📊 Eid al-Adha, Biden Audio, and CEO Pay

Muslim holiday, leak probe, and compensation report.

May 28, 2026

Greetings! Happy Eid al-Adha to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

Forwarded this email? Subscribe to PM Daily below:

SPONSORED SECTION

Sponsor PM Daily! Unlike other free daily newsletters, PM’s ad model works differently: 1. one single sponsor slot per issue; 2. 100% share of voice (SOV) guaranteed; 3. higher return on ad spend (ROAS) from your first placement.

No-brainer, little risk, high upside. Q2 slots are filling up quickly! Reach our rapidly scaling, high-intent, vetted premium audience by replying to this email right now.

🌎 GLOBAL NEWS

🇸🇦 Eid begins under Hajj heat. Muslim pilgrims in Mina threw pebbles at pillars Wednesday. The ritual is the symbolic stoning of the devil. It came during Hajj’s final days. Temperatures reached more than 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Pilgrims poured water over their heads. Many carried umbrellas like portable mercy. Eid al-Adha began the same day. The holiday means Feast of Sacrifice. It honors the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to submit to God. Muslims often slaughter sheep or cattle and share meat with the poor. Hajj is one of Islam’s Five Pillars. It is required once for Muslims who can afford it and are physically able. More than 1.5M pilgrims arrived from abroad. The rite followed Tuesday’s prayers at Arafat. The pilgrimage also includes circling the Kaaba. Over two billions Muslims live worldwide, comprising 26% of humanity. One faith’s sacred calendar moved through heat, grief, and war-shadowed politics.

🇪🇸 Sánchez’s party gets searched. Spanish police searched the ruling Socialist Party’s Madrid headquarters Wednesday. The search deepened pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. It is part of an inquiry into possible financial wrongdoing. Investigators are examining alleged attempts to influence police and legal cases. Judge Santiago Pedraz ordered the Civil Guard to seize documents and electronic files. Sánchez said his party would cooperate with courts. He also promised firmness if new misconduct appeared. Sánchez has led Spain since 2018. He has not been directly named in the probe. The case began after recordings emerged in Spanish media. They involved former party member Leire Díez. Reports linked her to alleged efforts to discredit a Civil Guard anti-corruption official. Díez denies wrongdoing and has left the party. Former Socialist heavyweight Santos Cerdán is also under scrutiny. So are a police officer, a business owner, lawyers, and a former Andalusian official. The suspected crimes include bribery and influence peddling. Sánchez’s Socialists were already carrying corruption scars. The raid turned embarrassment into evidence.

🇺🇸 LOCAL NEWS

🎙️ Biden fights the tape release. Former President Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday. He wants to block release of audio and transcripts from a special counsel probe. The records come from interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, who helped him write memoirs. Special counsel Robert Hur reviewed the files while investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents. Hur’s 345-page report recommended no criminal charges. It also questioned Biden’s age and mental competence. Biden’s lawyers filed in Washington federal court. They said the Justice Department plans to give the records to Congress. They also said the Heritage Foundation would receive them. Biden argues disclosure would invade his privacy. His lawyers said private home conversations deserve protection. The department previously argued the files were exempt from public records release. Biden has separately fought release of Hur interview audio. The House voted in 2024 to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over that refusal. The fight is legal. The stakes are political memory.

🪙 CIA gold case glitters badly. Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official David Rush faces a federal theft charge. He is accused of stealing hundreds of gold bars from the government. The bars were worth more than $40M. Rush had top-secret-level clearance. Court filings say he requested gold and foreign currency for work expenses from November through March. A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) affidavit says some assets were found near his office. Federal agents searched his Virginia home on May 18th. They seized more than 300 gold bars. They also seized roughly $2M in American currency. Agents found about 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolexes. Rush was arrested the next day. He is charged with criminal theft of public money. His lawyer declined comment. Investigators say Rush may have lied about education and military background. They found he did not attend Clemson University or Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The agency work remains unclear. The allegation is not. A national-security résumé met a treasure-room indictment.

🗂️ MISC

💼 CEO pay keeps widening the room. Median CEO pay rose nearly 6% in 2025. The typical package reached $17.7M. Median employee pay at Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) companies reached $89,744. That was up 4.7% year over year. The survey covered 337 executives. Half the companies showed a brutal ratio. A median worker would need 200 years to earn one year of CEO pay. Last year’s figure was 192 years. Tesla Inc. ($TSLA) CEO Elon Musk received compensation valued at $132.3B. It is all in stock awards tied to long-term targets. Welltower Inc. ($WELL) CEO Shankh Mitra received $821.1M. Broadcom Inc. ($AVGO) CEO Hock Tan received $205.3M. Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. ($WBD) CEO David Zaslav received $165M. Citigroup Inc. ($C) CEO Jane Fraser led women CEOs at $95.8M. Coca-Cola Company ($KO) and TJX Companies Inc. ($TJX) showed especially wide pay gaps. Shareholders usually approve these plans. Workers count inflation. Boards count stock.

📈 Oil puts Asia on edge again. Asian shares mostly declined Thursday. Oil rose more than $1 per barrel. The move followed fresh American strikes against Iran. American officials said Central Command shot down four Iranian drones near the Strait of Hormuz. They also struck an Iranian ground-control station in Bandar Abbas. President Trump said Iran was negotiating on fumes. Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1% higher to 65,039.78. South Korea’s Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 1.2% to 8,126.67. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 1.9%. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.8%. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.6%. American stocks had just set records. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) closed at 7,520.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 50,644.28. Brent crude had fallen to $92.25 Wednesday. It rose to $93.95 early Thursday. Markets are still trading missiles, oil, and hope in the same breath.