Amendments and erosion.

1. Trump requested several amendments to the agreed US-Iran ceasefire draft during a Friday Situation Room meeting, further delaying a "final determination" that has been pending for days. Iran accuses him of "excessive demands" over nuclear stockpile levels and the future of the Strait of Hormuz. The 60-day MoU framework agreed on 28 May remains unsigned — the architecture exists, but the political will to sign it hasn't materialised. Axel reported the amendments via Axios. (Sources: nytimes.com, nbcnews.com, bbc.com, jpost.com, arabnews.com)

2. Russia's Rosatom claims a Ukrainian drone struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant; Kyiv calls it a propaganda ploy and denies deliberate targeting. The allegation, if weaponised, opens a dangerous escalation vector around nuclear infrastructure. Meanwhile, DW reports rising desertions and falling volunteer numbers four years into the war, even as Ukraine deploys unmanned ground systems it calls "silent death" robots. The drone advantage holds; the manpower squeeze is the growing vulnerability. (Sources: theguardian.com, dw.com, kfgo.com)

3. Egypt warned Israel that its escalations in Gaza threaten the ceasefire outright, as Hamas consults mediators on phase 2 but accuses Israel of obstructing progress. Israeli soldiers on the ground call the ceasefire "a joke"; yellow-line shootings are routine. Netanyahu previously directed the IDF to seize 70% of Gaza. Managed erosion remains the strategy, not its failure. (Sources: aljazeera.com, apnews.com, chinadailyasia.com, trtworld.com)

4. Kevin Warsh, sworn in this week as Fed chair, is urging the central bank to consider alternatives to its standard inflation gauge — a potentially consequential methodological shift at exactly the moment Congress may strip the Fed's employment mandate. The stagflation pincer we've tracked all week tightens: Q1 GDP revised downward, inflation spreading from energy into housing and everyday essentials. Warsh's methodological instincts and the mandate rewrite now converge in ways that could compound. (Sources: wsj.com, fortune.com, finance.yahoo.com)

5. US Q1 GDP was revised downward, but the underlying picture is murkier than the headline suggests. Roughly $800 billion in AI spending is juicing GDP figures while warping data on inflation, wages, and the labour market. The AI capital cycle is distorting the very metrics the Fed relies on — a problem Warsh's methodological push may or may not address. (Sources: msn.com, aol.com)

6. Crude plunged 20% in May on ceasefire hopes, but Exxon and Chevron warn inventories are at "really, really low levels" and prices will soar within weeks as summer demand hits. Morgan Stanley notes that US and Chinese strategic reserves are shielding the world economy but the buffer may only last weeks. The disconnect between price optimism and physical reality remains the defining tension through June. (Sources: fortune.com, aol.com, tradingkey.com)

7. China's May manufacturing PMI came in flat at 50, signalling stagnation after two months of expansion. Brussels edges toward tougher EV trade curbs even as China builds an automotive manufacturing complex outside Tangier, Morocco — the trade war now reshaping African supply chains, not just European ones. EU and US trade officials meet in Paris next week amid rising tariff tensions on both fronts. (Sources: usnews.com, ft.com, msn.com, politico.com)

8. Huawei's rotating chairman Xu Zhijun thanked US export restrictions for "supercharging" China's semiconductor industry, forcing domestic R&D investment and an independent tech stack. Korea's K Policy Platform warns the chip gap is narrowing; US easing could hit Korea hard. The speed-over-shrinking-transistors approach appears to be yielding results — sustainability remains the open question. (Sources: tomshardware.com, sedaily.com)

9. China's surging biotech industry is drawing alarm at ASCO as its clinical trials gain attention. The NYT reports that Chinese drug development now looms over US oncology dominance — a new front in the competitive divergence the West hasn't fully reckoned with. (Source: nytimes.com)

10. Japan's population fell by more than 3 million over five years — the largest decline on record. The developed world continues to split between places that attract people and places that are emptying out. In Spain, Latino immigrants are reviving empty villages; Japan has no comparable influx. Policy responses to demographic divergence remain thin on the ground everywhere. (Sources: viewsbangladesh.com, colombiaone.com)

11. Scientists identified rare immune responses that kept HIV suppressed for years without daily medication — a finding that could reshape treatment protocols. Early-stage but significant, and worth tracking for whether replication studies confirm it. (Source: thebrighterside.news)

12. More than 10,000 lawyers have left the federal government since the start of 2025 — a striking loss of legal talent driven by the administration's upheaval. The NYT documents the exodus. The pattern continues: appointee pushes institutional personalisation, resistor is removed or leaves, courts occasionally step in. Expertise departs; personalisation fills the void. (Source: nytimes.com)

13. A Trump administration directive would require most permanent-residency applicants to wait out the process in their home countries. Immigration lawyers with decades of experience call it a fundamental shift in how green-card processing works — or doesn't. Confusion and anxiety among immigrants and employers alike. (Source: cnn.com)

14. copyright_ip_media: CNN sued Perplexity over alleged AI copyright theft, while Sony Music moved to add more than 30,000 copyrighted recordings to its lawsuit against Udio. On the licensing side, a university press signed over content to train AI machines, calling engagement "essential." The legal war and the licensing peace continue running in parallel — whichever resolves first sets terms for the other. Separately, Bari Weiss picked Nick Bilton to lead 60 Minutes after a spate of firings. (Sources: msn.com, musicbusinessworldwide.com, scotsman.com, washingtonpost.com)

15. markets_crypto_startups: The CFTC approved the first regulated bitcoin perpetual contract and classified crypto perpetuals as foreign futures, while Danske Bank opened BTC and ETH access after an 8-year restriction. Wintermute began quoting prediction markets as event-contract volume topped $60 billion in 2026. House Oversight demanded information from Kalshi and Polymarket CEOs over alleged insider trading. The regulatory war on prediction markets intensifies on all fronts. (Sources: thecoinrepublic.com, coinmarketcap.com, thedefiant.io, aol.com)

16. markets_crypto_startups: Anthropic hit a $965 billion valuation after a $65 billion round, overtaking OpenAI; Cognition raised over $1 billion at a $26 billion valuation. Retail investors express concern about SpaceX's $1.8 trillion valuation ahead of its IPO, worried about being exit liquidity for early backers. The pipeline shows no sign of slowing; whether public markets absorb these prices is the test. (Sources: msn.com, legaldesire.com, businessinsider.com)

17. spain_expat: Sánchez's government deployed a $5 billion energy package shielding consumers from Iran-war oil shock; west-facing sourcing keeps Spanish petrol cheap enough that the French cross the border for it. Whether the subsidy holds through summer is the near-term question. Meanwhile, Civil Guard agents raided PSOE headquarters for 12 hours, and Madrid is lobbying Brussels to scrap the 90-day Schengen rule for British second-home owners. (Sources: thetimes.com, democrata.es, travelandtourworld.com)

18. canada: Canada confirmed a technical recession — two consecutive quarters of annualised contraction — as tariff uncertainty bites. Broader citizenship rules are drawing strong American interest, per Reuters data. Mark Carney is shifting climate policy away from Trudeau's architects; India-Canada trade pact talks show cautious optimism. Structural US dependence remains the binding constraint — trade diversification is happening unevenly. (Sources: islamtimes.com, idnfinancials.com, reuters.com, cbc.ca, business-standard.com)

19. puerto_rico: Puerto Rican tech platform Allec Inventory launched in Costa Rica to combat restaurant waste — a small bright spot for an island-origin startup expanding regionally. The broader picture remains grim: three consecutive months of economic decline, with the development agency chief resigning over government interference. Grid and LUMA standing remain backdrop with no fresh developments. (Source: thecostaricanews.com)