Lisbon and made a £58.7m offer to sign the Sweden international. (Correio da Manha – in Portuguese, external)

Manchester United have agreed the framework of a deal for Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap and are now waiting for the English striker to decide on his next move. (ESPN, external)

Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, 40, is expected to leave Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr and sign for a new club to play in the Club World Cup, which kicks off on 15 June in the United States. (Telegraph – subscription required, external)

Wolves are set to reject Manchester United’s proposal to pay Matheus Cunha’s £62.5m release clause over five years.

BBC Sport understands Wolves expect United to honour the clause, which requires the full fee for the Brazil forward to be paid in three instalments during a two-year period.

Talks are ongoing and the transfer is still expected to be completed.

United are understood to be relaxed about the situation and believe the deal will be concluded soon.

Cunha, 26, has made 92 appearances since arriving at Wolves, initially on loan, from Atletico Madrid in January 2023, scoring 33 goals for the club.

Professional Game Match Officials Limited made a “poor management decision” in appointing Thomas Bramall to officiate Aston Villa’s defeat by Manchester United, says former referees’ boss Keith Hackett.

Villa have complained to referees’ body PGMOL about Bramall after he made a “big mistake” in their 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday that contributed to them missing out on the Champions League.

Bramall blew for a foul when Morgan Rogers nudged the ball away from United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir before the Villa midfielder put the ball in the net.

Bramall thought Bayindir had two hands on the ball, though television footage suggested otherwise, and because he stopped play before the ball crossed the line, the video assistant referee (VAR) could not intervene.

Villa’s complaint is that “one of the most inexperienced referees in the Premier League” was appointed to such an important match.

Bramall, 35, first refereed in the Premier League in August 2022 and his games this season have largely been in either the top flight or the second tier, with 11 in the Premier League and 12 in the Championship.

Of the 10 referees appointed for Sunday’s final round of the Premier League, Bramall has officiated the second-fewest top-flight matches this season, above Lewis Smith, who took charge of his seventh game in Bournemouth’s win over Leicester.

In a response to a Talksport video on X of former Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor criticising Bramall’s performance, Hackett said PGMOL “do not learn”.

The former Premier League referee added: “Our top referee Michael Oliver was operating VAR on a game. What a poor management decision.”

Hackett, who was chief of PGMOL under its former name Professional Game Match Officials Board, also told Football Insider he “would have expected one of our top officials to have been appointed” to the Manchester United-Aston Villa match.

He added he was “surprised and disappointed” that Oliver was appointed VAR for Tottenham’s defeat by Brighton and it was “difficult to understand” why he was not picked to referee “a big game” in Sunday’s final round.

Oliver has refereed 26 Premier League matches this season, behind only Anthony Taylor – who was in charge of Chelsea’s win at Nottingham Forest – on 31.

Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes said:, external “With Erik ten Hag, we have brought in an experienced coach with impressive success on the pitch.

“With three league titles and two domestic cup wins, he and Ajax dominated Dutch football from 2018 to 2022.

“And Erik demonstrated his quality as a coach with the ensuing success at Manchester United under difficult circumstances at times.”

Under former Liverpool midfielder Alonso, Leverkusen won a league and cup double in 2023-24.

They finished second in the Bundesliga this season, 13 points behind champions Bayern Munich.

Ten Hag, who will officially start his new role on 1 July, said Leverkusen are “one of the best clubs in Germany and also among the top clubs in Europe”.

He added: “I’ve come to Leverkusen to continue with the ambition shown in recent years. It’s an attractive challenge to set up something together in this period of change and develop an ambitious team.”

United finish with their lowest standing in the Premier League era as Newcastle confirm Champions League spot.

Manchester United have ended their disappointing 2024-25 season with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa on the final day of the Premier League campaign, denying the visitors a Champions League qualification spot in the process.

United surprisingly dominated the first half of Sunday’s game against a side chasing a top-five finish.

Against the run of play, Morgan Rogers appeared to have netted Villa a crucial goal 18 minutes from time, but referee Thomas Bramall ruled that he had fouled United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir before slotting home.

The hosts’ cause was aided as Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was sent off just before the break.

Furious Villa’s mood worsened after Amad Diallo immediately headed the hosts in front down the other end, before Christian Eriksen’s penalty ensured United finished 15th and sixth-placed Villa had to settle for a place in the Europa League next term.

Newcastle United breathed a sigh of relief as their 1-0 defeat by Everton could have opened the door for Villa to climb above them with a win over United.

Villa manager Unai Emery confronted Bramall after the final whistle, unhappy at what he believed was a “big mistake” by the match official.

“The TV is clear with the move but of course we have to accept it,” Emery said. “It was a mistake. A big mistake.”

At the final whistle, Emery stood motionless on the touchline and stared at Bramall for a long time. After confronting the official as he came off the field, Emery continued his discussions with him as they went down the tunnel.

Protest songs against Manchester United’s ownership greeted the final whistle, even if supporters had been treated to a rare home success.

This season’s final standings 🤝 pic.twitter.com/lRWyvmvkXQ

— Premier League (@premierleague) May 25, 2025

Meanwhile, Manchester City’s disappointing season ended with the consolation of a place in the Champions League after a 2-0 victory at Fulham, earned by Ilkay Gundogan’s overhead kick and an Erling Haaland penalty.

The victory ensured City finish third in the table with 71 points from 38 games, the first time they have ended outside the top two since the 2016-17 season. Fulham finished 11th with 54 points.

City opened the scoring at 21 minutes when Matheus Nunes’s chipped shot on the angle was clawed away by Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno and into the path of Gundogan, whose acrobatic effort steered the ball into the net off the crossbar.

The visitors doubled their advantage when Sasa Lukic fouled Gundogan in the box and Haaland converted the spot kick to score his 22nd league goal of the campaign, while Kevin De Bruyne came off the bench for the final five minutes in his farewell to City.

City left Jack Grealish out of their match-day squad amid talk he could leave the club, while De Bruyne spent time with the City fans at the final whistle, many of them holding up signs of thanks to the Belgian for his decade at the club.

City ended up with 71 points, Chelsea on 69 and Villa on 66, but with an inferior goal difference to Newcastle on the same points.

Forest, who still had hopes of a top-five finish going into the last day, will go into the UEFA Conference League.

Champions Liverpool ended their campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Crystal Palace in a party atmosphere at Anfield.

Runners-up Arsenal, who ended 10 points behind Liverpool, beat bottom club Southampton 2-1 away.

Brighton and Hove Albion brought Europa Cup winners Tottenham Hotspur down to earth with a bump as they won 4-1 in north London to finish eighth, but that will not be good enough to secure a European berth for the south coast side next season.

Tottenham finished a woeful league season in 17th place, their worst performance since being relegated in 1977.

Erik ten Hag is on the brink of agreeing a deal to replace Xabi Alonso as manager of Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.

Ten Hag has been out of work since being sacked by Manchester United in October.

The Dutchman has received a number of offers but opted to stay out of the game until this summer.

Earlier this month sources close to Ten Hag told BBC Sport the former Ajax boss was preparing to return at the beginning of July and was willing to assess any suitable offer.

Alonso, who is expected to replace the outgoing Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid manager, has quit Leverkusen after leading the club to their first Bundesliga title in 2024 in an unbeaten league campaign.

Leverkusen also completed a domestic double last season, beating Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final.

Although the club has not been able to maintain the same high standards this season, they still managed to finish second to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Ten Hag has experience of German football after spending two years in charge of Bayern Munich’s second team from 2013.

The 55-year-old won the FA Cup and League Cup in his two full seasons as United boss, finishing third in the Premier League in 2022-23.

However, although United kept faith with him after extended deliberation in the wake of last season’s surprise FA Cup final victory against Manchester City, he was sacked on 28 October following a 2-1 defeat at West Ham.

May 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday threatened tariffs against Apple on iPhones that are manufactured outside of the United States.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that a tariff of “at least 25%” will be levied on future iPhones that are manufactured internationally and sold in the United States.

“I long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their [iPhones] that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump wrote.

Trump’s post did not include details on how the proposed tariffs would be implemented.

The warning came after a White House official said Trump met with Cook at the White House earlier in the week, CBS News reported.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News Friday he was not present in that meeting but suggested they may have discussed an effort by the Trump administration to focus on “precision manufacturing” of products made in the United States.

“A large part of Apple’s components are in semiconductors. So we would like to have Apple help us make the semiconductor supply chain more secure,” he said.

Most iPhone production is currently handled in China, but Foxconn, a primary assembly partner on the phones, has been exploring expanding its facilities in India.

Dan Ives, senior equity research analyst and managing director at Wedbush Securities, suggested in a post on X that manufacturing an iPhone in the United States could more than triple the cost of an iPhone 16, the latest model, from its current $1,000 price tag.

“The pressure from Trump on Apple to build iPhone production in the U.S. as we have discussed this would result in an iPhone price point that is a non-starter for Cupertino and translate into iPhone prices of [approximately] $3,500 if it was made in the U.S. which is not realistic in our view,” Ives wrote.

Apple stock was down 2.44% roughly an hour after markets opened on Friday.

United States debt has long been considered the safest of all safe havens.
But, Washington has just lost its pristine reputation as a borrower.
Moody’s has downgraded the nation from its top-notch AAA rating, becoming the last of the big three agencies to do so.
The ratings agency has cited the United States’s growing debt – now at $36 trillion, almost 120 percent of gross domestic product – and rising debt service costs.
Against this backdrop, President Donald Trump is pushing what he calls the “one big, beautiful bill”.
Critics warn his tax cut package could add trillions more to the already ballooning deficit.

Brennan Johnson scores the only goal as Tottenham beat Man Utd to lift the cup and qualify for the Champions League.

Tottenham beat Manchester United 1-0 to win the Europa League final, lifting its first European trophy in more than four decades to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

It is the first major title for Tottenham since it won the English League Cup in 2008, and its first European triumph since it won its second UEFA Cup — the equivalent of the Europa League now — in 1984.

Brennan Johnson squeezed in the winner at the end of the first half on Wednesday to help Spurs salvage a dismal season, in which it will finish near the bottom of the Premier League standings.

The title guarantees Spurs a spot in next season’s Champions League, and brings some much-needed relief for manager Ange Postecoglou after he struggled to keep his team on track all year.

The victory comes six years after Tottenham fell short against Liverpool in the Champions League final.

The defeat adds pressure on United coach Ruben Amorim, whose team sits in 16th place — just ahead of Tottenham — in the Premier League. The club will not play in any European competition next season.

United came close to equalising the match on Wednesday when a header by Rasmus Hojlund was cleared at the goal line by Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven in the 68th.

Deep into stoppage time, a header by Luke Shaw prompted a difficult save by Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

It had been an even match, with neither team creating many significant scoring opportunities, until Tottenham got on the board in the 42nd minute after a cross by Pape Sarr into the area.

The ball ricocheted off Shaw and fell in front of Johnson, who seemed to get just enough of it to poke it across the goal line.

United pressed forward after conceding, but was not able to get the equaliser in front of a split crowd of nearly 50,000 at Athletic Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium.

United had last won a trophy in the 2024 FA Cup, and its last European triumph was at the 2017 Europa League under manager Jose Mourinho.

The Red Devils lost all four matches against Tottenham this season and is winless against its rival in seven straight games, with the last six under Postecoglou.

United and Tottenham had met in just one previous final — the 2009 League Cup when Alex Ferguson’s United won 4-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

Tottenham striker Son Heung-min, who came off the bench in the 67th, finally ended his decade-long trophy drought with Spurs.

Want to follow along with the Europa League final but not sure who to support?

No problem! We’ve put together a quiz to determine whether you should be getting behind Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United… and if you don’t like it, just sit back and enjoy the game.

Find your match below!