A deal in principle
** US President Donald Trump on Monday said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations must normalize ties with Israel as part of efforts to reach a deal with Iran, adding fresh uncertainty into protracted peace negotiations. The US and Iran have agreed in principle to a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and see Tehran surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, a US official has said.
Shipping blackout
** Maritime tracking transmissions collapsed near the UAE’s main oil hub, rattling Persian Gulf shipping hours before President Donald Trump announced progress was made on a bilateral peace deal with Iran, according to an AI maritime firm. Maritime intelligence firm Windward AI first detected the blackout in Automatic Identification System (AIS) transmissions near Fujairah, suggesting heightened electronic warfare, jamming, deliberate AIS shutdowns and intense cyber interference near the key UAE oil port.
Supertanker arrival
** A supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude is set to arrive in Japan early this week after clearing the Strait of Hormuz in late April, in the first shipment of Middle East crude to Japan via the chokepoint since the Iran war began on February 28.
Historic drone order
**The Pentagon recently placed the largest drone order in American history — 30,000 one-way attack drones, with plans to scale past 300,000 by early 2028. There’s one major problem: every one of those drones runs on a rare earth magnet. And according to Goldman Sachs, roughly 98% of the world’s magnets are manufactured in China.
Coal in India
** India’s power generation rose to a new all-time high amid hot weather that drove air-conditioning demand up, with thermal generation, most of its coming from coal power plants, covering 62% of demand.
Miners killed
** A gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s northern Shanxi province killed at least 90 people, state media said Saturday, in the country’s deadliest mining accident in recent years. The official Xinhua News Agency said the accident at Changzhi city’s Liushenyu coal mine happened Friday evening. Around 247 workers were on duty at the time.
US Energy
** Union Pacific Chief Executive Jim Vena is confident that the Surface Transportation Board will accept the revised UP-Norfolk Southern merger application because it answers all of the questions regulators had about the initial filing that was deemed incomplete.
** Permit filings show Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to build a 10-GW solar cell factory in Texas that will make solar panels the company hopes will power data centers in space.
** Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues San Antonio-based CAM Solar Inc. over allegations that it misled customers about energy savings, tax credits, warranties and financing agreements.
** An investigation finds Louisiana Sen. John “Jay” Morris extensively lobbied for a Meta data center while he and business partners bought and sold land around the site over 15 months.
** Nebraska county officials vote to suspend the issuing of data center permits needed for up to one year as opposition to the facilities mounts across the state.
