Israeli Real Estate Expo Advertising West Bank Settlements Returns to NYC
A controversial real estate expo that advertises properties for sale in the occupied Palestinian territories is returning to New York City on Monday, less than a week after a previous event drew dueling protests on the Upper East Side.
The “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” will take place Monday evening at Young Israel of Midwood, an Orthodox synagogue in southern Brooklyn. Event organizers confirmed the location in an automated response to The Intercept’s request for comment, but they did not comment on the event itself.
The roving expo is co-sponsored by several real estate companies with ties to Israel, and it is typically held at synagogues and other centers of Jewish life. At the event held last week at Park East Synagogue, The Intercept saw at least one table advertising land sales in Kfar Eldad, Karnei Shomron, and other Israeli settlements in the occupied territories — sales considered illegal under international law.
The event presents a test for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has caught flak from the pro-Israel side for condemning the illegal land sales, and from pro-Palestine groups and free speech advocates for allowing the NYPD to maintain “buffer zones” that keep protesters away from houses of worship.
Compounding the mayor’s entanglement is the fact that Young Israel of Midwood, the synagogue where Monday’s event will take place, is home to a city-funded senior center called Young Israel Senior Services. The senior center received more than $800,000 from the Department for the Aging in 2024, according to a city budget document.
A spokesperson for Mamdani, who campaigned on his pro-Palestine bona fides, declined to comment on the latest real estate event, pointing instead to comments about last week’s expo.
“Mayor Mamdani is deeply opposed to the real estate expo this evening that includes the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank,” spokesperson Sam Raskin told The Intercept last week.
The mayor has also affirmed attendees’ rights to go to and from synagogues without interference, in line with a controversial “buffer zone” bill the New York City Council passed last month. The new law, sponsored by the council’s moderate speaker, requires the New York Police Department to address physical obstructions and interference at houses of worship — which opponents see as a means to crack down on protests.
Last week’s event, held Tuesday at Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side, prompted heated protests from Pal-Awda and other pro-Palestine activists, which in turn drew a counter-protest from pro-Israel groups including members of the extremist group Betar U.S. The NYPD kept the groups separate and kept protesters, members of the media, and members of the public alike away from the synagogue with a tight cordon of security barriers that impeded movement along numerous city blocks in the vicinity of the synagogue.
After last week’s event, Mamdani praised the NYPD’s handling of the crowd at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday.
“We in this city believe in the sacrosanct nature of the right to protest and also are committed to ensuring that any New Yorker can safely enter or exit from a house of worship and that access never be in question while we also protect the First Amendment, and I do believe that the police ensured that yesterday,” he said. “I think that critique of the policies of a government is very much separate from bigotry toward the people of a specific religious faith. And there is no tolerance for antisemitism.”
The New York Civil Liberties Union, by contrast, offered a rebuke for the police force, calling the NYPD’s barricaded area a “no-speech zone.”
“When politicians use Freedom of Religion as a pretext to impose severe restrictions on speech, they undermine all New Yorkers’ rights,” said Donna Lieberman, the NYCLU’s executive director, in a statement released Wednesday. “The subject of last [week’s] protests was not a religious service but a private, politically-charged real estate event held at a synagogue.”
More protests are expected at Monday’s event in Midwood, putting the NYPD and the mayor under scrutiny once again.
Correction: May 11, 2026, 4:59 p.m. ET Due to an editing error, this story previously stated that Mamdani signed the City Council’s new “buffer zone” law. The bill passed with a veto-proof majority, and Mamdani allowed it to become law without his signature.
After banning foreign routers, FCC says existing ones can get updates until 2029
The Federal Communications Commission is relenting a bit on its restrictive router rules, saying it will allow foreign-made routers to receive software and firmware updates until at least January 1, 2029. The FCC also expanded the waiver to cover more types of software updates.
Previously, the FCC said routers currently on the market or already sold to consumers could receive security patches and other updates only until March 1, 2027. On Friday, the agency announced a waiver extension that lets devices receive updates until January 1, 2029, and said the waiver may eventually become permanent.
The software-update cutoff date is part of a sweeping set of rules the FCC announced in March. Claiming that restrictions are needed for national security reasons, the FCC imposed a ban on new hardware and related limits on software updates for routers that were authorized for sale before the ban was implemented.
Specifically, the FCC said in March that it would stop approving consumer-grade routers made outside the US, an action that affects virtually every router maker (with the possible exception of Starlink). The Trump administration is handing out exemptions to hardware makers that it decides are safe enough, with Netgear and the Amazon-owned Eero among those receiving exemptions so far.
The hardware ban is only for new devices, so all routers previously approved for sale in the US can continue to be imported and sold without obtaining a special exemption. But previously approved routers were hit with a separate rule that would prohibit software and firmware updates—unless the FCC keeps extending the cutoff date after which no updates can be installed.
Drone and router extensions
The new 2029 cutoff date announced Friday applies to foreign-made routers and foreign-made drones, which were both added to the Covered List. Devices on the Covered List “are deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,” the FCC says.
Devices on the Covered List need waivers to continue receiving software updates, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology said in its waiver extension order on Friday.
“Under this waiver, all Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), UAS critical components, and routers produced in a foreign country that were authorized for use in the United States prior to these devices being added to the Covered List may at least until January 1, 2029, consistent with FCC rules, continue to receive software and firmware updates that mitigate harm to US consumers,” the FCC engineering office said.
The waiver covers “all software and firmware updates to ensure the continued functionality of the devices, such as those that patch vulnerabilities and facilitate compatibility with different operating systems.” The FCC engineering office said it “will, as soon as practicable, recommend to the full Commission considering codifying this waiver through a rulemaking.”
That means the waiver would become permanent, but the FCC could impose various conditions. This could happen through a rulemaking process in which the public is invited to comment on the impact of proposed changes. But the router ban itself was imposed without any public comment, and the idea of making the software-update waiver permanent is simply a recommendation at this point.
Allowing basic software updates
Extending the waiver to 2029 will “give the Commission an opportunity to consider a rulemaking on this subject,” and reduce “potential harm to the public interest,” the FCC engineering office said. The office said it will recommend making the waiver permanent for existing equipment on the Covered List and “any future covered equipment with similar characteristics.”
The Friday update also extended the waiver to so-called “Class II permissive changes,” while the original waiver covered only Class I changes. This expansion of the waiver seems to be mainly about ensuring that all basic software updates are allowed.
Class I changes include “modifications in the equipment which do not degrade the characteristics reported by the manufacturer,” which can be made without a filing to the commission. Class II changes may degrade the performance characteristics a manufacturer previously reported to the FCC, but the changes are expected to be minimal compared to Class III changes that face more scrutiny to ensure compliance with FCC rules.
For both Class I and Class II, the FCC said its waiver is intended to cover “software and firmware updates that mitigate harm to consumers.” There’s no change to the process for Class III.
While extending or making the software-update waiver permanent will alleviate some concerns among router makers and users, the ban on new hardware may be a continued source of trouble. Many major router makers haven’t yet obtained exemptions that would let them import new models, and getting clearance could involve some negotiation with the Trump administration.
TP-Link still seeking exemption
The ban extends to any device partially made outside the US, regardless of whether the router maker is a US-based company. But it appears that Chinese companies will have the most trouble obtaining exemptions.
Chinese drone company DJI has not received an exemption and sued the FCC over the ban. The process for gaining exemptions for routers and drones is the same, indicating that “Chinese-origin manufacturers like TP-Link may face a presumptive denial, while companies with manufacturing in allied nations like Taiwan, Vietnam, or South Korea could find an easier path,” said a report by the Global Electronics Association trade group.
One router maker still waiting for an exemption is TP-Link, which was founded in China but relocated to the US in 2024. The company has faced US scrutiny over hacking campaigns linked to the Chinese government.
TP-Link met with FCC officials in mid-April to discuss its request for an exemption. “TP-Link routers are safe and secure. Publicly available data places TP-Link on par with or ahead of other major industry players in terms of security outcomes,” the company said in a filing.
FCC guidance says that companies seeking exemptions must obtain a determination from the Department of Defense or Department of Homeland Security that their routers do not pose unacceptable national security risks. The FCC clarified last month that the router ban also includes portable hotspots, but not phones with hotspot features.
Ultra-Moist Chai Cake with Chai Milk Soak & Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
You are here: Home/All RECIPES/ Ultra-Moist Chai Cake with Chai Milk Soak & Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
This chai cake is the ultimate fall dessert—soft, fluffy, and infused with warm spices, then soaked in a sweet chai milk mixture for an incredibly tender texture. Topped with a rich brown butter cream cheese frosting, every bite is cozy, indulgent, and full of comforting flavor.
🌟 Why You’ll Love This Chai Cake
Super soft & fluffy texture thanks to butter, eggs, and buttermilk
Packed with chai spices like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and cloves
Chai milk soak adds moisture and deep flavor (like a lighter tres leches)
Brown butter frosting brings a rich, nutty, bakery-style finish
🧁 Ingredients
For the Chai Cake:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cloves
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs (room temperature)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
For the Chai Milk Soak:
1/2 cup whole milk
2 chai tea bags
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
👩🍳 Instructions
1. Make the Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line a 9×9-inch baking pan.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
Gradually add dry ingredients and buttermilk, mixing on low speed until just combined.
Pour batter into the pan and bake for 35–38 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely.
2. Make Brown Butter Frosting
Melt butter over medium heat until it turns golden brown and smells nutty. Let it cool until soft but not melted.
Whip the browned butter until fluffy, then add cream cheese and mix until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until light and creamy.
3. Make the Chai Milk Soak
Heat milk until steaming, then steep chai tea bags for 20 minutes. Remove tea bags and let cool.
Stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.
4. Assemble the Cake
Trim a thin layer off the top of the cake. Poke holes all over the surface.
Slowly pour the chai milk mixture over the cake, allowing it to soak in.
Spread the frosting evenly on top and dust with cinnamon if desired.
Slice into 16 servings and enjoy!
💡 Tips for Best Results
Use room temperature ingredients for a smooth batter
Don’t overmix after adding flour—this keeps the cake soft
Use a light-colored metal pan for even baking
Measure flour properly (preferably with a scale)
❓ FAQs
How to store: Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Can it be gluten-free? Yes, use a 1:1 gluten-free baking flour blend.
No buttermilk? Mix 1 cup milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar.
Can I skip brown butter? Yes, use regular butter (slightly reduce the amount).
✨ This chai cake is rich, cozy, and full of warm spice flavors—perfect for fall, holidays, or anytime you want a bakery-style dessert at home!
Maybe overkill, new sanctions show Trump hope for Xi help on Iran
The United States has sanctioned a new group of mainland China- and Hong Kong-linked companies and individuals accused of helping Iran secure drone materials and missile-related components, raising fresh tensions days before US President Donald Trump’s state visit to China.
The US Treasury Department said on May 8 that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had targeted 10 individuals and companies across the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe under its “Economic Fury” campaign against Iran.
The campaign is aimed at disrupting networks that Washington says help Iran’s military secure weapons and raw materials for Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missiles. The US State Department simultaneously designated four entities over their links to Iran’s conventional arms activities.
The China- and Hong Kong-related designations fall into several broad categories:
Aerospace-grade materials: Hitex Insulation Ningbo Co Ltd and its legal representative Li Genping were accused of supplying, or trying to supply, millions of dollars’ worth of carbon fiber, honeycomb fabric and other aerospace-grade materials to Iran-linked Pishgam Electronic Safeh Company.
Procurement support: Yushita Shanghai International Trade Co Ltd, AE International Trade Co Ltd of Hong Kong and HK Hesin Industry Co Ltd were accused of supporting procurement efforts for the Center for Progress and Development of Iran (CPDI), the latest name of the US-designated Center for Innovation and Technology Cooperation (CITC).
Weapons-related financing: Mustad Ltd was accused of helping facilitate financial transactions tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ procurement of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons.
Satellite imagery: Meentropy Technology Hangzhou Co Ltd (MizarVision) and The Earth Eye Co (Beijing Mumei Starry Sky Technology Co Ltd) were accused of providing satellite imagery support for Iranian military activity.
The sanctions against the two Chinese satellite-imagery firms came against the backdrop of an earlier satellite allegation that Beijing had denied.
Citing leaked Iranian military documents, the Financial Times reported on April 15 that Iran had secretly acquired a Chinese-built satellite known as TEE-01B, giving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force a new capability to target US military bases across the Middle East. The satellite was launched from China and later acquired by Iran in late 2024.
The May 8 sanctions did not cover other recent reports about alleged China-to-Iran missile-fuel shipments. The Washington Post reported in early March that two cargo ships owned by a sanctioned Iranian shipping company had left a Chinese chemical-storage port carrying suspected rocket-fuel precursor materials and were heading toward Iran.
The Telegraph reported on April 3 that five vessels carrying sodium perchlorate, a precursor used in solid-fuel rocket propellant, were identified at or near Iranian ports. The reported quantity was said to be enough for hundreds of ballistic missiles.
Trump’s visit to Beijing
On April 24, the OFAC sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co Ltd for allegedly buying Iranian crude, while also targeting about 40 shipping firms and vessels accused of moving Iranian oil through a shadow fleet.
The May 8 action goes farther because it alleges support for Iran’s weapons supply chain, not just its oil revenue. That makes the case more sensitive after Trump warned on April 8 that any country supplying military weapons to Iran would face a 50% tariff on all goods sold to the US, with “no exclusions or exemptions.”
The timing has sharpened the political signal. Trump is due to visit China from Wednesday to Friday for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Iran, Taiwan, trade and export controls are expected to be among the most sensitive items on the agenda.
On Monday, Beijing confirmed for the first time Trump’s upcoming trip to China.
“This will be the first visit to China by a US president in almost nine years. President Xi will have in-depth exchanges of views with President Trump on major issues concerning China-US relations and world peace and development,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a regular media briefing on Monday.
Guo said heads-of-state diplomacy was important in guiding China-US relations, adding that Beijing was ready to work with Washington to expand cooperation, manage differences and provide more stability in a volatile world.
But some Chinese commentators said the sanctions had cast a shadow over the summit.
“The US seems to believe that, with Trump’s China visit already scheduled, it can add sanctions to increase its bargaining chips, whether China is happy about it or not,” says a Shandong-based columnist using the pen name “Xiaoliu.”
“However, China’s swift and forceful legal countermeasures, together with Iran’s confident response, show that the other side does not intend to follow Washington’s script,” she writes, referring to the countermeasures as Beijing’s recent move to forbid local firms and banks from enforcing the US sanctions against Chinese “teapot” refiners.
“Sanctions and counter-sanctions have become a normalized tool in the China-US contest,” she says. “At such a sensitive moment, Washington’s decision to play this card again raises a question: is this a clever calculation or an arrogant misjudgment that could backfire? When Trump’s plane lands in Beijing, will the shadow created by these sanctions hang over the negotiating table?”
“This is not the first time the US has taken such unilateral action on the eve of high-level exchanges,” says a Guangdong-based writer surnamed Chen. “Before past bilateral meetings, Washington has often used sanctions or tough rhetoric to create leverage. This time, using Iran-related issues to sanction Chinese entities reflects the same game-playing mentality.”
He says this approach will not achieve its intended purpose and will instead damage the foundation of mutual trust. If Washington really wants to use the visit to improve bilateral relations, he adds, it should show sincerity rather than apply pressure in its talks.
The sanctions come as Washington and Beijing are exploring a possible trade package for the summit. Reuters reported on May 7 that the two sides are working on a proposed Board of Trade mechanism to identify products that could expand bilateral commerce without weakening national security or critical supply chains – including possible Chinese purchases of US crops, Boeing aircraft and American energy such as coal, oil and natural gas.
Whether Trump can secure Chinese commitments to buy more US products could affect Republican efforts to retain control of the House and Senate in the November midterm elections, according to some observers.
New security framework
The regional security argument has gained traction as the US-Iran ceasefire remains fragile. On April 8, Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week ceasefire mediated by Pakistan, which was later extended while negotiations continued. However, after several rounds of direct and indirect talks via Pakistan, Trump has still not secured what Washington wants most: the removal or firm neutralization of Iran’s enriched-uranium stockpile.
On April 23, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi in Beijing. Wang said China and Iran had supported each other in recent years, deepened political trust, expanded practical cooperation and worked together against unilateralism and bullying, making the strategic significance of their ties more prominent.
On May 6, Wang met Araghchi again, where the Iranian side briefed China on the latest Iran-US negotiations and Tehran’s next steps.
Araghchi said political crises could not be solved by military means and that Iran would defend its sovereignty and dignity while continuing to seek a comprehensive and lasting solution through peaceful negotiations. He said Iran trusted China’s role in preventing further escalation and looked forward to Beijing continuing to promote peace.
“China is a trustworthy strategic partner of Iran,” Wang told Araghchi during the meeting. “China is willing to consolidate and deepen political mutual trust with Iran, maintain and strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and continue to advance the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership.”
“Before Araghchi left for Beijing on May 5, the US had gotten ready to respond,” writes Jiangsu-based writer Jingting Guoji, who uses a pen name. “If China and Iran had reached a military deal, Washington could have quickly moved to intercept weapons shipments, expand sanctions or pressure China through its allies. But Araghchi was smart. He did not ask China for weapons. He asked China to help build a new security framework in the Middle East.”
“Iran showed diplomatic wisdom by not falling into the ‘military confrontation’ trap set by the US,” he says. “Instead, it dealt with Washington at the political and diplomatic level, using the balance among major powers to win greater strategic space.”
He says Wang’s response showed China’s attitude and determination in supporting a new security framework for the Middle East.
China has, in recent years, promoted a new Middle East security framework as part of its wider regional diplomacy. The idea involves balancing relations with major regional powers, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, rather than relying on a US-led security order.
“Pakistan played a clever move by using its role as intermediary to mislead the Trump administration,” Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing news outlet Flamingwheels said in a commentary.
It said Pakistan, in late April, passed the Territorial Transit Goods Ordinance 2026 to open six dedicated land routes for third-country goods to move through Pakistan into Iran, bringing new logistics activity and economic benefits to local communities. It also said that the new land routes would give the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Gwadar port a new strategic role at a moment of crisis.
Chinese media reports said the US military blockade of Iranian ports had continued for nearly a month, but China could still send about 100 to 150 containers to Iran by rail per week. The trains depart from Xi’an and travel through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan before reaching Tehran, although the volume is only about 5% of what Iran could have received by sea before the blockade.
EU Approves Sanctions on Israeli Settlers and Hamas Leaders After Hungary Drops Veto
European Union foreign ministers approved sanctions Monday against certain Israeli settlers and groups associated with violence in the West Bank and senior Hamas figures after Hungary’s new government lifted a previous veto that had blocked the measures for months.
The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans targeting seven Israeli settlers or entities as well as multiple Hamas leaders.
Although the names of individuals and organizations were not yet released, the sanctions did not include Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, according to the Guardian. The two ministers were sanctioned by the United Kingdom last June over what Britain described as “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities.”
The sanctions still require technical and legal procedures before formal implementation.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, “Extremisms and violence carry consequences,” while also noting continuing divisions within the bloc over broader economic measures against Israeli settlements.
“We had discussions on the trade issues, limiting trade with the illegal Israeli settlements,” Kallas told reporters after the meeting. “There was a call by many member states to take this forward, so we will continue to work with the Commission on presenting proposals.”
According to the material, France and Sweden supported additional measures including restrictions on trade with settlements, while proposals such as suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement remained divisive among member states.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticized the sanctions decision, calling it “arbitrary and political.”
“Israel has stood, stands, and will continue to stand for the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland,” Saar wrote on X.
Michael Jackson’s Secret Family Making Chilling New Claims
More than 15 years after Michael Jackson’s death, a family once known as the singer’s “second family” is making shocking new allegations that are once again throwing the King of Pop’s legacy into turmoil.
In a disturbing television interview that aired on 60 Minutes Australia, the Cascio siblings — Eddie, Dominic, Aldo and Marie-Nicole Cascio — accused Jackson of years of manipulation, grooming, and sexual abuse they claim began when they were children.
The emotional sit-down comes just months after the siblings filed a lawsuit against Jackson’s estate, reigniting one of the most controversial chapters surrounding the late music icon.
The Cascio family first met Jackson back in the 1980s, when the superstar allegedly became extremely close with them. What started as excitement over befriending one of the most famous men in the world quickly turned dark, according to the siblings.
“When you have the biggest celebrity on the planet wanting to be part of your family, you don’t think something evil could happen,” Dominic claimed during the interview.
The siblings said Jackson showered the family with gifts, vacations, and endless attention. But behind the scenes, they now allege the singer was slowly gaining control over them emotionally and psychologically.
Eddie Cascio claimed the alleged abuse began when he was just 11 years old while traveling with Jackson during the Dangerous tour in the early 1990s.
“That’s when everything changed,” he alleged, claiming Jackson began touching him inappropriately before things escalated further over time.
Eddie tearfully claimed the alleged abuse became frequent and left him emotionally shattered for years.
“At the end of the day, he was the monster, not us,” he said during the interview.
Dominic Cascio also accused Jackson of inappropriate behavior, alleging the singer manipulated him into believing disturbing acts were signs of affection and love.
Meanwhile, sister Marie-Nicole claimed Jackson exposed her to inappropriate sexual behavior and even allegedly gave her prescription pills when she was only 11 years old.
Youngest sibling Aldo made some of the most heartbreaking accusations of all, claiming he was abused while still too young to even understand what was happening.
“I thought it was love,” he claimed.
The siblings also alleged Jackson constantly warned them not to tell anyone, allegedly telling them their family would be destroyed if the truth ever came out.
One of the most painful moments came when Aldo recalled his mother once asking if Jackson was harming him. According to Aldo, he repeated exactly what Jackson had allegedly “trained” him to say.
The accusations have once again sparked fierce debate online, where Jackson’s legacy remains deeply divisive years after his death in 2009.
Jackson’s estate is aggressively denying every allegation.
Attorney Marty Singer blasted the claims as nothing more than a “money grab,” arguing the accusations surfaced years after Jackson’s death because he can no longer defend himself in court.
“Sadly, in death just as in life, Michael Jackson remains a target because of his fame and success,” Singer said in a statement.
The explosive interview is already sending shockwaves through social media and the entertainment world, with many longtime fans struggling to reconcile the disturbing allegations with Jackson’s legendary status as one of music’s biggest stars.
As of Monday morning, officials for the World Health Organization reported that the last of the passengers of the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to be evacuated today. Thirty crew will remain on board and see the ship back to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Prior to the evacuation there were 147 people on board.
All of those evacuated from the ship are being transported off the island on specially arranged repatriation flights, not commercial flights. The evacuations and flights are being coordinated by Spanish authorities as well as the WHO and other national health officials.
Amid the evacuations, one new case has been definitively identified in a French citizen who tested positive on the journey home. That brings the outbreak tally to nine cases. Of those cases, three deaths had previously been reported, including a Dutch couple and a German woman.
US passengers
There may be a 10th case in a US passenger; US health officials reported that a person tested “mildly positive” after being evacuated from the ship. But for now, the WHO is reporting that as “inconclusive” testing and is awaiting confirmation before updating the case count.
The information about that possible US case came on Sunday from a statement on social media by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The statement incorrectly said that federal and state officials had transported 17 American citizens who were on board the ship back to the US on a non-commercial flight. The repatriated US passengers were flown to Omaha, Nebraska, where the federal government has its only National Quarantine Unit on the campus of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The Nebraska Medical Center also houses a National Biocontainment Unit.
In a press briefing in Omaha on Monday morning, federal and Nebraska officials corrected the HHS statement, saying that the US has repatriated 18—not 17—people, which includes 17 US citizens and one person who is a dual British/US citizen. The passengers range in age from late 20s to late 70s–early 80s.
On the flight to Omaha, two were flown in special biocontainment units “out of an abundance of caution.” That includes the one person who tested “mildly positive,” and a second person who had symptoms. For now, the definition of symptoms is “liberal,” including anything as minor as nasal congestion, officials said in the press briefing.
Three people in US biocontainment
Of the 18 people, 15 (including the dual citizen) are asymptomatic and in the quarantine unit.
The person with the “mildly positive” test is being housed in the Nebraska biocontainment unit. That person is said to be asymptomatic for now. In the press briefing, officials offered only vague answers as to what they meant by “mildly positive.” But, they are likely referring to the cycle threshold (Ct value) for the real-time PCR test used to detect snippets of hantavirus genetic material to confirm an infection. The test does repeated cycles to try to amplify specific snippets of genetic material that may be present. A test is generally considered negative if there’s no clear signal after 40 cycles. But it’s not a precise cutoff, and faint signals that appear after 35 or more cycles may be seen as ambiguous—possibly an early or late infection when little virus genetic material is present, or possibly just contamination.
The remaining two passengers are a couple traveling together, one of whom is the person previously identified as having symptoms. They have been moved to a biocontainment unit together at Emory University in Atlanta. The reason for the move is to ensure that the biocontainment unit in Nebraska—which has a small capacity to isolate hantavirus cases—can reserve space in the event that any of the 15 in quarantine develop an infection, officials explained in the press briefing.
The quarantine period for those exposed to hantavirus is 42 days from their exposure date. The 18 people will be monitored carefully for the life-threatening infection, with the 15 in quarantine undergoing detailed risk assessments. Depending on various factors, some in the quarantine unit may be able to return home before the 42-day period. These factors include, among many things, their assessed exposure and risk levels as well as their access to care at home. People who develop hantavirus infections require high-level care. Thus, if people do not live close to health facilities with intensive care units or advanced life-support technology, namely ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), they would likely be advised to stay in Omaha.
Transmission risk
Andes hantavirus is a rare infection in humans, and the vast majority of cases are acquired via exposure to rodents or inhaling particles from their droppings, urine, or bodily fluids. However, the Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to, in even rarer cases, spread from human to human, which appears to have been the case on the Hondius. Rodents have not been reported on the ship.
Cruise ships—where a mix of people from various places live in confined settings with communal facilities—are known to enable wide and rapid spread of viruses. While this is the first time an Andes virus outbreak with likely human-to-human transmission has occurred on a ship, no other features of the outbreak appear out of line with what’s known about the virus’s spread or disease. The virus transmits human-to-human amid close, prolonged contact with a symptomatic case. The virus is generally not known to transmit easily or from asymptomatic people. For more information about the outbreak and Andes virus, check out our explainer.
In addition to the 18 people returned to the US this weekend, six other American passengers on the Hondius had disembarked the ship in April before the outbreak was identified. They are being monitored by state health officials.
France says no to rushing EU budget negotiations before elections
France has signalled that it is unwilling to rush negotiations on the European Union’s next long-term budget simply to secure an agreement before the politically sensitive year of 2027, when several key member states, including France, are expected to head to the polls.
Speaking on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting in Nicosia, French Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad insisted that Paris would not accept what he described as “artificial deadlines” aimed at accelerating talks on the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), which will cover the period between 2028 and 2034.
“Our only priority is to have a good budget,” Haddad said, underlining that France’s focus remains on securing a financial package that protects strategic European interests rather than concluding negotiations quickly.
The comments come amid mounting pressure from several European leaders to secure a political agreement before the end of 2026. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Council President António Costa have both urged member states to finalise the framework early in order to avoid the uncertainty that could arise from elections across Europe in 2027.
The concern is particularly acute in France, where the far-right National Rally could potentially gain power in the presidential elections scheduled for April 2027. The party has previously advocated reducing France’s contributions to the EU budget and scaling back military support for Ukraine, positions that could complicate delicate negotiations among member states.
Despite concerns over possible political disruption, Haddad argued that there was still enough time to conclude negotiations in the latter half of 2027 if necessary. He stressed that securing a strong and resilient budget was more important than reaching a rapid compromise. France is particularly keen on preserving strong agricultural subsidies and introducing new EU-wide revenue streams to finance future spending priorities.
The issue is further complicated by the fact that Italy, Spain and Poland are also expected to hold national elections in 2027, raising fears that changes in government across multiple member states could reshape negotiating positions midway through the process.
Poland nevertheless voiced support for moving quickly. Deputy Foreign Minister Ignacy Niemczycki said an early agreement would allow technical preparations and sectoral programmes to begin sooner, although he acknowledged that the quality of the agreement remained the priority.
The European Commission has proposed a budget package worth around €1.8 trillion, alongside an additional €166 billion earmarked for repaying joint EU debt accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic. The proposed budget would fund key priorities including agriculture, competitiveness, defence, migration and support for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament last week adopted its negotiating position on the next long-term budget, calling for a significantly more ambitious financial framework than the one proposed by the Commission. MEPs backed an increase of roughly 10%, arguing that the EU cannot meet growing demands in areas such as defence, competitiveness and support for Ukraine while maintaining traditional policies like agriculture and cohesion spending without additional funding. Parliament also insisted that repayments linked to the post-pandemic recovery fund should remain outside the main budget ceilings to avoid reducing funding for existing programmes.
New Orleans wants to fix its Mardi Gras mess. So why is the trash pile still growing?
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and Verite News, a nonprofit news organization with a mission to produce in-depth journalism in underserved communities in the New Orleans area.
When cleaning crews dug deep into New Orleans’ clogged drains in 2018, they pulled up leaves, mud — and 46 tons of Mardi Gras beads.
The sheer magnitude of waste accumulated over decades of Carnivals — and its impact on the flood-prone city’s drainage system — shocked many residents and city officials.
“Once you hear a number like that, there’s no going back,” then-Public Works director Dani Galloway said at the time. “So we’ve got to do better.”
But nearly a decade later, New Orleans is generating more Mardi Gras garbage than ever. During the roughly five weeks of this year’s Carnival season, crews collected 1,363 tons of beaded necklaces, beer cans, plastic cups, and other refuse along the city’s parade routes — a 24 percent increase from the year before and the highest total on record. The trash tonnage is the equivalent of 741 cars. In New Orleans terms, it’s roughly the weight of the Steamboat Natchez or more than 1 million king cakes.
Mardi Gras revelers are leaving behind more trash than ever
Tons of trash collected from New Orleans parade routes, 2011–2026
“To see the waste go up that much, it’s just absurd,” said Brett Davis, founder of Grounds Krewe, a nonprofit group trying to make Mardi Gras more sustainable through recycling and waste reduction efforts.
It’s a century-old tradition for riders on parade floats to shower crowds with beaded necklaces, toys, and other items — collectively known as “throws.” Most are cheap plastic trinkets. The beads are often laden with toxic chemicals, including unsafe levels of lead. Many throws are dropped moments after they’re caught, then crushed under feet and eventually swept up and hauled to landfills.
City officials initially blamed the rise in rubbish on the popularity of this year’s festivities, which ran from January 6 to February 17 and included more than 30 float parades. An estimated 2.2 million people visited downtown New Orleans during the Carnival season, about 10 percent more than in 2025, according to the Downtown Development District, which drew on data from location analytics company Placer.ai.
“The increase from last year was directly associated with the larger crowds,” Matt Torri, the city’s sanitation director, told the City Council in March. “Anybody who was out at this year’s parades definitely took note that there seemed to be more people enjoying the Carnival season, which is great for the city.”
But a Verite News analysis of annual attendance and city cleanup records shows no clear relationship between crowds and trash levels. Overall, Mardi Gras waste tonnage has trended upward over the past decade, regardless of the year-to-year changes in attendance. The Mardi Gras season in 2020, for instance, drew more people — about 2.4 million — but produced roughly 241 fewer tons of garbage than in 2026.
In the early 2010s, trash tonnage hovered around 880 tons. It spiked in 2017, surpassing 1,320 tons, and has not fallen below 1,000 tons since. The only exception was 2021, when no trash was recorded because the city canceled parades and most Carnival festivities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carnival trash hit a record even as attendance lagged behind 2020 levels
Downtown attendance vs. city-wide trash collection during Mardi Gras, 2020–2026
Attendance (downtown)
Trash (city-wide, tons)
Since 2020, when the Downtown Development District began tracking visits in the Central Business and Warehouse districts, annual attendance has stayed within a relatively tight range, between 1.9 million and 2.4 million. Still, the trash tally has swung wildly, indicating that other factors are at play. The development district doesn’t track citywide visits, but its annual downtown tally is considered the most accurate indication of Carnival attendance.
The office of Mayor Helena Moreno and the city’s sanitation department did not respond to requests for comment.
Parade trash remains a problem for the city’s drainage system. After the infamous bead blockage of 2018, the city began installing temporary filter contraptions, known as “gutter buddies,” at catch basins along parade routes, but conservation groups say the outfalls still spew more litter into canals and Lake Pontchartrain during the Carnival season.
The upswing in trash is occurring alongside a seemingly contradictory trend of waste reduction. In recent years, many parade organizations, called krewes, have cut back on plastic beads and other “junk” throws. They’ve opted for higher-value items like socks, baseball caps, wooden cooking spoons, and metal drinking cups.
Grounds Krewe and other groups have also expanded their recycling efforts. They set set up stations to collect bottles, cans, and reusable throws, and some volunteers even pick through the parade debris for recyclable items. This year, the groups diverted about 28 tons from landfills. That’s despite the city pulling back its support for recycling this year because of budget concerns. Even if the city government spent the $200,000 it initially earmarked for recycling, “it’s not going to reverse the 24 percent gain” in waste, Davis said.
There was some hope that the volume of throws would be curbed by rising prices for beads and other trinkets, a result of higher inflation and President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on imports from China, where most beads are made. Some parade-goers said they noticed the change, taking to social media to complain about stingier krewes.
“We are really perplexed,” Davis said. “All that is happening, with people throwing fewer beads and a lot of krewes switching to higher-quality throws, but waste is still going upward.”
The swelling tonnage may have less to do with the throwers and more with the catchers. Davis and some city leaders say parade-goers are setting up earlier, staying longer, and bringing even more of the comforts of home: folding chairs, canopy tents, coolers, grills, and wagonloads of food. They’re also chaining together walls of ladders, erecting scaffolding, installing portable toilets, and plunking down generators and old sofas. As the season ends, many of these items are broken, dirty, or too much of a hassle to haul home.
These abandoned items, which can range in weight from 5 pounds for a folding chair to 300 pounds for a couch, are an increasingly heavy lift for cleanup crews, City Council President JP Morrell said.
“The reality is that they get their use out of this stuff, and then it becomes a tremendous amount of debris that our workers have to deal with because these people had no intention of ever picking this stuff up,” he said. “It goes towards a sense of abject entitlement — that our entire city exists to serve other people’s whims.”
Discarded Mardi Gras beads and trash cover a street after 2014 Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, Louisiana. Gerald Herbert / AP Photo
Many of these gear-laden revelers are territorial, roping off patches of sidewalk or spreading tarps across grassy street medians, known locally as neutral grounds. These public-space appropriators have come to be known as the “Krewe of Chad,” after the name, spraypainted across a large patch of grass, went viral in 2013.
These “Chadders,” as Morrell calls them, appear emboldened by the recent ebb in the enforcement of the city’s parade rules. Officially, early birds aren’t supposed to set up until four hours before a parade starts, but this rule is regularly flaunted. In 2024, the list of banned items grew to include many of the things that have become commonplace — tents, tarps, and viewing platforms among them. A crackdown that year, which included the seizure of truckloads of encampment gear, appeared to briefly change behavior, Davis said.
But last year, the city announced it would scale back enforcement and prioritize security after a terror attack on New Year’s Day killed 14 people on Bourbon Street.
Enforcement was further scaled back by the city’s current budget crisis. Amid layoffs and other cutbacks aimed at reducing a $220 million deficit, Morrell admitted that efforts to clear Carnival encampments would be “spotty.”
“How are they going to enforce it? Well, to be honest, we’re hard up for cash,” Morrell said on an Instagram post in early February. He stressed that police and other city departments would “do their best,” but enforcement wouldn’t be as “robust as it could be.”
Torri, the sanitation director, said the city had the capacity to clear large items on just one day before the final cleanup on Fat Tuesday. “Mardi Gras Day was a major undertaking,” he told the council in March. Crews started working at 8 a.m. and didn’t finish until 1 a.m. “It’s a full day of cleaning because of everything that people have brought. Tarps, ladders, tents, coolers, grills are left because they’re disposable things that were only intended to last the weeks of Mardi Gras.”
Davis predicted the trend toward fewer but better throws will continue, and his organization will keep pushing for more reuse and recycling. But, he added, the policies meant to curb parade encampments — and the waste they leave behind — are only as effective as their enforcement.
“Having the krewes throw less is great, but what’s really heavy is a couch and all the stuff people brought out in wheelbarrows,” Davis said. “Unless we have police out there and the trucks to haul it away, this kind of behavior creeps back. And that’s what we’re seeing now.”
When American and Chinese presidents meet, it is usually the upstart China that is desperate to be treated as an equal by the world’s pre-eminent superpower. Yet on May 14 when Donald Trump flies to Beijing for the first of four meetings planned this year with President Xi Jinping, he will be the one in the weaker position.
This is partly because of Trump’s undisguised admiration for authoritarian leaders. But mainly it is because he will arrive needing China’s help in bringing his war with Iran to a close.
This summit was originally billed as being the moment when Trump and Xi would turn the truce they declared in their trade war last October into a more permanent agreement. The battle of import tariffs on each other’s products would not end in anything like free trade but would at least be replaced by some sort of stability, close to the current level estimated by the Peterson Institute for International Economics of an average 47.5% American tax on Chinese imports and a 31.9% Chinese tax on imports from America.
Yet although trade and economics will still play a prominent role in the Beijing meeting, and will likely lead to some sort of agreement over a new dispute-resolution mechanism between the two countries, it will not be the most important issue under discussion. That issue will be Iran: how to handle Iran’s nuclear-weapons and uranium-enrichment program and how to achieve an agreement between the warring parties that can allow oil tankers and other shipping to pass freely through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow body of water between Iran and Oman that is currently being blockaded by both Iran and the United States.
The Beijing summit was originally supposed to take place in mid-April but was postponed at Trump’s request because of his Iran war. It seemed possible that, in the few days before the Xi-Trump meeting, the Iranians and Americans might come to an interim agreement on the basis of the peace plans put forward by both countries. That would have owed much to Trump’s desire to fly to Beijing without the shadow of war hanging over him. But Trump has rejected the Iranian proposal.
In any case, a long-term solution will rely upon an agreement by both sides with China, for China is the only major power that is both a partner of the Iranians and capable of overseeing a nuclear agreement.
Unlike its strategic partner, Russia, China has been reluctant to intervene overtly and directly in foreign conflicts. It is supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, but has so far avoided getting directly involved, in either military or diplomatic terms. The same is true of Iran’s war with America and Israel.
China has assisted the Iranian regime by continuing to buy Iranian oil and other commodities, insofar as they have been attainable. But it has also encouraged another of its partners, Pakistan, to act as a mediator between Iran and the United States. Even more notably, on May 6 it welcomed Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, on a visit to Beijing. Araghchi was certainly not there as a tourist.
It would not be in China’s interest to embarrass Trump by making a big show of its role in bringing an end to a war that the American president began more than two months ago. As China is by far the world’s biggest importer of oil, it shares an interest with America, Europe and the rest of the world in opening up Hormuz and getting the price of oil back down to pre-war levels. Displaying a willingness to collaborate over restricting the spread of nuclear weapons would also help burnish China’s claimed credentials as a force for peace and stability, credentials that have been severely damaged by its support for Russia in Ukraine.
The hope must be that this positive role, and the leverage over Trump that it provides, does not make Xi Jinping overconfident. Taiwan is the country that stands to lose the most from an overconfident Xi, either through his being emboldened enough to attempt an invasion or a coercive blockade or through his persuading a grateful Trump to weaken US support for Taiwan’s autonomy.
In truth, Xi is unlikely to attempt an invasion or blockade, for the examples of Russia in Ukraine and America in Iran have displayed clearly the costs and risks of military adventurism. China’s better hope is to wait until Taiwan’s next presidential election in January 2028, which could bring to power someone more favorable to China or at least more manipulable than the pro-independence figures who have run Taiwan for the past decade.
He is likelier to press Trump to reduce America’s sales of weapons to Taiwan as an unstated quid pro quo for helping with Iran.
The oddity of this supposed summit of the giants in Beijing is that neither country is in fact in a strong position. One of the most enduring propaganda messages throughout Xi’s 13 years as his country’s leader has been the claim that America is declining while China is rising. In economic terms, this is plainly not true: China’s annual GDP peaked at 77% of America’s in 2021 but has since fallen back to only a little over 60%.
The once-widespread predictions that it would soon overtake the United States have been quietly abandoned as China’s economy has been weakened by a property crash and demographic decline, and America’s has powered ahead thanks to technology investment. Now, it would take a collapse of the US dollar and a big rise in China’s currency to make it plausible that China could overtake America at any time in the next few decades, or possibly ever.
Meanwhile, one of the ironies of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan is that in strategic and geopolitical terms he has done more than any American president in living memory to make the Chinese message of decline look as if it could come true. He has done his best to destroy or damage the security alliances in Europe and Asia on which America has depended for the past 80 years. He has made America less attractive to international scientists and other talented emigrants and has alienated populations all around the world that were previously favorable to the United States.
Most important, however, is the fact that although the war Trump started in Iran on February 28th displayed American military prowess it also displayed the country’s strategic weaknesses. America has shown that it is currently unable to produce enough of its impressively sophisticated weapons to last for more than a few weeks in an intense conflict. And, above all, American overconfidence leads it to start wars that it does not know how to finish.
When overconfidence is attached to strategic incompetence the result is disastrous. We should all keep that in mind when we see Presidents Xi and Trump parading proudly in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing next week, or indeed when watching reruns of Vladimir Putin’s May 9 “Victory Parade” in Moscow. All three of our nuclear superpowers show the same dangerous mix.
This English original of an article first published by La Stampa in Italian translation is republished with permission. It can also be found, along with many other articles, on Bill Emmott’s Global View.
