Over the weekend, Trump accused other countries of “stealing the movie-making capabilities” of the U.S. and said that he had authorized the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative to immediately begin the process of implementing this new import tax on all foreign-made films. But further specifics or dates weren’t provided. And the White House confirmed that no final decisions had been made as of Monday.

Trump later said that he would meet with industry executives about the proposal but a lot remains unclear about how an import tax on complex, international productions could even be implemented.

If imposed, experts warn that such a tariff would dramatically hike the costs of making movies today. That uncertainty could put filmmakers in limbo, much like other industries that have recently been caught in the crosshairs of today’s ongoing trade wars.

Unlike other sectors that have recently been targeted by tariffs, however, movies go beyond physical goods, bringing larger intellectual property ramifications into question. Here’s what we know.

Why is Trump threatening this steep movie tariff?

Trump is citing national security concerns, a justification he’s similarly used to impose import taxes on certain countries and a range of sector-specific goods.

In a Sunday night post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed that the American movie industry is “DYING to a very fast death” as other countries offer “all sorts of incentives” to draw filmmaking away from the U.S.

Trump has previously voiced concern about movie production moving overseas. And in recent years, U.S. film and television production has been hampered between setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Incentive programs have also long-influenced where movies are shot both abroad and within the U.S., with more production leaving California to states like Georgia and New Mexico — as well as countries like Canada.

But unlike other sectors targeted by Trump’s recently-imposed tariffs, the American film industry currently holds a trade deficit that’s in the U.S.’s favor.

In movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelmingly dominate the domestic marketplace. Data from the Motion Picture Association also shows that American films made $22.6 billion in exports and $15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023 — with a recent report noting that these films “generated a positive balance of trade in every major market in the world” for the U.S.

Last year, international markets accounted for over 70% of Hollywood’s total box office revenue, notes Heeyon Kim, an assistant professor of strategy at Cornell University. She warns that tariffs and potential retaliation from other countries impacting this industry could result in billions of dollars in lost earnings and thousands of jobs.

“To me, (this) makes just no sense,” she said, adding that such tariffs could “undermine otherwise a thriving part of the U.S. economy.”

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents behind-the-scenes entertainment workers across the U.S. and Canada, said in a statement Monday that Trump had “correctly recognized” the “urgent threat from international competition” that the American film and television industry faces today. But the union said it instead recommended the administration implement a federal production tax incentive and other provisions to “level the playing field” while not harming the industry overall.

How could a tax on foreign-made movies work?

That’s anyone’s guess.

“Traditional tariffs apply to physical imports crossing borders, but film production primarily involves digital services — shooting, editing and post-production work that happens electronically,” notes Ann Koppuzha, a lawyer and business law lecturer at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.

Koppuzha said that film production is more like an applied service that can be taxed, not tariffed. But taxes require Congressional approval, which could be a challenge even with a Republican majority.

Making a movie is also an incredibly complex — and international — process. It’s common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” for instance, are shot around the world.

U.S. studios frequently shoot abroad because tax incentives can aid production costs. But a blanket tariff across the board could discourage that or limit options, Kim said — hurting both Hollywood films and the global industry that helps create them.

“When you make these sort of blanket rules, you’re missing some of the nuance of how production works,” added Steven Schiffman, a longtime industry veteran and adjunct professor at Georgetown University. “Sometimes you just need to go to the location, because frankly it’s way too expensive just to try to create in a soundstage”

Schiffman points to popular titles filmed outside the U.S. — such as Warner Bros’ “Harry Potter” series, which was almost entirely shot in the U.K. “The cost to have done that would have like literally double to produce those movies under this proposed tariff,” he said.

Could movie tariffs have repercussions on other intellectual property?

Overall, experts warn that the prospect of tariffing foreign-made movies ventures into uncharted waters.

“There’s simply no precedent or sense for applying tariffs to these types of creative services,” Koppuzha said. And while the Trump administration could extend similar threats to other forms of intellectual property, like music, “they’d encounter the same practical hurdles.”

But if successful, some also warn of potential retaliation. Kim points to “quotas” that some countries have had to help boost their domestic films by ensuring they get a portion of theater screens, for example. Many have reduced or suspended such quotas over the years in the name of open trade — but if the U.S. places a sweeping tariff on all foreign-made films, these kinds of quotas could come back, “which would hurt Hollywood film or any of the U.S.-made intellectual property,” Kim said.

And while U.S. dominance in film means “there are fewer substitutes” for retaliation, Schiffman notes that other forms of entertainment — like game development — could see related impacts down the road.

Others stress the potential consequences of hampering international collaboration overall.

“Creative content distribution requires thoughtful economic approaches that recognize how modern storytelling flows across borders,” notes Frank Albarella, U.S. media and telecommunications sector leader at KPMG. “The question hanging over every screen: Might we better nurture American storytelling through smart, targeted incentives, or could we inadvertently force audiences to pay more for what could become a narrower creative landscape?”

AP Writers Jake Coyle and Jill Colvin in New York, Aamer Madhani in Palm Beach, Florida and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

All the support staff for the cardinals who will elect the successor to Pope Francis are taking an oath of secrecy on Monday ahead of the conclave that’s starting on Wednesday.

The punishment for breaking the oath? Automatic excommunication.

The oath-taking is being held in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican for all those assigned to the upcoming conclave. They include clerics in support roles, including confessors speaking various languages. The cardinals themselves will take their oath on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel, before they cast their first ballots.

An array of lay women and men are required to house and feed the cardinals. A conclave’s duration cannot be predicted — and it will only be known when white smoke rises out of the Sistine Chapel chimney to signal a winner.

All those people will be sequestered to be on hand for any medical needs, and maintain the majestic beauty appropriate for the election of the next head of the 1.4 billion strong Catholic Church.

The cardinals will be living in residences on Vatican grounds, and they can either walk the roughly one kilometer (less than a mile) to the Sistine Chapel or take a special shuttle bus that runs only within the sealed Vatican grounds — and for that drivers are also needed.

Phones and secrecy

The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Monday that the cardinals would be “invited” to leave their mobile phones at their Vatican residence and not take them to the Sistine Chapel, but that they wouldn’t be confiscated.

Bruni recalled that cardinals take an oath to obey the Vatican regulation governing the conclave, which forbids divulging any information about the proceedings and prohibits communicating with the outside world until the election is over.

The Vatican also plans to use signal jamming during the conclave to prevent electronic surveillance or communication outside the conclave, with the Vatican gendarmes overseeing the security measures.

The oath

The provisions for the oath-taking are laid down in Vatican law.

St. John Paul II rewrote the regulations on papal elections in a 1996 document that remains largely in force, though Pope Benedict XVI amended it twice before he resigned in 2013. He tightened the oath of secrecy, making clear that anyone who reveals what went on inside the conclave faces automatic excommunication.

In John Paul’s rules, excommunication was always a possibility, but Benedict made it explicit, saying they must observe “absolute and perpetual secrecy” and explicitly refrain from using any audio or video recording devices.

They now declare that they: “Promise and swear that, unless I should receive a special faculty given expressly by the newly elected pontiff or by his successors, I will observe absolute and perpetual secrecy with all who are not part of the College of Cardinal electors concerning all matters directly or indirectly related to the ballots cast and their scrutiny for the election of the Supreme Pontiff.

“I likewise promise and swear to refrain from using any audio or video equipment capable of recording anything which takes place during the period of the election within Vatican City, and in particular anything which in any way, directly or indirectly, is related to the process of the election itself.

“I take this oath fully aware that an infraction thereof will incur the penalty of automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. So help me God and these Holy Gospels, which I touch with my hand.”

Preparations underway

The Sistine Chapel has already undergone a week-long transformation following the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at age 88.

Technicians installed a floating floor to level out the space and make way for ceremonial furnishings, including tables for the electors and their aides, which are draped by Vatican upholsterers.

Firefighters have installed the chimney on the roof, while two stoves used to signal the voting outcomes have also been installed. One stove is used to burn the ballots and the other is for the chemicals that give the smoke either a black color to indicate that the cardinals failed to reach the two-thirds majority required or the white to signal that the world has a new pontiff.

Twelve technicians and maintenance craftsmen will remain inside for the duration, maintaining temperature, lighting, and electrical systems, and assisting with ceremonial logistics like operating the stove, the Vatican City State administration said.

As tradition dictates, all windows in the conclave zone are darkened to guarantee privacy. Nearly 80 access points around the perimeter are sealed with lead on the eve of the conclave.

A colonel and a major of the Pontifical Swiss Guard Corps are among those taking the oath — they will be responsible for surveillance near the Sistine Chapel, the frescoed Renaissance jewel where 133 cardinal electors will be voting.

The new plan, which was approved in an early morning vote by Israeli Cabinet ministers, also calls for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to Gaza’s south. That would likely amount to their forcible displacement and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.

Details of the plan were not formally announced, and its exact timing and implementation were not clear. Its approval came hours after the Israeli military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers. The plan may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.

A third person, a defense official, said the new plan would not begin until after U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his expected visit to the Middle East this month, allowing for the possibility that Israel might agree to a ceasefire in the meantime. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing military plans.

Later Monday, the Israeli military targeted Houthi rebels in Yemen’s Red Sea city of Hodeida with a punishing round of airstrikes. The strikes came a day after the Iranian-backed rebels launched a missile that hit Israel’s main airport. The rebels’ media office said at least six strikes hit the Hodeida port. Other strikes hit a cement factory, the rebels said.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation and then imposed a blockade on the territory along with Egypt. Capturing and potentially occupying the territory again for an indefinite period would not only further dash hopes for Palestinian statehood, it would embed Israel inside a population that is deeply hostile to it and raise questions about how Israel plans to govern the territory, especially at a time when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over Gaza.

Since Israel ended a ceasefire with the Hamas militant group in mid-March, Israel has unleashed fierce strikes on the territory that have killed hundreds. It has captured swaths of territory and now controls roughly 50% of Gaza. Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to the be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population and, Palestinian health officials say, killed more than 52,000 people there, many of them women and children. The officials do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

At least 42 people were killed by Israeli strikes from Sunday through Monday afternoon, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. The Israeli military offered no immediate comment on the strikes.

Israel is trying to ratchet up pressure on Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday cabinet ministers had decided on a “powerful operation in Gaza,” including “a movement of the population to protect it.”

The plan also imposes Israeli control over aid distribution. Israel accuses Hamas of diverting aid for its own use or to distribute to strengthen its rule in Gaza, though Israel has not provided evidence. A spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian office, Jens Laerke, denied there was significant diversion of aid, saying the U.N. employs “a solid system to monitor and prevent” such theft.

The officials said Israel was in touch with several countries about Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and relocate its population, under what Israel has termed “voluntary emigration.” That proposal has drawn widespread condemnation, including from Israel’s allies in Europe, and rights groups have warned it could be a war crime under international law.

For weeks, Israel has been trying to ratchet up pressure on Hamas to get the group to agree to its terms in ceasefire negotiations. But the measures do not appear to have moved Hamas away from its negotiating positions.

The previous ceasefire was meant to lead the sides to negotiate an end to the war, but that has remained elusive. Israel says it will not agree to end the war until Hamas’ governing and military capabilities are dismantled. Hamas, meanwhile, has sought an agreement that winds down the war without agreeing to disarm.

Israel’s expansion announcement angered families of hostages who fear that any extension of the conflict endangers their loved ones. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which supports families, urged Israel’s decision-makers to prioritize the hostages and secure a deal quickly.

At a Knesset committee meeting Monday, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held hostage, called on soldiers “not to report for reserve duty for moral and ethical reasons.”

Some reservists have indicated they will refuse to serve in a war they increasingly view as politically motivated.

Israel wants to prevent Hamas from handling aid

The defense official said the plan would “separate” Hamas from the aid by using private firms and by using specified areas secured by the Israeli military. The official added that Palestinians would be screened to prevent Hamas from accessing the aid.

According to a memo circulated among aid groups and seen by The Associated Press, Israel told the United Nations that it will use private security companies to control aid distribution in Gaza. The U.N., in a statement Sunday, said it would not participate in the plan as presented, saying it violates its core principles.

The memo summarized a meeting between the Israeli defense body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, called COGAT, and the U.N. It was written by a group briefed on the meeting and sent Sunday to aid organizations.

According to the memo, under COGAT’s plan, all aid will enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, on approximately 60 trucks daily, and be distributed directly to people. Some 500 trucks entered Gaza every day before the war.

The memo said that facial-recognition technology will be used to identify Palestinians at logistics hubs and text message alerts will notify people in the area that they can collect aid.

COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The UN accuses Israel of wanting to control aid as a ‘pressure tactic’

After Israel said it was going to assert more control over aid distribution in Gaza, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs sent an email to aid groups, urging them to reject any “draconian restrictions on humanitarian work.”

The email, which OCHA sent Monday to aid groups and was shared with the AP, further stated that there are mechanisms in place to ensure aid is not diverted.

Earlier, OCHA said in a statement that the plan would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies. It said the plan “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic — as part of a military strategy.”

Aid groups have said they are opposed to using any armed or uniformed personnel to distribute aid that could potentially intimidate Palestinians or put them at risk.

Hamas decried Israel’s efforts to control distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza as a violation of international law.

In a statement Monday, the militant group said the effort is “an extension of the starvation policy” adopted by the Israeli government in Gaza.

Mednick reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, and Josef Federman contributed to this report.

Today in history:

On May 5, 1862, Mexican troops repelled French attacks on the city of Puebla de los Ángeles in the Battle of Puebla, also known as the Battle of Cinco de Mayo.

Also on this date:

In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.

In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)

In 1945, in the only fatal attack on the U.S. mainland during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing a pregnant woman and five children.

In 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

In 1973, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories, in a time of 1:59.4 — a record that still stands.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at age 27 at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on his 66th day without food.

In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton.

In 2016, Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 counts of murder in the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings in Los Angeles that targeted poor, young Black women over two decades.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Lance Henriksen is 85. Comedian-actor Michael Palin is 82. Actor Richard E. Grant is 68. R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn is 50. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 46. Actor Danielle Fishel is 44. Actor Henry Cavill is 42. Singer-songwriter Adele is 37. R&B singer Chris Brown is 36. Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is 27. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen is 26. Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz is 22.

The first round of voting, which is taking place by region, was in the Mount Lebanon districts including Beirut’s battered southern suburbs, where Hezbollah headquarters are located and much of their leadership including veteran leader Hassan Nasrallah were killed in Israeli airstrikes during the 14-month war.

The polls for mayors and municipal councils, though not as significant as Lebanon’s parliamentary election set for 2026, are a barometer of how much the devastating war that left over 4,000 people dead and entire neighborhoods destroyed has impacted support for politicians and parties, especially in the south where Hezbollah and allies are strong.

Hezbollah and fellow Shitte party the Amal Movement are expected to win most votes for municipal councils and mayors in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Flags of the parties and members wearing green and yellow paraphernalia were present outside the polling stations, assisting supporters wanting to cast their vote for the parties’ candidates.

The voting also took place in public schools near the wreckage of buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government has been scrambling to secure international funds for the reconstruction, which the World Bank estimates at over $11 billion.

Municipal elections were supposed to have taken place years ago but the government had postponed them three times, including once over budgetary constraints.

Voters said they were especially concerned with rebuilding their homes and livelihoods.

Mohammad Awali, a candidate running for the Haret Hreik municipality, said his local council “has a great responsibility, especially given the extensive destruction that occurred in our area.”

The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop star’s career that sent more than 2 million fans flooding Copacabana Beach.

Rio de Janeiro’s state police and Brazil’s Justice Ministry presented the bare outlines of a plot that they said involved a group that promoted hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community, among others, and planned to detonate homemade explosive devices at the event.

“The plan was treated as a ‘collective challenge’ with the aim of gaining notoriety on social media,” the police said. The group, it added, disseminated violent content to teenagers online as “a form of belonging.”

Authorities arrested two people in connection with the alleged plot — a man described as the group’s leader in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on illegal weapons possession charges, and a teenager in Rio on child pornography charges. Police did not elaborate on their exact roles in the plot or on how the group came to target Lady Gaga’s beach concert.

“Those involved were recruiting participants, including teenagers, to carry out integrated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” police said.

The Justice Ministry said that it determined the group posed a “risk to public order.” It said the group falsely presented themselves online as “Little Monsters” — Lady Gaga’s nickname for her fans — in order to reach teenagers and lure them into “networks with violent and self-destructive content.”

During a series of raids on the homes of 15 suspects across several Brazilian states, authorities confiscated phones and other electronic devices. Even as police said they believed homemade bombs were intended for use in the planned attack, there was no mention of the raids turning up any weapons or explosive material.

Lady Gaga’s publicists and concert promoters did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Police said they carried out the raids quietly Saturday in the hours leading up to the concert while “avoiding panic or distortion of information among the population.”

The ministry said there was no impact on those attending the free concert.

The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians. The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify military operations in Gaza. The army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation, officials said.

Israel’s army confirmed this was the first time a missile struck the airport grounds since the war began, though fragments of missiles or interceptors have struck nearby. Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept it were unsuccessful. It left a crater near the airport’s access road.

Passengers were heard yelling and scrambling for cover in footage shared by Israeli media. Police said air, road and rail traffic were halted. Traffic resumed after about an hour, Israel Airports Authority said. Israel’s paramedic service Magen David Adom said four people were lightly wounded.

Multiple international airlines canceled or postponed flights. The war with Hamas in Gaza and then Hezbollah in Lebanon had led a wave of airlines to suspend flights to Israel, but they have since returned to prewar levels.

Israel vows to respond to the airport attack

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a video statement that the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.

Houthi rebels have been firing at Israel since the war with Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. The missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel’s missile defense systems, causing damage.

Israel has struck back against the rebels in Yemen, and the U.S., Israel’s top ally, launched a campaign of strikes in March against them.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was supporting Israeli operations against the Houthis. “It’s not bang, bang and we’re done, but there will be bangs,” he said in a video posted on social media.

Netanyahu in a later statement said Israel would respond to the Houthi attack “AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”

Israeli ministers will vote on expanding the war in Gaza

An Israeli official said the security Cabinet would meet Sunday evening to vote on plans to expand the fighting in Gaza. A military official said the country was calling up thousands of reserves. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio, said he wanted to see a “powerful” expansion of the war, but did not disclose details.

“We need to increase the intensity and continue until we achieve total victory,” he said. He demanded that Israel bomb “the food and electricity supplies” in Gaza.

An 8-week ceasefire with the Hamas brought a lull in fighting, allowed more aid into Gaza and freed some Israeli hostages, but it collapsed in March when Israel resumed strikes. The military has since captured swaths of the coastal enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials.

Israel in March also halted the entry of goods into Gaza as part of efforts to pressure Hamas to negotiate on Israel’s terms for a new ceasefire. That has plunged the territory of 2.3 million people into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis of the war.

In a confrontation over efforts to support Gaza, Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, said his country had offered to send a marine surveyor to look into the damage caused to a ship that was said to be carrying aid and organized by pro-Palestinian activists. Abela said the captain refused.

The activists said Friday their vessel was struck by drones, blaming Israel, and the ship remained in international waters off Malta. The Israeli military has not commented.

New Israeli airstrikes kill children

Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians, including parents and their two children, ages 2 and 4, early Sunday in southern and central Gaza, Palestinian medics said. The military had no comment.

The military said two soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, bringing the number killed since fighting resumed in March to six.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

The fighting has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population, often multiple times. Hunger has been widespread and the shortage of food has set off looting.

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Kevin Schembri in Birkirkara, Malta, contributed to this report. Ohad Zwigenberg also contributed. 

Police said five men aged between 29 and 46 were detained on Saturday in various parts of England on suspicion of preparing “a terrorist act.”

Four are Iranian citizens and the nationality of the fifth is still being established.

All the suspects are being questioned at police stations and have not been charged. Police said they are searching several properties in London, Manchester in northwest England and Swindon in western England.

Police said the attack plot targeted a single location that was not being named “for operational reasons.”

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the force’s Counter Terrorism Command, said police are still working to establish a motive “as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public.”

Separately, three other Iranian men, aged 39, 44 and 55, were arrested in London on suspicion of a national security offense as part of an unrelated investigation, police said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the arrests were “serious events that demonstrate the ongoing requirement to adapt our response to national security threats.

“The government continues to work with police and intelligence agencies to support all the action and security assessments that are needed to keep the country safe,” she said.

Police have not determined whether the alleged plot is connected to Iran, but Britain’s domestic intelligence service has warned of a growing threat from attackers linked to Tehran.

In October, the head of the MI5 domestic security service, Ken McCallum, said his agents and police have tackled 20 “potentially lethal” plots backed by Iran since 2022, most aimed at Iranians in the U.K. who oppose the country’s authorities.

He said at the time there was there is the risk “of an increase in, or broadening of, Iranian state aggression in the U.K.” if conflicts in the Middle East deepened.

In March 2024, Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at a Farsi-language television station critical of the Iranian government, was stabbed in the leg outside his home in London. Two men were later arrested in Romania and charged over the attack.

The U.K.’s official terror threat level stands at “substantial,” the middle of a five-point scale, meaning an attack is likely.

In a preview of an upcoming interview with Russian state television, published on Telegram on Sunday, Putin said Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion.”

Responding to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, Putin said: “There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons … and I hope they will not be required.”

“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires,” he said.

Putin signed a revamped version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine in November 2024, spelling out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world’s largest.

That version lowered the bar, giving him that option in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power.

Russia and Ukraine are at odds over competing ceasefire proposals.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, in comments made public Saturday, that Moscow’s announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire next week in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II is merely an attempt to create a “soft atmosphere” ahead of Russia’s annual celebrations.

Zelenskyy instead renewed calls for a more substantial 30-day pause in hostilities, as the U.S. had initially proposed. He said the proposed ceasefire could start anytime as a meaningful step toward ending the war.

Putin on Monday declared a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II, as the U.S. presses for a deal to end the 3-year-old war. The Kremlin said the truce, ordered on “humanitarian grounds,” will run from the start of May 8 and last through the end of May 10 to mark Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 — Russia’s biggest secular holiday.

A Russian drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounded 11 people, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Sunday. Two children were among the wounded.

The attack woke up Valentyna Fesiuk, an 83-year-old resident of Kyiv’s Obolon district.

“I was just sleeping when the house shook. It was at 12:30. An apartment on the 12th floor caught fire,” she told The Associated Press.

The car of another resident, Viacheslav Khotab, caught fire.

“I saw my car burning. I was covered with broken glass,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything.”

The 54-year-old was frustrated with stalled peace negotiations: “They can’t agree on anything, and we are the ones who suffer the consequences.”

Daryna Kravchuk, an 18-year-old student in the district, described how “five to six minutes after the air raid was activated, we heard a strong impact, everything started shaking. … There were three strikes almost in a row after the air raid was activated.”

“It’s very scary to witness, we have been suffering from this for so long. People are just suffering all the time. … It’s still very hard to see our country constantly being destroyed,” she told the AP.

One person was killed Sunday when a Russian guided bomb hit a village close to the border in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, regional Gov. Oleh Hryhorov said.

Russia fired a total of 165 exploding drones and decoys overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Of those, 69 were intercepted and a further 80 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. Russia also launched two ballistic missiles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 13 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Today in history:

On May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded, killing seven police officers and at least four civilians.

Also on this date:

In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded, killing seven police officers and at least four civilians.

In 1904, the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal from France.

In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircrafts, began in the Pacific during World War II. (The outcome was considered a tactical victory for Japan, but ultimately a strategic victory for the Allies.)

In 1961, the first group of “Freedom Riders” left Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

In 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on student demonstrators during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.

In 1998, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, California, under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.

In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks, telling the convicted terrorist, “You will die with a whimper.”

In 2011, President Barack Obama said he had decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden because their graphic nature could incite violence and create national security risks. Officials told The Associated Press that the Navy SEALs who stormed bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan shot and killed him after they saw him appear to reach for a weapon.

In 2023, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election. (Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in prison, but was pardoned by Trump on January 20, 2025, the first day of Trump’s second term in office.)

Today’s Birthdays: Jazz musician Ron Carter is 88. Pulitzer Prize-winning political commentator George Will is 84. Actor Richard Jenkins is 78. Country singer Randy Travis is 66. Comedian Ana Gasteyer is 58. Actor Will Arnett is 55. Basketball Hall of Famer Dawn Staley is 55. Rock musician Mike Dirnt (Green Day) is 53. Designer and TV personality Kimora Lee Simmons is 50. Sportscaster/TV host Erin Andrews is 47. Singer Lance Bass (NSYNC) is 46. Actor Ruth Negga is 44. Golfer Rory McIlroy is 36.