In a huge and unexpected announcement, amid stalled US-Iran peace talks, which have proven a failure and elusive thus far, NATO now says it could deploy military assets to forcibly reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Per breaking newswires Tuesday late morning:

20 May 2026

Annual US public spending has been in deficit for decades. As a result, total US debt continues to increase year after year with no end in sight. The end may not be in sight but the debt cannot continue to grow forever. We just don’t know when markets will shed the dollar, although the process may already be underway. In this brief essay, I will not point out all the disastrous consequences except that they are disastrous and will happen. Rather, I will point out how we got to this sorry state of affairs when it appears that other nations, such as China and Russia, have done a much better job of controlling public spending.

19 May 2026

Global health authorities are extremely concerned about an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The death toll has already reached triple digits, and new cases have been detected hundreds of miles away from the original outbreak. BVD is a type of Ebola disease, but unlike other types of Ebola, there is no effective treatment, and there is no cure.

19 May 2026

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has accused the United States of inventing an excuse to start an economic war with Havana. Rodriguez Parrilla has said that an Axios report claiming that the island had acquired attack drones from Russia and Iran is nothing more than a pretext for a potential invasion of the island nation.

19 May 2026

The World Health Organization has declared a "global health emergency" after an Ebola outbreak surfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). So far, there are at least eight confirmed cases, 246 suspected infections, and 80 suspected deaths reported in DRC, along with two additional cases in Uganda.

19 May 2026

United States President Donald Trump has chosen to delay a "very major attack" on Iran. The US ruler has instructed the Department of War to hold off on strikes for a few days to give Tehran a chance to accept the deal sent by Washington.

19 May 2026

A flurry of (the somewhat typically-timed) Monday opener headlines has pushed oil prices lower, erasing weekend gains, including Al Arabia reporting that Iran is ready to accept a long-term nuclear freeze.

19 May 2026

In 2000, the world braced for Y2K. It came with a date and a remedy. There was panic about doomsday, but as other programmers and I stretched the year field from two to four characters, apart from scattered hiccups, the lights stayed on. Everything about Y2K was known—the problem, the solution, and the deadline.

18 May 2026

Canada has confirmed its first hantavirus infection after a cruise ship passenger tested positive for the virus. The infected person was on board the MV Hondius, the cruise ship where the initial outbreak occurred.

18 May 2026

Iran has warned the United States that the Gulf of Oman could become a "graveyard" for America's fleets. Warships will be meeting their watery end as negotiations remain gridlocked.

18 May 2026