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Good morning. The US intercepts two Iranian oil supertankers. Thomas Massie stands for the MAGA voters Donald Trump is losing. And air miles are becoming a ghost commodity. Listen to the day’s top stories. — Angela Cullen
The US military said it intercepted two Iranian oil supertankers that tried to evade its blockade as Washington continues to stymie the Islamic Republic’s shipping and Tehran threatens vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The Trump administration said it was waiting for a response from Iran before the warring sides can restart peace talks. The impasse and worsening tensions brought the record-breaking rally in US stocks to a halt and kept Brent oil trading above $100 a barrel. Not so fast. A Virginia judge blocked a voter-approved plan to redraw the state’s districts in a way that would have led to more Democratic House seats. Over in Arlington County, it’s transpiring that US Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired after clashing with top leaders at the Pentagon, including over administration efforts to revive shipbuilding, people familiar said. A few regrets. Tim Cook said the wonky launch of Apple Maps in 2012 was his “first really big mistake” as CEO. But the Apple Watch ranks as his proudest work. Meanwhile, Starbucks is trying to find its tech groove and it isn’t stopping at Nashville, the site of a new office for technology workers. It’s hunting for yet another location as it tries to bring those jobs back in-house, and it’s not just looking at the US. And Netflix is trying to appease its shareholders with an additional $25 billion buyback just days after disclosing disappointing results. Sleeping on the job. A Singapore hedge fund grew its assets to $9 billion with obsessive Slack monitoring—and a little help from afternoon naps. Founding partner Matt Hu has shunned the pod-shop model, making analysts work in relative isolation and answer 100-plus questions before ideas are approved. The unconventional approach has helped him quietly build one of Asia’s biggest and fastest-growing hedge funds. Bloomberg.com subscribers are invited to nominate candidates for the inaugural VivaTech x Bloomberg Rising Star Award, to be presented in Paris on June 18. Chosen by the Bloomberg subscriber community, the Rising Star Award honors an emerging founder, technologist, academic or creator whose work is already demonstrating meaningful early impact. It celebrates individuals whose ideas, innovation and leadership are helping shape the future of technology. Submit a nomination here. Spring Sale: Save 60% on your first year Get the numbers behind the narratives. Enjoy unlimited access to Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg app, plus market tools, expert analysis, live updates and more. Offer ends soon. Unlock 60% offDeep Dive: The Challenger From Within
US Representative Thomas Massie after a news conference about the Jeffrey Epstein files in November 2025.
Photographer: Heather Diehl/Getty Images via Getty Images North America
Thomas Massie never planned on becoming Donald Trump’s chief antagonist. But he’s a rare Republican who’s willing to publicly criticize the president—over domestic spending, the war in Iran, and Trump’s efforts to bury the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The Big Take
ICAC David Frattare inside the undercover investigations truck at the Ohio’s Internet Crimes Against Children office.
Photographer: Madeleine Hordinski/Bloomberg
AI is supercharging child predators’ ability to harm kids. The explosion in AI-altered pornographic images and videos is upending the child safety ecosystem, straining budgets and making it harder to find pedophiles, leaving underfunded investigators struggling to keep up. Opinion
The next phase of AI could get out of the screen and into the real world.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
With everyone’s attention fixed on ChatGPT and Claude, it’s been easy to overlook the growth of another field of AI, Parmy Olson writes. The real action is in world models that can provide the foundation for everything from robots to self-driving cars. More Opinions Play Alphadots!Our daily word puzzle with a plot twist. 
Today’s clue is: Division of labor Before You Go
Qatar Airways, American Airlines and Emirates planes parked at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Ghost bookings. Air miles are becoming a precious commodity as travelers make overlapping bookings to hedge against travel chaos caused by the war in the Mideast. The tactic is quickly eating up award seats and leaving fewer options for others. A Couple More Coming soon: Get the AI Today newsletter—chronicling the disruptions and threats of AI on businesses, workers, governments and economies with analysis from Bloomberg’s global newsroom. More From BloombergEnjoying Morning Briefing Americas? Get more news and analysis with our regional editions for Asia and Europe. Check out these newsletters, too:
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Washington Edition: A small step forward
A 3 a.m. vote sets up an end to DHS shutdown ...