10 things you need to know today: May 25, 2018
Trump cancels his summit with Kim Jong Un, Harvey Weinstein surrenders to face sexual assault allegations, and more
- 1. Trump cancels summit with Kim Jong Un
- 2. Harvey Weinstein surrenders to face sexual assault charge
- 3. South Korea scrambles after Trump cancels summit without warning
- 4. Top lawmakers get briefing on secret FBI source in Russia inquiry
- 5. Customs agent shoots, kills undocumented immigrant
- 6. 2 men bomb Indian restaurant in Canada, injuring 15
- 7. NOAA predicts active hurricane season
- 8. Irish voters cast ballots in referendum on repealing abortion ban
- 9. Trump pardons late boxing champ Jack Johnson
- 10. 8 women accuse Morgan Freeman of inappropriate behavior
1. Trump cancels summit with Kim Jong Un
President Trump on Thursday sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un canceling their planned June summit in Singapore. Trump called the collapse of the June meeting a "tremendous setback" for peace that he blamed on the "tremendous anger and open hostility" expressed by Pyongyang recently. North Korea had shown outrage after Vice President Mike Pence compared it to Libya, a country whose leader was overthrown and killed years after giving up his nuclear program. Trump said the U.S. would continue exerting "maximum pressure" to get Pyongyang to curb its nuclear weapons program. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said Friday his country remained ready to meet with the U.S. "at any time."
The Associated Press The Washington Post
2. Harvey Weinstein surrenders to face sexual assault charge
Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York City authorities on Friday after a months-long investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted numerous women. Weinstein will face charges involving at least one accuser, Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in a 2004 business meeting, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing a person with knowledge of the investigation. Manhattan prosecutors planning the charges also reportedly have looked closely into actress Paz de la Huerta's allegation that Weinstein raped her in 2010. It was not immediately clear how many victims he would be accused of assaulting. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and police in London also are investigating sexual assault allegations against Weinstein.
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3. South Korea scrambles after Trump cancels summit without warning
President Trump's Thursday announcement that he would not travel to Singapore next month for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seemed to catch the South Korean government, and other allies, off guard. "We are attempting to make sense of what, precisely, President Trump means," said South Korean government spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom. South Korean President Moon Jae-In reportedly called a late-night emergency meeting to discuss Trump's announcement with top aides and Cabinet members. Moon said he was "very perplexed" and said it was "very regrettable" that the meeting was canceled. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to comment on whether or not the U.S. gave South Korea and Japan a warning that Trump would cancel the summit.
The Washington Post Yonhap News
4. Top lawmakers get briefing on secret FBI source in Russia inquiry
Leading Republican and Democratic lawmakers received briefings Thursday on a confidential FBI source who met with members of President Trump's 2016 campaign. The informant helped the FBI start its investigation into whether any Trump associates colluded with Russia in its effort to support Trump's candidacy and defeat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Trump in recent days has attacked the credibility of the FBI, the Justice Department, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team by saying the FBI had embedded a "spy" in his campaign for partisan purposes, referring to the case as "Spygate." House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) pushed for information on the FBI's source, but his committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), said the briefing yielded "no evidence" the FBI did anything improper.
5. Customs agent shoots, kills undocumented immigrant
A Customs and Border Protection agent fatally shot an undocumented immigrant in south Texas, the agency said Thursday. According to the agency, the agent went to an area in Rio Bravo, near Laredo, to investigate "illegal activity." He came across a group of migrants who allegedly attacked him with "blunt objects," prompting him to draw his service weapon and fire. A young woman in the group was hit in the head and died. A woman who lives within yards of the site of the shooting said the migrants posed no threat. "They were on the very corner on that lot where there was a tree," said the woman, Marta V. Martinez. "There was no weapon. They were hiding."
New York Daily News The New York Times
6. 2 men bomb Indian restaurant in Canada, injuring 15
Two unidentified men wearing dark zip-up hoodies detonated a bomb in an Indian restaurant in the Canadian city of Mississauga on Thursday night, injuring 15 people. Three of the victims suffered "critical blast injuries," authorities said. Witnesses said the men, their faces covered, entered the Bombay Bhel restaurant and set down what appeared to be a paint can, then fled. The can then exploded. Police said both suspects were young men, but investigators had no immediate evidence to indicate a motive for the crime. "We have no indication to call it a hate crime or any kind of terrorism act," said Peel Region Sgt. Matt Bertram.
7. NOAA predicts active hurricane season
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual forecast released Thursday that this year's Atlantic hurricane season, which starts June 1, will be near or above normal. The agency's scientists said there was a 70 percent likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms with sustained winds of 39 miles per hour or higher, with five to nine reaching hurricane strength with winds of 74 mph or higher. Four of those are expected to become major hurricanes. An average season has 12 named storms, six of them hurricanes. NOAA will update the year's outlook in mid-August just before the season's peak. Forecasters said the season's first tropical depression could form in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, possibly becoming Tropical Storm Alberto.
8. Irish voters cast ballots in referendum on repealing abortion ban
Voters in Ireland began heading to polls Friday to cast ballots in a referendum on loosening the country's abortion ban. The referendum will determine whether to repeal the eighth amendment to the country's constitution, which was adopted in 1983 and requires authorities to equally protect the right of a mother and a fetus from conception. If the amendment is repealed, parliament will consider more liberal abortion laws. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar tweeted support for repeal on Thursday before a moratorium on campaigning took effect. The government proposes allowing abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with the procedure permitted later only in special cases.
9. Trump pardons late boxing champ Jack Johnson
President Trump on Thursday issued a posthumous pardon for boxer Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. Johnson was convicted in 1913 by an all-white jury for violating the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting women across state lines for "immoral" purposes, because he traveled with his white girlfriend. The case was long seen as a brazenly racist prosecution and conviction. "I am taking this very righteous step, I believe, to correct a wrong that occurred in our history and to honor a truly legendary boxing champion," Trump said during an Oval Office ceremony. "It's my honor to do it. It's about time."
10. 8 women accuse Morgan Freeman of inappropriate behavior
Eight women have accused actor Morgan Freeman of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior, CNN reported Thursday. One of the women, a young production assistant who worked in 2015 on the bank heist comedy Going in Style, said Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching and "kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear." Another accuser, who was a senior production staffer on the 2012 film Now You See Me, said Freeman sexually harassed her and her assistant, frequently making suggestive comments about their bodies. Freeman, 80, apologized "to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent."
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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