Author: CNN

Dr. Mahmoud Sabha was among the American doctors who were evacuated after being trapped in Gaza this week after Israel’s military offensive in Rafah shuttered a critical border crossing where they were planning to exit.  

Sabha, 39, a Dallas-based doctor who specializes in wound care, was on his second humanitarian trip to Gaza that was supposed to end last Monday. 

His wife, Dr. Samaiya Mushtaq, learned his plans to leave were on hold last Friday afternoon in a voicemail. 

“He said we’re not leaving on Monday and I remember listening to it and just responding, ‘No – no, no, no,'” she told CNN in a phone interview. 

She described an intensely emotional week amid the uncertainty: “I didn’t think this would be morally or legally allowed.” 

Three of the American doctors stayed behind on Friday as 17 were able to evacuate. 

Early Friday morning, her husband contacted her to say there was the possibility of an evacuation. He called again when he had reached the border and was in Jerusalem Friday evening eastern time. 

Still, she said, “I think he’d go back. I think the call to help this incredibly vulnerable population is a humanitarian call. He would go back if there were an opportunity to rebuild the hospital systems.” 

Ahead of Sunday’s commencement address, President Joe Biden consulted with prominent Black public figures for weeks and White House officials traveled to Morehouse College’s campus to hold forth with students and faculty and attempt to quell their concerns.

During a meeting in early May, roughly half of the two-hour conversation focused on the conflict in Gaza, one source said. Stephen Benjamin, the director of the White House office of public engagement, said he and the students had a wide-ranging conversation, which again included the conflict in the Middle East.

Students are also concerned that their achievements will be overshadowed by a stump speech, according to people familiar with the discussions. They have expressed frustration that the format of the event and the level of security required for such a high-profile visit resulted in limited tickets for family members, many of whom must watch from an overflow room.

Biden’s scheduled appearance at Morehouse is a shift in strategy as the president has largely shied away from addressing large crowds of young people on college campuses, a change that came shortly after his January remarks on abortion rights at Virginia’s George Mason University were interrupted more than a dozen times by protesters outraged at his continued support for Israel in its war in Gaza.

The Middle East conflict spurred more than 1,360 student demonstrations on campuses across the country from October 7 to May 3, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. 

US House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, days after the International Criminal Court announced it is seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli leader.

Ahead of the call, Johnson said he spoke with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and agreed to sign the invitation for Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress. 

Johnson said House Republican leaders are getting down to the “fine points” on how to respond to the ICC. Johnson confirmed Monday they were looking at sanctions in response to the decision.

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said he plans to speak with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday about legislation to sanction the international tribunal.

Remember: The ICC is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades who is better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Ivana Kottasová, Madalena Araujo and Lauren Fox contributed to this post.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Pro golfer Scottie Scheffler dragged a uniformed officer to the ground after attempting to drive past the scene of an accident Friday morning, according to a Louisville Metro Police Department report obtained by CNN affiliate WLKY.

Scheffler was trying to gain access to the golf course when he was stopped by an officer wearing a full police uniform and a yellow reflective rain jacket, the report says. The officer, identified as Detective Bryan Gillis, stopped Scheffler and tried to give instructions.

The detective experienced pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee, and was taken to the hospital for further treatment, the report adds.

Scheffler was charged with felony second-degree assault on a police officer, along with lesser charges of third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic, according to Jefferson County court records. He has since been released from custody.

What Scheffler has said: The golfer said in a statement earlier Friday that he didn’t mean to disregard instructions and that it had been a “big misunderstanding” in the “chaotic situation” surrounding the crash investigation.

CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed reporting to this post.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance said he attended Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Tuesday to support the former president.

Vance reiterated how he has “never spoken” to Trump about being his vice president. He said the running mate speculation did not come up when he appeared in court with Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Other potential vice president contenders, such as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, were also in attendance.

“I see these same media reports that everyone else does,” Vance said. “I certainly want to be helpful to the president, however, whatever form that takes, but I have never spoken to Donald Trump about becoming his vice president.” 

Using the same language as Burgum, Vance described Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen as a “serial perjurer.” He also argued that the gag order was an insult to Trump and the American people.

Slovaks have been deeply divided over the country’s direction and position in the world since Prime Minister Robert Fico was reelected last year. Supporters see Fico as a caring leader who has their interests at heart while critics say he is a populist whose pro-Russian leanings pose major risks for the country.

Since taking the top job in October, Fico has brought about a major pivot in Slovakia’s foreign policy and its previously staunch support for Ukraine. He pledged an immediate end to military support for Kyiv against the Russian invasion and promised to block Ukraine’s ambitions of joining NATO.

Domestically, his coalition government is also pushing controversial reforms that have led to weeks of large-scale peaceful protests. Attempts to overhaul the criminal justice system have been particularly controversial as the government seeks to reduce penalties for corruption. It has already abolished Slovakia’s special prosecutor’s office, which was tasked with investigating serious and politically sensitive corruption cases, including some that involved people connected to Fico and his party SMER (“Direction – Social Democracy”).

The Slovakian government is also trying to shut down public service broadcaster RTVS, planning to replace it with a new national broadcaster that would be under tighter government control.

Before his stunning political comeback last year, Fico had spent more than a decade as prime minister. He was forced to resign in March 2018 after weeks of mass protests sparked by the murders of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. Kuciak had reported on corruption among the country’s elite.

This year’s tightly contested presidential election saw Fico cement his grip on power as his ally Peter Pellegrini was elected into the role.

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CNN
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I’ve been working steadily for hours but feel as if I haven’t even started. My attention is being pulled from my assigned task — writing this story — by a myriad of what I believe are necessary work interruptions. (OK, a couple were from my cat, who also firmly believes in their necessity.)

My kids and I call days like this “squirrel days” in honor of Dug, the talking dog in (squirrel !!) the 2009 Pixar movie “Up,” who (squirrel !!) was constantly distracted by well, just about (squirrel !!) …

Unfortunately, all too many of us are having “squirrel” days, according to Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, who studies how digital media affects our lives. In her book “Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity,” Mark explains how decades of research have tracked the decline of the ability to focus.

“In 2004, we measured the average attention on a screen to be 2½ minutes,” Mark said. “Some years later, we found attention spans to be about 75 seconds. Now we find people can only pay attention to one screen for an average of 47 seconds.”

Not only do people concentrate for less than a minute on any one screen, Mark said, but when attention is diverted from an active work project, they take about 25 minutes to refocus on that task. (Wait, what??)

“In fact, our research shows it takes 25 minutes, 26 seconds, before we go back to the original working sphere or project,” Mark said.

How can that be? “If we look at work in terms of switching projects, as opposed to the micro view of switching screens, we find people spend about 10½ minutes in any work project before being interrupted — internally or by someone else — and then switch to another work project,” Mark said.

Yes, but then we go back to the original work, right? Wrong, Mark said. Instead, when we are interrupted on project two, we switch yet again to a different task — call it project three. Unbelievably, her research has shown we are also interrupted on project three and move on to project four.

“And then you go back and pick up the original interrupted project,” Mark said. “But it’s not like you’re interrupted and you do nothing. For over 25 minutes, you’re actually working on other things.”

(At least I can tell my boss that when I miss my deadline.)

“However, there’s also a switch cost,” Mark added. “A switch cost is the time it takes you to reorient back to your work: ‘Where was I? What was I thinking of?’ That additional effort can also lead to errors and stress.”

Why is all of this a problem? After all, it’s called multitasking, thought by many to be a highly prized skill for coping with the demands of the information age.

“With the exception of a few rare individuals, there is no such thing as multitasking,” Mark said. “Unless one of the tasks is automatic, like chewing gum or walking, you cannot do two effortful things at the same time.”

For example, she said, you can’t read email and be in a video meeting. When you focus on one thing, you lose the other. “You’re actually switching your attention very quickly between the two,” Mark said. “And when you switch your attention fast, it’s correlated with stress.”

Blood pressure rises. Heart rate speeds up. Psychological measures of stress also show negative outcomes, she said, such as more fatigue and mistakes and less productivity: “The more people multitask, the more errors they make.”

Who did this to us? We did, of course, with the help of tech culprits such as social media, tablets and television. But Mark blames email the most.

“To me, email is probably the worst because it’s become a symbol of work,” she said, adding that her research has found a direct correlation between email and more stress.

“We cut off email for some workers in an organization for one workweek,” she said. “Using heart rate monitors, we found that they became significantly less stressed and were able to focus significantly longer.”

(I find myself pausing to look up flights to Bora Bora. Oh, right. They have email there, too.)

“There’s no way that a person can just completely cut off from technology and work in today’s world,” Mark said. “So let’s learn how to live with it in a way that maintains our positive well-being.”

Regaining your focus requires you to be mindful of how you are using technology, Mark said, a daunting task if you consider the average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens.

Paradoxically, you can use technology to help, she said. Schedule rote work for the first part of the day when you’re not fully alert, then use technology to block distractions when you’re at your mental best. At night, offload tasks from your brain by writing them down and then put the list away.

Distracted by social media sites? Hide them, Mark said: “Take the icons off your desktop and bury the apps on your phone inside folders, where it takes an extra effort to find them. Leave your phone in another room or put it in a drawer and lock it.”

It’s also important to learn when to take a break. “If you have to read something more than once or if the words are just not registering, it’s time to stop and replenish,” she said.

The best break is a walk in nature: “Just a 20-minute walk in nature can help significantly relax people,” Mark said. “And we found it can help people produce significantly more ideas — it’s called divergent thinking.”

Too cold to walk outside? Do something engaging that takes no mental effort.

“I have a friend who is an MIT professor, and his favorite activity is matching socks,” Mark said. “Another friend likes to iron. Ideas can incubate and then we come back to the hard work, and we see it with fresh eyes.”