Hi Global Recap readers,
Rumors are flying that UK PM Keir Starmer could resign soon.
Judging by Labour’s on-going defeat in England’s local elections (based on the live count as of writing), it might be real this time around.
Something to keep in mind over the weekend.
👀 At a Glance
This week…
🇮🇷🇺🇸 IRAN & US
US pauses Hormuz escort push
Iran-UAE attacks strain ceasefire
🇨🇳🇮🇷 CHINA & IRAN
China tells refiners to ignore sanctions
Chinese firms keep drone parts flowing to Iran
🇷🇺🇺🇦 RUSSIA & UKRAINE
Russian strikes kill at least 27 before Ukraine-imposed ceasefire
🌐 OTHERS
Trump widens Germany troop drawdown
Alberta separatists submit referendum signatures
Romania government falls after no-confidence vote
🇮🇷🇺🇸 IRAN & US
US Strikes Iran
in Retaliation
Footage circulating online purportedly shows a US strike on Iranian assets in Bandar Abbas, Iran.
US Central Command said it intercepted Iranian attacks on three Navy ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, then struck Iranian military sites tied to the attack. No US ships were hit.
Current Status:
Trump says the month-old US-Iran pause still holds.
However, Iran says that the US broke ceasefire.
Tehran is reviewing a US's draft memorandum to end their war, with Pakistan saying a deal could come soon.
🇨🇳🇮🇷 CHINA & IRAN
China Gets Hit…
By Iran?
Iranian Foreign Minister, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi (left), and Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi (right), shake hands in Beijing on Wednesday.
A Chinese-owned refined-products tanker was attacked off the UAE coast near Mina Saqr, close to the Strait of Hormuz, with its deck catching fire and the ship reportedly marked "CHINA OWNER & CREW."
Large publications do not establish who fired on that vessel, but some regional reports attribute the attacker to Iran.
The attack was reported as the first Chinese oil tanker hit in the Hormuz fight.
Here's the awkward part. China is a major buyer of Iranian oil, and Beijing had only just hosted Iran’s foreign minister while urging safe passage through Hormuz. If Iran did carry out the attack, the optics are extremely awkward.
🇧🇷🇺🇸 BRAZIL & US
The Strange Smile
US President, Donald Trump (left), and Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (right).
US President Trump and Brazilian President Lula's 3-hour closed-door White House meeting ended with the planned press event pushed back, then later canceled with no joint explanation, and both presidents later insisting everything was great.
Lula told reporters at Brazil's embassy he left "very satisfied," while Trump posted that the meeting went "very well" and called Lula "very dynamic."
They said aides will keep talking on tariffs, trade, critical minerals, and crime.
What’s throwing people off is the optics.
Trump slapped tariffs on Brazil while citing Brazilian tariffs and unfair trade practices, and he also tied the dispute to former right-wing Brazilian President Bolsonaro’s prosecution.
Lula, meanwhile, has openly blasted Trump’s Iran war as "madness."
So when the planned press event got scrapped, a lot of people read it as tension leaking through, while the warm public comments looked more like diplomatic theater than real warmth.
🇷🇺🇺🇦 RUSSIA & UKRAINE
Was This It?
Or More to Come?
Moscow Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin.
Russia said its air defenses destroyed more than 50 Moscow-bound drones as Moscow heads into Victory Day weekend with airport disruptions, mobile internet restrictions, and tighter security around Red Square.
The thing to watch now is May 9.
Putin is still expected to oversee the parade, but Russia has already scaled it back without the usual tanks or missile systems because of drone-strike fears.
Moscow has also warned it could hit central Kyiv if Ukraine disrupts the celebrations.
That said, Ukraine hasn’t taken credit for every strike Russia is claiming. So the big question now is... was this the “in-kind response” Zelenskyy promised after Russia’s May 6 attack, or are we getting something more on May 9?
📌 Context. Victory Day is Putin's central war-symbol holiday, and this year Moscow is trying to stage it while proving the capital is still protected.
🇲🇩 MOLDOVA
No More Russian
Moldovan lawmakers attend a parliamentary session.
Moldova's pro-EU majority pushed through the first reading of a new parliamentary code after opposition lawmakers walked out over rules making Romanian the working language in plenary.
Opposition MPs called the language rule "censorship" and accused PAS of rushing the package.
📌 Context. Moldova's Constitution names Romanian as the state language, while Russian remains politically loaded in a country split by Soviet history, Russian media influence, and the unresolved Transnistria (a contested breakaway state) problem.
Moldova has been trying to harden its pro-EU lane after last year's election and repeated Russian pressure claims.
Rules:
Under the proposal, parliamentary business and normative acts run in Romanian, with Russian translations only where needed.
MPs speaking another language could be warned, then have the mic cut, with exceptions for addresses to ethnic groups, citizens, or special guests.
🇪🇺🇺🇸 EU & US
Trump Shifts Deadline
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (left), and the US President, Donald Trump (right), at Turnberry in 2025.
Trump gave the EU until July 4 to approve its trade deal with the US, delaying an earlier threat to raise tariffs on European cars and trucks from 15% to 25% this week after a call with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The demand is simple on paper: Trump says Brussels promised to cut tariffs to zero under the Turnberry framework agreed in July 2025. The EU says ratification is moving, but the bloc still has to get the deal through its own institutions.
