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'Lot of heartache, pain': Palestinian protesters call for solidarity at DNC march
As the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago on Monday, a coalition of nearly 300 organizations came together for the March on the DNC.
“We are here gathered from all of our different communities to call for an end to US aid to Israel,” said Kobi Guillory, coalition co-chair and a middle school science teacher.
Starting at noon, he and dozens of speakers spoke to thousands of protesters at Union Park on Chicago’s Near West Side before marching less than one mile to Park 578, just two blocks from the United Center.
Later that evening, inside the stadium, Democrats kicked off the convention with US President Joe Biden as the featured speaker. “Those protesters out on the street, they have a point; a lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides,” he said.
While the group primarily called for a ceasefire in Gaza, they also stood up for a long list of issues, including abortion, immigration, and worker’s rights.
“At the end of the day, we have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, that is the United States government that takes our tax money and uses it on police who kill people, on prisons which unjustly incarcerate people and on bombs overseas instead of using them to adequately fund education, health care, housing, and things like that,” said Guillory.
An African-American who grew up in South Africa, he said he’s motivated to support the Palestinian people who stood by him during protests after the killing of George Floyd in 2020.“There were Palestinians on the front lines with us, putting their bodies on the line for us for Black people.”
“I’m here today because my dad immigrated from Palestine; my family had to move in 1948,” said Jousef Shkoukani, a Chicago lawyer who joined the crowd.
“It’s incredibly unfortunate that both DNC and RNC candidates in this 2024 election continuously support Israel’s leadership and their decision for this ongoing genocide, notwithstanding the world calling for a permanent ceasefire,” he said.
Margaret Lau, an Asian-American woman, traveled from west suburban Naperville carrying a poster covered with pictures of wounded children in Gaza.
“I’m a human being. When I hear about what’s happening to children, to everybody, it’s hard not to stand up to say something when children are maimed, killed, deprived of water,” said the mother of two.
“If you open the list of deceased people and put in your last name, you’ll find 14 people who have passed. Everyone knows someone,” said one Palestinian woman in the crowd. She declined to share her name, explaining she’d faced harassment after appearing on the cover of the Chicago Tribune while showing support for the Chicago City Council’s ceasefire resolution earlier this year.
“People were calling me a terrorist on Facebook and Linkedin,” she said, “I was anxious because I started thinking about my family and job opportunities.”
Still, she chose to attend Monday’s events. “I needed to be a part of it.”
Acknowledgement of pain on both sides
“If all of these groups had come together to condemn October 7, we wouldn’t have this war. If one of them called for the release of hostages, we’d be in a very different place,” said Dan Goldwin, Executive Director, Public Affairs, Jewish United Fund, Chicago.
“Between October 7 and now, obviously, there’s been a lot of destruction, a lot of heartache, a lot of pain, I would say disproportionately on the Palestinian side, but it would be unjust to say that there isn’t pain on the Israeli side as well,“ said Shkoukani.
“It’s going to take all of us to come together and try our best to truly try to understand each other more, really hone in on empathy, and really try to figure out how to make things work over there. We’ve got to find a way to have everlasting peace,” Shkoukani added.
US negotiators to head to Pakistan and Iranian cargo ship seized – a recappublished at 00:37 BST 20 April
Tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday
Here’s a recap of the latest developments.
US negotiators will head to Pakistan on Monday with the intention of holding further talks on ending the war, Trump says – but Iranian state media cites unnamed officials as saying Tehran has “no plans for now to participate”.
The prospect of further high-level negotiations – a White House official says Vice-President JD Vance will attend – comes amid reports of fresh attacks on commercial vessels.
Trump says the navy intercepted and took “custody” of an Iranian tanker attempting to pass through the US blockade, “blowing a hole” in the ship’s engine room in the process.
Earlier, in the same post announcing his representatives would travel for more talks, Trump renewed his threat to destroy Iranian energy sites and bridges if no deal is reached.
Reports in Iranian media over the weekend suggest Iran is continuing to work on plans to potentially apply a toll to ships passing through the strait – although it’s unclear if such a move will be implemented.
Iranian state TV cites unnamed officials as saying that “continuation of the so-called naval blockade, violation of the ceasefire and threatening US rhetoric” are slowing progress in reaching an agreement.
Trump also accused Iran of violating the ceasefire, saying more commercial ships have been attacked by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
A UK maritime agency reported two commercial ships came under fire in the strait on Saturday.
Iran’s foreign minister had said on Friday that the strait would be opened – which was shortly followed by Trump saying the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until a deal is reached. Iran has since said the strait is closed again.
new video loaded: 8 Children Killed in Louisiana Shooting, Police Say
By Christina Kelso
April 19, 2026
An aerial view shows damage from a tornado, on Saturday in Lena, Ill.
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Communities across the Upper Midwest are cleaning up after tornadoes and severe weather impacted the region over the weekend, damaging and destroying dozens of homes and knocking out power for tens of thousands.
“Numerous” severe storms were tracked across parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. At least 66 tornado reports were submitted in multiple states including Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa, the NWS Quad Cities IA/IL office said Sunday.
No deaths have been reported from the severe weather and tornado outbreak.
In Marion Township in Minnesota, about 30 homes were damaged and a dozen have significant damage because of a tornado, according to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office. The tornado also damaged at least 20 homes in Stewartville and there is a temporary shelter in Rochester for people displaced by the storms, according to MPR News.
“Tornado disaster recovery continues to occur at full speed,” the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said on Saturday.
In Illinois, McClean County officials declared a disaster emergency because of severe storms in Bloomington. “At this time, no injuries have been reported, and emergency response agencies remain actively engaged to ensure public safety and continuity of essential services,” officials said in a statement.
But further north in the village of Lena, an EF-2 tornado caused the “most significant damage” where “many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees uprooted, and power lines downed,” the NWS said. Numerous roads have also been blocked by debris, the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office also said.
People continue to clean up following a tornado, on Saturday in Lena, Ill.
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There have been no fatalities and no reports of serious injuries associated with the storm, Chief Deputy Andy Schroeder from the Stephenson County Sheriff’s Office told NPR on Sunday.
More than 43,000 customers lost power in Illinois but power was restored to almost all of them by Saturday night, according to electric utility ComEd.
Several tornadoes also occurred across Wisconsin, according to the NWS office in La Crosse. Twenty-six tornado warnings were issued by the office on Friday, the most in one day since the weather service office was built in 1995.
In one Marathon County town, 75 homes were destroyed by a tornado, according to Ringle Fire Chief Chris Kielman.
“It took out a whole residential area,” Kielman said, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
The American Red Cross of Wisconsin said volunteers are helping those impacted by the storm with meals, shelter and support.
Parts of the state are still dealing with multiple rounds of severe weather and tornadoes from earlier in the week that brought flooding to some communities.
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