NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (June 27)

Our top story tonight, the U.S. State Department revealing the details of an agreement brokering a new framework between Israel and Lebanon aimed at ending decades of conflict. We look at what the agreement calls for and the response from the Hezbollah terrorist group. Continuing in the Middle East, Iran launching new attacks, the latest developments in and around the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump calls communism the greatest threat facing the country. An award-winning journalist says Americans should be paying attention. At the World Cup, we're down to the final days of the group stage as teams compete for the last spots in the next round. NTV's Dave Martin joins us with all the latest. And the World Cup is also bringing fans together across New York City. We find out whether that energy translates into customers for small businesses. This is NTV Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Thank you for joining us tonight. I'm Arlene Richards. The State Department releasing the text of a U.S. brokered agreement. It outlines a path for Israel and Lebanon toward ending decades of conflict. The deal calls for the disarming of the Hezbollah terrorist group and a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. Under the plans signed yesterday, Lebanon's military would gradually take control of areas across the country and disarm Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups. As those actions are verified, Israeli troops would gradually withdraw from Lebanese territory. The agreement also calls for direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon to establish a lasting peace. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group, is rejecting the deal. In a televised address, the group's leader said Israel must completely withdraw from Lebanese territory and end all military operations. Tensions are climbing once again in the Middle East. Iran launching drone attacks against Bahrain today, while a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by a projectile. The vessel sustained damage to its bridge, but no injuries were reported. Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attack on the ship. These latest attacks come after Iran said it targeted U.S. positions in retaliation for American strikes yesterday. Those strikes were launched after Iran attacked a cargo ship earlier this week. President Trump accusing Iran yesterday of violating the ceasefire, calling the country's actions foolish. The threat level in the Strait of Hormuz has now been raised to substantial. That's according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, which is overseen by the U.S. Navy. From Supreme Court victories on immigration to tensions with Iran and NATO, plus the kickoff to America's 250th birthday celebration, NTD's Daniel Monahan has your White House Week in review. The Supreme Court hands President Trump two major immigration victories, including a ruling that allows the administration to turn back migrants before they enter the United States, preventing them from applying for asylum. The court also allowing the administration to move forward with ending temporary protections for some Haitian and Syrian migrants. The Biden administration flew over vast numbers, it's hard to know the exact number, but they're probably more than a million illegal immigrants from Haiti. That's not Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting with foreign ministers from the Six Nation Gulf Cooperation Council. Rubio downplaying Iran's hardliners making threats, for example, about the Strait of Hormuz. If on the other hand, this rhetoric is backed up by actual ships being threatened and ships are not moving, that's a violation of the agreement and we're going to have a problem with it. NATO Chief Mark Rutte in Washington this week meeting with President Trump ahead of a July NATO summit. I really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran. Tensions between NATO and the U.S. have been high after some members refused the U.S. use of their bases during the Iran conflict. We were disappointed with the U.K., we were disappointed with Germany and France, we're disappointed with most of Spain is a horror show. Spain is terrible. Two powerful earthquakes in Venezuela devastate areas in and around the capital city, Caracas, the U.S. sending help. That's the most immediate need right now is search and rescue efforts. They have a bunch of collapsed buildings. President Trump orders an investigation into oil companies over gas prices. We should be, in my opinion, at $2.25 right now at the pump and we're higher than that. The Department of Justice announcing a $6.5 billion healthcare fraud crackdown with over 450 people charged. Our precious taxpayer dollars that are supposed to service our seniors and our kids were being stolen outright by individuals who thought they could get away with it. And President Trump kicks off celebrations for the 250th anniversary of American independence headlining the opening of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall. In 1776, our founding fathers met in Philadelphia and changed the world forever and ever with a thing called the Declaration of Independence. The 16-day fair runs from June 25th to July 10th and will showcase exhibits from all U.S. states and territories. On the political front, all three candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani won their House primary races, boosting progressive and democratic socialist candidates. Well, they're going radical left. They're going, really, you know, you talk about the democrat socialists you took. Really, it's really communist. And President Trump hosted dinner for a group of farmers in the White House Rose Garden after signing an agriculture-related executive order to accelerate agricultural innovation. So tonight we have a very special group of people. It's called farmers and ranchers and people that I love. I love you all. And after initially passing a symbolic resolution limiting President Trump's authority in Iran, senators voted against a similar measure after meeting with the president. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News. Breaking now, U.S. Central Command says American forces carried out additional strikes against multiple targets in Iran today at the direction of President Trump. CENTCOM says the strikes came after Iran launched a drone attack that hit a commercial tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, despite being given an opportunity to honor the ceasefire agreement. The U.S. military struck a range of Iranian military sites and capabilities. CENTCOM says commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continues. And President Trump is nominating a new leader for immigration and customs enforcement in a true social post today, the president announcing Lance Schreuer as his pick. Schreuer is a former Oklahoma state trooper and U.S. Marine with nearly three decades of law enforcement experience. President Trump saying he'll help carry out the administration's push to increase deportations of illegal immigrants with criminal records. President Trump also calling on the Senate to confirm Schreuer immediately. Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen saying in a statement that he's confident in Schreuer's leadership, adding that President Trump made a great pick. House Republicans say Democrats are headed for an internal battle after Democratic Socialist candidates scored high profile primary wins this week. Now a group of moderate Democrats is publicly pushing back, saying the party needs to promote a centrist message. And today's Chris Bobb has more. We have better candidates than the Democrats do. They are in on the verge of an open civil war because the establishment Democrats are being pushed out by the Marxist. They're having a lot of disarray on their side, and that will play to our advantage in the midterms. House Republicans are seizing on this week's Democratic primaries, arguing victories by Democrat Socialist backed candidates in New York reveal a party moving further left. But the backlash isn't just coming from Republicans. Thirteen Democratic House members and candidates are now backing a new Promise to America initiative, pledging support for capitalism, fiscal discipline, border security, and what they call mainstream democratic values. New York Congressman Tom Suozzi, one of the effort's leaders, posted on X, quote, We disagree with MAGA. We disagree with socialism. We believe the vast majority of Americans want common sense, mainstream leadership, not political extremism. Suozzi telling Fox News. You know, there's certain things that I believe in that are not being reflected in the current environment, especially with some of these races on Tuesday. And as we said in our pledge, you know, we're for capitalism, not socialism. We're for safety, not lawlessness. We're proud of America, not ashamed of America. And we need to be promoting those things. The effort comes as Democrats continue debating the party's direction following last year's election losses and this week's primary results. Michigan Senator Alyssa Slotkin appearing on Stephen A. Smith's radio show, Straight Shooter, said voters are demanding change, but argued that doesn't necessarily mean embracing the party's left wing. Democrats got shellacked in 2024. The Democrats had a million priorities. They tried to make everybody happy. When you prioritize nothing, no one knows what you stand for. I'm very different than the folks who got elected last night in New York City. What works in Manhattan doesn't always work in a place like Michigan. The new centrist coalition says its goal is to offer an alternative to democratic socialism as Democrats debate what message gives them the best chance of winning back voters in the midterm elections. Chris Bobb, NTD News. Coming up, President Trump sounds the alarm on communism amid a rise in democratic socialist candidates. And today's interview with Alex Newman breaks it down. Summer should be full of moments like these. But when school doors close, millions of kids lose more than access to the meals they counted on. They lose energy and confidence. Usually in the summer times, it's a challenge. They're home all day, so we need more food in the house, more snacks in the house, more than normally when they're in school. Sometimes I just wonder like, man, are we going to make it through this week? Families across America and right where you live are facing a summer hunger crisis, stretching every dollar in meal. But costs keep climbing. Call or go online now to helpfeedingamerica.org and give $19 a month, just 63 cents a day, to put healthy meals within reach for local families. And your first gift can double in impact. Having access to a good meal during the summer gives me more energy. Feeding America is the only nationwide network with over 250 local food banks, food pantries, and meal programs delivering food where kids already gather. But we can't be there without neighbors like you. It's like a weight off my shoulders. Without them, my kids wouldn't be fed. Your gift today will provide more than food. You'll help fuel growth and potential because summer should help kids move forward, not hold them back. Your body gets tired and you need the proper stuff to help you get through that. Please call or go online now. Give $19 a month and your first gift can double in impact. We'll send you this free canvas bag as a reminder of the food and hope you're delivering. Them having good meals that are nutritious to help them to concentrate gives me hope for them to have a good job. It feels really good knowing that my kids have the food that they need. It really puts me at ease and it helps out. Give now to help local families put food on the table and nourish a stronger future. Call or go online to helpfeedingamerica.org and your first gift can double in impact. Introducing the Crestwise Soothing Herbal Eye Patches. It comes with 30 pairs and can be used to help combat tired and strained eyes. The natural herbal formula provides a cooling minty and refreshing effect that stimulates natural tears and awakens your tired eyes. Placing the eye patches around your eyes helps to reduce dryness and massages acupuncture points. They can be worn while reading, studying, using electronics and provide hours of long-lasting relief. 250 years of freedom will be brought to life in our nation's capital with musical performances, tributes to American heroes, and a massive fireworks show you don't want to miss. Join NTD this Independence Day for our coverage of Freedom 250's Salute to America to celebrate America 250. July 4th at 7 p.m. Eastern on NTD News. President Trump on Friday condemning communism in response to the election wins of Democratic Socialist candidates in New York's congressional primaries. In an interview with NTD's Carrie Dunst, award-winning journalist and author Alex Newman unpacked the president's message. I'd like to play a clip from President Trump's speech today and get your reaction. Communism is very easy to sell. It destroys everything, but it's very easy. I'd be, I'll be honest, I think I'd be the greatest communist in history. I'd give free rent. Ladies and gentlemen, from now on, you don't have to pay any rent. From now on, anybody wants a house, don't worry about it. Just pick the house you want. Everybody gets free food. Everything is free from this point forward. Everyone's going to vote for me. The problem is after two or three years, the country is a disaster area. It's a lighthearted moment in response to something that is somewhat dangerous. So I'd love to get your reaction to the president's putting that into context. Yeah, I mean, despite the humor, these are some of the most serious and forceful remarks we've had about communism from the president. And he's absolutely right. I mean, the communist party selling material has always basically been we're going to give you free stuff. You can take stuff from your neighbor. And so I think what Trump is doing here is he's trying to sound the alarm about a very real issue, which is the infiltration of communism within the Democratic Party. It's nice that he's trying to do it with a little bit of humor. But I think the seriousness of what he's saying needs to be taken seriously by the American people and certainly by rank and file Democrats, who a lot of them don't even recognize their party anymore. Now, Alex, according to a Gallup poll, about 40 percent of Americans have a positive view of socialism. I want to explore with you why that is. And if you could remind our audience, what is the relationship between the socialism that people might think of from the Nordics and communism? Well, what they have in Scandinavia and I used to live in Scandinavia is really much closer to free markets than it is to communism. I think it's very inaccurate to call the Scandinavian welfare model socialism. In some ways, the Scandinavian countries actually have more freedom in terms of the economy than the United States does. And that's even on the Index of Economic Freedom from the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. So the idea that Scandinavia is practicing socialism is not true. They did move in that direction and it was such a disaster. They very quickly reversed course by the time the 1990s started coming around. And those reforms have been very, very helpful for them. In fact, they became prosperous as a result of markets and free market economics. Socialism is really just an interim step on the road to alleged utopia that communism is supposed to bring. It is really the government ownership, what they call the collective ownership of the means of production. And so socialism is really just a step toward communism. And when you talk about Democratic Socialists of America, they are socialists. Yes, they may like to use democracy. They may like to use the electoral process to bring that about. But it's ultimately all leading to the same destination. And I think the reason we have more and more Americans moving in that direction, and this is especially true among young people, is because this is what they're learning in the school system. This is what's being pumped out through the entertainment system. And they don't even hide it. The Democratic Socialists a few years ago talked about how Democratic Socialists should become teachers so they can indoctrinate the next generation. If you look at the people who built this system, I've covered this very extensively. These are people who really did share the collectivist worldview, the idea that socialism was superior to freedom. So very, very dangerous. And this is a threat that, as the president pointed out, we need to be taken very seriously. And earlier this morning on Truth Social, the president said, the communists are finally making their move. I've been waiting and preparing for this for a long time. And then he goes on to say, the game is on. Enjoy watching President Donald J. Trump. So it sounds like the president has a plan. What do you expect from him? Well, the president has been aware of this for a long time. If you go back to 2017, when he first took office, Rich Higgins on the National Security Council wrote an extraordinary memo where he talked about an alliance between communists, Islamists, globalists, jihadists, working to destroy the United States of America, not just as a nation, but even as an ideal. And so this has been on Trump's radar for a long time. Of course, he's following what's going on in Cuba. He's seen what's going on in Venezuela. And he recognizes that this is actually a national security threat to the United States when you talk about the subversion, when you talk about the sleeper cells that we have across this country. And so I expect that the president and his team have been taking this threat very seriously, where crimes have been committed. And certainly, there have been many crimes committed to get us this far. I hope we'll see prosecutions from the Department of Justice. But this is a major threat, and it's not going to be fixed, I don't think, with any simple policies. This is a long-term issue. The other side has been playing the long game, and I expect that the president and his administration understand that. When you speak of subversion and crimes that have been committed, can you give a few examples? Well, many have been busted and publicly thrown in prison for this. One of the really obvious ones that comes to my mind is Alger Hiss. This is a guy who was a senior official at the U.S. State Department. He actually was one of the leading figures in the creation of the United Nations, supposedly representing the United States of America. He was the chairman of the conference that wrote the U.N. Charter. Later, he became the first secretary general of the United Nations. And then he was prosecuted and thrown into federal prison because he was working as an agent of Joseph Stalin. Of course, he was far from alone. You had many others, like Harry Dexter White at the Treasury Department, who was involved in this, and many, many others. The Venona documents that the NSA intercepted once they were decrypted revealed hundreds of Soviet agents and communist agents at every level of government. And so we've had this espionage problem for a long time. We've had agents of influence operating in this country without registering on behalf of foreign power for many, many years. So these are all very serious crimes that have been committed against the United States. And then I want to move to the Democrat Party. 13 Democrats have come forward and launched a pro-capitalism initiative called Promise to America. Their intent is to fight the socialist leanings within their own party. Let's listen to Congressman Mike Suozzi on Fox earlier today. You know, there are certain things that I believe in that are not being reflected in the current environment, especially with some of these races on Tuesday. And as we said in our pledge, you know, we're for capitalism, not socialism. We're for safety, not lawlessness. We're proud of America, not ashamed of America. Your thoughts to what's happening inside of the Democratic Party? Yeah, and he's one of many who have spoken out. Senator Federman recently was talking about some of the communist crazies, as he called them, who've infiltrated the party as well. So this is a struggle that's going to be going on for a long time. We've seen similar struggles. There was an effort to purge all of the pro-life Democrats some years ago, the so-called blue dog Democrats. And the pro-life Democrats ended up on the losing side of that battle. They have essentially been purged from the party. The platform now fully embraces abortion. I expect we might see something very similar here with the push to stop socialism within the party. There are a lot of socialist forces within the Democrat Party, even some that don't openly identify that way. But if you look at who are the most popular with the grassroots in some of the Democratic Party primaries, you've got people like Mamdani. You've got people like Bernie Sanders. You have people who openly identify as socialists. So this is a battle that's going to go on for some time. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. But I don't think that it's by any means guaranteed that the pro-market, pro-freedom forces are going to end up triumphant. And finally, as we start to finish up, our nation's 250th anniversary, of course, is next week. We've come so far as a country and we have a long history of countering the spread of communism globally. So how important do you think it is at this moment to reflect on this issue? It's one of the most important issues that we could be reflecting on. The United States has an incredible tradition of liberty, an incredible tradition of constitutional Republican government. We've embraced the concept of God-given rights, which is, of course, completely antithetical to the socialist worldview. But as the president pointed out in those remarks, this is an existential threat to the foundations of the United States. So I think on this 250th birthday of the United States and our independence, we ought to all be reflecting on the various threats to that independence, the blessings that have come from that independence. And that should motivate us to redouble our efforts to preserve freedom, to push back tyrannical ideologies, socialism, communism, Islamism, whatever the case may be, and really stand up for the incredible heritage of liberty that we've had in this country. Well, Alex Newman, thank you so much for joining us this evening. Thanks for having me. America's 250th anniversary is almost here. A historic marker in our nation's storied history, NTD will bring you special coverage of the Freedom 250 salute to America celebration taking place in the nation's capital this 4th of July. It'll be packed with tributes to the country, the people, and the trailblazers who helped define our national identity, bringing America's legacy to life on stage, plus a firework show that Freedom 250 says will be the biggest in history. Our coverage starts at 7 p.m. Eastern. We'll see you then. And coming up at the World Cup, we're down to the final day of the group stage as teams compete for the last spots in the next round. And Denise Dave Martin joins us with all the latest. And also in the World Cup, fans are filling the streets of New York City, but are local businesses seeing the payoff? You've done the hard part. You quit smoking. Now do the easy part and get scanned for lung cancer. If you smoked, you may still be at risk, but early detection could save your life. Talk to your doctor and learn more at SavedByTheScan.org. My mom and dad were traditional Asian parents. Now my father would go to work before I woke up in the morning, and then he would come home too tired to play with me. I tell my son, I love you every single day. Now my dad has never said that to me, not because he doesn't love me, but because culturally it wasn't comfortable for him. So I teased him the other day and I said, how come you never say that to me? And he said, you're too old now. Now that he's a grandfather, he says I love you to my son every time he sees him. My advice to all the fathers out there, forget the material things, forget the cultural restrictions. They grow up way too fast for you to waste even a single precious minute or moment. And now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, good to see you as always. Good to see you Arlene. How are things so far today? You know, I can't complain. You know, I really like this weather outside. It's not too bad today. That rain we had this morning kind of cooled things down right now. It's not too bad in the studio. Sometimes the studio kind of heats up, you know, when it's warm out. I think we got a little fan on me or something here though. So I feel pretty good right now. Thank you. So let's get on to the sports news, which is what you're here for. So we're going to start with the World Cup because that's the most exciting sports going on right now. It's the final day of the group stage round. Where do things stand? Yeah, we've got six games going on today, including two right now in Group L. That's Croatia versus Ghana. Croatia leads that one, one nothing in the second half. And then we also have England and Panama that game tied at zero in the second half. Now, Panama has already been eliminated, but England and Ghana can advance the next round of the win. Croatia as well, but they might need a little bit of help there. Then tonight at 7.30, we've got the four teams in Group K will face off at the same time. That'll be Congo versus Uzbekistan. That'll be played down in Atlanta. And then we've got a bigger one, Portugal versus Colombia. That's going to be played down in Miami. Now, the Portugal-Colombia match should be a good one. Colombia first right now in the group with six points, Portugal right behind with four. So Portugal needs to win this game to win the group. If they lose their tie, Colombia gets first place. So we'll see what Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal can pull off. Then at 10 PM, we got two more games here. We've got the final group stage matches. Algeria faces Austria and Jordan faces Lionel Messi and Argentina. But for those tuning in, hoping to see Messi, he is not scheduled to start this game anyway. Maybe he comes in reserve. We'll have to actually see. That's probably because Argentina, they've already qualified for the next round. They're scheduled to play Cape Verde next Friday in demand in Miami, no matter how this game goes. Messi, meanwhile, leads everyone with five goals thus far. He has obviously looked very good in his first two games. Yes, he is. And how is the U.S. doing? They don't have a game tonight, do they? The U.S. does not have a game tonight. The U.S. is going to play next Wednesday. They made it to the next round. They won their first two matches. So they kind of rested everybody for that match Thursday night, although they did get Christian Pulisic back. So he played the final 30 minutes of the game. So he played one third of the game. I got to say, he looked very good. The team didn't didn't quite look the same. I think nine of their 11 starters were different. So I think since they had already clinched their spot in the next round, too, they're going to play Thursday night against Bosnia Herzegovina. Hopefully I get that name. Bosnia and something. I wouldn't know. I've messed up that name so many times over the past week. They're going to play Wednesday night. That's it. I'm sorry. Wednesday night against them. So we'll have to see this. They looked very good. This is the first time they've won back-to-back games at the World Cup in 96 years. So and they did it. They did it mostly without their best player. Right. So it looks like he's 100 percent and he's back. Of course, the competition gets stiffer. Once you get into this knockout stage, it gets stiffer. I think they're still I think they're still expected to win this game. So we'll see. They're looking good, though. I'll say, OK, well, I'm looking forward to that one. Now let's shift gears to tennis. We've got Wimbledon beginning on Monday. Who are the title contenders? Well, for the men, it's mainly number one ranked Yannick Sinner. But you also have reigning French Open champion, champion number three, number three, ranked Alexander Zverev. And of course, you still have 39 year old Novak Djokovic, who has now dropped actually to eighth in the rankings after his early exit at the French Open. Sinner, though, the main favorite now. Zverev's French Open title that stopped a streak of nine straight Grand Slams that was won either by Sinner or second ranked Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner, though, lost in the second round. He was clearly not himself in that match. Meanwhile, Alcaraz, he missed the whole thing with a wrist injury and he's out for Wimbledon as well with the same issue. Sinner, though, is a reigning Wimbledon champion. Djokovic has won this event seven times. Now at age 39, though, he would be the oldest ever to win a Grand Slam if he somehow pulled this off. I think there's still a slight opening, though, with Alcaraz out. Alcaraz did beat him in the finals here at Wimbledon three years ago. Now for the women's side, third ranked Iga Sviatek is the defending champion. So she's going to be certainly one of the favorites. Meanwhile, number one ranked Irina Sabalenka. She's got four Grand Slam titles. She's never won Wimbledon. The further she's gotten here is the semi-finals, though she's done three times. Now, of course, we also have 44-year-old Serena Williams. Now she's won this event seven times, right? None since 2016. She just made her big comeback this month after almost four years in retirement. She's played, what, two doubles matches so far. So her first singles match is going to be on Tuesday. She's going to play 53rd ranked Maya Joint. So I think we're all wondering what she has. She looked good in the doubles matches. Of course, you don't know how that's going to translate to a singles match. Obviously not playing that competition for four years. Who knows? But she didn't exactly, you know, the last time she played singles was 2022 U.S. Open. She lost in the first round there, but she still had the power then. She looks like she slimmed down a little bit, too. Well, we'll see. We'll see. It'll be interesting. All right, so we're going to look at baseball now. We've got Milwaukee all-star pitcher Jacob Mizorowski noted for his high velocity pitches. Nearly made history last night with his fastball. Yeah, his third pitch of the game against the Cubs was clocked at 105.5 miles per hour. That is tied for the third fastest pitcher in recorded history. Yeah, wow. Only Aroldis Chapton, who's known for throwing hard, of course, hasn't thrown a pitch harder. I think he threw nearly 106 a couple of times. Now, it should be noted that the pitch tracking era didn't begin until 2008. Before they had the radar guns, but I guess it wasn't official until 2008. In any case, for Mizorowski, it was part of really another dominant game. Six innings, struck out eight, allowed just two hits and one run. He's now nine and three, leads the league in earned run average as well as strikeouts, placing second and wins above a placement for pitchers. Those are really the main statistics you look at for pitchers. He's probably the early favorite for the National Cy Young Award. It's a very competitive race. You've got Christopher Sanchez of the Phillies, Paul Skeens of Pittsburgh. Skeens is a reigning Cy Young champ, and even the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani. This is about the only award Shohei Ohtani has not won, but he's got his work cut out for him if he's going to do it because these four pitchers I've had really good first half of the season. We're only halfway through the baseball season. He's got a little work to make up if he's going to do this, but it's quite a competitive race for the National Cy Young Award. I know he's going to try hard to win that one, but we're going to stay with baseball. We've got the league has proposed setting limits on free agents contracts to just five years. I guess that's unusual. That's in addition to a salary cap proposal as well. So when would these changes possibly take place? Well, not until after the season and not until everything is negotiated, of course, with the players' union. So essentially, these are the owners' proposals, almost dreams, you could say, maybe. The collective bargaining agreement between the owners and the players expires this offseason, so the negotiating has already begun. From my perspective, the owners, I mean, they're doing this wisely. This is a wise negotiation. They're really asking for the moon during these negotiations, assuming they're going to have to settle for some middle ground here. Now, the players' union, they have long opposed a salary cap, so maybe a contract length on these free agent contracts seems a little more agreeable to them. We'll have to see. Back in 1994, though, it was really the last time the owners proposed a salary cap. The players' union eventually responded with a strike that canceled the World Series, the first and only time that's ever happened. So I don't think either side wants that this time around. I mean, attendance went down after that. There was a lot of bad blood from the fans, you could say, about that. So I don't think either side wants that. The owners, though, clearly want a better deal. I mean, the NBA, you've got limits on the length of contracts there. NFL, you've got a very hard salary cap, so maybe this is something that the baseball owners want to do. We'll definitely be following this one closely. Yeah, I mean, it's not just a game, right? It's a business, and it's your job. It is more than a game, for sure. There's billions of dollars at stake, right? All right. Well, thank you so much for the update, Dave. Thank you, Arlene. All right. The 2026 FIFA World Cup has officially become the most attended tournament in history, drawing more than 3.6 million fans and counting. New York City hopes to spread the World Cup's economic impact beyond the stadium, and Denise Nicobani looks at whether local businesses are seeing a payoff. Hosting the FIFA World Cup comes with an estimated $500 million price tag for the New York, New Jersey region. Officials hope part of that investment pays off by bringing more customers to neighborhood businesses, encouraging them to host promotions and World Cup events. Nuovo York Pizza says it's seen customer traffic jump about 20 to 25 percent since the tournament kicked off. We see a lot of tourists, a lot of traffic. As you see that, like, if you have put the TVs on the store, so people coming inside. Klong Restaurant is also gearing up for the tournament, hoping a few changes will bring in more business. Usually, we don't have TVs, but the World Cup makers are getting one right now. To help bring games closer to home and spread spending beyond the stadiums, New York City is rolling out free neighborhood watch parties called Soccer Street, where fans can catch performances, games, and activities. I'm here in Brooklyn, New York City, the first location for Soccer Street in New York City, and while the fans here are coming for the matches and the performances, local businesses around are hoping their score comes from the extra customers. We're seeing that a lot of people are coming together, so when they come in, they also want to spend some dollars in Hooked Fish Market says business is up 150 percent since the World Cup began, fueled by locals celebrating at home. Now it's hoping the city's free watch parties add even more customers. I hope that we get swamped. With more Soccer Streets and World Cup matches still ahead, many business owners say they're waiting to see whether the tournament's biggest economic boost is yet to come. Nikubani, NTD News, New York. There are an estimated 140,000 chemical signals in the food we eat. Most of us have never heard of them, but a growing body of research suggests they may be among the most powerful influences on how our brains age. In this preview of Vital Signs, internal medicine physician and researcher Dr. Austin Perlmutter explains what this calls the dark matter of nutrition. I know that diet is a particular focus of yours in terms of nutrition, in terms of brain health. What would you point to as far as to encapsulate or really represent the relationship between nutrition and brain health in influencing someone across the lifespan? For sure. So let's just kind of put this in the context of what's conventionally taught about nutrition and brain health and then a little bit more detail into what subspecialists might do. So for me as an internal medicine doctor, what I learned about diet and brain health would be primarily involved in conditions of deficiency. So for example, if a person is deficient in vitamin B1, which is thiamine, they can develop a condition called beriberi, which is associated with brain issues. If they're deficient in vitamin B12, that might predispose them to various neurological symptoms. And so we think about, of course, you want to make sure a person is not deficient in various nutrients. For example, in alcoholism, there tends to be deficiency in various nutrients that is associated with worse brain function. We also think about, beyond deficiency, ensuring that a person has adequate energy levels to make sure their brain is functional. So in the hospital, you want to make sure a person's blood sugar is at the right level so they don't get hypo or hyperglycemic. We know that a person's blood sugar, if it's very high or very low, that is associated with various brain issues. But that's just the tip of the iceberg that has nothing to do with optimizing brain health. And if you look at conditions like stroke, what we see is that a study that just came out correlated consuming a Mediterranean diet with an 18% lower risk of stroke. There's data suggesting that a variant of the Mediterranean diet called the MIND diet is associated with an up to 53% lower rate of developing Alzheimer's disease. There's data suggesting that consuming more of a Mediterranean pattern diet may be associated with better mood. And these data, these nutritional studies, both interventional and epidemiological, suggest that the quality of what we consume has a direct role to play on our brain state. There are lots of pathways we could talk about here. Structural, that the food becomes the building blocks of our brain. Functional, that food influences things like neurotransmitters and inflammation and neuroplasticity. But when we're talking about how big of an effect food has on our brain health, there is a massive gap between looking at various disease processes in a hospital type setting and what is conventionally known about, well, we want to make sure that at least we're eating a basically healthy diet for brain health. And what the data are telling us right now in terms of here's what an optimal nutritional status looks like in order to not just decrease our risk of developing brain diseases, but improve brain health on a given day. So we can think clear, so we can feel better, so we can interact with the world in a more positive way. And I think there's been increasing focus on things like, well, the macronutrients, how fats, carbohydrates, proteins affect health and in some ways affect the brain. I guess more in terms of weight loss, there's been a lot of focus on calories, calories in, calories out. And now I guess a switch away from that, there is more to just the calorie than the calorie itself. Different calories will have different effects. What could be missing from this puzzle? Let's just take a step back here and consider how we as humans have looked at food from a medical perspective for the last little bit. And I mean, beyond even a medical perspective, when we look at food in the last couple of centuries, especially the last century, we have systematically gone through and assumed that we as humans know what is in food and that we can somehow therefore fix this issue of making sure everyone gets the right nutrition. And so, we've only known about vitamins for about a hundred or so years. These are not necessarily well-established themes. Certainly, we knew about various deficiencies, but to really add in the understanding of vitamins and minerals, that's relatively recent. But if you look at how that's influenced how we look at food, how we recommend things around food, sure, we start with calories. You need to have enough calories to survive. Unless you're on a prolonged fast, you want to be consuming enough calories to keep you alive. Fine. But then you would say, well, if a person's healthy, they're eating enough calories. If they're unhealthy, they're eating too little or too much. Obviously, that's a gross oversimplification of what's actually in food. Then you layer in the macronutrients. And I think for many people, that's still where we get stuck. So, there's fats, there's carbs, and there's protein. Every few years, we cycle through the macronutrients. So, it's you really want to be low-fat or you want to be low-carb, or at least at this moment in time, it's you want to eat tons of protein as though it's as straightforward as simply saying, if you could change the scales of these three macronutrients, everyone's going to be healthy. And obviously, it's more complicated than that. And then the one layer additional to this that many people have been focused on, I wouldn't say many, but more and more people have been focused on, are the micronutrients. So, vitamins and minerals. Are you getting enough magnesium? Are you getting enough of your B vitamins? And sure, that matters too. But the problem is that's usually where we draw the line and say, now we understand what's in food. And if you were to take a vegetable out of the garden and analyze that vegetable, you wouldn't find that that vegetable is simply a couple of carbs and a couple of vitamins and minerals. It is actually a composite of thousands and thousands of different molecules that are found in nature. Not all of these are even just plant molecules. It's also the microbes that live on those plants. It could also be things like microplastics and pesticides that are on the food. Food is a much bigger universe of data in every bite that we take. And so, to just go back here for a second, the problem that happens when we assume as humans that now we understand nutrition is that we wind up losing a lot of the important data that is found in this massive range of various chemicals found in our food. And also, it leads us to adding things in that may be problematic. And that's really what we saw in the United States in this kind of post-World War II setup, where we were optimizing towards cheap calories. And we figured, well, we can just enrich or add back in a couple of vitamins and minerals, and that food will then be healthy. To see that full interview and others on how to optimize health, go to ept.ms forward slash Vital Signs. Vital Signs offers general health information not intended as medical diagnosis or advice. Please consult your doctor before undertaking a new health regimen. Coming up, the Viking spirit has arrived at the World Cup. We explore the history behind Norway's famous warriors. And America's 250th anniversary celebrations are underway in the nation's capital. We hear from the people experiencing it firsthand. Is deep sea fish oil really healthy? Due to pollution in the oceans, most fish contain heavy metal elements and radioactive substances. That's why it's so important to choose a pure source of omega-3. Puritan green vegetable omega-3 is made from purslane and perilla seeds, which are rich in nutrients and minerals. It effectively improves brain power and is beneficial to the heart's health. Puritan green vegetable omega-3. Eat two a day and you'll feel brand new. There's cultures that have been lost, but this culture hasn't been. The artist is showing us our sense of who we are, where we came from. You look at his hat. His hat is knitted probably by a man because a man traditionally knitted the hats. That hat tells you the story of who this person is, what his place in the culture is, the animals around him. Everything's all contained in the messages in the hat and the tool that he's carrying over his shoulder. This is a centuries-old tool that has been able to rework the mountains. Those traditions are invaluable and if we don't honor those traditions then we're ruthless. The artist is showing us the value of maintaining our culture and respecting our culture. If you need to do something to feel okay to drive, you're not okay to drive. Don't drive buzzed. 250 years of freedom will be brought to life in our nation's capital with musical performances, tributes to American heroes, and a massive fireworks show you don't want to miss. Join NTD this Independence Day for our coverage of Freedom 250's Salute to America to celebrate America 250. July 4th at 7 p.m eastern on NTD News. Norwegian soccer fans are celebrating their Viking heritage during this summer's World Cup. While rowing and horned helmets are often associated with the Norse warriors, experts say their actual history looks a little different. A crowd of fans donning red jerseys and horned helmets row in unison in New York City's Times Square. Norway is showing off its Viking history as its men's soccer team competes in its first World Cup in 28 years. But Viking expert Peter Pence says fans are getting more creative than historical. The short answer is they didn't have horned helmets at all. We do not actually know to what extent they actually used helmets. We only got one single helmet from Viking Scandinavia. Heide Norgaard is an expert in ancient metal at Denmark's Moesgaard Museum. She says they were probably used during ritual ceremony rather than combat. None of them were ever horned helmets, and that's logical because they were real warriors, and having a horned helmet on is not really helping you to protect your body. I mean it's more the opposite. Horned helmets have been discovered in Denmark, but they predate the Viking age by quite some time. These horned helmets existed, and they existed as a ritual aspect 2,000 or 1,000 years before Christ. That means 2,000 years before the Vikings. While Norwegian fans may be having a bit of fun with the helmets, Pence says the rowing is a lot closer to the Vikings' true history. Viking culture was basically a maritime culture, and rowing is very important. It's not only individual rowing, but rowing together. As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, the Great American State Fair in D.C. is attracting tourists from all across the country. The event features exhibits from dozens of states and territories, showcasing the best of what America has to offer. And Denise Sam Wong was out on the fairgrounds to hear from the people. How does it feel to be celebrating America's 250th birthday here in D.C. at the Great American State Fair? It's amazing. It's honestly the reason why I came here this summer was that I wanted to be in the room where all of this is being celebrated after 250 amazing years of American history. It was just pretty cool to be able to say that we got to come during the 250th anniversary, getting to visit all the places and learn all about our history, and it's just really cool. We're very, very proud. We came up from Florida to see it, my brother and I, to enjoy it, and we're just celebrating our country. It's heartwarming to see Americans come together and not fighting. Everybody's polite. Everybody's helpful. It's wonderful. We traveled up from Florida to come here and seeing the states represented. We heard some cowboys from the western United States out there talking about the cattle industry, great entertainment. Just makes you feel proud to be an American. How does it feel to be out here being part of the Great American State Fair? It's great. Representing the state of Utah is wonderful, just letting visitors know all the great offerings that we have here in Utah and encouraging people to come out and visit us. Where are we right now, Grand Ole Opry? We are standing on the Grand Ole Opry stage, so this is an awesome opportunity for people to get their picture taken with a great backdrop that we've got, and you can see these curtains kind of go together and then come across with different videos so that people can get their picture taken with Elvis and Dolly Parton, and then also our governor has a video as well. Look at that Gibson gold top right there. So, Gibson guitars are made in Tennessee, and so this is just one that we wanted to showcase to all of our music fans and kind of an honor to all of the music legends that we have here in Tennessee. Reflecting upon the past 250 years, how proud are you being an American today? I am very proud being an American and not somewhere in Europe. It feels amazing. We're actually free. That's why we have Trump as our president, because he is the best. America is a very good country. It's the only country that can have freedom. I mean, everybody, well, some people don't like it, some people do. Some people are just jealous. We have God on our side. We're actually direct descendants of the Mayflower. We're William Bradford, so my parents were very proud of their ancestry. My grandmother, our families came from somewhere, so we're all immigrants, and we are so proud to be here. What does it mean to be an American? I think it means freedom. That's what we're founded on, have the economic opportunity to progress from nothing into everything, and really, we found it in that community of American exceptionalism. And that's the news for this evening. Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you right back here next Saturday evening. Good night.