Israel's Mossad chief made at least two secret visits to the UAE to coordinate the ongoing war against Iran.

The UAE has gone well beyond quiet diplomacy.

It struck Iranian targets itself (including the Lavan Island refinery) and is hosting Israeli Iron Dome systems and personnel to defend against Iran.

Israel's Shin Bet chief made similar visits around the same period.

Source: WSJ

The UAE is now building anti-drone defenses around oil storage facilities.

Not cheap netting, but systems capable of stopping heavy UAVs.

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NEW: Gunfire erupted at the Philippines Senate.

Philippine Senator Bato dela Rosa — a top architect of Duterte's bloody drug war — is trying to evade an ICC arrest warrant.

He is under "protective custody" at the Senate.

The ICC charges him with crimes against humanity for his role in thousands of extrajudicial killings.

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A group of 8–10 masked men attacked two German soldiers near NATO's operational headquarters in Brunssum, Netherlands.

The soldiers were off-duty and in civilian clothes when the group stopped them, demanded money, then beat one of them while shouting "We hate NATO."

No arrests were made.

Source: Spiegel

Serbia and NATO are holding their first-ever joint military exercise — roughly 600 troops, running until May 23.

NATO bombed Belgrade less than 30 years ago during the Kosovo war.

Serbia officially stays neutral and still buys weapons from Russia and China.

Source: Al Jazeera

German carmaker Volkswagen is close to a joint venture with Israeli defense firm Rafael to convert a VW plant in Osnabrück from car manufacturing to building military trucks for the Iron Dome and possibly Iron Beam laser defense systems.

Missiles and core components stay made in Israel.

Germany handles the vehicles and assembly.

Source: Bloomberg

Chinese satellite imagery startup, MizarVision, got sanctioned by the US Treasury for tracking and publishing open-source images of American bombers during the US-Israel strikes on Iran.

MizarVision then posted the Treasury sanctions notice as a recruitment ad, essentially using it as a job perk.

"Welcome to join us," it read.

WATCH: Poland's Eurovision contestant Alicja Szemplińska walked out of an interview when asked if she had a message for Israeli fans.

The U.S. and China may launch a limited “managed trade” deal at the Trump–Xi summit, focusing on reducing tariffs on roughly $30 billion worth of non-sensitive goods each.

Instead of pushing China to change its economic system, Washington is now aiming for targeted trade balance goals while keeping restrictions on strategic technologies in place.

Likely areas for tariff relief include U.S. energy and agricultural exports and some Chinese consumer goods.

Source: Reuters

Some European and German officials are quietly discussing whether Angela Merkel could help mediate Ukraine-Russia talks.

Unlike Schröder, she still has credibility in much of Europe, personally knows both Putin and Zelensky, and speaks Russian.

Merkel’s office says nobody has approached her, and she hasn’t said whether she’d even consider the role.

Source: Spiegel

Hezbollah FPV drone targets a lone Israeli soldier.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says Iran is "frighteningly close" to weapons-grade uranium — already enriched to 60%, with 90% needed for a nuclear weapon.

He says Iran could be weeks away from reaching that threshold.

Keir Starmer:

I am a gooner.

Netanyahu uses Trump for his election campaign.