President Trump sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday declaring that hostilities with Iran, which began February 28, have "terminated," citing a fragile ceasefire and no recent exchange of fire. However, Trump reiterated that the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports will remain until Tehran agrees to abandon its nuclear weapons program, stating "there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons."
Senate Republicans beat back a fifth Democratic attempt to invoke the War Powers Act and force an end to U.S. military operations in Iran. The conflict officially hits the 60-day mark next week, the threshold under the War Powers Act requiring congressional authorization to continue, yet GOP leadership shows no intention of acting. Sens. Susan Collins and Rand Paul broke ranks and voted with Democrats, but the effort fell short.
Voters in Indiana and Ohio head to the polls May 5 in the first major primaries of the 2026 midterm cycle. Indiana alone has seen a record-breaking $98 million in ad spending, with open races in multiple congressional districts and the governor's mansion. In Ohio, the Senate race — for JD Vance's former seat — could help determine whether Republicans hold their slim majority.
A Fox News investigation found that roughly 600 organizations with a combined $2 billion in annual revenue mobilized over 3,000 May Day protest events in what researchers described as a "red-blue" alliance of progressive and socialist groups. The NYPD arrested agitators who attempted to chain themselves to the New York Stock Exchange, while thousands across the country skipped work and school under a "Workers Over Billionaires" banner.
President Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. military will begin "Project Freedom" on May 4 to guide and free commercial ships trapped in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM is deploying guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft, and approximately 15,000 service members to restore freedom of navigation through the chokepoint that handles roughly a quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade. Trump warned that any interference "will be dealt with forcefully."
Turkish police fired tear gas and arrested at least 550 people during May Day demonstrations in Istanbul on Friday. Across Europe, May Day marches in Paris, Berlin, and other capitals escalated into anti-American and anti-Israel political battlegrounds, with Paris police deploying tear gas grenades after projectiles were thrown.
Trilateral negotiations between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia remain stalled, with the Iran conflict consuming most of Washington's diplomatic bandwidth. Earlier progress on a structured peace framework brokered by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff has gone nowhere, with territorial disputes — Moscow's insistence on keeping occupied Ukrainian land — remaining the fundamental obstacle.
President Trump dismissed all 24 members of the National Science Board, the body that oversees the National Science Foundation and sets policy direction for billions of dollars in federal research funding. The move is the latest in a series of administration actions reshaping the federal scientific establishment and has drawn sharp criticism from the research community.
Fresh off the successful Artemis II mission — which returned four astronauts from a lunar flyby on April 10, marking the first crewed trip to the moon since 1972 — NASA is already targeting the moon's south pole for the Artemis III landing mission, expected to launch next year. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman credited the Trump administration's push to accelerate the program.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against a Houston-area postpartum care center accused of facilitating the entry of Chinese nationals for the sole purpose of giving birth on U.S. soil to obtain citizenship for their children. The De'Ai Postpartum Care Center has claimed responsibility for over 1,000 American-born babies since 2008 and allegedly operates four residential properties handling up to 20 births per day, coaching women to apply for tourist visas before pregnancy to avoid detection.
