Happy Wednesday! The Rolling Stones, average age 82, announced their next studio album, recorded in under a month.
Foreign Tongues will be the band’s 25th album, or roughly one per farewell tour.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
Trump Temporarily Suspends ‘Project Freedom’
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday evening that the U.S. would temporarily suspend “Project Freedom,” the military operation to guide neutral commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, for a “short period of time” in a push to get a long-term peace deal with Iran “finalized and signed.” The president wrote on Truth Social that Pakistan—which has mediated negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, along with other countries—had requested the pause. During the operation, which began Monday, American forces reportedly only guided two commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi departed for Beijing yesterday to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, roughly 10 days ahead of Trump’s planned in-person visit.
- At a news conference earlier on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio—filling in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is out on maternity leave—said that “Operation Epic Fury,” the U.S. military operation that initiated the Iran war on February 28, “is concluded” because the U.S. had already “achieved the objective of that operation.”
- Now, Rubio said, U.S. forces would only fire at Iranian targets if attacked themselves, describing the then-active “Project Freedom” as a humanitarian and defensive mission.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that, despite attacks one day earlier from Iranian forces on U.S. forces and the ships they were guiding, the U.S-Iran “ceasefire is not over.”
WHO Suspects Hantavirus Human-to-Human Transmission on Cruise Ship
Officials with the World Health Organization said Tuesday they believe a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship—which has killed three people so far—could have spread through human-to-human transmission. Hantaviruses generally spread to people who inhale vapor from the feces or urine of infected rodents, but one form, the Andes strain, is known to spread from human to human and has a fatality rate of about 40 percent. The cruise ship first departed from the southern Argentinian city of Ushuaia, located in the southernmost reaches of the Andes, and a Dutch couple who both died from the disease had shared a cabin.
- WHO hasn’t ruled out the possibility that the virus made its way onto the ship after stops at several “remote and ecologically diverse” locations along its journey, and “[t]he extent of passenger contact with local wildlife during the voyage or prior to boarding in Ushuaia remains undetermined.”
- The WHO said there were two more confirmed cases among the cruise passengers, while five more are also believed to have been infected.
- The cruise’s doctor is also in serious condition and was medevaced from the vessel to the Canary Islands on Tuesday.
Romania Approves No-Confidence Vote Against Prime Minister
Romania’s parliament approved a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in a 281-4 vote on Tuesday, comfortably above the 233 votes needed to pass. Members of Bolojan’s center-right, pro-European National Liberal Party and its coalitional partners abstained from the vote. The left-of-center Social Democratic Party had been part of Bolojan’s ruling coalition, formed following the country’s December 2024 parliamentary elections, but withdrew from the government last month, criticizing the government’s inability to collaborate and “implement any genuine reform.” On April 28, the Social Democratic Party and the right-wing, nationalist populist Alliance for the Union of Romanians, the leading opposition party, jointly filed a no-confidence motion against Bolojan, who took office in June 2025.
- Bolojan will continue to stay on temporarily as caretaker prime minister, though former Romanian Prime Minister and Social Democratic Party President Sorin Grindeanu urged him to appoint an interim.
- Romania’s not scheduled to hold its next parliamentary election until 2028 and has never held an early snap election, with Romanian President Nicușor Dan ruling out the possibility of calling the country’s first on Tuesday.
FDA Blocks Vaccine Study Releases
The Food and Drug Administration blocked the publication of several government-funded studies that found vaccines against COVID-19 and shingles to be safe. In February, the FDA blocked abstracts of a study on Shingrix, a shingles vaccine made by the U.K.-based drug maker GSK, from being submitted to a conference on drug safety. In October 2025, the agency forced the authors of two studies on COVID-19 vaccines to withdraw their work from publication.
- Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon told news outlets that studies on COVID-19 safety “were withdrawn because the authors drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data,” while noting that the design of the Shingrix vaccines study “fell outside the agency’s purview.”
- A senior administration official told the New York Times on Tuesday that neither HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nor FDA Commissioner Marty Makary was involved in the decision to block the studies.
Russia Fires on Civilian Targets Ahead of Proposed Ceasefire
Russian launched a wave of aerial attacks across Ukraine on Tuesday—killing 27 civilians and wounding more than 120—a day after Russia’s Defense Ministry announced its forces would adhere to a proposed Friday-Saturday ceasefire intended to cover Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, which commemorate the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian troops would honor the ceasefire and pause fighting from midnight today, tweeting, “We will act reciprocally starting from that moment.” But in response to Russia’s attacks on Tuesday—which targeted civilian infrastructure, including residential homes, shops, and a kindergarten—Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha tweeted on Tuesday that “[w]ith mere hours until Ukraine’s ceasefire proposal comes into force, Russia shows no signs of preparing to end hostilities.” On Monday, prior to the ceasefire suggestion, Zelensky warned he could strike Red Square during the Victory Day celebrations. To learn more about the state of the war, keep reading today’s TMD.
- Sergei Aksyonov, Russia’s appointed head of Crimea, said Ukrainian drones attacked the Russian-occupied northern Crimean city of Dzhankoi overnight and claimed they killed five civilians.
- On Tuesday, Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Russia’s Leningrad Oblast, said Ukraine attacked the northwestern Russian city of Kirishi, striking and shutting down Russia’s second-largest oil refinery.
On Saturday Russia will celebrate “Victory Day,” a national holiday commemorating the surrender of Nazi Germany and the Russian triumph in the “Great Patriotic War.” Usually, the date is marked by a massive military parade in Moscow’s Red Square, with tanks, ballistic missiles, and row upon row of goose-stepping soldiers. But this year, celebrations will be far more restrained.
But due to what it describes as a “current operational situation,” the Russian Ministry of Defense announced no ground military equipment will be on display. Nor will there be marching cadets from many of the country’s military academies or the rows of foreign troops who often bolster the spectacle. On Tuesday, the government severed mobile internet service for many Moscow citizens, citing the threat of Ukrainian drone incursions.
The day before, a wave of Ukrainian drones struck Moscow, damaging an apartment building and grounding flights from the city’s airports, and on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned he might strike Red Square itself during the parade.
Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is now in its fifth year. Though the front lines have barely moved, Russia and Ukraine are engaged in furious battles on multiple fronts: strikes behind creeping front lines, economic campaigns targeting each country’s ability to sustain its war effort, and a diplomatic duel to keep supporting nations onside. The war is in a new phase, and neither Moscow nor Kyiv knows which way it will break.
Today’s Must-Read
In Other News
Today in America
- A federal grand jury indicted Cole Tomas Allen on four counts, including assaulting a federal agent, after prosecutors concluded he wounded a Secret Service officer while attempting to kill President Donald Trump at last month’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
- Senate Republicans added $1 billion in security funding for Trump’s planned White House ballroom to their budget reconciliation bill, which would direct roughly $70 billion to federal immigration enforcement agencies.
- The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the city of Denver for its ban on “assault weapons”—which, under the city’s statute, includes AR-15-style rifles—arguing that it violates the Second Amendment.
- The Washington Post reported that several senior-ranking officers in Washington, D.C.’s, police force have been fired or given disciplinary action, including an assistant police chief and a district commander, following an investigation into the alleged manipulation of city crime data.
- A new report from the Labor Department estimated there were 6.87 million job openings in March, nearly flat from the month before, which had recorded 6.88 million.
Around the World
- Zambian Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe accused the U.S. government of attempting to make a $2 billion health assistance package for Zambia conditional on access to the country’s sources of critical minerals.
- London’s Counter Terrorism Police opened an investigation into a case of suspected arson at a former synagogue in Tower Hamlets early Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested a wave of antisemitic attacks in London could involve Iran.
- Brazilian officials said that a 13-year-old student admitted to opening fire at a public school earlier that day in the northern city of Rio Branco, killing two female staff workers, while injuring a student and another school employee.
- Chad’s military said that 23 of its soldiers were killed and another 26 were injured after Boko Haram militants attacked a military outpost on Barka Tolorom island Monday night.
On the Money
- Apple denied wrongdoing but agreed to a $250 million settlement over claims it deceived iPhone buyers with marketing for AI features that did not ship on time, pending approval from a federal judge in the Northern District of California.
- Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against the AI-generative chatbot service Character AI, claiming that one form of its chatbot falsely identified itself as a licensed medical professional and sought to provide medical advice.
- Delta Air Lines announced that beginning on May 19, flights that travel fewer than 350 miles will no longer offer food or beverage service.
- Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced that it would lay off about 14 percent of its staff, about 700 workers.
- Food producer Utz announced a recall of two potato chip brands, Zapp’s and Dirty, following concerns that an ingredient in the snack—dry milk powder—could contain salmonella.
Worth Your Time
- “A Brutal First for the Cruise Industry” (The Atlantic)
- Judge Glock examines the economic benefits that new data center projects brought to Loudoun County, Virginia. (City Journal)
- A group of researchers examines whether requiring students to stash their phones in a locked pouch during the school day positively affects their academic performance. (National Bureau of Economic Research)
- Nabeel Qureshi investigates what separates great works of art from the rest. (Nabeel S. Qureshi)
- AI startup Parallel, in partnership with the Computer History Museum, the Internet Archive, and eBay, presents a history of the pre-AI internet, with a physical exhibit opening in San Francisco on Friday. (The Museum of the Human Web)
Presented Without Comment
Fox News: Trump Teaches Students His Iconic Dance During White House Fitness Event
Also Presented Without Comment
The Guardian: Brazil Caught Up in Craze for Whistling-Only WhatsApp Groups
Also Also Presented Without Comment
Korea Times: Space-Fermented Sake by Japanese Brewer Dassai Sells for $700,000
