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Trump’s pardon wave is colliding with deep cuts inside the Justice Department’s anti-corruption unit, raising questions about how aggressively public officials will be investigated going forward. In Britain, Labour just suffered one of its worst local election defeats in decades as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK surged across the map.

Meanwhile, fresh exchanges of fire in the Strait of Hormuz are straining a ceasefire that Washington insists is still alive. These developments are unfolding together, exposing growing instability across politics, institutions and global security.

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President Trump has issued a wave of pardons for former elected officials and others convicted of public corruption, while the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section has been sharply reduced. Former federal prosecutors warn the combination weakens the federal government's central tool for charging corrupt officials.

The Public Integrity Section has investigated bribery and abuse of office cases across both parties for decades. Critics of the pardon pattern argue it signals that prosecuting public corruption is no longer a federal priority.

Watchdog groups are pressing Congress to demand details on which active cases have stalled and how the unit will be staffed going forward. The pardons have drawn objections from career Justice Department alumni who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's governing Labour Party suffered a historic drubbing in local and regional elections, losing more than 1,300 council seats while Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK gained more than 1,350. Wales tipped to Plaid Cymru and Reform for the first time, ending decades of Labour dominance.

Starmer said he would not resign and called the results "very tough" while ruling out any leadership timetable. Labour MPs are already breaking ranks to demand he set out plans to step aside.

The vote shatters the post-war two-party order and confirms a multi-party realignment driven by Reform on the right and the Greens on the left. Starmer is expected to reshuffle his cabinet within weeks to steady the party.

US forces fired on two Iranian oil tankers after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, the latest blow to a fragile ceasefire. The UAE separately reported a fresh Iranian missile and drone attack hours earlier.

US Central Command said Iranian missiles, drones, and small boats had attacked US Navy destroyers in the strait, and that US forces had eliminated all inbound threats. President Trump told reporters the ceasefire with Iran remained intact after the exchange of fire.

The flare up tests a truce already strained by repeated incidents in the region. Western analysts are watching closely for any Iranian response in coming days.

Russia will mark Victory Day on Saturday without tanks, missiles, or military hardware on Red Square for the first time since 2008, citing relentless Ukrainian drone strikes. Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko is the only confirmed foreign leader on the viewing stand.

German police converged on a bank branch in Sinzig after a hostage situation broke out Friday, with negotiators on site and surrounding streets evacuated. Authorities have not confirmed how many people are inside or what the suspect is demanding.

The death toll from a Monday explosion at a Hunan fireworks plant rose to 37 with one person still missing, making it China's deadliest blast since 2019. All Liuyang fireworks operators have been suspended for safety inspections, threatening global summer concert and stadium supply.

A White House review council recommended a major overhaul of FEMA, including narrower mission scope and faster state aid pipelines. State emergency directors warned the cuts could leave gaps before hurricane season.

NPR analysts say Trump's maximum pressure strategy on Iran is hardening Tehran's position rather than producing concessions, with the regime now more unified internally than at any point since 2022. Analysts warn the next move will likely be a wider naval engagement.

The State Department launched a sweeping review of Mexico's 53 US consulates that could force closures within months, citing concerns about staffing and screening procedures. Mexico City called the move politically motivated and warned of reciprocal action.

A data center outage at Amazon Web Services in Northern Virginia knocked Coinbase and FanDuel offline for hours on Thursday and Friday, hitting crypto trading and sports betting at peak demand. AWS blamed overheating in one of its data center halls.

Rocket Lab stock jumped 34 percent after Q1 revenue rose 64 percent to 200 million dollars and the company logged the largest launch contract in its history. Backlog now sits at 2.2 billion dollars, with a Motiv Space Systems acquisition added on top.

A three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade ruled Trump's 10 percent global tariff illegal on Friday, the second courtroom defeat for the administration on trade. The White House said it will appeal directly to the Supreme Court within days.

Public health experts say the federal government's muted response to the hantavirus cluster on the MV Hondius cruise ship is alarming, with the vessel due in Spain by Sunday. Officials still have no answer on whether person-to-person spread is occurring.

A new analysis warns that medical journals face a collision of an aging workforce and a wave of fabricated AI-generated citations. Editors say the dual stress is undermining peer review faster than the field can patch it.

With federal vaccine guidance shrinking under the Trump administration, Colorado is charting its own course on measles, flu, and polio recommendations. The state already has more than a dozen measles cases this year and kindergarten vaccination rates below the herd immunity threshold.

Jalen Brunson scored 33 points to push New York to a 108-94 Game 3 win and a 3-0 stranglehold over Philadelphia. No NBA team has ever climbed back from a 3-0 hole.

South Korea's Sungjae Im sits 9 under after 36 holes to lead the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow. Rory McIlroy is four shots back after a four-under 67 in the second round.

Carolina visits Philadelphia with a 3-0 series lead in the second round and one win from a conference final berth. Frederik Andersen has stopped 92 percent of shots through three games.

The hushed voice of nature television marked his 100th birthday on Friday, with the BBC throwing a Royal Albert Hall gala and cinemas screening retrospectives across the UK. Attenborough said he was "completely overwhelmed" by greetings from preschoolers to care home residents.

NPR Music's Friday roundup picks the best albums out May 8, highlighting MUNA, Stephen Sanchez, Aldous Harding, Deb Never, and Lykke Li. Critics flagged the Sanchez record as the most ambitious of the batch.

UK prosecutors charged a London man with harassing former Prince Andrew at his Royal Lodge estate over multiple weeks, including allegedly tracking his movements and recording his staff. Andrew has been keeping a low profile since losing his royal titles last year.

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What it is: Allied governments are openly questioning whether they can still treat the United States as the operational leader of NATO after Washington pressed ahead with the Iran war. That conversation is moving from think tank panels into ministerial meetings in Ottawa, Berlin, Paris, and London. The doubt cuts to the core of how the alliance has functioned for decades.

The detail: The Iran campaign has stretched US naval and air defense stockpiles at the same time the Ukraine war remains live. European and Canadian planners are weighing what an alliance with shared rather than US-led command might look like, and how transatlantic burden sharing should evolve. The discussion is no longer hypothetical for capitals that depend on US air defense interceptors and intelligence pipes.

Why it matters: A drift from US leadership would reshape decades of transatlantic security architecture and raise the cost of every European defense budget. It also affects deterrence calculations against Russia, which has scaled back its own Victory Day display this year amid the toll of the Ukraine war. The shift could also accelerate European weapons procurement programs that have been moving in fits and starts.

What to watch: Watch for European defense ministerial meetings in the coming weeks, where allies are expected to discuss command structures, burden sharing, and conventional deterrence in Europe. The biggest tell will be whether the White House publicly engages with the debate or stays silent, and how that shapes preparations for the next NATO summit. Expect early signals from Berlin and Ottawa, where leaders have been most willing to voice unease in public.

- Drivers in Toronto kept careening the wrong way down a one-way street for days because Google Maps insisted otherwise, turning Winona Drive into a slow-motion bumper car situation until the city finally slapped down barricades and a polite "do not enter" sign.

- An Ohio truck driver walked into a gas station for one Pick 5 ticket, walked out with two thanks to a clerk's accidental reprint, and then casually doubled his prize to 50,834 dollars when both copies hit the same numbers.

- A Canadian tow truck driver hauling a moose out of a frozen pond went viral after his rescue strap routine looked exactly as ridiculous and as gentle as you would imagine.

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—The Five Minute Daily Team