https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/21/world/video/india-chief-justice-cockroach-janta-party-mogul-vrtc
Iran has already restarted some of its drone production during the six-week ceasefire that began in early April, one sign it is rapidly rebuilding certain military capabilities degraded by US-Israeli strikes, according to two sources familiar with US intelligence assessments. Four sources told CNN that US intelligence indicates Iran’s military is reconstituting much faster than initially estimated. The rebuilding of military capabilities, including replacing missile sites, launchers and production capacity for key weapons systems destroyed during the current conflict, means that Iran remains a significant threat to regional allies should President Donald Trump restart the bombing campaign, according to the four sources familiar with the intelligence. It also calls into question claims about the extent to which US-Israeli strikes have degraded Iran’s military in the long term. While the time to restart production of different weapons components varies, some US intelligence estimates indicate Iran could fully reconstitute its drone attack capability in as soon as six months, one of the sources, a US official, told CNN.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/21/politics/iran-military-rebuild
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of speaking to Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, in what would be an unprecedented move for a US leader and a major departure from diplomatic norms. US and Taiwanese presidents have not spoken directly since 1979, when Washington shifted diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei. “I’ll speak to him,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday when asked whether he would call Lai before making a decision on whether he will sign off on a major Congress-approved arms sale to the island.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/21/asia/trump-taiwan-china-lai-call-intl-hnk
Ukraine claims to have killed scores of Russians in two strikes in the country’s occupied eastern region, as Kyiv steps up mid-range drone attacks targeting Moscow’s military infrastructure. One wave of strikes hit a Russian drone pilot training camp in the occupied town of Snizhne, killing at least 65 cadets and an instructor on Wednesday night, according to the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces. Another set of strikes hit a Russian security service headquarters and an air defense system in the Kherson region in occupied Ukraine, killing and wounding almost 100 Russians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Thursday. He did not say when the attack took place.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/21/europe/ukraine-claims-strikes-russia-drone-pilot-academy-intl
Chinese leader Xi Jinping hailed ties with Russia as a force for “calm amid chaos” during a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday, days after Xi hosted President Donald Trump for a landmark US-China summit. Xi alluded to an increasingly fractious international situation – and took a veiled jab at the US – as he sat down with Putin in the Great Hall of the People for meetings kicking off the Russian leader’s roughly 24-hour state visit in the Chinese capital. “The international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and transformation, while unilateral hegemonic currents are running rampant,” Xi said, using Beijing’s typical language to criticize what it sees as American foreign policy overreach.