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Vox Sentences: Save the date for the Trump-Kim summit
The Donald Trump–Kim Jong Un sit-down gets a date and place; Malaysia gets a 92-year-old prime minister.
Trump and Kim will give world peace a “special moment”
Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call
- The Trump-Kim summit is on. The two leaders will meet in Singapore on June 12. [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]
- The president spilled the details — where else? — on Twitter. “We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” [Twitter / Donald Trump]
- The announcement came hours after Trump personally greeted three American hostages freed from North Korea as they returned to the US overnight. [New York Times / Katie Rogers]
- The hostage release was seen as a gesture of goodwill ahead of the summit, which will be the first face-to-face meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. [Washington Post / David Nakamura and John Wagner]
- Why Singapore? The country has diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea, and experienced security services for such a high-profile event. [Associated Press / Annabelle Liang]
- Trump says maximum pressure brought North Korea to the table. But South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s understated but skillful outreach and engagement with Kim should get a lot of the credit. [Foreign Policy / Emily Tamkin and Dan De Luce]
Malaysia’s democratic milestone
- 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as Malaysia’s prime minister on Thursday. He is now the oldest leader in the world. [Guardian / Hannah Ellis-Petersen]
- That’s not the only milestone of Mahathir’s leadership. It marks the first time an opposition coalition defeated the ruling party, Barisan Nasional, since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957. [NYT / Richard C. Paddock]
- The transfer of power was in doubt up until late Thursday. The incumbent, Najib Razak, at first refused to concede and allegedly tried to bribe members of the opposition to switch sides. [Guardian / Hannah Ellis-Petersen]
- After a delay, Mahathir was sworn in, promising a break from the corrupt tenure of his predecessor. [BBC]
- But Mahathir is an unlikely agent of change. He served as prime minister for more than two decades, from 1981 to 2003, and only joined the opposition party last year. [Washington Post / King Chai Woon and Vincent Bevins]
- Mahathir was known as a modernizer but also flexed his autocratic muscles. At 92, he has the chance to rewrite at least part of his legacy. [NYT / Richard C. Paddock]
Miscellaneous
- In Illinois, the training director of a police K-9 academy warned the public that if the state votes to legalize marijuana, Illinois law enforcement might be forced to kill their drug-sniffing dogs. As Reason’s C.J. Ciaramella said, this is “the worst argument against legal marijuana.” [Reason / C.J. Ciaramella]
- The New Yorker profiled North Carolina Rev. William Barber and his attempts to relaunch Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign. [New Yorker / Jelani Cobb]
- Researchers have found a way to send Alexa and Siri silent commands, which isn’t scary at all. Nope. Not scary. [NYT / Craig S. Smith]
Verbatim
“We want to thank Kim Jong Un, who really was excellent to these three incredible people.” [President Trump on Kim Jong Un, while greeting three Americans who had been held captive by the North Korean government / The Hill]
Watch this: Why no aquarium has a great white shark
Many have tried to keep a white shark in captivity. Here’s why that’s so difficult. [YouTube / Joss Fong and Dion Lee]
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By Cameron Peters
By Cameron Peters
By Cameron Peters
