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More than two hundred guests on Thursday will make their way to a ritzy country club just up the Potomac River from Washington, ready for a sumptuous dinner hosted by the president of the United States. The lucky few are not top officials or visiting heads of state but the 220 biggest buyers of $TRUMP, a crypto memecoin launched by the US president in January.The top 25 investors will enjoy even more special access: a private session with Trump before dinner — which is set at the Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia — and a White House tour. “The most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World,” a website dedicated to the event said. “The question is…ARE YOU IN?”This dinner represents perhaps the boldest commercial venture of Trump’s presidency, further blurring already hazy boundaries between politics and profit.Launched hours before his January inauguration, the $TRUMP memecoin is only one example of the Trump family’s ever-expanding moves into cryptocurrency.Much of the crypto industry frowns upon these coins or tokens, fearing they tarnish the sector’s credibility, amid reports of quick pump-and-dump schemes that leave unwitting buyers paying for assets that end up worthless.$TRUMP saw a spike in value when it announced the dinner, but reports said that many of the winners of the offer, which closed on May 12, are now selling their memecoins.Critics, including the typically Trump-friendly Wall Street Journal editorial board, point out that Trump and his allies, as the creators of the memecoin, have made $320 million in trading fees, citing Chainalysis, a data analytic firm.They also point out that the dinner allows foreign actors who otherwise can’t influence the White House to try to use the memecoin to buy favor with the government.The crypto industry, which massively contributed to his campaign, has welcomed Trump’s return to the White House, praising his promise for a clear departure from the skepticism of the previous Democratic administration toward digital currencies.Those years were marked by major scandal, including the collapse of FTX, the crypto giant founded by CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is now serving a 25-year sentence for committing massive fraud.But the controversy surrounding the dinner is complicating efforts to pass crucial legislation that would provide clearer legal framework in stablecoins, digital assets that are considered safer and more established than more speculative corners of the sector.”The American people deserve the unwavering assurance that access to the presidency is not being offered for sale to the highest bidder in exchange for the President’s own financial gain,” US Senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren wrote in a letter to the Office of Government Ethics.Trump, despite previous hostility toward cryptocurrency, has already taken significant steps to reduce regulatory barriers, including an executive order establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” that would maintain government holdings of the world’s leading digital currency. However, key Democrats in Congress are blocking other legislative advancements, frustrated by the dinner and other Trump family ventures into cryptocurrency. – Win the ‘race’ -These expanding connections include investment in Binance, whose founder is seeking a presidential pardon to re-enter the US market.The investment is being made through World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture backed by the Trumps that launched in September and has made major deals in the Middle East. The company founders feature Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric alongside Zach Witkoff, son of Trump’s diplomatic adviser Steve Witkoff.At an April crypto conference in Dubai, Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff announced that the state-backed Emirati fund MGX would use USD1, their firm’s cryptocurrency, to invest $2 billion in Binance. Additionally, American Bitcoin, another venture backed by Trump’s eldest sons, recently announced plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange.That company will ride lower energy costs and environmental norms to lower the cost of bitcoin mining in the United States.”The US won the space race. We better win the crypto race,” Eric Trump recently told CNBC.

US President Donald Trump will hold a phone call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday as part of his long-running effort to end the war set off by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.Trump had vowed during the US election campaign to halt the conflict within a day of taking office, but his diplomatic efforts have so far yielded little progress.Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held direct negotiations in Istanbul last week for the first time in almost three years, but the talks ended without a commitment to a ceasefire.Both sides traded insults, with Ukraine accusing Moscow of sending a “dummy” delegation of low-ranking officials.After the negotiations, Trump announced that he would speak by phone with the Russian president in a bid to end the “bloodbath” in Ukraine, which has destroyed large swathes of the country and displaced millions of people.Trump also said he would speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO officials, expressing hope that a “ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war… will end”.Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly stressed that he wants to see an end to the conflict, and has recently backed calls for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.So far, he has mainly focused on upping the pressure on Ukraine and abstained from criticising Putin.Both Moscow and Washington have previously stressed the need for a meeting on the conflict between Putin and Trump. The US president has also argued that “nothing’s going to happen” on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.- Push for sanctions -At the talks in Istanbul, which were also attended by US officials, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each and trade ideas on a possible truce, but with no concrete commitment.Ukraine’s top negotiator, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, said that the “next step” would be a meeting between Putin and Zelensky.Russia said it had taken note of the request.”We consider it possible, but only as a result of the work and upon achieving certain results in the form of an agreement between the two sides,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson said.Ukraine’s western allies have since accused Putin of deliberately ignoring calls for a ceasefire and pushed for fresh sanctions against Russia.The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy held a phone call with Trump on Sunday.”Looking ahead to President Trump’s call with President Putin tomorrow, the leaders discussed the need for an unconditional ceasefire and for President Putin to take peace talks seriously,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.”They also discussed the use of sanctions if Russia failed to engage seriously in a ceasefire and peace talks,” the spokesman said.Zelensky also discussed possible sanctions with US Vice President JD Vance when they met after Pope Leo’s inaugural mass at the Vatican on Sunday.”We discussed the talks in Istanbul, where the Russians sent a low-level delegation with no decision-making powers,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram following the meeting.”We also touched on the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defence cooperation, the situation on the battlefield and the future exchange of prisoners.” A senior Ukrainian official from the president’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that they had also discussed preparations for Monday’s telephone conversation between Trump and Putin.- ‘Root causes’ -It was the first meeting between Zelensky and Vance since their heated White House exchange in February.In the Oval Office, Vance publicly accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful” towards Trump, who told the Ukrainian leader he should be more grateful and that he had no “cards” to play in negotiations with Russia.Ukraine on Sunday said that Russia had launched a record number of drones at the country overnight, targeting various regions, including the capital Kyiv, where a woman was killed.Another man was killed in the southeastern Kherson region, where a railway station and private houses and cars were hit.In an interview with Russian state TV published on Sunday, Putin said that Moscow’s aim was to “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis, create the conditions for a lasting peace and guarantee Russia’s security”, without elaborating further. Russia’s references to the “root causes” of the conflict typically refer to grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for launching the invasion in February 2022.They include pledges to “de-Nazify” and demilitarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country’s east, push back against NATO expansion and stop Ukraine’s westward geopolitical drift.However, Kyiv and the West say that Russia’s invasion is an imperial-style land grab.

Train service in New Jersey will resume Tuesday after striking transit workers and officials came to a tentative agreement following several days of mass misery for New York area commuters.Train engineers seeking higher pay went on the first statewide transit strike in more than 40 years on Friday at a minute after midnight as contract talks fell apart.Many area commuters were caught unaware and left scrambling to get into nearby New York using other means of transportation such as Uber or Amtrak, the national rail system, both of which can be many multitudes more expensive.New Jersey Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced Sunday in separate statements that they had reached “a tentative agreement.”But they warned that train service would not resume for approximately 24 hours, with the transit authority reporting that it needed the time “to inspect and prepare tracks, rail cars and other infrastructure before returning to full scheduled service.”Neither side provided details of the agreement.BLET said the terms would be sent for consideration to the union’s 450 members who work as locomotive engineers or are trainees, with details and figures to be disclosed publicly after the members are able to review them.The union said it has been locked in a years-long dispute with NJ Transit, with its members going five years without a raise.BLET workers had picketed outside rail stations, with many waving signs that accused NJ Transit executives of treating themselves to expensive perks while train drivers’ wages lagged behind those of colleagues in other areas of the country.NJ Transit officials, however, have said the wage hike requested by the union would end up costing the company and taxpayers millions.

Former US president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, and is reviewing treatment options, his office said Sunday.On Friday, the 82-year-old Democrat — whose son Beau Biden died of cancer in 2015 — was diagnosed with the disease after he experienced urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule was found, a statement from his office said.”While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians,” it continued.US President Donald Trump, who has long derided political rival Biden over his cognitive abilities, said he was “saddened” by the news.”We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery,” Republican Trump said on Truth Social, referring to Biden’s wife, Jill Biden. “Joe is a fighter,” Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, who stepped in as Democratic nominee in the battle against Trump after Biden dropped out of last year’s presidential election, said in a post on X. “I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership. We are hopeful for a full and speedy recovery,” she continued.Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, with the American Cancer Society reporting one in eight men in the United States are diagnosed with it over their lifetime.While it is highly treatable if discovered early, it is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, the organization said.Hormone therapy is a common treatment that can shrink tumors and slow cancer growth, but is not a cure. According to the statement, Biden’s cancer was found to have “a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5).”Prostate cancer that looks “very abnormal” is assigned the highest rating, Grade 5, according to the American Cancer Society. The Gleason Score goes up to 10, indicating the seriousness of Biden’s disease.- ‘Watch me’ -Biden left office in January this year as the oldest serving US president in history, and was dogged by questions, including from Democratic voters, over his health and age for much of his term — and whether he could handle the office’s demands. His response was a brisk: “Watch me.”In July last year, he was forced to drop his reelection bid after a disastrous debate against Trump in which fears about his decline and cognitive abilities came surging to the fore. Support rocketed for Harris as she stepped up to the plate, but she eventually lost to Trump. Biden, who beat Trump at the polls in 2020, maintains that he could have won the 2024 election too, but questions have long swirled over the responses of staff and key Democrats to his decline.They have flared with the upcoming release of a new book on his “disastrous” choice to run again, and the publication last week of a recording of him speaking hesitantly and struggling to recall key events and dates. Biden’s life has been marked by personal tragedy. In 1972, his first wife and baby daughter were killed in a car crash.  His son Beau Biden died aged 46 of an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2015, a loss which touched many Americans.In the wake of Beau Biden’s death, then-president Barack Obama launched a “cancer moonshot” bid to corral the disease in the United States, tasking Biden, then his vice president, with leading the effort. “It’s personal for me,” Biden said at the time.”But it’s also personal for nearly every American, and millions of people around the world. We all know someone who has had cancer, or is fighting to beat it.””Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe,” Obama said Sunday. “I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace,” he added in a statement on X. Trump’s administration cut cancer research funding by 31 percent in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, a Senate report showed earlier this month.Americans in the capital Washington lamented the diagnosis Sunday. Ariale Booker, a Washington resident who said her mother and grandmother had both died of cancer, described it as “heartbreaking.””I think that’s just really sad,” she told AFP.”His last years, his life’s going to be really hard.”

Pope Leo XIV set the tone for his papacy with a call to stop exploiting nature and marginalising the poor at his inaugural mass Sunday attended by dignitaries including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance.Ten days after he became the first US head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, some 200,000 people gathered to see his inaugural mass in St Peter’s Square, according to the Vatican.Before it started, the Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost delighted the crowds by taking to the popemobile for the first time, smiling, waving and blessing those he passed.In his homily, the soft-spoken 69-year-old returned to the themes of peace, reconciliation and social justice that have marked his first few days as pope.”In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest,” he said. In a prayer afterwards, he noted the ongoing efforts to end the war in Ukraine, before holding a private audience with Zelensky and his wife.”The martyred Ukraine is waiting for negotiations for a just and lasting peace to finally happen,” Leo said.After two decades spent as missionary in Peru, the new pope — who was only made a cardinal in 2023 — is unknown to many Catholics.But many of those gathered in St Peter’s Square said they liked what they had heard so far.Maria Grazia La Barbera, 56, a pilgrim from Palermo in Sicily, said Leo was “the right person at the right time” to lead the Church.”He will certainly do what he promised: knocking down walls and building bridges,” she said.- Vance ‘very proud’ -Leo’s elevation has sparked huge enthusiasm in the United States, which was represented on Sunday by Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019.Vance met with the late Pope Francis the day before he died last month, and queued up to shake Leo’s hand on Sunday along with the other dignitaries.Before becoming pope, Leo reposted on his personal X account criticism of US President Donald Trump’s administration over its approach to migration and also pilloried Vance.But Vance insisted Sunday that the United States was “very proud of him”.”Certainly our prayers go with him as he starts this very important work,” Vance said at a meeting with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.There is some consternation outside the United States that a country with an already outsized political and military role in the world now boasts one its foremost spiritual leaders.”There is going to be extra weight because he is American,” said Sophia Tripp, a 20-year-old student visiting from Leo’s hometown of Chicago.”I think there’s going to be a lot of extra eyes, and maybe criticisms.”She hoped he would “bring people together”, she said. “We are all human, and we should just all be loving to one another.”- ‘Fear and trembling’ -Security was tight for the event, which included politicians from Germany to Peru — where the pope holds citizenship — the Gulf and Canada, as well as faith leaders and European royals.Also lining up to greet the new pontiff inside St Peter’s Basilica after the mass was Leo’s older brother Louis, and the two men shared a hug.Succeeding the charismatic but impulsive Francis, Leo took over a Church still battling the fallout of the clerical child abuse scandal, and trying to adapt to the modern world.He acknowledged on Sunday some trepidation in his new role.”I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy,” he said.In his homily he warned against “closing ourselves off in our small groups”.”We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people,” he said.At the mass, Leo received the pontifical emblems — the pallium, a strip of cloth worn around the neck, and the fisherman’s ring, which is forged anew for each pope.He will wear the ring on his finger until he dies, when it will be destroyed.

Joe Biden lost his eldest son Beau to brain cancer in 2015 — a loss so great that he has repeatedly talked about it over the years.Now, the 82-year-old former president — who has faced renewed scrutiny over his mental acuity while in office, before ceding the White House to arch-nemesis Donald Trump — is facing his own cancer battle.His office announced Sunday that he was diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer, with “metastasis to the bone,” adding that he was reviewing his treatment options.Biden wanted to go down in history as the man who saved America from Donald Trump, by winning the 2020 presidential election and ousting the Republican. He steered a divided country out of the Covid-19 pandemic and the chaos of Trump’s first four years, before pushing through an impressive raft of legislation.But Biden’s single term will now be bookended by his rival’s presidencies. For many, the defining image of the 46th US president will be a haunted-looking Biden lost for words in the disastrous debate against Trump that eventually forced him out of the race in 2024.His replacement as Democratic candidate, his vice president Kamala Harris, was left with an almost impossible task to prevent Trump’s return — and indeed it proved insurmountable.Biden has often insisted that he could have beaten his Republican nemesis.But questions about Biden’s physical and cognitive abilities — and the responses of staff and key Democrats to evident signs of decline — have flared with Tuesday’s pending release of “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” by CNN journalist Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of Axios.And a newly released audio recording of Biden speaking haltingly in October 2023, and struggling to remember facts and dates, have added to the debate.- Historic challenges -Biden’s inauguration in January 2021 was a remarkable comeback for an often underestimated politician who spent a lifetime battling both political odds and personal tragedy.But he was an unlikely savior.Biden — born on November 20, 1942 in Pennsylvania — was America’s oldest elected president when he took office, until Trump’s election in 2024.He is arguably more famous for his gaffes, for his decades in the US Senate and for being Barack Obama’s vice president.Though his single term will be remembered for his appointment of the nation’s first Black, South Asian and female vice president, and his commitment to the Western alliances that Trump had trashed, there were irreparable problems.- ‘Get back up’ -Biden’s popularity suffered an early blow with the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 — and never really recovered. His approval rating was just 36 percent in a final CNN poll.His pandemic stimulus sent inflation soaring, part of the reason Americans punished Harris at the polls. And Biden’s lax border policies led to record crossings of illegal immigrants, which Trump pounced on.Fond of folksy tales about his upbringing as a child with a stutter from a blue-collar, Irish Catholic background in Pennsylvania, he would often quote his father’s mantra: “When you get knocked down, you get back up.” He had battled through the tragedy of a car crash that killed his wife and baby daughter in 1972, just days after he’d been elected a US senator at the age of 29 — then rebuilt his life with the help of his second wife, Jill.Biden underwent surgery twice in 1988 for brain aneurysms.Then there was Beau’s death in 2015, and the drug and legal problems of his younger son Hunter, to whom he controversially issued a pardon as he left office.In 2023, Biden had a skin lesion — a basal cell carcinoma — removed from his chest. He had previously had other non-melanoma skin cancers removed.- ‘Oligarchy taking shape’ -But age was a battle he couldn’t win. Trump dubbed Biden “Sleepy Joe” and every stumble — on the stairs of Air Force One, off his bike — was relentlessly replayed on social media. The White House insisted there was no problem and increasingly shielded Biden from unscripted public appearances — until it was too late.He had a parting shot for Trump, warning in his farewell speech of a dangerous “oligarchy taking shape in America.”d/sst/st/bbk

US Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that Europe was “an important ally” despite disagreements over trade, as he met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome.Vance expressed hope that the talks — the first at such a high level since US President Donald Trump introduced his sweeping tariffs earlier this year — “will be the beginning of some long-term trade negotiations”.They met alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at her office in Rome, after all three attended the inauguration mass at the Vatican for Pope Leo XIV.In televised comments at the start of the meeting, Vance said: “I’ve said repeatedly that I think Europe is an important ally of the United States, the individual countries within Europe are important allies of the United States.”But of course we have some disagreements, as friends sometimes do, on issues like trade, and we also have many agreements and many things that we can work on together, and I’m looking forward to this conversation.”He added: “I think we’ll have a great conversation and hopefully (it) will be the beginning of some long-term trade negotiations and some long-term trade advantages between both Europe and the United States.”For her part, von der Leyen — who sat on one side of Meloni, with Vance on the other — hailed the “very special and close relationship” between the US and the European Union.”Everybody knows that the devil is in the detail, but what unites us is that at the end we want, together, to have a good deal for both sides,” the EU chief said.Trump announced a 20-percent tariff on most EU goods in April, along with higher duties on dozens of other nations, but has since frozen the measure until July.The US president said on May 9 that he hoped to meet the “fantastic” von der Leyen, saying that the bloc wanted to “make a deal very badly” with the US.Meloni, the far-right leader who has sought to be a bridge between Washington and Brussels, said she hoped the talks could be a “new beginning”.The White House later called the talks “constructive” and said they had discussed trade, supply chain security, an “increase” in defence cooperation, as well as migration and Ukraine.Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also met in Rome with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and “discussed their shared goal of ending the bloodshed in Ukraine,” said a statement from the vice president’s office. They “provided updates on the current state of negotiations for a ceasefire and lasting peace,” it said, but did not elaborate.

The FBI on Sunday identified the suspect behind the bombing at a California fertility clinic as a 25-year-old man with “nihilistic ideation” who is believed to have died in the blast.The explosion Saturday morning tore through downtown Palm Springs, ripping a hole in the clinic and blowing out the windows and doors of nearby buildings.Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, reiterated Sunday that the attack was being considered an “intentional act of terrorism.”He said the suspect had been identified as Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of Twentynine Palms, California.Authorities in the small city, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Palm Springs, had said on Saturday that federal agents were operating in the area, without providing further details.Davis told a press conference Sunday that “the subject had nihilistic ideations and this was a targeted attack against the IVF facility.”He said authorities were investigating a “possible manifesto” shared online ahead of the attack, which he said Bartkus “was attempting to live stream.”All of the embryos at the clinic had been saved, Davis said, thanking the quick work of fire, police and FBI personnel.”They understood the sensitivity and the precious nature of what was inside, and they took extreme care to ensure that there was no loss of any sensitive material,” he said.Palm Springs police chief Andrew Mills said he was “absolutely confident that this city is safe.””There is no continuing threat to our community as a result of this incident,” he said.Reproductive care, including abortion and fertility services, remains controversial in the United States, where some conservatives believe the procedures should be outlawed for religious reasons.Violence against clinics providing such services is rare, but not unheard of.US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday on social media that “violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable.”

“Final Destination: Bloodlines,” the latest installment in the horror franchise, made a grisly splash in North American theaters this weekend, taking in $51 million to debut in the top spot, industry estimates showed Sunday.”This is a sensational opening for the sixth episode of a horror series,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research, adding that critics’ reviews and audience scores were “excellent.”The previous film in the franchise, “Final Destination 5,” opened in 2011 to just $18 million. Kaitlyn Santa Juana stars in the Warner Bros. flick as a young woman who learns how her dying grandmother long ago cheated Death — and she now has to deal with the shocking ramifications of that.In second for the Friday-through-Sunday period was last weekend’s leader, Marvel superhero film “Thunderbolts” from Disney, at $16.5 million. The film about a motley bunch of antiheroes stars Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan.Vampire thriller “Sinners” starring Michael B. Jordan in dual lead roles, claimed the third spot, taking in $15.4 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations estimated. “Bloodlines” and “Sinners” continued a recent string of successes for Warner Bros., on the heels of commercial flops “Mickey 17,” “The Alto Knights” and “Joker: Folie a Deux,” Variety noted.Yet another Warner film, “A Minecraft Movie,” placed fourth, at $5.8 million. The live-action film, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, has pulled in $416.6 million domestically and $512 million internationally in seven weeks.And in fifth place, at just under $5 million, was Amazon MGM Studios’ thriller “The Accountant 2,” with Ben Affleck playing a neurodivergent math genius with criminal ties and Jon Bernthal as his hit-man brother.Rounding out the top 10 were:”Hurry Up Tomorrow” ($3.3 million)”Friendship” ($1.4 million)”Clown in a Cornfield” ($1.3 million) “Until Dawn” ($800,000)”The Amateur” ($712,000)

US safety officials launched a probe Sunday after a 150-foot tall Mexican sailing ship crashed into New York’s iconic Brooklyn Bridge, snapping its masts and killing two crew members.Numerous sailors were positioned among the navy vessel Cuauhtemoc’s rigging at the time, video of the incident showed.New York Mayor Eric Adams said early Sunday that 277 people had been on board the vessel and that two people had died from their injuries, without specifying where they were located on the vessel.Nineteen others sustained injuries, he said, two of whom were in critical condition.The white-hulled ship was moored Sunday along banks of the East River, its mangled masts contrasting against colorful decorations for its US departure.The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on social media that it was “launching a go-team” to conduct an initial probe of the crash.Nearby the ship, Aldo Ordonez told AFP that his sister, 24-year-old cadet Alejandra Ordonez, had been standing among the sails when the ship struck the Brooklyn Bridge.His sister was temporarily left hanging from a sail, he said, but sustained only minor injuries and slept with others on the boat.Aldo Ordonez arrived Sunday morning from Mexico City after seeing the accident on television.Crew members were expected to fly home to Mexico later Sunday, he said.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X that she was “deeply saddened” by the two crew members’ deaths.The ship lost power at around 8:20 pm (0020 GMT Sunday) while the captain was maneuvering the vessel, forcing it to head for a bridge abutment on the Brooklyn side, New York police chief of special operations Wilson Aramboles told a press conference.There was “panic on the ship,” Brooklyn resident Nick Corso, 23, who was standing near the water, told AFP.He had been poised to take a photo, but when he realized what was happening he switched to video. “Lots of screaming, some sailors hanging from the masts, looked like panic happening on the ship,” he said.The Mexican Navy said in its statement that no one had fallen into the water, and that no rescue operation had been launched.The ship had been departing New York at the time and flags fluttered in its rigging, while an enormous Mexican flag waved off its stern.The Cuauhtemoc, built in 1982, was sailing to Iceland when it crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, the world’s longest suspension bridge when it opened in 1883.The incident is the second deadly ship crash into a US bridge in little over a year, after a fully laden cargo vessel smashed into a bridge in Baltimore, Maryland in March 2024, causing it to collapse and killing six road workers.