WSJ What’s News - Biden Diagnosed With Aggressive Prostate Cancer

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

A.M. Edition for May 19. Former President Joe Biden and his family are reviewing treatment options with his doctors, as representatives say the disease has spread to his bones. Plus, Israel says it will start allowing aid into Gaza for the first time in months, as the Israeli military expands its ground operation in the enclave. And Journal foreign correspondent Georgi Kantchev on what to expect from President Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin today after Russia unleashed a drone barrage on Ukraine. Azhar Sukri hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Public Mobile, different is calling. Former President Joe Biden is diagnosed with prostate cancer just months after leaving office. Plus, President Trump is set to speak with Vladimir Putin today, as the Russian president slow walks Ukraine peace talks, and American assets sell off again as Moody's cuts the US's credit rating. Stocks especially had rallied a lot in the last couple weeks, but I think the more important part of the market is the bond market.

The 30-year rate touched 5% early this morning. The dollar fell again. Those parts of the market haven't rallied. It's Monday, May 19th. I'm Azhar Sukri for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Luke Vargas. Here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer just months after he left office. His representatives said Sunday that the cancer has spread to his bones, but that the disease

appears to be hormone sensitive, which allows for effective management. Biden and his family are reviewing treatment options with his doctors. Biden, who was 82 when he left office in January, has come under scrutiny for age-related mental and physical declines he suffered while he was President. President Trump wrote on his Truth Social channel that he and First Lady Melania Trump, quote, are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis, unquote. He wished Biden a fast and successful recovery. President Trump is hoping to secure a Ukraine peace deal in calls today with Russia's Vladimir

Putin, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky and NATO leaders. It comes as Moscow yesterday launched one of the largest aerial barrages of the war, killing at least one person and injuring three in the capital Kiev. Journal Foreign Correspondent Georgi Kanchev joins me now. Georgi, this is the third call between Trump and Putin this year so far. What are we expecting? So this call is crucial because ultimately the discussions between Ukraine, Russia, the West, they're about an immediate ceasefire. But at the same time, Russia has been resisting such a truce. And for that reason, it's not very clear how much this could accomplish. On Friday Russia again came to the Istanbul

talks with their maximalist demands that Ukraine's troops withdraw from these four regions which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2022. Of course this is a complete non-starter for Ukraine and Russia came up with other demands as well, something they call the root causes of the conflict, which include basically questioning Ukraine's whole sovereignty and the expansion of NATO. So we're seeing so far that Russia has not moved back an inch from its demands. And while Trump, of course, has had direct contact with Putin, it's not very clear how much this call can actually accomplish given that Russia is continuing to hold to its maximalist demands. Indeed, Georgi. And in fact, Russia has continued to keep up the pressure on Ukraine, hasn't

it? Absolutely. Yesterday, Russia launched one of its largest aerial barrages of the war. They deployed over 270 drones across Ukraine, people were killed. Ukraine has said that Russia is preparing the ground for potential summer offensive. So on the ground, as in the diplomatic realm, we're not seeing the Russians really giving any concessions or preparing for any meaningful cessation in military activity. Of course, there is pressure from the United States, potentially devastating economic sanctions

on Russia, which the Europeans have said would kick in if Russia doesn't agree to ceasefire. So far this has not happened. But this is of course something to watch, maybe even for today's call, in case Trump threatens Putin with more economic sanctions in case Putin doesn't agree to ceasefire. And after Trump speaks to Putin, he is due also to speak to Zelensky and NATO leaders. What do we know about those calls? I think European leaders will continue to press the US president to impose sanctions on Russia.

And Trump seemed to agree at some point that new sanctions should be on the horizon but now that's not very clear because at the same time in his weekend social media post where he announced the call with Putin he said that besides a conflict in Ukraine they would also discuss trade and that's something that obviously Russia definitely welcomes they're really keen on resetting the relationship with the US. But from Zelensky's point of view,

it's a tough situation because Ukraine agreed to ceasefire in March, Russia didn't. And now Zelensky needs to convince Trump ultimately, and the Europeans too, they need to convince Trump that if Russia doesn't agree to that truce, some serious action must follow. But we just have to see what Trump's reaction will be after he speaks to Putin. Georgi Kanchev, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you. Israel's military is continuing extensive ground operations in Gaza that began on Sunday. They're trying to bisect the St strip, demilitarise Hamas and release the remaining hostages. It follows a wave of airstrikes targeting Hamas infrastructure, such as weapons storage facilities and underground sites. A senior Israeli official said a strike last week targeting Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar likely killed him. Journal reporter Carrie Keller-Lynn has the latest from Tel Aviv. This new offensive in Gaza comes 19 months into the war and at the point in which a hunger crisis has been looming because Israel basically has blocked all aid into Gaza since the

ceasefire with Hamas lapsed in early March. Over 250 Palestinians have been killed since Friday night when Israel intensified airstrikes and hit over 670 targets in the past 48 hours, according to local health authorities. And fresh Israeli troops rolled into Gaza on Sunday to expand a ground operation in what Israel's calling a new phase and a different strategy for this war. While part of the offensive includes bisecting the Gaza Strip, which aid groups have warned would be very disruptive to Palestinian civilians, Kerry says some aid relief is planned. Israel has said specifically that they plan to move massive civilian populations in connection to a humanitarian aid distribution plan that they plan to roll out with the use of private

American contractors later this month. Now, today, Israel is expected to let in the first of basic humanitarian food aid that Gaza will have seen since early March. This comes under pressure from negotiators, pressure from the United States, and amid weeks of calls from humanitarian aid groups, really decrying the situation in Gaza where hunger is becoming quite widespread. Coming up, markets sell off as Moody's cuts its US credit rating, and NJ Transit reaches a deal with engineers to end a rail strike that has impacted hundreds of thousands of commuters. Both stories and more after the break. for complete terms and conditions. Markets are under pressure this morning

after Moody's became the last of the big three rating agencies to knock the US off its AAA perch. Stock markets around the world have slipped, with US futures also pointing to a down day, and Treasuries similarly taking a knock. Finance editor Alex Fraggost says that while the move wasn't unexpected, it does speak to the current economic picture. Given the really high deficits in Washington and the policy uncertainty created over the last few months, people kind of thought it was inevitable unless there was some big compromise in Congress to bring the deficit down. It does crystallize the moment and stocks especially had rallied a lot in the last couple of weeks as the fears over the tariff war had ebbed a little bit.

So the market was a little bit primed to sell off. But I think the more important part of the market is the bond market. The 30-year rate touched 5% early this morning. The dollar fell again. Those parts of the market haven't rallied during the tariff pause and continue to sell off what people are calling the sell America trade. So that's the part that has people on edge a bit. And we'll get some clues on what the Fed makes of Moody's ratings cut and the sell-off in

US assets. A slew of Federal Reserve officials are speaking this week, with Vice-Chair Philip Jefferson kicking things off with a speech this morning at 8.45am Eastern. Nvidia is working with Foxconn to build an AI supercomputer in Taiwan. Nvidia said researchers from Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC also plan to use the system to advance its research and development. The news comes as Nvidia looks to ramp up revenues and get ahead of competitors rushing to build crucial and lucrative AI infrastructure. Just last week, the company announced its partnering with state-backed Humane to build a massive AI data centre in Saudi

Arabia. And we are exclusively reporting that GM is racing to reverse California's EV mandate, which would restrict the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Becky Peterson co-wrote the story and says the automaker is backing a bipartisan Senate bill that could prevent states from setting their own tailpipe emissions targets as soon as this week. Initially, GM had its own targets to end the sales of nearly all gas-only vehicles by 2035 and supported the California target. But the company has also tried to advocate for a national standard. Right now there are states that are regulated by the EPA rules, which are less strict, and

there's the 12 states, including California, that have adopted the stricter regulations. In the meantime, the EV market has taken a downturn. So while three years ago when the rules were set, US automakers couldn't keep up with demand. Now EV sales are beginning to decline. And it's not just GM and alliance of US automakers including Stellantis, Ford and Toyota, and even some states say they aren't ready for the full transition to electric vehicles. States like New Jersey and New York that have adopted the California rules are fearful that people will just drive across state lines to buy gas-powered cars in states that don't have the mandate.

I spoke with one analyst who said that he thinks the car companies would have to dramatically alter how they distribute cars around the country in ways that don't correspond with consumer demand. So you might see all of the EVs being manufactured going to states like California, while states that don't have any mandate won't get any at all. A spokeswoman for the California regulator that sets the auto mandates said the rules provide ample flexibility to enable car companies to meet them.

And that's it for What's News for this Monday morning. Today's show was produced by Kate Boulevent and Daniel Barque, our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff, and I'm Azhar Sukri for the Wall Street Journal, filling in for Luke Vargas. We'll be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening.