Rising HOA Fees Are Making It Even More Expensive to Own a Home

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In 2024, a truck crashed into Kanawh Animal Rescue, where I work. 146 of our dogs needed homes fast. We asked for help on Facebook. Our stories spread through WhatsApp messages and Instagram reposts. Immediately, people stepped up. And just six hours later, every dog was fostered. I'll never forget how our community showed up for us.

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Learn how over 3.5 billion people connect to what matters with META at meta.com/community.

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Israel says it's ready to negotiate with Lebanon, while the ceasefire brought relative calm to the Persian Gulf. Plus, soaring HOA and condo fees are making it even more expensive to afford a home.

Nicole Friedman (0:45)

If these monthly fees are in the hundreds of dollars a month or even higher, that can really make the difference between a condo being affordable versus, you know, out of reach.

Imani Moise (0:56)

And British officials say their navy foiled a secret Russian underwater operation in the North Atlantic. It's Thursday, April 9th. I'm Imani Moise for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Ossola. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Israel says it will begin peace talks with Lebanon, while continuing military operations against Hezbollah there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the ceasefire doesn't cover the Hezbollah conflict. Iran insists that it does and that fighting must stop. Several European nations and Pakistan, the host of talks this weekend between the US and Iran, said Israel's attacks have undermined peace efforts. In the Persian Gulf today, there was relative calm. Several countries made no reports of a missile or drone strike by Iran, but shipping was limited in the Strait of Hormuz, with only a few ships carrying Iranian cargo crossing the waterway. And the head of the IMF said today that even if the ceasefire holds, the damage to the economy has been done. Global growth will be slower than previously thought because of the destroyed infrastructure and supply disruptions, as well as, quote, losses of confidence. News that Israel would pursue peace talks with Lebanon lifted US stocks. The NASDAQ led the gains, closing up 0.8 percent. The S&P and the Dow both rose by more than 0.5 percent, with the Dow now in positive territory for 2026

The UK says it's followed a secret operation by Russian submarines in the North Atlantic. Officials say they believe Russians didn't damage critical undersea infrastructure like pipelines and telecommunications cables. WSJ UK bureau chief David Luhnow joins us now to explain why officials are anxious about the vulnerabilities of these undersea cables. David, why is Russia interested in these cables?

David Luhnow (2:53)

North of the UK in the North Atlantic, there are cables of communications with the outside world essentially all run through these cables. So the internet, any kind of corporate activity that runs through the internet, so an awful lot of the UK economy could arguably be said to go through these cables. One of the reasons these cables are increasingly important is because of AI. AI requires both a lot of energy and a lot of bandwidth, so there are dozens of new cables being laid all over the world that are going to do the heavy lifting of transmitting AI's information to all of our computers. For adversaries, knowing where information is being tunneled through the countries is a hugely important piece of information. If you get into a conflict and you cut off your rival's ability to get information and to essentially see or use AI on the battlefield, you've got a big advantage.

Imani Moise (3:45)

What did British authorities say about the operation?

David Luhnow (3:47)

Essentially, what they laid out today was quite fun because it was sort of like a spy novel. They said they detected some unusual Russian activity a little over a month ago in the North Atlantic. They went to investigate. It was a nuclear-powered submarine from the Russians. They realized that that wasn't the only submarine around there. That one was being used as a decoy for two other ones that were the ones snooping around where these sensitive cables are. So they said they basically made sure the Russians knew that the UK Navy was on to them and eventually chased them out.

Imani Moise (4:20)

And in a news conference, UK Defense Secretary John Healy had a warning for Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

John Healey (4:25)

I'm making this statement to call out this Russian activity. And to President Putin I say, we see you, we see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences.