Daily News Roundup

May 9, 2018

Katy Perry has gifted Taylor Swift a literal olive branch, signifying the end of their long lasting feud.Taking to her Instagram Story just before the first date of her massive Reputation tour, Swift showed her followers the symbolic offering.

“This means so much to me,” the muso said.

In addition to the wreath, the package included a handwritten letter. While the footage is somewhat blurry and passes in a flash, Perry appears to address Swift as “old friend”.

Perry also appears to write she is “deeply sorry” over “past miscommunications”.

Brewing over the past 5 years, the feud apparently started after Swift allegedly poached a handful of dancers from Perry’s 2013 Prism tour for her own Red tour, causing some conflict.

The two also dated John Mayer and the simmering feud burst into the spotlight with Swift’s huge 2014 track Bad Blood, and Perry’s retort in 2017’s Swish Swish.

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Barack Obama has slammed Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from a landmark nuclear accord with Iran.

In a statement, the former president said the announcement was “so misguided” and would see the US “turning our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists and intelligence professionals negotiated”.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was negotiated and implemented during Mr Obama’s presidency.

“I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake,” warned Mr Obama. “Without the JCPOA, the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East.

“We all know the dangers of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. It could embolden an already dangerous regime; threaten our friends with destruction; pose unacceptable dangers to America’s own security; and trigger an arms race in the world’s most dangerous region.”

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Hillary Clinton has sounded the alarm over foreign interference by China.

Speaking on a tour in Auckland, the Democratic presidential candidate urged us to take the rising superpower more seriously.

“In Australia and here in New Zealand experts are sounding the alarm about Chinese efforts to gain political power and influence policy decisions,” she said.

She also praised Anne-Marie Brady, a New Zealand academic who has conducted extensive work on China’s global influence campaign.

“Anne-Marie Brady of the University of Canterbury has rightly called this a new global battle, and it’s just getting started. We need to take it seriously.”

Earlier this year, Ms Brady said her home was broken into, and three laptops, two mobile phones and an encrypted memory stick from her last trip to China were taken.

“I had a break-in in my office last December. I received a warning letter, this week, that I was about to be attacked. And yesterday I had a break-in at my house,” she told Canberra officials, according to the New Zealand Herald.

She also said people she’s recently associated with in China were questioned about their association with her.

Ms Clinton herself was the target of an influence campaign spearheaded by Russian operatives in the 2016 election, which she lost to Donald Trump.

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