5 Big News Stories Overnight - Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Middle East: Trump Pauses Military Action Again

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond. This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN! Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Three killed, two suspects dead in shooting at San Diego mosque

NBC 7 reports:

Three people were killed Monday morning after two teenage shooters opened fire outside a mosque in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego.

An active shooter situation was first reported to law enforcement at the Islamic Center of San Diego (ICSD) at around 11:45 a.m. Officers arrived to find three people dead and, moments later, found two suspects deceased in a vehicle blocks away with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

NBC 7 San Diego has multiple crews on the scene gathering the latest information. 

Ukraine’s Long-Range Strikes Cut Russian Oil Refining by 10%; Wells Forced to Shut Down, Zelensky Says

Kyiv Post reports:

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian long-range strikes have sharply reduced Russian oil refining in recent months, forcing Moscow to shut down oil wells and pushing its state budget deeper into deficit.

In his evening address, President Zelensky said Kyiv is expanding its deep-strike campaign against targets linked to Russia’s war machine, framing the operations as a justified response to Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine, he said, is “bringing Russia’s war of aggression back home.

Musk Loses Lawsuit

WSJ reports:

A jury unanimously rejected Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI, finding that he brought his lawsuit against the company and Chief Executive Sam Altman after the statute of limitations expired.

In deliberations that lasted less than two hours, the nine-person panel found against Musk on technical grounds. He had alleged in testimony that the startup behind the world’s most popular chatbot “stole a charity” when it converted into a for-profit company.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the case, accepted the verdict and dismissed the claims.

Musk, in a post on his social network X, said he planned to appeal and described the ruling as a “destructive” precedent. In a post that he apparently deleted later, he accused the judge of using the jury as a fig leaf.

PHOTO: White House

Washington: Trump administration creates $1.776 billion fund for allies of the president

NYT reports: 

The Trump administration announced on Monday the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department and Democrats, forging a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to President Trump’s allies.

The highly unusual “anti-weaponization” fund was denounced by critics as a slush fund and as a brazen misuse of a once-independent Justice Department to carry out the president’s personal and political agendas.

The announcement provided few details of how the disbursement would work or who would be eligible. But the arrangement raised the possibility that American taxpayers might end up writing checks to those prosecuted for the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, and others the president has cast as victims of Biden administration actions.

“This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” said Donald K. Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit legal watchdog group that has been critical of the administration.