The Headlines - New Tensions Between the U.S. and Israel, and a Surge of Homeless Seniors

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Plus, a faster way up Mount Everest. On Today’s Episode: As Trump Seeks Iran Deal, Israel Again Raises Possible Strikes on Nuclear Sites, by Julian E. Barnes, David E. Sanger, Maggie Haberman and Ronen BergmanChaos Mars Opening of Israeli-Backed Aid Distribution Site in Gaza, by Ephrat Livni, Patrick Kingsley, Ameera Harouda and Aaron BoxermanState Department Halts Interviews for Student and Exchange Visas, by Edward WongICE, Shifting Tactics, Detains High School Student at N.Y.C. Courthouse, by Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Dana RubinsteinU.S. Will No Longer Recommend Covid Shots for Children and Pregnant Women, by Apoorva Mandavilli and Christina JewettHow a Generation’s Struggle Led to a Record Surge in Homelessness, by Jason DeParleThey Inhaled a Gas and Scaled Everest in Days. Is It the Future of Mountaineering?, by Jonathan Wolfe and Bhadra SharmaTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis, in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, May 28th. Here's what we're covering. Tensions between the US and Israel are flaring over how to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The Times has learned that in just the past few days, there's been a flurry of meetings between top Trump administration and Israeli officials, as Israel's prime minister has threatened to launch

an attack on Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities. From Israel's perspective, Iran is particularly vulnerable to a strike right now. Its regional allies like Hezbollah and Hamas are weakened, and an Israeli attack last fall partially destroyed its air defense system. But the Trump administration is pushing back, since any strike could derail ongoing talks it's having with Iran to limit its nuclear program. While those negotiations are still in the early stages, Israeli officials fear that President Trump might be so eager to make a deal that he'll let Iran keep its enrichment facilities,

something Israel thinks is unacceptably dangerous. Earlier this year, the Trump administration waved Israel off of a similar threat to hit Iran's nuclear sites. But since then, Israel has continued to plan for a strike, including potentially a limited operation that it could carry out without U.S. support. Meanwhile, in Gaza yesterday,

chaos and confusion broke out as crowds of desperate Palestinians rushed towards a new humanitarian aid center to try and get food. The center, run by a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is part of a contentious Israeli-designed effort to open a limited number of aid stations in southern Gaza. A months-long blockade on food and fuel to the territory has pushed people to the brink of starvation. Amid the scramble, short bursts of gunfire broke out, and the Israeli military said that its troops, which were stationed outside the site, had fired warning shots. Inside the aid stations, private American contractors are providing security. In the end, most of the crowd left the area without getting any food, and in a statement, the

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said, quote, the needs on the ground are great. Now three quick updates on the Trump administration. The State Department has announced it's temporarily pausing all new student visa interviews as it expands scrutiny of international students. The government has been increasingly scouring the social media accounts of people who want to study in the U.S. and has revoked hundreds of visas in recent months, including from people who spoke out against the war in Gaza. Foreign students with existing appointments will still likely be able to go through the

interview process, but a broader cutoff in international students could be a blow to many universities, since they tend to pay full tuition and are a substantial source of revenue. Also, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is deploying a new strategy to try and quickly deport more migrants. It's ramping up arrests at courthouses. ICE officers are now stationed at some immigration courts

around the country, waiting for migrants to get through scheduled hearings. If the judges dismiss their cases, the officers can take them into custody immediately, potentially fast-tracking their deportations. In a recent case in New York, a 20-year-old from Venezuela who was enrolled in a public high school was arrested in a courthouse lobby. He'd shown up with his mother, but no lawyer since he thought it would just be a routine

hearing. And… As of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC-recommended immunization schedule. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday that the government will no longer recommend the COVID vaccine to healthy children and pregnant women. The decision upends decades of precedent. Vaccine recommendations are typically made by advisors for

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a group was scheduled to vote on COVID vaccines in June. Kennedy's announcement effectively voids that step. The move means insurance companies could now deny coverage for the shot, potentially putting it out of reach for some Americans. Kennedy, who's long questioned and undermined vaccination efforts, said he made the decision because there wasn't enough data to support giving the shots,

though the vaccines have been shown to provide some protections for kids and newborns. For more on Kennedy's decision, including how medical experts are reacting to the news, listen to today's episode of The Daily. episode of The Daily. The Times has been covering a new twist in America's homelessness crisis, a surge in the number of unhoused seniors. In recent years, the number of people over 65 who are homeless has grown by 50%. Among that group is a subset of older Americans who have experienced homelessness at a uniquely high rate throughout their lives. Late baby boomers, or people born from the mid 1950s to the mid 60s.

They entered the workforce during the switch to the post-industrial economy where blue collar labor paid less and had fewer union protections. Many of them were hit by the crack epidemic in the mid 1980s. Housing prices soared, housing aid faltered. There were a whole variety of things that happened in society that made this generation more vulnerable to homelessness. My colleague Jason DeParle covers poverty for the Times. He's based in Washington, DC.

Mr. Forrest, how old are you? 70. It's Anthony, A-N-T-H. F-O-R-R-N-T-H. Anthony. capital F-O-R-R-E-S-T. I met a man named Anthony Forrest, who in one person seemed to embody a great many of the factors at play

in this story of why one generation became at higher risk of homelessness. How long have you been unhoused? 10, better, off and on. He had struggled through his life with a series of low-wage jobs that never really led anywhere. He was never in a union. He didn't get a pension. He was hanging out on the streets in a drug-heavy neighborhood right as crack hit. Was arrested on several drug charges over the years which has just made it harder for him to find housing. But he had one safety net.

He had his mother who had a career as a teaching aide, and she had a union pension, and she had a kind of solidity, stability that he didn't have. He could always go home to mom's and sleep on the couch, which is what he did. And then when his mom was in her early 80s, she had a heart attack, went to a nursing home and Mr. Forrest was on the street. Jason says that Anthony Forrest's story is not unique. In a survey of homeless people over age 50, more than one in eight said they first lost their housing after the death of a friend or relative.

For Forrest though, his years on the streets of DC might be coming to an end. Recently, outreach workers helped get him on the list for a subsidized apartment, and he's now been tentatively offered a place of his own. And finally, 29,032 feet above Nepal, a controversy is brewing. Last week, a group of British mountaineers flew to Mount Everest from London, scaled the world's highest peak, and returned home, all in less than seven days. Their secret? Xenon gas.

The team was part of an experimental effort to use the gas to cut down on the adjustment period for high-altitude climbing. Normally, climbers who want to get to the top of sky-high mountains have to spend weeks at a base camp adjusting to the thinner air. But ahead of this climb, the team got hooked up to ventilators and had an anesthesiologist administer the xenon, which basically tricked their blood cells into thinking they were already high up. The only reason why we are using this is to protect the climbers from high altitude sickness.

We can see people dying on Everest every year, and this is maybe one step to improve this situation and to make climbing high altitude mountains safer. In an interview with the Associated Press, the organizer of the expedition said that climbers spending less time on the mountain will reduce the dangers of climbing and the environmental impact, and he's planning to start offering more xenon-fueled expeditions to Everest next year. But the head of Nepal's tourism department, which regulates climbs on Everest, blasted the plan, saying it was against climbing ethics and that shorter trips would hurt the country's

economy and the sherpas who help climbers up the mountain. One mountaineer the Times talked with said the ultra-fast ascents also raise a bigger question about the point of summiting peaks at all, asking, quote, Is it really a good idea that we can all have what we want, when we want, as quick as we want? Are we missing out on the sacrifice you sometimes have to make to get the achievement? Are we missing out on the sacrifice you sometimes have to make to get the achievement? Those are the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis. Tracy Mumford will be back tomorrow.