Renewed tensions in the Strait

Plus, cruise ship passengers die in suspected hantavirus outbreak.

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. Tehran issues a warning after Trump offers US help to ships, Kennedy seeks quick health wins after being warned off vaccine actions, and three cruise ship passengers die in a suspected hantavirus outbreak. Plus, GameStop makes a bold $56 billion play for eBay Today's Top News   Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer Middle East Iran's military warned US forces not to enter the Strait of Hormuz after President Donald Trump said the United States would start helping to free ships stranded in the Gulf. Follow live. Hezbollah has paid a heavy price for going to war with Israel on March 2: Israel has occupied a chunk of southern Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands of its Shi'ite Muslim constituents and killed as many as several thousand of its fighters. In other news Three people have died and three are ill after a Netherlands-based cruise ship was hit by a suspected outbreak of hantavirus. But what is hantavirus? Global health editor Michele Gershberg joins the Reuters World News podcast to explain - listen now. Taiwan has a right to engage with the world and no ‌country can stop that, President Lai Ching-te told Eswatini's king after he arrived for a surprise trip that Taipei says Beijing tried to stop, as China condemned him as a "rat". Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party was on ‌course to win two of four crucial state elections, expanding its influence and weakening its key rival half-way into his third term in office. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been hospitalized and is in "critical but stable condition," ‌his spokesperson said. A trial is slated to begin in New Mexico that will test the state’s claims that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp harmed young users’ mental health and its bid for a court order forcing the company to make changes. Business & Markets   A US flag hangs inside El Arepazo restaurant in Doral, Florida. April 1, 2026. REUTERS/Eva Marie Uzcategui Several US restaurant chains including Wingstop and Domino's reported weaker-than-expected sales growth in the latest quarter, saying that soaring gasoline prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran have forced their customers to cut back on other spending. When potential providers and financiers for Venezuela's electric industry, including Siemens Energy and GE Vernova, held meetings with officials in Caracas in April, questions of how they might get paid to shore up the country's deteriorated grid were top of mind. GameStop proposed to buy eBay for about $56 billion in a cash-and-stock deal, with CEO Ryan Cohen saying he was prepared to take the bid directly to shareholders should eBay's board be unreceptive. Chinese robotics startup Linkerbot, the global market leader in highly dexterous robotic hands for humanoids, will seek a $6 billion valuation in its next financing round, double the valuation in a just-closed funding, the company said. Spirit Airlines said it had almost completed ‌refunding passengers and returning its crew to their home bases following its decision to cease operations over the weekend. Four of South Africa's top law firms are suing the government over new Black employment and ownership targets aimed at undoing decades of racial injustice, calling them "irrational" and saying the timeline is unrealistic given the expertise required. Warned off vaccine actions, Kennedy seeks quick health wins ahead of midterms    Kennedy testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is aiming for quick wins on new health initiatives to help Republicans in November’s midterm elections, after the White House asked him to pivot from a widely criticized campaign to rewrite US vaccine policy, senior administration officials told Reuters. New efforts announced in the past few weeks were designed to appeal to Trump’s voter base, from an executive order bolstering research into psychedelics to approving a new gene therapy for children with a rare type of hearing loss, and the administration is looking for more. Read more And Finally...  Shakira performs during an open concert at the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil May 2, 2026. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes Some 2 million people packed Copacabana Beach for a free concert by Shakira, Rio de Janeiro city ‌officials said, marking the biggest show of the Colombian pop star's career. Mega-shows on Rio's famed shoreline have become a draw to the city, and Madonna and Lady Gaga have given similarly massive performances in front of the ⁠iconic Copacabana Palace hotel in recent years. Read more   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

Why Trump ‘terminated’ hostilities with Iran

Russia says it’s staying in Mali

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 Welcome to the Weekend Briefing, where we’re wondering what could happen if the U.S. standoff with Iran should drag on indefinitely. Donald Trump is withdrawing U.S. troops from Germany. Turkmenistan is slowly opening to the outside world. If you’re booked on a Spirit Airlines flight, you’re not flying. If you can fly, follow City Memo to San Diego. White House says the Iran war is ‘terminated’   REUTERS/Stringer Deadlines & definitions: President Trump said a U.S. ceasefire stopped hostilities against Iran as he tried to bolster his argument that he does not need Congress’ permission to continue the conflict. Trump says the ceasefire gives him extra time under the 1973 War Powers Resolution to ask Congress to authorize his fight against Iran. Democrats say the law, which gives a president 60 days to fight before asking Congress for more time, contains no such provision. Don’t pay to play: The U.S. said that any shipper who pays tolls to Iran for passage through the Strait of Hormuz will risk punitive sanctions. Trump rejected a proposal that an Iranian official said would open the strait and end the U.S. blockade on Iran while leaving nuclear talks for later. A multi-level yacht owned by Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov crossed the strait with no objection from Iran or the U.S. Russia says it’s staying in Mali Resistance: The Kremlin said Russian forces would remain to help the military-led government battle al Qaeda-linked insurgents and a coalition of mostly Tuareg separatists. The size and scale of recent attacks there demonstrate an unprecedented ability to coordinate fighters from different goals against the government. Authorities are investigating soldiers whom they suspect of involvement in the attacks. No protection: The U.S. said it is not funding any security units to police or guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo despite an earlier announcement from Kinshasa. Sudan banned some imports to stem its currency’s slide. The prime minister deemed biscuits and chocolates, plastic bags and containers, fruits and vegetables, rice, cement and toys as “luxuries and unnecessary.” Get your kicks on Route 66 if you can afford it Pump it up: Drivers were paying $6 a gallon for gas in California on Thursday, and candidates in the race for governor are debating whether the state should scrap its gasoline tax, the highest in the nation. Investors are running out of time to prepare for a proper oil-price shock. Too much to go around: The Iran war has throttled natural-gas exports from the Gulf while a scarcity of export-plant and pipeline-transportation capacity in the U.S. is preventing American supply from reaching overseas markets. U.S. will close its Gaza mission A change of plan: Critics say the Civil-Military Coordination Centre failed in its mission to monitor the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and boost aid flow to Palestinians. The U.N. is helping Gaza repave its streets with war rubble. More than 100 pro-Palestinian activists carrying aid on boats bound for Gaza were taken to Crete after Israel seized their vessels in international waters near Greece. And in Ukraine: Russia launched more than 400 drones at Ukraine during a daytime attack. Ukraine said it would carry out reforms in its army to address infantry shortages. Ukraine’s top general ordered a mandatory two-month time limit for front-line troops serving in forward positions after photos of emaciated soldiers on combat duty sparked a nationwide outcry. Zuckerberg won’t rule out more job cuts at Meta Capital spending: The Facebook founder said Meta has two major cost centers: computer infrastructure and “people-oriented things.” Take a guess on which one goes first. LinkedIn said its AI products that review CVs for companies will generate $450 million in sales this year. The retail report: People-oriented things need food to survive. This is good for Chipotle, which reported a surprise quarterly-sales rise. Hershey topped its quarterly-sales estimates on the strength of its salty snacks. Starbucks posted strong revenue growth in the recent quarter, but costs rose faster. And Warren Buffett will attend his first Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting as a spectator. Before I forget… A U.S. government court filing raised questions about officials’ assertions that a gunman shot a Secret Service officer while trying to kill Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Kim Jong Un praised North Korean soldiers who killed themselves by self-detonation and other means rather than getting captured while fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia. Pope Leo during his Africa tour said the Catholic church should prioritize questions of inequality and justice over sexual ethics. It’s a desert out there: Saudi Arabia’s only official liquor store is running short of supplies, leading to some frayed nerves and altercations among foreigners. Construction of the U.S. border wall is threatening endangered wolves, conservationists say. A new study based on genome data from people who lived along the fortified Roman frontier in southern Germany contradicts the popular notion of a barbarian invasion sweeping through the western empire after its collapse. A sellout crowd at an NHL playoff game between the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins stepped in to help Cami Clune finish singing Canada’s national anthem after her microphone cut out.   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