U.S. President Joe Biden faces criticism on immigration from a divided public. Back-to-back executive actions appear designed to thread a needle – to make him be seen as both tough and humane.

• Thailand marriage bill: Thailand’s Senate votes overwhelmingly to approve a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. The country would become the first in Southeast Asia to enact such a law.
• U.S. heat wave: Extreme heat from Iowa to Maine is forecast to continue until at least Friday as cities including Chicago break records.
• Putin to North Korea: Russian President Vladimir Putin vows to support North Korea against the United States, as he headed to the reclusive nuclear-armed country for the first time in 24 years.
• School cellphones: The Los Angeles Unified School District will consider banning smartphones for its 429,000 students.

Read these news briefs.

Emmanuel Macron’s call for snap elections has flustered the French public, as the prospect of a far-right grip on the government is now very real. But it’s important to understand what’s really at stake in the coming votes.

The prospect of a far-right victory in upcoming elections is rippling though French society in different ways. For many athletes, it has meant breaking longstanding traditions and speaking out politically. 

In our progress roundup, caretakers of the world’s art treasures are changing the way they work to preserve cultural heritage, from Los Angeles to Nepal. And the “Yosemite of South America” is sold for $63 million to conservationists.  

“Inside Out 2” doesn’t rise to the heights of Pixar’s greatest classics, like “The Incredibles.” But it’s well worth a trip to a movie theater – a rarity these days. And who couldn’t use a little more Joy in their lives?

A new school that opened last month in Ukraine’s second-largest city is only 18 miles from Russia – with only a five-minute warning of incoming missiles. Yet Kharkiv’s primary school 155 is also on the front line of innovative efforts to ensure that children in crisis-affected countries have safe access to education.

The school is the first of many to come in Ukraine that was built with permanent underground classrooms. On opening day in mid-May, a gaggle of third graders – who had never been in a physical school during two years of war – walked down 20 feet of steps into windowless but brightly lit rooms to be taught by their teachers.

“The children have dreamed of meeting their classmates,” one father told Deutsche Welle news media.

Now when air sirens go off, the students will not need to interrupt their studies by running to a bomb shelter. And their bunkerlike school will probably not be destroyed – as nearly 400 schools have been so far by Russian forces.

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world, said Nelson Mandela, and Ukraine wants to make sure the next generation is prepared to keep the country strong and independent.

“The Ukraine war isn’t merely about soldiers defending their homeland,” wrote American reporter Tim Mak in the news blog Counteroffensive after visiting a temporary underground school in a Kharkiv subway station. “These kids are what those soldiers are fighting to defend.”

Ukraine’s efforts to offer online schooling for some 900,000 students has been admirable, according to Education Cannot Wait, a fund for providing education in emergencies and protracted crises. From repairing bomb-damaged schools to handing out devices for remote learning, the government has prevented significant learning losses.

“We have a unique chance, with global support, to make courageous choices in creating a new education system – one that is high-quality, innovative, secure, and European,” wrote Dr. Yevhen Kudriavets, first deputy minister in Ukraine’s education ministry, in the Kyiv Post.

In the world’s most stressed places, says Education Cannot Wait’s executive director Yasmine Sherif, ensuring a safe education for children allows them to “draw on their resilience, heal from their experiences, develop fully and to prepare their future and unleash their potential.” That’s especially true inside a solid and sunken bunker in a Ukrainian war zone.