Pakistan says the United States and Iran have reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the global economy more than three months since the war began.
Full details of the deal were not immediately available. The signing will be Friday in Switzerland. It is not clear how quickly the strait might reopen to all traffic. The U.S. previously said it would ease its blockade of Iranian ports as the strait reopens, and would agree to relax sanctions to allow Iran to sell more of its oil and strengthen its battered economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed a deal had been reached with Iran and said he had authorized an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Congratulations to all!” he wrote on social media, without providing details. He added, “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”
Iranian state media reported Pakistan’s statement after a day in which Israel, sidelined from the negotiations, attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs and posed a threat to the discussions nearing an end.
“Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Pakistan said, adding that mediators this week will facilitate meetings to “lay the foundation for the technical talks.”
The deal largely returns to a status that existed before the war, but with thousands of people dead and Iran wielding a new source of negotiating pressure with its ability to influence transits of the strait. The waterway is crucial to significant shipments of oil, natural gas and related products like fertilizer, and its effective closure rocked the global economy.
Of the stated targets by the U.S. and Israel when they launched the war on Feb. 28 with strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran still has a missile program, support for armed proxies in the region like Hezbollah in Lebanon and a stockpile of highly enriched uranium for its nuclear program.
Khamenei’s son is now supreme leader, though he has not been seen in the public since the war began. His approval was needed for Iran to sign off on the deal.
Iran has wanted a ceasefire deal to include the fighting in Lebanon, where Israel has pushed its invasion deeper than at any point in over a quarter-century as it targets Hezbollah. Tehran also has sought the release of billions of dollars in frozen funds.
The emerging deal had been sharply criticized by Israel’s government, and by critics in Trump’s own Republican Party. Some said it did not improve on the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term and still describes as “bad.”
After the war began, Iran attacked Israel and several Arab Gulf nations with missiles and drones. A ceasefire was reached on April 7. Ten days later, the U.S. military imposed its blockade. A historic face-to-face meeting between Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf ended without success.
Throughout negotiations, Trump alternatively threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure, even its civilization, and praised the relationship with Iran as “more professional” as his administration sought an exit from the war with midterm U.S. elections coming later this year.
Iran’s government, with its own tensions around hardliners as it scrambled to replace several top officials killed in the war, repeatedly expressed wariness of negotiations after rounds of talks last year and early this year ended with U.S. and Israeli attacks.
Tehran has emphasized that it wanted a deal to focus on ending the war, with discussions put off until later on its nuclear program — the issue at the center of it all.
Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.
At times, the U.S. had sought the removal of the enriched uranium from Iran as part of a deal. Russia has offered to take it. At other times, Trump said he wanted the uranium destroyed.
Few platforms in the history of the live music business are credited with breaking as many artists as the Vans Warped Tour.
For nearly a quarter of a century, from 1995 to its “final” cross-country run in 2018, Warped Tour was a traveling carnival of punk rock, ska, emo, metalcore, and hip-hop whose stages served as a launchpad for the likes of Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, Good Charlotte, and countless others.
The Warped Tour format was unlike any other major festival: bands were listed alphabetically with no billing hierarchy, and set times were only announced on the day, scrawled on a giant inflatable board at the entrance, meaning fans had to show up early, make snap decisions, and discover acts they’d never planned to see.
It all came from the mind of Kevin Lyman, who got his start throwing punk shows in Long Beach, California, and stage-managing Lollapalooza in 1991.
“The No Doubts, the Sublimes, [the] Quicksands – those bands were willing to take a leap of faith with me,” Lyman recalls of Warped’s inaugural lineup.
“That was a group of peers [who] really wanted something like this, and they let me be the [torch] bearer to go forward with it and take the lumps, the good and the bad.”
What followed was a 25-year run, which became what’s believed to be the longest-running touring music festival in North American history. It also became a testing ground for rising rock stars during pop punk and emo’s mainstream crossover in the late nineties and 2000s, and its influence rippled from fans to bands and the wider industry.
“I started getting calls from band members going, ‘Man, I just got told, if we don’t get on Warped, we don’t get pushed.’ And that was a little hard,” he remembers. “I never built [it] to be in a position of having that much influence over someone chasing their dream.
“The labels were out there scouting, too. They were looking at our Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands every day; six to eight bands playing on that stage every day that we’d vetted from thousands [of submissions].
“Everyone goes, ‘Don’t you listen to the band?’ I watched the front of the stage. If there were six kids singing those songs as passionately as 1,000 kids would sing Bad Religion when I was working in a club, that group had something.”
Lyman drew it all to a close in 2019, but after a six-year hiatus, brought Warped back in 2025 in partnership with Live Nation-backed Insomniac Events.
It was an emphatic return: the festival’s three two-day stops, in Washington, D.C., Long Beach, and Orlando, sold a combined 240,000 tickets, with the Long Beach stop alone drawing over 40,000 fans a day.
Lyman says that the revived event is appealing to a new generation of rock fans.
“Last year was an anomaly. We sold out without announcing bands,” he says. “I would never bring [Warped Tour] back as a complete nostalgia play,” he adds. “I wanted to pay homage [to the past], of course. But we had to look to the future – of fans, brands, and bands.
“But the cool thing about last year [and] it’s not science, [but] about a third of the people that came to Warped last year were at their first festival or even first concert. That was pretty impressive.
“And this year we’re seeing a two-to-one ratio of new credit cards to [returning ones]. It’s not scientific either, but it’s an indicator that we’re attracting a new audience again.”
“It was too close to my soul. I couldn’t just sell it. I knew someone would have wrecked it in a year.”
Kevin Lyman
Warped Tour is returning in 2026 with dates in D.C. (June 13-14), Long Beach (July 25-26), Montreal (August 21-22), Mexico City (September 12-13), and Orlando (November 14-15).
In addition to appealing to a new generation of fans, Lyman says keeping ticket pricing accessible is a non-negotiable. “Since 1995 I’ve had the lowest-[priced] tickets for festivals,” he claims, adding: “The entry point to a festival has become quite high.” Today, two-day general admission passes for Warped Tour start at $149.
Beyond the festival, Lyman is an associate professor in the Music Industry program at the University of Southern California, and a recently honored recipient of the Canadian Live Music Association’s Global Impact in Live Music award, presented to him in Toronto.
Here, Lyman discusses Warped Tour’s 2026 return, why the live industry needs a reality check on pricing, his approach to artist discovery, and the one thing he’d change about the music business…
HOW DO YOU KEEP ticket prices accessible WHEN COSTS ARE RISING EVERYWHERE?
It’s always been a challenge. Since 1995 I’ve had the lowest-[priced] tickets for festivals. But having this new partner with Insomniac, they’ve been very supportive, and even helped me keep the ticket price lower last year than I thought it could be.
They invest in culture. They invest in their community, the EDM community.
They don’t look at it as short-term. They don’t look at it as ‘this’ show. They’re looking at it as a long-term investment in the community, and that’s a great partner to have.
WARPED TOUR HAS ALWAYS BEEN FAMOUS FOR ITS RANDOMIZED SCHEDULES – SET TIMES DECIDED ON THE DAY, NO OFFICIAL HEADLINERS, BANDS LISTED ALPHABETICALLY. WHERE DID THAT PHILOSOPHY COME FROM?
That stemmed from being the stage manager of Lollapalooza in 1991. I’d worked in clubs for so long, 320 nights a year, and I’d see opening bands play as people were coming into the venue. I watched Henry Rollins, one of the most intense performers in history, going for it on a big stage with empty seats sometimes.
“I watched Henry Rollins, one of the most intense performers in history, going for it on a big stage with empty seats sometimes.”
And I would just sit there and go, “What if I could put him on right between Siouxsie and the Banshees and Jane’s Addiction? How would that have changed the trajectory of an artist like him?”
Kevin Lyman
So when I started Warped, I did everything differently. I started doing my posters alphabetically. We were the first ones to do that, because I hated dealing with billing. Billing is the biggest waste of time in music, in my opinion.
Then it was like, mix up the schedule, because I watched bands get lulled into a certain spot on a bill. It wasn’t challenging for them. Warped was a controlled chaos that kept you a little off balance. I put Katy Perry on right before Bring Me the Horizon, or right after Pierce the Veil, and she got to be a better live artist because of that. You were challenged to get those people back to your stage.
“BILLING IS THE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME IN MUSIC. PEOPLE ARGUE ABOUT IT FOR WEEKS. GET OUT THERE AND PROMOTE.”
In Long Beach [in 2025], we were supposed to open the doors at 11, and we had to open at nine.
We had 45,000 people through the doors at 11 in the morning. That first band, probably 15,000 people ran to that stage. Either that’s a catalyst for their future, or they’re going to have the most amazing video to show their grandchildren of when they were playing [to] 15,000 people.
WARPED TOUR HELPED BREAK BLINK-182, FALL OUT BOY, PARAMORE, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, AND MANY OTHERS. HOW MUCH OF AN A&R ROLE WERE YOU AWARE YOU WERE PLAYING AT THE TIME?
I was in a lucky position, because a lot of times when someone has a festival, they do a lot of favors, putting young bands on. I was able to put the best musical band on my shows.
I think I had a pretty good ear, but honestly, I think I’m kind of tone deaf. I really am. But I can hear the emotion in the music [and] I can tie that into the live show. That’s why we could sign Flogging Molly or Gogol Bordello. I was trying to make it emotionally successful, not commercially successful.
That memory of seeing Gogol Bordello live and getting splashed with red wine and people crowd-surfing on your head? I think we’re in a society [where] we all just need to mosh sometimes, physically, mentally, emotionally.
THERE’S A LOT OF TALK IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS ABOUT ‘SUPERFANS’ RIGHT NOW. WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON HOW THE INDUSTRY IS APPROACHING THAT?
Unfortunately, our industry keeps talking about monetizing the superfan. It’s always about monetizing them. Reward those superfans. Give them experiences. Give them something, and then they become superfans organically.
If you can have an organic superfan, the monetization comes naturally. It’s not a forced monetization thing.
“REWARD THOSE SUPERFANS. GIVE THEM EXPERIENCES. GIVE THEM SOMETHING, AND THEN THEY BECOME SUPERFANS ORGANICALLY. THE MONETIZATION COMES NATURALLY.”
Those are the fans [that have allowed] bands like The Maine, Mayday Parade, and Less Than Jake to maintain a career of 30 years as band members – because they recognized that early and stuck with that model.
YOU RECENTLY RECEIVED THE GLOBAL IMPACT IN LIVE MUSIC AWARD IN TORONTO, PRESENTED BY SUM 41’S DERYCK WHIBLEY. HOW DID THAT FEEL?
I didn’t realize I had that much kind of an impact on [Deryck’s] life. He was very [generous] in his introduction to me. He related to when they were young and didn’t have anyone to go to [for] Thanksgiving, [and] we invited his band over, and they had Thanksgiving dinner with our extended families.
I was never one of those people [seeking adulation]. We’re workers, me and my wife. But to find out that I’ve been part of people’s lives — that I’ve allowed them to live this lifestyle for as long as they have — it’s been a pretty nice ride.
The clearest theme from the bands backstage [at the 2025 comeback] was when a band told me: “We play festivals as part of our business plan now, but coming back to Warped is like coming home.”
CONSOLIDATION IN LIVE MUSIC IS A MAJOR TALKING POINT today. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?
Consolidation breeds innovation. You see it when the major agencies consolidate, then [they] lose people and those people go form smaller booking agencies. There are always people who want to create an alternative existence.
HAD THERE BEEN MANY ATTEMPTS TO ACQUIRE THE WARPED TOUR BRAND OVER THE YEARS?
Yeah. People were like, “You could have sold the name.” And I go, “No. It was too close to my soul. I couldn’t just sell it. I knew someone would have wrecked it in a year.”
IF YOU WERE IN YOUR TWENTIES TODAY WITH NO INFRASTRUCTURE, NO CONTACTS, AND NO CAPITAL, COULD YOU BUILD SOMETHING LIKE WARPED TOUR?
I think a young [promoter] needs to work like I did, for 12 years in the club, and build up those relationships to allow you to fail. I was allowed to fail that first year, but I’d made so many people look good, and worked so hard, and [had been] kind to people, that I was given a second chance.
A lot of people who come in [to the business now] might have the confidence, but they border on cockiness, [thinking]: ‘I don’t have to pay my dues.’”
Credit: agwilson/ShutterstockSimple Plan in concert at the Vans Warped Tour in Mountain View, CA in 2018
[In the early days], the No Doubts, the Sublimes, [the] Quicksands – those bands were willing to take a leap of faith with me. Then that second year, NOFX and Pennywise saw it. I’m doing some work with will.i.am [right now], and he walked in the room and gave me a giant hug and flipped right back to that parking lot, telling [me] how he made relationships in punk rock at Warped Tour that he never thought he’d have in life.
Those people gave me a second chance in ’96, and then things started strangely falling in place.
Blink was right on my bus [that] summer. They couldn’t afford the transportation costs. I remember paying them $250. And now they get seven figures or more for a festival. That’s not going to fit my economic model, but it’s awesome that they went that far, because our scene of music never went that far.
IF THERE WAS ONE THING YOU COULD CHANGE ABOUT THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
I think these major companies that are reporting record profits should create a fund to support younger artists as overall tour support, and for the smaller clubs, to keep them in business. 100-to-500-seaters are closing left and right because they were built on a model of alcohol pays the bills and tickets sell. We’re losing all those venues.
There’s got to be a few million [dollars available] that can make our industry better – helping mental health, helping crew, artists, bands in need.
[If] these businesses are recording record profits, why don’t they give a little bit back to that artist [community] that we’re trying to keep alive? Our industry should support them a little more.Music Business Worldwide
Getting rid of clutter, fixing paint chips and making your home look straight out of a lifestyle magazine is a rite of passage for homeowners planning to sell their property. But that to-do list gets a bit longer if you’re also planning to save money on commissions and sell the property without a Realtor.
Fangfang Wang, Florina Silaghi, Steven Ongena, and Miguel García-Cestona
CDS spreads rise sharply after ESG downgrades — most notably within the social pillar and among financially constrained firms — while upgrades show little effect. Positive ESG sentiment and transparency can mitigate these adverse credit impacts.
Medicare provides critical insurance coverage for retirees, but many are surprised when they find out some of the details of the program. That’s because there are many misunderstandings about how much Medicare costs and what it covers.
To make sure they aren’t caught off guard with an unpleasant financial surprise, there’s a key question retirees will want answered every year when it comes to Medicare coverage. Here’s what it is.
Image source: Getty Images.
This Medicare question has a big impact on a retiree’s finances
The key question seniors need to ask each year is just how much Medicare premiums are slated to increase. New retirees sometimes don’t realize they have to pay for Medicare, since it’s government-sponsored insurance. But you do owe premiums — which total $202.90 in 2026 for most retirees, up from $185.00 last year.
These premiums cover only traditional Medicare Part B. If you want a Medigap plan to fill any coverage gaps or co-pays you might otherwise be responsible for, you would have to buy a Medigap policy separately. Or you could look into a Medicare Advantage plan, which works a little differently in terms of coverage and how you get care.
Unfortunately, Medicare premiums don’t stay the same each year. They increase due to added healthcare costs, and sometimes rapidly. Seniors need to plan and prepare for these rising costs, especially if they were not aware they would have to pay for Medicare and any supplementary coverage out of pocket.
This is the key Medicare question to ask
Since premiums do increase in most years, the key question seniors need to ask annually is just how much the costs are going up. Typically, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announces the premium changes in mid-November. That’s shortly before the end of the Medicare open enrollment period.
Finding out how much premiums will rise each year will help you determine how much of your Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) you get to keep. Most people have premiums deducted directly from their Social Security benefits, so they don’t see the full amount of their COLA in their checks.
The good news is that hold-harmless provisions prevent many retirees from seeing their benefits decline if Medicare premiums rise by more than the annual COLA retirees receive. Of course, once a bigger raise happens, their premiums will see a big jump as they catch back up.
Asking how much Medicare premiums will rise is something you should do annually, so you’ll know how much take-home pay you’ll have from each Social Security benefit. This can make retirement planning a whole lot easier.
Southwest Airlines has launched another Week of WOW promotion, giving Rapid Rewards members a chance to earn double points on eligible flights. If you have travel plans coming up, this could be an easy way to boost your Rapid Rewards balance.
As always, registration is required before travel, and there are specific booking and travel windows.
Offer Details
Southwest Rapid Rewards members can earn double Rapid Rewards points when they:
The promotion applies to qualifying Southwest-operated flights booked through Southwest channels.
Important Terms
Registration is required before travel.
Flights must be booked after registering.
Valid on paid Southwest flights only.
Award flights booked with points do not qualify.
Charter flights, group travel, nonrevenue travel, and Companion Pass travel do not qualify.
Bonus points will be awarded within 72 hours after completing eligible travel.
This promotion cannot be combined with other Southwest promotions.
How This Promotion Works
Southwest Rapid Rewards points are earned based on the base fare of your ticket. Since the offer doubles the standard Rapid Rewards earning rate, travelers booking higher fare classes can rack up a substantial number of points. Here’s what you’ll earn during the promotion:
Fare Type
Points Earned With Promo
Basic
2 points per dollar → 4 points per dollar
Choice
6 points per dollar → 12 points per dollar
Choice Preferred
10 points per dollar → 20 points per dollar
Choice Extra
14 points per dollar → 28 points per dollar
If you have Southwest elite status, the numbers get even better. A-List members receive a 25% points bonus, while A-List Preferred members earn a 100% bonus on qualifying flights.
For example, a traveler with A-List Preferred status booking a Choice Extra fare would effectively earn 42 Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent during this promotion. On a $500 ticket, that works out to 21,000 Rapid Rewards points, compared to 14,000 points for a member without status.
You can also stack these earnings with a Southwest credit card. Depending on which Southwest personal or business card you carry, you’ll earn an additional 2X to 4X points on Southwest purchases, making this promotion even more rewarding for frequent flyers.
Guru’s Wrap-up
This Southwest promotion has a very short booking window. If you have Southwest flights you need to book anyway, taking a minute to register and book by June 15 could earn you a nice stash of extra Rapid Rewards points.
The federal law putting into place education, registration and — for non-depository originators — licensing requirements, applies only to human beings. Yet, don’t count on an all-automated loan happening anytime soon.
Processing Content
The conclusion comes from a new Mortgage Bankers Association white paper, written by the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, titled Examining AI-powered mortgage through the lens of federal law.
The concern, the organization said, is that without the creation of an industry-developed shared framework for AI use, not just in originations but other areas of the business as well, federal and state regulators are likely to step into the void and pass their own rules. The upshot is “50 different states will regulate us 50 different ways,” the MBA paper quoted one of its members as saying.
PennyMac Financial Services is one of several companies leaning heavily into AI; it just appointed an expert in this area, Tiffany To, CEO of Ontollo, onto its board.
“As the regulatory landscape shifts and states begin constructing their own AI governance guardrails, the mortgage industry cannot afford a patchwork of conflicting rules,” said Isaac Boltansky, head of public policy at Pennymac in an emailed statement. “We will continue to collaborate with policymakers to establish a unified, principles-based risk framework that fosters technological innovation while preserving absolute consumer protections.”
The argument for AI regulation
The Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act, put into place after the housing meltdown in 2008, was written in such a way that the use of the term “individual” means it only applies to people, not to artificial intelligence technology, which may be able to undertake end-to-end mortgage origination activities.
Admittedly, when the SAFE Act was passed, the idea of AI was not even a concept. As such, the statutory language of the SAFE Act would need a legislative amendment to require AI systems or models involved in dealing with consumers much in the same way as humans do to have their own registration or licensing, the MBA said.
An industry compliance attorney issued a more direct argument. “There will need to be a natural person that is licensed somewhere in the process,” said Hadyn Richards Jr., a partner at the Bradley law firm. “We will not be in a position where we can have a mortgage company that has zero mortgage loan originators.”
Hadyn Richards Jr. is a partner in the Bradley law firm
The key to remember is licensing and registration came about as a means of consumer protection following the bad actors, who caused the Great Financial Crisis.
“What the regulators are going to expect, even as AI is fully deployed, is that if there is a need for a consumer to be able to speak to someone, there needs to be someone that they can reach out to and ask questions and interact with,” Richards said.
He believes AI will create incredible advances in customer service and decisioning, but the expectations on the regulatory side will be for consumers to have an actual appropriately licensed or registered person to speak with.
What regulators and examiners will ultimately be looking for is if something goes wrong, does someone at the lender have responsibility, Richards said.
More than half of prospective homebuyers claimed they would be comfortable making a purchase without direct human involvement, a Veterans United Home Loans survey said.
But it doesn’t mean originators can go all-in on high tech and avoid licensing and registration requirements.
Other federal laws remain on the books and come into play. Because consumer credit transactions are also covered by the Truth-in-Lending Act and Regulation Z, the paper recommends a human mortgage loan officer be assigned to each origination.
“While there is no express federal mandate that a human MLO must participate in the mortgage origination process, TILA and Regulation Z effectively impose this requirement through disclosure mandates,” the white paper said.
“Ultimately, mortgage companies should assess their own risk tolerances when determining the extent of human MLO involvement in the mortgage loan application and origination process,” the paper said. Merely disclosing a consumer is dealing with an AI system may not be sufficient to relieve Reg Z compliance obligations or even fully mitigate unfair or deceptive acts or practices (UDAP) regulatory risk.
How regulators think about AI
AI compliance and risk management is a big topic, with a couple of ways to think about it, said Kyle Thomas, Conference of State Bank Supervisors senior advisor for policy and innovation.
First, is the consumer protection aspect.
Consumer protection laws and regulations, such as UDAP and TILA, are outcomes-based, meaning if the consumer is harmed, then the company or individuals are responsible, Thomas said. AI doesn’t change it.
Second, what is new is the risk management discipline around AI, and how financial services industry participants and regulators properly handle this. The risk comes from not only consumer protection, but cybersecurity and model governance as well.
When new laws, innovations or even fraud risk came up in the past, the regulators set forth principles-based guidelines, and then supervisors developed work programs to support them. Those work programs were shared and used by both the industry and regulators. That’s what state regulators are doing — on a coordinated basis — to account for AI from a supervision standpoint, Thomas said.
One day after the paper came out, the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, an affiliate of the MBA, launched the MISMO Framework for Responsible AI in the Mortgage Ecosystem, or FRAME, for short.
It was developed in collaboration with the AI Community of Practice and came about from a MBA Residential Board of Governors proposal.
FRAME includes a governance policy template, AI system inventory and related risk assessment. It also provides implementation guidance and a Getting Started Guide.
“As AI adoption expands throughout the mortgage ecosystem, it is important that we engage with regulators, GSEs, investors and other stakeholders,” said Brian Vieaux, MISMO president in a press release. “The feedback we receive from these organizations will help us continue to refine and strengthen FRAME over time. Our goal is to create a practical framework that lenders can use today while helping build broader understanding and acceptance across the industry.”
The goal of FRAME is not to create any new regulation, but to help mortgage companies understand where AI is being used, how to assess the risks, document decision-making and establish a repeatable governance process, said Rick Hill, MBA’s vice president of industry technology.
“Organizations cannot manage risk they cannot see, and FRAME provides a practical path to identifying, understanding and managing AI risk across the enterprise,” Hill said.
