A new, highly transmissible COVID-19 variant, NB.1.8.1, linked to a significant spike in hospitalizations in China, has been detected in the United States, raising concerns among health officials. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the variant has been identified in multiple states, including New York, California, Washington, Virginia, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Hawaii, primarily among international travelers arriving from countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, France, the Netherlands, and Spain. The strain, first noted in the U.S. in March 2025, is now showing signs of local spread, with cases reported in communities across the country.

A second cryptocurrency investor surrendered to police Tuesday in the alleged kidnapping of a man who said he was tortured for weeks inside an upscale Manhattan townhouse by captors seeking the password to access his Bitcoin account. William Duplessie, 32, faces charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police. His arrest comes four days after the alleged victim — a 28-year-old Italian national — escaped, bloodied and barefoot, from a lavish townhouse where he said he had been severely beaten, drugged, shocked and threatened with death for nearly three weeks. On Friday evening, hours after the man’s escape, the crypto investor John Woeltz was taken into custody and charged in the alleged kidnapping scheme.

A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in China’s eastern Shandong province around noon Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, according to state broadcaster CCTV. An additional six people remain missing. The blast was powerful enough to knock out the windows at a storage warehouse more than two miles (three kilometers) away from the factory, according to a video shared by a local resident, who declined to give his name out of concern for retaliation. His home shook from the blast, he said. As he went to the window to see what was wrong, he saw a tall column of smoke from the site, more than seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away. The explosion happened at the Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co., which is located in an industrial park in the city of Weifang.

Americans’ views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines sent consumer confidence to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by anxiety over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 12.3 points in May to 98, up from April’s 85.7, its lowest reading since May 2020. A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market jumped 17.4 points to 72.8, but remained below 80, which can signal a recession ahead. The proportion of consumers surveyed saying they think a U.S. recession is coming in the next 12 months also declined from April. (AP)

Sarah Milgrim, one of two Israeli Embassy staffers fatally shot last week in an anti-Israel ambush in Washington, D.C., was remembered Tuesday during a private funeral in the Kansas community where she grew up. Milgrim, a 26-year-old from the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village, Kansas, was leaving a reception for young diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum alongside 30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky on May 21 when they were shot to death. A suspect, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez, was arrested and shouted “Free Palestine” as he was led away. Charging documents said he later told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza.” Lischinsky had bought an engagement ring before the shooting and was planning to propose to Milgrim in the coming days, those who knew the couple have said.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday announced that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by several public health experts. In a 58-second video posted on the social media site X, Kennedy said he removed COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for those groups. No one from the CDC was in the video, and CDC officials referred questions about the announcement to Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. No other details were released, and HHS officials did not immediately respond to questions about how the decision was made. Some doctors and public health leaders called the move concerning and confusing.

A previously unknown Russian hacker group with suspected ties to the Kremlin was responsible for a cyberattack last year on the Dutch police and has also targeted other Western nations that deliver military support to Ukraine, intelligence agencies announced Tuesday. The agencies said in a report that the group, which they called Laundry Bear, is actively trying to steal sensitive data from European Union and NATO countries and is “extremely likely Russian state supported.” “Laundry Bear is after information about the purchase and production of military equipment by Western governments and Western deliveries of weapons to Ukraine,” Vice Adm. Peter Reesink, director of the military intelligence agency MIVD, said in a statement. There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the report.

A quiet but concerning development has surfaced that may significantly impact one of the most recognizable elements of traditional Orthodox Jewish attire: the black felt hat. For over 40 years, a Spanish company—Fernandez y Roche, based in Seville, Spain—has supplied tens of thousands of black hats annually to yeshiva bochurim, avreichim, and balabatim in communities across America. These hats, worn daily by bnei Torah from the age of bar mitzvah and onward, are not merely a garment, but a statement of identity and dignity. But that longstanding partnership is now at risk. Due to newly imposed trade tariffs by the U.S. government on European goods, including imported felt hats, Fernandez y Roche has been hit with a 10% import fee, with a looming possibility of an additional 50% tariff.

In response to the tragic helicopter crash on April 10 that claimed the lives of a Spanish family of five and their pilot, U.S. Reps.  Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Rob Menendez (D-NJ), and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) have introduced the bipartisan “Improving Helicopter Safety Act.” The proposed legislation aims to prohibit all non-essential helicopter flights—including those for tourism, recreation, and luxury commuting—within a 20-mile radius of the Statue of Liberty. Essential flights, such as those for emergency services, law enforcement, news coverage, and research, would still be permitted. If enacted, the bill would take effect 60 days after being signed into law.

National Public Radio and three local stations filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump, arguing that an executive order aimed at cutting federal funding for the organization is illegal. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington by NPR, Colorado Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and KUTE, Inc. argues that Trump’s executive order to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR violates the First Amendment. Trump issued the executive order earlier this month that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and requires that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. Trump issued the order after alleging there is “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.