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President Donald Trump said the US Ceasefire with Iran is on life support. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Tuesday, May 12th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. Hopes for an end to the war with Iran remain dim. On Sunday, Trump rejected Iran's latest offer of a peace plan. Speaking to reporters at the White House yesterday, Trump doubled down on that rejection, calling Iran's plan a piece of garbage. He said he didn't finish reading it and said this I would say the
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ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.
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Two and a half months after the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran, the war is causing economic pain worldwide and hurting Trump's popularity with voters. According to a recent poll, almost two thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy. That's the highest level of disapproval in either of his terms. And as oil prices rose again in response to the stalemate, Trump said yesterday he would suspend the federal gas tax. But that plan would require congressional approval. President Trump is preparing for a high stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. That's number two. Trump is scheduled to arrive in Beijing tomorrow evening. It will be his first visit to China in over eight years. Trump and President Xi agreed last fall to an uneasy economic truce after a bruising trade war that consumed most of 2025, the White House was struck by Xi's willingness to push back hard on Trump's tariffs, so it wants the truce to last. At the summit this week, the presidents will talk about ways to adjust tariffs that have grown to double digit percentages on both sides. Whatever upbeat diplomatic rhetoric is on show at the ceremonies, though, more friction appears inevitable. Trump already plans to introduce new tariffs this summer, including on Chinese goods to replace those that were struck down by the Supreme Court. Number three. Virginia Democrats appealed to the U.S. supreme Court to save redrawn congressional maps Virginia voters narrowly approved a state referendum last month to draw new voting maps that could send four extra Democrats to the U.S. house. But last week, the Supreme Court of Virginia overturned the state's referendum. It was a big win for President Trump in his efforts to hold on to a slim Republican majority in the House this fall. He has been pushing for red states to redraw their maps to favor Republicans. So yesterday, Virginia Democrats made a last ditch effort to save the maps by filing an emergency appeal to the U.S. supreme Court. But some top Democrats have little hope that the appeal will help in time for this November's midterms, so they are pivoting to waging campaigns in the state's existing districts. A nonprofit is suing to stop Trump's changes to the reflecting pool. That's number four the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is a historic site in Washington, D.C. the Trump administration plans to resurface it and apply a blue color to the pool's basin. Work is underway. On Friday, Trump said the existing pool was a disgusting place and attacked a reporter who asked him why he was focusing on projects like this during a war.
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That's such a stupid question you asked. We're fixing up the reflecting pond to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and you say why are you fixing it up? Because you can understand dirt maybe better than I can, but I don't allow it.
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Yesterday, the Cultural Landscape foundation asked a federal court to stop the plan. The group claims that Trump failed to go through the necessary federal reviews for the project, and its leader said the neutral colors originally used for the pool's basin were supposed to symbolize depth and reflection. Trump has said the pool project would cost less than $2 million and be completed within a week. But public records show that the Interior Department has awarded a company over $13 million for the work. 5 Most deportees under Trump are men, leaving women to care for families. Since Trump returned to office last year, nine out of every 10 people who have been deported by federal immigration officers have been men. That's not an unusual ratio, but the overall number of detainees has skyrocketed and the backgrounds of people getting taken into custody have changed. A Post analysis found that almost a quarter of the 300,000 men removed since January last year have lived in the US for at least 33 years, and nearly two thirds of those deported do not have criminal convictions. Those are both big changes compared to the last year of the Biden administration. The Post talked to some of the women left behind by these deportations. They described the emotional and financial repercussions as disastrous. Americans from the Hantavirus hit cruise ship have begun their quarantine. That's number six. The National Quarantine Unit is a facility at the University of Nebraska Medical center campus in Omaha. It has previously been used to house patients with Ebola and COVID 19. Now it's hosting hantavirus. 16Americans who were on board a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak are quarantining at the center. Fifteen of them are in hotel like rooms with special ventilation systems. One other person is in a biocontainment unit after testing positive for the virus. Two further passengers were sent to an Atlanta biocontainment facility because one of them was showing symptoms. The quarantine period is 42 days, but officials said some patients may be able to complete monitoring at home. Three people who were on the cruise ship have died from the virus, but public health officials have repeatedly stressed this is not the start of another pandemic. Here's Tedros Adhanam Ghebreyesis, the director general of the World Health Organization, speaking yesterday at a news conference.
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And to the people of those countries who are receiving their citizens, nothing to fear. The risk is low. This is not another Covid and I hope you will continue to show your compassion and solidarity to your citizens and help them.
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And at number seven, people are turning to pet psychics for answers about their furry friends. I learned about a whole new career today, animal communicators, also known as pet psychics, they offer pet owners a few different ways to connect with their beloved animals. They check in on pets that have already died or are just about to, or those who are struggling with behavior problems. And increasingly, they help pets and their people deal with travel. If pets are coming along on a vacation, pet psychics ask them for their travel preferences, like whether a cat wants its own hotel bathroom or if the pets are staying behind. They check in while their owners are away, using their minds. Interspecies communication is, as you may have guessed, not backed up by scientific evidence. But the Post talked to several pet owners who swear they saw real improvements in their animals behavior, or at least in dealing with their own human anxieties. So there's something to be said for a placebo effect. And as someone who has tried to get a cat into a carrier, I can't knock anyone who feels the need to reach out for help from the spirit realm. Alright, you're all caught up. The spirits are calling me to tell you to subscribe to the Washington Post. They tell me you can get a core subscription for just $40 for the first year. And they reassure me that you can cancel anytime. Go and see what they're talking about@washingtonpost.com subscribe I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.
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