May 11, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 330, Constantine I dedicated Byzantium—known today as Istanbul—as the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
QotD: "I think it is heading to an end, but it's still a serious matter,” Russian president Vladimir Putin said regarding the war in Ukraine over the weekend.
IRAN/US/MIL/ENERGY – Trump dismisses Iran’s offer, oil rises as Hormuz closure persists.
President Donald Trump's swift rejection of Iran's response to a U.S. peace proposal pushed oil prices higher on Monday, fuelling concerns that the 10-week-old conflict will drag on and continue to paralyse shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Days after Washington floated an offer aimed at reopening negotiations, Iran on Sunday released a response focused on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, where U.S. ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Tehran also demanded compensation for war damage, emphasised its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, and called on the United States to end its naval blockade, guarantee no further attacks, lift sanctions and remove a ban on Iranian oil sales.
Within hours, Trump dismissed the proposal in a social media post.
"I don't like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE," Trump wrote on Truth Social, without giving further detail.
The U.S. had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran's nuclear programme.
Tehran responded on Monday by defending its stance.
"Our demand is legitimate: demanding an end to the war, lifting the (U.S.) blockade and piracy, and releasing Iranian assets that have been unjustly frozen in banks due to U.S. pressure," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.
MORE/ASIA – Asia braces for a second wave of energy shocks from Iran war.
https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-wars-energy-asia-gas-oil-45dcf2b9059930f298136720564d6ae6
Asia’s first defenses against energy shocks from the Iran war are running short and a more consequential second wave of impacts is beginning to hit.
When the war started, governments scrambled to adapt to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for energy flowing to Asia. They made difficult trade-offs: saving power at the risk of slowing businesses, prioritizing gas for households at the risk of fertilizer production and dipping into energy stockpiles for temporary relief.
But these measures were based on the war lasting only a short time, allowing a quick resumption of energy flows. That has not happened.
With no clear end in sight, the fuel crisis is now rippling across economies. Airfare costs, shipping rates and utility bills are climbing, jeopardizing economic growth. About 8.8 million people are in danger of being pushed into poverty and the conflict may cause $299 billion in economic losses to the Asia-Pacific region, according to the United Nations Development Program.
“The countries with the least resources to respond, or the consumers who can least afford to pay, are the ones who feel everything first,” said Samantha Gross of the U.S.-based think tank Brookings Institution.
SOUTH AFRICA/COURTS/POL – South Africa’s ANC to meet after court revives impeachment process against president.
South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) party has called a meeting of one of its top decision-making bodies after a court ruling that revived impeachment proceedings against President Cyril Ramaphosa over the "Farmgate" scandal.
Party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu told Reuters the special National Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday evening would discuss the constitutional court ruling, confirming a report by the TimesLIVE news website.
The scandal centres on the theft of a large amount of foreign currency from a sofa on Ramaphosa's Phala Phala game farm in 2020.
Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing and said he respects the constitutional court's judgment.
In 2022, the ANC used its parliamentary majority to block the establishment of an impeachment committee to further investigate the incident, which raised questions about how Ramaphosa acquired so much cash and whether he declared it.
Ramaphosa has said the money was from proceeds from the sale of buffaloes.
US/CHINA/TALKS – Trump and China’s Xi set for talks spanning Iran, nuclear, trade and AI.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to discuss Iran, Taiwan, artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons as they weigh extending a critical minerals deal, according to U.S. officials previewing Trump's two-day visit to China this week.
The leaders of the world's two largest economies will hold their first face-to-face talks in more than six months as they try to stabilize ties strained by trade, the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran and other areas of disagreement.
Trump is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday, ahead of talks set to take place Thursday and Friday. It will be his first trip to China since 2017.
The U.S. and China are expected to agree to forums to facilitate mutual trade and investment, while China is expected to announce purchases related to Boeing airplanes, American agriculture and energy, the officials said.
Plans for a Board of Trade and Board of Investment may be formally announced at the meeting, but those mechanisms may need subsequent work before they can be implemented, one of the officials said.
UK/EU/POL – Starmer pledges to bring Britain closer to the EU as he faces calls to step down.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged Monday to prove the “doubters” in his own party and among the electorate as a whole wrong as he tries to fight off demands to step down after devastating local election results for his Labour Party.
Starmer argued that he will “face up to the big challenges” and restore hope to the country, in part by forging closer ties with the European Union, six years after the U.K.'s acrimonious departure from the bloc.
“I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,” Starmer said during a speech in London. He vowed to prove to millions of people “tired of a status quo that has failed them” that the government is on their side.
He said Labour is in “a battle for the soul of our nation,” and warned Britain will go down “a dark path” if Reform UK, the anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage, comes to power.
Labour lawmaker Catherine West, who had vowed to trigger a leadership challenge if the speech didn’t mark a major turning point, said she would hold off for now, though she urged Starmer to resign by September. Dozens of other lawmakers also have urged him to announce a departure date.
SUDAN/SEC/DRONES – UN warns drone attacks drive surge in civilian deaths in Sudan.
The United Nations human rights chief warned on Monday that widening and intensifying violence in Sudan, as well as the rising use of drones, could lead to more death and displacement.
"The international community is on notice that, unless action is taken without delay, this conflict is on the cusp of entering yet another new, even deadlier phase," the high commissioner for the U.N. Human Rights Office, Volker Turk, said in a statement.
Turk warned that armed drones have now become the leading cause of civilian deaths. Drone strikes accounted for 80% of all conflict-related civilian deaths, with at least 880 people killed by an unmanned aerial vehicle between January and April this year, according to OHCHR data.
Most were recorded in the Kordofan region. Twenty-six civilians were reportedly killed following drone strikes on Al Quz, in South Kordofan, and near El Obeid, in North Kordofan, on May 8, according to OHCHR.
Kordofan and Darfur, in western Sudan, have been focal points of violence, including sexual violence and ethnically charged killings, in the civil war that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The use of drones by the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces is also spreading to other regions including Blue Nile, White Nile and Khartoum.
Civilians risk further displacement from a likely intensification of hostilities, particularly in the SAF-controlled cities of El Obeid and Dilling in South Kordofan, Turk said.
LEBANON/ISRAEL/US/MIL – Lebanon urges US to put pressure on Israel to stop attacks and demolitions.
Lebanon's president has urged the United States to put pressure on Israel to cease fire and stop home demolitions in south Lebanon, the presidency said on Monday, as the death toll from Israeli attacks rose.
Lebanon's health ministry said 74 people had been killed by Israeli strikes in the last three days despite a truce announced last month in fighting between Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Israeli military, a spokesperson said.
Tehran said it had demanded security for Lebanon as part of a proposal for ending the wider war with the U.S. and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected Iran's proposal.
The Hezbollah-Israel conflict reignited on March 2 when the group opened fire at Israel in support of Tehran.
Hostilities have continued since Trump declared a ceasefire on April 16, mostly in south Lebanon, where Israel is occupying a self-declared security zone, saying it aims to guard against Hezbollah attacks.
The Lebanese health ministry spokesperson said the victims since Saturday had been killed in various Israeli strikes, including one that killed at least seven people in the southern town of Saksakiyeh.
It said 2,869 people had been killed since March 2, including 584 medics, women and minors. Its toll does not say how many combatants are among the dead.
RUS/UKR/MIL – Putin says he thinks Ukraine war is ‘coming to an end’.
https://www.dw.com/en/putin-says-he-thinks-ukraine-war-is-coming-to-an-end/a-77106772
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday hinted that the Ukraine war could soon end.
Speaking to reporters after marking Russia's Victory Day parade, Putin said: "I think that the matter is coming to an end."
The comment was made in response to a question about whether Western help to Ukraine went too far.
The Russian leader said: "They started ratcheting up the confrontation with Russia, which continues to this day. I think it is heading to an end, but it's still a serious matter."
Putin's remarks come as Kyiv and Moscow observe a three-day ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine this weekend.
The truce was announced on Friday by US President Donald Trump after negotiations brokered by Washington.
European Council President Antonio Costa on Thursday said the European Union was prepared to hold separate talks with Russia and Ukraine “when the right moment comes."
As part of this weekend's US-led peace deal, both sides agreed to a large prisoner swap, but Putin said Moscow had not heard from Ukraine on the matter.
"We are counting on the Ukrainian side to respond to the proposal made by the President of the United States. Unfortunately, we still have not received any proposals so far," he told reporters.
HANTAVIRUS/WHO – Hantavirus outbreak risk to public is ‘absolutely low,’ WHO says.
The World Health Organization insisted Friday that there is a minimal risk from the hantavirus to the general public, as countries prepared to repatriate passengers stuck on a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak.
Three passengers from the MV Hondius – a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman – have died while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.
The only hantavirus species which can transmit from person to person – Andes virus – has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern.
The Dutch-flagged vessel, which has around 150 people on board, is expected to arrive in the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife on Sunday. Special flights will take passengers to their home countries.
"This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who's really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters.
ISRAEL/IRAN/IRAQ/MIL – Israel built and defended a secret Iran war base in Iraq.
Israel set up a clandestine military outpost in the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign against Iran and launched airstrikes against Iraqi troops who almost discovered it early in the war, people familiar with the matter including U.S. officials said.
Israel built the installation, which housed special forces and served as a logistical hub for the Israeli air force, just before the war started with the knowledge of the U.S., the people said.
Search-and-rescue teams were positioned there in case Israeli pilots were downed. None have been. When a U.S. F-15 jet fighter was shot down near Isfahan, Iran, the Israelis offered to help, but U.S. forces managed the rescue of two airmen themselves, one of the people said. Israel did carry out airstrikes to help protect the operation.
The Israeli base was almost discovered in early March. Iraqi state media said a local shepherd reported unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter flights, and the Iraqi military sent troops to investigate. Israel kept them at bay with airstrikes, one of the people familiar with the matter said.
Israel’s military declined to comment. The Iraqi government at the time condemned the attack, which left an Iraqi soldier dead.
“This reckless operation was carried out without coordination or approval,” Lt. Gen. Qais Al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command, a central security body, told Iraqi state media in comments about the attack in early March.
Comments (1)
Trump keeps making demands, but then TACOs out when they are not met. I say finish the job or stop making demands and walk. This dance he does with Iranian terrorists looks bad for him and the USA.