Trump’s unstoppable force, Iran’s immovable object

And an AI bot you can take to court

Stay informed with Reuters. Subscribe for $1/week. Subscribe now. Weekend Briefing Weekend Briefing From Reuters Daily Briefing   By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor Thanks for reading the Weekend Briefing. Most of you will read this at breakfast, but chef recommends our visual rundown of the dinner menu at the U.S.-China summit, which pairs well with the seating chart. Democrats are portraying Donald Trump’s ballroom project as a waste of money as Americans swallow a jump in gasoline prices because of the Iran war. Canada is strengthening its defense ties with Nordic countries after Trump’s threats to seize Greenland. Trump’s unstoppable force meets Iran’s immovable object   Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS Bluster and coercion: Trump’s package of public threats, insults and ultimatums seems to have hit a wall with Iran and may undermine his efforts to end the war. Trump said Xi Jinping agreed that Tehran must open the Strait of Hormuz, but China gave no indication it would weigh in. High gasoline prices aren’t dissuading these Colorado voters from supporting Trump. They also are straining U.S. school-district budgets. Middle East and Africa: Hamas said its military chief died after Israel said it targeted him in airstrikes. Trump said U.S. and Nigerian forces killed ISIS’ second in command. Thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City to commemorate Israel’s capture of the eastern part of the city six decades ago. They chanted “May your villages burn” and “Death to Arabs” while waving Israeli flags. U.S. dangles $100 million in aid in front of Cuba Strings attached: Cuba said it would entertain the offer of humanitarian aid and “free and fast satellite Internet” while expressing skepticism over Trump’s intentions. The CIA chief visited top Cuban officials, offering U.S. engagement if Havana makes “fundamental changes.” Learn about the 1996 incident that the U.S. plans to use to indict Raúl Castro. The big heat: A U.S. blockade of oil to the island has caused interminable power outages as summer heat mounts and tempers short-circuit. Most gas stations remained shut while the price of gasoline and diesel nearly doubled.  Ukraine graft probe widens Operation Midas: Investigators took Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s former top aide Andriy Yermak into custody, naming him an official suspect in a sprawling corruption case. The case could hang over Zelenskiy once the war with Russia ends. Separately, Zelenskiy met the CEO of Palantir Technologies as Ukraine works with the company to deploy AI to gain an edge in the war. Ripping it up in Riga: Latvia’s prime minister booted her defense chief after holding him responsible for the army failing to stop two Ukrainian drones from exploding at an oil-storage facility. Andris Sprūds’ party in turn pulled their support from Evika Siliņa’s coalition government, triggering her resignation and its collapse. No lawyers, guns or money Bot, get me out of this: More Americans are using AI tools so they can act as their own advocates in court. On the other side of the legal coin: a family sued OpenAI, saying the man who killed their son in a mass shooting used ChatGPT to plan the attack. On a tangential note: Does it make a difference to a jury when a man accuses a woman of sexual harassment instead of the other way around? At the movies: The sense I get from reading this story from the Cannes Film Festival is that attitudes in the business toward AI are growing slightly more accommodating. Learn what this could mean for the future – as well as for the adventures of a giant shark in the Seine. No clear link: antidepressants, pregnancy and autism Study: Using antidepressants while pregnant does not raise children’s risk for autism, the analysis found. It appears to contradict such assertions by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Law: A U.S. judge blocked the Justice Dept. from forcing a Rhode Island hospital to hand over records on gender-affirming care for transgender children. The Supreme Court ensured that doctors can prescribe the abortion pill through telemedicine and that people can receive it by mail. Before I forget… Albertans who want to secede from Canada suffered a setback after a provincial court ruled in favor of a First Nations bid to stop a referendum petition. Flávio Bolsonaro stunned aides and members of his right-wing party by admitting he has a connection to a jailed banker at the center of a major scandal in Brazil after denying it. Here’s how Jim Caviezel is involved. The Solomon Islands parliament elected opposition leader Matthew Wale as prime minister. Australia welcomed the decision despite his softening of criticism of China, which is trying island by island to build its influence in the Pacific. Friedrich Merz said he never meant to call Germans lazy. He did not, however, revisit his comment about how he would not advise his children to live in the U.S. at this time. Reuters Fact Check: China has not banned U.S. citizens from entering because of hantavirus. There is no evidence that ivermectin would work on a hantavirus infection. Neanderthal dental surgery: It was probably more painful than the interrogation scene in Marathon Man. Who moved my skull?   Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website   Weekend Briefing is sent once a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions   © 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036

Trump leaves Beijing with few wins

Plus, UAE to accelerate oil pipeline project to help bypass Hormuz.

Go beyond the headlines with Reuters on the stories shaping the day. Subscribe for $1/week. Subscribe now. Daily Briefing Daily Briefing By Kate Turton Hello. Trump leaves Beijing with few wins but warm words for Xi, and America's most powerful CEOs don't have much to show from their China trip. Elsewhere, the UK's Starmer faces a survival battle as potential rivals circle, and Zelenskiy condemns Russia after a strike on a Kyiv apartment block kills 24. Plus, our top photos of the week. Today's Top News   Trump walks with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound, Friday, May 15, 2026, in Beijing. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS US President Donald Trump left China with no major breakthroughs on trade or tangible help from Beijing to end his Iran war, despite two days spent heaping praise on his host, Xi Jinping. Trump said his patience with Iran was running out and that he had agreed in talks with the Chinese president that Tehran could not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and must reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The United States plans to indict Cuba's Raul Castro, a US Department of Justice official said. The timing of the potential indictment, ‌which would need to be approved by a grand jury, was not immediately clear. Police in Florida are investigating vandalism at a historic, predominantly African American cemetery where 17 gravesites were damaged, with headstones knocked down and "Trump" and "DeSantis" spray-painted ‌in red letters on tombs. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was struggling to hold on to power after his main rival in the government resigned and others positioned themselves for potential challenges. Alistair Smout tells the Reuters World News podcast why the uncertainty may be Starmer's best shot at survival. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for Moscow to be punished after ‌laying red roses at the rubble of a Kyiv apartment building where a Russian missile strike killed 24 people, including three children. A top decision-making body of South Africa's African National Congress backed President Cyril Ramaphosa over the scandal dubbed "Farmgate" ‌by local media, a senior party official said. Business & Markets   With red-carpet treatment, selfies and culinary diplomacy, America's richest and most powerful executives sought to rekindle business ties with China this week at a leadership summit in Beijing. But as ‌Trump flew out of Beijing, there was little clarity on what the summit delivered for the business delegation that was traveling with the president. Britain's borrowing costs surged after Andy Burnham, a regional mayor on the left of the governing Labour Party, secured a possible path to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alarming investors and deepening a leadership crisis. The United Arab Emirates will accelerate construction of a new oil pipeline to double its export capacity through Fujairah by 2027, the government's Abu Dhabi Media Office said, vastly expanding its ability to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. India's state-run fuel retailers have raised petrol and diesel prices for the first time in four years by 3 rupees per litre, or more than 3%, ‌according to dealers, to recoup some of the losses incurred due to higher global crude oil prices. A looming 18-day strike at South Korean chip giant Samsung that has triggered worries within the government, rattled foreign investors and threatened global supply chains rests on one crucial question: who should share in the spoils of the AI boom? As Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's term draws to a close it is becoming apparent that what ⁠may have set him apart from his predecessors, and indeed proved perhaps his most important skill as a central banker was his behind-the-scenes effort to rebuild the Fed's relationships with elected officials on Capitol Hill. The Week Ahead Early next week, the finance ministers and central bankers of the G7 will gather in Paris.  Japan's first-quarter growth data due on Tuesday could offer an early read on how the surge in energy prices has weighed on an economy heavily reliant on oil imports.  Also on Tuesday, a raft of US primary elections with Kentucky, Georgia and four other states holding congressional party primaries. On Wednesday Britain's inflation figures may show another jump as markets are increasingly worried about a leadership challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer following disastrous local elections this month.  Here's all you need to know about the week ahead in financial markets. Hantavirus outbreak tests post-COVID health communications playbook   The cruise ship MV Hondius, affected by a hantavirus outbreak, leaves the port of Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife, Spain, May 11, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo A rodent-borne virus with a scary name. A mid-ocean cruise ship in quarantine. Several people dead and more falling sick. It is no wonder that an outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus on a luxury liner in the Atlantic has revived some COVID-era trauma and panic online. That has presented a dilemma to health officials: how to communicate quickly and clearly about a virus which is not new and unlikely to cause a pandemic but where knowledge gaps remain - without inadvertently fomenting fear. Read more And Finally... Essyla, representing Belgium, performs "Dancing on the Ice" during the first semi-final of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, in Vienna, Austria. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner A selection of our top news photography from around the world this week. View gallery   Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website   Reuters Daily Briefing is sent 5 days a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions   © 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036