📊 Venezuela Earthquake, Scams, and NBA Draft

Seismic tragedy, fraud poll, and deadline trades.

Jun 25, 2026

Greetings! Happy National Handshake Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

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🌎 GLOBAL NEWS

🇻🇪 Venezuela quakes kill scores. Back-to-back earthquakes rocked Venezuela on Wednesday evening. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said at least 164 people died. She said another 971 people were injured. Rescue teams rushed toward the hardest-hit areas Thursday. Officials were trying to reach people trapped under rubble. The quakes measured magnitude 7.2 and 7.5. They were among Venezuela’s strongest in more than a century. Buildings collapsed in Caracas. Residents ran into streets as walls cracked and dust rose. Venezuela’s main airport was damaged and closed. Buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon region. Rodríguez said rescue teams were moving toward La Guaira, north of Caracas. Caracas subway service was suspended. Natural gas was shut off as a safety measure. A country already trained in crisis woke to the ground itself giving way.

⛴️ Hormuz tankers defy threats. Oil tankers moved through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. They did so despite threats from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The vessels used a new route close to Oman’s shore. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations maritime agency, promoted that route. Oman helped lay out the passage. The tankers sailed along the United Arab Emirates coast. They then traveled around Oman’s Musandam Peninsula. The Stoic Warrior led the group. The movement followed an initial American-Iranian agreement to open the strait. That agreement also sought to extend a shaky Iran war ceasefire. The Revolutionary Guard objected to the new route. It said the only authorized path was the one declared by Iran. It warned that violators would be dealt with. It did not elaborate. The world’s oil artery reopened with traffic and threats still on the water.

🇺🇸 LOCAL NEWS

🧾 Scam nation stops reporting. Americans are being flooded with suspected scams. A February survey found 58% of American adults receive suspected scams daily. The approaches include texts, calls, emails, online messages, and ads. About 3 in 10 adults said they personally lost money or information to scams. A separate survey found 1 in 10 households lost money last year. Nearly half of those victims lost more than $500. Older adults reported the most frequent contact. About 7 in 10 Americans 60 and older said suspected scammers contact them daily. About 4 in 10 Americans under 30 said the same. Package and banking scams were the most common approaches. About 4 in 10 contacted victims cited Facebook or Messenger. Victims often report losses to banks before law enforcement. Only 18% contacted state or local police. Only 13% contacted federal law enforcement or the Federal Trade Commission. Fraud became so constant that even reporting started to feel like another dead end.

🧠 AI workforce group launches. A new bipartisan nonprofit wants workers to survive the artificial intelligence (AI) shock. RAISE US is starting with more than $500M. The group will fund education and training programs. Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is its CEO. Former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb co-founded the group. Raimondo warned that AI unemployment could destabilize democracy. Initial work will begin in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah. The group wants schools tied more closely to employers. It will also explore tax changes and incentives to keep people working. Anchor partners include Amazon ($AMZN), Microsoft ($MSFT), Anthropic, the OpenAI Foundation, and Bank of America ($BAC). Other employers include UPS ($UPS), General Motors ($GM), Eli Lilly ($LLY), Mastercard ($MA), Advanced Micro Devices ($AMD), Cisco Systems ($CSCO), and IBM ($IBM). A Boston Consulting Group analysis estimated roughly half of American jobs will be reshaped by AI. It said as many as 25M jobs could be eliminated within 5 years. Goldman Sachs estimated AI could automate one-quarter of American work hours. The machine is arriving faster than the training manual.

🗂️ MISC

🏀 NBA second round gets its night. The National Basketball Association (NBA) draft finished Wednesday in New York. The second round opened with the New York Knicks on the clock. New York selected Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton at No. 31. The Knicks had already agreed to trade his rights to Houston. Thornton first received a Knicks hat. He later arrived for interviews wearing a Rockets hat. He joked that Texas meant no state tax. The first round had begun with Washington selecting AJ Dybantsa. The two-night format gave teams more time for deals and evaluation. Duke’s Isaiah Evans waited from Tuesday into Wednesday. Minnesota took him at No. 33 after a trade with Brooklyn. Arkansas guard Meleek Thomas went No. 34 and was dealt to Cleveland. The draft’s romance still lives in the second round. Jalen Brunson and Willis Reed already proved New York knows what hidden value looks like.

📊 Tech rebounds as oil slips. World shares rose Thursday as technology stocks rebounded. Japan and South Korea led the move. Chipmakers rallied after strong signals from American tech companies. Qualcomm ($QCOM) jumped 11.5% in premarket trading. The company raised its annual revenue forecast to $40B from $22B. It also announced a Dragonfly C1000 data center chip for Meta Platforms ($META). Micron Technology ($MU) rose 17% premarket after beating estimates and raising guidance. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) futures gained 0.8%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.3%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 4.6% to a record 72,366.34. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 5.4% to 8,930.30. Samsung Electronics rose 5.3%. SK Hynix leaped 13%. Brent crude fell 1.2% to $72.97 a barrel early Thursday. Markets found their bounce in chips while oil kept draining fear from the tape.