Latest news for 12 May 2026

IRAN

The latest.

President Trump has flagged that the US-Iran ceasefire is on “life support”, after again dismissing Tehran’s weekend peace counterproposal as “garbage”. (CNN)

Comment: It’s hard to see any quick offramp here: Iran knows the longer Hormuz remains closed, the higher the economic and political costs imposed on the US; and Trump can’t accept a worse-than-pre-war balance of power then still expect to survive the midterms. And yet, it’s hard to see the US president restarting the war until at least after this week’s big trip to China (see below), though Trump did once famously bomb Syria during a dinner with Xi, so who knows.

UNITED KINGDOM

Starmer under siege.

We sound like Yogi Berra feeling deja vu all over again, but PM Starmer is (again) facing mounting pressure, with a reported 70 of his own lawmakers (~17% of the parliamentary party) now publicly calling for him to resign. (BBC)

Comment: There are jokes that Starmer’s tenure was over the moment the British tabloids snapped that quintessential pic of him bolting in the back of a Range Rover, his flustered face all flash-lit like some Victorian ghost. But it does feel more real this time, shifting debate back to who might replace him. And the answer depends on timeline: if a challenge happens soon, his former deputy (Rayner) and current health secretary (Streeting) seem best placed. But if it takes longer, the popular mayor of Manchester (Burnham) is generating some buzz — he’d first need someone to resign their safe seat so he can parachute into parliament via a quick by-election.

UZBEKISTAN

Trip to Italy?

Italian authorities have arrested Italy’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan, gloriously named Piergabriele Papadia de Bottini di Sant’Agnese, on selling EU visas to non-eligible Russians. (Times of Central Asia)

SWITZERLAND

Non-dollar debt dash.

Two of the world’s biggest tech firms are tapping foreign bond markets this week, with Amazon launching its debut in Swiss francs, while Alphabet is preparing for its first-ever yen-denominated issuance. (Yahoo)

Comment: On top of recent euro and Canadian dollar raises, it points to a) Big Tech’s voracious capital appetite as the hyperscalers race to fund massive AI infrastructure, but also b) a diversification play to lock in lower yields abroad while spreading repayment risk away from the dollar.

UNITED STATES

Room for 16 more?

It turns out President Trump will be flanked in China this week by a select group of 16 or so heavyweight CEOs, including the heads of Apple, Boeing, Blackstone, Goldman, and Tesla. (Independent)

Comment: It hints at Trump’s transactional approach, but also the sheer range of US interests in China, ranging from consumers and manufacturing (Apple, Tesla) to epic orders (Boeing) and even deal-flow (Blackstone, Goldman). But Nvidia’s reported absence from the guest-list suggests Trump is still keeping the most valuable US tech asset off the table. And either way, any trillion-dollar-headline seems unlikely to dent the deeper structural tensions between the US and China, like overcapacity, tech entanglement, and strategic competition — in neat timing, the mayor of Arcadia (LA-area) just pleaded guilty to acting as an illegal agent for China.

JAPAN

Mercosur mineral play.

Tokyo is accelerating talks on a new economic partnership with Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia), with formal negotiations possibly launching as soon as this month. (Nikkei Asia)

Comment: Traditionally getting 90% of its crude from the Middle East, and 75% of its critical minerals from China, the diversification and de-risking strategy behind this new LatAm push is pretty clear. But Japan is no Johnny-come-lately: decades of investment and partnership mean it’s consistently ranked favourably across the region.

FRANCE

Macron’s Africa reset.

On his broader Egypt → Kenya → Ethiopia tour, President Macron is now in Nairobi pushing a rebranded “partnership of equals” at the inaugural Africa Forward Summit, replete with infrastructure deals, digital pacts, and a very Macron moment of shushing a noisy audience mid-speech. (EuroNews)

Comment: He’s trying to move past France’s old Françafrique playbook in hopes of sustaining a French footprint on the continent after major losses in the Sahel — the itinerary suggests Paris now sees hope in English-speaking and East Africa.