Justin Huhn, editor and founder of Uranium Insider, talks uranium supply, demand and prices.
He emphasized that it’s still ‘very early’ in the cycle and that at this point no further catalysts are needed.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
North Korea says it has successfully refloated a new destroyer that capsized upon launch last month, with state media reporting the damaged vessel will be moved to a dry dock in a different shipyard for repairs.
“After restoring the balance of the destroyer early in June, the team moored it at the pier by safely conducting its end launching on Thursday afternoon,” a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
A satellite photo taken by Planet Labs on June 5 showed the formerly stricken vessel righted and seemingly floating in water away from the pier where the disastrous launch took place.
The 5,000-ton destroyer is the country’s newest warship and was meant to be a triumph of North Korea’s ambitious naval modernization effort.
Instead, a malfunction in the launch mechanism on May 21 caused the stern to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway, KCNA reported at the time. A day later, state media reported the damage was not as bad as initially feared.
Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the failed launch in the northeastern city of Chongjin, called it a “criminal act,” and the government quickly said it arrested four people it claims are responsible for the launch accident.
Kim ordered officials to swiftly repair the as-yet-unnamed ship before the late-June plenary session of the ruling Workers’ Party, calling it a matter of national honor.
KCNA reported Friday that Kim’s goal will be met.
“The next-stage elaborate restoration is to be carried out at the dry dock of the Rajin Dockyard for the period of 7-10 days,” KCNA reported, adding that Central Committee Secretary Jo Chun Ryong, who is leading the repair effort, said “the perfect restoration of the destroyer will be completed without fail” before the plenary meeting.
The quick action to refloat the ship surprised analysts, who, based on satellite images of the accident, thought the process would take much longer.
“Sheer manpower and – let’s face it – an innovative approach to righting the ship, delivered a solution in two weeks that people like me didn’t expect for four to six,” said analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain.
The innovative approach apparently was using aerostatic balloons attached to the ship’s hull to help balance and refloat it, satellite imagery showed.
Damage to the hull was less severe than analysts expected when they saw what happened on May 21.
During the sideways launch, in which the ship was supposed to slide into the water laterally, the stern of the warship slipped into the water while the bow remained on land.
Analysts thought the stresses placed on the hull and keel during such an accident could have potentially led to its scrapping.
But “the hull damage must have been significantly less than estimated,” Schuster said.
Schuster said if North Korea can devote the same effort to internal repairs to the warship as it did to refloating it, it could be made ready for sea trials much sooner that he would have thought after the accident.
Internal spaces of the ship, as well as machinery and electronics, will have to be purged of sea water and dried salt in the repair process, he said.
“Nearly everything is doable if you are willing to commit the resources and have the human talent to employ it,” Schuster said.
Use of low-cost e-commerce giants Temu and Shein has slowed significantly in the key U.S. market amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports and the closure of the de minimis loophole, new data shows.
Temu’s U.S. daily active users (DAUs) dropped 52% in May versus March, before Trump’s tariffs were announced, while those at rival Shein were down 25%, according to data shared with CNBC by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
DAUs is a measure of the number of people who visit or interact with a platform every 24 hours. Monthly active users (MAUs), a measure of user engagement over a 30-day period, was also down at Temu (30%) and Shein (12%) in May versus March.
The declines were also reflected in both platforms’ Apple App Store rankings. Temu averaged a rank of 132 in May 2025, down from an average top 3 ranking a year ago, while Shein averaged a rank of 60 last month versus a top 10 ranking the year prior, the data showed.
Neither Temu nor Shein immediately responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
The user drop off comes as both Temu and Shein have pulled back on U.S. advertising spend over recent months since the Trump administration’s tariff announcements.
Trump in April announced sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports, including the end of the “de minimis” tariff exemption on May 2, which allowed companies to ship low-cost goods worth less than $800 to the U.S. tariff-free.
In May, Temu’s U.S. ad spend fell 95% year-on-year while Shein’s was down 70%.
“Temu and Shein’s decline in US ad spend was also noticeable in April, as spend decreased by 40% and 65% YoY, respectively,” Seema Shah, vice president of research and insights at Sensor Tower, said in emailed comments to CNBC.
Both Temu and Shein also altered their logistics models in the wake of tariffs, shifting away from a drop shipping model, which allowed them to send items directly from Chinese suppliers to U.S. consumers, and instead, particularly in Temu’s case, building up a network of U.S. warehouses.
Rui Ma, founder and analyst at Tech Buzz China, said such moves were also likely to have impacted the companies’ ad spend strategy and customer acquisition patterns.
“All these additional costs and regulatory hurdles are clearly hurting Chinese platforms’ U.S. growth prospects,” she wrote in emailed comments.
Tech Buzz China research from March showed that a 50% tariff would be the point at which Temu would lose most of its price advantages and find it difficult to operate. The tariff on former de minimis imports currently stands at 54%, having been lowered from 120% amid a 90-day tariff truce between the U.S. and China.
Last week, Temu’s parent company PDD Holdings reported first-quarter earnings below estimates and pointed to tariffs as a significant pressure on sellers.
Temu’s popularity has nevertheless picked up outside the U.S., with non-U.S. users rising to account for 90% of the platform’s 405 million global MAUs in the second quarter, according to HSBC.
Writing in a note last week, HSBC analysts said that was “supported by growth in Europe, Latin America, and South America.” They added that the swiftest of that growth occurred in “less affluent markets.”
“Many (Chinese platforms) are now actively redirecting their efforts toward other markets such as Europe,” Ma said.
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The Trump administration announced a rebrand of the US Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Institute, stripping the word “safety” from the organization’s title and mission.
The institute, once tasked with developing standards to ensure AI model transparency, robustness and reliability, will now be known as the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). According to the announcement, its focus will be on enhancing US competitiveness and guarding against foreign threats, not constraining the industry with regulations.
The decision, announced on Tuesday (June 3) by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, marks a sharp departure from the Biden-era posture on AI governance.
‘For far too long, censorship and regulations have been used under the guise of national security. Innovators will no longer be limited by these standards,” Lutnick said in a statement.
“CAISI will evaluate and enhance US innovation of these rapidly developing commercial AI systems while ensuring they remain secure to our national security standards.”
Established in November 2023 under President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI, the original AI Safety Institute was housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It aimed to assess AI risks, publish safety benchmarks and convene stakeholders in a consortium focused on responsible AI development.
But with the Trump administration’s return to the White House, the emphasis has shifted.
Instead of curbing AI risks through regulation and safety protocols, the renamed CAISI will now prioritize “pro-innovation” objectives, including the evaluation of foreign AI threats, mitigation of potential backdoors and malware in adversarial models and avoidance of what the administration sees as regulatory overreach from foreign governments.
According to the commerce department, CAISI’s primary tasks will include collaborating with NIST laboratories to help the private sector develop voluntary standards that enhance the security of AI systems, particularly in areas like cybersecurity, biosecurity and the misuse of chemical technologies. The center will also establish voluntary agreements with AI developers and evaluators, and lead unclassified evaluations of AI capabilities that may pose national security risks.
In addition to those directives, CAISI will lead comprehensive assessments of both domestic and foreign AI systems, focusing on how adversary technologies are being adopted and used, and identifying any vulnerabilities, such as backdoors or covert malicious behavior, that could pose security threats.
The center is also expected to work closely with the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the intelligence community.
CAISI will remain housed within NIST and will continue to work with NIST’s internal organizations, including the Information Technology Laboratory and the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The reformation of the institute reflects Trump’s broader AI strategy: loosen domestic oversight while doubling down on global AI dominance. Within his first week back in office, Trump signed an executive order revoking Biden’s prior directives on AI governance and removed his AI policy documents from the White House website.
That same week, he announced the US$500 billion Stargate initiative — a massive public-private partnership involving OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank Group (OTC Pink:SOBKY,TSE:9984) that is intended to make the US the global leader in AI.
The Trump administration’s pivot has been partly catalyzed by growing concerns over foreign AI competition, particularly from China. In January, Chinese tech firm DeepSeek unveiled a powerful AI assistant app, raising alarms in Washington due to its technical sophistication and uncertain security architecture.
Trump called the app a ‘wake-up call,” and lawmakers quickly moved to introduce legislation banning DeepSeek from all government devices. The Navy also issued internal guidance advising its personnel not to use the app “in any capacity.”
Signs of an impending transformation had emerged earlier in the year.
Reuters reported in February that no one from the original AI Safety Institute attended the high-profile AI summit in Paris that month, despite Vice President JD Vance representing the US delegation.
Trump’s massive One Big Beautiful Bill, which includes much of the aforementioned legislation, is poised to dramatically reshape the landscape of AI regulation in the US. The bill introduces a 10 year moratorium on state-level AI laws, effectively centralizing regulatory authority at the federal level.
This move aims to eliminate the patchwork of state regulations, which the administration claims would foster a uniform national framework to bolster American competitiveness in the global AI arena.
The bill’s provision to preempt state AI regulations has sparked significant controversy.
A coalition of 260 bipartisan state lawmakers from all 50 states has urged to remove this clause, arguing that it undermines state autonomy and hampers the ability to address local AI-related concerns. Critics also warn that the moratorium could delay necessary protections, potentially endangering innovation, transparency and public trust. They argue that it may isolate the US from global AI norms and reinforce monopolies within the industry.
Despite the backlash, proponents within the Trump administration assert that the bill is essential for maintaining US leadership in AI. The One Big Beautiful Bill is currently being debated in the US Senate.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Investing in silver bullion has pros and cons, and what’s right for one investor may not work for another.
Interest in the silver market tends to flourish whenever the silver price increases, with investors beginning to wonder if silver is a good investment and it is the right time to add physical silver to their investment portfolios.
While silver can be volatile, the precious metal is also seen as a safe-haven asset, similar to its sister metal gold. Safe-haven investments can offer protection in times of uncertainty, and with tensions running high, they could be a good choice for those looking to preserve their wealth in difficult times.
With those factors in mind, let’s look at the pros and cons of buying silver bullion.
Silver bullion is often considered a good safe-haven asset. As mentioned, investors often flock to precious metals in times of turmoil, politically and economically. For example, physical silver and gold have both performed strongly in recent years against a background of geopolitical instability and high inflation.
While cash, mining stocks, bonds and other financial products are accepted forms of wealth, they are essentially still digital promissory notes. For that reason, they are all vulnerable to depreciation due to actions like printing money. A troy ounce of silver bullion, on the other hand, is a finite tangible asset. That means that, although it is vulnerable to market fluctuations like other commodities, physical silver isn’t likely to completely crash because of its inherent and real value. Market participants can buy bullion in different forms, such as silver coins or silver jewelry, or they can buy silver bullion bars.
Compared to gold bullion, silver is significantly cheaper, which makes it more accessible for investors looking for an affordable entrance to the precious metals market. This can make it easier for investors to build up a portfolio over time.
Another benefit is that investors who need to convert their precious metals to currency will have an easier time selling a portion of their silver portfolio than those looking to sell part of their gold. Just as a US$100 bill can be a challenge to break at the store, divvying up an ounce of gold bullion can be a challenge. As a result, silver bullion is more practical and versatile, particularly for everyday investors who need flexibility in their investments.
Silver tends to move in tandem with gold: when the price of gold rises, so too does the price of silver. Because the white metal is currently worth around 1/100th the price of gold, buying silver bullion is affordable and stands to see a much bigger percentage gain if the silver price goes up. In fact, silver has outperformed the gold price in bull markets. It’s possible for an investor to hedge their bets with silver bullion in their investment portfolio.
Silver and gold have been used as legal tender for thousands of years, and that lineage lends them a sense of stability. Many buyers find comfort in knowing that silver has been recognized for its value throughout a great deal of mankind’s history, and so there’s an expectation that it will endure while a fiat currency may fall to the wayside. When individuals invest in physical silver, there is a reassurance that the metal has value that will continue to persist. Additionally, its increasing use as an industrial metal in the energy transition has improved the metals fundamentals even further.
Unlike most other investments, such as stocks, holding silver bullion can leave investors vulnerable to theft. And of course, the more physical assets, including silver jewelry, that reside within your home, the more at risk you are for losing significantly if a burglary takes place. It’s possible to secure your assets from looting by using a safety deposit box in a bank or a safe box in your home, but this will incur additional costs.
Silver may not perform as well as other investments, such as real estate or even other metals. Mining stocks, especially silver stocks that pay dividends, may also be a better option than silver bullion for some investors. Royalty and streaming companies are another option for those interested in investing in silver, as are exchange-traded funds and silver futures.
When investors try to buy any bullion product, such as an American silver ounce coin known as a silver eagle, they quickly find out that the physical silver price is generally higher than the silver spot price due to premiums used by sellers. What’s more, if demand is high, premiums can go up fast, making the purchase of physical silver bullion more expensive and a less attractive investment.
Silver bullion coins are not legal tender, meaning they can’t be used for every day purchases. Since the metal is usually used as an investment, this isn’t often an issue. However, it does mean that if silver needs to be sold in a hurry to cover expenses, investors will need to find a buyer. If you can’t access a bullion dealer and are in a jam, pawn shops and jewelers are an option, but they won’t necessarily pay well.
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
House GOP lawmakers are accusing Elon Musk of going ‘too far’ after he suggested President Donald Trump was ‘in the Epstein files.’
‘Hopefully we never have to answer questions about tweets like that from Elon again,’ said Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, calling Musk’s comments ‘not helpful.’
‘Elon crossed the line today,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital,
Musk referenced late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in relation to Trump Thursday as part of a larger tirade against the president and Republican leaders over their budget reconciliation bill.
The tech billionaire accused Republicans of adding to the national debt — currently nearing $37 trillion — with legislation they’ve called Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’
‘Time to drop the really big bomb. [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!’ Musk wrote on X. ‘Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.’
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said Musk had ‘gone too far.’
‘There’s just no need for this,’ Nehls said. ‘Those conversations should be taking place behind closed doors.’
Some Republicans argued that any damning information about Trump and Epstein would have already been revealed if it existed.
‘What I would say is, if Joe Biden had Donald Trump in the Epstein logs, there’s no question it would have come out during the campaign,’ Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. ‘So, I don’t know what’s prompting it. I think it’s all unfortunate.’
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., questioned why Musk would let his young son, nicknamed ‘X,’ around Trump if he believed he was closely associated with a pedophile.
‘The Biden administration would have put it out. There’s nobody that Democrats hate more than Donald J. Trump, and he’s handing them their lunch every day. So, I don’t put much faith into it,’ Burchett said.
‘Why would he let his kid hang out with the president if that was true? That just doesn’t make any sense. And now he’s calling for his impeachment. I mean, it’s just going off to the deep end.’
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who is leading a task force on declassifying federal investigations, including Epstein’s, told reporters she did not think Musk’s suggestion held water.
‘Speaking to Jeffrey Epstein, I will be very specific that I do believe that if President Trump was in the Epstein files, they would have released it during the primary, and they didn’t,’ Luna said.
‘So, the fact is, is that I do not believe that President Trump is in the Epstein files, the way that it’s being implied, but either which way, this is why we continue to push for transparency.’
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., however, stood apart in his answer in calling for more transparency into the Epstein files.
‘Facts will bear out whatever they will,’ Norman said. ‘The Epstein files are bound to come out, and let it come out. We ought to see it. America has a right to know, just like they do with the John F. Kennedy files, the Bobby Kennedy files.’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attributed Musk’s tirade to Trump’s bill, which is focused on working- and middle-class tax relief and not benefiting Musk and his companies enough.
‘This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,’ Leavitt said.
Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital, ‘I could not tell you what Elon Musk’s motivations are, but I can tell you what we’re going to do, which is avoid a $4 trillion tax increase on the American people.
And while it’s well-known the two men were acquainted, a source familiar with the matter pointed out that Trump had kicked Epstein out of his Palm Beach Golf Club.
Trump had permanently banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for hitting on a teenage daughter of a club member, according to a book, ‘The Grifter’s Club.’
‘The administration itself released Epstein files with the President’s name included. This is not a new surprise Elon is uncovering. Everyone already knew this,’ the source said. ‘If Elon truly thought the President was more deeply involved with Epstein, why did he hang out with him for six months and say he ‘loves him as much as a straight man can love a straight man?”
Fox News Digital has also reached out to Musk for comment via his office at Tesla.
Democrats are moving to embrace former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk as he publicly spats with President Donald Trump, despite many party voters and lawmakers railing against Musk for months as a ‘fascist’ or ‘dictator’ for taking a hatchet to the federal government’s overspending and fraud within the Trump administration.
‘If Biden had a big supporter criticize him, Trump would have hugged him the next day,’ Democrat California Rep. Ro Khanna posted to X on Thursday of Musk’s criticisms of the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ ‘When we refused to meet with @RobertKennedyJr, Trump embraced him & won. We can be the party of sanctimonious lectures, or the party of FDR that knows how to win & build a progressive majority.’
Khanna told Politico on Wednesday that Democrats should ‘ultimately be trying to convince [Musk] that the Democratic Party has more of the values that he agrees with.’
‘A commitment to science funding, a commitment to clean technology, a commitment to seeing international students like him,’ he added.
Democrat New York Rep. Ritchie Torres told the outlet on Wednesday, ‘I’m a believer in redemption, and he is telling the truth about the legislation.’
Torres said Musk has ‘done an enormous amount of damage’ and ‘there are Democrats who see his decimation of the federal workforce and the federal government as an unforgivable sin.’
‘Couldn’t agree with Elon more: kill the bill,’ Jon Favreau, who served as former director of speech writing for former President Barack Obama, posted to X in response to Musk calling on lawmakers to ‘kill’ the legislation.
Musk is in the midst of publicly trading barbs with Trump over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is sweeping legislation currently making its way through Congress and aims to fund the president’s agenda.
‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,’ Musk posted to X on Tuesday. ‘This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.’
In addition to Democrats who don’t support the bill, Musk has also found himself aligned with members of the House Freedom Caucus, which is considered the most conservative voting bloc within the lower chamber, as well as staunch fiscal conservatives in the Senate, such as Republicans Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Sen. Ron. Johnson, who have publicly rebuked the legislation.
Some Democrats posting messages favorable of Musk’s comments on the ‘big, beautiful bill’ come after many left-wing voters and lawmakers, as well as federal employees, slammed Musk for months as an unelected billionaire who was helping shape White House policy. Many also took issue with Musk on inauguration day for delivering what dozens of media outlets described as a ‘Nazi-style salute’ to Trump supporters.
‘If you’re cool and want to defend the ‘Sieg Heils’ and the Nazi salutes … whatever you want to do, that’s on you,’ Democrat New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Coretz said in January following the gesture. ‘I’m on the opposite side of that. I’m not with the Nazis.’
‘I never imagined we would see the day when what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute would be made behind the Presidential seal,’ New York Rep. Jerry Nadler tweeted in January. ‘This abhorrent gesture has no place in our society and belongs in the darkest chapters of human history. I urge all of my colleagues to unite in condemning this hateful gesture for what it is: antisemitism.’
‘He’s incompetent. He’s a thief. He’s a Nazi. And people don’t trust him,’ former Democrat New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman said of Musk in March.
‘He’s a Nazi nepo baby who breaks everything he touches,’ Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Ayanna Pressley said in February as Musk announced cuts to the federal government via DOGE. ‘And right now he’s locked himself in a room with grandpa’s Social Security check.’
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey referred to Musk as a ‘dictator’ at an anti-DOGE rally in February.
Fiscal conservatives in Congress have spoken out against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as one that will increase the U.S. debt ceiling by trillions, including Senate Republicans bucking support for the legislation after its passage in the House last month.
‘I want the tax cuts to be permanent. But at the same time, I don’t want to raise the debt ceiling $5 trillion,’ Paul told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday. ‘The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this.’
Trump has admonished the criticism from fiscally conservative Republicans, arguing that Paul, for example, was on the verge of siding with the ‘Radical Left Democrats’ and encouraging a 68% tax hike on Americans if he voted against the legislation.
Musk, since stepping down from his DOGE role in May after his 130 predetermined days as a special government employee ended, ramped up his criticism of the bill on Wednesday, including encouraging lawmakers to ‘kill the bill.’
On Thursday, Trump directly addressed Musk’s comments, saying in an Oval Office meeting with the chancellor of Germany that he was ‘disappointed’ by Musk’s attacks on the legislation and said he was unsure how their friendly relationship would fare through the criticisms. Trump added that Musk’s disapproval of the bill was allegedly tied to its cuts to electrical vehicle mandates. Musk is the CEO of electric vehicle company Tesla.
‘I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people. He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it,’ Trump said Thursday. ‘All of a sudden, he had a problem. And he only developed the problem when he found out that we’re going to have to cut the EV mandate.’
‘Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,’ Trump added.
The pair later launched attacks on one another on social media.
‘Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!’ Trump posted to X on Thursday.
‘Such an obvious lie. So sad,’ Musk responded on X.
Russian ballistic missiles and drones have been launched toward Ukraine from multiple directions, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram Friday.
Tkachenko accused Russia of hitting residential areas with the drone attack, saying a high-rise building the the Solomyansky district of Kyiv was damaged.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko also reported fires in the districts of Holosiivskyi and Darnytskyi of the Ukrainian capital.
Ukrainian air defense units have been activated in the Obolon area of Kyiv, Klitschko said on Telegram early Friday morning local time.
“The attack on the capital continues. Stay in shelters!” the mayor said.
The Russian missile attack on Ukraine comes days after Ukraine’s security service launched a series of daring, large-scale drone attacks deep inside Russia, striking airfields and hitting 41 Russian military aircraft.
On Tuesday, Ukraine also launched an attack on the Kerch Bridge, the only direct connection point between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, with 1,100 kilograms of explosives that had been planted underwater.
This is a developing story and will be updated.