Four months after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes, Iran is preparing for a massive multi-day funeral. It’s a calculated move by the regime to project strength and unity during a shaky peace deal with the U.S.
The White House is facing the prospect of a summer slowdown in the job market, with economic issues top of mind for voters heading into November’s midterms. NBC News correspondents Kelly O’Donnell, Brian Cheung and Keir Simmons report on renewed economic concerns. Oil industry expert John Kilduff discusses what consumers can expect to pay at the gas pump heading into the fall.
The country’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.2% as US job growth also slowed for the monthSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailUS job growth slowed in June as employers added 57,000 new jobs – just about half of what economists had predicted – and the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its figures from the past two months down by a total of 74,000.The country’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.2%, but the number of unemployed people changed little, according to the latest data, as 720,000 people left the labor force. The bureau revised the unexpectedly high May figures from 172,000 new jobs to 129,000, and revised the April figures from 179,000 to 148,000. Continue reading...
There was more bad news for Donald Trump on Thursday morning as the new jobs report revealed dismal growth, leading MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle to raise a new red flag for the president’s embattled administration.Appearing on “Morning Joe,“ Ruhle, a former Wall Street executive, noted that only 57,000 new jobs were created — a far cry from the 115,000 expected by economists.Speaking with host Jonathan Lemire, who warned, “We've seen downward revisions for the last two months,” Ruhle first explained that Trump should not expect a rate decrease from the Fed as the job market remains stagnant.She later elaborated, “People cannot afford to get their lives started; they cannot afford the basic things they need to work to get to work, a place to live, a decent job that's an issue —we're talking about a jobs number that's almost half of what we expected.”“So when the president is posting about 401K’s, people who can't get a job don't have a 401K, don’t have anything to feel good about,” she pointed out."Remember it was [former Fed chair] Alan Greenspan, I think, who said 2006, who said income inequality is going to be the biggest issue,” she continued. “We're watching it play out day in and day out, and it's startling that when the President is faced with it, he keeps saying things like affordability is an old-fashioned term and nobody cares. He doesn't care because he's on his way to the moon when it comes to how successful and how wealthy he has become.” - YouTube youtu.be
As the 60-day deal with Iran reaches the two-week point, President Trump is pushing for oil prices to drop faster. “Just as I promised, Oil Prices are plummeting FAST, and Gas Prices at the pump are dropping too, but not as fast as they should be,” he posted to Truth Social on Wednesday night. Brent…
The U.S. job market slowed down in June, falling far short of expectations, according to data released Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). American employers added just 57,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate ticked slightly down to 4.2 percent. Economists expected the U.S. to add roughly 110,000 jobs and for the…
After losing the birthright citizenship case at the Supreme Court, President Trump's aides and MAGA allies quickly pivoted to a new plan: blocking pregnant foreign women from entering the United States.Why it matters: The proposal would open a new immigration battle over pregnancy, travel and citizenship, shifting the conversation from challenging the rights of children born in the U.S. to restricting who can enter the country.State of play: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a Trump executive order that sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. whose parents are not citizens was unconstitutional.Immediately after that decision, MAGA figures like Federalist founder Sean Davis suggested the U.S. bar pregnant foreign women from entering the country, an idea also floated by administration figures.Trump advisor Stephen Miller told Jesse Watters Tuesday after that court decision that America must "think very carefully about who you let into your country, even on a temporary basis," because children born to noncitizens can become U.S. citizens and access the social safety net."There's a lot of things we're gonna have to take a hard look at," he said.What they're saying: "President Trump remains totally committed to protecting the value of natural-born American citizenship which is why, following yesterday's ruling, he directed Congress to take immediate action to address this," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios in an emailed statement. "The Department of Justice will also prioritize investigations of birth tourism schemes. The Trump Administration has many tools to safeguard American citizenship." Zoom out: So-called birth tourism occurs when visitors come to America specifically to give birth to ensure their child receives U.S. citizenship.The Justice Department released a memo Tuesday that urged prosecutors to investigate the practice.Zoom in: "The criminal laws of the United States already prohibit conduct inherent to so many of these so-called 'birth tourism' schemes," Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald wrote in the memo posted to X. "For example, many such schemes start with a false visa application – with lies about the purpose or duration of one's travel to the United States."McDonald added that many of these cases could be prosecuted under visa fraud, but prosecutors should consider wire fraud, health care fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft charges.By the numbers: The government doesn't track the number of babies born to foreign visitors, but outside estimates put the figure between 20,000 to 26,000 cases per year.For context, 3.6 million babies were born in America in 2025, per the Centers for Disease Control, making birth tourism relatively rare.Worthy of your time: The push comes as the U.S. rallies around its World Cup team, which features several players who would not be eligible to represent America without birthright citizenship.That includes striker Folarin Balogun who scored half the team's goals in its opening game. Trump hasn't directly endorsed banning pregnant visitors, but his first administration actively targeted birthright tourism.He also appeared to reference birth tourism in a Truth Social post Tuesday that sarcastically congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping after the Supreme Court decision."I would like to congratulate President Xi, and the Great Country of China, on their massive Birthright Citizenship WIN!"Go deeper: Scoop: Trump to target "birth tourism" in new immigration fightEditor's note: This story has been updated with comment from the White House.
