May 14, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts and issues:

• The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says at least 60 people, including at least 22 children, were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes across Gaza. [more]
• In a statement yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israeli forces are just days away from a planned "escalation of force" in Gaza. [more]
• In a meeting with Gulf leaders today, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran must end its support of proxy militant groups as part of any potential agreement on Tehran's nuclear program. [more]
• U.S. President Donald Trump met briefly with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia today. Ahead of the meeting, Trump announced that the U.S. will ease sanctions on Syria and move to normalize relations to give the Middle Eastern country a "chance at peace." [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1175 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here is your update:

• German authorities say three Ukrainian nationals – two in Germany and one in Switzerland – have been arrested on suspicion of planning to send packages containing explosive or incendiary devices from Germany to Ukraine in apparent cooperation with a Russian sabotage campaign. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday that he plans to hold up all Justice Department nominee confirmations in the Senate until questions are answered about President Donald Trump's stated plans to accept the gift of a $400 million jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One. [more]

U.S. DEPORTATIONS | Pennsylvania-based U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines ruled yesterday that the Trump administration's use of the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to speed deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members is legal, but that deportees must be given at least 21 days' notice of action against them under the act. Reports note that at least four other federal judges have ruled that use of the Alien Enemies Act to speed deportations is improper. [more]

CALIFORNIA | State insurance regulators yesterday approved a request by State Farm to increase premiums for all of its home insurance customers in California by 17% to help the company rebuild capital following high payout levels linked to the recent Los Angeles wildfires. [more]

MICHIGAN | Saying it conflicted with a voter-approved constitutional amendment, a Michigan judge yesterday struck down the state's 24-hour waiting period before an abortion. [more]

WISCONSIN | A federal grand jury indicted Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan yesterday on charges accusing her of illegally helping an undocumented immigrant evade U.S. immigration authorities who were seeking to arrest him as he appeared in Dugan's courtroom last month. [more]

U.S. EGG PRICES | According to government data released yesterday, the average price for a dozen Grade A eggs in the U.S. fell 12.7% in April to $5.12 – down from a record $6.23 in March. Reports note that egg prices remain historically high due largely to bird flu outbreaks at commercial poultry operations, with April 2025 prices still 79% higher than in the same month last year. [more]

U.S. CLIMATE CHANGE INFORMATION | Ahead of court hearings scheduled for later this month on the matter, the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed this week to restore climate change-related content that was removed following President Trump's inauguration to its websites. [more]

U.S. DENTAL HEALTH | Amidst HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s opposition to the use of fluoride over alleged health concerns, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it will conduct a scientific review of ingestible fluoride supplements by late October with the aim of removing them from the market. [more]

U.S. AND SAUDI ARABIA | As part of a White House trip to the Middle East, U.S. chip maker Nvidia announced that it will provide 18,000 advanced AI chips to Saudi Arabia-owned AI startup Humain to help power a new data center project. [more]

U.S. AND MEXICO | Following a U.S. Justice Department announcement of “narcoterrorism" charges against a number of top Mexican drug cartel leaders, reports say 17 family members of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Ovidio Guzman Lopez, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2023, entered the U.S. yesterday as part of an arrangement with U.S. authorities. [more]

HUNGARY | Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz political party introduced a bill yesterday that would expand the authority of Hungary’s controversial Sovereignty Protection Office, allowing it to monitor, restrict, penalize, and potentially ban organizations it deems a threat to national sovereignty. Critics say the measure is Hungary's latest move aimed at tightening control over political expression and civic engagement and that even legitimate criticism of government policy could be treated as a national security threat under the measure. [more]

BOLIVIA | Amidst ongoing tensions between factions of the governing leftist bloc, Bolivian President Luis Arce announced yesterday that he will not seek another term in August's presidential election, saying he would not contribute to voting fragmentation among the left's supporters, which would benefit right-wing parties. [more]

SOUTH AFRICA | Reuters cites data from South Africa's National Health Laboratory Service as showing that testing and monitoring of HIV patients in South Africa has fallen by up to 21% over the past two month amidst aid funding cuts by the United States. [more]

POLAND | Ahead of Sunday's first round of its presidential election and amidst European concern over electoral interference, particularly by Russia, Poland said today that it has uncovered an apparent foreign-sponsored campaign to interfere in the election using advertisements on Facebook. [more]

TECH INDUSTRY | As part of what it characterized as "organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success," tech giant Microsoft began its largest round of layoff in years yesterday, informing employees that some 6,000 jobs, or 3% of its workforce, would be cut. [more]

BASEBALL | Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred changed the league's policy on permanent ineligibility for the Hall of Fame yesterday, saying bans would expire at death. Seventeen players had their Hall of Fame eligibility reinstated with the change, including career hits leader Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1796, English physician Edward Jenner administered his first vaccination against smallpox, successfully inoculating 8-year-old James Phipps against the disease. The World Health Organization certified the global eradication of smallpox in 1980, making it the only human disease to have been eradicated to date. [more history]