Headlines May 19, 2026 from Democracy Now!

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday that the city’s first municipally owned grocery store will open in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx next year. The 20,000-square-foot store will be located inside the Peninsula, an affordable housing and mixed-use development. The plan is part of a broader $70 million initiative to open one city-owned store in each of the five boroughs. Under the proposal, the stores would pay no rent or property taxes, keeping overhead costs low. The plan still requires City Council approval. This is Mayor Mamdani.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “Standing here this morning, I cannot help but think of the words of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan. He famously said, 'The nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I'm from the government, and I’m here to help.”’ It’s a good quote, but I disagree. I think nine more terrifying words are actually 'I worked all day and can't feed my family.’ We are going to use the power of government to lower prices and make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table.”

President Trump said Monday he had postponed an imminent U.S. attack on Iran at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Trump’s reversal came after he repeatedly threatened to launch new strikes, warning Iran “there won’t be anything left of them.”

President Donald Trump: “We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow, and I’ve put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran, and we’ll see what they amount to.”

It’s not clear whether there have been any breakthroughs in stalled talks to end the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran. Iranian negotiators continue to demand an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports, the release of Iran’s frozen assets and the lifting of international sanctions. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it remains skeptical, after President Trump twice ordered attacks on Iran while negotiations were underway.

Esmail Baghaei: “We approach every diplomatic process with deep distrust and serious skepticism in order to safeguard the national interests of Iran. Iran is aware that given the U.S.’s track record of undermining negotiations, it might repeat the same actions at any moment.”

The Trump administration has imposed a U.S. entry ban on foreigners who’ve traveled in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past three weeks. The order came as the World Health Organization said an outbreak of Ebola virus in the DRC and Uganda has reached 500 suspected cases and 130 suspected deaths, with those numbers expected to rise. This is the WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “I’m deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic.”

The WHO says the DRC will open three Ebola treatment centers in the eastern Ituri province, where the outbreak began. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control says a U.S. doctor tested positive for Ebola after working with a medical missionary group in Congo. Dr. Peter Stafford was exposed to the virus while treating patients in the capital of Ituri province. He’s been evacuated to Germany for treatment. Click here to see our interview with Dr. Craig Spencer, who was positive for Ebola virus about a decade ago but now is critiquing U.S. policy on Ebola and other viruses.

Israeli forces are continuing to intercept ships with a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla off the coast of Cyprus. More than 50 ships with the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from the Turkish port city of Marmaris last week. According to organizers, Israeli forces have intercepted 41 of their boats in the eastern Mediterranean, about 250 nautical miles from Gaza, which is under an Israeli maritime blockade. Video shows armed Israeli commandos climbing onto boats. Three hundred thirty-seven activists have been taken into custody. Ten boats are still sailing toward Gaza. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Italy and Greece in solidarity with the Gaza-bound activists as world leaders condemned the raid. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wrote on social media, “The world cannot continue to bow to tyranny and corruption. The oppression against Palestinians and those who mobilize and deliver humanitarian aid must be stopped immediately, and Israel must face justice and accountability!” This is Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “I curse in the strongest terms this act of piracy and banditry against the passengers of hope on the Sumud flotilla, comprised of citizens of 40 different countries. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure the safe return of our citizens on the flotilla. We call on the international community to take action against Israel’s lawless and rule-breaking actions.”

In California, two teenage attackers fatally shot three people on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County. Among the dead was a security guard, Amin Abdullah, a father of eight, who police said played a pivotal role in saving lives. The suspects, aged 17 and 19, were found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a car near the scene. Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime. Law enforcement officials told CNN that hate speech was scrawled on one of the weapons. A suicide note that contained writings about racial pride was also found, according to the officials. The Council on American-Islamic Relations noted the attack comes as anti-Muslim bias complaints reached their highest level on record last year, with 8,683 complaints filed nationwide. This is Taha Hassane, the imam and director of the Islamic Center of San Diego.

Taha Hassane: “My community is mourning. This is something that we have never expected to take place. But at the same time, the religious intolerance and the hate, unfortunately, that exists in our nation is unprecedented.”

In Minnesota, prosecutors have filed criminal charges against an ICE officer who allegedly shot a Venezuelan immigrant in north Minneapolis during an immigration raid in January — and then lied about what happened. On Monday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that federal agent Christian Castro will face four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.

Mary Moriarty: “The four counts of assault are a result of Mr. Castro shooting through the front door of a residence with the intent to cause fear of immediate bodily harm or death to the four adults who were just inside the door. These charges have activated a nationwide warrant for his arrest.”

Venezuelan immigrant Julio Sosa-Celis suffered a leg wound when Castro allegedly shot him through the door. The Trump administration initially claimed Castro fired in self-defense after accusing Sosa-Celis and another man of beating an officer with a broom handle and snow shovel. A federal judge later dismissed those charges after video evidence clearly contradicted it. This comes as Hennepin County prosecutors continue to investigate the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents during the Trump administration’s violent immigration enforcement campaign known as Operation Metro Surge. We’ll go to Minneapolis later in the broadcast.

A new report finds more than 100,000 children in the U.S. have had a parent detained since the Trump administration began its mass deportation campaign last year. That’s far more than under President Trump’s first term and more than double the number of family separations that would be projected using government data. The finding comes from a Brookings Institution study that estimates some 400,000 people have been booked into ICE jails since January of 2025.

The Justice Department announced Monday it will create a $1.776 billion fund to make payments to Trump supporters who say they were wrongly investigated or prosecuted by previous administrations. The so-called anti-weaponization fund would be overseen by five commissioners, four of whom would be appointed by the attorney general to serve at the pleasure of the president. The announcement came as part of a settlement agreement between President Trump and his own administration, after Trump, his sons and their family business sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of Trump’s tax returns by an IRS employee. Following Monday’s announcement, the Treasury Department’s top lawyer resigned. Brian Morrissey leaves his post just seven months after his Senate confirmation. He did not respond to reporters’ requests for comment. Democrats have accused Trump of creating a “slush fund” for his MAGA allies, including insurrectionists who joined the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. On Monday, 93 Democratic lawmakers filed an amicus brief in federal court seeking to block the fund. Virginia Congressmember Don Beyer wrote, “He’s just stealing your money. There’s no transparency, we won’t know who gets paid, or how much. It’s illegal and corrupt as hell. We’re fighting it in court.”

The EPA proposed Monday to kill drinking water limits for four so-called forever chemicals set by the Biden administration in 2024. The EPA said it will keep limits on PFOA and PFOS, the two most widely studied PFAS compounds, but will allow some water utilities to extend their compliance deadline from 2029 to 2031. The rollbacks could delay or eliminate drinking water protections for up to 105 million people. PFAS have been linked to cancer, thyroid disease, liver damage, decreased fertility and immune system damage. In a statement, Katherine O’Brien, senior attorney at Earthjustice, said, “This move only underscores that the Trump administration’s [Make America Healthy Again] rhetoric is just that — empty rhetoric — and it will leave children and families to bear the cost of continued drinking water contamination.”

Here in New York, the Long Island Rail Road strike ended Monday night after the MTA and five unions reached a tentative agreement, ending a three-day work stoppage that paralyzed the largest commuter rail system in the United States. Over the weekend, 3,500 unionized workers walked off the job for the first LIRR strike in over 30 years. The deal still needs to be ratified by members of the five unions, and if rejected, the strike could resume.