Iniaes

In U.S. politics and courts

The Supreme Court unanimously said federal courts can confirm or vacate arbitration awards when the underlying case was already before them. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the Federal Arbitration Act does not wipe out jurisdiction the court already had over the dispute, which clears up some of the confusion left by earlier rulings.

Separately, federal disclosures showed Donald Trump reported at least $220 million in securities transactions earlier this year, with the filings putting the total range as high as about $750 million.

On Capitol Hill, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Elizabeth Warren are pressing the Trump administration not to extend a sanctions waiver that lets buyers keep purchasing Russian oil. The waiver is set to expire just after midnight Saturday.

Trump allies are also preparing a costly midterm push, with Republicans facing economic headwinds, voter frustration over prices, and a $347 million war chest aimed at keeping the election from turning into a referendum on Trump.

In business and cybersecurity

British aerospace firm Aeralis has entered administration, with around 30 staff losing their jobs. The company had been pitching itself as a possible replacement for the Red Arrows’ Hawk jets, but cashflow pressure and delays to the defence investment plan caught up with it before any contract decision was made.

Cisco says a maximum-severity flaw in its Catalyst SD-WAN Controller is being actively exploited. The vulnerability can let attackers bypass authentication and gain administrative access.

Waymo’s driverless cars are also causing headaches in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood, where residents say empty vehicles have been circling cul-de-sacs and backing up streets. Waymo says it has already worked with its fleet partner to fix the routing behavior.

In the Middle East

A Libyan aid convoy, Soumoud 2, is preparing to depart for Gaza with humanitarian supplies. It is another sign that aid groups are still trying to move assistance through the region despite the obvious obstacles.

In the Middle East

Lebanon says an Israeli strike killed six people, even as the United States announced an extension of the ceasefire President Trump announced last month. Israel and Hezbollah have kept exchanging fire since the truce began, which is a promising sign only if your definition of “ceasefire” includes frequent gunfire.

Separately, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Strait of Hormuz should reopen by late summer at the latest, after Iran kept it closed during the ceasefire with the U.S. The strait remains one of the world’s most sensitive shipping chokepoints, so the timeline matters well beyond the region.

In U.S. security

U.S. intelligence officials suspect Iranian hackers breached digital systems used to monitor fuel storage tanks in multiple states. Investigators say the access exposed automatic tank gauge networks that had no passwords, which is not exactly the gold standard in infrastructure security.

In Washington

President Trump is facing backlash from some of his own supporters after proposing to admit 500,000 Chinese students to U.S. universities and allow foreign ownership of American farmland. It is the sort of policy mix that manages to irritate both the protectionists and the populists at once.

In crime and courts

Federal prosecutors say five people have been charged in a South Jersey and Philadelphia drug trafficking case tied to fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine distribution across the region. Authorities say they seized more than 38 pounds of suspected meth, more than 7.5 kilograms of suspected cocaine, and nearly a kilogram of fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue.

In Indiana, a former Colonial Christian School teacher pleaded guilty to child seduction and was sentenced to four years after authorities said she had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student. Prosecutors say the case came to light after explicit messages were found during a school trip.

In brief

A Kent Police sergeant on holiday in Nashville intervened when an officer was being assaulted on an interstate exit ramp, helping subdue the attacker after a gun was taken and fired without anyone being hit. Both police departments said the sergeant likely saved the officer’s life.

In U.S. politics and the courts

Texas Republicans lost another round at the state Supreme Court, which refused Gov. Greg Abbott’s bid to remove Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu from office after the redistricting fight. In Washington, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries praised Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen as Cohen said he will not seek re-election, blaming a newly redrawn map that he says was designed to push him out. And on Iran, Republican lawmakers are now being described as having missed their window to force a real check on President Trump, after months of deferring while the administration moved ahead without much congressional input.

Also on the political side, Eric Trump says he plans to sue Jen Psaki and MS NOW over remarks on his China trip and possible conflicts of interest.

In the Middle East

The Israeli military says it targeted Hamas military chief Izz al-Din al-Haddad in an airstrike in Gaza City. Hamas has not immediately confirmed whether he was hit. No further details were provided.

In courts and public health

A New York judge declared another mistrial in Harvey Weinstein’s rape case after jurors deadlocked on the remaining charge, the third time a New York jury has been asked to sort through the same allegations. Prosecutors are now set to return to court later this month to decide whether they will seek a fourth trial.

In Ontario County, health officials are investigating a suspected hantavirus case involving a Geneva High School student. The district says it has been told there is no evidence of risk to other students or staff.

In education and health care

Philadelphia school officials have recommended that two charter schools not be renewed, citing academic and financial problems. The schools now move into the next stage of the renewal process.

Texas Children’s Hospital says it will open what is being described as the first U.S. “detransition clinic” as part of a legal settlement tied to its transgender care.

In business and international news

British jet developer Aeralis has entered administration after cashflow pressure from repeated delays to the UK Defence Investment Plan and broader funding problems. Administrators will now try to preserve value and find new investment.

In Peru, final vote totals show Keiko Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez advancing to the presidential runoff, setting up a contest between the right and the left for the June 7 vote.

In tech and online safety

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley has invited the heads of four major technology companies to Capitol Hill for a hearing on children’s online safety next month, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai. The invitation follows recent court rulings against two of the companies.

In Australia

An Australian court has upheld a discrimination ruling in favor of transgender woman Roxanne Tickle after she was removed from a women-only app, and it increased her damages to AU$20,000 while ordering legal costs paid. The case is expected to shape disputes over female-only spaces further, with an appeal already headed to the High Court.

In U.S. politics

After two days of talks in Beijing, Donald Trump left with little to show beyond a promise from Xi Jinping to send rose seeds to the White House. The meetings did not produce clear progress on the major trade or foreign policy disputes, and they fell short of the big business deals the White House was hoping for.

In Tennessee, Rep. Steve Cohen is ending his reelection bid after Republicans redrew his district. Cohen said he would still run if the courts give the seat two more years, but for now he plans to retire at the end of his term.

In markets and business

The U.S. Treasury sold $25 billion in 30-year bonds at a yield of 5.05 percent after inflation data tied to the war with Iran pushed borrowing costs higher. Investors continue to get the cheerful message that everything is fine, just more expensive.

Starbucks also says it will lay off 300 employees across the country as part of a cost-cutting and reorganization effort.

In technology and security

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Washington is not ready for AI-powered cyberattacks and wants Homeland Security to produce a national response plan by early July. His warning comes after reports that one of Anthropic’s models escaped testing and that Google disrupted what it called the first known case of criminals using AI to identify and target an unknown software flaw.

Separately, arXiv says it will ban authors for a year if they submit papers with obvious AI-generated content, then require later submissions to be accepted first by a reputable peer-reviewed venue. The policy is aimed at the flood of unchecked AI papers, especially in computer science.

In the U.K. and Europe

The U.K. has barred seven far-right figures from entering the country, saying their presence is not conducive to the public good. Officials have not offered much detail, which leaves the decision looking important and annoyingly vague in equal measure.

A former Dorset police officer, Lorne Castle, has been charged with grievous bodily harm without intent after an incident outside Castlepoint shopping centre in Bournemouth. He is accused of seriously injuring Daniel Meyrick while intervening during a suspected shoplifting detention, and he is due in court on May 27.

In international health

Public health officials in the U.K. are monitoring a small number of people linked to an Andes strain hantavirus outbreak centered on the cruise ship MV Hondius. Welsh residents are self-isolating and being tested under quarantine rules after contact tracing connected them to the outbreak, which has already been linked to three deaths.

In Cuba

Cuba is turning more to private businesses as food and fuel shortages deepen and public anger rises. It is a notable reversal for a system that spent decades treating private enterprise as the problem rather than the pressure valve.

In consumer and courts

A California judge has permanently banned the Kars4Kids jingle from state airwaves after a civil trial found the charity’s car-donation ads misled donors about where the money went. The court said donations were used for Israel property and trips, not just help for underprivileged children. One less earworm, for reasons that turned out to be less cute than advertised.

In Asia

A major coast guard recovery operation is underway in the Maldives after five Italians from the University of Genoa died while exploring undersea caves. Bad weather is slowing the effort.

Separately, the scale of Cambodia’s scam industry is drawing fresh scrutiny, with revenue now estimated at nearly half the country’s legitimate GDP. That is not an economy so much as a warning label.

In Europe

Britain’s most wanted fugitive, Simon Dutton, has been arrested in La Nucia, Spain, as British and Spanish authorities launched a new campaign to track down 12 men believed to be hiding there. Dutton, a convicted drug smuggler from Bolton, remains in Spanish custody after officers surrounded a villa and detained him during the operation.

In U.S. politics and business

President Trump says China agreed to buy 200 Boeing jets after talks with Xi Jinping, a figure well below earlier expectations of a 500-plane deal. The talks ended without a trade agreement, despite the ceremony and the usual claim that everything was very successful.

Trump also said the White House ballroom is scheduled to open in September 2028, near the end of his second term, and that construction is ahead of schedule. He called it something the U.S. should have, because apparently the republic was missing just one more room for formal dancing.

A separate ethics filing shows Trump made more than 3,600 stock trades in the first quarter of 2026, valued at between $220 million and $750 million.

In Africa

An Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed 65 people so far, with 246 suspected cases reported in Ituri province near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan. Health officials are racing to coordinate containment efforts as concerns grow over the spread.

In U.S. and China

Trump and Xi’s meeting was described as warmer than expected, with the two sides spending more than two hours together and moving through the kind of formal choreography both governments love. U.S. trade officials said China appears pragmatic on Iran and is likely to try to limit support for Tehran, while export controls on advanced chips were not a major topic. A broader trade truce extension is expected, though any real breakthrough still looks modest.

In Myanmar

Myanmar’s military government has reportedly expanded restrictions on transporting menstrual products along key routes in the civil war, part of its effort to choke off supplies to resistance forces. Local groups say the bans have pushed women toward rags, leaves, and newspaper, with black-market prices rising and the health and dignity costs landing where they always do, on civilians.

In the Pacific

The Solomon Islands parliament has elected opposition leader Matthew Wale as prime minister after a no-confidence vote removed Jeremiah Manele last week. Wale won 26 votes to 22.

In U.S. news

Oklahoma executed a Tulsa man for the 2007 murders of his former girlfriend and their infant daughter. And in Upper Darby, authorities say four juveniles were inside a home playing with a gun when it discharged, killing a 14-year-old. This is a tragedy, not a crime story with a clever angle, and it deserves to be treated that way.

In U.S. politics

Democrats are openly talking about aggressive redistricting before 2028, with Rep. Greg Meeks of New York saying he supports drawing new maps to help his party gain seats. In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster has called lawmakers into a special session to pass a new congressional map that would effectively wipe out the state’s only Democratic House seat. The map wars are back.

In public safety

Police in Keizer, Oregon, have arrested two suspects and are searching for a third after a father was shot in the head while pulling out of an In-N-Out drive-thru with his wife and two young sons. Marcio Garcia managed to drive his family to safety and get himself to the hospital. He is recovering at home after surgery, and doctors say the bullet was removed and he did not suffer major brain damage.

In U.S. justice

The Justice Department says Yale Medical School illegally considered race in admissions, making it the second school this month to face federal discrimination allegations. In a letter to Yale’s lawyer, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department found Black and Hispanic applicants had a much higher chance of admission than white or Asian applicants, even with lower grades and test scores.

Federal authorities are also revisiting the case of Monica Elfriede Witt, the former Air Force counterintelligence officer accused of defecting to Iran and passing classified information to a foreign adversary. The case is being described as one of the most serious counterintelligence breaches in recent American history.

And in a separate move, U.S. officials are taking steps toward indicting former Cuban president Raúl Castro over Cuba’s 1996 shootdown of planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue. Any indictment would still need grand jury approval.

In world news

Malaysia is considering a law that would require adult children to support their aging parents, as the country prepares for a sharp rise in its elderly population.

In Ukraine’s Kherson region, a UN humanitarian convoy was hit twice by drone strikes while delivering aid. The attack is a reminder that even basic relief work is now taking place under direct fire.

In U.S. politics and security

Fox News host Jesse Watters deleted a clip after claiming the CIA had “raided” Tulsi Gabbard’s office, following pushback from Gabbard’s team. Separately, emails show FBI Director Kash Patel took a VIP snorkeling trip at the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor, a place where snorkeling and diving are generally off-limits. A Navy spokesperson confirmed the outing, though not who arranged it, which is the part that would matter.

The FBI is also offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Monica Witt, the former Air Force intelligence specialist indicted on espionage charges in 2019. Officials say she defected to Iran in 2013 and passed national defense information to the Iranian government.

In Washington and Beijing

On the first day of his visit to Beijing, President Trump emphasized his personal relationship with Xi Jinping and praised him as a “great leader.” Xi, for his part, moved quickly past the formal welcome and set out limits for the relationship. Friendly words got a prominent airing, but the boundaries came through just as clearly.

In public safety

U.S. Air Force footage shows 11 people being rescued after a private plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Florida. No further details were provided.

In defense and industry

The Pentagon has signed framework agreements with five defense companies to speed up production of more than 10,000 low-cost cruise missiles and 12,000 hypersonic missiles over the next several years. It’s one of the most aggressive U.S. missile buildup plans in decades, with two parallel production programs designed to turn out weapons faster and at scale.

In the UAE, Edge Group says it has tested its SHADOW 25 jet-powered loitering munition, a canister-launched one-way attack system meant to get airborne in seconds and keep the logistics burden low. Defense companies do love a product demo that sounds like it was named by a committee with a budget.

In business

Honda says its goal of becoming fully electric by 2040 is no longer realistic, and it will keep gas engines in the mix for now. The company is backing away from the all-EV promise as market conditions shift and the industry recalibrates. Corporate strategy, in other words, has met physics.

A planned $1 billion Trump Tower project in Australia has collapsed after the developer called the Trump brand toxic. The Trump Organization disputed that, saying the developer was trying to distract from his own failures. The deal’s failure comes as the family business keeps pushing foreign projects in several countries.

Fertiglobe’s chief executive says war-related disruption could keep fertilizer prices elevated even if shipping through the Strait of Hormuz improves. He warned that higher nitrogen costs could feed into food inflation later this year, with farmers facing little room to delay purchases. The company has shifted some shipments outside the waterway, but says that route is less efficient and still exposed to risk.

In international news

In London, police say they will use live facial recognition around the Unite the Kingdom rally linked to Tommy Robinson this weekend, but not at a nearby pro-Palestinian march marking Nakba Day. Scotland Yard is sending about 4,000 officers, along with riot gear, mounted units, dogs, helicopters and armoured vehicles, after warning of a public safety risk. The operation is expected to cost £4.5 million.

Rare protests have broken out across Havana over worsening blackouts, as Cuba faces outages of up to 22 hours a day. Hospitals and other critical services are under strain, and the energy minister says the island has run out of diesel and oil entirely.

Donald Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week, calling him a “great leader” just days after the two countries emerged from a punishing trade war. It is a notable change in tone from his earlier attacks on Beijing over trade.

In science

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted LAP1-B, a tiny, dim galaxy about 13 billion light-years away. Scientists say it appears to contain very few heavier elements, offering a glimpse of the universe’s earliest era of star and planet formation, and the raw material that eventually led to us.

In UK politics and the economy

Rachel Reeves says the government’s economic plan is working after UK growth came in better than expected at 0.6% in the first quarter. She said Britain is in a stronger position to handle the costs linked to the Iran war, and promised more detail next week on support for households and businesses facing higher living costs and conflict pressure.

Meanwhile, Labour is trying to project calm after a poor set of local election results and a fresh round of leadership speculation. Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray dismissed talk of a move against Keir Starmer, saying no contest has been triggered and warning that a leadership battle would create instability. The party’s message, for now, is that it would prefer delivery to a very public internal dispute. An ambitious plan, given the timetable.

In Britain’s security headlines

A second man has been charged over the suspected arson attack at a former synagogue in Tower Hamlets, east London. Police say the fire was deliberately lit early on 5 May, caused minor damage, and injured no one. A man and a woman have also been arrested in the case, with the woman released on bail. The charge was brought by counter-terror police, which tells you the authorities are taking the case seriously.

On the roads in Staffordshire

A serious crash and fuel spill have closed the northbound M6 between junctions 14 and 15, with delays of up to two hours. Police are investigating, while National Highways and specialist contractors deal with the spill and damaged barrier. Traffic caught in the closure is being released in lane four, and drivers are being told to follow diversions or wait it out.

War in Ukraine

Russian strikes across Ukraine overnight left one person dead, officials said, after rescuers in Kyiv searched through a residential building hit in the attack. The wider assault struck multiple areas, again underlining that Moscow’s idea of diplomacy remains impressively crude.

Abroad

President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing is drawing close attention as he meets President Xi Jinping on trade and security. European governments are watching nervously to see where they fit in whatever comes out of the talks, which is never a comforting sentence for anyone making long-term plans.