5 things to know for May 14: Syria, Gaza, Immigration, Afghanistan, Flooding

CNN

14-05-2025

A judge in Michigan struck down the state's mandatory 24-hour waiting period before an abortion on Tuesday, saying it conflicts with the 2022 voter-approved amendment that added abortion rights to the state constitution. Judge Sima Patel also overturned a regulation that required abortion providers to share a fetal development chart and information about alternatives, declaring them 'coercive and stigmatizing.' The ruling 'reaffirms that Michigan is a state where you can make your own decisions about your own body with a trusted health care provider, without political interference,' Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said.
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If your day doesn't start until you're up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the '5 Things' newsletter. President Donald Trump announced plans to lift punishing sanctions on Syria during his Middle East tour on Tuesday. The change was positive news for the Syrian government, which is led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, who seized power after defeating the Assad regime in December. 'The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important — really an important function — nevertheless, at the time. But now it's their time to shine,' Trump said. Although it hasn't formally reestablished diplomatic ties, Trump said the US is 'exploring normalizing relations' with Syria after meeting with al-Sharaa in Riyadh today. Before becoming Syria's unelected president, al-Sharaa founded a militant group known as Jabhat al-Nusra, which pledged allegiance to al Qaeda. But in 2016, he broke away from the terror group, according to the US Center for Naval Analyses.
Israel launched an airstrike on a hospital in southern Gaza late Tuesday in hopes of killing Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar. He became the militant group's de facto leader after the Israeli military killed his brother, Yahya Sinwar, last year, and is believed to be one of the main planners of the October 7 terror attack on Israel. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that six Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded in the hospital bombing. There has been no word yet if Sinwar was among the casualties. Dr. Saleh Al Hams, the head of nursing at the hospital, said multiple airstrikes hit the yard of the facility, forcing staff to move patients to safer units inside. He also said some people were buried under the rubble and called the attack 'a catastrophe.'
A coalition of 20 state attorneys general has filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration over conditions that they say tied billions of dollars in federal grants to state participation in ongoing immigration enforcement. The collective of top state prosecutors said the grants were meant to be used for maintaining roads, counterterrorism efforts and emergency preparedness, and have nothing to do with immigration. The officials also argue that Congress, not the executive branch, determines federal spending. 'President Trump doesn't have the authority to unlawfully coerce state and local governments into using their resources for federal immigration enforcement — and his latest attempt to bully them into doing so is blatantly illegal,' California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release.
The Trump administration terminated a form of humanitarian relief for nearly 12,000 Afghan nationals living in the US this week. The Department of Homeland Security announced that it was ending Temporary Protected Status, which applies to people who would face extreme hardship if forced to return to their homelands devastated by armed conflict or natural disasters, for Afghanistan. Yet the country is in the midst of a food crisis, one that has seen millions surviving on only one or two meals a day. And humanitarian operations have been hobbled since January, when the State Department halted all foreign assistance. The Taliban is trying to establish diplomatic ties with the US. However, since taking control in 2021, the radical Islamist group has closed secondary schools for girls, banned women from attending universities and working in most sectors, restricted women from traveling without a male chaperone, prohibited women from public spaces and has even forbidden the sound of women's voices in public.
Approximately 150 students and 50 adults were safely rescued from an elementary school in rural western Maryland on Tuesday after heavy rains caused flooding in the region. First responders had to use boats to evacuate the students and staff from Westernport Elementary School. By the time help arrived, the children said the rising waters had nearly reached the second floor of the school. Homes, businesses and cars were also inundated with rising floodwaters. Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton said the town has been prone to flooding, but officials weren't expecting it to occur on Tuesday. 'It just seemed to happen all at once,' she told the AP. 'My heart is breaking.'
MLB makes historic decisionPete Rose and 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, who were kicked out of baseball for gambling on the game, were among more than a dozen other players who have been officially removed from the league's permanently ineligible list. 'Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,' MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said.
How big is women's soccer?Very big and it's getting bigger! The FIFA Women's World Cup plans to expand from 32 to 48 teams for the 2031 edition of the tournament. The event will also be extended by one week to accommodate the number of teams and a longer schedule.
Eggs-citing update at the grocery storeEgg prices fell 12.7% last month, the biggest monthly decline since 1984, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The USDA said consumer prices began to drop as demand for eggs declined and avian flu cases decreased. That said, eggs still cost nearly 50% more last month than they did a year ago.
TGI Fridays gives itself a makeoverThe casual dining restaurant is attempting a comeback by revamping its menu with better-quality food and more visually appealing drinks. Some of its new offerings include mozzarella sticks with Frank's RedHot Buffalo, garlic parmesan and whiskey-glaze options, a Southwestern-inspired cheeseburger and modernized cocktails known as 'Power Pours.'
Citizens of Oz: Here's some wickedly wonderful newsNBC plans to broadcast a 'Wicked' special this fall that will feature stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande performing live songs from the first movie 'and maybe a little bit from the second one as well.' Other 'Wicked' cast members and surprise guests are also expected to appear.
$2.7 billionThat's how much the Trump administration cut from research funding at the National Institutes of Health in the first three months of this year, a Senate committee report by minority staff said.
'News of the Qatari government gifting Donald Trump a $400 million private jet to use as Air Force One is so corrupt that even [Russian President Vladimir] Putin would give a double take. This is not just naked corruption, it is also a grave national security threat.'
— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announcing that he was placing a hold on all of the Justice Department's political nominees until he receives answers about the proposed transaction.
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Unlucky geography?Three cars have crashed into the same Dallas townhouse complex over the past two years. Residents say they feel like sitting ducks.