To start the week, let’s look at the stories making global headlines today.
Trump: Date and location for Kim summit ‘hasn’t changed’
His remarks came as South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivered his first public comments since a surprise meeting with the North Korean leader on Saturday, saying Kim was still committed to denuclearization.
Ireland’s yes voters celebrate a ‘leap forward’ in landmark vote on abortion
“It just means that women — and the men who love the women of Ireland — have spoken out and they’ve said times have to change. And they are going to change now,” a tearful Mellet said at the Royal Dublin Society, where the count took place throughout the day.
Key US allies ‘perplexed’ as Trump treats friends like enemies
Welcome to life these days as a close US ally. Under the 45th President, long-standing US friends and partners have come in for surprises, some of them bruising. Trump has questioned enduring alliances, insulted neighbors, threatened tariffs against some of America’s oldest friends and made clear he’ll sanction their businesses if they don’t toe his line.
Morgan Freeman: ‘I did not assault women’
CNN was first to report the allegations of inappropriate behavior and harassment as part of an investigation published Thursday. In his statement issued late Friday, Freeman said “I am devastated that 80 years of my life is at risk of being undermined, in the blink of an eye, by Thursday’s media reports.
At least 22 killed in Uganda bus crash
The crash occurred Friday evening in Kiryandongo, a town about 140 miles north of the capital, Kampala. “We continue to thank all those that have been working in saving lives plus the Police officers that worked since last evening in service of the people,” the Uganda Police Force tweeted from its official account Saturday.
Alan Bean, 4th person to walk on the moon, dies
“Alan was the strongest and kindest man I ever knew,” his wife, Leslie Bean, said in a statement. “He was the love of my life and I miss him dearly.” She added he died “peacefully … surrounded by those who loved him.”
A songbird and sunshine: Meghan Markle’s coat of arms unveiled
Emblazoned with personal touches like the golden poppies from her home state, California, and wintersweet, which grows at her new residence, Kensington Palace, the coat of arms was designed by the College of Arms and approved by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
‘Insane’ lightning strikes parts of UK
Thunderstorms and torrential rain are sweeping across parts of southern Britain, with frequent lightning flashing across the sky. Around 15,000 lightning strikes were recorded in four hours on Saturday night, BBC Weather said. The thunderstorms swept northwards across the south of England, the Midlands and Wales and are expected to continue throughout Sunday.
Astronaut and artist Alan Bean dies at 86
Former US astronaut Alan Bean, who was the fourth man to walk on the Moon, has died in Texas aged 86, his family has said. In later life he became an accomplished artist, producing paintings that were inspired by space. His family said he had fallen ill two weeks ago in Indiana and died peacefully at a hospital in Houston.
The woman who can smell Parkinson’s
Meet the woman from Perth whose super sense of smell could change the way Parkinson’s disease is diagnosed. Joy Milne’s husband, Les, died in June, aged 65. He worked as a consultant anaesthetist before being diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 45.
The actress who became a ‘terrorist’
When a student researching in the archives of a London museum read the unpublished memoirs of a suffragette bomber, she began to wonder if the history of the movement had been sanitised. The suffragettes may have won the vote for women, but some of them, she argues, were terrorists.
Two US cities fight over one football team
When a leading US football team announced it wanted to move across the country, its fans were floored. Even though such moves are common in other American professional sports, it hasn’t been part of Major League Soccer culture – until now.
Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid forward to ‘give an answer’ on his future soon
Cristiano Ronaldo says he will soon make an announcement about his future after helping Real Madrid win a third successive Champions League title. Real beat Liverpool 3-1 in Kiev on Saturday thanks to a Gareth Bale double and a Karim Benzema strike.
Hundreds Of Swastikas Spray-Painted In Illinois Cemetery
Residents of a western Illinois town awoke Saturday morning to find hundreds of swastikas spray-painted around a cemetery. An estimated 200 headstones, two family mausoleums and another structure in Sunset Hills Cemetery in Glen Carbon were tagged with the hate symbol, a cemetery employee told HuffPost.
China Approves 5 New Trademarks For Ivanka Trump Business As President Forges ZTE Deal
Ivanka Trump’s business has won approval from the Chinese government for at least five new trademarks. The approval came just days before President Donald Trump announced he was working on a controversial deal to drop U.S. prohibitions against China cellphone manufacturer ZTE. Another trademark was given trial approval.
Justin Timberlake Visits Texas School Shooting Victims
He dropped in at an area hospital where victims were recovering from the shooting at Santa Fe High School, in which a gunman killed 10 people and injured 13 last Friday. The visit came a couple days after the pop icon performed a concert in nearby Houston in which he donned a “Santa Fe Strong” shirt, the Houston Chronicle reported.
43 Percent Of Americans Are Afraid To Find Out What’s In Hot Dogs
Americans eat 20 billion hot dogs a year, but 43 percent of us are too scared to find out what’s in them. Just in time for grilling season, a new survey by meat giant Hormel’s Applegate division reveals our hot dog fears.
It doesn’t have to be assault to be bad, Morgan Freeman
Recently, celebrities accused of sexual misconduct have started to issue a new kind of defense: at least they didn’t commit sexual assault. Morgan Freeman adopted that reasoning for his second apology this weekend, after eight women accused him of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, according to a CNN investigation.
Jeff Bezos personally announced that Amazon saved ‘The Expanse’ and the crowd went wild
Another day, another streaming service swooping in to rescue a TV series that couldn’t cut it on cable. For weeks, fans of Syfy’s The Expanse have been held in suspense over the show’s abrupt cancellation and subsequent hints of a pickup, a la Brooklyn Nine-Nine .
We’ve become normalized to Trump’s tweets. Not this one.
Nowadays, it takes a lot for Americans to become incensed about Trump’s tweets. We need at least one World War threat or nuclear weapon tangent to wake up and realize we’re seconds away from doomsday. The President still has that magical ability to completely eviscerate our joy.
The Bollywood song in ‘Deadpool 2’ gave me the purest joy
A small subsection of Deadpool 2 viewers (or a significant chunk, if you’re seeing it in India) got a special Easter egg during the film, in the form of a popular Hindi song that played in Dopinder’s (Karan Soni) cab in the second act.
