UNITED STATES
Pence triggers walkout
Dozens of graduates and family members on Sunday silently stood and walked out as Vice President Mike Pence began his address at the University of Notre Dame’s commencement ceremony. However, Pence also met with respectful applause when he mentioned how President Donald Trump spoke out against the religious persecution of people of “all faiths” when he addressed the leaders of more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations in Saudi Arabia earlier that day. Trump has been criticized for using anti-Muslim rhetoric during his campaign, as well as his administration’s efforts to impose a travel ban on several Muslim-majority nations. Before Pence spoke, valedictorian Caleb Joshua Pine appeared to take issue with Trump as he urged his fellow graduates to “stand against scapegoating of Muslims.”
MEXICO
Bus accident kills 17
At least 17 people were killed and 31 were injured when a bus plunged about 90m off a roadside in a mountainous region in the south near the Guatemalan border, authorities said on Sunday. The accident occurred near the town of Motozintla when the bus ferrying people home from a spiritual retreat on the Pacific coast came off the road and fell down a steep slope, emergency services in the state of Chiapas said in a statement. The passengers came from the nearby municipality of La Trinitaria and at least 17 died and another 31 were injured, emergency services spokesman Daniel Cuate said. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident.
CANADA
Sea lion grabs girl
A girl and her family were left shaken after a large sea lion grabbed her and pulled her underwater in Richmond, British Columbia. The girl was sitting on a dock watching the animal in the water before it grabbed her dress and pulled her into the water. Onlookers at Steveston Fisherman’s Wharf screamed and a man thought to be a relative of the girl jumped in and lifted her to safety. She appeared physically unharmed. The sea lion appeared to have been drawn to the dock by people who were throwing bread crumbs into the water. The incident was caught on video by a student, Michael Fujiwara.
UNITED STATES
Texas to pass bathroom law
Texas lawmakers have revived a more narrowly focused version of a transgender “bathroom bill” like the one in North Carolina that sparked a national backlash, but the Texas law would apply only to public schools and not all bathrooms. A broader proposal mandating that transgender Texas residents use public restrooms according to their birth certificate gender sailed through the state Senate. It had stalled in the House of Representatives until Sunday night, when supporters attached it to a separate bill. It will now go back to the Senate and is expected to be signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.
FRANCE
Eastwood may act again
Hollywood screen legend Clint Eastwood, 86, on Sunday said that he was not ruling out a return to acting. The actor-turned-director told an audience at the Cannes Film Festival that he occasionally missed performing, adding: “I did a lot of it for a long time. I’ll visit it again someday.” The Oscar-winner, who backed Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election, steered clear of politics at a packed masterclass at the film festival, but he did rail against political correctness, saying: “We’re killing ourselves by doing that; we’ve lost our sense of humor.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of