Uber lost a billion dollars in its first quarterly report as a public company, a sign that the ride-hailing giant still has a steep climb to attaining profitability.
The company’s loss of $1.01 billion in the first three months of the year contrasted with a one-time profit of $3.75 billion in the same quarter a year ago after the sale of overseas investments. The company lost about $478 million on operations in the first quarter a year ago.
Still, Uber reported that both bookings and the number of people using its platform climbed by more than 30%, positive signs of growth.

Some of the biggest names in tech – Google, Apple, Microsoft and WhatsApp, among them – have joined human rights groups and security researchers in condemning a British intelligence proposal that would allow law enforcement to spy on encrypted messages.

The people of Israel blame both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman for the repeat election that will take place on September 17, but they will reward both their parties with more seats, a Panels Research poll taken on Thursday for The Jerusalem Post found.
The poll found that two-thirds of Israelis are upset by the decision to disperse the Knesset just a month after it was sworn in. When asked who is to blame for the do-over, 46% said Liberman, 35% Netanyahu, 12% said United Torah Judaism and Shas, and 7% said they did not know.

Iran will not negotiate with the United States, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, after President Hassan Rouhani signaled talks with Washington might be possible if sanctions were lifted.
Washington withdrew last year from an international nuclear deal signed with Tehran in 2015, and it is ratcheting up sanctions in efforts to shut down Iran’s economy by ending its international sales of crude oil.
President Trump condemned the accord, signed by his predecessor Barack Obama, as flawed for not being permanent and for not covering Iran’s ballistic missile program and role in conflicts around the Middle East.

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon has described the Trump Organization as a criminal entity and predicted that investigations into the president’s finances will lead to his political downfall, when he is revealed to be “not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag”.
The startling remarks are contained in Siege: Trump Under Fire, the author Michael Wolff’s forthcoming account of the second year of the Trump administration. The book, published on 4 June, is a sequel to Fire and Fury: Trump in the White House, which was a bestseller in 2018.

Jordanian King Abdullah told White House senior adviser and presidential son-in law Jared Kushner on Wednesday that a Palestinian state can only be created along the border lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War.
“His Majesty stressed the need for a comprehensive and lasting peace based on a two-state solution, leading to an independent Palestinian state on 4 June 1967 lines with east Jerusalem as its capital,” according to a statement from Abdullah’s palace.
During the Six-Day War, Israel retook Jerusalem’s Western Wall and surrounding areas, in addition to gaining control of the Golan Heights.

New impeachment pressure on Pelosi; reaction from Dave Brown, former senior adviser to Sen. Murray, and Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro.
WATCH:

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Thursday threatened Israel ahead of Yom Yerushalayim and used the opportunity to reject President Donald Trump’s peace plan and the Bahrain summit.
“Trump wants to sell Jerusalem to the Zionists without paying a price,” Sinwar said, according to Channel 12 News. “I call him from here and say that I and the Palestinian people will be demonstrating along the [Gaza] fence in light of Jerusalem Day in numbers that have not been seen before.”
Sinwar also threatened to attack Tel Aviv and other cities with double the force if “the enemy dares to attack once again.”

The United States believes Russia may be conducting low-level nuclear tests, a US intelligence official on Wednesday, while the head of a body monitoring a global nuclear treaty said there was no sign of such violations by Moscow.
Negotiated in the 1990s, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) enjoys wide global support but must be ratified by eight more nuclear technology states, among them Israel, Iran, Egypt and the United States to come into force.
Russia ratified it in 2000.
However, the head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said, “The United States believes that Russia probably is not adhering to its nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the ‘zero-yield’ standard.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu slammed Yisrael Beteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman for preventing the formation of a right-wing government.
“Lieberman brought down the national camp,” Netanyahu said in a press conference to address the new elections Thursday night. “He says that he brought down a right-wing government over the draft law. He says [the issue] burns him. But he joined my government in 2016 when the draft law was much more favorable to the haredim. Then he did not say one word.”
“Suddenly Lieberman is against the charedim. Which Lieberman, our Lieberman? For 20 years he has been making deals with the charedim,” the prime minister said.