Birthright citizenship case. The U.S. Supreme Court heard a case yesterday on whether to strike down nationwide injunctions in lower courts that have blocked Trump’s January executive order banning birthright citizenship. While the court did not rule on the merits of Trump’s executive order itself, most justices questioned it. They were less unified on whether lower courts should be able to have broad national injunction power. A ruling is due by June.
India’s post-attack diplomacy. India’s foreign minister held a call with the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, the first minister-level contact since the Taliban takeover in 2021. India thanked Afghanistan for its condemnation of the April 22 Kashmir attacks. India blames Pakistan for the attacks. Separately, after Turkey issued a statement sympathetic to Pakistan, India revoked the security clearance of a Turkish logistics firm. The current truce between India and Pakistan will extend through Sunday, a top Pakistani official said yesterday.
Asia trade meeting. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group expects exports in the region to grow only 0.4 percent this year, down from 5.7 percent last year, amid trade tensions. The group announced their projection at a meeting in South Korea that began yesterday; the U.S. trade representative held talks with both Chinese and South Korean officials on the sidelines.
UK seeks expulsion deals. The United Kingdom (UK) is seeking agreements with third countries to which it can expel failed asylum seekers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said yesterday during a visit to Albania. Starmer did not specify which countries were under consideration, but Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said it was not among them. Albania is currently in negotiations on the same topic with Italy.
Hungary’s foreign funding bill. News organizations and civil society groups issued an open letter yesterday in opposition to a bill that would track and potentially restrict organizations that receive foreign funding. They said it was an “authoritarian attempt to cling to power,” while Hungary’s government said it was necessary for “cleaning house.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faces a challenge from a new opposition party ahead of 2026 elections.
Israel intensifies Gaza strikes. Israeli strikes killed at least ninety-three people today in the territory, the Associated Press reported. Trump told reporters today that his administration was engaged in talks about Gaza but that he did not know if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would agree to a hostage deal.
Unrest in Libya. A ceasefire announced Wednesday in Libya’s capital Tripoli appeared to be mostly holding yesterday after the city saw some of its worst fighting in years this week. The fighting between forces loyal to and opposing Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah killed at least six people. Previous conflict in Libya pitted the government in Tripoli against rivals in the country’s east, but those tensions were eased by agreements over oil and banking resources last year.
Gene editing landmark. Scientists successfully treated a Philadelphia baby for a liver defect using customized therapy that relied on gene-editing technology CRISPR for the first time, according to a paper published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The treatment builds on decades of federally funded research and is expected to be able to address rare diseases. A former Food and Drug Administration official who oversaw gene-therapy regulation called the treatment “potentially transformational.”
