Trump met Kim Kardashian, even as Chinese author says you can’t underestimate him and science rues the absence of female role models in completing the circuit.
Tweet of the day:
Sorry, I’ve got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018
Assassinated Russian journalist turns up alive. Says, forgot to tell his wife
The reported killing of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko Tuesday in Kiev was actually a ruse by Ukrainian law enforcement to prevent a planned hit, Ukrainian authorities said, reports Russia Times.
The journalist was reportedly found by his wife bleeding at the entrance to his block of flats Tuesday, shot several times in the back, and died in an ambulance.
After reports of Babchenko’s killing, Ukrainian officials had rushed to accuse Russian intelligence services of masterminding the assassination. However, the shocking everyone, Babchenko turned up for a press conference Wednesday.
BBC reported gasps and applause as Babchenko entered the room. He thanked Ukrainian security services for saving his life and said he had no choice but to participate in the sting.
Yes to burgers, no to denuclearisation for North Korea
Casting serious doubts on North Korea’s promise to denuclearise, the CIA in a report claimed that the North won’t denuclearise but that it might open a burger joint, NBC News reported.
The intelligence agency’s findings are in direct contradiction to recent statements by President Trump that Pyongyang intends to stay true to its commitment denuclearise, which is why hebacktracked on his earlier statement cancelling their nuclear summit.
The CIA report also listed various concessions that North Korea’s Dear Leader would be willing to make at the summit. One of these was the possibility that Kim Jong-un may consider offering to open a Western hamburger franchise in Pyongyang as a show of goodwill.
President Trump reacted to this report in the only way he knows how — a very defensive tweet.
Trump is finally meeting Kim, but not the one in North Korea
According to a person familiar with the meeting, America’s fashion icon Kim Kardashian plans to ask Trump to pardon a woman serving a life sentence without parole for a first-time drug offence. This meeting is reportedly a result of back-channel talks between Kardashian and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, reports Vanity Fair.
Kardashian, a recent prison reform evangelist, appears to be approaching her meeting at the White House with seriousness. Kardashian will reportedly not be bringing her publicist, sisters, or camera crew from her family’s reality television show ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’.
Wealth key to grasping Trump-era politics
At a recent book launch in Beijing to discuss Trump-era politics written about in Donald Trump: Rise of the Rich in Global Politics by Chen Chenchen, several experts weighed in.
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Global Times, said it was commonly believed that Donald Trump “doesn’t play by the rules. But that’s too shallow an observation. Like Chen points out in her new book, Trump’s logic and behaviour are linked to his wealth and deep-rooted mindset of the past decades”.
According to Hu, a trade war between China and the US will not take place, but that both sides needed to be prepared for potential skirmishes. “US-China rivalry is very complicated and conflicts over issues like trade, the South China Sea and the Taiwan question won’t be resolved overnight. This relates to both Trump’s wayward behaviour and the nature of US-China relations,” he said.
Chen, the author, said she used Trump as an example of the “wealth-power complex” to look into the past, present and future of US politics. “This is an era in which the wealth of the super-rich grows exponentially, in which the super-rich directly hold power. It is interesting to observe Trump overturning traditional game rules…Compared to his predecessors Roosevelt and Reagan,” Chen added.
“Trump is more a destroyer than a builder,” she said.
According to Zhang Yanling, former executive vice-president of the Bank of China, even as a successful billionaire, Trump has been paying close attention to politics. “He has a very sophisticated political acumen that shouldn’t be underestimated.”
“Trump is different from traditional American politicians in not seeking a moral high ground. For the sake of pragmatic interests, he can sacrifice so-called rules and moral principles. This is actually good for China,” said Wu Sike, former special envoy of China to the Middle East.
‘It wasn’t me, it was Obama’
Meanwhile, says the Daily Beast, Trump’s modus operandi for political survival is to blame former president Barack Obama for everything. “The Obama Administration did NOTHING on trade except let other countries rip off the United States,” Trump declared on Twitter. Public accusations of wire-tapping and spying through the 2016 presidential campaign followed.
But as the news website pointed out, “What stood out about the weekend’s salvo was the vitriol, perhaps panic, behind it and the frostiness it underscored about the relationship between the two most recent Oval Office occupant”. It said that White House officials had confirmed that Trump has often privately pondered about Obama’s dubious plans to undercut his presidency.
The Nobel Prize gender gap
The lack of potential female role models who deserve to win the Nobel Prize but fail to receive science’s ultimate accolade, could by why enough women do not pursue careers in science, Brian Keating writes for Wired.
It is widely understood that role models in music and movies, sports and politics catalyse early interest in the subject for young children who watch them. Unfortunately, when it comes to science, “there have been only two more female physics Nobel laureates than female Popes”.
The lack of female Nobel laureates sends a powerful message of devaluation to aspiring female professionals. When women fail to enter these fields, society misses out on their contributions and younger women are denied important role models, Keating writes.
You can’t beat a catsuit, right, ask Serena Williams at the French Open
In her first match after her pregnancy, Serena Williams wore a black catsuit at the French Open as a symbol for mums who come back “fierce, after pregnancy”. In an interview with Harper’s Baazar, Willians admitted that the catsuit was inspired by Marvel movies and made her feel “immensely powerful”.
“It represents all the mums out there who had a tough pregnancy and had to come back and try to be fierce in the middle of everything…You can’t beat a catsuit, right?” Williams was quoted by Huffington Post saying.
The mum-of-one also told The Telegraph that her power fashion statement had practical benefits too. She had previously faced issues with blood clots in her pregnancy.
The black, shiny, skin-tight outfit looked like a superhero uniform and recalled the controversy that surrounded Anne White’s Wimbledon catsuit in 1985.
“I call it like my Wakanda-inspired catsuit,” Williams said, in a reference to the blockbuster movie Black Panther.