Happy Monday Everyone! Today’s newsletter: 1,088 words…4 mins
🗞 Today’s Edition: Bibi on 60 Minutes, Uganda’s Bee Curse Court Drama, NYT's Wordle Primetime TV Show, Bravo's Micro-dramas, Cole Allen Pleads Not Guilty, Zombie Cruise Passengers Back In America, Modi Calls For Fuel Austerity...& much more!
🎞 What’s the most filmed location on Earth? Scroll down to find out!
📜THE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
CBS’s Major Garrett with PM Benjamin Netanyahu on 60 Minutes
🎙️ Bibi Breaks Silence—Iran's Uranium Is Still There, & Someone's Going To "Take It Out"
Eleven weeks into a ceasefire neither side fully believes in, PM Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with CBS's Major Garrett for his first U.S. broadcast interview since the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran and delivered a message to the world: the Iran fight is paused, not finished.
💥 Mission incomplete: Netanyahu said U.S.-Israeli strikes shattered Iran’s “mask of invincibility,” damaged military infrastructure, and weakened the regime. But Israel still wants uranium removed, nuclear sites dismantled, proxies crushed, and missile production curbed.
☢️ The uranium moment: Asked how Iran’s enriched uranium gets removed, Bibi replied: “You go in, and you take it out.” Pressed for details, he said President Donald Trump told him, “I want to go in there,” before refusing — repeatedly — to explain military plans any further.
💣 Weak, not broken: Netanyahu described Iran as its weakest since 1979 — economically battered and internally fractured — but still dangerous enough for future military action to remain on the table.
📱 The eighth front: In the interview’s most revealing moment, Netanyahu admitted Israel is losing the “propaganda war,” blaming social media, bot farms, and online manipulation for collapsing U.S. support among younger Americans.
He noted this has hurt Israel badly while it was focused on actual combat, but emphasized fighting back with facts and truth rather than censorship.
🎬 Overall vibe: ‘Mission accomplished’ energy mixed with ‘Season finale cliffhanger’.
♟️THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
🐝 Uganda Courtroom “Bee Curse” Chaos
A Ugandan man arrested on witchcraft charges reportedly warned police he would curse them with a swarm of bees if they took him in.
They arrested him anyway. Moments later, chaos broke out in court as a swarm of bees allegedly invaded the courtroom and compound, stinging officers, lawyers, and onlookers.
Videos show panic erupting, with one man desperately spraying a fire extinguisher at the swarm as people fled.
Twist: The accused allegedly sat calmly through it all. Untouched and un-stung.
💡 Bottom line: Unverified by major outlets — but the videos of grown men sprinting from a courtroom are very much real and have gone viral across social media. The witchcraft charge is still pending. The bees have already ruled.
⛽ Modi Calls “Fuel Austerity” Amid Oil Shock
With global crude prices surging past $120/barrel amid the Iran conflict, Indian PM Narendra Modi called on citizens to conserve fuel, revive Covid-era work-from-home practices, prioritize public transport, and postpone non-essential foreign travel.
Speaking at a rally, he framed the measures as a voluntary "Jan Andolan" — a people's movement of national duty.
The government clarified no mandatory orders or fuel shortages are imminent, with roughly 60 days of crude reserves on hand.
💡 Bottom line: No mandates—just a soft economic tightening pitch as global energy chaos starts landing domestically.
✈ Trump’s Heading to Beijing
President Trump visits Beijing May 13–15 for talks with President Xi Jinping—his first China trip of his second term and the first U.S. presidential visit since 2017.
CEOs in tow: A heavyweight CEO delegation joins him, including Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Jensen Huang, and top Wall Street leaders.
Deal agenda: Chinese purchases of U.S. goods, rare earths, semiconductors, and AI frameworks, plus a proposed trade oversight board.
Also on deck: Iran spillover, Strait of Hormuz stability, Taiwan, and fentanyl precursors. Expect symbolism, not breakthroughs.
💡 Bottom line: The visit is the highest-level U.S.-China engagement in years — arriving at a moment when trade tensions, tech competition, and Middle East fallout have made the bilateral relationship simultaneously more strained and more consequential.
🗽THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
⚖ WHCA Dinner Shooting Suspect Pleads Not Guilty
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, the California man accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump at April’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, pleaded not guilty to all four federal charges Monday in D.C.
Prosecutors say Allen arrived at the Washington Hilton armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives before a Secret Service officer was struck in the vest during the confrontation.
Allen appeared shackled in court and remained silent throughout the hearing.
Defense lawyers are already trying to disqualify Trump-appointed officials from the case because they were "purported victims and witnesses in this case."
⚡ The case hasn't really started — and it's already complicated. Next date: June 29th.
🦠 The “Zombie Cruise” Passengers Are Back
Seventeen Americans and one British dual-national from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius expedition cruise arrived back in the U.S. Monday after weeks of quarantine drama spanning Antarctica, Cape Verde, and the Canary Islands.
The outbreak has reportedly killed three people and infected multiple passengers aboard the Dutch-flagged ship.
Most of the Americans were flown to Omaha, where they’re being monitored at the University of Nebraska’s elite biocontainment unit. One passenger tested positive; another has mild symptoms.
⚡Officials insist public risk remains “very low” — which is also exactly what officials always say in disaster movies.
🤖 CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AI’s Black Mirror Moments
📺 NYT’s Wordle Is Becoming Primetime TV
NBC officially greenlit a primetime Wordle game show because apparently we’ve now reached the “Netflix adaptation of your morning bathroom routine” stage of civilization.
Host: Savannah Guthrie. Executive producer: Jimmy Fallon.
Format: Teams compete solving Wordle-style five-letter puzzles for cash in a fast-paced studio showdown.
📰 The show is being produced with The New York Times and arrives in 2027 after two years in development.
🎬 Bravo Discovers TikTok Brain Chemistry
Peacock is launching Bravo-themed “microdramas” — vertical reality shows with 60–90 second episodes designed for infinite doomscrolling.
The first two series: Salon Confessionals starring Madison LeCroy and Campus Confidential: Miami featuring Georgia Gay, daughter of Heather Gay.
Each show gets ~60 bite-sized episodes this summer exclusively on Peacock’s mobile app.
🧠 Bravo didn't adapt to short-form video — it repackaged its entire identity for the scroll. If it works, every streamer follows.
📺 FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Did You Know?
Central Park is the most filmed location on Earth, appearing in over 530 movies — more than any other place in the world! From Breakfast at Tiffany’s to The Avengers, this iconic NYC green space steals the spotlight again and again.