Donald Trump to announce U.S. recognizes Palestinian state

News Updates From CLG

All links and summaries are here.

Donald Trump to announce U.S. recognizes Palestinian state, Gulf diplomatic source claims | 10 May 2025 | Saudi Arabia will host a Gulf-U.S. summit in mid-May, part of U.S. President Donald Trump's first visit to Saudi Arabia during his second term. This follows the summit held on May 21, 2017, during Trump's first term. The summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia in its capital, Riyadh, was preceded by numerous predictions regarding the announcement that President Donald Trump referred to, describing it as a "very important announcement" during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House on Tuesday, May 6. In addition to what U.S. President Donald Trump intends to announce, the summit's agenda and the deals and agreements expected to take place have become the talk of the town, ranging from security and military deals to technology deals and artificial intelligence deals.

U.S. Administration Pressuring Israel to Sign Gaza Truce Deal Ahead of Trump's Mideast Trip | 9 May 2025 | The Trump administration is heavily pressuring Israel to reach a deal with Hamas ahead of the president's upcoming visit to the region, a source familiar with the details told Haaretz on Friday. According to the source, the administration views this as a matter of great importance and is communicating to Jerusalem that if Israel does not move forward together with the United States toward an agreement, it will be left on its own. Trump is set to begin his regional visit on May 13, during which he is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan says it has launched military offensive against India | 9 May 2025 | Pakistan said it launched a military operation against India early on Saturday, targeting multiple bases including a missile storage site in northern India as the neighbours extended their worst fighting in nearly three decades. Pakistan said that before its offensive India had fired missiles at three air bases, including one close to the capital, Islamabad, but Pakistani air defences intercepted most of them. Locked in a longstanding dispute over Kashmir, the two countries have engaged in daily clashes since Wednesday when India launched strikes inside Pakistan on what it called "terrorist infrastructure." Pakistan vowed to retaliate.

Pakistan begins retaliatory strikes against India over Tuesday's deadly attack | 9 May 2025 | Pakistan officials late Friday night confirmed that the country has begun launching retaliatory strikes against India, after its neighbor launched missiles at nine locations earlier this week. The Indian Armed Forces on Tuesday struck Pakistan and the Pakistan-occupied regions of Jammu and Kashmir, in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack last month that took place in Kashmir. The region has been the subject of dispute since the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan. Pakistan officials said the retaliatory strikes are "eye-for-eye," and are being conducted as part of Operation Bunyan Ul Marsoos, which translates to "Wall of Lead," according to the Guardian.

Putin and Trump exchange greetings on Victory Day - Moscow | 9 May 2025 | Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump have congratulated each other on Victory Day, an aide to the Russian president, Yury Ushakov, told journalists on Friday. The two leaders extended the greetings through aides, according to the official. The presidents shared "heartfelt words, mutual greetings on a common holiday, great holiday," Ushakov told the Russian Channel 1 broadcaster. Washington has not officially commented on the matter. On Friday, Russia celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Soviet triumph in the World War II against Nazi Germany. The day was packed with military parades and other ceremonial events across the nation that paid tribute to the valor and sacrifice of the Soviet people during the war.

Judge orders bail for Tufts University pro-Palestinian student detained by ICE | 9 May 2025 | Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University doctoral student grabbed by ICE in Massachusetts and imprisoned in Louisiana, was granted bail from ICE detention Friday. U.S. District Judge William Sessions said at the end of the hearing that Ozturk raised "very substantial" and "very significant" claims of First Amendment and due process rights violations in her case. He said her detention cannot stand. The judge ordered the government to immediately release her.

Department of Justice opens criminal investigation into NY AG Letitia James | 8 May 2025 | The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fox News has learned. Separately, the Washington Post reported that a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia sent out subpoenas related to accusations that James misrepresented a single-family home in Virginia as her primary residence to obtain more favorable l-an terms. News of the federal probe follows a criminal referral from the Trump administration's Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, who requested the DOJ investigate James over that matter and another incident in which she allegedly misrepresented the number of livable units in a multifamily Brooklyn house to once again obtain better l-an terms.

Albany sneaks in budget language that would put NY taxpayers on the hook for Tish James's legal bills if she's probed by Trump admin | 7 May 2025 | Taxpayers could be on the hook for legal bills New York Attorney General Letitia James racks up during Justice Department probes into her alleged fraudulent real estate dealings, The Post has learned. New York's operations budget bill includes specific language that indicates certain state officials could tap into a 10 million fund to cover "any reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses incurred" as part of a Trump administration-led probe tied to their state-based employment. Multiple sources told The Post that the language in the bill, which will be made public later Wednesday, would apply to James's looming legal fight.

California’s estimated $10B deficit matches 'precisely' the cost of illegal immigrant healthcare | 9 May 2025 | California legislators have been told to expect a deficit of 10 billion or more even if revenues do not fall due to higher than anticipated spending, reports Politico. Critics note that the 10 billion figure matches the estimated costs of the state's expansion of eligibility for Medi-Cal, the state's taxpayer-financed health care system, to all income-qualifying illegal immigrants. "What a fiscal coincidence: precisely the estimated cost of Gavin Newsom's plan to extend state Medi-Cal to illegal immigrants," said Will Swaim, president of the conservative California Policy Center on X.

White House blasts Dems 'crossing the line' by storming ICE facility --Delaney Hall in New Jersey is full of alleged killers, MS-13 gang members and child rapists, among other criminal offenders, DHS said | 9 May 2025 | The White House is blasting Democrats for "prioritizing the welfare of illegal aliens over American citizens," after "outright breaking the law" and storming an ICE facility in New Jersey. On Friday, Reps. Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman and LaMonica McIver, all New Jersey Democrats, entered ICE's Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, N.J. and were held up inside the first checkpoint, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. The three lawmakers were outside the facility with a group of protesters when the gates opened to allow an ICE bus in. The lawmakers then rushed through the gates and past security, DHS said. The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Ras Baraka, was arrested at the ICE detention facility where the three members of Congress also stormed the gate, demanding they be allowed to conduct an "oversight visit."

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka released after being arrested while protesting ICE detention facility he vowed to shut down | 9 May 2025 | Newark Mayor and New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka was released Friday night after being collared at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility that opened Tuesday -- and which he has vowed to shut down. Baraka was released around 7:50 p.m. to cheers from the large crowd of protesters and swath of public officials -- including socialist Big Apple mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. "We know we're right. What we ask for is correct," the 55-year-old said to roars of support from those who had been chanting for his release. Mamdami stood in solidarity with the demonstrators -- and expressed his support for Baraka’s actions.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia allegedly worked for convicted human smuggler to transport illegal migrants - report | 7 May 2025 | Accused MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia allegedly worked as a "taxi service" for a convicted human smuggler to transport illegal migrants from Texas to various locations across the United States, according to a report. Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, who was convicted of smuggling illegal migrants in 2020, told federal investigators that he previously operated a smuggling service based in Baltimore -- and hired Abrego Garcia on "multiple occasions" to transport border crossers across the country, ABC News reported. The Department of Justice sent federal agents to a prison in Talladega, Alabama, late last month to question Hernandez-Reyes, 38, about Abrego Garcia, the alleged gangbanger at the center of a high-profile court battle over his [so-called] mistaken deportation from Maryland to El Salvador by the Trump administration.

Trump's ICE Captures Fugitive Illegal Alien Accused of Killing 13-Year-Old Chrishia Odette | 1 May 2025 | President Donald Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has captured a fugitive illegal alien accused of killing 13-year-old Chrishia Odette in a 2014 vehicle crash. Last week, ICE arrested 46-year-old illegal alien Ramiro Guevara of Mexico, who had been wanted on two warrants and had a final deportation order... Chris Odette, who has been seeking justice for his daughter for over 10 years, soon found out about Guevara's warrant for driving without a license and another for speeding. At the time of Chrishia's death, the warrants were four years old. The night of the accident, Guevara was released from police custody. He has never been charged with Chrishia's death.

MAGA unleashes on Pulitzer Prize judges after iconic Trump assassination attempt photo is brutally snubbed | 6 May 2025 | President Donald Trump's supporters expressed outrage after an iconic photo from the presidential campaign was not recognized for a coveted Pulitzer Prize award. The photo of Trump raising his fist and shouting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" after he was shot in the ear by an attempted assassin, was taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci. TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk described the photo as "maybe the single most famous photo of the past decade." "So telling and tragic," agreed Sen. Mike Lee of Utah on X. The photo became a powerful symbol during the presidential campaign as Trump supporters rallied to his cause. It was so iconic that a photo editor at a major news outlet suggested it was "dangerous" to keep using it during the campaign.

Trump bans federal funding for 'dangerous' gain-of-function research | 5 May 2025 | President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday banning all federal funding for "dangerous" gain-of-function research in China, Iran, and other countries and blocking all federal funding for foreign research that could cause another pandemic. The president signed the order Monday afternoon to improve the safety and security of biological research in the U.S. and around the world. The White House said the order "will drastically reduce the potential for lab-related incidents involving gain-of-function research, like that conducted on bat coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology." Gain-of-function research typically involves modifying a virus to make it more infectious among humans. Gain of function research took place at the Wuhan Lab before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

'Overused' health test given to millions each year linked to startling explosion in cancers | 14 April 2025 | A medical test used to detect cancer may actually be contributing to the disease, research suggests. California researchers estimate more than 100,000 new cancers will have been caused by computerized tomography (CT) scans from exams done in 2023 alone. They warn the scans, which use X-rays to create detailed images of the body, emit unsafe levels of radiation which fuel the formation of tumors. In 2009, researchers estimated high doses of radiation from CT scans were responsible for two percent of all cancers (or roughly 30,000 per year). However, the new research published this week estimated "CT-associated cancer could eventually account for five percent of all new cancer diagnoses annually."