作者： root

Drone offensive hits Russian oil tankers and refineries at ‘industrial scale’ as Moscow bans diesel exports

July 9, 2026 5:48am EDT / Fox News

Trump praised Zelenskyy as ‘very effective’ after the two met in Ankara to discuss Patriot interceptors and a drone deal

By Efrat Lachter Fox News

Ukraine targets nine Russian-linked vessels in Sea of Azov drone attack

Footage shows Ukrainian drones striking ships along routes used to supply Russian-occupied Crimea. (Credit: East2West)

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Ukraine launched one of its broadest recent drone offensives against Russia’s maritime and energy networks this week, claiming strikes on 21 vessels in three days as attacks on major refineries deep inside Russia intensified pressure on Moscow’s fuel supplies.

The wave of attacks offered a striking display of Ukraine’s growing long-range capabilities.

On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara, where Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air-defense interceptors and the two leaders discussed a potential drone agreement.

TRUMP SAYS US WILL LET UKRAINE MAKE PATRIOT MISSILES IN MAJOR POLICY SHIFT

Drone footage shows fire and smoke rising from what the Rostov region governor said was an empty oil tanker, following Ukraine’s overnight drone attacks on Russia, confirmed by the Ukrainian military, at a place given as the Sea of Azov, in this screengrab from a handout video released on July 8, 2026.(Commander of Unmanned Aerial Systems Force/Handout via REUTERS)

Zelenskyy made air defense his top priority during the bilateral meeting and said the two governments had also begun working on a separate drone agreement.

“Air defense is the priority,” Zelenskyy said. He described the emerging drone deal as “a very good beginning” and said he hoped to discuss additional details with Trump.

The timing allowed Zelenskyy to arrive at the summit with evidence that Ukraine’s domestic drone industry can threaten Russian assets far beyond the conventional battlefield.

UKRAINE’S BATTLEFIELD IS TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF NATO

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside the NATO leaders summit at the Bestepe Presidential Compound, in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026.(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Trump praised Zelenskyy as “very effective” and credited Ukrainian forces with successfully operating American weapons against Russia’s much larger military.

“He’s had the best equipment because he had our equipment,” Trump said. “But somebody has to use that equipment. And you have a lot of brave people that are using that equipment.”

Ukraine is increasingly forcing Russia to defend refineries, airfields, shipping routes and other infrastructure far beyond the front. Kyiv has not achieved a comparable breakthrough in the grinding ground campaign, and Russia continues to bombard Ukrainian cities. But repeated long-range strikes have begun disrupting fuel production and maritime logistics while imposing costs on parts of Russia that were once largely insulated from the fighting.

WATCH: FIGHTS BREAK OUT AT RUSSIAN GAS STATIONS AS PUTIN ADMITS FUEL SHORTAGES

Black smoke billows from the area of Gazprom Neftâs Moscow oil refinery, located on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow, on June 18, 2026, following what the Russian capital’s mayor described as a large-scale drone attack by Ukraine.(Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images)

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said nine Russian-linked vessels were struck in the Sea of Azov on Wednesday, bringing the number targeted over 72 hours to 21.

Commander Robert “Magyar” Brovdi said the targets included 19 oil tankers, a cargo ship and a ferry operating near Russian-occupied Crimea, according to East2West news agency. He described the campaign against the fleet as reaching an “industrial scale.”

Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed that the overnight offensive targeted tankers, refineries, pipeline facilities and a military airfield across several Russian regions.

Ukraine says many of the vessels were part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet and were being used to transport fuel to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow seized and illegally annexed in 2014.

[image_6]

In this photo taken by an anonymous source, smoke rises from oil storage facilities hit by fire in Bryansk, Russia, on April 25.(AP)

The maritime strikes were accompanied by attacks on the Saratov refinery and energy facilities in the Russian regions of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Russian authorities said one person was killed in Saratov.

[image_7]

Ukraine also said it struck the Borisoglebsk military airfield in Russia’s Voronezh region. The base has been used by Russian combat aircraft involved in attacks against Ukraine, according to Kyiv.

The latest wave followed a Ukrainian strike Monday on the Omsk refinery in Siberia, approximately 1,700 miles from Ukrainian-controlled territory. The facility is Russia’s largest oil refinery and processed about 460,000 barrels of crude per day last year, according to Reuters.

UKRAINE LAUNCHES WHAT APPEARS TO BE ONE OF ITS LARGEST DRONE ATTACKS AGAINST RUSSIA: REPORT

Two industry sources subsequently told Reuters that the Omsk facility had halted oil processing following the attack.

The disruption comes as parts of Russia face gasoline and diesel shortages attributed in part to repeated Ukrainian attacks on refineries and fuel depots.

Long lines have formed at filling stations in several cities, while some regions have introduced purchasing restrictions. Russia announced Wednesday that it was temporarily banning diesel exports through July 31 to protect domestic supplies.

[image_8]

Smoke and flames rise over Moscow on June 18, 2026, following a Ukrainian drone attack that hit the Kapotnya oil refinery and other targets in the Russian capital.(East2West)

The shortages have become one of the most visible ways the war is reaching ordinary Russians.

[image_9]

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-funded RT network, acknowledged the hardships during an appearance on Russian state television and urged Russians not to respond by challenging the country’s leadership.

“There is no petrol,” Simonyan said in a translated clip distributed by regional media.

Recalling food rationing after the collapse of the Soviet Union, she said: “We endured it. And we will endure it now.”

Simonyan argued that Russia’s enemies wanted the population to react as it had during the 1917 revolution and “run off to overthrow” the czar.

“Yes, it is hard, yes, very hard,” she said, urging Russians to remain calm.

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The pressure on Russia’s energy infrastructure formed the backdrop to Zelenskyy’s Wednesday meeting with Trump at the Beştepe Presidential Compound.

[image_10]

Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine during the summit, striking Kyiv and other cities with missiles and drones. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said storage facilities were burning in the capital’s Desnyanskyi district and reported another fire in the Sviatoshynskyi district.

Efrat Lachter is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering international affairs and the United Nations. Follow her on X @efratlachter. Stories can be sent to efrat.lachter@fox.com.

福山：250岁美国陷深层信任危机 输家不认账比政治暴力更具破坏性

2026年7月9日 18:00 / 联合早报

在2026年7月4日美国迎来独立250周年之际，多项最新民调显示美国社会正被一种深刻的悲观情绪笼罩：超六成民众认为美国民主面临失败危险，近四成民众甚至怀疑美国是否还有另一个250年。

美国著名政治学者弗朗西斯·福山（Francis Fukuyama）接受《联合早报》专访时直言，美国正面临一场比经济衰退更危险的信任危机，而输掉选举的一方不愿接受结果，比街头暴力更具破坏性。

根据美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心的调查，只有四分之一美国人认为美国比所有其他国家伟大，近三成认为有其他国家比美国更好，较2016年的19%明显上升。51%的民众认为只要努力奋斗就能成功的美国梦已不再真实；在30岁以下年轻人中，依然相信美国梦的比率仅剩22%。

福山指出，美国人对彼此、对民主制度，乃至对国家共同身份的信任正在全面流失，问题的核心在于政治极化。

政治极化何以演变成“情感极化”

美国社会的两极分化始于1990年代，特朗普2016年首次当选总统以来急剧恶化。今天的美国，共和与民主两党不仅在政策上存在分歧，更越来越把对方视为威胁国家生存的内部敌人。

“如果你认为国内的政治对手比中国或俄罗斯等外国竞争对手更危险，你就很难形成统一的国家目标。”

这种现象被政治学者称为“情感极化”——人们不仅不同意对方的观点，更认为对方是不爱国、是危险的。

福山认为，美国民主已经出现明显倒退，而且在特朗普第二任期内更为明显。

特朗普在第二任期进一步扩大行政权力，包括频繁使用行政命令、绕过国会，以及试图将司法与执法机构政治化和武器化。

不过福山研判，美国不会爆发类似19世纪南北战争那样的分裂内战，他更担心的是通过非暴力手段造成的制度崩溃。

“输掉选举的一方越来越不愿接受结果，并试图通过法律诉讼、行政阻挠等方式推翻选举结果。这种对民主规则本身的不信任，比街头暴力更具破坏性。”

年轻人为何不再相信美国梦

民调中最刺眼的是，年轻一代美国人对前景的悲观情绪。44%的30岁以下年轻人认为有其他国家比美国更好，这一比率是60岁以上群体的两倍。只有约半数年轻人认为民主是美国身份的重要组成部分，这一比率较60岁以上群体低了约30个百分点。

福山指出，过去几十年美国社会流动性明显下降。飙升的房价、高企的教育成本和沉重的学生贷款，将无房的年轻人永久挡在财富大门之外 。

“如果你无法接受良好的教育，你的一生可能就被锁定在某个阶层……当越来越多人不再相信努力能够改变命运，愤怒的矛头会指向建制派精英，认为游戏规则已经被既得利益集团操纵，进而滋生民粹主义。”

此外，互联网和社交媒体也在推波助澜。年轻人在“信息茧房”中不断强化社会已无可救药的观点，极左与极右的激进思潮在青年群体中加速蔓延。

美国例外主义光环流失

民调也显示，只有30%美国人仍然相信美国是世界上最伟大的国家，美国例外主义（American Exceptionalism）的光环正快速消失。

福山指出，在独立250周年的特殊时刻，左右两派对国家历史的理解已陷入极端对立：右派强调美国的伟大传统、刻意在历史叙事中“洗白”；左派则紧紧抓住奴隶制和种族歧视等“原罪”。

对此，福山呼吁回归一种温和理性的爱国主义：既承认美国历史上的不公，也承认这个国家在过去250年中不断修正自身缺陷、扩大自由和权利的能力。

“美国从来不是一个完美的国家，但它具有自我纠错的能力。”

福山坦言，两场中东战争、金融危机、冠病疫情，以及近年来愈演愈烈的政治对立，不断侵蚀美国人对制度和未来的信心，特朗普对共和党基因及面貌的改造，也将形成长期的政治遗产。

不过，福山依然保留着30多年前“历史的终结论”对于自由民主的审慎乐观，坚信美国拥有深厚的自我修正传统，没有理由不能再次走出低谷。

“美国历史上曾经历过严重极化，但最终也克服了它。相信它可以从当前的挫折中恢复。”

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/4c3e75ba-20af-46c3-b3cd-92b92b9fda91

Bonnie Tyler, who sang “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” dies at 75

2026-07-09T05:34:00-0400 / CBS News

London — Bonnie Tyler, the gravelly voiced, Grammy-nominated Welsh pop star best known for singing the chart-topping power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in 1983 and seeing new generations succumb to its bombastic charms during solar and lunar eclipses, has died. She was 75.

Tyler died “unexpectedly” in a hospital in Portugal where she was being treated for an illness, her family said Thursday in a statement on her website. She was hospitalized in May in Faro, where she had a home, for emergency intestinal surgery and was later placed in an induced coma.

“Bonnie’s family and team are heartbroken to announce that Bonnie unexpectedly passed away last night in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness that she was being treated for,” her family said.

Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler performs at Theater am Potsdamer Platz in May 2025 in Berlin, Germany. Jakubaszek / Redferns

Tyler earned three Grammy nods, represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 – where she came in 19th – and was awarded an MBE for her services to music by Queen Elizabeth II in 2023, all largely thanks to “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which has had more that 1 billion streams, boosted by real eclipses in 2017 and 2024.

The song spent four weeks at No. 1, the video has surpassed 1 billion views and when Stereogum reevaluated it in 2020, the music outlet declared it an “extinction-level event rendered in musical form.”

“It’s pop music as heart-pounding, chest-thumping, blood-gargling, heavens-falling passion explosion. It’s sheer spectacle. It’s fireworks and lasers and lightning and thunder. It soars and swoops and barrel-rolls,” the site said.

The song has never really gone away, covered by the English singer Nicki French in 1995 and the band Westlife in 2006. Cate Blanchett sang it while hitting Billy Bob Thornton with her car in 2001’s “Bandits,” it appeared at a wedding scene in 2003’s “Old School” and One Direction sang it in 2010 on a U.K. version of “The X Factor.”

An April 2024 total eclipse of the sun led to a “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” for many music fans who streamed it to celebrate the celestial event. The song soared up the music charts during the day and even reached No. 2 on the Apple charts.

Tyler was born – as Gaynor Hopkins – a coal miner’s daughter in public housing with an outside toilet in Skewen, Wales, about seven miles outside Swansea. She grew up with three sisters and two brothers.

She adored the Beatles and her first album was “A Hard Day’s Night.” The first song she bought was “Hippy Hippy Shake” by the Swinging Blue Jeans at 13 and watched “Top of the Pops” religiously, according to her memoir, “Straight From the Heart.”

She would record “Top of the Pops” on a reel-to-reel two-track recorder and write down the lyrics of songs she loved. Her favorites were songs by Janis Joplin, Nina Simone, Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding.

“I used to sing them into my hairbrush for hours and hours, and that’s how it all started for me. I fell in love with singing just from doing that. Looking back, even then my voice had a husky tone to it, but I didn’t think much of it. I thought everyone’s voices were different from each other’s,” she wrote.

In 1976, she had to have surgery to remove nodules on her throat, leaving her with that trademark vocal sound. Changing her name to Sherene Davis, she was fronting a soul band when she was discovered by talent scout Roger Bell, who brought her to London for demo sessions. Then she waited for a label until RCA said it was interested.

Under her new RCA-sanctioned name Bonnie Tyler, her debut album “The World Starts Tonight” in 1977 contained her first chart hit, “Lost in France,” and she was nominated for a breakthrough artists award at the Brits Awards. She then had a No. 3 hit in 1978 with “It’s a Heartache,” but soon drifted. She then signed with Sony and saw Meat Loaf perform “Bat Out of Hell” on the BBC. Impressed, she requested to work with Meat Loaf songwriter and producer Jim Steinman.

Steinman introduced her to his song “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which would become the debut single for her fifth studio album, “Faster Than the Speed of Night.” He borrowed one of the song’s lyrics – “Turn around, bright eyes” – from his 1969 musical “The Dream Engine” written as a student at Massachusetts’ Amherst College. He told her the song was from a prospective musical version of “Nosferatu.”

“Jim liked to put down a basic rhythm track, do nine takes of the song, choose the best one and then put the kitchen sink on there, like Phil Spector used to,” Tyler told The Guardian in 2023. “He gave me a cassette to listen to in my hotel and we both preferred take two.”

Featuring E Street Band members Roy Bittan on piano and Max Weinberg on drums, “Total Eclipse” is a rumination on lost love: “Once upon a time there was light in my life/But now there’s only love in the dark,” she sings.

The video, a staple of early-days MTV, was shot in a frightening gothic former asylum in Surrey, where the guard dogs apparently wouldn’t set foot in the rooms downstairs where they used to give people electric shock treatment. The visuals included slow-motion tossed doves, candles, dancing ninjas, dancing greasers, Tyler in frighteningly big shoulder pads, fencers, gymnasts, wind machines and shirtless boys wearing swim goggles being doused with water.

“Faster Than the Speed of Night” earned a Grammy nomination for best rock vocal performance – losing to Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” – and Tyler got another nod for “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in the best pop vocal performance category, losing to Irene Cara’s “Flashdance – What a Feeling.”

Tyler never reached such dizzying heights again but stayed current with such movie soundtrack singles as “Holding Out For a Hero” – from 1984’s “Footloose” – and “Here She Comes” from “Metropolis” also in 1984.

Her 2019 disc “Between the Earth and the Stars” featured duets with Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard and Status Quo’s Francis Rossi, and she ended that year performing a Vatican Christmas concert before Pope Francis.

In 2013, she switched gears to make a country-flavored record in Nashville, “Rocks and Honey,” which included the Vince Gill duet “What You Need From Me” and a little ballad called “Believe in Me,” written by American songwriter Desmond Child and British songwriters Lauren Christy and Christopher Braide. “Believe in Me” was picked to represent the United Kingdom at that year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden.

“It was an absolutely wonderful atmosphere there,” she told the San Francisco Examiner in 2023. “I was being interviewed every 15, 20 minutes, and when I walked out onstage behind the British flag, I thought the roof was going to come off! It was awesome, just awesome!”

In 2017, she joined Joe Jonas’ band DNCE for a performance on the cruise ship Oasis of the Seas as part of a “Total Eclipse Cruise.” When the moon passed in front of the sun, they played “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

福山：250岁美国陷深层信任危机 输家不认账比政治暴力更具破坏性

2026年7月9日 18:00 / 联合早报

在2026年7月4日美国迎来独立250周年之际，多项最新民调显示美国社会正被一种深刻的悲观情绪笼罩：超六成民众认为美国民主面临失败危险，近四成民众甚至怀疑美国是否还有另一个250年。

美国著名政治学者弗朗西斯·福山（Francis Fukuyama）接受《联合早报》专访时直言，美国正面临一场比经济衰退更危险的信任危机，而输掉选举的一方不愿接受结果，比街头暴力更具破坏性。

根据美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心的调查，只有四分之一美国人认为美国比所有其他国家伟大，近三成认为有其他国家比美国更好，较2016年的19%明显上升。51%的民众认为只要努力奋斗就能成功的美国梦已不再真实；在30岁以下年轻人中，依然相信美国梦的比率仅剩22%。

福山指出，美国人对彼此、对民主制度，乃至对国家共同身份的信任正在全面流失，问题的核心在于政治极化。

政治极化何以演变成“情感极化”

美国社会的两极分化始于1990年代，特朗普2016年首次当选总统以来急剧恶化。今天的美国，共和与民主两党不仅在政策上存在分歧，更越来越把对方视为威胁国家生存的内部敌人。

“如果你认为国内的政治对手比中国或俄罗斯等外国竞争对手更危险，你就很难形成统一的国家目标。”

这种现象被政治学者称为“情感极化”——人们不仅不同意对方的观点，更认为对方是不爱国、是危险的。

福山认为，美国民主已经出现明显倒退，而且在特朗普第二任期内更为明显。

特朗普在第二任期进一步扩大行政权力，包括频繁使用行政命令、绕过国会，以及试图将司法与执法机构政治化和武器化。

不过福山研判，美国不会爆发类似19世纪南北战争那样的分裂内战，他更担心的是通过非暴力手段造成的制度崩溃。

“输掉选举的一方越来越不愿接受结果，并试图通过法律诉讼、行政阻挠等方式推翻选举结果。这种对民主规则本身的不信任，比街头暴力更具破坏性。”

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/58a3c26a-5a4c-49b8-81f4-9924708f0885

年轻人为何不再相信美国梦

民调中最刺眼的是，年轻一代美国人对前景的悲观情绪。44%的30岁以下年轻人认为有其他国家比美国更好，这一比率是60岁以上群体的两倍。只有约半数年轻人认为民主是美国身份的重要组成部分，这一比率较60岁以上群体低了约30个百分点。

福山指出，过去几十年美国社会流动性明显下降。飙升的房价、高企的教育成本和沉重的学生贷款，将无房的年轻人永久挡在财富大门之外 。

“如果你无法接受良好的教育，你的一生可能就被锁定在某个阶层……当越来越多人不再相信努力能够改变命运，愤怒的矛头会指向建制派精英，认为游戏规则已经被既得利益集团操纵，进而滋生民粹主义。”

此外，互联网和社交媒体也在推波助澜。年轻人在“信息茧房”中不断强化社会已无可救药的观点，极左与极右的激进思潮在青年群体中加速蔓延。

美国例外主义光环流失

民调也显示，只有30%美国人仍然相信美国是世界上最伟大的国家，美国例外主义（American Exceptionalism）的光环正快速消失。

福山指出，在独立250周年的特殊时刻，左右两派对国家历史的理解已陷入极端对立：右派强调美国的伟大传统、刻意在历史叙事中“洗白”；左派则紧紧抓住奴隶制和种族歧视等“原罪”。

对此，福山呼吁回归一种温和理性的爱国主义：既承认美国历史上的不公，也承认这个国家在过去250年中不断修正自身缺陷、扩大自由和权利的能力。

“美国从来不是一个完美的国家，但它具有自我纠错的能力。”

福山坦言，两场中东战争、金融危机、冠病疫情，以及近年来愈演愈烈的政治对立，不断侵蚀美国人对制度和未来的信心，特朗普对共和党基因及面貌的改造，也将形成长期的政治遗产。

不过，福山依然保留着30多年前“历史的终结论”对于自由民主的审慎乐观，坚信美国拥有深厚的自我修正传统，没有理由不能再次走出低谷。

“美国历史上曾经历过严重极化，但最终也克服了它。相信它可以从当前的挫折中恢复。”

热浪席卷欧洲 法国林火逼近弹药厂房恐引发爆炸

2026年7月9日 18:27 / 联合早报

热浪席卷欧洲，西欧地区今年创下有记录以来最炎热的6月，欧洲和全球的今年6月则是历来第二炎热。图为马德里民众在盛夏中嬉水降温。 （路透社）

（巴黎／巴塞罗那／伦敦综合电）热浪席卷欧洲，在法国中部引发大片林火，火势正逼近一个弹药生产设施，可能引发爆炸和火灾恶化的风险。

法德合资的军工业巨头KNDS星期三（7月8日）证实它的弹药厂房受林火威胁，500名员工已疏散。附近的小镇莫尔托米耶（Morthomiers）也有100名居民撤离最危险的地区。

欧洲五六月遭热浪席卷，导致大片土地干燥，引发野火的风险大增。欧盟委员会已预先从14个成员国动员创纪录的777名救火员，部署到塞浦路斯、希腊、意大利、法国、西班牙和葡萄牙的高危地区。

巴塞罗那气温创112年新高

西班牙遭新一轮热浪侵袭，巴塞罗那西郊山区星期三记录到40.7摄氏度的高温，创112年新高。坐落在地中海旁的埃尔普拉特机场则记录到37.7摄氏度，创1924年以来最高纪录。

英国气象局则说，英法之间的英吉利海峡，在法国西北部城市布列塔尼以北的部分海面水温达到“极端”水平，比1982年至2011年间的基准温度高出5摄氏度。直至本周六（11日），这股极端海面热浪将可能扩大至海峡西部的其他地区。

西欧地区创下有记录以来最炎热的6月

欧盟气候监测机构哥白尼气候变化服务中心星期四（9日）发布文告说，西欧地区今年创下有记录以来最炎热的6月，平均气温达到20.74摄氏度，比1991年至2020年的平均高出3摄氏度以上。

哥白尼也指出，欧洲整体和全球今年6月的气温也是有记录以来的第二高，全球今年5月的平均气温比工业革命前的1850年至1900年平均高出1.39摄氏度。

The surprising hidden cost quietly adding nearly $132K to new home prices revealed

July 9, 2026 6:00am EDT / Fox News

Regulatory costs have surged 40% since 2021, deepening the US housing shortage and pushing new construction out of reach

By Amanda Macias Fox News

New home regulations now add more than $130,000 to cost of buying a house, builder group says

National Association of Home Builders President and CEO Jim Tobin says federal, state and local regulations now account for more than $130,000 of the cost of a new home, pricing many Americans out of homeownership.

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Government regulations are adding nearly $132,000 to the cost of newly built houses, according to a new report released as Americans struggle to become homeowners.

The findings show that more than one-quarter of the final prices of newly constructed homes come as housing affordability remains a top concern nationwide, with elevated mortgage rates and limited inventory putting homeownership out of reach for many families.

The issue is also expected to be a key focus heading into the 2026 midterm elections, as lawmakers face growing pressure to address high housing costs and the affordability crisis overall.

AMERICA’S HOUSING MARKET COULD RUN OUT OF SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN HOMES

Housing industry leaders say states that have prioritized homebuilding have been better positioned to accommodate population growth and economic expansion.(Joshua Lott/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which commissioned the report, argues that regulations imposed by federal, state and local governments have become a major driver of the nation’s housing shortage and affordability challenges.

The study found regulations add an average of $131,734 to the cost of a newly built home, representing 26.4% of the final sale price. The estimate, based on the average new-home price of $499,500, marks the largest increase between consecutive NAHB surveys since the organization began tracking the data in 2011.

Regulatory costs have climbed a whopping 40% since 2021.

“We update our study every five years and this reinforces what we have been saying all along — that the cost to build a single-family home in this country continues to escalate and exacerbate the housing affordability crisis,” NAHB President and CEO Jim Tobin told Fox News Digital. “We’re up 40% over the last five years, and now regulatory burdens at every level of government are totaling more than $130,000 for the cost of a new home.”

NAHB estimates the U.S. faces a structural housing shortage of 1.2 million homes, arguing rising regulatory costs make it more difficult to increase supply.

Tobin said regulatory costs vary across the country, with states in the Southeast, including Texas, Florida and the Carolinas, generally maintaining a lower-cost regulatory environment than states such as California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

AMERICANS KEEP MOVING TO TEXAS AND FLORIDA — BUT ONE OTHER RED STATE IS GROWING EVEN FASTER

The NAHB report comes as housing affordability remains a top concern nationwide, with elevated mortgage rates and limited inventory putting homeownership out of reach for many families.(Angus Mordant/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

He also said he expects regulatory costs to continue rising, but believes policymakers can help slow the pace through reforms.

“Anything we can do to lower that cost, I think would be really important,” Tobin said.

He pointed to the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which would streamline permitting, reduce barriers to new construction and expand financing tools intended to increase the nation’s housing supply.

The White House and the Department of Housing and Urban Development did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the report’s findings.

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NAHB said the study is not intended to argue that all regulations should be eliminated but to quantify their cumulative effect on housing affordability.

“While regulations are important, they can go too far,” Tobin told Fox News Digital. “We need to make sure health and safety are protected while getting rid of the more onerous and costly regulations that do nothing more than drive up costs and keep Americans out of homeownership.”

The analysis is based on surveys of 54 land developers and 337 single-family builders conducted in March 2026.

Amanda Macias covers the intersection of business, economics and politics, with a focus on how policy decisions shape markets, businesses and American workers.

热浪席卷欧洲 法国林火逼近弹药厂房恐引发爆炸

2026年7月9日 18:27 / 联合早报

热浪席卷欧洲，西欧地区今年创下有记录以来最炎热的6月，欧洲和全球的今年6月则是历来第二炎热。图为马德里民众在盛夏中嬉水降温。 （路透社）

（巴黎／巴塞罗那／伦敦综合电）热浪席卷欧洲，在法国中部引发大片林火，火势正逼近一个弹药生产设施，可能引发爆炸和火灾恶化的风险。

法德合资的军工业巨头KNDS星期三（7月8日）证实它的弹药厂房受林火威胁，500名员工已疏散。附近的小镇莫尔托米耶（Morthomiers）也有100名居民撤离最危险的地区。

欧洲五六月遭热浪席卷，导致大片土地干燥，引发野火的风险大增。欧盟委员会已预先从14个成员国动员创纪录的777名救火员，部署到塞浦路斯、希腊、意大利、法国、西班牙和葡萄牙的高危地区。

巴塞罗那气温创112年新高

西班牙遭新一轮热浪侵袭，巴塞罗那西郊山区星期三记录到40.7摄氏度的高温，创112年新高。坐落在地中海旁的埃尔普拉特机场则记录到37.7摄氏度，创1924年以来最高纪录。

英国气象局则说，英法之间的英吉利海峡，在法国西北部城市布列塔尼以北的部分海面水温达到“极端”水平，比1982年至2011年间的基准温度高出5摄氏度。直至本周六（11日），这股极端海面热浪将可能扩大至海峡西部的其他地区。

西欧地区创下有记录以来最炎热的6月

欧盟气候监测机构哥白尼气候变化服务中心星期四（9日）发布文告说，西欧地区今年创下有记录以来最炎热的6月，平均气温达到20.74摄氏度，比1991年至2020年的平均高出3摄氏度以上。

哥白尼也指出，欧洲整体和全球今年6月的气温也是有记录以来的第二高，全球今年5月的平均气温比工业革命前的1850年至1900年平均高出1.39摄氏度。

战火再起 霍尔木兹海峡交通几近停滞

2026年7月9日 18:32 / 联合早报

4月24日，油轮“赫尔加”号（HELGA）停泊在伊拉克巴士拉附近的一个南部近海石油码头，准备装载原油。 （路透社）

美国连续两天袭击伊朗，原本脆弱的美伊停火局势愈发濒临破裂，霍尔木兹海峡的航运交通几近停摆。

彭博社报道，船舶追踪数据显示，这条世界上最重要的能源通道里，星期四（7月9日）可观测到的活动主要在伊朗批准的靠北航线上，而美国支持的阿曼走廊则没什么动静。

大型船只中，只看到一艘受美国制裁的超级油轮从波斯湾驶出，与一艘悬挂伊朗国旗的集装箱船同一道航线。不过，也不排除有些关闭应答器的船只正在通过海峡。

之前，伊朗袭击船只引发美国的打击，美国总统特朗普也称停火结束了。星期三（8日），海峡双向共有14艘大宗商品运输船只通过，为6月中旬达成临时和平协议以来最少的一天。

这一数字较近期日常水平大幅下滑。船运分析公司Kpler的数据显示，在美国与伊朗达成临时协议、重开霍尔木兹海峡的三周里，大宗商品船日均通行量为34艘，6月24日更是达到59艘的高点。在战争期间，大多数日子的通行数量不足20艘。

战火再起 霍尔木兹海峡交通几近停滞

2026年7月9日 18:32 / 联合早报

4月24日，油轮“赫尔加”号（HELGA）停泊在伊拉克巴士拉附近的一个南部近海石油码头，准备装载原油。 （路透社）

美国连续两天袭击伊朗，原本脆弱的美伊停火局势愈发濒临破裂，霍尔木兹海峡的航运交通几近停摆。

彭博社报道，船舶追踪数据显示，这条世界上最重要的能源通道里，星期四（7月9日）可观测到的活动主要在伊朗批准的靠北航线上，而美国支持的阿曼走廊则没什么动静。

大型船只中，只看到一艘受美国制裁的超级油轮从波斯湾驶出，与一艘悬挂伊朗国旗的集装箱船同一道航线。不过，也不排除有些关闭应答器的船只正在通过海峡。

之前，伊朗袭击船只引发美国的打击，美国总统特朗普也称停火结束了。星期三（8日），海峡双向共有14艘大宗商品运输船只通过，为6月中旬达成临时和平协议以来最少的一天。

这一数字较近期日常水平大幅下滑。船运分析公司Kpler的数据显示，在美国与伊朗达成临时协议、重开霍尔木兹海峡的三周里，大宗商品船日均通行量为34艘，6月24日更是达到59艘的高点。在战争期间，大多数日子的通行数量不足20艘。

1 year after Supreme Court limited use of nationwide injunctions, groups challenging Trump see shifting legal landscape

2026-07-09T06:00:15-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-nationwide-injunctions-trump-legal-challenges/

Washington — Last summer, as President Trump’s administration faced an onslaught of legal challenges to many of its policies, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that curbed the ability of federal judges to issue sweeping orders that blocked enforcement of Mr. Trump’s plans across the nation.

The practice of these nationwide injunctions, which extended beyond the parties to a case, had frustrated not only Mr. Trump’s agenda, but also his predecessor’s, President Joe Biden, whose Justice Department had asked the Supreme Court to consider the lawfulness of the broad orders.

The high court eventually did so in the case Trump v. CASA, finding that the nationwide, or universal, injunctions likely exceeded the authority that Congress had granted to federal courts.

The ruling from the Supreme Court’s conservative majority sparked fierce criticism, including from the high court’s liberal bloc. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who authored the principal dissent, warned that the decision “renders constitutional guarantees meaningful in name only for any individuals who are not parties to a lawsuit.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called the ruling an “existential threat to the rule of law.”

But in the 12 months since the Supreme Court curbed the use of nationwide injunctions, the impact of the decision does not appear to be as devastating as critics warned it would be. Instead, plaintiffs navigating a legal terrain that may be more complex in the wake of the ruling have turned to other mechanisms to secure broad relief from district courts that are evaluating the legality of Mr. Trump’s policies.

“The landscape is complicated. There are a lot of moving parts,” said David Marcus, a law professor at UCLA. “There has been real success after Trump v. CASA of plaintiffs turning to the class-action option in ways the justices anticipated. But there have also been some interrelated legal developments … If you look at where things are June 2026 relative to June 2025, it is absolutely true that federal district court power is more bounded than it was a year ago.”

Class-action suits

One of those avenues, class-action lawsuits, was put to use mere hours after the Supreme Court’s June 2025 decision on nationwide injunctions. Soon after the high court handed down its ruling, lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action suit challenging Mr. Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.

Less than two weeks later, the New Hampshire judge overseeing the case, Joseph Laplante, provisionally certified as a class all babies born after Feb. 20, 2025, who would be covered by the president’s directive restricting birthright citizenship. The judge then blocked the Trump administration from enforcing it against them.

As a result of Laplante’s order and at least one other decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which maintained the nationwide injunction in a case brought by four states, Mr. Trump’s birthright citizenship plan never took effect.

The case from New Hampshire then landed before the Supreme Court, which struck down the president’s directive late last month as unlawful.

“For many of the cases challenging Trump administration policy, the class-action has proven a viable, effective and entirely appropriate way to get broad relief in the manner that plaintiffs were getting using the nationwide injunction before Trump v. CASA,” said Marcus, who has argued that cases that led to nationwide injunctions could proceed as class actions.

Those types of lawsuits have been brought to challenge several of the president’s immigration policies, including the revocation of temporary deportation protections for immigrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua, and his invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport Venezuelan migrants who the administration says were alleged gang members.

A federal judge in late December found that the administration’s termination of the TPS programs for Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua was unlawful under a federal law known as the Administrative Procedure Act, and nullified the Homeland Security secretary’s termination decisions.

That law, which governs the agency rulemaking process, has also emerged as a key mechanism for groups suing the Trump administration and seeking broad relief. The Administrative Procedure Act authorizes courts to “hold unlawful and set aside agency action” that is found to be arbitrary or capricious or exceeds its authority, among other factors.

In a concurring opinion in the case involving nationwide injunctions, Justice Brett Kavanaugh highlighted the Administrative Procedure Act as an alternative for plaintiffs, writing that they could ask a court to “preliminarily ‘set aside’ a new agency rule.”

Plaintiffs have followed Kavanaugh’s advice.

In a decision earlier this month, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled the Trump administration’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for high-skilled workers is unlawful and ordered it to be set aside. The judge, Leo Sorokin, said he would not “depart from the longstanding view that vacatur of an unlawful agency action is a proper remedy under the APA.”

A complicated legal landscape

While groups that frequently face off against the Justice Department in court have found success in broadly halting administration policies while their cases move forward, they said it hasn’t been easy navigating the post-CASA terrain.

“The legal landscape is complicated. It takes more resources from plaintiffs’ side, advocates challenging these government abuses, these really harmful policies, and it definitely does risk inconsistent treatment nationwide,” said Lupe Aguirre, deputy director of U.S. litigation for the International Refugee Assistance Project. “Even though the APA and the class-action relief are separate avenues, not every court sees it that way.”

The Justice Department often pushes back against requests for sweeping relief and asks courts to narrow their orders to only the parties in a lawsuit. If some courts agree to do so, it can lead to limited relief when a judge finds a policy illegal, Aguirre said.

“It can be a gift to the executive,” she said. “It can wreak havoc on the rule of law when we have inconsistent orders across the country where a policy is very clearly or very likely illegal or unconstitutional.”

And backers of the Trump administration have accused judges of overstepping their authority when voiding a policy under the Administrative Procedure Act, arguing that the law doesn’t grant them that breadth of power.

After a federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration from making arrests at immigration courts nationwide, Chad Mizelle, who served as chief of staff at the Justice Department, criticized the decision.

“The APA has, for far too long, been used by judges to shutter any policy they dislike — even policy that is well within the discretion of the agency,” he wrote on X, going on to ask, “Who authorized judges to exercise this type of power? Certainly not the founders. Or the Constitution. Nor does the APA, properly understood.”

Still, in his decision halting the administration’s policy, U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts wrote of his remedy that “prohibiting the enforcement of the challenged policies only against particular individuals would not comply with that Congress’s instruction to ‘set aside’ the policies themselves,” citing the language of the Administrative Procedure Act.

“The administration or others can be frustrated with what courts are doing, but if it were me, I’d take a step back and say, ‘Why am I routinely violating basic administrative procedures? Why am I routinely acting arbitrarily and capriciously? Why am I routinely violating constitutional and statutory law?’” said Matt Platkin, the former attorney general of New Jersey who now represents plaintiffs in challenges to the Trump administration’s policies.

But even while the legal landscape has shifted in the last year toward class-action lawsuits and alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Supreme Court has limited the availability of class-wide relief in at least one subset of cases: those challenging the Trump administration’s terminations of federal funding and grants.

In a decision last year that cleared the way for the Trump administration to cancel millions of dollars in federal education grants, the Supreme Court said any challenges to grant terminations must be brought in the Court of Federal Claims. But that court, Marcus said, does not have the power to certify classes.

While unrelated legally, the decisions involving nationwide injunctions and grant terminations demonstrate an effort by the Supreme Court to rein in the lower courts, he said.

“It seems anxious about federal district judges issuing these broad, group-wide remedies,” Marcus said of the high court. “And whether the justices are doing this intentionally or not, these various developments are motivated in part by concern about the breadth of district court power.”

While class-actions have been effective, he stressed these other legal shifts mean they’re not a “one-to-one exchange” with nationwide injunctions.

The Supreme Court’s decision last year restricted lower courts’ ability to issue those sweeping orders, but it did not prohibit them entirely. Instead, the high court’s majority said injunctions must be tailored to provide complete relief to the parties to a case.

In some cases, that has led judges to block implementation of certain policies against not just the plaintiffs in a case.

In legal fights over Mr. Trump’s executive order that seeks to overhaul federal elections, including by requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, at least two judges have agreed to bar the Trump administration from implementing some of its provisions anywhere in the nation.

“Given the additional harms that a dual federal election law regime would impose on the Plaintiff States, the Court concludes that a total injunction preventing Defendants from implementing [the sections] is necessary to ‘administer complete relief between the parties’ here,” U.S. District Judge Denise Casper wrote in a decision last month in a case brought by attorneys general in 19 states.