World AM News Briefs For Friday, 25 May 2018
Good Morning Australia!! - The Trump Clown Car mows down the North Korea summit - Another pillar of Hollywood is accused of sex harassment - Investigators know who owned the missile that downed MH17 - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:
The orange clown Donald Trump called off next month's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore with a bizarrely-worded letter that many are comparing to a really, really bad teenage break-up letter. The change of heart - which appears to have taken allies South Korea and Japan by surprise - comes after North Korea’s vice foreign minister called US vice president Mike Pence a "dummy" and threatened the US with a nuclear strike. As read by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump careens like a drunk driver between the passive and the aggressive, blaming it all on North Korea and not mentioning his administration's constant referencing of Libya (with its implicit threat of the death of Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of US-backed insurgents happening again). From there, Trump goes from threatening Kim with America's "massive and powerful" nuclear arsenal to gushing over the "wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me". And then it ends practically begging Kim to call if he changes his mind.
"How's that Nobel Prize working out for you?" The Internet was not kind to the orange clown after his latest failure.
The US has uninvited China from taking part in military exercises in the South China Sea. The Pentagon says that "China's behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC exercise" and it has "disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise". China has constructed a series of military bases on reefs and islets in the South China Sea that were disputed or clearly belonged to other countries. One base on Subi Reef now has 400 buildings on it, while fighter jets and bombers have practiced attacks against potential nearby threats.
Eight women have come forward to accuse veteran Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment, with incidents taking place on movie sets, in his production office, and even a surreal scene in front of a crowd of reporters in which Freeman made inappropriate comments to a pregnant reporter while his co-stars Michael Caine and Alan Arkin scowled in disgust. That CNN report instigated the investigation that uncovered the allegations by the women, who feared for their livelihoods if they came forward. Freeman issued a statement, "I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected - that was never my intent."
Disgraced Hollywood ex-mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to turn himself in to the New York City Police Department over sexual misconduct charges. This is planned for Friday in NYC. Actor Lucia Evans told investigators that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004. Weinstein's lawyers didn't comment, but he has in the past denied the allegations from Ms. Evans and numerous other accusers who describe similar abuse.
Sex without consent is rape, according to a new law that will come into force in Sweden from 1 July. It means that prosecutors will no longer have to proof that an accuser was the victim of violence or a was in a vulnerable situation to pursue a rape case. Critics say.. hmm, you know what? No one cares what critics of common sense have to say.
The missile that took down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine came from a Russian military unit. The Dutch investigation into the crash is directly contradicting Russian claims that its weaponry was not used. Flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on 7 July 2014 when it was shot down over Donetsk, which at tehtime was embroiled in fighting between Ukraine's ill-prepared military and Russian-backed separatists. All 298 people including 27 Australians on board the Boeing 777 were killed.
And here are amazing video images from the Volcano on the east side of Hawaii's Big Island.