“The seven-strong ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party said Tuesday that it would seek to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections, because of the coalition’s failure to pass a law enshrining the decades-old exemption of Haredi yeshiva students from military service. Multiple opposition MKs promptly submitted bills for the dissolution of parliament, with the Yesh Atid party seeking to begin the process on Wednesday. Nonetheless, it was not immediately clear when and whether such a vote would be held, whether it would pass, and, if so, when elections might be held. In any case, general elections must be held no later than October 27, 2026. … UTJ, a core member when Netanyahu assembled his coalition after the 2022 elections, formally pulled out of the government and the coalition last year in the protracted dispute over the legislation.” (05/13/26)
“Meta Platforms said Wednesday it’s rolling out an ‘incognito’ mode for WhatsApp users to have private conversations with its AI chatbot, a move intended to ease privacy concerns about sensitive information that users share in chats. The social media company said in a blog post that incognito chat mode provides a way to have private, temporary conversations with Meta AI, its artificial intelligence assistant that’s been available on WhatsApp for a few years. Messages will be processed ‘in a secure environment’ that even Meta can’t access, won’t be saved by default and will disappear when exiting a session, Meta said. Generative AI systems have been dogged by privacy concerns because the large language models that underpin these systems are trained on vast troves of data, sometimes including personal information provided by users themselves in their conversations with AI chatbots.” (05/13/26)
“President Donald Trump’s push to redraw the nation’s U.S. House districts received mixed results Tuesday as South Carolina senators defied his desires but Missouri’s top court upheld a new map that could help Republicans win an additional seat in the November midterm elections. … Trump urged South Carolina to redraw its congressional districts ahead of the November elections in an attempt to help Republicans win another seat. A House committee endorsed a map Tuesday that could eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held seat, and the chamber voted previously to let lawmakers return after their regular work ends Thursday to further consider redistricting. But the Senate had to give permission too. The 29-17 vote failed, coming just two votes short of the two-thirds needed, as five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition.” (05/12/26)
“Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade, as he seeks to mend power and prestige weakened by the war in Iran. Trump will bring tech leaders, including Elon Musk of Tesla and Tim Cook of Apple, and plans for headline-grabbing deals. … neither side appears eager to allow the Iran crisis to derail broader diplomatic and economic engagement in the first of four potential meetings between Trump and Xi over the next year. The two countries remain locked in a fragile tariff truce reached last autumn after tensions threatened to erupt into a full-scale trade war. Trump has long complained about China’s trade surplus with the US, while Beijing has bristled at American export controls and sanctions.” (05/13/26)
“The federal government has filed a civil action against the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces and the treasurer of Doña Ana County, seeking possession of Mount Cristo Rey for border enforcement activities. The suit, an eminent domain action, seeks [to steal] roughly 14.2 acres of land that consists of Mount Cristo Rey and the surrounding area. … The Diocese says it intends to fight this attempt to condemn Mount Cristo Rey and take it over under the ‘First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.’ The Diocese says this property is part of a holy site. Atop the mountain sits a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Jesus Christ ‘that serves as a shrine to thousands of faithful in the El Paso and Southern New Mexico area.’ The shrine is also the site of annual pilgrimages, the Diocese said.” (05/12/26)
“Inflation surged to 3.8% in April, its highest level in nearly three years, according to data released Tuesday, as the war in Iran causes a ripple effect across the economy and energy prices surge. As inflation continues to accelerate, it’s eating into Americans’ wages at a rapid clip. April’s inflation rate means that prices are now rising faster than wages for the first time since 2023, which could exacerbate the affordability crisis that has already been gripping consumers. … The overall rise in inflation was in line with what was expected by economists. On a month-over-month basis, inflation rose 0.6%. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs also rose 0.4% from the month prior, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. That rise was higher than what had been expected by economists.” (05/11/26)
“The Pentagon on Tuesday put the cost of the war on Iran at ‘closer’ to $29 billion, roughly $4 billion more than two weeks ago, during testimony by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a pair of hearings on the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget request. But the new $29 billion figure, offered by the department’s comptroller, does not include the cost of repairs to U.S. facilities damaged by Iranian attacks. Pressed on the administration’s failure to seek authorization from Congress to continue fighting Iran, Mr. Hegseth told senators that President Trump had ‘all the authorities necessary’ to resume attacks if he so chooses.” (05/11/26)
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he had met the CEO of Palantir Technologies, Alex Karp, as Kyiv doubles down on the use of artificial intelligence to gain an edge in the war with Russia. Kyiv has launched a project with Palantir called ‘Brave1 Dataroom’ to develop artificial intelligence based on its valuable combat data, collected throughout the conflict since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, to help intercept Russian drones. ‘Today, technology, AI, data analysis and the mathematics of warfare have a direct impact on the outcome on the battlefield,’ Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Telegram after meeting with Karp. Fedorov, who promised a sweeping, data-driven overhaul of Kyiv’s military when appointed in January, said that more than 100 companies were training over 80 models to detect and intercept aerial targets.” (05/11/26)
“A Russian cargo ship likely carrying two nuclear reactors for submarines, possibly destined for North Korea, suffered a series of explosions and sank in unexplained circumstances, about 60 miles off the coast of Spain, a CNN investigation has found. The extraordinary fate of the Ursa Major has been shrouded in secrecy since it sank on December 23, 2024. … US nuclear ‘sniffer’ aircraft have flown over the sunken ship twice in the past year, according to public flight data. And its wreckage was also visited a week after it sank by a suspected Russian spy ship which set off four further explosions …. The Spanish government has said little, only releasing a statement on February 23 after pressure from opposition lawmakers. It confirmed that the ship’s Russian captain had told Spanish investigators the Ursa Major was carrying ‘components for two nuclear reactors similar to those used in submarines,’ and that he was unsure if they were loaded with nuclear fuel.” (05/11/26)
“The Justice Department filed criminal charges against the operator of the Dali and an employee on board the container ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland, leading to its collapse and the death of six people in March 2024. The indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses two corporations and the ship’s technical operator of causing the death of the construction workers and the collapse of the Baltimore bridge on March 26, 2024. Federal prosecutors announced the indictment in Baltimore, naming Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd., based in Chennai, India.” (05/11/26)
