The U.S. has sharply increased visible surveillance flights and drones near Cuba in recent weeks, using aircraft like the P-8, RC-135, and MQ-4.

Officials say the missions are meant to gather intelligence and pressure Cuba politically — not necessarily signal an imminent invasion.

Source: NYT

📸 Russian drone and missile strike collapsed a 9-storey apartment building in Kyiv overnight.

18 apartments destroyed.

At least 7 killed, including a child. ~20 people still missing under the rubble.

Kyiv declared a day of mourning for May 15.

John Bolton:

Trump calls Xi “King.” He said at the Osaka G20 meeting when they were having a bilateral, “You're the greatest leader of China since Mao Zedong,” which caught everybody a little bit by surprise. But then he said, “In fact, you're the greatest leader in Chinese history.”

He thinks he's friends with Xi Jinping and with Vladimir Putin and I will guarantee you that's not how they see Trump. I think they both see him as an easy mark.

John Bolton:

I think the Republican Party fundamentally remains a Reaganite or Reagan-Bush party on foreign policy and I think when Trump leaves office that will be clear.

I think there's going to be a fight for the soul of the party, but I think the Reagan wing is going to win.

John Bolton:

Trump believes that Ukraine worked against him in the 2016 campaign, and that Hillary Clinton’s computer server is somewhere in Ukraine — and he wants it.

He’s serious. He wants that server.

Marco Rubio:

Ukrainian Armed Forces are the strongest and most powerful armed forces in all of Europe right now.

Obama on his Iran deal:

We pulled it off without firing a missile. We got 97% of their enriched uranium out.

There’s no dispute that it worked, and we didn’t have to kill a whole bunch of people or shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

Obama suggested Trump dismissed the Iran deal not because it failed, but because Obama was the one who made it, adding, “that seems to be a pattern.”

Trump:

Xi would like to see a deal made. He said, “If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help.”

Anybody that buys that much oil obviously has some kind of relationship, and he'd like to see the Hormuz Strait open.

Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi on the UAE:

The UAE stood alongside the United States and Israel in this war.

Israel, the Zionist regime, and the United States cannot bring them security.

There comes a moment when silence is no longer possible.

Iran may remain patient, but patience has limits.

Security cannot be imported through Washington or Tel Aviv.

The UK government announced a trans-inclusive ban on conversion therapy in the King's Speech.

Any attempt to change, suppress, or "cure" someone's sexual orientation or gender identity will be banned.

Poland registered its first same-sex marriage on Thursday, following EU and Polish court rulings requiring recognition of same-sex marriages performed abroad.

Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski said the city issued the first official transcription of a same-sex marriage certificate and plans to recognise more such marriages from other EU countries.

Pakistan successfully test-fired the Fatah-4 cruise missile — a 750km-range, terrain-hugging weapon flying at ~50 meters to evade radar and air defenses.

The test validated upgraded navigation and precision systems, with a claimed accuracy of 5 meters CEP.

Trump announced that Beijing is expected to order 200 aircraft from Boeing.

Netanyahu:

Our enemies seek to destroy all of us. All of us.

They make no distinction between right and left, secular and religious, Jews and Arabs.

UAE commentator Abdulkhaleq Abdulla:

The UAE categorically denies that war criminal Netanyahu ever visited the UAE at any time.

There is no welcome whatsoever for a war criminal and the killer of Gaza's children on the pure soil of the Emirates.

The visit that Netanyahu is talking about is a fabrication from his sick imagination, and it is well known that he is a prolific liar who released this lie to serve opportunistic electoral purposes.

Netanyahu:

We will preserve Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty forever and ever.

Hungarian PM Péter Magyar:

As of today, after four years, the wartime state of emergency in Hungary is ending, and with it we are also putting an end to the decree-based emergency rule introduced by the Orbán government six years ago.

We are returning to normality.