Day: May 22, 2025

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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

WASHINGTON D.C. SHOOTING 

A man shot and killed two U.S. Israeli Embassy aides outside an event at Washington D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum late yesterday, according to law enforcement officials and eyewitnesses. The suspect, detained shortly after the shooting, exclaimed “free, free Palestine” while in custody, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Netanyahu was “outraged” by the killing and had ordered stronger security for Israeli diplomatic missions. Maggie Haberman, Glenn Thrush, Chris Cameron, and Qasim Nauman report for the New York Times.

Officials from the European Union, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, Ireland, Italy, France, and the Czech Republic have condemned the shooting of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas stating that there “is and should be no place in our societies for hatred, extremism, or antisemitism.”  James Frater, Stephanie Halasz, and Lauren Kent report for CNN.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

The Israeli military said it had allowed 100 aid trucks into Gaza yesterday, as U.N. sources reported that none of the aid had yet reached people in need. Some supplies reached central Gaza warehouses late yesterday, the U.N. sources added. Israeli strikes killed at least 86 people across the territory yesterday, according to Palestinian health authorities. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Maytaal Angel report for Reuters; Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.

Israel’s military operations and evacuation orders “are stretching [Gaza’s] health system beyond the breaking point,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, as hospital staff and aid groups reported that two of northern Gaza’s last surviving hospitals have been encircled by Israeli troops this week and have come under fire. Sarah El Deeb reports for AP News; David Gritten and Alice Cuddy report for BBC News.

Chronic shortages of water in Gaza are worsening amid Israel’s expanding military offensive, with a full shutdown of water and sanitation facilities possible by the end of the week, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday, citing warnings it has received from its partners in the region. Yolande Knell reports for BBC News.

Netanyahu yesterday said he will end the war in Gaza only if Hamas releases all hostages and steps down from power and Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from the territory is implemented. Israel is also “days away” from implementing a new “sterile zone” aid system in Gaza, Netanyahu added. The U.N. and humanitarian groups have previously rejected Israel’s aid system proposal, arguing it would enable Israel to use aid as a weapon and forcibly displace Gaza’s population. Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

The U.S. has been talking with Hamas in Doha this week through Bishara Bahbah, a U.S.-Palestinian intermediary, in hopes of brokering an Israel-Gaza ceasefire agreement, sources say. Multiple sources also said Trump is “annoyed” with the slow pace of the talks and wants the war in Gaza to end. Kylie Atwood and Alayna Treene report for CNN.

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

The Israeli military yesterday fired “warning shots” at a large delegation of European and Arab diplomats on an official visit near the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp. The IDF said that the delegation “deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorized to be” and troops “fired warning shots to distance them.” The move drew international condemnation, with representatives from the EU, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and the United Kingdom condemning the shooting and several countries announcing they would summon their countries’ Israel ambassadors to demand an explanation. Kareem Khadder, Pauline Lockwood, Catherine Nicholls, and Oren Liebermann report for CNN; Adam Durbin reports for BBC News.

A U.K. court today temporarily blocked the British government from concluding its deal to transfer the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, granting an interim injunction in a case brought by two Chagossian women who alleged that the Chagossian people have unlawfully not been given a say in the islands’ future. Kate Whannel and Alice Cuddy report for BBC News.

India’s security forces killed at least 27 people in central India yesterday in an operation that the police said had targeted ”several senior-level” Maoist militants. Pragati K.B. reports for the New York Times.

Russia for years has used Brazil as a launchpad for its most elite deep-cover intelligence officers, until Brazil counterintelligence agents uncovered at least nine Russian officers operating under Brazilian cover identities, according to an investigation by the New York Times. Michael Schwirtz and Jane Bradley report.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

President Trump on Monday told European leaders that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ready to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine because he thinks Russia is winning, sources say. Trump’s alleged acknowledgement would align with what European leaders believe about Putin’s approach to peace negotiations. Bojan Pancevski and Laurence Norman report for the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Trump yesterday made false claims about what he said was a “genocide” against white Afrikaner farmers to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during an Oval Office meeting. According to a New York Times analysis, the video Trump played to Ramaphosa and reporters as evidence of racial persecution against white South Africans has misrepresented the footage displayed. Erica L. Green and Zolan Kanno-Youngs report for the New York Times; Riley Mellen and Aric Toler report.

The Pentagon yesterday announced it took possession of a luxury jet owned by the Qatari royal family for Trump’s use as Air Force One. Lawmakers, national security experts, and legal scholars have previously expressed alarm about the ethics and legality of the arrangement. Abigail Hauslohner and Alex Horton report for the Washington Post.

Canada is in “high level” talks to join Trump’s Golden Dome defense system, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said yesterday. Carney did not specify how Canada would participate, or whether it would pay to do so. Nadine Yousif reports for BBC News.

The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration will lead the U.S. response to overseas disasters, taking over the function from the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to excerpts from an internal department cable reviewed by Reuters. A source said that the PRM has no experience or know-how in major overseas disaster response. Jonathan Landay reports.

The United States is close to brokering peace between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Trump claimed yesterday. Senior Presidential Advisor Massad Boulos said that Rwanda and Congo had both submitted draft peace agreements that the Trump administration merged, creating a deal that was now being finalized. Ruth Maclean reports for the New York Times.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne yesterday said they held “productive” discussions on the sidelines of the Group of Seven finance and central bank meeting. Paul Vieira and Brian Schwartz report for the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. Interior Department late on Tuesday announced it would evaluate a request from a California-based company to extract metals off the coast of American Samoa, bringing the prospect of commercial mining of the Pacific Ocean floor a step closer to reality. Max Bearak reports for the New York Times.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS 

In a 215-214 vote, the House narrowly passed a wide-ranging bill intended to deliver Trump’s domestic agenda early today. The legislation is expected to face substantial changes in the Senate. Catie Edmondson reports for the New York Times.

A hacker who breached the TeleMessage messaging platform used by former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz earlier this month accessed the data of more than 60 unique users of the platform, making the breach more extensive than previously reported, according to a limited Reuters review of the leaked data. The intercepted communications included messages by several U.S. diplomatic staffers, at least one White House employee, and members of the Secret Service. A.J. Vicens and Raphael Satter report.

Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff (CA), Richard Durbin (IL), Cory Booker (NJ), Richard Blumenthal (CT), Mazie Hirono (HI), Alex Padilla (CA), Peter Welch (VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) have asked the Justice Department’s Inspector General to investigate Attorney General Pam Bondi’s role in Trump administration’s decision to accept a free luxury jet from Qatar, according to a copy of the lawmakers’ letter seen by the New York Times. Michael Gold reports.

The chairs of the House and Senate GOP campaign committees, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), yesterday wrote to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson requesting the FTC to investigate whether Google and Gmail suppress emails to conservative subscribers. Hans Nichols reports for Axios.

AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile failed to create legally-required systems for notifying senators about government surveillance on Senate-issued devices, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) revealed in a letter to Senate colleagues yesterday. Alfred Ng reports for POLITICO.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS 

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s mistaken deportation to El Salvador set off a dayslong scramble and series of clashes between Homeland Security Department, State Department, and DOJ representatives, with DHS officials discussing portraying Abrego Garcia as a “leader” of the MS-13, seeking to nullify the original order barring his deportation, or downplaying the danger he might face in a notorious Salvadoran prison, according to documents obtained by the New York Times. Hamed Aleaziz and Alan Feuer report.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division yesterday moved to dismiss the Biden administration’s lawsuits and police accountability agreements with Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, and announced that it would end investigations into other local police departments, including those in Phoenix, Memphis, Tennessee, and Oklahoma City. Amanda Friedman reports for POLITICO.

The U.S. Army will alter the records of transgender soldiers to only show their sex at birth, and restrict access to “intimate spaces” and use of pronouns when addressing troops to those corresponding to the troops’ sex assignment at birth, according to internal guidance seen by Reuters. Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali report.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday hosted a Christian prayer service at the Pentagon for employees. Hegseth said the event will be held on a “monthly basis” and participation is “voluntary.” Natasha Bertrand and Haley Britzky report for CNN.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

The Trump administration had violated a judicial order barring officials from deporting people to countries not their own, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The judge held that the administration did not give the group of men it was trying to deport to South Sudan sufficient notice, and ordered that each of the deportees, who for now are detained in Djibouti, should be provided access to a lawyer and given an interview. It was not immediately clear what penalties, if any, the judge intended to impose on the administration. Alan Feuer, Tyler Pager, Hamed Aleaziz, and Mattathias Schwartz report for the New York Times.

Trump illegally removed two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a federal judge ruled yesterday, holding that the board’s structure was intended to have a restriction on the president’s removal power and that Travis LeBlanc and Ed Felten are to remain as the privacy oversight board’s members. Alfred Ng reports for POLITICO.

A federal judge yesterday granted what he described as the prosecution’s “embarrassing retraction” of a trespassing charge against the Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, adding that the “hasty arrest” and quick dismissal of the charge suggest a “worrisome misstep” by interim U.S. Attorney for N.J. Alina Habba. Ry Rivard reports for POLITICO.

Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions

The post Early Edition: May 22, 2025 appeared first on Just Security.

Mexican nationals and New Yorkers gathered in mourning after two cadet sailors died in a crash involving the Cuauhtémoc, a Mexican naval training vessel that struck the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night.

More than 300 people braved the pouring rain on Wednesday to honor the sailors, remembering those who served their country with pride.

The vessel, en route to Iceland, had just departed Pier 17 in Lower Manhattan at 8:20 p.m. on May 17. According to investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board, it was supposed to head south on the East River — away from the Brooklyn Bridge — but instead traveled north.

“A VHF radio broadcast was sounded requesting assistance from other tugboats in the area of the Brooklyn Bridge,” said Brian Young, the NTSB’s investigator in charge. “That was followed by two other requests for assistance. At 8:24 and 45 seconds p.m., the vessel’s masts struck the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge. At 8:27, the vessel came to a stop.”

The Cuauhtémoc was being assisted by a tugboat at the time of departure. The crash killed two crew members — América Yamileth Sánchez Hernández, a 20-year-old cadet, and Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos, a 23-year-old sailor. The crash left two others in critical condition, and injured about 19 more of the 277 people on board.

Federal investigators were in Manhattan on Monday to begin their probe. Michael Graham, an NTSB board member, said a team of experts in nautical operations, marine and bridge engineering, and voyage recordings met in Brooklyn on Sunday to begin reviewing the incident. The investigation will also include interviews with the crew, reviews of policies and procedures, and examination of any available recordings.

At the vigil, New York City Mayor Eric Adams offered condolences.

“Parents shouldn’t have to bury their children,” he said of the young victims, “but everyone will get through this. I will be on the ship when it is ready.”

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also spoke at the gathering.

“I stand with the people of Mexico during this difficult time,” he said. “This is not a time for divisiveness for them. They come here to live the American Dream and help keep this country moving forward.”

The memorial featured a mariachi band, food, candles and a large banner displaying the faces of the fallen sailors. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.