Hundreds attend tribute to first Memorial Day, ‘largely negotiated’ deal with Iran appears to be emerging, Ukraine cleans up from largest Russian missile attack of year, and Pearl Harbor’s oldest survivor keeping memory of surprise bombing alive.
1. Hundreds of people attended the fifth annual Flowers of Remembrance Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday. Veterans and civilians lined up in solemn queues to place pink and white carnations at the base of the tomb to memorialize those who have sacrificed and served the nation. Although the weather was cool and overcast with light drizzle, school groups, veteran-based motorcycle clubs and Honor Flight participants stood patiently in line waiting for their turn to place flowers. Some walked past after laying down their carnations, while others knelt or stood silently and saluted.
2. A deal appears to be emerging between the United States and Iran to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend said it had been “largely negotiated.” It is not clear when or how the deal might be finalized and when its various parts will take effect. Trump spoke after calls with allies in the Middle East, including a separate call with Israel. Details come from two regional officials and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
3. Aboard the RFA Lyme Bay docked off the coast of Gibraltar, hundreds of British sailors are waiting to be deployed for a mine-clearing mission to the Strait of Hormuz that is still in doubt. U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at allies for not doing more to support the United States' war effort in Iran, whose chokehold on the strait has crippled international shipping and sent energy prices soaring. In March, Trump told NATO allies to “go get your own oil” and secure the strait themselves. On the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, the U.K.’s Royal Navy is preparing to do that — but only once a peace agreement is reached. Trump said Saturday that a deal with Iran has been “largely negotiated” after calls with Israel and other allies in the region, but it still needs finalizing.
4. Belarus’ exiled opposition leader visited Kyiv on Monday as the Ukrainian capital cleaned up after Russia’s biggest missile attack of the year, and world leaders kept a close eye on how much support the Belarusian government is ready to provide for Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya arrived by train in Kyiv for her first visit to the city, a day after French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with President Alexander Lukashenko, who has governed Belarus with an iron fist for more than three decades. The French leader “underscored the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be dragged into Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” according to a presidential aide in Macron’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the presidential palace’s practices.
5. On the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, the country's oldest living survivor of the Japanese bombing was far below deck helping repair one the boilers of the USS St. Louis. Freeman Johnson, who turned 106 in March, never witnessed the surprise attack. He never heard his shipmates firing antiaircraft guns at the attacking planes — shooting down a torpedo plane. By the time he was topside, the St. Louis, a light cruiser, had evaded midget submarines and safely get out to sea. After rarely talking about the attack, the oldest Pearl Harbor survivor is keeping the memory of the surprise bombing alive.
- Honor & Remembrance