📌 Tariff Talks, Drones Attack Moscow, More

Six state governors have invited Canadian provincial leaders to discuss the impact of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

The governors of Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont invited the premiers of six Canadian provinces — New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec — for talks while being critical of the measures taken by the US president.

The governor of Vermont is from Trump's Republican Party. The other five governors are Democrats. Trump’s actions and remarks have not gone down well in Canada, where Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Trump wanted to break the country.

Carney, who won the recent Canadian elections, has regularly termed the US actions as “a betrayal” and says Canada must reduce its reliance on the US, which takes 75% of all Canadian exports.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said Trump's tariffs were "undermining" US-Canada ties. Maine Governor Janet Mills called Trump's tariffs "haphazard" and his rhetoric “harmful." Vermont Governor Phil Scott said the tariffs “on our friends and close allies” are not in Vermont’s or the US’s best interest.

Carney said last week he was expecting "difficult but constructive" talks with Trump.

Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow for the second night in a row, forcing the temporary closure of the capital’s airports.

The consecutive attacks came ahead of Moscow this week marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Germany in World War II.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to call a three-day ceasefire for the May 8–10 anniversary, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has characterized the notion as self-serving and pointless unless it lasts 30 days in line with a US proposal that the Russian president has ignored.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at least 19 Ukrainian drones approached Moscow “from different directions.” Three social media sites with links to Russian security services – Baza, Mash and Shot – said one drone struck an apartment building near a major road in the south of the capital, smashing windows.

Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily halted flights at all four airports that serve Moscow. Airports in some regional cities were also temporarily closed.

Ukraine says its drone strikes are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow’s overall war efforts and are in response to Russia’s continued assault on Ukrainian territory, including residential areas and energy infrastructure.

The Department of Homeland Security is offering $1,000 stipends and free airfare to immigrants who deport themselves.

The proposal enhances the department’s previous encouragement to immigrants without legal authorization to be in the US to announce their intention to leave on the Customs and Border Protection’s CBP Home App.

The department estimates that paying the fee for voluntary deportations would be much less expensive than the current average of $17,121 to arrest, detain and remove immigrants.

President Donald Trump said courts have made it difficult to deport immigrants, but he hopes the Supreme Court will eventually side with his administration.

An incentive is that migrants agreeing to voluntary deportation will be less of a priority for detention and removal ahead of their planned departures, the Homeland Security department said, adding that participation in the program may preserve the option for a migrant to re-enter the US legally in the future. Homeland Security said that the offer has already been successful. An immigrant who entered the country without authorization received a ticket for a flight from Chicago to Honduras and more tickets have been booked for others in the coming weeks.

Scientists examined over 20 years of data on 164 wild mountain gorillas to see how their social lives affected their health.

Friendly females in small groups didn't get ill often but had fewer offspring. Those in large groups got ill more often but had higher birth rates. Males with strong social bonds tended to get ill more often, but were less likely to be injured in fights.

Dr Robin Morrison, lead author of the paper and senior researcher at the University of Zurich, commented: ”It’s possible that males expend more energy by having close social ties, as they have to defend females and offspring, and the stress of this may reduce their immune function.”

The study focused on the strength of each gorilla's key social bonds and its integration in the group, with wider context such as group size, stability, and conflict with other groups.

Dr Sam Ellis of the University of Exeter said, ”The social environment is one of the strongest predictors of health and lifespan. But our study shows this isn't a straightforward case of more and stronger social ties always being better. Social traits thought of as maladaptive can have important benefits."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a minimum 20% reduction of four-star generals and admirals across the military.

He also ordered at least 20% of general officers in the National Guard and 10% of all flag and general officers to be cut. Hegseth said to "drive innovation and operational excellence, the military must be "unencumbered by unnecessary bureaucratic layers that hinder their growth and effectiveness.”

Hegseth announced the memo in a video on X, vowing, "We're going to shift resources from bloated headquarters elements to our warfighters." He did not give a timeline for the cuts but said they would be carried out “expeditiously."

There are 38 four-star generals or admirals, as of March 31, 2025, according to Defense Department data.

Indigenous people across North America are calling for sustained responses to the violence in their communities.

In prayer walks, self-defense classes, marches and speeches at state capitols, they are pushing for better cooperation among law enforcement agencies to find missing people and solve homicides that are among about 4,300 open FBI cases this year.

Some parents say they will use Monday's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day to make sure children understand what's at stake. Many young women are covering their mouths with bright red handprints, vowing to speak for those who have been silenced. The US Justice Department says Indigenous women are more than twice as likely to be victims of homicide than the national average.

Pamela Foster, a Navajo woman, has been a strong advocate since the delayed response to the 2016 kidnapping and murder of her daughter, Ashlynne Mike. Years later, 76% of tribes surveyed said they were participating in state alerts, but some state coordinators still didn't have tribal contact information.

The Trump administration in April announced a surge of FBI resources to 10 field offices to help the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Missing and Murdered Unit and tribal police prepare cases for prosecution.

‘Pegleg’ Bennett hasn’t had two feet since he was a baby, but the 55-year-old never let it impede the pursuit of his passion: surfing.

The British father of three has traveled the world surfing, making it to some of the most famous big wave surfing spots in Indonesia, Hawaii, Australia, and Portugal. He’s also represented his country in a parasurfing championship and pioneered some best practices in making prosthetic legs for surfers.

Bennett was born with the ankle of his left leg missing and his foot looking twisted and mangled. At the hospital, his parents were given the choice of amputation, which the doctors said would ensure he had a better quality of living.

The ocean is my happy place,” said Bennett, who legally changed his name to Pegleg — a childhood nickname — in 2016. “When I’m riding a wave, nothing else matters, nothing else is there — it is just me and that wave and feeling that glide and that ride.”

He said he grew up a “water baby.” Bennett drilled holes in his first prosthetic leg to improve its functionality, and this led to a phenomenal surfing career. “I have got a surf-specific leg — it’s got a titanium ankle joint in it so I can stand on the board a lot better than I used to,” he said.

I coached someone with cerebral palsy, MS, I have got some blind guys that I coach, obviously some amputees. If somebody has got a disability and they want to get in the ocean and catch waves, I can make it happen.”