• President Trump on Tuesday formally withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Iran’s nuclear program.  Saying that the deal was “horrible” and “one-sided” from the beginning, Trump promised to initiate new sanctions on Iran.  Senior administration officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had confirmed that Iran had adhered to its commitments under the deal, but the President was apparently unpersuaded. [CNN]
  • 104-year-old Australian scientist David Goodall traveled to Switzerland this week, where he died by assisted suicide on Thursday.  Goodall chose to end his life following a steep decline in his standard of living as he aged, and advocated an individual’s right to a dignified death.  Assisted suicide is illegal in Australia, but Switzerland permits even foreigners to engage in the practice so long as they “acknowledge[] in writing that they are taking their lives willingly.”  [NPR]
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A street in Leilani Estates, Hawaii, on May 6. Source: USGS/Handout via Reuters
  • Over 1,700 have evacuated Hawaii following the eruption of the Kilauea volcano, which first showed signs of trouble on April 30.  The eruption has so far destroyed 35 homes, but there have been no deaths or serious injuries reported to date.  It is so far uncertain when the volcanic activity will end.  [Reuters]
  • North Korea released three American detainees on Wednesday, a move that coincides with the end of Secretary of State Pompeo’s most recent visit to the isolated nation.  The three individuals are Korean-Americans accused of espionage and hostile acts against North Korea. [NPR]
  • The latest in a string of reported “crimes” of living-while-black, a white student called campus police on an African American graduate student at Yale University this week.  The student, who took a nap while working on papers late into the evening in a common room, was interrogated by campus police for more than fifteen minutes after a white student called the authorities, insisting that the black woman was not entitled to be there. [Yale Daily News]

FACT OF THE WEEK:  There is an average of approximately one volcanic eruption per week on planet Earth.  [United States Geological Survey]