543 stories · Page 5 of 55
On 11 May 2026 the EU’s 27 foreign ministers unanimously approved travel bans and asset freezes on seven Israeli settler individuals/organisations and ten Hamas leaders, ending a prolonged blockage once Hungary’s new pro-EU prime minister lifted Budapest’s veto.
Washington confirmed Donald Trump will visit Beijing 13-15 May and hold formal talks with Xi Jinping on 14 May, seeking Chinese leverage to end the two-month Iran war without letting the dispute derail a fragile U.S.–China trade truce.
On 10 May 2026, President Donald Trump publicly dismissed Iran’s written counter-proposal for a war-ending cease-fire as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” halting the latest Pakistan-brokered diplomatic track.
On 11 May 2026, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that two unidentified airborne objects struck the cargo ship HMM Namu in the Strait of Hormuz on 4 May, but declined to name Iran despite mounting political and U.S. pressure.
On 10 May 2026, hours after a drastically downsized Victory Day parade, Vladimir Putin said the four-year Ukraine war is “coming to an end,” backing a U.S.–mediated 9-11 May ceasefire and the largest 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange of the conflict.
After dueling unilateral holiday truces collapsed, Washington secured the first jointly-signed pause of the 4-year war: Kyiv and Moscow will halt all “kinetic activity” and exchange 1,000 prisoners each from 00:00 May 9 to 23:59 May 11, 2026.
The White House and Zhongnanhai have locked in a face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week—the first U.S. presidential visit to China since 2017—after the trip was twice postponed by the Iran war.
On 8 May Washington scheduled two days of intensive Israel–Lebanon negotiations for 14–15 May, making Hezbollah’s complete disarmament a declared pre-condition, even as Israeli strikes on 9 May killed civilians in Saksakiyeh and Hezbollah retaliated with drones during a faltering U.S.–brokered ceasefire.
On 7 May 2026, Iranian missiles, drones and fast-boats targeted USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta and USS Mason in the Strait of Hormuz; all three ships dodged the fire, and U.S. Central Command answered within hours by striking launch and command sites at Bandar Abbas and Qeshm—the first open clash since the April 7 truce.
On 8 May 2026 a Navy F/A-18 launched from USS George H.W. Bush fired laser-guided bombs into the smokestacks of the Iranian-flagged Sea Star III and Sevda in the Gulf of Oman, stopping them from reaching an Iranian port and marking the most visible enforcement action since Washington declared a naval blockade on 13 April.
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