May 19, 2025, with a focus on headlines

At least five journalists were among the hundreds of Palestinians killed over the weekend as Israel escalated its war on Gaza. Israel murdered at least 160 Palestinians on Sunday, including 36 in the al-Mawasi region, where Israeli warplanes destroyed a makeshift camp for displaced people. Attacks have also been made against several hospitals.

Israel issued an order earlier today to evacuate the second-largest city in Gaza, Khan Younis, by force. Israel declared Sunday that it was initiating Operation Gideon’s Chariots, a new “extensive ground operation,” in Gaza. According to renowned Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, the offensive would be better described as “Chariots of Genocide.”. Jabaliya locals claim that Israel has been attacking nonstop.

Imad Naseer: “The people became afraid as they were bombing houses.”. What should we do? This is the occupier’s reality. They treat us like animals rather than like people, so what can I say? It was a night of great terror. Both fatalities and injuries were high. There are vile Zionists and a barbaric army. They don’t treat us like people. Children and women were ripped to pieces, and hundreds of homes were bombed during the terrible night. This is the reason we are going, as you can see. “.”.

After an 11-week blockade on all food, aid, and medication, Israel declared on Sunday that it would start allowing what it called a “basic amount of food” into Gaza. A major hunger monitor issued a warning last week that one in five Palestinians in Gaza are in danger of starvation.

A plan to permanently remove one million Palestinians from Gaza and relocate them to Libya is being developed by the Trump administration, according to NBC News. During Friday, U. “N.”. Israel’s actions in Gaza are “ethnic cleansing,” according to human rights chief Volker Türk. “”.

Subjects:.

Gaza. .

famine.

Italian lawmakers participated in a protest on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border with Gaza on Sunday. The former speaker of the lower house of the Italian Parliament is Laura Boldrini.

We are here to speak out against the extermination of the Palestinian people that is taking place in Gaza, said Laura Boldrini. We can’t accept what’s taking place there. “.”.

Up to 100,000 demonstrators, many of whom were dressed in red, demanded that the Dutch government draw a red line and cease its support for Israel during large-scale Palestinian solidarity demonstrations this past weekend in London and The Hague.

Joe Biden, the former president, was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer a few months after he left office. His office reported on Sunday that the cancer had progressed to his bones. Although this is a more severe form of the disease, Biden’s office said in a statement that “the cancer seems to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management.”. Biden is eighty-two.

As the diagnosis is made, more attention is being paid to former White House aides who are alleged to have concealed Biden’s declining health in the past few years. The book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” has been written by CNN journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson and will be published on Tuesday. “.”.

A bill that would increase tax breaks for the wealthy while cutting Medicaid, food stamps, and clean energy subsidies was approved by the House Budget Committee on Sunday. According to one estimate, the plan might result in the loss of health coverage for almost 14 million people. Far-right Republicans opposed the bill in a previous vote on Friday because they wanted even larger cuts.

On Sunday, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, made an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”.

Sen. Chris Murphy: “So, what we’re preventing is the largest wealth transfer in the nation’s history from the poor and middle class to the wealthy. This budget bill is a complete failure. In order to pass a new trillion-dollar tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent, it will remove more than 10 million people from Medicaid, which covers roughly 25% of all Americans. That is not something that anyone in this nation is requesting. “.”.

Friday, the U.S. S. . President Trump attempted to expel a group of Venezuelans who were being held in Texas under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, but the Supreme Court blocked his efforts. According to the justices, the people in custody have a constitutional right to “adequate notice before being removed.”. “”.

In related news, two senior officials who wrote a report concluding that the Venezuelan government does not directly support the Tren de Aragua gang were fired by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. A significant portion of Trump’s justification for using the Alien Enemies Act was refuted by the report.

The return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who was wrongfully sent to an El Salvadorian prison, was demanded by dozens of protesters outside a federal courthouse in Maryland on Friday. Ama Frimipong is CASA’s legal director.

“What is happening to Kilmar is all part of Trump and the administration’s larger strategy to eradicate Black and Brown people from this country and take us one step closer to white supremacy,” said Ama Frimipong. “”.

The FBI has named Guy Edward Bartkus, a 25-year-old local resident, as the suspect in Saturday’s bombing of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California.

Akil Davis: “The IVF facility was specifically targeted, and the subject had nihilistic ideas.”. Without a doubt, as I stated yesterday, we are considering this to be a deliberate act of terrorism. “”.

The suspect, who might have been a member of a fringe online group that advocates against “natalism,” or the creation of new life, is thought to have perished in the assault, according to investigators. There were four more injuries.

Today, President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to speak. Trump stated in an online post that the call’s main goal would be to put an end to what he called the “bloodbath” in Ukraine. Trump is also anticipated to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. Despite negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials last week in Turkey, fighting raged over the weekend, with Ukraine accusing Russia of carrying out the war’s biggest drone attack.

Concurrently, former U. A. In a public critique of Trump’s policies, former Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wrote, “The policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia.” Brink resigned in April. “”.

Meanwhile, Zelensky met with Pope Leo on Sunday at the Vatican, where he reiterated his call for peace in Gaza and Ukraine. The pope also met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance earlier today.

Nicușor Dan, the centrist mayor of Bucharest, Romania, defeated George Simion, the far-right opponent. The election took place nearly five months after the far-right ultranationalist Călin Georgescu was disqualified from running for president in 2024 after the Constitutional Court of Romania declared the election invalid.

In the meantime, Portugal’s center-right ruling coalition, the Democratic Alliance, won a snap election but did not secure a majority. Chega, a far-right party, swept to a record-breaking 22% of the vote.

Subjects:.

Romania.

Europe.

Following accusations of sexual abuse and retaliation from ICC employees, Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, temporarily resigned. Khan has refuted the claims. A year ago this week, Khan made headlines around the world when he declared he was pursuing war crimes charges against two Hamas leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

In the meantime, according to the Associated Press, U. A. The work of the ICC is being hampered by sanctions. Khan’s email was disabled by Microsoft. His bank accounts were placed on hold. American ICC employees are afraid of being arrested if they go back to the US.

On the ninth day of the hunger strike, a UCLA student was admitted to the hospital on Sunday. In response to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Maya Abdullah is one of an increasing number of college students nationwide who have started hunger strikes in protest of their institutions’ refusal to support Israel and to defend free expression on campus. There are still hunger strikes going on at California State University, Yale, and Stanford.

A recent George Washington University graduate gave a fiery commencement address in front of a boisterous audience in the nation’s capital.

Cecilia Culver: “Given how many Palestinian students have been killed, chased out of their homes, and forced to halt their education for merely staying in their ancestral homeland, I cannot celebrate my own graduation without a heavy heart.”. “”.

That was Cecilia Culver, a graduate of George Washington University. She urged other graduates to wait for GWU to reveal and divest from Israel before making any donations.

During an alternate graduation ceremony hosted by the People’s University for Palestine, the wife and infant child of abducted Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil accepted a diploma on Khalil’s behalf here in New York. The couple’s first child, Deen, was born last month to Dr. Noor Abdalla.

Dr. Noor Abdalla: “Since Deen’s birth, I’ve come to realize the importance of the struggle every day.”. I wish for him to grow up to be as courageous as his father and as courageous as all of the students here who have put so much at stake to stand up for Palestine: your education, your safety, even your futures. We honor Mahmoud today, but we also honor all the students who stood up for Palestinian rights and were wrongfully suspended and expelled. “.”.

When Trump moved to dissolve the office in March, placing officials on leave and stopping ongoing investigations, a whistleblower revealed last week that the Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights division had just begun looking into Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest.