By Jade Walker

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he plans to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor — to his former personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani was hospitalized over the weekend after sustaining several injuries in a car accident.

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A man walks past a damaged house following an earthquake in Afghanistan. Wakil (Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghanistan

The Taliban are asking for international help after an earthquake destroyed entire villages in Afghanistan. At least 1,100 people were killed and more than 3,200 were injured when the 6.0-magnitude temblor struck near the Pakistan border on Sunday. Search and rescue efforts in the remote mountainous areas have been hindered by damaged roads, heavy rain and landslides. The war-ravaged country was already in the throes of a humanitarian crisis when the Taliban seized power in 2021 and the situation has only gotten worse — especially for women and girls, whose rights have been stripped away by the militant group. In response, many humanitarian organizations withdrew from Afghanistan, and aid declined to $767 million in 2025, down from $3.8 billion in 2022. Now, the UK plans to give $1.3 million in new emergency funding to families affected by the earthquake. India has already delivered 1,000 tents to Kabul and 15 metric tons of food aid to Kunar. So far, the US State Department has sent “heartfelt condolences to the Afghan people.”

Sudan

At least 1,000 people were killed when a landslide destroyed a village in western Sudan over the weekend. According to the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army, only one person from the village survived. The movement is now appealing for international help to recover the bodies of victims in the Marra Mountains area. The situation in Sudan was already dire before this latest disaster. The two-year civil war, which the UN has described as the world’s “most devastating humanitarian and displacement crisis,” has left more than 28,000 people dead. Men and boys have been targeted and slain on ethnic grounds. Women and girls have been raped, abducted and forced into marriage. Infrastructure has been obliterated. More than 14 million people have fled their homes and now suffer from a lack of shelter, food, running water, medical supplies and electricity. Many of the displaced settled in the mountains where the landslide occurred. 

Covid-19

President Trump appeared to raise fresh questions about the Covid-19 vaccines that were developed during his first administration. “Many people think they are a miracle that saved Millions of lives. Others disagree! With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW,” he wrote on his social media site Monday. The post was Trump’s first public comments about the CDC since the agency’s director, Dr. Susan Monarez, was fired amid a dispute over vaccines. Following her departure, several other high-level veteran agency officials resigned. Trump’s comments also came after the FDA approved the updated Covid-19 vaccine, but only for adults 65 and older and younger people with certain medical conditions that put them at a higher risk of a severe Covid-19 infection. Those who fall outside the parameters and still want access to the vaccine must get it prescribed “off-label.” It’s also unclear if insurance companies will pay for it.

Chicago

Chicago is bracing for the Trump administration’s planned increase in federal immigration enforcement that may begin as soon as this week. According to multiple sources, the operation could involve ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents as well as National Guard troops. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the planned operation disruptive and dangerous. “No one in the administration — the president or anybody under him — has called anyone in my administration, or me. So, it’s clear that in secret they’re planning this — well, it’s an invasion with US troops, if they in fact do that,” Pritzker said. In an effort to resist “escalating threats from the federal government,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order demanding that President Trump “stand down” from deploying military forces in the city. The order also directs city departments to “resist coordinated efforts from the federal government” that violate the rights of Chicagoans. 

Mass shootings

One month before the mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis that killed two children and injured 21 others, the Trump administration cut funding for programs aimed at identifying potential mass shooters. The grants, which were part of $18.5 million in cuts at Homeland Security, funded programs at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to assess and manage mass violence threats. In a letter shared with CNN, DHS alleged the money went to “openly partisan and political organizations.” But some politicians say the funding cuts left the state less equipped to prevent such attacks. Before the mass shooting at the church and school, the lawmakers had sent a letter to DHS asking for the grants to be reinstated. The letter referenced the shooting of state lawmakers in June and cited violence directed at religious groups and threats to schools. “Never in our worst nightmares could we have imagined another tragedy occurring so soon,” Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum said.

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