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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.

A top US Republican said Sunday that a mega-bill meant to advance President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda remains “on track” despite a recent failure to advance in committee.Trump has been pressing the Republican-controlled Congress to move quickly on the “big, beautiful bill,” which — among many other provisions — extends tax cuts passed in his first term while imposing new restrictions on welfare programs.House Speaker Mike Johnson told “Fox News Sunday” that he plans for a floor vote on the package by the end of the week, despite its failure to advance in the Budget Committee on Thursday.Independent congressional analysts calculate that the mega-bill’s tax provisions would add more than $4.8 trillion to the federal deficit over the coming decade.To partially offset that, Republicans plan significant cuts in spending — notably by adding new restrictions on the Medicaid program that helps provide health insurance for more than 70 million lower-income Americans.The policy change would result in over 10 million people losing coverage under the program, according to estimates by the independent Congressional Budget Office.But sharp divisions within the party threaten at least to slow the legislative process.Moderate Republicans fear overly large cuts in the popular program could upset the party’s prospects in the midterm elections of November 2026.But deficit hawks on the party’s far right insist the projected cuts don’t go far enough.A handful of Republican legislators on Friday voted against the bill’s passage out of the Budget Committee, derailing its progress at least temporarily.”We don’t like smoke and mirrors,” one of those legislators, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, told reporters. “We want real cuts.”Speaker Johnson has been spending the weekend working to persuade the holdouts. Republicans have a very slim majority in the House, meaning the bill needs almost unanimous support to pass.”This is the largest spending reduction in at least three decades, probably longer,” he told the Fox program. “It’s historic.” The Budget Committee is set to continue debating the bill into late Sunday, in hopes this time of securing passage.But even if it passes in the House, it will face challenges in the Senate.Republicans in the upper chamber, who have a similarly narrow majority, are demanding major changes in the sweeping bill — which Trump is eager to present as a signal accomplishment early in his second term.

This year’s Cannes film festival has all the usual glitz and glamour but is also heavy on politics. AFP looks at some of the topics, films, and fashion moments that have made a splash during week one.The festival wraps up on May 24, when the winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or for best film will be announced. – Red carpet dress code -Hollywood star Halle Berry was the most high-profile victim of the festival’s dress code, which bans extravagantly large dresses and “total nudity” on the red carpet.The “Monster’s Ball” star, who is on the jury this year, was forced into a last-minute wardrobe change on opening night after she judged her dress by Indian designer Gaurav Gupta to be too long. Others appeared to flout the rules, including German model Heidi Klum, who turned up in a frilly pink evening gown with a train that was at least three metres (10 feet) long.- New #MeToo rules – After years of scandals in the film industry and pressure to take a stand, the festival announced it had barred an actor in a prominent French film from the red carpet because of rape allegations.Theo Navarro-Mussy, who plays a police officer in a supporting role in the film “Dossier 137”, became the first person affected by the new policy.He denies the allegations and an initial police investigation was closed last month without charges. – Cruise show -Tom Cruise swept into Cannes on a steamroller of hype around “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” which premiered to mixed reviews on Wednesday.Director Christopher McQuarrie revealed that Cruise — who does his own stunts — took his risk-taking a little far during a shoot in South Africa and could have died.Cruise pushed himself to the point of exhaustion after climbing out on the wing of a stunt biplane that he was piloting alone.”He was laying on the wing of the plane. His arms were hanging over the front of the wing. We could not tell if he was conscious or not,” said the US filmmaker- Early favourites -A total of 22 films are up for the Palme d’Or, with early favourites being German-language drama “The Sound of Falling” about inter-generational trauma, and experimental rave road-trip thriller “Sirat”. According to an analysis of critics’ scores by film magazine Screen, the frontrunner is a contemplative drama about justice and cruelty in the Soviet Union called “Two Prosecutors” by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa.”Russian society today is different from Soviet society in the 20th century but the essence is the same,” the 60-year-old director told AFP.  – Actors-turned-directors -This year’s festival features a trio of highly anticipated directorial debuts from actors.Harris Dickinson, the 28-year-old “Babygirl” actor, drew praise for his first film “Urchin”, while “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart, 35, demonstrated her talent behind the camera in “The Chronology of Water”.”Be gentle with me… It’s my first film so if you don’t like it, break it to me nicely,” Dickinson said about “Urchin”, which tells the story of a homeless man in London.American A-lister Scarlett Johansson is set to unveil her debut film “Eleanor the Great” to audiences on Monday.- Gaza war -The war in Gaza has been a constant topic of conversation after nearly 400 top film figures signed an open letter on the eve of festival condemning Israel for committing “genocide” in Gaza and the film industry for its “passivity”.The head of the Cannes jury Juliette Binoche added her signature this week to that of at least four Palme d’Or-winning directors in Cannes as well as actors Ralph Fiennes and Richard Gere.A wrenching documentary about Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, killed in an Israeli air strike on her home in Gaza, left its audience in stunned silence when it premiered on Thursday and its director Sepideh Farsi in tears. – Bob’s moment -Robert De Niro was visibly emotional on the opening night when his friend and frequent co-star Leonardo DiCaprio handed him a life-time achievement award.He then composed himself to tear strips off his old enemy, Donald Trump, who he called “America’s philistine president”.- Trump era -Trump has been one of the main talking points in Cannes after announcing on May 5 that he wanted 100-percent tariffs on movies “produced in foreign lands”.Actors, directors and producers have lined up to denounce the idea as bad and self-defeating.Others have joined De Niro’s calls to resist Trump, including Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal who called on Hollywood to “fuck the people that try to make you scared — and fight back”.

Severe storms that tore through the US states of Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia left more than 25 people dead, leveling homes and businesses while knocking out power for tens of thousands, authorities say.At least 18 people were killed in Kentucky in the storms Friday night, state governor Andy Beshear posted on X, while officials in Missouri said another seven were dead there.Two people were also killed by falling trees in Virginia, local media reported.Jamie Burns, 38, who lives with her husband and son in a trailer home in the town of London, Kentucky, fled to the basement of her sister’s brick house while the storm destroyed 100 to 200 houses in the area.”Things that have been here longer than I have, things that have been here for 30-plus years are just flat,” Burns told AFP in a phone interview, her voice quavering.”It’s wild, because you’ll look at one area and it’s just smashed… totally flattened, like, not there anymore.”Drone footage shared by local media showed scenes of devastation in London, with houses leveled and reduced to splinters and tree trunks standing bare, shorn of branches.More than 108,000 people were still without power across the three states late Saturday. Eastern Kentucky, an area historically known for its coal mines, is one of the poorest regions in the country. “A lot of us live in manufactured homes that aren’t safe for tornado weather,” said Burns.- ‘One of the worst storms’ – In Missouri, five people were killed in the major city of St. Louis, in what authorities said was one of the worst storms in its history, and two in Scott County, the State Highway Patrol said in a statement to AFP. More severe weather was forecast for Sunday night and Monday.Asked Saturday by a reporter whether it was the worst storm ever to hit St. Louis, Mayor Cara Spencer replied: “I would describe this as one of the worst storms — absolutely. The devastation is truly heartbreaking.”She said 38 people in the city were injured and some 5,000 buildings damaged.In one St. Louis neighborhood, a church was heavily damaged, according to CBS footage, and rescue workers continued to treat victims near the building Saturday morning.”It’s horrific for a tornado to come through here and cause this much damage to the residents and also to the church,” Derrick Perkins, a pastor at the Centennial Christian Church, told CBS. “Our hearts are broken.”Bruce Madison, who also works at the church, said the community was coming together in the face of the tragedy.”Right now, we’re just praying for… everybody that they’re trying to find right now.”While there were warnings ahead of the severe weather — Beshear had protectively declared a state of emergency Friday — the death toll may raise questions about whether sharp cuts by the Trump administration have left National Weather Service forecasting teams dangerously understaffed.An estimated 500 of the 4,200 NWS employees have been fired or taken early retirement this year, according to the Washington Post.The United States saw the second-highest number of tornadoes on record last year with nearly 1,800, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), trailing only 2004.

Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday.The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror.”At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X.Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled and festive lights draped in its rigging, as it tried to pass beneath the bridge, which sheared off the masts and sent them crashing into the East River.Hundreds of cheering spectators had gathered minutes earlier to bid farewell to the ship, which had been docked at a pier in southern Manhattan since Tuesday.The Mexican Navy said in a statement that two crew members died in the crash, with a further 22 injured — half of them critically.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 the bridge abutment on the Brooklyn side, New York police chief of special operations Wilson Aramboles told a press conference.Several sailors at the top of the ship were injured when it crashed into the bridge, Aramboles said.It is not clear if these sailors are among the dead.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.”I didn’t see anyone fall into the water but lots of people up top. People ran back and were screaming!” Corso, who does marketing for the entertainment company VeeFriends, said. “The one thing that stood out to me was the panic on the ship, and there was a guy at the back waving for people to move away from the walkway we were on,” he said.- Bridge reopens -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 also fluttered in the rigging, while an enormous Mexican flag waved off its stern.Seconds after the ship left the dock, “suddenly we saw all the lights, how they collided, hit the bridge, and they (the sailors) all fell down,” Arturo Acatitla, a 37-year-old New York resident, told AFP.”While inspections will remain ongoing, there are no signs of structural damage to the Brooklyn Bridge,” the New York transport department posted on X. The bridge which leads from Brooklyn into Manhattan was closed for some 40 minutes before reopening.Victims were taken to hospital, Mexican ambassador Esteban Moctezuma Barragan told a news conference, and sirens could be heard near the scene.New York Police Department’s Aramboles said the Cuauhtemoc, a barque built in 1982 which had a mast height of 48.2 meters (158 feet), was sailing to Iceland when it crashed.”With mariachi, folk ballet and a community full of emotion, we celebrated its arrival at Pier 17 in Manhattan,” the embassy post said.The Cuauhtemoc was damaged in the “mishap,” the Mexican Navy confirmed in a statement on X.”The Ministry of the Navy reaffirms its commitment to the safety of its personnel, transparency in its operations and excellence in the training of future officers of the Mexican Navy,” it said.The ship was later moved to near the Manhattan Bridge, an AFP journalist saw.The New York Police Department advised residents on X to avoid the area due to “heavy traffic” and “a large presence of emergency vehicles.”The incident is the second deadly ship crash into a bridge in the United States in little over a year, after a vessel smashed into a bridge in Baltimore in March 2024, causing it to collapse and killing six road workers.