GOP senator says federal government will ‘need to play a big role’ after tornadoes ravage Midwest
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said Monday that local communities are facing “devastation” and that the state will need Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding “at the least” after violent tornadoes took dozens of lives over the weekend. Hawley, who spoke to Fox News Digital on the phone while walking through Missouri neighborhoods ravaged by the storms, emphasized that “a lot of people are hurting.” “These aren’t just pieces of real estate,” Hawley explained. “I mean, these are homes that people grew up in. These are neighborhoods where families raise their kids going back two, three, four, generations. I talked to one guy who had been in the neighborhood. His family had been in the neighborhood since his great-grandmother came there at the turn of the last century.” “Unless they’re going to need to be rebuilt, the federal government is going to need to play a big role here with FEMA relief, disaster relief, and we want to get all of that as soon as possible,” he said. 53 MILLION BRACE FOR SEVERE STORMS MONDAY WITH WIND GUSTS UP TO 80 MPH LIKELY Fox Weather reported that the rating of the powerful storm was at least an EF-3, turning homes and businesses in its path into rubble. At least 26 people were killed over the weekend across the region. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the death count in Kentucky alone sits at 19, and Hawley’s office said the count in Missouri was at least 7. “We have lost 19 people to this weather event, each one a child of God who will be missed by their families,” Beshear said in a post on X. “Please keep praying for them, the 10 individuals being treated at UK Hospital, and for everyone affected by these storms.” DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS CONTINUE IN KENTUCKY, MISSOURI IN WAKE OF DEADLY TORNADO OUTBREAK Hawley’s push for FEMA assistance comes as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has called for eliminating the agency as it exists today. In addition to calling for federal assistance, Hawley was also quick to point out private insurance providers will need to step up and fairly pay out claims to assist with recovery efforts, noting he is separately “in the middle of an investigation of the major insurance companies.” “I talked to person after person today whose roofs have been ripped off, whose windows are bashed in,” Hawley told Fox News Digital. “These people need to get their policies paid out. They’ve been faithful premium holders, faithful premium payers. They need the policies paid out. And that’s something that’s going to make a huge, huge difference.” FEMA TRUMP, LAWMAKERS AT ODDS OVER WHETHER FEMA SHOULD BE ELEVATED TO CABINET-LEVEL AGENCY OR COMPLETELY OVERHAULED Recovering from the devastation could take some time in local communities, and it was reported that roughly 700,000 lost power across the region during the height of the storm. HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER “I expect that our governor will soon make an emergency request for disaster relief, and we’d certainly hope that FEMA would act on that. ASAP,” Hawley added.
Federal judge blocks Trump dismantling of US Institute of Peace
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Institute of Peace, writing in a ruling that the removal of its board members and the takeover of its headquarters by members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are actions that are “null and void.” The response this week from U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell comes after the Institute filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in March calling for “the immediate intervention of this Court to stop Defendants from completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs’ ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress.” “The Administration removed the Institute’s leadership, including plaintiff Board members and its president in contravention of statutory limitations, and had personnel from a newly created federal office, called the Department of Government Efficiency, forcibly take over the Institute’s headquarters on March 17,” Howell wrote in her ruling. “With a newly installed USIP president, the Administration then handed off USIP’s property for no consideration and abruptly terminated nearly all of its staff and activities around the world.” “Congress’s restrictions on the President’s removal power of USIP Board members are squarely constitutional, and the President and his Administration’s acts to the contrary are unlawful and ultra vires. The actions that have occurred since then – at the direction of the President to reduce USIP to its ‘statutory minimums’ – including the removal of USIP’s president, his replacement by officials affiliated with DOGE, the termination of nearly all of USIP’s staff, and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration, were thus effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void,” she added. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION GUTS INSTITUTE OF PEACE OF ‘ROGUE BUREAUCRATS’ AFTER DOGE STANDOFF IN GOVERNMENT OFFICE The Institute of Peace is an independent, national institution funded by Congress that was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration to promote peace and diplomacy on the international stage. “Congress has endorsed USIP’s important work by continuing to fund the Institute through appropriations bills signed by seven different Presidents from both major political parties, including the current President during his first term in office,” Howell said in the ruling. “In a drastic and abrupt change of course, within the first month of his second term, President Trump unilaterally decided that USIP is ‘unnecessary,’ issuing Executive Order 14217 to this effect, and then his Administration rushed through actions, including removal of Board members, to reach the professed goal of reducing all of USIP’s operations and personnel to the bare minimum to perform only mandated statutory tasks, while ignoring the broader statutory goals set out for this organization to fulfill,” she also said. Ultimately, Howell concluded, the Trump administration’s actions “represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better.” JUDGE DENIES EMBATTLED GOVERNMENT-FUNDED AGENCY’S RESTRAINING ORDER REQUEST AGAINST DOGE The White House did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. In March, it said the Trump administration gutted the Institute of Peace of “rogue bureaucrats” who held a tense standoff with a DOGE team that required police intervention. “Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said at the time. “The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.” The administration now has 30 days to file an appeal to the ruling. “The United States Institute of Peace has existed for 40 years on a $50 million annual budget, but failed to deliver peace,” Kelly told the Associated Press. “President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and this rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter.” Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Investors duped of over Rs 48 lakh via fake trading app, know modus operandi
A 29-year-old man was tracked down and held in Maharashtra for allegedly defrauding multiple investors of over Rs 48 lakh in Outer North Delhi, police said Tuesday.
Govt launches new e-Zero FIR initiative, to tackle unprecedented cybercrime, here’s all you need to know
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the new e-Zero FIR initiative will automatically convert cyber financial crimes above Rs 10 lakh and registered on the 1930 helpline of the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), into FIRs.
Trump heads to Capitol Hill to push ‘big, beautiful bill’
President Donald Trump is headed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to push Republicans toward passing his “big, beautiful bill.” Trump’s visit comes as House Republicans are split between spending hawks who want to cut more of the deficit and moderates who are seeking expanded tax deductions for Americans. Trump himself pushed tax cuts in a statement on Monday. “If we don’t get it, that means the Democrats will have stopped us. And that means people will get a 68% tax increase, the largest in history. And if we do get it, we’re going to have the largest tax decrease in history,” Trump said. The House Rules Committee is set to vote on the bill just after midnight tonight after the House Budget Committee approved the bill earlier this week. ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION If the legislation passes through the House, it will face another – perhaps tougher – battle in the Senate, where some lawmakers have floated breaking up the bill to pass certain priorities more quickly. Trump urged Republicans to “STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE” in a post on social media this week. BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY Trump will attend the House Republicans’ weekly meeting on the Hill, but it is not clear whether he will meet with individual holdouts directly. Meanwhile, Democrats argue the legislation is a handout for the wealthiest Americans. “They literally are trying to take health care away from millions of Americans at this very moment in the dead of night,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday. “If this legislation is designed to make life better for the American people, can someone explain to me why they would hold a hearing to advance the bill at 1 a.m. in the morning?” he added. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Schumer fields bill in bid to scuttle Trump’s Qatar plane plans
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to put the kibosh on President Donald Trump’s plan for the U.S. military to accept a Boeing airplane from Qatar to be used as Air Force One. The Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would prohibit utilizing Defense Department funding to procure, modify, restore, or maintain an aircraft for presidential flight if that aircraft was previously owned by a foreign government, foreign government-controlled entity, or foreign government representative. “None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2025 or fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Defense may be made available for the procurement, modification, restoration, or maintenance of an aircraft previously owned by a foreign government, an entity controlled by a foreign government, or a representative of a foreign government for the purposes of providing presidential airlift options,” the text of the measure reads. ESPIONAGE, CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS ABOUND FROM TRUMP DETRACTORS, ALLIES OVER QATARI JET OFFER Fox News Digital reached out to the White House to request comment on Tuesday morning but did not immediately receive a response. “Donald Trump has shown time and again – he will sell out the American people and the Presidency if it means filling his own pockets,” Schumer said, according to a press release. “Not only would it take billions of taxpayer dollars to even attempt to retrofit and secure this plane, but there’s absolutely no amount of modifications that can guarantee it will be secure. It is now on the Senate to prioritize our national security, protect Americans, and ensure that a foreign-owned plane never gets the call sign ‘Air Force One.’” QATAR DUMPED BILLIONS INTO US SCHOOLS OVER LAST FOUR DECADES: REPORT The proposal stands little chance of passage: Even if it were to clear both chambers of Congress where Republicans hold the majorities, the president could veto the measure, in which case passage would require enough votes to surmount a presidential veto. “The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME! It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive,” President Trump declared in a Truth Social post last week. QATAR OFFERS TRUMP JUMBO JET TO SERVE AS AIR FORCE ONE “Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump added. Trump indicated last week that he does not plan to fly in the plane after leaving office, but that the aircraft would be placed in his presidential library.
Video: UK, France, Canada threaten action against Israel over Gaza
NewsFeed Leaders from Canada, France and the UK threaten to impose sanctions on Israel if it continues its offensive in Gaza. Hamdah Salhut has more from the Jordanian capital Amman. She’s there because the Israeli government has banned Al Jazeera from reporting inside Israel. Published On 20 May 202520 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Pregnant woman among victims of Israeli strike on Gaza school shelter
NewsFeed An Israeli air strike on the Musa bin Nusair School in Gaza City has killed at least a dozen Palestinians, including children and a pregnant woman. The school had been sheltering forcibly displaced families. Published On 20 May 202520 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Detained student Mahmoud Khalil honoured at alternative graduation
NewsFeed Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was honoured at an alternative graduation ceremony in New York, where his wife and baby accepted a diploma on his behalf while he remains detained at an immigration facility in Louisiana. Published On 20 May 202520 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Is it law yet? See how far some of the most consequential bills have made it in the 2025 Texas Legislature
We’re tracking the status of major bills through the final stretch of the session.