Happy Tuesday! Security officials at Sri Lanka’s airports detained 22 Buddhist monks on Sunday after cannabis was found concealed in their luggage.
It appears the secret to spiritual awakening is 242 pounds of especially potent cannabis.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
White House Rebuffs Iran’s Latest Offer
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Monday that the U.S. rejected Iran’s most recent peace proposal to immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that the plan would place control of the strait in Tehran’s hands. Rubio said that, from Iran’s viewpoint on the offer, “the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, obtain our permission, or we’ll strike you and you’ll pay us,” adding, “That isn’t opening the straits.” Reuters reported on Monday that Trump remained unmoved by Iran’s latest offer, with one official telling the outlet that the president “doesn’t love the proposal.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump convened a meeting with top national security advisers on Monday to discuss the proposal and reaffirmed the White House’s two preconditions: the reopening of the strait and Iran surrendering its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi traveled to Russia on Monday to meet with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Putin claimed to have received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, during remarks at a school in the German town of Marsberg, said, “The Iranians are clearly stronger than anticipated, and the Americans clearly lack a truly convincing strategy in the negotiations as well,” adding that the U.S. “is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”
Afghanistan Claims Pakistan Attacked Eastern City
The Taliban-led Afghan government said on Monday that Pakistan launched mortar and rocket strikes in the eastern Afghan city of Asadabad, killing seven people and injuring at least 85 others, including women and children. Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said 30 of those wounded were students at Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University, which was hit along with nearby homes. Taliban officials at the Afghan higher education ministry said that the university’s buildings and surrounding property had sustained heavy damage in the assault. Some sources told the BBC that jets and drones were also employed in the aerial attack. Pakistan’s Information Ministry denied orchestrating such attacks, dismissing the reports as “continuous propaganda.” The Information Ministry tweeted, “Whenever and wherever Pakistan strikes the Afghan-based terror infrastructure, it will be as per previous actions, well declared, fully owned and backed by precise evidence of targeting terror support infrastructure.”
- While the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan has persisted intermittently since October, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said earlier this month that after Chinese-mediated talks between Taliban and Pakistani officials, both sides agreed to refrain from any escalation.
- Last month, Pakistani air forces struck a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, Afghanistan, which Taliban officials said killed more than 400 people, though the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan cited a lower death toll of 143. To learn more about the conflict, read the March 12 issue of TMD.
OpenAI Changes Relationship with Microsoft as It Goes to Court With Musk
Microsoft and OpenAI on Monday announced a sweeping overhaul of one of AI’s most consequential partnerships, ending Microsoft’s exclusive commercial rights to OpenAI’s models and enabling the ChatGPT creator to offer its products through rival cloud providers. Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019, a setup that made Azure the AI company’s exclusive cloud provider, gave Microsoft sole rights to weave OpenAI’s models into its own offerings like Bing and Copilot, and entitled it to a share of OpenAI’s revenue. Under the new terms, OpenAI can now offer its products on any cloud platform, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft’s right to use OpenAI’s models in its own products remains through 2032, but other firms can now license the same technology, and Microsoft will stop paying OpenAI a cut of the revenue generated on Azure when customers use OpenAI’s models there. Microsoft will continue earning a portion of OpenAI’s revenue through 2030, subject to an undisclosed cap, and will stay OpenAI’s “primary cloud partner,” with OpenAI’s prior pledge to spend at least $250 billion on Azure intact.
- OpenAI signed a $38 billion cloud deal with Amazon in November and received a $50 billion Amazon investment in February, which reportedly prompted Microsoft to consider legal action over possible breaches of exclusivity.
- The announcement came as jury selection opened Monday in Oakland in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, where the billionaire seeks more than $150 billion in damages and an order forcing OpenAI to revert to nonprofit status. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is expected to testify.
- Microsoft has been reducing its reliance on OpenAI in recent months by developing its own in-house models and integrating Anthropic’s offerings into its products, while reorganizing its AI division in March.
Israel Fires on Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a series of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets and related infrastructure in Lebanon on Monday, a day after the Iran-backed group killed a 19-year-old Israeli soldier in a drone assault in the area, injuring six other troops. Lebanese health officials reported 14 fatalities in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon on Sunday, including two women and two children, though independent outlets have yet to confirm these numbers. On Monday, the IDF broadened its military actions, hitting targets in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley for the first time since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect on April 16. State media in Lebanon reported that Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon wounded three people. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem stated in a written message that the group would not abandon its weapons or defenses, rejecting Israel’s demand for disarmament as a condition for its troops leaving southern Lebanon.
- Qassem added that any negotiations or agreements between the Israeli and Lebanese governments are “nonexistent for us and none of our business,” insisting Hezbollah remains committed to “our defensive resistance.”
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha summoned Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, amid Israel’s decision to permit a vessel carrying grain from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, which Kyiv regards as “stolen,” to dock in the Israeli port of Haifa.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar argued that Sybiha produced no evidence showing that the grain was stolen from occupied Ukrainian land.
Maritime Authorities Warn of Increased Somali Piracy Threat
Maritime authorities raised the regional piracy risk level to “substantial” on Monday after suspected Somali pirates seized a general cargo ship registered in St. Kitts and Nevis late Sunday, marking the second successful hijacking off the Somali coast in under a week. UK-based security firms Ambrey and Vanguard determined that the vessel—the five-person crewed Sward, traveling from Suez to Mombasa—was steered toward the Somali coast by armed men. The European Union’s Operation Atalanta said on Monday that it was monitoring three active piracy incidents off the Somali coast with two warships, while the Joint Maritime Information Centre upgraded its piracy threat level for the Somali Coast and Somali Basin to “substantial,” meaning an attack is a strong possibility. The agency advised vessels to remain highly vigilant within 150 nautical miles of the Somali coast.
- A separate hijacking on April 22 saw six gunmen board the Palau-flagged oil tanker Honour, with five more armed men joining later.
- Gas prices in Mogadishu have tripled since the conflict began, the BBC reported, making fuel cargo a particularly attractive target for pirate groups off the Horn of Africa.
- The resurgence comes as international naval resources are stretched thin by the U.S.-Israel confrontation with Iran, with focus on the largely closed Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
It’s January 2022, and Russian troops are massing on three sides of Ukraine’s border. Kyiv is appealing to allies for anti-tank weapons ahead of an imminent invasion—and Germany’s defense minister offers to send 5,000 helmets. Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, told Bild that the offer left him “speechless.” He called it, in his words, “an absolute joke.” Four years later, Germany aims to stop being a military laughingstock.
Last week, the country’s armed forces released its first-ever military strategy document, titled “Responsibility for Europe,” which lays out concrete goals for expanding defense production, revising once-sacrosanct spending rules, and increasing the number of Germans serving across active and reserve forces by roughly 87 percent.
“We are shaping the Bundeswehr into the strongest conventional army in Europe,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius declared at a press conference presenting the new strategy.
“In the near term, we are boosting defense and resilience; in the medium term, we are targeting a substantial rise in broad capabilities; and in the long run, we will strive for technological superiority.”
And Germany isn’t alone in expanding its military capabilities. New data published Monday show that global military spending reached record levels in 2025.
Today’s Must-Read
In Other News
Today in America
- Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old California man accused of firing shots at Saturday’s White House correspondents’ dinner, was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate President Trump.
- King Charles III and Queen Camilla of Britain arrived in Washington, D.C., on Monday, marking their first visit to the United States as monarchs, and met with Trump at the White House.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, unveiled a Florida redistricting proposal that, if enacted, could yield four additional House seats for the GOP.
- Current and former employees of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told the New York Times they were instructed to pursue cases with limited evidence or legal grounding, including allegations of antisemitism on campuses and charges of anti-white discrimination.
- South Carolina health officials announced that the measles outbreak there has ended after 42 straight days with no cases, though since October the state logged 997 measles cases—the worst outbreak in the U.S. in more than three decades.
- The White House withdrew its nomination to lead the National Park Service, Scott Socha, a long-time Delaware North executive. The White House did not specify a reason for the withdrawal.
Around the World
- India and New Zealand finalized a new free trade agreement, with New Zealand eliminating duties on Indian imports while India agreed to reduce or remove tariffs on 95 percent of imports from New Zealand.
- The German government said an investigation into phishing attacks against senior German politicians via the messaging app Signal points to possible Russian involvement, though Berlin has not officially accused the Kremlin.
- Mexican Security Minister Omar Hamid García Harfuch announced the arrest of a top leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Audias Flores, following an operation north of Puerto Vallarta on the western coast.
- The EU moved to extend sanctions on Burma by one year to maintain pressure on the country’s military junta that seized power in a 2021 coup.
- Lithuanian police arrested and charged 13 people linked to two attempted assassinations in Vilnius who, after investigation, appeared to be acting under Russian military intelligence directions. Ukrainian authorities said the group planned to target Ukrainian journalists and an intelligence official.
On the Money
- China’s National Development and Reform Commission ordered the cancellation of Meta’s $2 billion purchase of the AI agency Manus.
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to launch a state-owned sovereign wealth fund to invest in several major Canadian industries.
- David Silver, who previously led the reinforcement learning team at Google’s DeepMind, announced that his UK-based AI startup Ineffable Intelligence closed a $1.1 billion seed round, the largest in European history.
- Shell, the UK-based oil and gas company, agreed to acquire Canadian energy company ARC Resources in a $16.4 billion deal.
- A coalition of U.S.-based budget airlines, including Frontier and Avelo, has requested a $2.5 billion government aid pool in exchange for warrants convertible into equity.
- Spotify announced a new deal with Peloton to bring over 1,400 classes from the fitness equipment company to a new category on Spotify’s platform.
Worth Your Time
- “Longevity Science Is Overhyped. But This Research Really Could Change Humanity.” (New York Times)
- Theodore Dalrymple analyzes what gives Agatha Christie’s detective fiction its global appeal. (New Criterion)
- From 2021: Famed British painter David Hockney defends smoking. (UnHerd)
- Holly Buck argues the left should pursue democratic governance of AI rather than moratoriums on data centers. (Jacobin)
- From 2019: Paul Graham on how having children changes life. (Having Kids)
Presented Without Comment
The Guardian: The ‘Wizards’ Behind the Online Version of Magic: The Gathering Are Unionizing
Also Presented Without Comment
Mother Jones: Trump Endorses Rebranding ICE as NICE
Also Also Presented Without Comment
CTV: Saskatchewan Towing Company Rescues Moose From Ice
Let Us Know
Correction, April 28, 2026: This newsletter has been updated to more accurately reflect the increase in troop numbers.
