Tuesday morning news: May 20, 2025

Ukraine peace talks » President Trump says Russia is ready to move ahead with negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

That comes after the president spent more than two hours on the phone Monday with Vladimir Putin. Trump said he was trying to convince Putin to re-engage in negotiations … and he added that he thought the call went very well.

TRUMP: I thought there was a very good chance—like a 50-50 chance—that he would say, "I want to take the whole thing." I didn't know what he was gonna say. And then they have a different kind of a problem. But I believe he wants to stop.

The president also addressed an offer by Pope Leo the Fourteenth to host ceasefire talks…at the Vatican.

TRUMP: There's tremendous bitterness—anger. And I think maybe that could help some of that anger. So having it at the Vatican would be—in Rome—would be a very, I think it would be a great idea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he also spoke with President Trump by phone yesterday.

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

He said he stressed that Ukraine will never agree to pull its troops out of its own sovereign territory.

The Take it Down Act » Also at the White House on Monday, President Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law.

The bill sets stricter penalties for distributing or exploiting another person’s image online in certain ways without their consent, such as pornographic images. Those include images created using AI or Photoshop.

The president signed it alongside his wife, Melania Trump, and had her sign it, too. She said the law is intended:

MELANIA: To ensure that every American, especially young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused through non-consensual intimate imagery.

The first lady helped usher the measure through Congress.

She used her first public appearance since resuming the role of first lady to travel to Capitol Hill in March to lobby House lawmakers to pass the bill.

SCOTUS TPS ruling » The Supreme Court has ruled almost unanimously that the Trump administration can strip legal protections from thousands of Venezuelan migrants while a larger legal battle plays out. WORLD’s Christina Grube has more.

CHRISTINA GRUBE: The 8-to-1 ruling on Monday pauses a lower court ruling. A judge had blocked the administration from lifting Temporary Protected Status—or TPS from 350,000 Venezuelans.

Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

That earlier decision kept the protections in place that had been set to expire last month.

The Biden administration granted TPS to Venezuelans due to unsafe conditions back home. But the Trump administration argues that the judge’s order usurped executive authority and that conditions have changed.

The decision does not mean that the migrants will automatically be deported. But it may leave them without legal status.

The case is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to roll back protections for immigrants from several countries also including Haiti and Nicaragua.

For WORLD, I’m Christina Grube.

White House on president’s health » Former President Joe Biden's recent cancer diagnosis has sparked concern about whether doctors at the White House missed the cancer during its early stages, and if so, could something else be missed affecting the current president?

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters there are no concerns about President Trump or his health staff.

LEAVITT: We returned home from a very long and tiring trip last week. And on Saturday, where was the president? In the Oval Office working all day. He doesn’t stop. He doesn’t quit. He’s in great health and he trusts his physicians.

82-year-old former president Biden is said to have an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer.

Investigation of NY Mexican ship crash » The Mexican navy tall ship that struck the Brooklyn Bridge had departed less than 5 minutes before its masts crashed into the historic span. That's according to a timeline laid out by investigators Monday.

Michael Graham with National Transportation Safety Board:

GRAHAM: This is the start of a long process. We will not be drawing any conclusions. We will not speculate. We also will not be determining the probable cause while we are on scene.

Graham also said there is no significant structural damage to the load-bearing elements of the bridge.

Meanwhile, many crew members have flown home from New York. The Mexican navy says seven officers and 172 cadets who were aboard the sailing ship arrived early Monday at the port of Veracruz, where Mexico’s naval school is located.

Two cadets were killed in Saturday's crash.

U.K. E.U. agreement » The UK and the European Union have reached new agreements on trade and security following a summit in London.

The meeting was the first formal discussion between the territories after the U.K. finalized its withdrawal from the union in 20-20.

The deal grants EU fishing boats access to U.K. waters in exchange for reduced checks on British food and drink products traded to the bloc.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised the new deal.

STARMER: It gives us unprecedented access to the EU market, the best of any country outside of the EU or EFTA. All while sticking to the red lines in our manifesto about not rejoining the single market, the Customs Union and no return to freedom of movement.

Through the agreement, the U.K. defense industry will also be allowed to participate in the union’s new program to ramp up Europe’s defense system.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: HHS reviewed the medical literature and reports there’s no evidence that gender reassignment is helpful. Plus, insurance companies and double standards.

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