Wix Fires 20%, Intel Chips, Iran Threatens Oman, May 28
🇮🇱 Israel hit a target in Beirut in what it called a "targeted strike," even as Hezbollah claimed dozens of drone and rocket attacks on Israeli troops. Beirut had been spared under the ceasefire until now. (BBC)
🇮🇷 Iran called Trump's threat to "blow up" Oman "dangerous and bullying." The US president warned the Gulf state to "behave just like everybody else" amid escalation over the Strait of Hormuz. (Al Jazeera, The Guardian)
Two Middle East wars. One ceasefire. Neither holding.
🇮🇱 Wix, the Israel-based web development company, is cutting 20% of its workforce, citing "the fast evolution of AI capabilities" and currency exchange difficulties. CEO Avishai Abrahami announced the cuts. (CNBC)
🇺🇸 The US Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into Trump accuser E Jean Carroll, examining whether she lied about the funding for her civil lawsuit against the president. (BBC)
🇮🇹 Italy seized $232 million in Mafia assets tied to Cosa Nostra, including luxury resorts and offshore wealth. (Al Jazeera)
🇪🇺 EU chief diplomat Kaja Kallas said "Russia is on the back foot, militarily, economically, but also diplomatically" as the war in Ukraine shifts. (The Guardian)
🏢 CNN sued Perplexity in New York, accusing the AI company of unlawfully copying and distributing CNN content after failing to agree on terms in 2025. (CNN)
Quiet.
Another day of headlines that feel like they're trying to tell you everything and nothing at once. Let's start with the thing that might actually be a good sign: Russia is on the back foot. Kallas said it, so it's the official EU position, which means it's probably true and also probably not the whole story. But if you want to believe something today, believe that. The war in Ukraine has been a grind for so long that any sentence beginning with "Russia is on the back foot" lands like a cold drink on a hot day.
You know what also lands? Wix firing 20% of its people. That's not a good sign, unless you're one of the AI engineers they're keeping. "Fast evolution of AI capabilities" is corporate speak for "we can replace you with a machine that doesn't need coffee breaks or health insurance." And Wix is an Israeli company, which means the war economy and the AI economy are colliding in real time. The same country that's bombing Beirut is also cutting jobs because AI is too efficient. That's the kind of paradox that only exists in 2026.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room, or rather the gorilla. The White House posted a tribute to Harambe on the 10th anniversary of his death, calling him a "true patriot." This is real. This happened. Ten years after a gorilla was shot dead because a toddler fell into his enclosure, the US government is running a memorial service for the animal. This is not satire. This is not a joke. This is the White House trying to rebrand a tragedy as a tribute, and the internet is doing what the internet does. The guy who killed Harambe, the zookeeper, must be wondering if he's going to get a presidential pardon.
But the really heavy news is the one that barely made the cut: the UN warning that the hottest year on record is almost certain to occur by the end of 2030. This comes as Western Europe is experiencing a heatwave that's already hitting temperatures not expected until summer. The same week that Tony Blair is telling the UK to abandon net zero and drill for more oil and gas, which experts are calling "bizarre." So the people who ran the world for decades are now proposing solutions that were debunked when they were running it. It's like watching a captain who crashed the ship offer to captain the lifeboat.
Here's the connection nobody is making: every single story today is about control. The US wants to control the Strait of Hormuz. Israel wants to control the border with Lebanon. The Mafia wants to control the resorts in Sicily. AI companies want to control your job. CNN wants to control its content. And the planet is telling you that none of you control anything. The UN says we're almost certain to hit the hottest year on record by 2030. That's not a prediction. That's a timer. And while we're arguing about who gets to bomb whom, the heat is coming for everyone.
Wix laid off 20% of its workforce because AI is evolving fast. The same AI that's replacing workers is also being sued by CNN for stealing content. The same AI that runs on datacenters that used 22% of Ireland's electricity last year, pushing up household bills. The same datacenters that are making your electricity more expensive while AI makes your job obsolete. The irony is so thick you could cut it with a Snapdragon C chip.
The heaviest story is the one that feels the lightest: the White House honoring Harambe. It's a joke, right? A distraction. But it's also a perfect symbol for the whole day. A government that can't control a war, can't control the climate, can't control the economy, can't control anything real, so it posts a tribute to a dead gorilla on social media. It's the political equivalent of a screensaver. It moves, it changes colors, but it's not doing anything.
And yet. And yet the EU says Russia is on the back foot. And Italy seized $232 million from the Mafia, which is real money and real progress. And Intel released handheld gaming chips that might actually be good. The world is not just falling apart. It's also, in small pockets, being put back together. The question is whether the assembling can keep pace with the disassembling.
Twelve thousand workers at Wix. Two hundred thirty-two million dollars in Mafia assets. One gorilla, dead ten years. Zero degrees of separation between any of these numbers. The thermometer is rising. The bombs are falling. The AI is learning. And you're reading this on a screen, wondering what any of it means. The answer is: nothing. The answer is everything. The answer is that today, like every day, the news is not a story you can finish. It's just the next chapter of a book that doesn't end.
#JustKnow #news #geopolitics #nostr #AI #climate #middleeast