🇬🇧⚡️- Council seats called at 1:35am local time.

Reform UK: 37 (+37)
Labour: 6 (-34)
Libdems: 5 (-2)
Greens: 4 (+3)
Conservatives: 2 (-3)
Independent: 2 (=)

Still extremely early in the counting process as only 5/136 councils have been declared alongside only 56/4992 local seats.

However media figures, party activists in Labour, Reform, and the Tories, agree that tonight is going to be the largest defeat for a ruling party since the 90s in local elections.

🇮🇱⚡️- Laura Loomer is advocating for the shutdown of the livestreaming service Kick in retaliation for not banning Muslim influencer Sneako from the platform. Loomer has connections through the White House to Amazon and therefore can threaten Kick's AWS access.

🇮🇷🇦🇪⚡️- BREAKING: Missile alerts in the United Arab Emirates.

🇬🇧⚡- "The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it.

We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country.
That hurts, and it should hurt," - Keir Starmer, UK's Prime Minister.

🇬🇧⚡- Starmer says despite the results of the elections, he will see through his five year term and has no intention of stepping down.

🇿🇦⚡️- South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled that the South African Parliament violated the country's constitution in 2022 by preventing moves to impeach President Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa's party, the African National Congress, lost its majority in 2024. An impeachment is now evaluated as "likely" by South African medias.

🇨🇩🇺🇬⚡- Ugandan rebel group, ADF, which has links to the Islamic State, launched several attacks in the North Kivu and Ituri regions of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing 36 people.

🇪🇹⚡- For the second time this week Ethiopian jets circle above Mekele, Tigray region, Ethiopia.

The new Head of the Tigray Interim Administration, Debretsion Gebremichael, is chairing his first cabinet meeting today.

🇮🇷⚡- Iran has seized OCEAN KOI in the Arabian Sea, the tanker was smuggling Iranian oil.

Smuggling oil out of Iran is commonplace, which is routinely tackled by the IRGC.

🇲🇱🇷🇺⚡- Russian forces have begun withdrawing from Anefis, northern Mali.

🇫🇷🇩🇿⚡- France has announced sending its ambassador back to Algeria to ease tensions with the North African nation.

🇲🇱🇷🇺⚡- Russian forces 10-day deadline to withdraw from Aguelhok, northern Mali, has expired. Instead of withdrawing, Russian and Malian troops have strengthened their positions, and fortified the locality.

🇮🇷🇦🇪⚡- Large plumes of smoke from Dubai, the UAE. The UAE announced it was targeted with Iranian missiles and drones earlier today.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- "US military carried out more airstrikes today hitting several empty tankers trying to break the blockade.

According to a senior US official:
'these were Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) .... massive, empty ships trying to make it back to Iran ... attempted to run the blockde...'" - Fox News.

🇮🇷⚡- Major oil spill at Iran's Kharg Island's terminal in the Persian Gulf. Simultaneously, multiple tankers could be seen loading oil at the terminal.

The cause of the spill is unknown. Kharg is responsible for 90% of Iran's oil exports.

Imagery credits: SoarAtlas.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- "U.S. forces disabled M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, May 8, prior to both vessels entering an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman in violation of the ongoing U.S. blockade.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) enforced blockade measures against two Iranian-flagged unladen oil tankers attempting to pull into an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran.

U.S. forces also disabled Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, May 6, as it attempted to sail to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman. An F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) disabled the unladen oil tanker's rudder by firing several rounds from a 20mm cannon gun.

All three vessels are no longer transiting to Iran.

"U.S. forces in the Middle East remain committed to full enforcement of the blockade of vessels entering or leaving Iran," said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. "Our highly trained men and women in uniform are doing incredible work."

Multiple commercial vessels have been disabled and more than 50 have been redirected by CENTCOM forces to ensure compliance," - US CENTCOM.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- Several Iranian outlets report renewed clashes between the US and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz over the past few hours.

🇺🇸⚡️- The Supreme Court of Virginia has overturned the state’s successful redistricting ballot that would’ve allotted the Democrats four more seats in the House.

🇻🇦- One year ago today, Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, was elected and ordained as the Vicar of Christ on Earth as the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.