WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
On May 18, the citizens of the United States of America heard shocking news about their former leader.
That evening, a release through the office of former President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. announced to the nation that he had an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer, but that it was treatable.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms… On Friday (May 16) he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management… The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
“Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support,” Biden posted on X (fka Twitter).
“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery,” current President Donald J. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
While Trump is not a close ally of the former POTUS, other former high ranking officials that are a part of his circle chimed in with words of support.
“Doug and I are saddened to learn of President Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis,” Harris posted. “We are keeping him, Dr. Biden, and their entire family in our hearts and prayers during this time. Joe is a fighter – and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership. We are hopeful for a full and speedy recovery,” Biden VP Kamala Harris posted on X.
“Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family. Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace. We pray for a fast and full recovery,” Biden’s former boss President Barack Obama posted on X.
“My friend Joe Biden’s always been a fighter. Hillary and I are rooting for him and are keeping him, Jill, and the entire family in our thoughts,” 42nd POTUS Bill Clinton posted on X.
In 2015, Biden’s eldest son Beau died of cancer. The Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative, championed by his father, is named after him.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information from 5-20-2025
2025 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker, https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2025)
- Total Mass Shootings: 138
- Total Dead: 188
- Total Wounded: 137
- Shootings Per Day: 0.99
- Days Reached in Year 2025 as of noon May 20: 140
MIDDLE EAST
AID FINALLY RETURNS TO GAZA…
Aid is trickling into Gaza after nearly three months of blockade, but it remains far from enough to meet the soaring humanitarian needs, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on May 20. He stressed that the assistance must be delivered swiftly and directly to those most in need.
Dujarric told journalists in New York that UN humanitarians were sending flour, medicines, nutrition supplies and other basic items through to the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing – a day after they managed to bring in baby formula and other nutrition supplies.
“The first trucks of vital baby food are now inside Gaza after 11 weeks of total blockade, and it is urgent that we get that assistance distributed. We need much, much more to cross,” he said, speaking from New York.
In the face of mounting international objections over the total blockade imposed on March 2 – and condemnation over the risk of widespread famine – Israel started to allow a handful of aid trucks to enter Gaza on May 19, while simultaneously intensifying its military offensive.
The aid blockade has pushed the entire population, more than two million people, to the brink of famine, amid ongoing bombardment and recurrent displacement orders.
The UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said Israel cleared nine aid trucks to cross the Kerem Shalom border on Monday, but only five were allowed in.
Mr. Dujarric said Israel requires supplies to be offloaded on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom. Items are then reloaded separately once the authorities secure humanitarian teams’ access from inside Gaza.
“Only then are we able to bring any supplies closer to where people in need are sheltering,” he said.
On May 20, one of the UN teams waited for several hours before being given the green light.
“So, just to make it clear, while more supplies have come into the Gaza Strip, we have not been able to secure the arrival of those supplies into our warehouses and delivery points,” he said.
UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip, but they said the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient.
“Not enough. Five trucks, nowhere near. Not enough,” said Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA, in reference to the trickle of aid.
She was speaking to journalists in Geneva from a warehouse full of ready-to-be-delivered supplies in Amman, Jordan, with enough food to feed 200,000 Palestinian civilians for an entire month.
“Everything around me is aid that is supposed to be in the Gaza Strip right now,” she explained, as warehouses and distribution centers lay empty in Gaza.
“Look at what the UN could do,” she continued. “We’ve done it: the ceasefire, the bombs stopped, the supplies went in. We reached every area of the Gaza Strip. We reached people who needed it most. We reached children. We reached the elderly. The supplies went everywhere.”
Meanwhile, hundreds have been killed in attacks in recent days, according to the Gaza health authorities.
They also report that the Indonesian Hospital was attacked on May 19, damaging electrical generators and forcing the facility to suspend services. Fifty-five people were there as of that day, including patients and medical staff, with critical shortages of water and food.
Furthermore, an Israeli airstrike reportedly hit a school in An Nuseirat area, killing seven people and injuring others. Two UNRWA staff members were among those killed. Their deaths push the total number of agency personnel killed during the war to over 300.
In other developments: Israel issued another displacement order on Tuesday, affecting 26 neighborhoods in northern Gaza. Overall, some 80 percent of the Gaza Strip is now either subject to displacement orders or located in Israeli-militarized zones.
UN partners estimate that more than 41,000 people were displaced following the evacuation order on Tuesday. They further estimate that since May 15, more than 57,000 people were displaced in southern Gaza and more than 81,000 were displaced in the north due to intensified hostilities and recurrent displacement orders.
UNITED KINGDOM
…BUT NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY WITH ISRAEL
In response to the persistent cycle of serious violence undertaken by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, the Foreign Secretary has announced new sanctions May 20.
The measures target 3 individuals, including prominent settler leader Daniella Weiss, as well as 2 illegal outposts and 2 organizations that have supported, incited and promoted violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
These individuals and entities are now subject to measures including financial restrictions, travel bans, and director disqualifications, and will follow 18 other individuals, entities, and companies already sanctioned relating to serious violence against communities in the West Bank.
The measures follow a dramatic surge in settler violence in the West Bank, with the UN recording over 1,800 attacks by settlers against Palestinian communities since Jan. 1, 2024.
In a statement to Parliament, the Foreign Secretary is also set to announce the formal pause of free trade agreement negotiations with Israel, effective immediately. While the UK government remains committed to the existing trade agreement in force, it is not possible to advance discussions on a new, upgraded FTA with a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza.
His statement will address latest developments on the ground in Gaza, making clear the UK’s complete opposition to the IDF’s new, extensive ground operation through Gaza, the threat of starvation for the Gazan population, and the UK’s condemnation of the Israeli government’s plans to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the Strip. The Foreign Secretary will also repeat UK demands that Hamas release all the hostages immediately and unconditionally and reiterate that Hamas cannot continue to run Gaza.
The new steps follow a joint statement issued by the Prime Minister along with the leaders of France and Canada, setting out their strong opposition to the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and to illegal settlements in the West Bank. They also made clear that if Israel does not cease this action, further action will be taken in response.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said, “I have seen for myself the consequences of settler violence. The fear of its victims. The impunity of its perpetrators.
“The sanctioning of Daniella Weiss and others today demonstrates our determination to hold extremist settlers to account as Palestinian communities suffer violence and intimidation at the hands of extremist settlers.
“The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril.
“The announcement comes as Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer summons Israel’s Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office over the expansion of military operations in Gaza.
Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer said, “Today I will set out to Ambassador Hotovely the government’s opposition to the wholly disproportionate escalation of military activity in Gaza and emphasize that the 11-week block on aid to Gaza has been cruel and indefensible. I will urge Israel to halt settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank.
“Israel must abide by its obligations under International Humanitarian Law and ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza. The limited amount of aid entering is simply not enough.
“We must get an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages and a path to a two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term peace and security of both Palestinians and Israelis.”
WORLD
FIGHTING FUTURE PANDEMICS
After three years of negotiations sparked by the COVID-19 crisis, countries have adopted the world’s first-ever international agreement to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. The new accord marks a major step towards ensuring stronger global cooperation to protect lives and avoid the devastating consequences of future outbreaks.
The effects of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt. Around seven million people died, health systems were overwhelmed, and the global economy was practically driven to a standstill.
The global turmoil prompted a stunned international community to pursue an agreement aimed at preventing such a catastrophic event from happening again – and ensuring the world is far better prepared in the future.
The landmark decision was made at the World Health Assembly, the annual meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Although the formal adoption was on May 20, the WHO’s Member States overwhelmingly approved the agreement on May 19 (124 votes in favor, 0 objections, 11 abstentions).
This meant that, rather than a nail-biting vote with last-minute surprises (ahead of the conference, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, only felt able to express “cautious optimism”), the adoption by consensus had a celebratory feel.
“The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action,” declared Tedros. “It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats.
“It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19.”
The pandemic laid bare gross inequities between and within countries, when it came to diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines, and a core aim of the agreement is to plug gaps and treat any future pandemics in a fairer and more efficient way.
“Now that the Agreement has been brought to life, we must all act with the same urgency to implement its critical elements, including systems to ensure equitable access to life-saving pandemic-related health products,” announced Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, Secretary of the Philippines Department of Health, and President of this year’s World Health Assembly, who presided over the Agreement’s adoption.
“As COVID was a once-in-a-lifetime emergency, the WHO Pandemic Agreement offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build on lessons learned from that crisis and ensure people worldwide are better protected if a future pandemic emerges.”
The issue of national sovereignty has been raised several times during the process of negotiating the accord, a reflection of false online claims that WHO is somehow attempting to wrest control away from individual countries.
The accord is at pains to point out that this is not the case, stating that nothing contained within it gives WHO any authority to change or interfere with national laws, or force nations to take measures such as banning travelers, impose vaccinations or implement lockdowns.
Eleven countries abstained, including Poland, Israel, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and Iran. Following the vote, the abstaining countries were given the opportunity to explain why they took this decision.
During the high-level segment which preceded the vote, a notable intervention came from the United States which has begun the year-long process of withdrawing from the WHO, and did not take part in the vote.
In a video addressed to the Assembly, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy excoriated the WHO, accusing the UN agency of having “doubled down with the Pandemic Agreement which will lock in all of the dysfunction of the WHO pandemic response…we’re not going to participate in that.”
