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America and its historic ally, France, are celebrating another milestone: the 50th Anniversary of the French-American Foundation.

Justice Department Sues California Over Glock Ban, Handgun Roster

Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times,

The Justice Department (DOJ) on July 1 sued California over its ban on "machinegun convertible pistols" and its "handgun roster."

A Glock handgun and two magazines in a file photograph. Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo

The law bans the purchase of Glock pistols and guns with similar firing mechanisms, according to a DOJ press release.

The handgun roster limits the handguns California citizens can legally buy.

The DOJ claims both are unconstitutional.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation known as Assembly Bill 1127 in October 2025 to prohibit licensed firearms dealers from selling, transferring, or delivering "semiautomatic machinegun-convertible pistols."

The law went into effect on July 1, the same day that DOJ sued.

Under the law, a machinegun-convertible pistol is "any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar that can be readily converted ... into a machinegun by the installation or attachment of a pistol converter ... without any additional engineering, machining, or modification of the pistol's trigger mechanism."

New York, Maryland, and Connecticut have similar bans.

The law was passed in response to so-called "Glock switches," which are not manufactured or endorsed by Glock.

The switches have been used by criminal gangs around the country.

Pistols sold before Jan. 1, 2026, are grandfathered under the law, which became effective on July 1.

The devices are prohibited by 29 states and under federal law, according to Everytown Research & Policy.

The lawsuit also alleges that the state's handgun roster illegally limits Californians' access to state-of-the-art firearms.

According to the lawsuit, the roster requires specific features such as a chamber-load indicator, which shows the gun is loaded, and a magazine-disconnect mechanism, which prevents a gun from firing when the magazine is out of the gun.

Until recently, the roster also required each gun to mark the handgun's make, model, and serial number onto shell casings fired by the gun. This is commonly called microstamping.

"As a result of these requirements, no new handguns were added to the roster between 2013 and 2023," the lawsuit states.

There is currently an injunction against enforcement of the roster.

However, the lawsuit states the DOJ has a responsibility to act because "these provisions of the roster statute violate the Second Amendment."

Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the lawsuit in a social media post on X.

"The Trump administration is once again trying to dismantle California's commonsense gun safety laws. California is seeing historic low crime rates and gun death rates. These laws save lives," the post reads.

A spokesperson for Newsom's office reiterated the governor's statement.

Spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo stated that the state has data showing its gun laws have saved lives.

"We won't be intimidated by another politically motivated lawsuit. We'll continue defending the laws that protect Californians and keep dangerous weapons off our streets," Crofts-Pelayo stated in an email to The Epoch Times.

According to the DOJ, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the individual right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense.

The lawsuit contends the California laws infringe on that right.

"The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces new gun legislation in Sacramento on Feb. 1, 2023. Courtesy of Office of Governor Gavin Newsom Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 15:20

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SAP Slows Hiring, Freezes Travel As AI Push Accelerates

Not even a day after reports swirled that Microsoft was preparing to cut thousands of employees, and as the broader tech sector continues to hemorrhage white-collar workers replaced by chatbots, the latest AI-related job-displacement news is coming from Europe's largest software company.

Bloomberg reports that German enterprise software giant SAP, best known for software that supports large corporations running core business operations, is preparing to slow hiring and cut travel costs as it diverts more capital toward developing AI tools.

More color from the report:

Going forward, SAP will "exclusively focus new hiring on selected profiles only, mainly core Al roles, that are critical for our long-term success," the executive board said in an email to staff on Wednesday evening that Bloomberg reviewed.

Internal travel unrelated to AI development will be paused, and the company will look for ways to cut spending with suppliers.

"As Al reshapes the future of our industry, we are making significant investments in the products and Al capabilities we build, complemented by strategic acquisitions in data and Al where we need additional expertise and technology," the managers said in the memo.

"By balancing where we invest and where we save, we ensure that SAP remains strong, competitive, and well- positioned for the long term."

SAP has also been pursuing acquisitions to bolster its AI offerings and reportedly lost out on a deal to purchase industrial AI and data firm Cognite, which instead agreed to a $3.1 billion deal with Schneider Electric.

The move comes as CEO Christian Klein reorganizes SAP around AI innovation, taking on a larger role in overseeing product development. It also comes as legacy software names have been battered this year on fears that AI rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI could disrupt their core businesses.

According to Bloomberg data, SAP had around 110,000 employees as of the first quarter of this year. While the report made no mention of future layoffs, the company's workforce appears to have already peaked in the third quarter of 2022, suggesting the latest "efficiency" push could further unwind years of overhiring.

New report: 

• AI Adoption Rate Across Corporate America Accelerates

SAP shares in Frankfurt were down around 2% on Thursday and about 33% on the year.

The selloff mirrors declines of Salesforce, Workday, and Microsoft, which have cut thousands of jobs while investing heavily in AI. The latest from The Market Ear suggests that, after months of declines, software could be set for a squeeze (read report). 

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 15:00

FDA Allows Label Saying Zyn Nicotine Pouches Less Harmful Than Cigarettes

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The Food and Drug Administration is letting Philip Morris International market its Zyn nicotine pouches as being safer than cigarettes.

Zyn nicotine cases and pouches on a table in New York City on Jan. 29, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The FDA said on June 30 that the pouches can now feature the statement, "Using Zyn instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis."

The authorization of the modified risk statement followed an extensive scientific review, regulators said.

That process concluded that Philip Morris subsidiary Swedish Match demonstrated the claim was scientifically accurate, that consumers understand the claim, and that marketing the products with the claim would benefit the population.

"FDA's review of modified risk products is intended to ensure that adult users have clear, science-based information about the relative harms of tobacco products, so they can make informed choices," Bret Koplow, acting director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement.

"Today's decision allows these products to be marketed with a modified risk claim that informs adults who smoke about the lower risks associated with these products."

The FDA initially cleared Zyn pouches in 2025. Officials at the time said that the benefits to adult cigarette smokers outweighed the risks to adults and youth, based in part on the finding that the pouches contain fewer harmful chemicals than cigarettes.

An FDA advisory panel in January said the proposed statement was likely accurate.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids opposed the proposal at the time. The nonprofit said that Swedish Match did not meet the standard for authorization, in part because there was no demonstrated benefit.

The authorization of the new claim includes the requirement that the pouch manufacturer carry out studies and surveillance, including assessing how people interact with the updated products and understand the updated risk-related information.

The authorization lasts for five years and can be extended.

If the FDA determines that the marketing under the adjusted statement no longer benefits the population, such as a scenario that involved a spike in uptake among young people, the agency may withdraw the authorization, officials said.

Philip Morris CEO Stacey Kennedy hailed the development. Kennedy said in a statement it "ensures these adults have access to accurate, science-based information, including FDA-authorized evidence that switching from cigarettes to Zyn reduces the risk of smoking-related diseases like heart disease and lung cancer."

"More broadly, it reinforces the agency's science-based approach to evaluating products across the continuum of risk and communicating those findings transparently," she said.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 14:40

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Pro photo edits for less.

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Blue Owl Gates Investors Again After Top BDCs Hit With Massive 38%, 19% Redemption Requests

After a catastrophic Q1 for private credit BDCs, Q2 is proceeding just as many had expected: just as bad.

After alternative asset manager titans such as Apollo, Blackrock, Blackstone and Cliffwater all gated their investors for a second straight quarter following a surge in redemption requests that easily surpassed what took place in Q1, earlier today we learned that the ground zero of the private credit implosion - Blue Owl Capital - was also slammed with redemption requests in the second quarter. Sure enough, it also gated its investors.

As Bloomberg reports, for the second straight quarter, two Blue Owl Capital private credit funds were hit with the industry’s largest redemption requests, forcing the manager to again cap withdrawals.

Investors in the roughly $34 billion Blue Owl Credit Income Corp., one of the largest in the industry, asked to pull 18.8% of shares, or $3.6 billion in the second quarter, according to an investor letter Thursday. That’s down fractionally less than the $4.2 billion requested in the prior period from the fund known as OCIC. 

The smaller Blue Owl Technology Income Corp. saw shareholders request 38.1%, or $1.1 billion, compared with $1.2 billion in the first quarter. 

The good news: the total redemptions were modestly below last quarter's record; the bad news: the redemptions persisted almost entirely despite the market staging a historic, remarkable rebound and as fears about software disruption supposedly eased. Turns out they did not.

Blue Owl, which as we have thoroughly documents, has been at the heart of the storm roiling the $1.8 trillion private credit market due to its massive exposure to software-linked loans, joins industry peers including Apollo, Ares, BlackRock and Blackstone in imposing a 5% redemption limit as investors accelerate out of the funds.

Blue Owl told investors it was “encouraged to see OCIC’s modestly lower quarter-over-quarter tender requests broadly across channels and geographies.” Let's see what the company will tell investors next quarter if we see a powerful drawdown in stocks which sparks a new selling panic across the private credit space. 

According to Bloomberg, the firm said it has satisfied more than 43% of the original demand from shareholders with repeat withdrawal requests. It said second quarter requests were largely from those investors, and included “limited new participation.”

Realizing the existential threat they were in, Blue Owl executives - who in a bizarre act of "diversification" decided to buy a stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers - stepped up efforts to engage with clients over the past three months, flying around the world on a roadshow trying to educate investors, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. They emphasized the message that private credit is a performing asset and that their funds had delivered positive returns, the person said, requesting anonymity to discuss private meetings.

In the shareholder letter Thursday, the firm highlighted that about 90% of investors remain in the larger fund, which has posted approximately $1.2 billion of inflows this year.

“OCIC does not need to sell a single private loan to satisfy the tender offer,” Craig Packer, Blue Owl’s co-president, and Logan Nicholson, OCIC president, said in the letter to shareholders.

And in case that investors decided they don't want to be in the fund much longer, the firm said that both Blue Owl funds have “ample dry powder” to capitalize on better lending conditions in the market, with wider spreads and improved protections.

OCIC and OTIC had $11.6 billion and $1.3 billion in liquidity respectively, including cash and available borrowings assets as of May 31, according to the letters. OTIC oversees about $5 billion in assets.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 14:20

Find out all of the songs in Netflix's newest romantic comedy Voicemails For Isabelle!

The singer is auctioning off some of her old wardrobe — but not before she takes it for another spin.