Thursday morning news - May 20, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Paul Butler.

Netanyahu vows to continue military operation in Gaza » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he has no intention of backing down in the Gaza Strip.

NETANYAHU: SPEAKING HEBREW

Hours earlier, President Joe Biden called Netanyahu to discuss the situation. Biden has so far supported Israel’s military campaign, a response to Hamas rocket attacks.

But Deputy White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Biden gave Netanyahu an ultimatum on Wednesday.

JEAN-PIERRE: The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a cease-fire.

Netanyahu said he “greatly appreciates the support of the American president.” But he said Israel would continue its military operation until its aim is met.

Democrats pressure Biden to push ceasefire » Biden’s stronger stance toward Israel may be in response to pressures at home.

Dozens of Democrats have criticized his handling of the conflict. They say he has not done enough to stop the fighting. Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee even considered demanding he delay a long-planned weapons sale to Israel.

In an ironic twist to partisanship, the president’s biggest supporters when it comes to Israel are Republicans. Congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado is a member of the House Republican Israel Caucus.

LAMBORN: Israel needs our support now more than ever. Unfortunately, there are those in Congress who are wanting to defund our military support of Israel. They’re wanting to condemn Israel’s right to defend itself. And that is totally wrong. And we’re not going to let that happen.

Fierce fighting in Gaza continued Wednesday, with Israeli airstrikes interspersed with Hamas rocket fire. Militants in Lebanon also fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel raising the prospect of a two-front war.

So far, more than 200 Palestinians and 12 Israelis have died in the fighting that began on May 10th.

NY AG joins Trump criminal probe » New York Attorney General Leticia James has opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business empire. WORLD’s Leigh Jones has that story.

LEIGH JONES, REPORTER: The state attorney general was already conducting a civil probe into the Trump organization. But late Tuesday, a spokesman for James’ office announced the investigation was now criminal in nature.

James offered no explanation for the change, but her spokesman did confirm the investigation would merge with a similar probe by the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Both teams of investigators were already seeking to determine whether Trump or his businesses manipulated the value of assets to get loans or tax breaks.

Clues about the Manhattan DA’s investigation have mostly come from his fight for tax documents. He has not said publicly what exactly he’s looking for.

The former president called the expanded probe an investigation in desperate search of a crime.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leigh Jones.

Storms bring flooding to Louisiana, parts of Texas » Western Louisiana is once again mopping up from record flooding. A strong line of storms swept through the region on Tuesday and Wednesday. It dumped as much as 18 inches of rain on parts of Lake Charles.

And National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Donato says the rain isn’t over.

DONATO: We are expected to get up to 4 inches throughout south central Louisiana as well as southeastern Texas. We’re getting that inflow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, which is fueling a lot of these storms.

The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed three deaths due to the flooding. All resulting from driving vehicles into high water.

Flood watches on Wednesday covered most of Louisiana and a large part of Texas, as well as parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

Texas governor signs heartbeat bill into law » Finally, abortion will soon be illegal in Texas after unborn babies develop a heartbeat. In most cases, that’s as early as 6 weeks into pregnancy.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law Wednesday.

ABBOTT: Our creator endowed us with the right to life and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. In Texas, we work to save those lives.

Texas is not the first state to adopt a heartbeat bill. But its legislation is unique: The state will rely on civil lawsuits to enforce the measure. Any citizen, even someone living outside Texas, can sue an abortion provider who violates the law.

Pro-life advocates hope the enforcement twist will help the bill evade its own legal challenges. Lawsuits against pro-life laws usually target state officials, who would not be involved in enforcing this measure.

Nevertheless, abortion activists have vowed to sue, hoping to prevent the bill from taking effect in September.

I’m Paul Butler, and for more news, features, and commentary visit us at wng.org.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.