5 Big News Stories Overnight - Sunday, May 24, 2026

Washington: Shootout at the White House

New York Times reports:

A man took a gun out of a bag and fired a volley of shots near the White House on Saturday evening before being shot and fatally wounded by U.S. Secret Service police officers, the Secret Service said in a statement.

A bystander was also struck by gunfire, the statement said, though it did not give details on the nature or severity of the injuries.  It was unclear who fired the shot that struck the bystander.

The gunman was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No officers were injured, the Secret Service said.

The shooting took place a little after 6 p.m. near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, at the northwestern corner of the White House grounds.

Ukraine: Russian Drone Strike Sets Evangelical Church Ablaze

Kyiv Post reports:

Russian forces launched a second attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Balakliia on Saturday, setting a large Evangelical church on fire after striking the area with a drone, Ukrainian officials said.

The strike caused a major blaze at the “Light of the Gospel” church, with flames spreading across approximately 1,300 square meters (14,000 square feet), according to emergency services.

The church belongs to an Evangelical Protestant community and serves as a local place of worship in the town.

UK: Starmer takes on TNT Sports over Champions League final paywall

The Telegraph reports:

Sir Keir Starmer has written an open letter to TNT Sports urging the broadcaster to reconsider its decision not to make the Champions League final free to air.

The Prime Minister, who is an Arsenal fan, has entered the debate about next Saturday’s showpiece against Paris St-Germain and believes an occasion of this magnitude should be available for everyone to watch.

This will be the first time since the Champions League’s inception in 1992 that a UK audience will have to pay to watch the final.

Sir Keir has pointed out that during a cost-of-living crisis, TNT’s decision to ask fans to take on a subscription is unfair and has urged the company – which only has 12 months remaining on its Champions League contract – to reconsider.

PHOTO: Peter Glaser, Unsplash

Massachusetts: U.S. Towns Paid for Teachers and Cops to Use Weight-Loss Drugs. It Broke the Bank.

WSJ reports:

Officials in Belchertown, Mass., were saving up to fix their broken roads and aging buildings last year when they were hit with a surprise $911,000 invoice.

The bill came from the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust, which manages healthcare for dozens of New England towns, school districts and other public entities. The trust was struggling to control rising costs that had sucked up its reserves, including a new, surprising culprit: the snowballing cost of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

The trust was nearing insolvency, and towns would need to pay up to keep it afloat.

“The universal reaction was shock,” said Lesa Lessard Pearson, chair of the Select Board in Belchertown, a town of 15,000 in western Massachusetts. Officials had to draw from the town’s long-term savings and make departmental cuts, including school-budget reductions, to pay off the bill. “It felt like a betrayal,” she said.

Middle East: GOP Senator Criticize Deal With Iran

Times of Israel reports:

Senior US senators from the Republican Party voiced criticism on Saturday over the reported terms of the deal that US President Donald Trump, who is also a Republican, is negotiating with Tehran to end the Iran war.

The emerging criticism from within Trump’s own party comes after US and Iranian officials both signalled that they were nearing an agreement on a memorandum of understanding to end the war and set the stage for further talks.

Trump specified that the agreement would include opening the Strait of Hormuz, but did not mention Iran’s nuclear program, despite repeatedly insisting that Iran would not be allowed to attain nuclear weapons and that the regime must relinquish its stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium.

Iran, meanwhile, said that nuclear issues were not part of the current negotiations.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a vocal supporter of the war against Iran unleashed by the US and Israel on February 28 and the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, expressed fear over terms that would allow the Iranian regime to survive, saying a deal that leaves Iran in a strong position in the region would lead to a “nightmare for Israel.”

“If a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure, then Iran will be perceived as being a dominate [sic] force requiring a diplomatic solution,” he posted on X.

PHOTO: CNN Feed, File