News From Around the Web
#1 In China Summit, Trump Touts “Fantastic Trade Deals” With XI as Nations Try to Stabilize Relationship - Kathryn Watson and Joe Walsh for CBS News, The Kobeissi, Letter, Tracer, Fox News, ABC News, and CNBC on X
President Trump said Friday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping made some "fantastic trade deals" and shared a desire to end the U.S.-Iran conflict during this week's summit in Beijing, as both countries look to claim the visit as a win and aim to keep their relationship on a stable footing after last year's trade war. But it remains to be seen whether the U.S. president had any influence on Xi on the topics of Taiwan or the release of political prisoners held by China. The leaders of the two superpowers held a bilateral meeting at China's seat of power — the Zhongnanhai Garden compound — late Friday morning local time, before Mr. Trump boarded Air Force One and began flying back to Washington. Mr. Trump and Xi met for tea and walked around the centuries-old gardens, mostly out of earshot of reporters, and ate a lunch that featured seafood dishes, kung pao chicken and scallops, beef and mushrooms, stewed beef buns and dumplings... Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) confirmed that Virginia would use its current congressional map, drawn in 2021, rather than the Democratic-drawn map from the April referendum, in this year's midterm elections. Spanberger's confirmation that the state will retain its current map for 2026, consisting of six Democratic and five Republican districts, clarifies how the Democratic governor will proceed as the litigation plays out over this year's redraw... The FBI is offering $200,000 for information that could lead to the arrest of a former Air Force intelligence specialist who was charged in 2019 with spying for Iran. In an announcement Thursday, the FBI said it is still trying to locate Monica Witt, who it believes defected to Iran in 2013. The agency said it believes she “likely continues to support (Iran’s) nefarious activities.” “The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts,” Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, said a statement, likely referring to the US’ ongoing tensions with Iran. “The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us apprehend Witt and bring her to justice,” it said... The United States is planning to indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro as Washington raises the pressure on the island’s communist government. Several US media outlets reported on Thursday that the potential charges against the 94-year-old brother of Fidel Castro relate to a 1996 incident in which Cuba shot down planes flown by the anti-Castro humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue. The move comes amid a US blockade that has halted virtually all fuel supplies to the island, with the Trump administration, after celebrating its overthrow of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, pushing for regime change... South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a top Trump ally and fellow Republican, announced Thursday that he is convening the state legislature in Columbia, South Carolina, starting Friday for a special session to "address the state budget and congressional districts" in his largely Republican state. "I have issued an Executive Order calling the General Assembly back for an extra legislative session to address the state budget and congressional districts beginning Friday, May 15, at 11:00 AM," McMaster wrote on X. The move comes amid intraparty Republican tensions over the Trump-backed effort to redraw the state’s congressional map — a push that could threaten the tenure of longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, the man credited with reviving former President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign... Cancer treatment in America runs on a simple, brutal economic model: the sicker we stay, the more money gets made. Chemotherapy drugs approved by the FDA in 2012 were priced at over $100,000 per patient per year, eleven out of twelve of them. Some immunotherapy treatments run $15,000 per dose. The cancer industry generates hundreds of billions of dollars annually, and every dollar of that revenue depends on patients continuing to need expensive, patented treatments. Which makes what a new study just documented all the more inconvenient for the people cashing those checks. Published in April 2026 and now available as a preprint while undergoing peer review, a landmark study co-authored by Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Harvey Risch of Yale School of Public Health, and ten other researchers analyzed 197 cancer patients prescribed a combination of ivermectin and mebendazole—two decades-old, off-patent, dirt-cheap antiparasitic drugs. The results, as Nicolas Hulscher, MPH, reported at Focal Points, are the kind that should be making front pages. At six-month follow-up, 84.4% of patients reported clinical benefit. Nearly half—48.4%—reported either tumor regression or no current evidence of disease. Another 36.1% reported stable disease. Only 15.6% reported progression. Side effects were mild and mostly gastrointestinal, with 93.6% of those who experienced them continuing treatment anyway... As the globe transitions into an El Niño climate pattern, temperatures in the waters in the Pacific Ocean are on the rise. It comes just as the Eastern Pacific hurricane season officially begins on Friday, May 15. Warm ocean waters are the essential fuel for tropical cyclone development, which makes this incoming El Niño phase perfect conditions for an increased hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Because it reduces vertical wind shear, meaning change in direction of winds at higher levels of the atmosphere, an El Niño climate pattern allows for tropical systems that develop in the region to avoid getting "blown over" and falling apart. The environment over the warmer Pacific waters helps enable tropical storms and hurricanes to develop and stay fully structured vertically... North America’s largest commuter rail system is facing a potential shutdown as a deadline nears to reach a deal with unionized workers to avert a strike. The Long Island Rail Road that serves New York City’s eastern suburbs has been negotiating for months on a new contract with labor officials representing locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen, and other train workers. A strike was temporarily averted in September when President Donald Trump’s administration agreed to help. Those efforts ended without a deal, giving both sides 60 days — ending 12:01 a.m. Saturday — to again try to resolve their differences before the union was legally allowed to go on strike or the agency could lock out workers. Five labor unions representing about half the train system’s 7,000-person workforce warned this week that Saturday’s deadline was approaching... President Donald Trump on Friday said the new White House ballroom is scheduled to open "around September of 2028." Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post while returning from China, highlighting what he described as America's need for a grand ceremonial venue comparable to those used by other world powers. "China has a Ballroom, and so should the U.S.A.!" Trump wrote. "It's under construction, ahead of schedule, and will be the finest facility of its kind anywhere in the U.S.A."
#2 Spanberger Concedes Defeat on Redistricting and Says 2026 Elections Will Use Old Map - Molly Parks for Washington Examiner, Charles R. Smith, Acyn/Steven J, Lady Lawyer, CaseyAwake, and Gunther Eagleman™/Trump's Army on X
#3 FBI Offers $200,000 for Information on Former Air Force Intelligence Specialist Charged With Spying for Iran - Kaanita Iyer for CNN, NEWSMAX, Jim Manzon, Mike Netter, Donato Yaakov Secchi, and M.A. Rothman on X
#4 US Seeks Indictment of Former Cuban Leader Raúl Castro - ALJAZEERA/ AFP/Reuters, Gene Bryant, Space Cadet/Open Source Intel, Prediction Market Report, Gunther
Eagleman™/GATEWAY XCHANGE, and #MediaBuzz on X
#5 McMaster Revives Trump-Backed Push to Oust Biden Kingmaker From Congress - Charles Creitz and Paul Steinhauser, for Fox News, Smith Christopher B (R-FLA), The Silent Majority, Dr. Annie Andrews/Kenneth Barger @Sweet Home Alabama, Michael/MAZE, and The Black Hockey Club on X
#6 Supreme Court Allows Abortion Pill to Remain Available by Mail Nationwide - Lawrence Hurley for NBC News, BoehlertMediaBusters/Bear Whale, Mauricio Torres, Christina, Tom Roten™, and Times New on X
The Supreme Court ensured Thursday that the abortion pill Mifepristone can continue to be available by mail without an in-person appointment with a clinician. A ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1 had imperiled widespread access to the pill. Now, the Supreme Court has granted emergency requests brought by drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro seeking to block that ruling. The decision, a loss for the state of Louisiana, ensures there will not be any disruption to the availability of the drug as litigation continues. On May 4, in an order issued by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, the court had provisionally put the appeals court ruling on hold while the justices considered their next steps...
#7 They Buried It for COVID. Now They’re Doing It for Cancer - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, UncoverDC, Nicolas Hulscher, MPH, Dmturk, Commentary | Global Ivermectin Research Hub, and William Makis, on X
#8 How a Growing El Niño Will Affect 2026 Hurricane Season in Atlantic and Pacific - Nikki Nolan for CBS News, KTLA 5 Morning News, StormTrack9, LADbible, The American Storm, and E-co Fashion on X
#9 North America’s Largest Commuter Rail System Faces a Potential Shutdown - Philip Marcelo for AP, sucía nyc, Trains Magazine, News12LI, and Breaking News of the Day on X
#10 Trump: White House Ballroom to Open in 2028 - Charlie McCarthy for NEWSMAX, Mark Harrison/Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Anders Forsbom, The Real Axel Vasa/Donald J. Trump, Dominic Favazzo, and Rep. Shontel Brown/FactPost/Mary Smith on X
And Now for Something Special
Cats living their best life...
