While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, May 9, 2026

A US fighter jet disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers to enforce a port blockade on May 8, prompting retaliatory attacks and rattling a shaky truce as Tehran weighed Washington’s latest proposal to end the Middle East war.

A parallel ceasefire in Lebanon was also under strain on May 8, as Iran-backed Hezbollah launched missiles at a military base in Israel in response to a Beirut strike that killed a top commander and other attacks in the south.

The US Central Command said an F/A-18 Super Hornet used precision munitions on May 8 against two ships in the Gulf of Oman – gateway to the vital Strait of Hormuz – to prevent them from continuing to Iran.

An Iranian military official told local media the country’s navy had “responded to the violation of the ceasefire and to American terrorism with strikes”, adding that after the “exchanges of fire, the clashes have now ceased”.

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Russia and Ukraine confirmed on May 8 that they had agreed to a three-day ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump that will run from May 9 to May 11.

Mr Trump’s announcement on Truth Social also said each country, locked in more than four years of conflict, would be exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war.

Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused the other of violating ceasefires declared separately this week as Russia readies to hold a Victory Day parade on May 9 that marks the 1945 Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

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The Pentagon announced that it has begun releasing government files on UFOs after US President Donald Trump directed agencies to identify and declassify them.

The files will be posted on a rolling basis on a new federal government website, the Department of Defence wrote on May 8 in a post on X.

The effort will be a collaboration among entities including the White House, NASA, the FBI, the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Energy and others, according to the announcement.

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Nepal has issued a record 492 permits to climb Mount Everest this spring, officials said on May 8.

The last record was in 2023 when 478 permits were issued in a post-pandemic rush on the mountains.

As most of these mountaineers will attempt to summit Everest with the help of at least one Nepali guide, about a thousand climbers will be heading for the summit in the next few weeks.

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Real Madrid announced on May 8 they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde €500,000 (S$746,000) each after a training ground clash that left the latter needing hospital treatment.

The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine “thereby concludes the internal procedures” launched against them.

Valverde will miss Real’s May 10 Clasico against Barcelona as a result of the head injury he suffered during the altercation. The club said he would be out for up to two weeks.

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