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Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
UAE To Leave OPEC
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced Tuesday that it will leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a group of nations that, before the UAE’s departure, accounted for roughly 30 percent of worldwide oil production. The UAE will take 13 percent of OPEC’s production capacity—4.8 million barrels a day—when it leaves on May 1. The country will also leave OPEC+, a larger group that includes Russia. UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed al-Mazrouei said the country made the decision “after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production,” and that “the world needs more energy, the world needs more resources, and the U.A.E. wanted to be unconstrained by any groups.” The UAE said it planned to increase investment in domestic energy production. OPEC has historically set production quotas for its member states to control global oil prices. In recent years, Saudi Arabia—OPEC’s de facto leader—has pushed for production cuts to keep oil prices elevated. The global oil market reaction was limited, as most UAE exports are currently constrained by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
- Tensions have been increasing between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with both countries backing separate sides in Yemen’s civil war.
- Iranian drones and missiles have repeatedly struck targets throughout the UAE since the start of the war between Iran, the U.S., and Israel, and the UAE reportedly believes that Saudi Arabia is overly concerned with seeking an immediate diplomatic end to the war and wants any settlement to ensure its future security.
- Eleven core members of OPEC remain: Algeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
DOJ Indicts James Comey, Again
The Justice Department on Tuesday indicted former FBI Director James Comey for the second time in the past 12 months. The indictment stemmed from an investigation into a photo Comey posted to Instagram in May of last year, depicting seashells on a beach that were arranged to spell out “8647,” which federal officials allege was a threat to kill President Donald Trump. A federal grand jury in North Carolina voted to indict Comey on two counts, with the indictment reading that Comey “did knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States” and “knowingly and willfully did transmit in interstate and foreign commerce a communication that contained a threat to kill the President.” Both counts carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. In the days following the original Instagram post, Secret Service agents interviewed Comey over the phone and in person, where he denied knowing the potential violent connotation of the numbers or intending to threaten Trump.
- Tuesday’s indictment came about five months after a federal judge threw out an earlier Virginia grand jury indictment that accused Comey of lying to Congress.
- “Threatening the life of the president of the United States will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a Tuesday press conference.
- It’s unclear whether Comey will be arrested: Blanche denied that prosecutors had requested an arrest warrant for Comey, but court files and the indictment itself showed that the U.S. attorney’s office had requested and received a warrant for Comey’s arrest.
FCC Pressures Disney
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday ordered the eight television stations owned and operated by Disney to file their broadcast renewal licenses ahead of schedule. The move is linked to an ongoing federal investigation into DEI practices at Disney, but was reportedly prompted by a joke late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made about first lady Melania Trump last week. “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said last week, before the attempted assassination of Trump at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner Saturday. (Other reports have cited FCC officials as saying that the timing was “coincidental”). In a Monday Truth Social post, Trump accused Kimmel of issuing a “despicable call to violence,” which Kimmel denied, saying it “obviously was a joke about their age difference.” Disney has until May 28 to respond to the order. If the FCC were to revoke its television broadcast license, it would be the first time the agency has done so since RKO General lost its license in 1987, following a multi-decade legal battle over accusations of fraud, bribery, and improper campaign contributions. Disney said in a Tuesday statement that it had “a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming.”
- Last year, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr pressured ABC and Disney executives to take Kimmel off broadcasts following a joke he made about the assassination of activist Charlie Kirk.
- After a brief suspension, Disney renewed Kimmel’s contract through 2027.
- “You can accelerate when a license comes due and say, hey, we have significant concerns with the value of conducting your operations,” Carr said on a Tuesday podcast, in reference to Disney’s television broadcast license.
National Science Board Members Still Don’t Know Why They Were Fired
Yolanda Gil and Keivan Stassun—former board members of the National Science Board, a panel of independent experts that supervises the National Science Foundation—said Monday they still have not been given any reason or warning for their terminations, after all 22 members were fired Friday in an email signed “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump.” The board, composed mostly of representatives from academic and commercial science, was founded in 1950 by Congress as part of the National Science Foundation Act, which was intended to provide government support for research in science, math, and engineering. The president appoints members, who serve staggered six-year terms, without needing to secure congressional approval. The White House claimed in a statement that the firing followed a 2021 Supreme Court decision, U.S. v. Arthrex, that “raised constitutional questions about whether non-Senate confirmed appointees can exercise the authorities that Congress gave the National Science Board.” White House officials said they “look forward to working with the Hill to update the statute and ensure the NSB can perform its duties as Congress intended. The National Science Foundation’s work continues uninterrupted.”
- Roger Beachy, a biologist and one of the fired board members, said Tuesday that any new board was at risk of taking “orders from the administration rather than being independent” and prioritizing short-term goals over longer-term projects without an immediate payoff.
- In its budget proposal for fiscal year 2026, the Trump administration had requested a 57 percent cut to the foundation’s budget, but Congress granted only a 3.4 percent cut.
- For fiscal year 2027, the White House has requested a 55 percent cut to the NSF.
OpenAI Misses Internal Revenue and User Growth Targets
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the artificial intelligence company OpenAI fell short of internal targets for new user growth and revenue, ahead of a likely IPO this year. The report noted that the company has yet to meet an internal goal of attracting 1 billion weekly active users, which it intended to hit by the end of 2025, and that Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar allegedly warned that at current revenue growth levels, OpenAI may not be able to pay for future computing contracts. OpenAI has recently prioritized adding data center capacity to boost its computing capacity, committing to $600 billion in future computing contracts in 2025. Tech stocks dropped in response to the news.
- On Tuesday, testimony began in the civil case between Altman and Elon Musk, a co-founder and major early funder of OpenAI, in which Musk accuses Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman of illegally changing OpenAI from a nonprofit to a for-profit company.
- Lawyers for Altman contend that Musk had pushed for the transition to for-profit status, only suing after failing to gain control of the company.
- Musk is seeking around $130 billion in damages from OpenAI and its investor, Microsoft, with the money going to OpeanAI’s charitable arm; for Altman and Brockman to be removed from leadership; and for OpenAI’s for-profit conversion to be reversed.
As they have numerous times in the past, California and New York City are grappling with massive budget deficits in the face of ballooning government spending. California is nearing an $18 billion shortfall, and New York City is at $10.4 billion. Lawmakers and voters in both places have landed on the same fix: tax the rich.
In California, a union-backed ballot initiative is calling for a one-time wealth tax of up to 5 percent on individuals and married couples worth more than $1 billion—reaching the full 5 percent for those worth at least $1.1 billion. On Sunday, its organizers submitted more than 1.5 million signatures, nearly double the roughly 875,000 required to appear on the ballot this November, allowing voters to vote to approve the proposal through a statewide referendum.
On the other side of the country, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has endorsed a new tax proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, which would levy an annual surcharge on luxury New York City homes worth $5 million or more if the owner lives outside the city.
The two efforts are the most public and notable attempts by states to more heavily tax their wealthiest residents—measures that legislators in Illinois, Washington, and several other Democratic-led states are watching closely as they pursue similar measures of their own.
Today’s Must-Read
In Other News
Today in America
- In a 3-0 decision, a federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration lacked the authority to unilaterally detain illegal immigrants accused of crossing the border to the U.S. and hold them without a bond hearing.
- The Trump administration said that the FBI, along with federal, state, and local law enforcement, carried out court-approved searches of businesses in the Minneapolis area in connection with an ongoing fraud investigation.
- The White House Office of Management and Budget reportedly sent a memo to the House of Representatives, urging members to pass a Senate-approved, currently stalled bill to fund the Homeland Security Department, except for its immigration enforcement agencies.
- A federal district judge dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the Arizona state government, seeking access to its voter rolls, ruling that the Justice Department lacks the authority to demand access to the records.
- A federal grand jury indicted David Morens, 78, a former senior adviser to Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 2006 to 2022, on five charges for allegedly working to hide federal records during the COVID-19 pandemic, including emails regarding the virus’s possible origin, which prosecutors said violated federal law.
- The Pentagon asked Congress to codify the “Department of War” name change for the Department of Defense, projecting $52 million in implementation costs. The Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cost $125 million.
Around the World
- Britain’s King Charles III addressed a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives during his four-day visit to the U.S.
- A legislative committee in the Philippines found probable cause to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte over allegations of misused confidential funds, unexplained wealth, and a plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
- South Korea’s Seoul High Court convicted ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol on all remaining charges connected to his brief imposition of martial law in 2024, handing down a seven-year sentence that stacks on his existing life term for rebellion.
- British police said counter-terrorism officials are leading an investigation into a suspected arson attack on a memorial wall—dedicated to Iranian protesters killed in this year’s crackdown—in the heavily Jewish Golders Green neighborhood of north London.
- Bosnia and Croatia signed an agreement to construct a new gas pipeline between the two nations, intended to reduce their respective energy reliance on Russia.
- Swiss authorities, supported by Europol and German federal police, arrested 10 people believed to be members of the Nigerian-based Black Axe criminal gang, allegedly involved in romance scams and cyberfraud.
On the Money
- Google signed a deal with the Defense Department granting officials access to use its AI models for “any lawful governmental purpose.”
- A federal court in New Jersey sentenced Purdue Pharma—known for producing OxyContin—to pay $5.5 billion in fines and penalties, including $225 million to the federal government, after it pleaded guilty in 2020 to illegally paying doctors to encourage opioid purchases and attempting to shield their actions from government regulators.
- The Malaysian-based Genting Group officially opened the first full-scale casino in New York City, Resorts World.
- The Chinese government reportedly paused issuing licenses for autonomous vehicles in response to an incident last month in which more than 100 self-driving cars developed by Baidu stopped working.
- The European Commission issued preliminary charges against Meta over inadequate safeguards on Instagram and Facebook, alleging the company allows roughly 10 to 12 percent of children under 13 across the bloc to access the platforms, in violation of EU online safety rules.
- Survodutide—a weekly obesity injection from Boehringer Ingelheim and Zealand Pharma—hit its targets in a Phase 3 trial, with 85 percent of treated participants losing at least 5 percent of their body weight. Early signs suggest the shot may preserve more lean muscle mass than rivals Wegovy and Zepbound.
Worth Your Time
- “The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters” (New York Times)
- Missy Ryan, Vivian Salama, Michael Scherer, and Nancy A. Youssef report on Vice President J.D. Vance’s concerns that the Pentagon is not adequately updating Trump on the Iran war. (The Atlantic)
- Louisa Thomas reviews Jordan Himelfarb’s new book on the next generation of chess grand masters. (The New Yorker)
- Bryant Walker Smith and Matthew Wansley on how to regulate commercial robotaxis. (Southern California Law Review)
- Richard Conniff on why people love sloths. (Substack)
- Apple released the trailer for the fourth season of its Emmy-winning show Ted Lasso. (YouTube)
Presented Without Comment
Washington Post: Image of Trump To Be Featured Inside New Passports To Mark America’s 250th
Also Presented Without Comment
Bangkok Post: Taiwanese Held After 30 Tortoises Found Concealed on Body at Suvarnabhumi
Also Also Presented Without Comment
Milwaukee Magazine: Newly Filled Potholes Will Now Feature the Brewers Logo
