APPLE VERSUS THE EUROPEAN UNION: What you need to know

Finance Insider is Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours.

It's all about Apple right now. Here are the headlines:

• The EU has ordered Apple to pay up to $14.5 billion in taxes.
• This chart explains Apple's tax structure in Europe that led to the $14.5 billion ruling.
• TIM COOK: "The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple's history in Europe."
• Apple defended its Irish tax-minimizing operation using a classic photo of Steve Jobs in Cork
• Apple's response can be summarized as: You can have taxes or you can have jobs, but you can't have both.
• Ireland's finance minister doesn't want to ask Apple for the $14.5 billion.
• Here's just how big $14.5 billion is to Apple.
• Apple has told investors its $14.5 billion tax bill won't have any near-term impact.

In other news, Carl Icahn thinks Bill Ackman should feel "boxed in" on his Herbalife bet,the committee that brought in Martin Shkreli and Valeant to testify is now going after Mylan, and the US government just announced some big changes to try to fix Obamacare.

We are witnessing the end of the credit cycle, and a crash is coming, according to UBS. Home prices in 20 major US cities fell for a third straight month in June, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. And we're about to enter "the worst month of the year for stocks."

Here are the most popular college majors on Wall Street.

Finally, Warren Buffett turns 86 today. Here are 14 stunning facts about Buffett and his wealth.

Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday:

The 'titans are going to clash' in the technology and media world - It's great to be a consumer of media these days. It's not necessarily great to be a producer of media, however.

The latest sign that Wall Street researchers are a dying breed - Wall Street research is dying. All you need to do is ask some Wall Street researchers.

ART CASHIN: 2 'potential landmines' should keep the Fed on hold in September - The Federal Reserve made a lot of noise in the past week about a possible increase in the federal funds rate at its September meeting.

Mondelez says it won't buy Hershey, and Hershey's shares are crashing - Mondelez has abandoned talks to buy candy maker Hershey in a $23 billion deal.

America is running out of young people 'willing to flip burgers' - The number of people in the workforce between 16 and 24 years old without a college degree has been steadily on the decline.

More ugly warning signs are popping up in Saudi Arabia - A bunch of warning signs have been bubbling up in Saudi Arabia's economy over the past few months.

The retirement crisis is going to hit one half of America harder than the other - American women will have a harder time of it in retirement than men, according to Sallie Krawcheck, a former Wall Street executive.

San Francisco's out-of-control housing market might start looking more 'normal' by the end of the year - San Francisco's housing market is very slowly cooling down.

Gentlemen, here's what you're usually missing from your travel bags - Listen, we're not saying you're bad at packing - we're just saying that you might be a little clumsier at it than you should be.