03 World
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Vladimir Putin has threatened Kyiv with his most massive strike of the war if Ukrainian drones disrupt his major military parade in Moscow on Saturday. His defence ministry warned that civilians and diplomats should leave the city promptly if Volodymyr Zelensky attacks the Red Square showpiece, citing a rapid and massive retaliatory missile strike.
The Russian warning implies a hit by the hypersonic Oreshnik missile, which Putin boasts has the power of a full nuclear explosion even in its conventional mode. Putin said previously that using several such systems at once would be comparable in strength to a nuclear strike. His favourite newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, warned today that Oreshnik also has a nuclear configuration.
Vladimir Putin has threatened Kyiv with the most massive strike of the war if Ukrainian drones disrupt his major military parade in Moscow this Saturday. His defence ministry warned that civilians and diplomats should leave the city promptly if Volodymyr Zelensky attacks the Red Square showpiece, citing a rapid and massive retaliatory missile strike.
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The U.S. military on Monday denied claims that Iran struck a U.S. Navy vessel as American forces now offer to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began. Tehran has blocked vessels that don’t receive its authorization.
Iranian news agencies, including the semiofficial agency Fars and the Iranian Labour News Agency, claimed that Iran had struck a U.S. vessel near an Iranian port southeast of the strait, accusing it of “violating maritime security and navigation norms.” The reports said the vessel was forced to turn back.
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As May 2026 unfolds, the world’s attention is fixed on a high-stakes diplomatic theater. By mid-May, President Donald Trump is slated for a pivotal two-day state visit to Beijing. This visit comes at a time when the Middle East is on a knife-edge.
The geopolitical landscape is defined by a grueling stalemate: the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed by Iran in retaliation initially for the U.S.-Israeli air strikes, and now a persistent U.S. naval blockade that has strangled the Iranian economy for weeks.
While indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran continue via Pakistani and Omani mediators, the “ground truth” remains volatile. Despite a shaky ceasefire, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continues to broadcast defiance, signaling no intention of dismantling its nuclear enrichment facilities or its sophisticated ballistic missile program. At this critical juncture, the question isn’t just whether Trump can negotiate with Iran, but whether he can leverage China to force Tehran’s hand.
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A federal judge openly apologized in court to the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump after defense attorneys raised concerns about his treatment inside a Washington, D.C., jail.
During a May 4 hearing, Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui, who donated to Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, questioned jail officials about the “conditions” facing defendant Cole Tomas Allen.
Allen is being held ahead of trial on attempted assassination charges.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine are holding a news conference Tuesday morning as the ceasefire in the Iran war faces serious tests. U.S. Navy destroyers on Monday fended off a sustained barrage of Iranian missiles, attack drones and small boats as they helped two commercial vessels transit the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway,” Hegseth said at the news conference.
Hegseth noted that Project Freedom, the U.S. guiding of commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, is “separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury.” He called the operation a “temporary solution” for the U.S., saying “the world needs this waterway more than we do.”
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Iran is accusing the U.S. of violating the fragile ceasefire agreement between the two countries after President Trump directed the U.S. Navy to ensure the safe passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. “The new equation of the Strait of Hormuz is in the process of being solidified,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher…
U. Michigan Commencement Hijacked By Anti-Israel Prof.– legalinsurrection.com
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A faculty commencement speaker at the University of Michigan used his spot to slam Israel. The president of the university said that those remarks deviate from the remarks submitted in advance:
@UMich Professor Derek Peterson shoutouts terrorist sympathizers during this morning’s commencement. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/gaGIKDklGr
— Benny Shaevsky (@brshaevsky) May 2, 2026
I spoke about this on the Laura Ingraham show tonight:
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… A ceasefire by U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be on shaky ground after Iran launched strikes against the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. Central Command said it sank six Iranian small boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump later escalated the rhetoric, telling Fox News that Iran will be “blown off the face of the earth” if it targets U.S. ships that are protecting commercial vessels transiting the strait.
He also called on South Korea to support U.S. efforts after he claimed a South Korean cargo ship had come under fire from Iran. Seoul had not publicly responded as of the time of writing.
These developments have spooked investors. International benchmark Brent crude futures rose nearly 6% to settle at $114.44 per barrel, while all three major U.S. stock indexes dipped.
Some analysts are sounding the alarm, warning that global economies could be “sleepwalking” into a “big recession”, as investors continue to underestimate the impact of the oil price shock, according to Amrita Sen, founder and director, market intelligence at Energy Aspect.
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America’s war on student smartphones is intensifying. Roughly two-thirds of US states have moved to restrict phone use in schools. The educational logic is straightforward enough. If these devices distract our kids, lock the gadgets away and learning will naturally improve—a strong prima facie case, to be sure. Yet new nationwide evidence suggests the story is more complicated than this basic common parental and teacher intuition.
A fresh NBER working paper by Stanford University’s Hunt Allcott and co-authors, “The Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches,” examines one of the most stringent approaches—lockable phone pouches that physically prevent access during the school day. Using a dataset spanning thousands of schools, the researchers take advantage of a kind of natural experiment by comparing outcomes before and after adoption against similar schools that didn’t adopt the policy.
If the goal is to keep kids off their phones while at school, mission accomplished. On those terms, the policy works. Phone use plunges with pouches—fewer GPS pings on campus and far less in-class use, according to teachers.
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Europeans have “heard” US President Donald Trump’s message of frustration over the Iran war and are “stepping up”, NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Monday after Washington announced it would withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany. “European leaders have gotten the message,” Rutte said before talks with European leaders in Armenia. “Europeans are stepping up,” Rutte insisted ahead of a European Political Community meeting dominated by the twin security threats posed by the Ukraine and Middle East wars.
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Tuesday morning, President Trump did a brief telephone interview with Joe Kernen of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The subject was Trump’s prognosis for how the negotiations would proceed.
President Trump doesn’t seem to have high hopes. He points out that even though the Iranian leadership has stated it would not attend the new round of negotiations in Islamabad, it is participating, so long as the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. Trump did not back off (see VIDEO: USS Spruance Lights Up Iranian Blockade Runner in a Formidable Demonstration of FAFO – RedState) and yet here we are. He frames their attendance as being under duress, “[T]hey just got the okay to go forward, which I knew they were going to do anyway. I mean, I don’t think they had a choice. They have to negotiate.”
Trump lays out a stark choice for Iran: “And you know, the one thing I’ll say is this: Iran can get themselves in very good footing. If they make a deal, they can make themselves into a strong nation again, a wonderful nation again. They have incredible people, but they seem to be, you know, bloodthirsty. They’re led by some very, very unfortunately tough people. And I don’t mean tough in a good way. I think it’s very negative for the country because we’re much tougher than they are — like not even close. But they have to use reason and they have to use common sense, and they can get themselves into a great position to make themselves into a great country, but a legitimate country, not a country based on death and horror.”
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Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley: The ship the U.S. seized in the Strait of Hormuz this weekend was headed from China to Iran and is linked to chemical shipments for missiles. It refused repeated orders to stop. Another reminder that China is helping prop up Iran’s regime—a reality that can’t be ignored (Haley).
Wall Street Journal: The Iranian cargo ship seized by U.S. forces in the Gulf of Oman this weekend is part of a fleet that often sails to China, one of Tehran’s most important backers—and includes vessels that have been accused of transporting chemicals for Iran’s ballistic-missile program. The ship, the MV Touska, visited the southern China port of Zhuhai twice in the six weeks before it was intercepted Sunday on its way to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, according to shipping analysts. The Touska ignored six hours of warnings from the USS Spruance, a guided-missile destroyer, according to the Pentagon
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An Iranian tanker called “Silly City” successfully reached the country’s waters despite a naval blockade and threats from a US Navy task force. According to reports from local media, the vessel reached a southern Iranian port overnight after passing through the Arabian Sea with full security and operational support from Iran’s navy.
“Despite numerous warnings and threats from the US Navy Fleet Group, the Iranian oil tanker Silly City, with the operational support of the Iranian Navy and in full safety, entered Iran’s territorial waters last night after crossing the Arabian Sea,” the Iranian military said in a statement on Tuesday.
Shipping industry intelligence site Lloyd’s List reported that more than 20 Iranian so-called “shadow vessels” had transited past the US blockade
The Strait of Hormuz in peacetime sees around 120 daily transits, according to the site.
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A former top Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday he had faced “constant pressure” from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office to speed up the process to install his pick as U.S. ambassador, deepening a row that threatens the British leader.
A war of words over who should ultimately take the blame for appointing Labour veteran Peter Mandelson to Britain’s highest diplomatic post despite his past history and known ties to late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has piled pressure on Starmer, prompting calls by critics for him to quit.
Starmer has said he was “wrong” to appoint Mandelson to the role and has expressed regret, but on Monday put the blame firmly on officials for failing to tell him that a security vetting body had advised against his appointment — something, he added, would have stopped him from employing the new ambassador.
Japan scraps a ban on lethal weapons exports in a change of its postwar pacifist policy– abcnews.com
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TOKYO — Japan on Tuesday scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its postwar pacifist policy as the country seeks to build up its arms industry amid worries over Chinese and North Korean aggression.
The approval by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet of the new guideline clears a final set of hurdles for many arms sales, including of a next-generation fighter jet and combat drones.
China criticized the change in policy, but it has been largely welcomed by Japanese defense partners like Australia and attracted interest from Southeast Asia and Europe.
Opponents say the change violates Japan’s pacifist constitution and will increase global tensions and threaten the safety of the Japanese people.
The new policy will “ensure safety for Japan and further contribute to the peace and stability in the region and the international society as the security environment around our country rapidly changes,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters. “The government will strategically promote defense equipment transfers to create a security environment that is desirable for Japan and to build up the industrial base that can support fighting resilience.”
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ŠIAULIAI AIR BASE, Lithuania — NATO intercepted Russian strategic bombers and fighter jets that flew over the Baltic Sea on Monday, a muscular display of air power on the alliance’s eastern flank away from the spotlight on the Middle East.
French Rafale fighters were deployed from a Lithuanian air base where they are stationed as part of a decades-long NATO air-policing effort. The fighters armed with air-to-air missiles joined jets from Sweden, Finland, Poland, Denmark and Romania. They all took to the skies to inspect and keep watch on the Russian flight, the French detachment said.
The Russian mission included two supersonic Tu-22M3s, as well as about 10 fighters — both SU-30s and SU-35s — that took turns escorting the larger strategic bombers, according to the statement.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the long-range bombers’ flight was scheduled and occurred in airspace over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. The flight took more than four hours, the ministry said Monday on Telegram.
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As the ceasefire between the United States and Iran winds down, heated words filled the air.
“Iran has Violated the Cease Fire numerous times!” President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social.
He did not provide details about the alleged infractions.
Meanwhile, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, rebuked Trump for “imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire,” according to CNBC. He was referring to Trump’s blockade of Iranian ports.
He accused Trump of trying to turn peace talks into “a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering.”
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So far, America has remained ahead in the new space race. But its biggest rival is making continual steps to catch up. China announced another step in that direction with the unveiling of its first ever reusable five-meter-wide composite propulsion module, announced in a press release on April 11th.
The module was designed by the China Aerospace and Technology Corporation (CASC), the primary state contractor for the Chinese space program. Specifically, it was developed at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), which is also known as the First Academy of the CASC. It marks the largest integrated composite structure ever manufactured domestically for China’s aerospace sector. The first prototype was completed in just seven months, from initial design to delivery, underscoring the rapid development timeline.
Composites are becoming a critical feature of modern launch systems. Traditional metal components simply weigh too much. The more structural weight a launch vehicle has to carry into orbit, the less cargo or fuel it is able to carry due to the tyranny of the rocket equation. Composites are significantly lighter while still having the physical properties of metal, allowing for more payloads, or, crucially, more fuel for reentry burns.
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China controls 99 percent of the world’s primary gallium, a critical mineral and semiconductor crucial for building the microchips of the future. In 2023, it placed export controls on gallium to retaliate against American restrictions on the export of advanced chips to China. In December 2024, China escalated to an outright ban on gallium exports to the United States. The U.S. National Defense Stockpile had zero gallium reserves when that ban landed.
The United States has been here before. The United States pioneered and scaled modern silicon semiconductor infrastructure. A significant reliance on international manufacturing and the loss of domestic silicon dominance reflect a failure to recognize the importance of industrial capacity to national security. With silicon, the intellectual property was American, but the chips were “Made in Taiwan.” If similar blind spots persist, the United States risks repeating this failure with gallium nitride, a wide-bandgap semiconductor that outperforms silicon at high voltage, high frequency, and extreme temperatures. It’s the beating heart of every modern radar and electronic warfare system.