El Salvador refuses to return US deportee
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele stated at a White House meeting with President Trump that he will not return a man who was wrongly deported from the US and sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, is at the center of a legal battle that has reached the Supreme Court. Bukele called returning Abrego Garcia “smuggling a terrorist into the United States,” and Trump smiled in approval.
Quotable: The Meeting between Trump and Bukele
“This meeting is one of the starkest examples of a foreign leader fawning over and placating Trump during a visit to the Oval Office,” said Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House reporter for The Times.
Zuckerberg Testifies in Meta Antitrust Trial
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, took the witness stand in a landmark antitrust trial that could dismantle his company. The US government accuses Meta of creating an illegal monopoly through the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp when they were small startups.
Zuckerberg defended his acquisition strategy in court, stating that his early thinking evolved over time. The trial’s outcome could force Zuckerberg to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, potentially altering the long-standing pattern of Big Tech companies acquiring younger rivals.
China’s Leader Courts Vietnam Amid Trade War
China’s President Xi Jinping arrived in Vietnam on a tour of Southeast Asia, aiming to rally other nations to Beijing’s side as US tariffs threaten economic growth. In an essay, Xi called on countries to join China in defending stability, free trade, and an open international environment. While Xi’s message was welcomed, Vietnam and its neighbors are also seeking to appease Trump to lower tariffs, which could limit their willingness to make strong pro-China statements.
Blue Origin Rocket Launches Katy Perry and Others
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket launched singer Katy Perry and five other women, including his fiancée, to space. Blue Origin positioned the flight as a way to encourage more women to pursue careers in science. However, critic Amanda Hess argued that the effort may have fallen short, stating that women are now free to enjoy the most decadent spoils of capitalism alongside the world’s wealthiest men.
Remembering Mario Vargas Llosa
The Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who died at the age of 89, was the last surviving member of the Boom movement of socially conscious Latin American writers. He was known for his politically charged novels, which were meticulously observed and morally complex. Vargas Llosa’s death marks the end of a generation of influential Latin American authors.
