“Two Chinese tankers laden with oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, shipping data showed, brightening hopes that the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran may soon be resolved after positive comments from the U.S. president and his deputy. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the war would be over ‘very quickly’ while Vice President JD Vance talked up progress in talks with Tehran about an agreement to end hostilities. … Iranian state media said Tehran’s latest peace proposal involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit of U.S. forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the U.S.-Israeli attacks. Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, release of frozen funds and an end to the U.S. marine blockade, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as cited by IRNA news agency. The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran’s previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as ‘garbage.'” (05/20/26)
“The European Union reached a late-night provisional deal on Tuesday to remove import duties on [European buyers of] US goods, a key part of the bloc’s trade pact with the United States. This kept the EU on track to meet President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline and avoid higher US tariffs on [American buyers of] European goods. … EU lawmakers softened several demands during negotiations, including a proposal to suspend favorable [sic] tariffs for [European buyers of goods from] US exporters if Washington breached the terms of the deal. The final text also gives the US until the end of the year to remove steel surtaxes above 15%, instead of making it a precondition for the agreement.” (05/19/26)
“Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $77,000 on May 19 as surging US Treasury yields pushed investors away from risk assets. The 30-year yield reached its highest level since July 2007, adding to a difficult week for equities and commodities alike. Gold dropped below $4,500 on May 19, reaching its lowest price since late March. Silver also fell as markets recalibrated around inflation expectations and central bank rate forecasts.” (05/19/26)
“Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Tuesday night in China for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing. Putin’s plane landed in Beijing, where it was greeted by an honor guard and youths in light blue shirts. Putin’s two-day visit is likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving strong ties with Russia. The Kremlin has said Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, but also ‘key international and regional issues’. The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed in 2001. China is a key trading partner for Russia, especially after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the U.S. and Europe.” (05/19/26)
“The Trump administration is doubling down on efforts to resettle [w]hite Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees in the U.S., proposing to increase the government’s refugee cap to welcome thousands more of them, according to a State Department plan sent to Congress and obtained by CBS News. The administration has effectively closed the U.S. refugee program for most nationalities, except Afrikaners from South Africa, arguing they’re the victims of racial oppression for being [w]hite. The South African government has denied persecuting the ethnic minority, composed of descendants of European settlers, mostly from the Netherlands.” (05/19/26)
“Anthropic and the Justice Department will argue their case Tuesday before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., over the Defense Department’s designation of the AI company as a supply-chain risk. Fifteen minutes are allotted to each side, after which the three-judge panel will deliberate and release a written ruling, according to CNBC.” (05/19/26)
“Spotify is launching verification badges for podcasts to help ‘authenticate creator identity and likeness.’ The most obvious use case for this is to help listeners find real podcasts amidst a sea of AI slop. To that end, the platform says it will also now remove podcasts that impersonate other creators via ‘AI voice cloning or any other method.’ The ‘Verified by Spotify’ badge is accompanied by a light green checkmark icon, making real-deal podcasts much easier to spot while perusing. These badges and icons will appear on show pages and in search. The verification process takes the podcast itself into account, but also its listeners. AI-generated podcasts tend to attract a bot-driven listenership. Spotify is looking for ‘sustained listener activity, with consistent audience engagement over time.'” (05/19/26)
“A bomb exploded outside a Defense Ministry building in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing one soldier and wounding about a dozen other people, the ministry and state media reported. … The ministry said the blast occurred outside a building linked to the Defense Ministry but gave no further details. … There was no immediate claim of responsibility but such attacks in the past have been blamed on the Islamic State group.” (05/19/26)
“After a resounding loss Monday in his $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, Elon Musk took to his own social media network, X, to air out his grievances with the judge presiding over the case. On Monday, a jury unanimously ruled that Musk had missed his chance to sue, deciding that the statute of limitations had passed by the time the world’s richest man accused OpenAI executives of illegally turning the nonprofit into a for-profit company. … ‘This illustrates why the ruling by the terrible activist Oakland judge, who simply used the jury as a fig leaf, creates such a terrible precedent,’ Musk wrote. ‘She just handed out a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet for a few years!’ Musk vowed to appeal the ruling in a separate post that remains on the social media network.” (05/18/26)
“Twenty-six more suspected Ebola deaths were recorded in 24 hours in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said on Tuesday, and the head of the World Health Organization expressed deep concern about the outbreak’s spread. The new deaths bring to 131 the fatalities associated with the outbreak in eastern DRC. There have been 516 suspected cases and 33 confirmed cases in DRC, according to a daily bulletin published by health authorities, and two confirmed cases in neighbouring Uganda. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus a public health emergency of international concern on Saturday, the first time a WHO chief has done so before convening an emergency committee.” (05/19/26)
