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Afrikaner ruckus, Hamas 'good faith' release and Trump's drug order

 
Today's IMMIGRATION story

White Afrikaners land in US as Trump-declared refugees

What happened
Trump administration officials yesterday welcomed the first 59 white South Africans classified as refugees under an exception President Donald Trump made to his near-total ban on admitting fugitives from war and persecution. Trump's fast-tracked carveout for the Afrikaners, who arrived in Washington, D.C., on a U.S.-funded charter flight, drew outrage from refugee advocates and prompted the Episcopal Church to end its decades-old refugee resettlement partnership with the federal government.

Who said what
Trump said yesterday he was admitting Afrikaners as refugees because of the "genocide that's taking place" in South Africa, where "white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated." That characterization, The Associated Press said, "has been strongly disputed by South Africa's government, experts and even the Afrikaner group AfriForum." Claiming white South Africans are persecuted is a "total absurdity," Afrikaner author Max du Preez told the BBC. 

White South Africans, who make up about 7% of the country's population, "have remained by far the most privileged race since apartheid ended 30 years ago," Reuters said. They still own three-quarters of private land and "about 20 times the wealth of the Black majority," but claims of Black discrimination against Afrikaners have been "repeated so often in online chatrooms that it has become orthodoxy for the far right," echoed by Trump's "white South African–born ally" Elon Musk. 

"Relatively few" of the 2.7 million Afrikaners "have indicated they're keen to take Trump up on his offer of refuge," The Wall Street Journal said.

What next?
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday she was ending temporary protected status for Afghan refugees on July 12, claiming an "improved security situation" and "stabilizing economy" in Taliban-run Afghanistan. It is "painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment" over "brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country," Episcopal Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe said. 

 
 
Today's INTERnATIONAL story

Hamas frees US hostage in deal sidelining Israel

What happened
Hamas yesterday released Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old U.S.-Israeli soldier and the final living U.S. citizen the militant group held since taking hundreds of Israelis hostage 585 days ago. President Donald Trump, whose envoys negotiated Alexander's release directly with Hamas, called it a "step taken in good faith" to "put an end to this very brutal war" in Gaza.

Who said what
Amid the celebrations in Israel, the U.S. success in freeing Alexander "created a backlash" against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Associated Press said. Critics assert that his "insistence on keeping up the war in Gaza is politically motivated" and puts his own interests over the lives of the 23 hostages believed to still be alive.

Netanyahu "sought to persuade a skeptical public" last night that his "decision to prolong the war contributed to Alexander's release," The Washington Post said. But Israel "learned about the deal" only late Sunday, a development many Israelis "interpreted as a sign of increasingly strained relations" between Trump and their prime minister.

What next?
The backchannel talks with Hamas were the latest in a series of Trump administration moves that "sidelined or surprised the Israelis," The Wall Street Journal said. Combined with Trump's detente with Yemen's Houthis, nuclear talks with Iran and decision to skip Israel during his current Middle East trip, the Post said, "many Israelis are wondering whether Israel is the next U.S. ally to be left behind by a president they considered, just months ago, to be the most pro-Israel in history."

 
 
Today's Health care Story

Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order

What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order aimed at persuading pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of U.S. prescription drugs. Trump's order gives companies a 30-day deadline to start voluntarily lowering prices or face potential consequences. 

Who said what
The White House "teased the announcement as seismic," but Trump's order lacks "teeth" and "cites no obvious legal authority to mandate lower prices," The New York Times said. It was "something of a win" for drugmakers, which had been "bracing" for a "much more damaging" policy. "Far from demonizing pharmaceutical companies for high prices," The Washington Post said, Trump "focused his fire" on European countries "for negotiating drug prices so low" the U.S. picks up the "costs of innovation."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said while he agreed with Trump that U.S. drug prices are "an outrage," the problem was not that prices are "too low in Europe and Canada" but that the "extraordinarily greedy pharmaceutical industry" is "ripping off the American people." Besides, he added, "as Trump well knows, his executive order will be thrown out by the courts."

What next?
If drug companies do not lower their prices, Trump's order directs Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to develop a new rule that "ties the price the U.S. pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries," said The Associated Press.

 
 

It's not all bad

Bill Gates has pledged to give away 99% of his $108 billion fortune within 20 years, accelerating his charitable giving through the Gates Foundation. Inspired by Andrew Carnegie's "Gospel of Wealth," Gates said he refuses to "die rich" and is aiming to help eliminate poverty, preventable diseases and deadly infections. His foundation has already disbursed $100 billion and plans to donate another $200 billion, focusing on urgent global health and development challenges, before closing down by 2045.

 
 
Under the radar

The spaceflight company SpaceX has made itself a new home in Texas, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Earlier this month, 218 residents of Cameron County voted to incorporate the City of Starbase. Only people who lived inside the proposed city's boundaries could vote, and Starbase will serve as a "company town" for SpaceX, the brainchild of controversial tech mogul and DOGE head Elon Musk. 

Starbase is "made up almost exclusively of SpaceX employees and people connected to the company," said NBC News. It "covers about 1.5 square miles at the southern tip of Texas" and already houses SpaceX headquarters, Musk's primary residence and the facilities where the company "builds its boosters and engines and launches its huge Starship rocket on test flights." Its population is about 500.

SpaceX officials "have said little about exactly why they want a company town," said The Associated Press. But incorporation "clears the way for Musk to try to capture more control over the nearby public beach," Boca Chica, and rezone areas for development, The Texas Tribune said. Making Starbase a city will "help us continue building the best community possible for the men and women building the future of humanity's place in space," the city's X account said.

Starbase has "grown alongside Musk's ambitions — chiefly, developing a rocket that can land humans on Mars," said The Wall Street Journal. There's "talk of connecting the city to a local water system," said The New York Times, and plans to build a "power plant and commercial center along with a sushi restaurant near Mr. Musk's house."

 
 
On this day

May 13, 1950

Stevie Wonder was born (as Stevland Hardaway Judkins) in Saginaw, Michigan. Wonder, who lost his sight soon after birth due to retinopathy of prematurity, became one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The singer, songwriter and keyboardist has won the Grammy for Album of the Year three consecutive times and remains a popular figure.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

President Donald Trump's family "crypto auction sells White House access" to "investors from around the world," The New York Times says on Tuesday's front page. "Gifted Qatar plane would need extensive security upgrades" for Trump, at taxpayer expense, The Washington Post says. "Stocks surge" after "U.S., China slash tariffs for 90 days," The Wall Street Journal says. "GOP plan cuts billions from Medicaid," says The Minnesota Star Tribune. "Medicaid cuts could hurt hospitals," the Houston Chronicle says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Say yes to excess

Most weddings have three to five bridesmaids, but Kathryn and Jack McGowan chose 95 to walk down the aisle with them. Kathryn initially considered seven or eight attendants, but then wondered, "What's the biggest number of bridesmaids I could have?” she told the BBC. Participants ranged in age from 6 to 40, including many old friends and pupils from Kathryn's dance school. Of the 250 wedding guests, 38% were part of the bridal party.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Israeli Defense Forces / IDF / Handout / Anadolu via Getty Images; Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images