States

• Medicare heeft de aanmeldingen van hospice- en thuiszorginstellingen al gepauzeerd terwijl mogelijke fraude wordt onderzocht. • JD Vance heeft gedreigd de federale financiering voor overheidszorgverzekeringsprogramma's "uit te schakelen" in staten die weigeren mee te werken aan de aanpak van vermoedelijke fraude door de regering-Trump. • Staten die niet "serieus worden」 over fraude zouden Medicaid- en Medicare-financiering verliezen, kondigde de vicepresident van de VS woensdag aan, wat leidde tot nieuwe beschuldigingen dat Trump-functionarissen ongefundeerde beweringen gebruiken om politieke rivalen te straffen.

Als het huidige wankele staakt-het-vuren tussen de VS en Iran eindigt, is de kans groter dat de Emiraten een doelwit worden van Teheran

• Saoedi-Arabië uitte een "felwaardige veroordeling" van de gecoördineerde drone-aanvallen op de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten, Qatar en Koeweit op 11 mei, en bestempelde de aanvallen als een gevaarlijke escalatie die de regionale veiligheid bedreigt. • Het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken van Bahrein noemde de aanval op Koeweit een "flagrante schending van het internationaal recht" en benadrukte de dreiging voor de regionale stabiliteit die door de vijandige drone-aanvallen wordt gevormd. • De aanvallen duiden op een gevaarlijke uitbreiding van het conflict in het Midden-Oosten, waarbij meerdere leden van de Gulf Cooperation Council gelijktijdig zijn getroffen, wat zorgen baart over de kwetsbaarheid van de maritieme handel en de olie-infrastructuur.

• At least six US states—California, Georgia, Virginia, Arizona, Texas, and New Jersey—are tracking nine residents who disembarked from the MV Hondius cruise ship amid a deadly hantavirus outbreak overseas. • Health officials report no symptoms among the monitored Americans, including two each in Texas, New Jersey, and Georgia, and one each in California, Virginia, and Arizona; 30 people total left the ship late last month before the outbreak was confirmed. • State spokespeople like California's Brian Micek and Georgia's Nancy Nydam Shirek emphasize coordination with CDC and low public risk, with self-monitoring via daily temperature checks in Texas.

• A federal court reinstated deportation proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian activist detained amid U.S.-Iran tensions. • The decision reverses a prior halt, citing national security risks linked to Mahdawi's alleged ties to groups opposing U.S. policy in the Middle East. • This ruling underscores heightened immigration enforcement in geopolitically charged cases, affecting humanitarian considerations for activists.

• Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won West Bengal for the first time in its 46-year history, securing 207 out of 294 seats in recent state elections on May 8, 2026. • The BJP retained control of Assam and, with coalition partners, the federal territory of Puducherry, now governing 21 of India's 28 states and 72% of its 1.4 billion population. • Al Jazeera described the West Bengal victory as the Hindu nationalist party's most consequential win since Modi took power in 2014, driven by anti-incumbency against Mamata Banerjee and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

• The BJP and its coalition allies have expanded their territorial control to 21 of India's 28 states, representing unprecedented political consolidation and establishing the party in a more dominant national position than at any point since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014. • From the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, India's political map is now overwhelmingly controlled by the BJP, with only Jharkhand remaining as a lone opposition-governed state in major regions, reflecting near-total electoral saturation. • Political analysts describe this expansion as more than electoral success—it constitutes political saturation, raising fundamental questions about whether India is moving toward an opposition-diminished political order.

Four women and nine children expected to return to Australia on Thursday with all apart from a mother and her child expected to go to VictoriaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAuthorities in two Australian states are preparing to resettle children returning from squalid detention camps and life under Islamic State rule, as at least some of their mothers face possible criminal charges.Four women and nine children are expected to return to Australia on Thursday, with all of them apart from a mother and her child bound for Melbourne. Continue reading...