If Donald Trump’s search for a way out of the Iran war was not difficult enough, he’s added a new goal that threatens to vastly complicate the Middle East’s already splintered politics. The president said Monday he’d asked Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan to join his first-term legacy deal, known as the Abraham Accords, which is designed to forge historic ties with Israel. The suggestion created yet another storm of confusion as US and Iranian negotiators haggled over language on a proposed memorandum of understanding that might provide an eventual framework for peace talks.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/26/politics/trump-iran-war-peace-deal-analysis
Few living architects can claim, in good faith, to have shaped the character of a whole neighborhood, let alone a city or country. Yet, on a landmass around 40% larger than Europe, one man has exerted an outsize influence on the architecture of an entire continent. Antarctica is home to over 70 permanent research stations — and 61-year-old Hugh Broughton has worked on more of them than anyone else. His eponymous firm has designed scientific facilities for the UK and Spain, developed proposals for South Korea, India and Brazil, and worked with Australia and New Zealand to redevelop their polar bases. His distinctly space-age aesthetic, born of necessity in one of the world’s most unforgiving environments, is now arguably the continent’s prevailing architectural style. “I think our coverage of Antarctica is pretty good — certainly more than anyone else in the world,” said Broughton in his 16-person London office, almost 10,000 miles from the South Pole, before modestly caveating the claim: “You could call us the continent’s most prolific architects. But I don’t think it would make my head swell too much, because there’s probably only two or three others in the game.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/25/style/antarctica-architecture-hugh-broughton
Ferrari presented its first fully electric car on Monday, marking a high-stakes shift by the luxury sports car maker as competitors including Porsche and Lamborghini scale back their EV ambitions, citing weak demand. The four-door Luce, Italian for ‘light’, was developed with the help of former Apple design chief Jony Ive and his collective LoveFrom, and is Ferrari’s first five-seater. Ferrari aims to appeal to families with deep pockets, offering them comfortable seats, high-end tech and a 600-liter trunk. Deliveries of the long-awaited Luce, priced at €550,000 ($640,000), are due to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/26/cars/ferrari-new-electric-vehicle-luce-intl-hnk
Cave divers are squeezing through narrow, flooded corridors in a delicate operation to reach seven villagers trapped underground in a cave in Laos for nearly a week. The villagers went into the cave in the central Laotian province of Xaisomboun last Wednesday in search of gold, but heavy rain triggered flash flooding which blocked the exit, the Associated Press reported, citing Laos and Thai rescue teams. Two Thai divers and a Finnish expert who helped in the 2018 dramatic cave rescue of a young soccer team in Thailand joined the risky operation Monday.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/26/asia/laos-flooded-cave-rescue-operation-intl-hnk
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/26/world/video/laos-flooded-cave-rescue-hnk-vrtc-digvid