 |
|
|
|||||
Iran hasn’t changed its flag, but the emoji for it has changed on X, the social network previously known as Twitter. Iran’s tricolor flag features green, white, and red horizontal stripes, with the country’s national emblem displayed in its center white stripe. But some opposition groups use a historical flag that instead shows a golden lion holding a sword in front of a sun. Since ongoing anti-government demonstrations erupted in Iran in December, that lion-and-sun version of the flag has been used as a symbol of protest around the world, including in demonstrations over the weekend in Los Angeles and London, where one protester held the flag at the Iranian embassy after taking down the national flag. Now it’s also on X. [Images: x.com/Twemoji] After an X user asked the site’s head of product, Nikita Bier, to update the flag last Thursday, Bier responded, “Give me a few hours.” The updated emoji appeared first on the web browser version of the site before rolling out to iOS devices. Other emoji vendors like Google and Facebook still use the standard emoji of Iran’s national flag, so the lion-and-sun flag isn’t available on most platforms, and it’s also not available for X on Android devices. The change on X, though, meant that accounts tied to Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly found their bios displaying an emoji that could be construed as anti-regime. Iran’s foreign ministry has since removed the emoji from its bio. X previously used default Apple emoji on iOS, but since 2023, it has used its own native emoji, according to Emojipedia. X last redesigned an emoji in 2024, when it changed its pistol emoji from a green water pistol back to an actual pistol. Protests in Iran began on December 28 over deteriorating economic conditions. They have reached every province in the country. At least 572 people have died, and more than 10,600 people have been detained, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization. X users in the country haven’t had much of a chance to use or sound off about the new emoji, as Iran shut down internet access and telephone lines last Thursday.
Category:
E-Commerce
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. When assessing home price momentum, ResiClub believes it’s important to monitor active listings and months of supply. If active listings start to rapidly increase as homes remain on the market for longer periods, it may indicate pricing softness or weakness. Conversely, a rapid decline in active listings beyond seasonality could suggest a market that is heating up. Since the national Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in 2022, the national power dynamic has slowly been shifting directionally from sellers to buyers. Of course, across the country that shift has varied. Generally speaking, local housing markets where active inventory has jumped above pre-pandemic 2019 levels have experienced softer home price growth (or outright price declines) over the past 36 months. Conversely, local housing markets where active inventory remains far below pre-pandemic 2019 levels have, generally speaking, experienced more resilient home price growth over the past 36 months. Where is national active inventory headed? National active listings are on the rise on a year-over-year basis (+12.1% between December 2024 and December 2025). This indicates that homebuyers have gained some leverage in many parts of the country over the past year. Some sellers markets have turned into balanced markets, and more balanced markets have turned into buyers markets. Nationally, were still below pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels (-5.5% below December 2019) and some resale markets, in particular chunks of the Midwest and Northeast, still remain tight-ish. While national active inventory is still up year-over-year, the pace of growth has slowed in recent monthsmore than typical seasonality would suggestas some sellers have thrown in the towel and delisted in weak/soft markets. December inventory/active listings total, according to Realtor.com: December 2017 -> 1,127,799 December 2018 -> 1,185,865 December 2019 -> 1,033,887 December 2020 -> 612,300 (Pandemic Housing Boom overheating) December 2021 -> 445,303 (Pandemic Housing Boom overheating) December 2022 -> 680,925 December 2023 -> 714,176 December 2024 -> 871,509 December 2025 -> 976,833 If we maintain the current year-over-year pace of inventory growth (+105,324 homes for sale), we’d have 1,082,157 active inventory come December 2026. Below is the year-over-year active inventory percentage change by state. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); While active housing inventory is rising in most markets on a year-over-year basis, some markets still remain tight-ish (although it’s loosening in those places too). As ResiClub has been documenting, both active resale and new homes for sale remain the most limited across huge swaths of the Midwest and Northeast. Thats where home sellers next spring are likely, relatively speaking, to have more power than their peers in many Southern markets. In contrast, active housing inventory for sale has neared or surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels in many parts of the Sun Belt and Mountain West, including metro area housing markets such as Punta Gorda and Austin. Many of these areas saw major price surges during the Pandemic Housing Boom, with home prices getting stretched compared to local incomes. As pandemic-driven domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Punta Gorda and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices. This softening trend was accelerated further by an abundance of new home supply in the Sun Belt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives (if they have the margins to do so) to maintain sales in a shifted market, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market: Some buyers, who would have previously considered existing homes, are now opting for new homes with more favorable dealswhich then puts some additional upward pressure on resale inventory. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); At the end of December 2025, 17 states were above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington. (The District of Columbiawhich we left out of this analysisis also back above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels too. Softness in D.C. propers predates the current admins job cuts.) window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Big picture: Over the past few years weve observed a softening across many housing markets as strained affordability tempers the fervor of a market that was unsustainably hot during the Pandemic Housing Boom. While home prices are falling some in pockets of the Sun Belt, a big chunk of Northeast and Midwest markets still eked out a little price appreciation in 2025. Nationally aggregated home prices were pretty close to flat in 2025. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Below is another version of the table abovebut this one includes every month since January 2017. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}});
Category:
E-Commerce
There are many made-up celebrations these days, but at least National Pizza Week delivers something tasty. Coming in hot on the heels of so-called quitters day, when many people abandon their New Years resolutions, pizza shops around the U.S. will be tossing around some deals that could save customers some dough. Of course, many people dont need an excuse to eat pizzaon any given day, about 11% of Americans do so, according to a study released in 2024 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Americans grappling with the high cost of living got some relief as inflation cooled in November, but that doesnt mean that food prices have come downand particularly for families, some of these promotions can be very helpful in stretching their budgets. Several of the national chains will be serving up for National Pizza Week, which runs through Saturday. DEALS SPECIFIC TO NATIONAL PIZZA WEEK A few pizza chains with locations around the U.S. are running specials that are specifically tied to National Pizza Week, and may require membership in their loyalty programs to take advantage. At Chuck E. Cheese, for example, members of its fun pass get an exclusive deal: $5 for a large one-topping pizza through January 15. Meanwhile, California Pizza Kitchen is offering members of its loyalty program $5 pizzas with any $25 purchase. Caseys is offering 25% off any pizza through January 17, though you will need to know the (very intuitive) code PIZZAWEEK to score this deal and Papa Murphys has a similar deal of 30% off regular-priced pizzas with the code PZWK26. Finally, Marcos Pizza is running a promotion for takeout orders this week of $3 off any large specialty pizza, with no code required. OTHER PIZZA DEALS Its sometimes hard to know what full price is for many food items at the largest pizza chains because they seem to always be running some sort of deal or other. And, indeed, the three pizza chains with the most locations in the U.S.Dominos, Pizza Hut, and Little Caesarsall have some deals on pizza that are running this week, though dont appear to be explicitly tied to the National Pizza Week festivities. At the 7,000-plus Dominos locations in the U.S., you should come hungry to score some of its best deals. For $6.99 each, customers can get a mix-and-match deal and choose any two itemslike medium pizzas, sides, and dessertsfor $6.99 each. For $7.99 each, you can instead opt for a one-topping pizza and an eight-piece order of wings or boneless chicken if you do carryout. For $9.99 each, you can choose from any two or more of its line of specialty pizzas. Finally, for $19.99, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based chain is promising the perfect combo meal that includes two medium one-topping pizzas and two orders of 16-piece bread bites. Pizza Hut is in the midst of a comeback of sorts with an assist from former NFL Hall of Famer Tom Brady, who has been on TV commercials touting the chains Big New Yorker pizza, a 16-inch pizza thats currently on special for $10. Meanwhile, for $6.99, customers can opt for a hut box deal that includes choice of an entreea personal pan pizza, chicken wings, or a meltalong with a side of either fries or wings. The Plano, Texas-based chain also offers bigger meal deals, starting at $19.99, that might be enough to feed a family and include a mix of pizzas, sides, and choice of a dessert. Finally, Little Caesars is also running several promotions this week with prices that undercut its competitors. For $4.99 each, you can customize two one-topping pizzas from the Detroit-based chain through January 18. You can also score 15% orders of $15 or more or 20% off orders of $20 or more this week. However, to take advantage of all of these deals, you will need to know the deal-specific codes, which can be found on its website.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||