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For the 81st anniversary of Soviet victory, Moscow organized its May 9 parade without heavy equipment, internet cut in the city center, and for the first time with North Korean soldiers in the ranks. Putin denounced NATO and presented the Ukraine war as a continuation of the antifascist struggle.
G7 trade ministers meeting in Paris cannot paper over the transatlantic tariff rift. Trump threatens to raise duties on European cars to 25%. The EU demands the existing deal be honoured; India plays its own bilateral card.
Zelensky declares a unilateral ceasefire for Victory Day on May 9. Russia violates it 1,820 times, strikes a kindergarten in Sumy killing two, and Kyiv threatens a mirror response during Moscow's parade.
After Donald Trump's public attacks on Pope Leo XIV — who had condemned the Iran war as 'unjust' — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is dispatched to Rome for a Thursday meeting with the pontiff. The first face-to-face meeting between a senior US official and Pope Leo since his election. Rubio, a Catholic, will also meet Meloni, whom Trump attacked after she defended the pope.
Iran launched drones and missiles at ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the ADNOC oil facility in Fujairah, UAE, injuring three Indian nationals—the first direct attack on Emirati soil since the ceasefire took effect in early April. This marks a significant escalation following the announcement of the U.S.-led 'Project Freedom' naval escort operation. Trump responded with threats of obliteration, while the incident raises questions about the trigger for Iran's response and whether American military operations provoked the escalation.
The cruise ship MV Hondius, which departed Ushuaia for Cape Verde, is stranded at sea after a WHO-confirmed hantavirus outbreak: three passengers dead, a British national in intensive care, 150 people trapped in the Atlantic. Cape Verde has refused docking. The Canary Islands are under consideration. The WHO declares a 'low risk' to the public, but concern is mounting across 19 countries from which passengers and crew originate.
Iran transmitted a 14-point peace plan via Pakistan proposing to end the war in 30 days, progressively reopen Hormuz, but deliberately omitting the nuclear program. Trump declared he 'cannot imagine' the plan being acceptable, saying Iran hasn't 'paid a big enough price.' Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned the US faces a choice between an 'impossible' military operation and a 'bad deal.' The first round of direct talks in Islamabad failed last month; no second round is scheduled.
As Iran doubles down on permanent control of the Strait of Hormuz — comparing it to Mossadegh's 1951 oil nationalization — Trump launches 'Project Freedom' to escort stranded neutral ships out of the Gulf starting Monday. A cargo ship was just attacked by small craft, Pakistan-mediated peace talks remain deadlocked, and OPEC+'s third production quota hike is purely symbolic as long as Hormuz stays shut.
On May 1, 2026, Donald Trump signed an executive order massively expanding US sanctions against Cuba, targeting foreign banks that cooperate with Havana and Cuban officials in the energy, defense and finance sectors. The next day, Trump declared at a private Florida dinner that the US could take control of Cuba 'almost immediately,' citing the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier 'on the way back from Iran.' Cuba's president denounces a 'dangerous and unprecedented level' of US military threats.
On May 1, 2026, Donald Trump announced he would raise US tariffs on European Union cars and trucks to 25%, up from the current 15%, accusing the EU of failing to comply with their summer 2025 trade deal. The measure was set to take effect the following week. The EU denounced the move as 'unacceptable' from an 'unreliable' trading partner. The announcement came the same day the EU-Mercosur deal entered into force, revealing the multi-front trade war Trump is waging against his allies.
On May 1, 2026, the Pentagon signed agreements with seven AI giants — SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon — to integrate their models into its classified Level 6 and 7 networks. Anthropic, which had powered most US military AI through Claude, was excluded after refusing to waive its safeguards against autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. The Pentagon labeled it a 'supply chain risk' — a designation normally reserved for foreign adversaries.
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