U.S. and world news for May 14

Lifting Syria sanctions

President Donald Trump announced plans to life 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. 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 attacks hospital

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.”

Attorneys general sue over immigration enforcement

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.

Trump ends protected status for Afghans

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.

Evacuation at school

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.

Menendez sentence

Nearly three decades after Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison for the murders of their parents, a California judge has reopened a door many believed would remain closed. In a stunning ruling on Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic reduced the brothers’ sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life – making them eligible for parole. The ruling is the latest twist in a case that has captivated America for decades, with an army of attorneys, family members and online supporters in recent years launching a renewed campaign for the brothers’ freedom, fueled in part by a wave of attention brought by a docuseries and a Netflix drama series recounting the case. Lyle Menendez, 57, and his brother Erik Menendez, 54, have spent most of their adult lives behind bars for the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at the family’s Beverly Hills home in 1989.