An arms ban lifted. A Taliban leader dead. And a bad weekend all around on Everest. It’s Monday, and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Vietnam arms ban
The U.S. is tossing aside its decades-long ban on selling military equipment to Vietnam. This wouldn’t have anything to do with countering China’s growing strength in the region, would it? Oh no, said President Obama this morning in Hanoi. Yes, China is aggressively claiming territory in the South China Sea, and yes it’s flying its jets too close to U.S. aircraft, but providing arms to the Vietnamese at this time? Just a kooky coincidence, really.
2. Taliban leader killed
U.S. drones strike again, and this time they struck big: Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. As far as bad guys go, he was pretty far up the food chain. He directed not just the Taliban, but confabbed with other terror groups like the Haqqani Network and al Qaeda. The strike happened in a remote area of Pakistan. And Islamabad’s ticked off since the U.S. didn’t give it a heads-up.
3. Mount Everest
It was an awful weekend on top of the world. Four climbers died in four days, and two more missing. One fell to his death; another had a heart attack; and two died of altitude sickness. All this after Everest had been closed to climbing for two years after Nepal’s earthquake last year and an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpas in 2014.
4. EgyptAir crash
Searchers have fished plane wreckage, personal belongings and human remains from EgyptAir Flight 804’s watery crash site. But what they don’t have are the all-important black boxes. So, Egypt is sending a sub down into the Mediterranean. It’ll look for the plane’s fuselage too, as authorities try to figure out why the flight, with 66 people aboard, crashed into the sea last week. Deepening the mystery: Just before it crashed, the flight sent messages about smoke in the front of the plane.
5. ISIS
The Muslim month of Ramadan is supposed to be a spiritual detox, a time to burn away bad habits. Someone tell that to ISIS. The terrorists says they’ll ramp up attacks on the West during Ramadan, which begins in early June. Since declaring its caliphate two years ago, ISIS has carried out or inspired at least 90 attacks in 23 countries, including Iraq. A fed-up Iraq announced this morning it’s starting an offensive to retake Falluja.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
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Oh say can you sing?
The San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus, set to sing the national anthem at a Padres game, got pre-empted by a recording. The Padres got some explaining to do.
She’s a maneater
There’s a species of spider where the females eat the males for giving whack gifts.
2016 or 1816?
The federal government will stop using the terms “Negro” and “Oriental,” thanks to a new law signed Friday. Welcome to 21st century, feds.
Click ‘Dislike’
China posts 488 million fake social media posts a year to distract folks from what’s really going on.
Workplace tip of the day
Don’t show up drunk for work and answer questions in parliament, like this home affairs minister did in Tanzania. He was so fired by the president.
Number of the day
123.8
India hit its highest temperature ever recorded (in degrees Fahrenheit) late last week in the town of Phalodi.
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Here’s what’s happening today.
Judgment day
A Baltimore judge hands down a verdict today in the case of one of six officers charged in Freddie Gray’s death.
AND FINALLY …
Closing time
“Saturday Night Live” closes up the bar on the Democratic primary, much to the chagrin of Bernie Sanders (or is that Larry David?).