“The Palestinian Red Crescent on Thursday warned that aid trucks allowed into Gaza this week have not yet reached civilians and that the limited number of deliveries risks fueling chaos and violence. Israel announced this week it would begin allowing aid into the Palestinian territory after a nearly three-month blockade of food and supplies. However, the UN has expressed frustration with the scale and pace of deliveries as most trucks stuck are at the border crossing or awaiting Israeli permission to distribute supplies. … UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said about 90 trucks of aid were transported to multiple destinations within Gaza on Wednesday, and the World Food Program reported that a ‘handful of bakeries’ in southern and central Gaza had resumed bread production.” (05/23/25)
“The Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether to approve the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school Thursday, leaving intact a lower ruling that voided the Oklahoma school’s contract. ‘The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court,’ the court wrote in its one-sentence, unsigned opinion. Only eight justices sat for the case, since Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused. The decision lets stand a ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejecting the bid to establish St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which spurred a major constitutional battle over the role of religion in state-funded education.” (05/22/25)
“Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow’s invasion in 2022 and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said they would start ceasefire negotiations ‘immediately.’ ‘There is no concrete agreement about the next meetings,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. ‘They are yet to be agreed upon.’ During two hours of talks in Istanbul on May 16, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, in what would be their biggest such swap. Apart from that step, the meeting delivered no significant breakthrough. Several months of intensified U.S. and European pressure on the two sides to accept a ceasefire and negotiate a settlement have yielded little progress. Meanwhile, Russia is readying a summer offensive to capture more Ukrainian land, Ukrainian government and military analysts say.” (05/22/25)
“The Trump administration has revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. The school called the decision ‘unlawful.’ The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday it had terminated Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. In a letter to the university, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Harvard of cultivating a ‘unsafe’ campus that fosters antisemitism. ‘It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments,’ Noem said in a statement. ‘Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.’ Harvard will no longer be able to enroll students with specific nonimmigrant statuses next school year.” (05/22/25)
“Applications for US unemployment benefits fell to a four-week low, adding to evidence that the job market remains healthy in the face of growing uncertainty tied to trade policy. Initial claims decreased by 2,000 to 227,000 in the week ended May 17, roughly in line with forecasts, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The period includes the government’s survey week for its monthly employment report. Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, rose to 1.9 million in the previous week.” (05/22/25)
“Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said Wednesday she is filing a resolution to expel Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) from Congress after the Justice Department charged her with allegedly assaulting law enforcement. The resolution is a long shot — and Mace isn’t yet forcing a vote on it — but Republicans seem intent on punishing McIver and two other House Democrats who were involved in a scuffle with ICE officers. … Mace said in a press release she would introduce an expulsion resolution but let the House Ethics Committee consider it, rather than forcing a House floor vote on it.” (05/22/25)
“The UK government on Thursday signed a deal ceding control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, possibly settling decades of dispute over the strategic archipelago. The deal had stalled after last-minute legal action by a Chagossian group campaigning for former residents to be allowed back on the islands: Hundreds of Chagossians were removed in the 1960s to make way for a UK-US military base on the largest island. The new deal does not allow them to return to living on the island.” (05/22/25)
“A woman was shot by CIA security Thursday morning after she drove up to a gate at the agency’s headquarters, and failed to stop, sources said. The woman was taken to a medical facility with what law enforcement officials believed was a non-fatal gunshot wound to the upper body.” (05/22/25)
“The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday said it approved SpaceX’s Starship to return to flight after its explosive test failure in March, allowing Elon Musk’s space company to launch from Texas as soon as next week after redrawing hazard zones along the rocket’s flight path. SpaceX’s Starship, a 400-foot-tall (122 meter) rocket poised to play a central role in the U.S. space program, had a rare spate of back-to-back testing failures this year, diverting dozens of commercial flights and prompting complaints from other countries affected by Starship debris. … Debris from Starship’s last two testing explosions – one in January and another in March – rained over Turks and Caicos, a British overseas territory, and portions of the Caribbean, rankling residents and triggering cleanup efforts by SpaceX staff and local authorities.” (05/22/25)
“A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to reinstate more than 1,300 U.S. Department of Education employees. ‘The Department must be able to carry out its functions and its obligations,’ as well as ‘other relevant statutes as mandated by Congress,’ U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston wrote in the injunction. The U.S. Department of Education announced a reduction in force on March 11 that would have gutted the agency’s staff by a half.” (05/22/25)
