By Nate Raymond
May 22 (Reuters) - A lawyer for Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil vowed on Friday to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court declined to reconsider a ruling that opened the door to President Donald Trump's administration re-arresting and deporting the pro-Palestinian activist.
Several French pro-Palestinian activists on Friday described what they said was a violent and humiliating ordeal after they were detained by Israeli forces on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
Eight French nationals arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris from Turkey on Friday afternoon, to supporters shouting "Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people".
Two of the 36 French people who were on board the flotilla were still in hospital in Turkey, the returnees told awaiting reporters.
US President Donald Trump confirmed Friday he would miss his son's wedding, insisting he had to stay in Washington because of "circumstances pertaining to government."
Trump had said a day earlier that the Iran war made it "bad timing" for him to attend Donald Trump Jr's wedding to Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas this weekend.
Tehran accused the United States of "excessive demands", Iranian media said on Saturday, as US media reports raised the prospect that Washington was mulling new strikes and leaders of the Islamic republic considered the latest peace proposal.
Pakistan's powerful army chief arrived in Tehran on Friday to bolster mediation and US President Donald Trump abruptly changed his plans to skip his son's wedding to stay in Washington due to "circumstances pertaining to government", fuelling speculation that the situation had entered a sensitive stage.
WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday she is resigning from her job as President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, saying her husband had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and that she was stepping away from her role to help him.
Gabbard advised Trump of her intention to step down during an Oval Office meeting on Friday, Fox News Digital reported earlier. The resignation is effective June 30, it said.
A source familiar with the matter said that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House.
By Anna Uras, Rami Ayyub and Layli Foroudi
ROME/JERUSALEM/PARIS, May 22 (Reuters) - Activists released from Israeli custody after being detained on a flotilla trying to bring aid to Gaza were subjected to abuse, organisers said on Friday, with several hospitalised with injuries and at least 15 reporting sexual assaults, including rape.
Israel's prison service denied the allegations, and Reuters was not able to verify them independently.
NATO's mission to Iraq, which was entirely evacuated to a base in Italy due to the Middle East war, could return to Baghdad in the coming months, its former commander told AFP.
"The general staff is working on various options" to allow the mission to return to Iraq, said French General Christophe Hintzy, who this week handed over command of the mission to Spanish General Ramon Armada.
ZURICH, May 22 (Reuters) - Switzerland expanded its sanctions lists against Russia and Belarus on Friday, adopting parts of the European Union's latest package of measures over Moscow's war in Ukraine, the government said on Friday.
The Federal Department of Economic Affairs said the new listings would take effect at 11 p.m. local time on May 22.
A further 115 individuals and entities will be subject to asset freezes and a ban on making funds available, while sanctioned individuals will also be barred from entering or transiting Switzerland.
By Imad Creidi
DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia, May 22 (Reuters) - Iran's publication of a new map asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz risks extending an already punishing ordeal for thousands of mariners trapped on ships in the Gulf.
More than 20,000 sailors are stuck on around 2,000 vessels in the Gulf, many of them unable to leave ship, lacking adequate supplies of food and fresh water, and fearful of an uncertain future at sea in a war zone.
By John Irish
PARIS, May 21 (Reuters) - France has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution on setting up an international mission to restore movement in the Strait of Hormuz and could submit it if conditions are right, the foreign ministry said on Friday, as Washington struggles to bring to a vote a text Russia and China may say is biased against Tehran.
Control of the narrow waterway, a vital artery for global energy trade whose virtual closure has led to spiralling oil prices, is a major obstacle in talks to end the three-month-old U.S.-Iran war.
