5 Big News Stories Overnight - Thursday, May 21, 2026

Nvidia Earnings

CNBC reports:

CEO Jensen Huang then summarized his own takeaways from the quarter’s results.

Nvidia’s involvement with the world’s largest AI models is growing: “Nvidia is the only platform that runs every frontier AI model,” Huang said, mentioning Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, Meta and Google’s Gemini.

The chipmaker is powering every hyperscaler, “supporting their core data processing and machine learning workloads, internal AI services, as well as supporting their demand for Nvidia users in the public cloud services,” Huang said.

The company’s broad range of products is helping it break into “new AI data center segments, new AI-native clouds and sovereign AI clouds, and on-premises enterprise and industrial infrastructure.”

Physical AI is “the next wave,” Huang said, adding that Nvidia’s CUDA software platform helps it extend into autonomous vehicles and robotics, in particular.

The Vera CPU is a “major new growth driver,” opening up a $200 billion revenue opportunity if the company can capture the market.

USDOJ Indicts Raul Castro

The U.S. Department of Justice Wednesday announced the unsealing of a superseding indictment charging Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, 94, of Holguin, Cuba; along with Lorenzo Alberto Perez‑Perez of Las Tunas, Cuba; Emilio José Palacio Blanco; José Fidel Gual Barzaga; Raul Simanca Cardenas; and Luis Raul Gonzalez‑Pardo Rodriguez, for their alleged roles in the Feb. 24, 1996 shoot‑down of two unarmed U.S. civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR), also known as Hermanos al Rescate, over international waters.

“Over three decades later, we are committed to holding those accountable for the murders of four brave Americans: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in the United States for alleged acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens. President Trump and this Justice Department are committed to restoring a simple principle: if you kill Americans, we will pursue you. No matter who you are. No matter what title you hold.”

“Today’s superseding indictment of Raul Castro and five Castro regime co-defendants is a major step toward accountability in the 1996 murders of four Brothers to the Rescue members - including three U.S citizens - Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandro Jr, Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “For 30 years, these families have waited for answers - and this FBI never forgot. We will continue working with our Justice Department partners to bring to justice those who attacked our civilians.”

“For 30 years, the families of these men have waited. The Miami community has waited. Our country has waited. Today is a step toward accountability,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “This passage of time does not erase murder. It does not diminish the value of these lives. And it does not weaken our commitment to the rule of law.”

USDOJ Press Release

Iran: Digital bottleneck: How Iran wants to use internet access as leverage in the war

France 24 reports:

Encouraged by its successful wartime blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran now wants to extend its control beneath the critical waterway by imposing fees on the internet cables that traverse the Strait.

As negotiations with the US stall, Iranian authorities are eyeing the “treasure at the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz”, according to Iranian state-affiliated media.

‘At least seven cables’ lie beneath  

The Islamic Republic wants to charge technology giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon licensing fees for the use of the undersea cables. The plan would also monopolise the repair and maintenance of these subsea cables, presumably by giving such contracts exclusively to Iranian companies.

DOJ Violating Its Own Policies?

The New York Times reports:

The $1.8 billion fund created by the Trump administration this week to pay people who claim mistreatment by the federal government appears to violate longstanding Justice Department standards and practices, as well as a policy directive issued by the administration last year, legal experts said on Wednesday.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, defended the fund at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, calling it “unusual” but insisting it was appropriate and reflective of past settlements.

Justice Department veterans have been deeply skeptical of those claims, particularly when it comes to a provision in the deal that offers President Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization immunity from tax penalties. They have also been critical of the decision to resolve a lawsuit filed by one group of people in a way that gives more than a billion dollars to an entirely different category of people.

NYC: JPMorgan Banker Says Sex-Assault Allegations Have Ruined Her Life

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Lorna Hajdini, the JPMorgan investment banker who was accused of sexual assault, countersued on Tuesday, saying the AI-generated memes and coverage of the lurid allegations have made her life “a daily, living nightmare.”

In a suit against her former colleague, Chirayu Rana, Hajdini said his allegations were entirely fabricated, have caused her mental harm and resulted in her losing a volunteering job. She is suing him for defamation and “malicious prosecution.”

“Plaintiff deliberately crafted a salacious narrative designed to achieve maximum press coverage and inflict maximum pain; unfortunately, it has succeeded despite its falsity,” the countersuit said. “Plaintiff’s false, malicious, and bad faith statements have wreaked havoc on Ms. Hajdini’s life.”

She also claimed that Rana’s attacks on her were part of a “common pattern and scheme” he had advanced at other employers, though she didn’t name a specific firm. He has worked at a litany of well-known firms on Wall Street, including Morgan Stanley, Carlyle Group and an affiliate of Apollo Global Management.

PHOTO: Precious Madubuike, Unsplash