2026 – Page 282 – Texas Weekly Online

Mississippi’s GOP governor drops election pledge in huge setback for Trump’s midterm plan

Republicans hoping to hold the U.S. House hit a setback Wednesday when Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves indicated he will not immediately pursue redistricting following a critical Supreme Court ruling, as officials seek to oust the leader of Democrats’ January 6 probe. Following the Supreme Court’s “Callais” ruling on how race can or cannot factor into redistricting, several Republican-led states have moved to redraw congressional maps, arguing for race-neutral approaches — and officials in Jackson quickly took note. Mississippi lawmakers were primed to convene a special session next week to redraw state Supreme Court and potentially congressional districts, but Reeves canceled the session Wednesday after the judge who ruled the court district maps inhibited Black candidates was overruled — sparking a now-in-limbo effort to oust entrenched former January 6 Committee chairman Bennie Thompson. “Understand something, that maybe while it may be in the best interest of some individual politicians in Mississippi to talk about congressional redistricting, what happens in Mississippi doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” Reeves said in a talk-radio spot Wednesday. MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR SAYS HE WILL CALL SPECIAL SESSION TO REDRAW DISTRICT MAPS AFTER SCOTUS RULING “I’m going to do what’s in the best interest of Mississippi and I’m going to do what’s in the best interest of America and I’m going work very closely with the Trump administration to accomplish both of those goals.” Reeves pushed back on claims he flip-flopped on congressional redistricting, noting the Magnolia State’s March 10 primary has passed — complicating any change in voting landscape, and also said he was onboard with ending what he called Thompson’s 33-year “reign of terror.” However, Reeves suggested it is not a setback to State Auditor Shad White and others’ renewed bid to shift the Magnolia State’s GOP representation from 3-1 to 4-0 and oust Thompson. Thompson, a firebrand Democrat from Hinds County seeking his 18th term representing the predominantly Black and largely impoverished Delta region, is in danger of losing his reliably blue seat when redistricting commences. Thompson and Reeves briefly sparred on X, with the Democrat depicting an elephant painting Mississippi “white” while Reeves countered that Thompson was wrong to claim ownership of the district with the term “my” versus the people of Mississippi. “It must be done to go into effect before the 2026 elections,” replied voting rights activist Scott Presler, while Pastor William Pierce of Columbia drew a state map that comprised evenly divided 22-24-point Republican districts saying “this must be done now” -— as Reeves said the issue is not “if” but “when” and that he plans for the changes to take effect for the 2027 statewide elections. SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR White told Fox News Digital he was the first statewide official to publicly consider drawing-out Thompson and creating a 4-0 map, while Reeves rejected claims of pressure from the White House and Republican Party to redraw now. As the Supreme Court was set to hand down the Callais ruling, Reeves took to Instagram to say he “do[es]n’t typically make news on a Friday afternoon” but made an “exception” to call a special session 21 days after the decision to consider redistricting. White, a rising star in the GOP following his major anti-fraud and waste investigations, said that Thompson is “the worst congressman in America” and the state’s map favoring him must be dealt with promptly. “Among Mississippians; normal taxpayers, Bennie Thompson is incredibly unpopular,” White said in an exclusive Fox News Digital interview Wednesday. “As chair of the January 6 Committee, anyone who supports President Trump is not happy that Bennie Thompson represents a part of our state.” TRUMP URGES REPUBLICANS TO ‘BE BOLD’ AS RED STATES PUSH TO REWRITE CONGRESSIONAL MAPS “[I]t is absolutely both legally and practically possible to change our districts to a 4-0 state,” he said, pointing to Callais and Alabama’s successful bid Monday to get their “Livingston Map” through the courts. Like Alabama, White said Mississippi officials have “dozens” of already prepared maps to choose from, including some that give each of the four congressional districts an even-keeled level of Trump support totaling 15 points or higher, citing 2024 election results. “The real question is just whether our politicians here have the courage to actually get Bennie Thompson out. And that question remains unanswered right now,” he said. White said Mississippi has been stuck with maps featuring a Thompson stronghold for decades, as Thompson himself told Jackson’s NBC affiliate it has been Republicans who have drawn the maps since his 1992 election to Congress. Thompson said that the issue between the lines in the plans is race. “I have a voting record that no other person in the [Mississippi] delegation can touch for those things that we need the most: Health care, housing, better educational opportunities… but they’d rather put somebody in position who’s against those things. And the only difference between Bennie Thompson and the rest of the delegation that represent Mississippi in Washington is that I’m Black,” Thompson told Memphis’ NBC affiliate. REPUBLICAN RIFT PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON HIGH-STAKES SHOWDOWN OVER TRUMP-DRIVEN RED STATE REDISTRICTING Thompson added Mississippi has a history of requiring federal intervention to provide equal rights to Black people, including during the Civil Rights era and suffrage fights, and compared it to the dynamic today, calling it “Jim Crow 2.0” that he will “fight back with every fiber.” Fox News Digital reached out to Thompson for further comment. After Reeves’ comments were reported, White told Fox News Digital that he still hopes “Thompson is redistricted-out as soon as possible – even if it’s not going to happen next week.” Fox News Digital also reached out to Mississippi House Speaker Jason White, R-West, and Senate Leader Dean Kirby, R-Brandon for their take on Reeves’ latest move and efforts to redraw the map. Meanwhile, Shad White pointed to New England as precedent for Mississippi drawing out Thompson, saying Kamala Harris’ 38% performance mirrors the GOP partisan makeup of multi-district blue states

Dem Senate hopeful’s ‘physician’ campaign pitch under fire after license records reveal key gaps

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has repeatedly described himself as a “physician” on the campaign trail and in public biographies, despite records showing he has never held a medical license in Michigan or New York. Much of El-Sayed’s campaign has focused on his medical credentials, particularly his purported experience as a physician. While El-Sayed does have a medical degree, public records in New York and Michigan examined by Politico indicate that he’s never held a license to practice medicine. New York state law prohibits individuals who lack medical licenses from identifying themselves as “physicians,” a title El-Sayed claimed on at least two occasions while in the state. Michigan law also bars individuals from working “to induce the belief” that they are licensed to practice medicine. El-Sayed’s hands-on medical experience was limited to a four-week clinical rotation he completed after finishing medical school. In a 2022 podcast, he described the experience as “cosplaying [as] a doctor,” Politico reported. MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE CLAIMS ISRAEL ‘JUST AS EVIL’ AS HAMAS “The perception in Michigan is that he is, at least at one point in his life, a licensed physician,” Chris Dewitt, a Michigan Democratic strategist, told Politico. “That apparently is not the case, and it blows up a big part of his campaign.” El-Sayed has repeatedly told the public that he is a physician. During a debate held by the Council of Baptist Pastors in April, for instance, El-Sayed referred to himself as “a physician and epidemiologist.” When Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., referred to El-Sayed as a “physician” in 2025, he did not correct the senator. In June, the Senate candidate included a picture of himself dressed in a doctor’s coat attached to a fundraising appeal. “Rather than this being a gotcha attack, this is Dr. El-Sayed’s origin story — one that Michiganders are familiar with,” El-Sayed spokesperson Roxie Richner told Fox News Digital when asked about his medical credentials. “Dr. El-Sayed has spoken extensively about his experiences in medical school that led him first to public health and then to public service,” Richner continued. “He has spent his career improving healthcare for Michiganders through innovative, sweeping public health programs, including the elimination of up to $700 million in medical debt, increased access to Narcan, and built a state-of-the-art air quality monitoring network.” BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGNS WITH CONTROVERSIAL MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE As of Thursday, El-Sayed still refers to himself in his LinkedIn bio as a “physician and epidemiologist.” He also holds a PhD in public health from the University of Oxford, according to his biographies. “It’s a weird thing to hang your hat on in terms of a biographical detail if you never actually practiced medicine,” Michigan Democratic consultant Adrian Hemond told Politico. “It’s not as though he hasn’t done anything with all of the fancy education that he got like running public health programming for Wayne County and for the city of Detroit. And so maybe you would lean into that, as opposed to giving people the impression that you may have practiced medicine before.” SANDERS-ENDORSED SENATE CANDIDATE KNOCKED FOR ALLEGED FLIP-FLOP TO ‘HAVE IT BOTH WAYS’ ON KEY ISSUE El-Sayed’s Democratic primary rivals have also seized on the scrutiny. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow’s campaign, which is competing against El-Sayed for the Democratic nomination, accused him of overstating the medical credentials he has made central to his Senate bid. “Abdul El-Sayed has made his supposed medical credentials a centerpiece of his campaign, but the truth is he never held a medical license, never did his residency, never passed his boards, and never practiced medicine independently,” campaign spokesperson Jackson Boaz told Fox News Digital. “If Michigan voters can’t trust El-Sayed to be honest about something that is so central to his entire rationale for running, how can they trust him to be honest about what he’d do as a United States Senator?” This isn’t the first time El-Sayed’s medical experience has been called into question. INTERNET ERUPTS OVER ‘DISQUALIFYING’ LEAKED AUDIO FROM DEMOCRAT IN KEY SENATE RACE DISCUSSING KHAMENEI’S DEATH Crain’s Detroit Business published a piece in 2018 holding El-Sayed’s claim of being a physician against his lack of a medical license. “I think there’s a lot of ways that one serves as a physician. And I think the work that I have done and I continue to do is true to the core and the ethos of medicine,” El-Sayed told Crain’s Detroit Business at the time. “And when I took my Hippocratic Oath, that is still an oath that I use to guide my work today. I’m a physician because I have an MD, but I’m also a physician because of the work that I’ve dedicated my career to.” El-Sayed has stated that he chose politics over medicine because he believes poverty is the root cause of many of the health problems in the United States. Critics of El-Sayed have seized on the recent reports. “Michigan’s Democrat Senate primary is such a mess that the guy cosplaying as an Egyptian citizen and licensed physician is still beating Chuck Schumer’s handpicked candidate,” NRSC Regional press secretary Samantha Cantrell told the Washington Examiner.

Massie’s ex-girlfriend alleges he arranged her Capitol Hill job, then offered $5,000 to drop termination suit

Massie’s ex-girlfriend alleges he arranged her Capitol Hill job, then offered ,000 to drop termination suit

An ex-girlfriend of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., alleges he extended a $5,000 offer to drop a wrongful termination lawsuit against one of his top congressional allies. Cynthia West, a social worker and school board candidate in Okaloosa County, Fla., said she began dating Massie several months after his first wife of 30 years died in 2024. She alleged that Massie then got her a job in the office of his close ally, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind. West said she never applied for the role and was terminated shortly after she broke off her relationship with the congressman. West first made the allegations on Tuesday in a video interview with Marcus Carey, a Kentucky attorney who challenged Massie during the congressman’s first run for Congress in 2012. Massie has represented the deep red seat since winning the election that year. TRUMP STIRS GOP PRIMARY DRAMA WITH VISIT TO MASSIE’S KENTUCKY HOME TURF The allegations come as early voting in Kentucky is underway for the state’s May 19 primary election. Massie, a leading Trump foe, is seeking to fend off a well-funded re-election challenge from Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL supported by President Donald Trump. The intraparty clash has become one of the most closely watched House races this year. West has said she has not been in contact with Gallrein’s campaign or Trump’s political operation and that no one is paying her to make the allegations. In the interview, West said Massie first contacted her over social media in August 2024. Their relationship, according to West, became “very intense, very romantic” over the following months, including travel to Savannah, Ga., and South Africa. “He wanted me to go to wherever he was,” West said in the interview when asked by Carey why she moved to Washington, D.C., to take a job in the Spartz office — a position that Massie arranged. West said she broke off her relationship with Massie after he asked her to “engage in behavior” that she was not comfortable with and alleged emotional abuse. The Spartz office subsequently fired her after just “six weeks” on the job, West alleged. She then filed a wrongful termination complaint against Spartz and named Massie as a witness, prompting him to offer her $5,000 to drop the pending lawsuit. REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER WELCOMES HOUSE ETHICS PROBE INTO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HIM “I called him up to let him know, and he was very angry,” West told Carey in the sit-down interview. “He said you’re just one person, that you can’t make a difference, that you need to just walk away.” “He had $5,000 he said that he would give me if I could just walk away,” she went on. “I didn’t take it, though.” The Office of Congressional Ethics offered West $60,000 to settle her wrongful termination complaint earlier this year, according to a copy of the proposed agreement first reviewed by Axios and obtained by Fox News Digital. West declined the settlement because it included a non-disclosure agreement that would bar her from publicly discussing the allegations. “I’ve spent so much time fighting for transparency and justice, accountability, that if I did this, then I would call into question my own integrity,” West told Carey. “I wouldn’t be able to sit with that, so I can’t do it.” Massie has denied any wrongdoing and has argued that West’s allegations are politically motivated. “It’s sad that a week before this election people are making false and unsubstantiated allegations about me in an obvious attempt to influence the outcome of this election,” Massie said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. “All of the claims of inappropriate conduct are false.” “I’ve never offered anyone money in exchange for their silence,” Massie continued. “I have consulted legal counsel, and we are considering all options.” When reached by phone, West declined to comment on the allegations and referred Fox News Digital to her spokesman, Rob Wilbur. “Thomas Massie spent months screaming about ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ over the Epstein files, but the second allegation hit close to home. Suddenly we’re all just supposed to shut up,” Wilbur said in a statement. “That’s not principle. That’s hypocrisy.” “Cynthia has been a warrior for transparency and accountability, and her integrity should be respected, not met with political threats, bullying, and the toxic politics Thomas Massie represents,” Wilbur continued. A Spartz spokesperson said the office could not comment on the specifics of West’s allegations. “We can confirm that Ms. West held a temporary 90-day probationary position with our office, and her employment was not extended beyond that period due to unsatisfactory job performance,” the spokesperson said. Spartz has been labeled as one of the “worst bosses” on Capitol Hill when accounting for staff turnover, by the nonpartisan website Legistorm. The Indiana lawmaker has developed close ties with Massie. Spartz was the lone Republican to back him for House speaker in 2023, and she attended his wedding ceremony with Carolyn Grace Moffa in November 2025. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Top 4 explosive moments from CIA whistleblower’s testimony on alleged COVID-19 lab leak cover-up

CIA whistleblower James Erdman III testified that the Biden administration buried analysis concluding a lab leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in an explosive hearing on Wednesday. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Erdman, a two-decade CIA veteran, chose to testify on the alleged cover-up at “great personal risk” because “government secrecy cannot become government impunity.” Paul’s oversight panel had subpoenaed Erdman’s testimony and previously interviewed him in a classified setting. Erdman worked in a joint role with the Director of National Intelligence’s Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) to investigate COVID origins over the past year. “According to his testimony, CIA scientific analysts concluded multiple times between 2021 and 2023 that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19,” Paul said in his opening statement. “Yet those conclusions never shaped the official narrative, never made the intelligence report. Congress was never told.” WHO IS JAMES ERDMAN III? CIA WHISTLEBLOWER WHO WENT FROM COVID MANDATE FIGHTS TO SENATE SPOTLIGHT “It was not until after the 2024 election that the outgoing Biden administration directed the CIA to issue an assessment, not because of new intelligence, but so officials could walk out of the door claiming there was nothing left to find,” the Kentucky Republican added. “That is not analysis. That is a cleanup operation.” Erdman publicly testified before the panel despite fierce opposition from the CIA, which called the COVID origins hearing “political theater.” Paul’s committee, according to CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons, “acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously. “The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul,” Lyons added in a statement. Carol Thompson, Erdman’s attorney, told reporters Wednesday that her client was concerned about retaliation by the CIA, but declined to comment further. Following Erdman’s testimony, several GOP lawmakers called for former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci to face criminal prosecution for allegedly seeking to suppress the origins of COVID-19. “It was significantly influenced by Anthony Fauci, injecting himself into the IC [intelligence community],” Erdman said when asked by Paul whether the CIA downplayed the likelihood that COVID-19 emerged from a lab leak. “We just heard testimony that he intervened behind the scenes to try and get our own intelligence agency, CIA, FBI to change their assessment of the lab leak,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News. “Why? Because he helped fund the Wuhan lab. He supported and funded gain-of-function research, and then he tried to cover it up, and then he worked to cover it up from the American people.” “I hope he’s indicted,” Hawley added. The hearing on Wednesday came after a statute of limitations deadline for Fauci to face criminal charges regarding that testimony passed earlier this week. “Whether the DOJ decides to charge Fauci or not, I’m not letting up,” Paul wrote on social media Monday. ‘HELD ACCOUNTABLE’: SEN. RAND PAUL AGAIN VOWS TO ISSUE A CRIMINAL REFERRAL FOR FAUCI Paul has long called for Fauci to be indicted for allegedly lying to Congress about gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci has vigorously denied the allegations. “I’ve sent several criminal referrals on Anthony Fauci to the Justice Department,” Paul said Wednesday. “And I hope they will be pursued at this time.” Former President Joe Biden notably issued an unprecedented preemptive pardon to Fauci with just hours left in his term. President Donald Trump has declared that pardon null and void because it was signed via autopen, but his administration has yet to make that argument in court. Dr. David Morens, a former senior advisor to Fauci, was indicted by a federal grand jury last month for allegedly concealing the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. A handful of Republicans who have long pushed for answers on the pandemic’s origins excoriated the CIA for characterizing the hearing as politically motivated and aiming to undermine the president. “This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing,” CIA spokeswoman Lyons said in a statement preceding the hearing. “As the CIA has already assessed, COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, and efforts to undermine that conclusion are disingenuous.” The agency’s scathing statement was a notable display of Republican infighting between the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Senate. “This is not political theater,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said in a fiery response to CIA spokeswoman Lyons. “I have years and years and years of built-up frustration of agencies like the CIA, Department of Justice, the FBI, HHS snubbing our oversight, giving us the big middle finger.” HOUSE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN’S FBI OF RETALIATING AGAINST WHISTLEBLOWER WHO EXPOSED MISCONDUCT Paul also objected to the CIA’s objections to Erdman testifying in a public hearing, stating, “Closed-door testimony doesn’t provide oversight. Public testimony provides oversight.” Senate Republicans on the influential committee blasted their Democratic colleagues for not taking the time to listen to Erdman’s testimony. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the panel’s top-ranking Democrat, and the six other Democratic lawmakers on the committee did not attend Wednesday’s hearing. “Nothing shocks me anymore with our colleagues from the other side of the aisle, but I’m shocked that not one of them showed up here,” Johnson told Erdman. “This is serious oversight work,” he added. “This is what the American people need to see. And I just wish our Democrat colleagues had any level of curiosity about what’s happening inside the deep state.” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, argued that Democrats intentionally chose to skip the hearing so they would not have to reckon with policy mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This isn’t about politics, but somehow it’s become about politics because the Democrats don’t even want to hear the conversation about what obviously was a grave error that this country

Iran war: Why the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in India matters

India is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from BRICS nations on May 14-15 in a precursor to the 18th BRICS summit, which New Delhi will host in September. The meeting, which starts on Thursday morning, coincides with United States President Donald Trump’s three-day visit to Beijing for a state visit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Here is more about the foreign ministers’ meeting, who is attending and why it matters. What is BRICS? BRICS is a grouping of major emerging economies seeking to coordinate security and economic policy in order to amplify the demands of the Global South at international organisations and on issues where the West has traditionally dominated economically and politically. The acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The organisation was called BRIC in its initial form – Brazil, Russia, India and China – when its foreign ministers began meeting in 2006, and when it held its first summit in 2009. It became BRICS when South Africa joined in 2010. In 2023, BRICS extended invitations to Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after these countries applied for membership. Saudi Arabia has yet to formally join, but the others have. An invitation was also extended to Argentina, but was turned down as President Javier Milei, elected in December 2023, had campaigned on the promise of bolstering ties with the West. Indonesia joined the group in January 2025, after its membership was approved during the summit in 2023 in Johannesburg. Advertisement The group sets priorities and holds discussions at an annual summit, which members take turns hosting. Last year, Brazil hosted the BRICS meeting and, in 2024, Russia hosted the annual meeting. This year, it is India’s turn to host. This week’s meeting in New Delhi will bring together the foreign ministers of BRICS countries, who are expected to discuss economic cooperation and coordinate their positions on key global issues. When and where is the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting? The BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting, held to prepare for the 18th BRICS summit in September, will take place on Thursday, May 14, and Friday, May 15, in New Delhi, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday. On Thursday, foreign ministers are expected to arrive at 10:00am (04:30 GMT), and sessions are expected to take place throughout the day, concluding with a dinner at 7pm (01:30 GMT). On Friday, one session is expected to take place, starting at 10:00am (04:30 GMT). All of the meetings except one will take place in Bharat Mandapam, an exhibition hall and convention centre located close to the Supreme Court of India. On Thursday at 1pm (07:30 GMT), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join a joint conference call with the visiting leaders from Seva Teerth, a new administrative complex that serves as the official headquarters of the prime minister’s office. Who is attending the meeting? Foreign ministers from within and outside the BRICS group are expected to attend the meeting. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend the meeting. South Africa’s Ronald Lamola and Brazil’s Mauro Vieira are also both attending. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will not attend due to Trump’s visit to Beijing. Instead, China will be represented by China’s Ambassador to India Xu Feihong, Indian media has reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has landed in New Delhi to participate. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono also arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday. It is not clear who will be representing the UAE at the BRICS meeting, even as the US-Israel war on Iran exacerbates tensions between the UAE and Iran. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends an online meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and other leaders of BRICS nations, in Sochi, Russia, on September 8, 2025 [File: Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via Reuters] What’s on the agenda? The theme of this meeting is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”, according to India’s Foreign Ministry. This will focus on “people-centric and holistic healthcare, with an emphasis on collaboration on pressing health challenges, including communicable and non-communicable diseases”, it added. Advertisement However, the ongoing war on Iran is likely to dominate, and discussions will set the agenda for the annual BRICS summit in September, observers say. “The Iran war is likely to cast a shadow over both the BRICS summit and the Trump-Xi meeting,” Rafael Loss, a policy fellow for defence, security and technology at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told Al Jazeera. The war on Iran entered its 76th day on Thursday, with diplomatic efforts to end the conflict hanging in the balance. Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that, as well as taking part in the main BRICS sessions, Araghchi will hold separate meetings with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and other officials attending the meeting. In April this year, India hosted a BRICS Deputy Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys for the Middle East and North Africa meeting in New Delhi. That gathering ended without a joint statement after Iran and the UAE clashed over how to address the US-Israeli war on Iran, with the UAE also seeing itself as a victim of Iranian aggression. Since then, tensions between Iran and the UAE have only risen, with Tehran’s war messaging increasingly targeting the UAE. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza is also another point of stress within the bloc. At the April meeting, India – recently an Israeli ally – attempted to soften criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, leading to a failure within the bloc to arrive at a consensus on the subject. “The meeting in India occurs at a difficult time in which the cohesion of the BRICS confronts challenges due to the closer relations of India with the US and Israel, and the conflict in West Asia between Iran and the UAE,” Michael Dunford, emeritus professor at the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex, UK, told Al Jazeera. What about Trump’s meeting with Xi at the same time? Trump landed in China on Wednesday evening

Xi Jinping welcomes Donald Trump with ceremony ahead of high-stakes meeting

NewsFeed Chinese President Xi Jinping is welcoming US President Donald Trump to Beijing for high-level talks. Tariffs, competition over tech, the US-Israeli war on Iran, and Taiwan are all on the agenda for the two-day visit. Published On 14 May 202614 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)

Students in Caracas to demand release of political prisoners

NewsFeed Students from Venezuela’s leading universities blocked the main highway in Caracas to demand the immediate release of political prisoners. Demonstrators said more than 450 people remain imprisoned despite government promises of amnesty and reconciliation. Published On 14 May 202614 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)

Year: 2026