Trump touches down in Beijing with seventeen executives; Iran’s ceasefire frays toward collapse; Norway moves to wall off its intelligence service from the Epstein investigation.

Seventeen Executives in Beijing

Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for the first US presidential visit to China in nearly a decade, accompanied by Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Boeing’s CEO and fourteen other executives. The agenda spans tariffs, Taiwan arms sales, and enlisting Chinese pressure on Iran. Trump confirmed he will raise Taiwan arms sales directly with Xi — a provocation Beijing has warned against. The summit comes as the fragile tariff truce from earlier this year faces its first real test, and with the Iran war making Chinese cooperation on energy sanctions newly urgent. — BBC · The Guardian · Al Jazeera · Reuters

Life Support

Trump called Iran’s 14-point peace proposal “a piece of garbage” and declared the month-long ceasefire “on massive life support.” He is now considering restarting US Navy escorts through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s parliament speaker shot back that Washington has “no alternative but to accept” Tehran’s terms. JP Morgan forecasts oil remaining in the low $100s for the rest of the year even if Hormuz reopens next month — developing nations with thin strategic reserves are most exposed. The US is releasing 53.3 million barrels under an IEA emergency agreement and seeking to suspend the federal gas tax. The war’s cascading effects reach unexpected corners: Japan’s Calbee is switching to black-and-white packaging because ink raw materials depend on disrupted oil supply chains. — BBC · The Guardian · Al Jazeera (oil) · Al Jazeera (reserves) · The Guardian (ink)

The Locked Door

Norway’s defense minister wants to write a restriction into the law establishing the Epstein commission, blocking it from requesting information about the methods, personnel, and sources of E-tjenesten — Norwegian military intelligence. Opposition parties across the spectrum called it “incomprehensible” and “unacceptable,” noting that all commission members will be security-cleared. VG reports that a key figure in the Epstein network under investigation, Camilla Reksten-Monsen, appears to currently work for E-tjenesten. The governing Senterpartiet sided with the minister. Reddit reaction: near-unanimous cynicism — “we all knew this was coming.” — VG · r/norge

(Also covered in Norway)

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An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel mural in Tehran, May 10, 2026.

Forsvarsminister Tore O. Sandvik, som vil begrense hva Epstein-kommisjonen kan kreve fra E-tjenesten.

World

The Veto That Vanished

EU foreign ministers unanimously sanctioned violent Israeli settlers and settler organizations in the West Bank, along with Hamas leaders — after Hungary’s new government dropped the veto its predecessor had maintained for months. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas: “Extremism and violence carry consequences.” The UK announced coordinated sanctions in parallel. The same day, Israel’s Knesset voted 93–0 to establish a military tribunal authorized to impose the death penalty — by hanging — on Palestinians convicted of the October 7 attacks. Rights groups warn the law strips fair trial protections; Israeli officials say it reflects the severity of the deadliest attack in the country’s history. — BBC (EU) · Al Jazeera (EU) · NPR (EU) · BBC (tribunal) · Al Jazeera (tribunal)

A Ship, a Breach, and Sixteen Americans in Nebraska

The hantavirus situation from the MV Hondius continues to worsen. A French patient is in critical condition; 12 workers at Radboud Hospital in the Netherlands were quarantined after a safety breach handling an infected patient; personnel in hazmat suits evacuated the last passengers from the ship at Tenerife, with WHO chief Tedros personally present. Sixteen Americans are being monitored in Nebraska — home to the only federally funded quarantine unit in the US. An American cruise passenger who transited through Norway has tested positive. Norwegian air ambulance assets are on standby. — BBC · Al Jazeera · The Guardian · NPR · NRK · NL Times

The Gulf’s Shadow War

The UAE has been covertly carrying out attacks on Iran despite publicly maintaining neutrality, according to the Wall Street Journal. Separately, CBS News reports Pakistan allowed Iran to base military aircraft on its airfields while simultaneously serving as a US-Iran mediator. Both revelations complicate the diplomatic picture of who is aligned where — and raise questions about how many actors are fighting this war off the books. Iran, meanwhile, executed Erfan Shakourzadeh, described as an alleged Mossad operative, amid the ongoing tensions. — Reuters (UAE) · Aftenposten (UAE) · CBS (Pakistan) · News9 (execution)

Starmer on the Brink

Cabinet ministers are reportedly urging Keir Starmer to set a resignation timetable following Labour’s poor election showing. Barclays data shows UK household spending fell in April at its fastest rate in 16 months, driven by Iran-war cost-of-living fears. In a separate blow, the UK government granted Palantir essentially unlimited access to NHS patient records covering tens of millions of Britons — drawing sharp criticism from privacy advocates. — The Guardian (cabinet) · The Guardian (spending) · Digital Health (Palantir)

Four Continents, Four Impeachments

The Philippines impeached VP Sara Duterte for a second time — misused funds, unexplained wealth, threats against the president. If convicted, she’d be disqualified from running for president. South Africa’s Ramaphosa refuses to resign despite $4M found in his sofa and a formal impeachment committee being set up. Bolivia issued an arrest warrant for Evo Morales after he failed to appear for trial on charges of fathering a child with a 15-year-old. And in Haiti, the PM cast doubt on August elections as gang violence forces hospital evacuations in Port-au-Prince. — BBC (Philippines) · Al Jazeera (SA) · Al Jazeera (Bolivia) · Al Jazeera (Haiti)

Magyar’s First Words: An Apology

Hungary’s Peter Magyar used his first major speech as PM to apologize to those wronged under Orbán. In a connected development, Poland expects Washington to extradite former Justice Minister Ziobro, who reportedly fled from Hungary to the US after the government that sheltered him fell — with Trump allegedly facilitating his visa. — The Guardian (Magyar) · The Guardian (Ziobro)

A protester outside the Knesset demonstrates against the death penalty legislation for October 7 attackers.

Personnel in hazmat suits near a plane carrying passengers evacuated from the MV Hondius.

Also today

Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi released on bail amid health crisis — BBC
Bosnia’s High Representative Schmidt quits after losing US backing — BBC
Drug gangs displace 1,000 Indigenous households in Guerrero, Mexico — including drone bombings — The Guardian
Chad air strikes kill ~40 Nigerian fishermen in apparent targeting error — BBC
California mayor resigns, pleads guilty to acting as Chinese foreign agent — The Guardian
Canada sees record military enlistment driven by Trump, Ukraine, and China fears — Firstpost
EU advances legislation to block US Big Tech from handling sensitive government data — TechSpot

Ukraine

The Airport Gambit

With the broader ceasefire dead, Ukraine’s foreign minister asked European nations to broker a limited “airport ceasefire” — a narrow fallback that also gives Europe a more active mediation role as US-led talks stall. The US is pushing a deal that would hand Russia control over Donbas, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and sanctions relief — with no security guarantees for Ukraine. Kyiv calls it “a very bad deal.” The NYT reports Zelensky is stepping back from Washington and leaning harder on European partners. The 1,000-for-1,000 POW exchange remains on track with the US as guarantor. — Kyiv Independent · Politico · NYT · Ukrainska Pravda

The Pause That Wasn’t

The Victory Day ceasefire expired with ISW satellite data confirming fighting never actually stopped. Most significantly, a Ukrainian brigade near Lyman reported that Russia used the pause to pull reserves forward and stockpile Molniya fixed-wing drones — which were fired more intensively during the ceasefire than before it. Russian forces advanced near three Donetsk settlements while Ukrainian counterattacks continued across multiple axes. — ISW · Ukrainska Pravda · Ukrainska Pravda

Hornets Over the Azov Highway

Ukrainian Hornet drones are now operating freely over the T-0509 Mariupol–Donetsk highway and approaching the M-14 coastal route — a key Russian logistics artery to Crimea. Russian milbloggers are alarmed: the situation is worse than in 2025 despite the frontline being 35 km further away, because drone ranges have grown. Starlink connectivity enables 200 km reach; Russian EW can only jam drones that lack satellite links. Full autonomy for Hornets within 6–12 months is flagged as a strategic inflection point. — ISW · r/UkrainianConflict

Four Flavors of Kh-101

Ukraine’s MoD revealed Russia has developed four Kh-101 cruise missile variants since 2022 — including dual warheads, cluster munitions with incendiary zirconium balls, and enhanced guidance — though Ukraine has downed 88% of these missiles since January 2026. Russian Tu-95MS bombers now carry only 2 missiles instead of 6, a sign of attrition. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s drone forces destroyed $131M worth of Russian air defense systems in a single week. Germany and Ukraine launched the “Brave Germany” defense alliance covering long-range drones (up to 1,500 km), AI systems, and high-power lasers. — ISW · United24 (drones) · United24 (Germany)

Yermak Charged

Ukraine’s NABU formally charged Andrii Yermak — until recently Zelensky’s most powerful aide and central to wartime diplomacy — with laundering $10.5M through a luxury housing cooperative where 90% of financing allegedly came from criminal cash payments. The President’s Office described the charges as “not surprising.” The case tests Ukraine’s anti-corruption credibility at a moment when Western aid comes with governance conditions. — Ukrainska Pravda · The Guardian · Kyiv Independent · NRK

German Defense Minister Pistorius and Ukrainian Defense Minister Fedorov sign the “Brave Germany” letter of intent, May 11, 2026.

Also today

EU and UK sanction Russians for systematic deportation of 20,500 Ukrainian children — Al Jazeera
~200 sanctioned Russia-linked ships entered UK waters despite threats to board them — BBC
North Korea earned half its GDP from supporting Russia’s war — Ukrainska Pravda
Twenty countries expressed interest in drone deals with Ukraine — Reuters

Norway

Revidert nasjonalbudsjett: Strømstøtte nesten doblet

Finansminister Stoltenberg foreslår å bruke 579 milliarder oljekroner i 2026 — 400 millioner mindre enn i det opprinnelige statsbudsjettet. Strømstøtten økes med 10 milliarder til 21,5 milliarder kroner. Vekstanslaget er nedjustert til 1,7 prosent, inflasjonsanslaget oppjustert. Sjeføkonomer i Handelsbanken og DNB Carnegie sier budsjettet ikke vil påvirke Norges Banks renteplaner. — NRK · Aftenposten · E24

Eventyret er over: Morrow Batteries konkurs

Morrow Batteries — batteristartup-en som ble etablert i 2020 med statlig kapital og stor optimisme — er slått konkurs etter å aldri ha klart å skalere produksjonen. Næringsdepartementet sier det er for tidlig å konkludere om statens eksponering. Bransjen mener norsk batteriverdikjede likevel kan overleve uten Morrow. — TU.no · E24 · TU.no

Billigstrøm stengt for datasentre — mens Nscale bygger i Narvik

Regjeringen omdefinerer datasentre fra «alminnelig forbruk» til «industri», noe som stenger dem ute fra konsesjonskraft. Lokalpolitikere i distriktene er rasende. Samtidig sikrer Nscale 7,9 milliarder kroner til en 115 MW utvidelse av AI-datasenteret i Narvik — Norges største AI-infrastrukturinvestering noensinne. Aker er største aksjonær etter å ha verdsatt selskapet til 140 milliarder. Utvidelsen er imidlertid avhengig av mer kraft, og Statnett har satt pause for nye reservasjoner nord for Svartisen. — NRK · Digi.no · E24

Epstein-kommisjonen og kronprinsessen

Forsvarsministeren vil begrense Epstein-kommisjonens innsyn i E-tjenestens metoder og kilder — partier fra venstre til høyre kaller det uakseptabelt. I en parallell utvikling setter Det Norske Jentekor samarbeidet med kronprinsesse Mette-Marit på pause til minst 2027. Det er den siste i rekken av organisasjoner som distanserer seg etter Epstein-avsløringene. Slottet opprettholder fasaden: Mette-Marit skal vinke fra balkongen 17. mai. — VG · NRK · r/norway

(Also covered in Leader)

Lørenskog og Fredrikstad under angrep

Lørenskog kommune ble utsatt for et alvorlig dataangrep som påvirker systemer ved sykehjem, skoler og Nav-kontorer. Kommunen sier de vet hvem angriperen er, men velger ikke å gå i dialog — angriperen etterlot et brev. Politiet, Datatilsynet og NSM er varslet. Separat ble informasjon om tusenvis av ansatte i Fredrikstad og Hvaler kommuner lagt ut på et kriminelt forum etter at ansattsøk ble misbrukt til å eksfiltrere data. — Digi.no · NRK · Digi.no

KI-sjef utpekt — Asker brukte hallusinerte dommer

Tidligere Nav-direktør Hans Christian Holte leder nye KI Norge for offentlig sektor. Han mener KI ikke bør fatte forvaltningsvedtak autonomt ennå. Samme dag: Asker kommune brukte KI-fabrikkerte Høyesterettsdommer som argumenter i en debatt om okkupanter — et lærebokeksempel på ukritisk KI-bruk i forvaltningen. — Digi.no · Digi.no

Boligrenter opp, matpriser opp

DNB, Nordea og flere banker hever boliglånsrentene etter Norges Banks renteheving — Nordea med inntil 0,25 prosentpoeng fra juli. Nordeas økonomer varsler at Norges Bank kan heve enda en gang i høst, til 4,5 prosent. Mat- og drikkepriser steg 6,6 prosent fra april 2025, mens samlet KPI endte på 3,4 prosent. Eksperter mener de fleste nordmenn likevel ikke har fått dårligere råd — en vurdering som fikk motbør på r/norge. — E24 (Nordea) · E24 (DNB) · E24 (matpriser)

Gradert sykmelding blir hovedregel

Regjeringen foreslår at gradert sykmelding skal bli normen — det vil bli vanskeligere å få 100 prosent sykmelding uten at gradert er prøvd. 18 prosent av alle fastlegekonsultasjoner endte med sykmelding i 2025; staten anslår 67 milliarder i sykepengeutgifter for 2026.

“Ingen blir friskere av å bli beordret tilbake på jobb” — LO

Pasientrevmatismeforbundet frykter kronisk syke arbeidstakere fremstilles som byrder. — NRK · Dagsavisen

Oslo–Berlin i 2028

Vy lanserer direktetog Oslo–Berlin to ganger daglig, helårsdrift, med 17 vogner — oppstart sommeren 2028. For første gang på over 20 år vil det også gå direktetog mellom Norge og Danmark. Vy peker på økt etterspørsel, høye jetdrivstoffpriser og en svak krone som trekker europeiske turister nordover. — NRK · TU.no

Microsoft sender Copilot-data ut av Europa

Microsofts nye «Flex Routing» gjør at norske Copilot-forespørsler kan prosesseres i USA når europeisk kapasitet er overbelastet — med åpne spørsmål om GDPR og nasjonal datakontroll. Det skjer samtidig som EU forbereder lovgivning som vil begrense amerikanske teknologigiganters tilgang til europeisk helsedata, finansdata og juridiske data. — Digi.no

Norway — Street Level

Tre undersøkelser, tre flertall: 73% av nordmenn vil ha etisk forvaltning av oljefondet selv om det gir lavere avkastning (Nettavisen). 70% vil ha kortere arbeidsuke (NRK). Og ved UiT ble en PhD-søknad i spansk avvist — fordi masteroppgaven var skrevet på spansk (Khrono).

A Substack analysis circulating on r/Norway shows Spain generating 44% of electricity from wind and solar at ~€44/MWh, while Scandinavia faces high, volatile wholesale prices. Norwegian Redditors were blunt about the irony of a hydro-rich country paying more than sun-soaked Spain.

Statsminister Støre og finansminister Stoltenberg utenfor Statsministerens kontor.

Lørenskog kommune ble utsatt for et dataangrep i helgen.

Also today

Renholdere i privat sektor ut i streik fra natt til tirsdag — Dagsavisen
Foxtrot-nettverket rekrutterte 15-åring til å sprenge granat i Oslo — bakmannen sitter i Irak — NRK
Skyting i Nice: minst to drept — NRK
Stad skipstunnel skrotet igjen av regjeringen — Stortinget tvang den frem sist — Aftenposten
Styrkeprøven Trondheim–Oslo avlyst etter at Vegvesenet avslo — NRK
Marius Borg Høiby får dom 15. juni — 40 tiltalepunkter — NRK
Nærmere 700 togtunneler mangler mobildekning — TU.no
Nordisk tech-giganter lanserer felles industriinitiativ — E24
Nammo og Ukraina inngår avtale om langtrekkende artilleriammunisjon — Dagsavisen
USA foreslår tre nye militærbaser på Grønland — Danmark avviser — Aftenposten
Rema 1000 tilbakekaller salami etter listeriafunn — NRK
Butikkjeden Rusta bruker KI-chatbot i jobbintervjuer — forsker advarer mot skjevheter — NRK
Cloudflare sparker over 1000 etter å ha seksdoblet KI-bruken — Digi.no
xAI gir Anthropic tilgang til massiv datakraft — uvanlig rivalallianse — Digi.no

Tech

Hackers Used AI to Find a Real Vulnerability — and Exploited It

Google confirmed that state-linked actors used AI tooling to discover a significant software flaw and exploit it in real attacks — a notable first for AI-assisted offensive vulnerability discovery at operational scale. The incident demonstrates that AI-assisted zero-day hunting has moved from research novelty to active tradecraft. — NYT · AP · HN

84 Malicious Packages in Six Minutes

Between 19:20–19:26 UTC on May 11, attackers published 84 malicious versions across 42 @tanstack packages by chaining a pull_request_target workflow vulnerability with GitHub Actions cache poisoning and OIDC token extraction from runner memory. An external researcher detected the compromise within 20 minutes; all affected versions were deprecated and removed. The detailed postmortem is technically instructive — the attack vector is a GitHub Actions anti-pattern that affects many projects. — TanStack · GitHub · HN

DDL-920: First Drug to Reproduce Stroke Rehabilitation

UCLA researchers discovered that stroke destroys parvalbumin neuron connections remote from the damage site, disrupting the gamma oscillations that coordinate motor function. DDL-920 restores these oscillations pharmacologically, producing movement recovery in mice equivalent to physical rehab — the first drug to fully replicate rehabilitation’s effect. Published in Nature Communications; human trials require further safety studies. — UCLA · HN

Zig vs. Rust in 2026: The AI Tipping Point

The argument: Zig’s ergonomic advantages — allocator interfaces, comptime, arbitrary bit-width integers — matter less when AI coding agents provide a 100x productivity multiplier in Rust. Rust’s type system pays off more in AI-assisted workflows because it reduces audit burden on generated code: trust the compiler rather than manually reviewing vast output for memory safety bugs. — zackoverflow.dev · Lobsters

Mythos Finds One curl Bug, Claims Five

Anthropic’s Mythos security model analyzed the curl codebase and reported five confirmed vulnerabilities. curl maintainer Daniel Stenberg’s team found only one valid — to be published as a low-severity CVE in curl 8.21.0. Stenberg’s verdict: “primarily marketing.” Other AI tools have found more genuine issues in curl previously. — Daniel Stenberg · Lobsters

The Clam Lake ELF transmitter in Wisconsin — one of only two Navy stations that communicated with nuclear submarines via extremely low frequency radio.

Also today

fsnotify maintainer dispute sparks Go supply chain alarm — contributors removed from GitHub org — Socket.dev
Kettle: cryptographic attestation for verifiable software build provenance — arXiv
How LLVM fights Hyrum’s Law: randomized hash seeds, reverse iteration, epoch tracking — MaskRay
Web feeds in 2026: only 26.5% of sites with autodiscovery have current, populated feeds — mnot.net
Technical history of the Navy’s ELF submarine communication system — from Wisconsin antennas to 2004 decommissioning — computer.rip
EYG scripting language adds filesystem effects and documented text syntax — eyg.run
Running AI coding agents on isolated VPS: per-agent Unix users, Git access, tmux sessions — crowdhailer.me

Linux & Infrastructure

Hyprland 0.55: Lua Takes Over

Landmark release. Lua is now the primary configuration format — .conf (hyprlang) still works, but Lua enables event-driven scripting directly in the config. New features: custom Layout API (user-defined layouts per workspace or monitor), ICC profile support, FP16 rendering precision, glow window decoration, native trackpad pinch-zoom, and move_into_or_create_group dispatcher. Breaking: dwindle:pseudotile and decoration:shadow:ignore_window removed; misc:vfr moved to debug:; exec dispatcher no longer detaches — use hyprctl eval 'hl.exec_cmd("waybar")' instead. NixOS/Home Manager users: hyprlang still works, so you’re not immediately broken, but the HM module will need updating for Lua-native features. The community is already sharing non-trivial scripts — dynamic workspace gap sizes via event callbacks, something that previously required external daemons. — Hyprland blog · r/hyprland · r/NixOS (HM)

France Deploys NixOS on 250 Government Workstations

DINUM, France’s digital ministry, is migrating 250 workstations to NixOS under two programs: Securix (technical admins, 40 in testing) and Bureautix (general staff, 80+ trialled). Official job postings for NixOS DevOps architects are live. An interministerial working group launched in April to coordinate Linux adoption across French public services. This is a substantive institutional deployment, not just a pilot. — NixOS Discourse

nixos-artifacts: One Interface for Secrets

An experimental NixOS framework that abstracts secret management behind one unified interface — mix agenix and sops-nix backends per artifact without changing calling code. Provides NixOS and Home Manager modules, a TUI for interactive management, and an extension API for new backends. API is explicitly experimental; the author is seeking feedback and contributors. — Discourse · r/NixOS

Gradient: A Rust Alternative to Hydra

After three years of development, Gradient — a Nix CI system written in Rust — is calling for testers. Distributed evaluation across multiple workers, smarter job assignment based on substitution needs, WebSocket transport with zstd-compressed NARs. Can’t fully replace Hydra yet, but is a serious option for self-hosters wanting Nix CI without running Perl infrastructure. — Discourse

Nixpkgs Formalizes AI Disclosure Policy

The Nixpkgs core team proposed a formal policy: every contribution must have a human reviewer who actually understands what they’re submitting, and non-trivial use of automation or LLMs must be disclosed. Inspired by similar policies from LLVM, Mesa, Fedora, and the Linux kernel. The team is also calling for new members. — Discourse

A Hyprland rice built from scratch using the new Lua configuration system.

NixOS ecosystem

Nixflix v1.0.0: declarative media server stack (Jellyfin + Sonarr/Radarr/Prowlarr + PostgreSQL) reaches stable — GitHub
Niks3 1.5: S3-backed binary cache gains auto-upload daemon and mTLS — Discourse
NixOS self-hosted service data lives in /var/lib — back it up — Discourse
NixOS SSH regression in LXC containers on Proxmox 9 (kernel 7.0) — workaround: disable PermitEmptyPasswords — Discourse

Tools & security

Rura: interactive TUI scratchpad for building and debugging shell pipelines — partial execution isolates failures — GitHub
witshe: each git task gets its own worktree and tmux session — GitHub
Ratty: GPU-rendered terminal emulator with inline 3D graphics — ratty-term.org
Docker bypasses UFW firewall rules, silently exposing bound ports — bind to 127.0.0.1 explicitly — r/selfhosted
Double-Caddy reverse proxy silently passed through unfiltered for two weeks — test from outside, not inside — r/selfhosted

cd ~/repos/ratatosk && claude --resume 23a7f028-9719-4f62-9b25-62fed9e238c7