Trump says Iran ceasefire on “life support”; Israel sent Iron Dome batteries and personnel to UAE; Key primaries in Nebraska

Drop Site Daily: May 12, 2026

President Donald Trump says Iran ceasefire on “life support.” Iran’s parliament speaker warns armed forces ready to respond to “any aggression.” Official warns Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked. Hormuz closure drives up freight rates on routes with no Middle East exposure. Saudi Aramco CEO calls Hormuz closure largest energy supply shock in history. Iran war has cost American consumers over $37 billion in extra fuel costs. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs bet on Hormuz reopening by June. U.S. makes largest-ever weekly petroleum release as Iran war depletes emergency reserves. UAE secretly struck Iran including oil refinery attack after ceasefire, WSJ reports. Israel sent Iron Dome batteries and personnel to UAE. Israeli strikes kill at least 13 in southern Lebanon on Monday. Israeli forces kill four Palestinians across Gaza on Monday. EU approves third settler sanctions package after Hungary drops 18-month veto. Palestinian detainees describe systematic sexual abuse in Israeli custody, NYT reports. Palestinian prisoner groups detail systematic torture, starvation in Israeli detention. Israeli Knesset approves tribunal for October 7 suspects in 93-0 vote. Nebraska primary update. Adam Hamawy surges in New Jersey. Supreme Court clears path for Alabama to redraw voting map, reducing majority-Black districts. Sixth Circuit rejects Trump’s mass immigration detention policy in latest appellate defeat. Americans from hantavirus cruise ship now identified in at least 9 states. Former mayor of LA suburb pleads guilty to acting as illegal agent of China. Trump frustrated by failed efforts to destabilize Cuba, Pentagon updates contingency plans. Greece investigates explosive-laden drone found off Lefkada coast. Armed drones killed at least 880 civilians in Sudan during first four months of 2026, UN reports. EU and UK sanction dozens over Russia’s forced deportation and militarization of Ukrainian children. South Africa’s parliament to establish impeachment committee to probe Ramaphosa over Farmgate scandal. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer consulting colleagues on future. Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebels withdraw from key positions in eastern Congo in first major frontline shift in months. Bolivian judge reissues arrest warrant for former President Evo Morales.

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President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a dinner in the Rose Garden at the White House on May 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images.

Iran and Ceasefire

• Trump says Iran ceasefire on “life support”: President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is “on life support“ and described Iran’s latest proposal as “totally unacceptable” and a “piece of garbage.” Trump said Iran made some nuclear concessions but “did not go nearly far enough.” On the economy, Trump claimed that the Strait of Hormuz closure has benefited American oil producers, with ships now sourcing from Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska. Trump also floated suspending the federal gas tax for the duration of the war and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said he was introducing legislation to suspend the taxes for 90 days, which would deprive the treasury of billions of dollars of tax revenue. Gas is currently taxed at 18.4 cents per gallon and diesel at just over 24 cents. U.S. gas prices have soared to an average of more than $4.50 a gallon since the start of the war.

• Iran’s parliament speaker warns armed forces ready to respond to “any aggression”: Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Monday that Iranian armed forces are prepared to respond to any aggression from the United States. “Our armed forces are ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression,” Ghalibaf posted on X. “We are prepared for all options; they will be surprised.” In a subsequent post, Ghalibaf said the U.S. must accept Iran’s terms. “There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another. The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it,” he wrote.

• Official warns Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked: Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei warned that Iran would consider the possibility of enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels if the conflict resumed. “One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 per cent enrichment. We will examine it in parliament,” Rezaei wrote in a social media post.

• Hormuz closure drives up freight rates on routes with no Middle East exposure: The disruption caused by the Strait of Hormuz closure has pushed shipping costs higher even on routes thousands of miles from the conflict, including the transatlantic corridor between Northern Europe and the U.S. East Coast—which has no contact with Middle Eastern ports or Asian transit hubs—according to shipping data firm Xeneta. Chief Analyst Peter Sand said rates on that corridor have surged 56% since the end of February; routes with direct Middle East exposure have climbed even higher, with Far East to U.S. East Coast up 46% over the past month and Far East to U.S. West Coast up more than 50% since the war began. “The crisis is still very much present—it has simply migrated from the regional to the global,” Sand said.

• Saudi Aramco CEO calls Hormuz closure largest energy supply shock in history: Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned investors Monday that the Strait of Hormuz closure has caused “the largest energy supply shock the world has ever experienced,” with the market having lost roughly 880 million barrels net so far at a rate of 100 million barrels per week. “If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance,” Nasser said. Aramco reported a 26% jump in first-quarter 2026 profits to $33.6 billion, driven by higher crude prices, and credited its East-West Pipeline—currently operating at maximum capacity of 7 million barrels per day—for allowing it to bypass Hormuz shipping disruptions entirely.

• Iran war has cost American consumers over $37 billion in extra fuel costs, Brown University tracker shows: American consumers have paid more than $37 billion in additional gasoline and diesel costs since the war with Iran began on February 28, according to a real-time tracker developed by Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs.

• JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs bet on Hormuz reopening by June, but warn buffers masking crisis are unsustainable: JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are increasingly anchoring their forecasts around a Strait of Hormuz reopening by June, an assumption now acting as the central pillar holding global oil markets together, according to reporting highlighted by HFI Research. JPMorgan’s base case targets reopening around June 1, while Goldman projects a gradual reopening finishing by late June, under which it sees Brent crude stabilizing before falling toward $90 per barrel by year’s end. The global economy has so far avoided a full-scale energy shock largely due to two temporary buffers: U.S. seaborne oil exports surged roughly 3.8 million barrels per day year-over-year over the past month, while China simultaneously slashed seaborne oil imports by 5.5 million barrels per day, apparently drawing down inventories rather than competing for supplies on global markets. HFI Research calculates those two shifts alone absorbed roughly 9.3 million of the 12.3 million barrels per day lost from Middle Eastern flows. Analysts warn, however, that neither buffer is sustainable long term and the system is increasingly fragile.

• U.S. makes largest-ever weekly petroleum release as Iran war depletes emergency reserves: The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve released more than 1.22 million barrels per day last week—roughly 8.6 million barrels total—the largest weekly drawdown in the reserve’s history, surpassing the peak rate seen during President Joe Biden’s 2022 release following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Bloomberg. Analysts at JPMorgan note that the entire coordinated International Energy Agency release of 400 million barrels across 32 nations amounts to just 15% of the supply lost from the Hormuz closure, which is cutting off roughly 100 million barrels per week.

• Iran says nuclear issue “will be discussed later,” endorses China’s four-point peace plan: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday that Tehran’s peace proposal contained “reasonable and logical demands” serving the entire region, and that Iran is prioritizing an end to the war before addressing the nuclear question. “The uranium issue will be discussed at a later time,” Baghaei said at the ministry’s weekly press conference, adding that achieving peace across the region including Lebanon “is not an excessive demand.” On China, Baghaei said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s May 6 meeting with Wang Yi “was very fruitful” and that Iran welcomes any Chinese initiative to end the war. Iran’s ambassador to China separately announced Tehran’s formal endorsement Monday of President Xi Jinping’s four-point regional peace proposal—calling for peaceful coexistence, respect for national sovereignty, adherence to international law, and coordination between development and security—which Araghchi had previously described as “totally accurate.”

• UAE secretly struck Iran including oil refinery attack after ceasefire, WSJ reports: The United Arab Emirates carried out covert military strikes against Iran without publicly acknowledging the attacks, according to the Wall Street Journal. The strikes included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf in early April—shortly after President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire—sparking a large fire and knocking much of the facility offline for months. Iran had attributed the strike to the UAE at the time and responded with missile and drone attacks on the UAE and Kuwait. Iran has launched more than 2,800 missiles and drones at the UAE during the war—more than against any other country except Israel.

• Israel sent Iron Dome batteries and personnel to UAE: Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the United Arab Emirates, according to U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Speaking at an event in Tel Aviv on Monday, Huckabee said, “I’d like to say a word of appreciation for United Arab Emirates, the first Abraham accord member,” a reference to the UAE’s 2020 normalization agreement with Israel. “Just look at the benefits. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them.” U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, repeated the same news on Monday and was quoted by Israel Hayom newspaper as saying, “We saw the UAE make use of the Iron Dome provided to it by Israel.”

Lebanon

• Casualty count: At least 2,882 people have been killed, and 8,768 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Over 200 children were killed and 797 wounded in these attacks, the Ministry reports. At least 380 people have been killed since the “ceasefire” was announced on April 17.

• Israeli attacks continue on Tuesday: Israeli forces targeted a civil defense team in the city of Nabatieh, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Monday. The attack killed two paramedics and wounded a female medic while they were attempting to rescue an injured person, who later also died. The ministry condemned the strike and said it would continue documenting what it described as crimes that “do not expire with time.” In separate attacks on Tuesday, the town of Jibchit was hit by a series of drone strikes that killed three people and injured four others, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Another drone strike targeted a motorcycle on the main road in Tayr Debba near Tyre, killing a Syrian national and injuring his wife. Overnight, Israeli warplanes also struck a house in Kfardounine, killing six and wounding seven.

• Israeli strikes kill at least 13 in southern Lebanon on Monday: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 people and wounded 38 more across southern Lebanon on Monday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. A strike on the town of Abba destroyed a home, killing 78-year-old Najia Rammal and her 11-year-old grandson Fadl Tarhini and wounding four others; a separate strike on Jarjouaa killed two brothers, Ali and Nidal Moussa, and wounded one more. An Israeli drone strike on a house in Zibdin in southern Lebanon killed three people, including two Bangladeshi workers and a Syrian man working in the area, according to L’Orient Today. It was at least the second Israeli attack on Zibdin that day, after Israel also bombed a municipal van delivering bread, reportedly killing two municipal workers. The Israeli military issued forced displacement orders for nine areas in southern Lebanon, and separately reported that one Israeli soldier was killed in a Hezbollah drone strike and three others wounded in a booby-trapped drone explosion. The deaths on Monday follow over 80 killed over the weekend.

• UN sounds alarm as Israel carries out over 100 strikes on Lebanon in 24 hours: The Israeli military said on Tuesday it struck over 100 targets in Lebanon. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher posted on X: “Over 100 strikes on Lebanon in 24 hours. Civilians killed. Families displaced...what people need most is a genuine ceasefire.” Strikes continued Monday evening across southern and eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency and L’Orient Today: rescue teams recovered the bodies of Reda Jaber and his five-year-old son Mahdi in Kfartebnit following an earlier strike; a drone fired a guided missile at a car in Doueir, killing two people; and Israeli forces struck a health center in Srifa staffed by volunteers authorized by UNIFIL—the UN interim force in Lebanon—killing at least one rescue official and wounding five others. All strikes occurred despite a ceasefire agreement extended through May 17.

• Hezbollah claims 20 operations against Israeli forces Monday: Hezbollah said it carried out 20 operations against Israeli forces on Monday in response to continued ceasefire violations, claiming the destruction of a Merkava tank, two D9 bulldozers, a Humvee, engineering vehicles, and fuel tankers across the Rashaf, Naqoura, and Tayr Harfa axes. The group said it conducted a three-stage attack on Israeli forces in Taybeh, destroying a deployment site, and also struck a newly established Israeli command center and troop gatherings in Bayadha, shelled artillery positions in Adaisseh, and fired a surface-to-air missile at an Israeli drone over Tyre.

Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel

• Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed and 10 were injured across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,742 killed, with 172,565 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 856 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,463, while 770 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

• Israeli forces kill four Palestinians across Gaza on Monday: Israeli forces killed four Palestinians across Gaza on Monday, according to Felesteen Online citing Gaza’s Health Ministry and local sources. Two Palestinians were shot and killed in two separate incidents in Khan Younis and in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, both by Israeli troops positioned in eastern areas of the Strip. Medical crews also recovered the bodies of two Palestinians from the Netzarim junction area after both were struck by Israeli artillery.

• Israel kills Palestinian during raid on Qalandiya: Israeli forces killed a 30-year-old Palestinian man on Monday during a raid on Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to Al Jazeera. At least 44 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank in 2026, according to the United Nations.

• EU approves third settler sanctions package after Hungary drops 18-month veto: The EU Council of Foreign Ministers on Monday sanctioned Israeli far-right activist Daniela Weiss and several settler organizations—including the Nachala movement, Amana, Regavim, and Shomer Yesha—along with their directors, imposing entry bans, asset freezes, and prohibitions on financial activity in the EU, Haaretz reports. The package had been finalized since fall 2024 but was held up for 18 months by Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán; it is the EU’s third such sanctions round, following two earlier packages covering nine individuals and five organizations including Lehava and Tzav 9. The sanctions also targeted leading Palestinian resistance figures from Hamas; the movement’s Basem Naim condemned the move, telling Reuters it equates between a “fascist executioner who boasts of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing,” and its victim.

• Microsoft ousts Israel country manager, places branch under French oversight after probe into IDF surveillance ties: Microsoft last week abruptly removed Israel country manager Alon Haimovich and transferred the Israeli branch to operate under Microsoft France pending a permanent replacement, after an internal investigation found conduct that was “not transparent towards global management” and violated company terms of service, Israeli outlets Globes and Ynet report. The crisis traces to a Guardian investigation revealing that Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200 secretly built a mass surveillance system storing recordings of millions of Palestinian phone calls daily on Microsoft’s Azure servers in Europe—allegedly arranged through a 2021 personal meeting between CEO Satya Nadella and Unit 8200’s commander. Microsoft terminated Unit 8200’s usage agreement in September 2025, but the internal probe found Unit 8200 was only “the tip of the iceberg,” with additional Israel Defense Forces units discovered to have been using Microsoft systems without authorization.

• Palestinian detainees describe systematic sexual abuse in Israeli custody, NYT reports: Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention described systematic sexual violence and abuse at the hands of guards, in an article in the Opinion section of the New York Times by columnist Nicholas Kristof. Sami al-Sai, a 46-year-old Palestinian freelance journalist, said guards beat him, stripped him naked, and assaulted him with a carrot and a rubber baton while laughing, and that a female guard grabbed his genitals and mocked him; he told the Times he believed the abuse was partly intended to pressure him into becoming an informant. A Palestinian farmer held for months without charges under administrative detention said guards pinned him down, stripped him, and raped him with a metal baton while “laughing and cheering”—and that when he asked for pen and paper to file a complaint, guards returned to his cell, mocked him, and raped him twice more; days after speaking to reporters, the farmer withdrew permission to use his name after a visit from Shin Bet officers warning him not to “cause trouble.” A 23-year-old Palestinian woman said soldiers threatened to rape her, her mother, and her young niece during her arrest, and that male and female guards repeatedly stripped and groped her during shift changes; before her release, she said six officials threatened to rape and kill her and her father if she spoke publicly. A Palestinian journalist from Gaza said guards bound his genitals and beat them so severely he urinated blood for days, and said that while blindfolded and handcuffed he was sexually assaulted by a police dog while guards photographed the assault and laughed.

• Palestinian prisoner groups detail systematic torture, starvation in Israeli detention: Palestinian prisoner rights organizations published new testimonies Monday from Gaza detainees held in Israel’s Naqab and Ramla prisons, describing systematic torture, deliberate starvation, and denial of medical care. The Prisoner’s Club and Commission of Detainees Affairs said 1,283 Gaza detainees are held under the “unlawful combatant” classification without charge, shielding their detention from international oversight.

• NYT investigation finds Israel’s Eurovision popular vote wins may have been manipulated through coordinated voting campaigns: A New York Times investigation published Monday found that Israel won the Eurovision popular vote in 2025 in countries where polls show it is deeply unpopular, with a voting data analysis suggesting that only a few hundred people voting repeatedly could have tipped those results. Financial records show Israel spent over $1 million on Eurovision influence campaigns since 2018, including funds explicitly allocated for “vote promotion” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hasbara—overseas propaganda—office. Five countries—Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia—are boycotting this year’s contest over Israel’s participation.

• Israeli Knesset approves tribunal for October 7 suspects in 93-0 vote: Israel’s Knesset voted 93-0 late Monday to establish a special tribunal empowered to impose the death penalty on Palestinians accused of involvement in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, with the remaining 27 legislators absent or abstaining, Al Jazeera reports. Israeli and Palestinian rights groups warn the bill lowers legal protections to enable mass convictions, with Muna Haddad of Adalah—The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel telling Al Jazeera that the bill explicitly permits mass trials deviating from standard rules of evidence, including broad judicial discretion to admit evidence obtained under coercive conditions that may amount to torture. The bill mandates the public broadcasting of opening hearings, verdicts, and sentencing—a provision Haddad said “transforms proceedings into show trials.” The bill is separate from a law passed in March approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of “terrorism.” That law applies only to future cases and cannot be applied retroactively to October 7 suspects. Israel is currently holding an estimated 200–300 Palestinians from the October 7 attacks who have not yet been charged.

Today’s Nebraska Primary

By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com.

Polls are open today in Nebraska, closing at 8 p.m. CST. All elections in the state require voter ID.

• Nebraska Senate race: A new survey by Tavern Research, a Democratic-leaning firm, has independent candidate Dan Osborn up 5 points over incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts, 47–42%. Among independent voters in Nebraska, Osborn is up 62–20%.

• Republican plant? Osborn and the Nebraska Democratic Party have accused Ricketts of covertly propping up three-time Trump-voter Bill Forbes in the Democratic primary today. Forbes is a pastor who has spent years involved in Republican politics, as a “plant” to run as a spoiler candidate who could weaken independent candidate Osborn’s path to victory in the general election. According to the Nebraska Examiner, Forbes has “sidestepped” the question of being “loyal” to Ricketts, and CNN reported that the pastor also attended a conservative leadership training hosted by the Nebraska Republican Party just months before jumping into the Democratic primary. Ricketts and his campaign deny any collusion.

• Clearing a path for Osborn: On the other hand, the New York Times reported Monday that Forbes’s opponent, pharmacy technician Cindy Burbank, who’s endorsed by the Nebraska Democratic Party, plans to drop out and clear a path for Osborn should she win, per a fundraising email sent out by Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Kleeb has called Forbes a “total liar,” an “anti-abortion conservative,” and the party has put $136,000 behind Burbank’s campaign.

• SCOOP from Julian Andreone: Chris Backemeyer, who spent 20 years as an official in the State Department and was an advisor to former Vice President Kamala Harris, is on the ballot today in Nebraska’s first congressional district. He has been campaigning on his diplomatic experience, touting his role as an architect of Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. But declassified documents show that he spent the last decade rubber-stamping the architecture for humanitarian disasters in Gaza, Yemen, and Iran behind the scenes at the State Department.

  • “I was part of the team that negotiated that deal, which was grounded in rigorous analysis and careful diplomacy,” Backemeyer wrote in a post on X the day the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran. “I was also in government when Trump dismantled it—without the same level of scrutiny. I fear the same is true about this military operation.”

  • Press guidance from the beginning of the first Trump presidency, however, shows that Backemeyer personally approved the rollout for Trump’s missile and terrorism sanctions against Iran after participating in the transition into the new administration. “I absolutely approved sanctions on Iran’s missile program and terrorist activities because those were never lifted under the nuclear deal and they remained, and continue to remain, a threat to the U.S.,” Backemeyer told Drop Site in response.

  • Backemeyer, as Zeteo’s Prem Thakker recently outlined, has raised $350,000, as compared to the $50,000 his more progressive and populist opponent Eric Moyer has brought in, raking in swaths of big money from high-level government officials, like former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and DC lobbyists. Perhaps most problematically, however, Backemeyer has raised money from former U.S. Gulf ambassadors, presenting an even further conflict of interests as it relates to his work facilitating the Saudi Arabian military brutality against the Yemeni people in 2019.

• DMFI’s waffle in NE-02: Democratic Majority for Israel, a group largely aligned with AIPAC, sought to buy ads on behalf of candidate Denise Powell, who has denied accepting contributions from the pro-Israel lobby, against her opponent John Cavanaugh, until they suddenly withdrew their ad buy when a Super PAC funded by the New Democrat Coalition, a centrist congressional caucus, increased its own. This appears to be the latest in a trend of of AIPAC funneling money into passthrough PACs to aligned candidates without attaching the increasingly toxic association with the pro-Israel lobby.

Other U.S. News

• Consumer prices jump over soaring energy prices from Iran war: U.S. consumer prices climbed sharply again in April as the Iran war pushed energy prices higher. The consumer price index rose 3.8% from April 2025, according to data released by the Labor Department on Tuesday. Gasoline prices are up more than 28% compared to a year ago while food rose by 3.2%. “Inflation is the key drag on the U.S. economy now,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union told CNBC. “This is hurting Americans. There is a real financial squeeze underway. For the first time in three years, inflation is eating up all wage gains. This is a setback for middle-class and lower-income households and they know it.”

• Hamawy surges in New Jersey: An internal poll showed Adam Hamawy, an Army doctor who volunteered in Gaza, surging into the lead in the Democratic primary race in New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, rising in a month from 5 to 19% in a crowded field, Drop Site’s Ryan Grim reported. Sue Altman was in second with 12% and Brad Cohen at 11.

• Supreme Court clears path for Alabama to redraw voting map, reducing majority-Black districts: The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for Alabama to use a new congressional voting map for the midterm elections that would reduce the state’s majority-Black districts from two to one, in a ruling that split along ideological lines with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting. The one-paragraph order sends the case back to a lower court to reconsider the current map—drawn by an independent special master and used in 2024—in light of the court’s recent decision raising the bar for Voting Rights Act challenges. That decision, issued in late April in a Louisiana case, held that challengers must now show strong evidence that lawmakers intended to racially discriminate, not merely gain a political advantage, to bring successful claims under the landmark 1965 law.

• Sixth Circuit rejects Trump’s mass immigration detention policy in latest appellate defeat: A divided panel of the Ohio-based Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s policy of detaining the vast majority of people it seeks to deport without offering a bond hearing—even those who have lived in the United States for decades without incident. The ruling is the latest in a series of appellate defeats for the administration on the issue, following similar decisions from the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit and the New York-based 2nd Circuit; two courts, the 5th and 8th Circuits, have sided with the administration, while the 7th Circuit deadlocked. More than 425 federal judges nationwide—including a majority of Trump appointees—have ruled against the expanded detention policy, while roughly 50, most appointed by Trump, have sided with the administration. The circuit split makes a Supreme Court review likely.

• Americans from hantavirus cruise ship now identified in at least 9 states: Eighteen Americans were evacuated from the MV Hondius—a Dutch cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak—and flown to Nebraska on Monday after the vessel docked in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. Three passengers have died and at least nine cases have been confirmed, including one American who tested positive but is asymptomatic and another with mild symptoms. As states begin disclosing the locations of returning passengers, Drop Site contributor Jacqueline Sweet is independently tracking American passengers; she has so far identified residents from New York, Nevada, Washington state, and New Hampshire, in addition to seven who previously disembarked early and are being monitored in California, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, and Arizona—bringing the known total to at least nine states.

• Trump administration subpoenas Wall Street Journal reporters’ records in press freedom clash: The Wall Street Journal disclosed Monday that federal prosecutors had subpoenaed records of its reporters in connection with a February 23 article describing Pentagon officials’ warnings to President Donald Trump about the risks of a military campaign against Iran—an article that appeared days before the war began. The subpoenas, dated March 4, were issued by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which has long served as a hub for classified information leak investigations due to its jurisdiction over the Pentagon and CIA headquarters.

• Trump nominates Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA a year after firing him: President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Cameron Hamilton to serve as permanent administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency—roughly a year after firing him from the same role in an acting capacity. Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, was dismissed in May 2025 after clashing with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who administered a lie-detector test to agency staff she suspected of leaking to reporters; the day before his firing, Hamilton appeared to contradict Trump by telling a House subcommittee that FEMA should not be eliminated, as the president had threatened.

• Former mayor of LA suburb pleads guilty to acting as illegal agent of China: Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia—a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles—has agreed to plead guilty to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government from late 2020 until 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. Wang admitted she did not notify the U.S. government that she was acting on behalf of China while operating a website called the US News Center, which published pro-Beijing content while presenting itself as a news outlet for Chinese Americans.

• ICE contractor awarded $12 million no-bid surveillance deal appears to have fabricated executives, partnerships, and client testimonials: Edge Ops LLC, the company awarded a $12 million no-bid contract by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to build an AI surveillance tool tracking immigrants’ real-time locations and daily routines, appears to have fabricated or misrepresented key details about its leadership, partnerships, and clients, The Lever reported Monday. After The Lever first reported on the contract last month, Edge Ops scrubbed its website of all references to the program—called Project SAFE HAVEN—as well as details about its leadership and past clients. Read The Lever’s investigation here.

Other International News

• Trump frustrated by failed efforts to destabilize Cuba, Pentagon updates contingency plans: President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated that months of U.S. pressure have failed to bring down Cuba’s government, and has pressed advisers on why collapse has not materialized, NBC News reports. Some U.S. officials believe the Cuban government could fall by the end of 2026 without direct military intervention, but Trump views that timeline as too slow. The Pentagon has also begun updating contingency plans for possible military action against Cuba if ordered by the president, NBC says.

• Cuba’s deputy foreign minister says U.S. cannot find “credible excuse” for military aggression: Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, wrote Monday that Washington and “anti-Cuban politicians” have failed to justify either military action or the ongoing economic blockade against the island. “In spite of a well coordinated and financed effort, the US gov and the anti-Cuban politicians can’t find a credible let alone acceptable excuse for military aggression against Cuba,” he wrote, adding that even the energy and economic blockade is “difficult to excuse.” The statement comes as Cuba faces an acute energy and economic crisis stemming from the U.S. oil blockade, which Cossío has previously described as “a war” against the Cuban people.

• Greece investigates explosive-laden drone found off Lefkada coast: Greek authorities have launched an investigation after a long-range drone packed with explosives was discovered in a sea cave off the coast of Lefkada, The Guardian reports. Bomb disposal teams detonated the device at sea after a fisher found it. Officials believe it resembles a Ukrainian-made Magura V3 naval drone and suspect it drifted off course after operators lost control.

• Modi urges Indians to work from home, avoid gold purchases as energy prices strain foreign reserves: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for a sweeping set of conservation measures as surging global energy prices put pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, Reuters reports. Modi urged a return to work-from-home and online meetings, wider use of public transport and carpooling, reduced cooking oil consumption, and cuts to fertilizer use by as much as half. He also asked Indians to avoid buying gold—a major expenditure during wedding season—and to forgo non-essential overseas travel for at least a year.

• Armed drones killed at least 880 civilians in Sudan during first four months of 2026, UN reports: Armed drones accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths in Sudan in the first four months of 2026—more than 80% of all conflict-related civilian fatalities—the UN Human Rights Office reported Monday.

• Prominent RSF field commander defects: Ali Rizq, a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) brigadier general widely known as “Al-Savanna,“ announced his formal defection from the Sudanese paramilitary group Monday in a video circulated on social media, saying he no longer had any relationship with the RSF and framing his departure as an alignment with the Sudanese people and a move toward peace and stability.

• EU and UK sanction dozens over Russia’s forced deportation and militarization of Ukrainian children: The European Union and United Kingdom imposed coordinated sanctions Monday on Russian institutions and officials accused of systematically deporting and indoctrinating Ukrainian children. The EU announced measures against 23 state institutions and individuals, while the UK unveiled a broader package targeting 85 people and entities, roughly a third of them linked to Russia’s campaign to forcibly deport and militarize Ukrainian children. Russia has deported and forcibly transferred nearly 20,500 Ukrainian children since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the EU noted, calling the actions grave breaches of international law.

• South Africa’s parliament to establish impeachment committee to probe Ramaphosa over Farmgate scandal: South Africa’s lower house of parliament announced Monday it will establish an impeachment committee to investigate President Cyril Ramaphosa over the “Farmgate“ scandal, following a constitutional court ruling last week that parliament’s decision to block an inquiry four years ago was inconsistent with the constitution. The scandal centers on the 2020 theft of $4 million in foreign cash that had been stuffed inside a sofa at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm, raising questions about how the money was acquired, whether it was declared, and why it was concealed in furniture rather than held in a bank.

• Haiti’s prime minister says gang violence makes August elections impossible: Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime said Monday that security conditions are not stable enough to hold presidential elections scheduled for August, as escalating gang clashes in Port-au-Prince forced hospitals to evacuate patients and hundreds of residents to flee their homes. Haiti has not held elections since 2016, and gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people nationwide according to the International Organization for Migration, with roughly 200,000 now living in overcrowded sites in the capital.

• Starmer consulting colleagues on future: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was consulting colleagues Tuesday about whether he can remain in office ahead of a crunch cabinet meeting, after ministerial aides quit and nearly 80 lawmakers from across Labour’s ideological spectrum publicly called for him to set a timetable for his departure.

• Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebels withdraw from key positions in eastern Congo: The Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebel group withdrew from several key positions in Congo’s eastern South Kivu province over the weekend, the Congolese army and a rebel official confirmed Monday—marking the first significant battlefield shift in months.

• Bolivian judge reissues arrest warrant for Morales: A Bolivian judge found former President Evo Morales in contempt of court Monday and reissued an arrest warrant after he failed to appear for the start of his trial in the southern city of Tarija on charges of trafficking a minor. Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, is accused of fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office, with the girl’s parents accused of consenting to the relationship in exchange for favors; he has rejected the accusations.

• Philippine senator flees into parliament after ICC unseals arrest warrant over drug war killings: Philippine Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, the former national police chief who oversaw the deadliest period of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, took refuge inside the Senate building Monday after the International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant charging him as an “indirect co-perpetrator” in the “crime against humanity of murder” for killings carried out between July 2016 and April 2018.

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