MIssion accomplished? Trump's meeting with Kim is a political win despite long odds of diplomatic success

If history is to remember the moment as more than a self-glorifying stunt, the meeting must lead to breakthroughs that Trump's friendship with the brutal dictator is yet to yield.

Yet even if that progress doesn't quickly emerge, Trump can still chalk up a valuable political win that will underscore how his foreign policy is often directed by his electoral priorities.

He can use his singular televised moment to bolster his claims to be a statesman and a peacemaker. And it's not just about winning the Nobel Prize that the President believes he deserves for forging an opening with one of the most despotic regimes in modern history.

Trump also has a vital political interest in keeping alive the idea that he personally headed off war with North Korea and that historic progress is possible as he runs for reelection.

His meeting with Kim is a centerpiece of the "peace and prosperity" platform on which he plans to anchor his bid for a second term and to use to rise above his Democratic rivals.

Trump will be praised by conservative media and the reality of US-North Korea relations will be glossed over, all in the service of his 2020 campaign.

The political significance of Sunday's eye-popping encounter was revealed in the quick condemnations offered by Democratic presidential candidates seeking to deny him a political win.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that Trump shouldn't be "squandering American influence on photo ops and exchanging love letters with a ruthless dictator."

A spokesman for Democratic front-runner Joe Biden accused Trump of "coddling" dictators at the "expense of American national security."

Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted that Trump should take North Korea's nuclear threat and its "crimes against humanity seriously."

But politics is often shaped more by perception than reality. And the North Korean summit is an example of how Trump can use the office of the presidency to his own benefit ahead of 2020.

He has every incentive to keep on engaging Kim perhaps even with an election year visit to the White House, even if the North Koreans refuse to give up their nuclear program.

And Trump, by becoming the first sitting President to step into North Korea, also outdid his predecessors, some of whom simply climbed atop the border wall and peered over the other side into the isolated state.

The stunning imagery that unfolded at the demilitarized zone between the rival Koreas -- the world's last Cold War border -- will shortly be making its way into Trump campaign ads.

On that score alone, it's mission accomplished.

No fundamental progress

But even the President acknowledges that without a significant follow up, his encounter with Kim will not realize its promise.

"This was a very legendary, very historic day," Trump told reporters after meeting Kim. But he added: "It'll be even more historic if something comes out of it."

For all his effusive praise of his own initiative and his odd friendship with Kim, Trump cannot point to fundamental changes in North Korean behavior that are at the root of the standoff.

Since meeting Trump at their first summit in Singapore last year, Kim has done nothing to live up to Pyongyang's undertaking to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." That refusal to budge was behind the failure of the second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi in February.

Though it has suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests, US intelligence and analysts believe that the North is still manufacturing the materials needed to add to its already considerable nuclear arsenal.

"It is positive, certainly that after four months of little to no contact between North Korea and the Americans that they are in touch again," said Jean Lee, director of the Center for Korean History and Public Policy at the Wilson Center.

"However, will it get North Korea to the place where they are willing to give up elements of their nuclear program, partially or completely to ensure peace in the region?"

"I don't know — this is a risky move," Lee said on CNN.

Legitimizing a tyrant

Critics of Trump's approach argue that he has already ceded huge propaganda concessions to Kim by agreeing to repeated meetings without securing even an inventory of North Korean weapons that will be the first step to a genuine diplomatic process.

They believe that Kim is merely exploiting the President's vanity and desperation for personal political successes to win international acceptance.

Trump has certainly legitimized a man who presides over a horrific regime that maintains concentration camps, crushes individual freedoms, exists in a cult of personality and sometimes executes his opponents.

But no other President in recent years has managed to make irreversible progress toward eliminating North Korea's nuclear program.

So there is an argument that Trump's radically different approach is worth a try even if there is no indication yet that Kim is sincere about handing over weapons which are the ultimate guarantee of his regime's capacity to stay in power.

Foreign policy traditionalists argue that meetings with Kim should be the last step on the diplomatic process — to formally endorse an agreement, not the first step.

As it stands, Kim and Trump agreed to task lower level officials to reopen talks that have yet to progress despite the previous summits.

North Koreans are notoriously formidable negotiating partners who typically push for US concessions to get an agreement while balking at or cheating on their own commitments.

The President argues that his decision to meet a leader from a state that has been technically in a state of war with the US for nearly 70 years is in itself a breakthrough.

"This is, I think, really ... this is a historic moment, the fact that we're meeting," Trump told Kim on Sunday.

There was a danger that after the failed Hanoi summit, Washington and Pyongyang could return to open confrontation and that the risk of war would again increase.

So there are benefits to a personal connection between Trump and Kim, however distasteful it may appear.

How the 2020 election could offer an opening in talks

But symbolism does not mask the lack of real progress.

In fact, the American side still does not have a good fix on whether Kim really is serious in giving up his nuclear weapons — or is simply trawling for concessions from the US.

Trump has layered praise on North Korea for the rudimentary steps it has taken so far. They include returning remains of US servicemen killed in the 1950-53 Korean War and the suspension of ballistic missile tests designed to weaponize a nuclear device that could reliably reach the US mainland.

The North Koreans had similar steps in earlier diplomatic dances with US Presidents and not ultimately gone on to verifiably halt their nuclear programs.

But this time, the political calendar and Trump's approach could give grounds for optimism.

Kim, who has presided over a limited form of economic development inside North Korea, is under pressure to deliver improvements in the lives of his people — even if he has no intention of loosening his iron grip on political dissent.

So he has an incentive to try to seek economic benefits or aid from the United States and wants punishing economic sanctions lifted — a potential opening for US negotiators.

The North Koreans have also proven themselves to be shrewd students of US politics.

Kim must realize that his chances of basking in this kind of legitimacy with a US President other than Trump are slim.

So if he fears Trump could lose in 2020, he may reason the time may be ripe for a deal. And Trump wants nothing more than a big diplomatic breakthrough months before the election.

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A driver caught on video dragging a deputy with his car during a traffic stop is facing an attempted murder charge

Rocky Rudolph, 38, of Apopka, Florida, was pulled over by Seminole County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Blais Saturday.

The body camera footage released by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office Sunday shows the deputy and the officer having a calm, friendly interaction in the first few minutes of the traffic stop after Blais tells Rudolph he pulled him over for having tinted windows. The two men even joke with each other about the suspect's unusual name.

But things turn sour when Blais asks Rudolph if he has any marijuana in the vehicle before telling him to turn off his vehicle.

Instead, Rudolph throws the car in drive as the deputy hangs out of the window screaming for the driver to stop.

Rudolph briefly stops and Blais points a gun at him ordering him to stop the car before Rudolph pulls off again toward a highway.

Dashcam video shows the deputy fall off of the vehicle as it speeds away.

The sheriff's office searched for Rudolph following the incident and he was taken into custody shortly before 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the department said.

Blais was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released from the hospital Saturday, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

Rudolph is being held without bond in Seminole County Jail on charges of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting an officer with violence, according to the county jail roster.

A court appearance for Rudolph is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday.

CNN has not determined whether Rudolph currently has legal representation in this case.

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Hong Kong protesters clash with police as summer of discontent continues

Demonstrators took to the streets early Monday, blocking several key roads leading to the main government building. Many wore masks, or carried makeshift shields, in anticipation of tear gas as used by police during previous protests.

July 1 marks the 22nd anniversary of the city's handover from British to Chinese rule, a date when protesters have traditionally marched for greater democracy in the semi-autonomous city.

Protesters had hoped to block or interrupt an official flag raising ceremony marking the occasion, attended by the city's embattled Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

Security around the event had been tightened compared to previous years, with additional police and security drafted in. Authorities appeared unwilling to take any chances. Riot police equipped with shields and batons used pepper spray to push back protesters, who they claimed had attempted to surge police lines.

The ceremony marked a rare public appearance for Lam, who was forced to publicly apologize for the introduction of the extradition bill last month.

That bill has been shelved and Lam says there are no plans to restart the legislative process, but protests have not stopped, with a march on June 16 attracting around 2 million people, according to organizers.

Protesters fear the bill could be used to extradite residents to mainland China for political or inadvertent business offenses and are pushing for it to be shelved completely.

Since May's mass march, smaller demonstrations have targeted police and government offices, shutting them down and trapping police officers in their headquarters for hours.

Many protesters are angry over police use of tear gas and rubber bullets to force people off the streets on June 12, when protesters successfully blocked off the city's legislature and prevented lawmakers from debating the extradition bill.

In her speech at the flag raising ceremony Monday, Lam promised to "ease anxiety in the community, and to pave the way forward for Hong Kong."

Hundreds of thousands are expected to take the streets later Monday, in what organizers hope will be the largest protest against the extradition bill since May's record-breaking turnout.

By noon, the crowds had grown in size, with several thousand, mostly young protesters gathering close to Hong Kong's government headquarters behind hastily built makeshift barriers.

Beijing stands behind leader

While Beijing has stood by Lam, she is facing criticism from all sides for her handling of the crisis.

Lam says the bill was her idea, not Beijing's, and she's taken responsibility for a rushed roll-out and failure to communicate with the public, who fear it could be used to extradite anyone in the city across the border to China to face political charges.

Even much of the city's business community, traditionally conservative and unwilling to get too involved in politics, came out against the bill, and some pro-government figures criticized Lam for pushing it through the legislature against proper procedure.

She justified that move as necessary in order to extradite a wanted murderer to Taiwan, but that justification was made useless by Taipei's statement in May that it would not accept any transfer under the controversial bill.

Protests and anger over the bill have reinvigorated an opposition movement that had appeared to be in the doldrums after repeated losses in the wake of the 2014 Umbrella Movement.

Now Lam is facing not only continued demonstrations against the bill -- and demands for her resignation -- but also a return to the issue behind the 2014 protests, that Hong Kongers are not able to choose their own leader.

A key reason Beijing was keen to keep Lam in place, even if she wanted to resign, is that losing her would require choosing another chief executive within six months. Currently that is done by an election committee heavily stacked in Beijing's favor, and renewing this process would be sure to restart an angry political debate that had been safely kicked down the road to 2022.

Now that issue seems to be coming to the fore anyway, piling more pressure on Lam and starting new headaches for her bosses in Beijing.

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The secondhand harms of drinking impact 1 in 5 adults, study says

That's according to a study published Monday in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, which found that in 2015, an estimated 53 million adults -- or nearly 1 in 5 -- said they had experienced at least one harm attributable to someone else's drinking in the past year. That harm ranged from property damage to physical injury.

"One thing to think about with the one-in-five number is that it is only limited to a snapshot in time of about a year. So probably more people have actually been harmed by someone else's drinking at other times in their life," said Katherine Karriker-Jaffe, a senior scientist with the Alcohol Research Group at the Public Health Institute in Emeryville, California, who was an author of the study.

"So it might be an underestimate of the negative impacts of alcohol on people other than the drinker," she said.

The study involved analyzing data on 8,750 adults who answered survey questions from two databases: the 2015 National Alcohol's Harm to Others Survey and the 2015 National Alcohol Survey. The surveys were conducted from April 2014 to June 2015. The study did not include children.

Each adult was asked whether they had experienced any of 10 different types of harm in the past 12 months caused by "someone who had been drinking."

The different types of harm included harassment; feeling threatened or afraid; having belongings ruined; having property vandalized; being pushed, hit or assaulted; being physically harmed; being in a traffic accident; being a passenger in a vehicle with a drunk driver; having family or marital problems; and having financial trouble.

The researchers found that 21% of women and 23% of men in the study reported experiencing at least one of those harms in the past year. The most prevalent type of harm was harassment, according to the data.

When it comes to harms other than harassment, "for women, the most prevalent are family and marital problems or financial problems due to someone else's drinking and a close third runner-up would be driving-related harms -- so riding with a drunk driver or actually having a crash caused by someone who had been drinking," Karriker-Jaffe said.

Other than harassment, "for men, the driving-related harms were the most common, followed by property damage and vandalism," she said.

Overall, women were more likely than men to report harm by a spouse, partner or family member who had been drinking, and men were more likely to report harm because of a stranger's drinking, the data showed.

The study had some limitations, including that the data was self-reported, which lends itself to bias if a person in the study was not answering survey questions honestly.

Also, more research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge for other years, as the data was collected in 2014 and 2015.

The study findings were "fascinating" for Aesoon Park, an associate professor of psychology at Syracuse University in New York, who has conducted research on alcohol use and misuse but was not involved in the new study.

She noted the study found that younger adults were more likely to experience a broad range of secondhand harms due to someone else's drinking compared to older adults.

"We know now that people who are 18 to 25, they are showing the highest rates of alcoholism," Park said.

"What is interesting about this study is that not only is it about alcohol use disorder, but it shows how the secondhand effect of alcohol is also affecting that same age group," she said. "The second interesting part to this is the gender inequality."

She said both men and women seem to be affected by the secondhand effect of alcohol, even though men are more likely than women to drink excessively. "So it highlights a gender inequality of the secondhand effect of alcohol," Park said.

Dr. Timothy Naimi, a physician and alcohol epidemiologist at Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts, wrote an editorial published alongside the study Monday.

"The underreporting of harms among some individual respondents, coupled with the fact that previous harm leaves some portion of the population unable or less likely to participate in surveys because of premature death, injury, or psychological distress, suggests that even this robust prevalence is likely an underestimate," Naimi wrote.

"This is an emerging area of investigation in its relative infancy and is one that needs nurturing and growth," he wrote in part. "Prevention of secondhand effects from others' drinking at the population level must be driven by structural, environmental interventions that reduce excessive drinking."

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50 years after Stonewall, what does Pride mean today?

Written by Serena Daniari

Serena Daniari is a writer, journalist, producer and transgender activist who has worked with GLSEN, GLAAD, and the Transgender Law Center. The opinions in this article belong to the author.

Wandering the streets of New York City this June, I found myself moving through a rainbow wonderland. From store fronts and banks to iconic landmarks like the Empire State Building, the city has been transformed into a multi-colored display of LGBTQ support and allyship.

It's incredible how much things have changed. After all, 2019 marks just 50 years since queer folks fought back against police persecution at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, sparking the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Back then, legal and social protections LGBTQ people have today, like marriage equality and employment security -- let alone widespread celebrations like Pride -- would have been inconceivable.

However, while Pride engenders a spirit of progress, inclusion and self-acceptance, our community cannot afford to be complacent.

The LGBTQ community is not a monolith, and our views regarding Pride are as nuanced and diverse as we are. But as a young transgender woman, I can't separate the celebratory aspects of Pride from its complicated, painful history, rooted in the violent abuse of my transcestors. After all, the precursor to the modern Pride parade -- the Christopher Street Liberation Day march, held on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots -- was not born out of a desire to celebrate. It was an organized demonstration against political, social and economic marginalization and violence.

People attend the New York City Pride March on Sunday, June 30. Credit: Amy Lombard for CNN

For many of us, these threats are still prevalent. So far, at least 11 Black trans women have been killed in the US this year, and in May, the Trump administration announced plans to rollback trans healthcare protections. In the face of these continuing injustices, Pride should stand as an important reminder that the homophobic and transphobic sentiments of the past continue to trickle into our lives.

Re-writing history

The reality is that the LGBTQ rights movement has been spearheaded by Black and Latina trans women, including Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Miss Major, who were on the front line at the Stonewall riots. But their stories have frequently been erased, with cisgender gay white men positioned as the faces of the movement instead. (Notably, the 2015 film "Stonewall" was panned by LGBTQ activists who claimed it minimized the participation of black and Latino trans people from the riots.)

Demonstration at City Hall, New York in 1973. From left: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Jane Vercaine, Barbara Deming, Kady Vandeurs, Carol Grosberg, and others. Credit: Courtesy New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division

And to this day, trans people are frequently left alone in the fight for access to medical care and adequate protection from violence, and are even excluded from the very queer spaces the trans women before fought so hard to cultivate and protect.

"Pride is not inclusive," said Eva Reign, digital manager at the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, a community organization that advocates for Black transgender people. "Trans people don't feel welcomed at mainstream pride events. Trans women of color created it, so we should be the first ones marching and calling the shots."

A parade goer holds a sign that says, "Support all your sisters, not just your cis-ters." Credit: Amy Lombard for CNN

This erasure of people of color specifically was highlighted in 2017, when Philadelphia added black and brown stripes to its Pride flag in an attempt to more explicitly include LGBT people of color. This flag was subsequently met with intense controversy, particularly by white gay men who vehemently opposed adding new colors to the rainbow symbol. This firestorm embodies a pervasive conflict in Pride discourse.

People cheer as they watch the parade, which took place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Credit: Amy Lombard for CNN

However, now, more than ever, young queer folks are using Pride as a vehicle to center the most marginalized members of our community. In an interview with Paper Magazine, 33-year-old queer singer Janelle Monae expressed the importance of supporting queer and trans people of color in social justice activism; and earlier this year, Philip Picardi, Out magazine's 27-year-old editor-in-chief, brought on Black trans activist Raquel Willis as the publication's executive editor -- the magazine's first trans editor since its founding in 1992.

"I think the younger generation of queers are more conscious of how LGBTQ identities intersect with other forms of prejudice, like racism, ableism, misogyny, and classism," said Peter Meleo, a 21-year-old student activist at Arizona State University. "I'm gay, but I'm also cis and white. That affords me many privileges that my trans sisters of color don't have. When I create Pride meet-ups, I'm always thinking about ways to involve trans people and intersex people. They deserve to experience pride in who they are too. If our symbol is rainbow, our movement should represent every color and every hue."

Pride 2019: A history of the rainbow flag

There is no denying that there's still work to do in terms of including trans folks and people of color into the Pride dialogue in meaningful and substantive ways. But despite its shortcomings, Pride is undeniably a beacon of hope.

Street art is seen at a stop sign during Pride in New York. Credit: Amy Lombard for CNN

The unfortunate reality is that like many, I experience transphobia frequently when navigating public spaces. I've been laughed at, misgendered and assaulted. But during Pride month, when the city is painted rainbow, I definitely feel safer and more accepted. The slogans and displays feel like a protective cloak, letting LGBTQ people know that for one month, people are on our side. For one month, being homophobic or transphobic is strictly forbidden.

"As trans people, we're taught to be ashamed of our past and even ashamed of our present," Reign said. "As each generation becomes more visible and more accepting, we're able to disband those structures in our lives that reinforce our shame. As young trans people, Pride is about finding the tools to throw all of that away, but (also) to remember who first gave us that strength."

To me, Pride isn't just a party. It's a symbol of what's possible: the ability to witness fully realized LGBTQ equality in my lifetime.

If in June, cities, institutions and individuals can devote attention and resources to LGBTQ people, maybe one day, they can do so all year round.

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Stelter: Trump is still being graded on a curve too often

"President Trump lies so reflexively on trivial matters that world leaders do not know whether to believe him on important ones. This conduct has become so routine it barely merits notice," political scientist and former Bob Kerrey aide Greg Weiner writes in this new NYT op-ed.

"Routine" is a problem. "Barely merits notice" is a problem. On Sunday's "Reliable," I suggested that the media is collectively still grading Trump on a curve — especially versus the Dems who want to take his job.

Examples: During Trump's travels in Asia, he repeatedly praised autocrats, leading Jim Acosta to ask, "What is it with your coziness with some of these dictators and autocrats at these summits?" To his credit, Trump repeatedly fielded questions from reporters. But, as HuffPost's Mary Papenfuss wrote, he "appeared to be confounded by the terms school 'busing,' as well as Western-style democratic 'liberalism.'" This was Jonathan Chait's headline for NYMag: "Trump Thinks Putin's Attack on 'Western-Style Liberalism' Was About California."

Oh, and Trump called John Bolton "Mike" again.

Some gaffes and misunderstandings matter more than others, of course. But one of my guests, Frank Bruni, expressed a concern that many left-leaning readers and viewers share: That the press will "penalize and vilify Democrats for doing things that Trump does every hour and every minute."

At the DMZ, the press was on the president's mind...

Even while taking a historic step into North Korea, President Trump was preoccupied by the media coverage of his trip and his perceived triumph. Jim Sciutto, who anchored CNN's live coverage from the DMZ early Sunday morning, said Trump made "more comments about the coverage than the moment and its meaning for the two countries."

This is not new, but it's still unusual. Here are a few examples of his gripes:

-- Sitting with Kim Jong Un: "When I put out the social media notification, if he didn't show up, the press was going to make me look very bad. So, you made us both look good."

-- Afterward: "When we put out that notice, knowing the press, like I do, if he had decided not to come, you would have hit me. You would have hit me hard."

-- "I mean, you don't report it accurately, but that's okay. Someday history will record it accurately."

Trump says the press has "no appreciation"

Amid all of this, WaPo's David Nakamura tweeted: "Trump thinks so much about the media and his image. He wants a grab for history. He should [choose] his words carefully at this moment in the DMZ. Instead he says: 'I say that for the press, they have no appreciation for what is being done, none.' Purely tactical, as always.

That "no appreciation" comment, BTW, was followed by a blatant misrepresentation. Trump claimed "there was great conflict here prior to our meeting in Singapore. After our first summit, all of the danger went away."

Earlier in the day, Margaret Talev with Bloomberg News did her best to inject some truth. In a question at a joint presser, she brought up the second summit, in Hanoi, and said "nothing has substantively changed since Hanoi. North Korea has tested short-range missiles. Why does Kim Jong Un deserve this moment?" Trump deflected by saying "We've made tremendous strides. Only the fake news says they weren't." And later: "We are so far advanced from where we were two and a half years ago that it's always insulting. And I think it's why the press, frankly, has lost such credibility. They've lost such credibility."

Around and around we go...

Bottom line: Was it anything more than a stunt?

That's the question heading into Monday morning. A stunt? A really expensive photo op? Or something more? On "Reliable," Bruni, Katie Rogers, and Bianna Golodryga discussed the coverage and Trump's praise for autocrats who oppose press freedom. Bruni called out Trump's talk about feeling "honored" to be with Kim: "It is not an honor to be there with a brutal, murderous dictator..."

FOR THE RECORD

-- Betsy Klein and Kaitlan Collins' latest: "Ivanka Trump: Adviser, daughter, and, this week, diplomat" (CNN)

-- In Trump's dealings with North Korea, the "common element was that the drama played out on live television, and the president played the starring role,"David Nakamura writes... (WaPo)

-- Read more of Sunday's "Reliable Sources" newsletter... And subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox...

-- Shannon Liao reports: "A Canadian cartoonist's illustration of President Trump playing golf over the bodies of two drowned migrants went viral Wednesday. Two days later, Michael de Adder said on Twitter that he had been let go by a publishing company in New Brunswick, Canada..." (CNN)

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Start your Monday smart: Hong Kong, Putin & the Pope, July 4th, Venezuela, World Cup

(You can also get "5 Things You Need to Know Today" delivered to your inbox daily. You give us five minutes, and we give you five things you must know for your weekday, plus a Sunday edition to get your week started smart. Sign up here.)

• Trump visits South Korea. En route from the G20 summit in Japan, President Donald Trump is in South Korea for a meeting with President Moon Jae-in and possibly a stop at the Demilitarized Zone at the North and South Korean border. The visit could set the stage for a third summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

• New York celebrates Pride. More than 100 floats and 500 marching groups are slated to roll through Manhattan starting at noon ET to honor the sacrifices and triumphs of the gay rights movement in the 50 years since the Stonewall riots.  

• It's Asteroid Day, so move over, Bruce Willis. Now's the time all earthlings are called upon to consider the hazard posed by the rocky orbiters and how to protect our planet.

• Hong Kong protests return. Demonstrators are again expected to flood the streets of Hong Kong, this time to mark 22 years since the territory reverted to China. Recent protests against a controversial extradition bill have drawn hundreds of thousands of activists to the streets.

• Happy Canada Day! Parades, picnics, fireworks and welcome ceremonies for new citizens highlight this holiday, which marks the joining in 1867 of Canada's original three provinces.

• It's strawberries and cream time. It wouldn't be Wimbledon without the legendary snack. The Grand Slam tennis tournament begins in London, with defending champ Novak Djokovic aiming for his fifth title.

• The Walkman turns 40. Sony's iconic portable music player -- once the ultimate in freedom -- enters middle age.

• Ain't no sunshine. Remember a few years back, when we all cut holes in paper plates, put them over our faces and stared at the sun? It's déjà vu in Chile and Argentina when a total solar eclipse turns out the lights on parts of South America.

• Women's World Cup victory is in sight. It's semifinals week, with the US taking on England at 3 p.m. ET. The other semi is Wednesday, ahead of Saturday's third-place playoff. Here's when to watch on Fox.

• Don't get caught in the spoiler web. "Spider-Man: Far from Home" hits theaters, picking up where Marvel's latest blockbuster left off. (If you haven't seen "Avengers: Endgame" yet, now's the time.)

• Happy Birthday, USA! The nation celebrates its 243rd year of independence. Trump has touted "one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C.," including a presidential address, though it could happen in the shadow of the Trump baby balloon that's flown over protests against the President in London.

• Putin visits the Pope. Russia's President is due to hold talks with Francis against the backdrop of warming relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church. Though Russia's proxy war with Ukraine remains a sticking point, the sit-down could set the stage for the Pope to visit Russia.

• 'It's 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana.' And "summer's heating up." If you're ready for the sizzle, the third season of Netflix's "Stranger Things" drops.

• Venezuelans hit the streets. Big pro- and anti-government protest are planned on the anniversary of the nation's declaration of independence from Spain. The country is still in limbo after a budding revolution failed to deliver, leaving President Nicolás Maduro to preside over a society still in crisis.

• The Yellow Jersey turns 100. Riders start competing for the ultimate in cycling apparel as the Tour de France begins in Belgium en route to the final stage on July 28.

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Chuck Schumer is calling for the ATF and CDC to help investigate American deaths in the Dominican Republic

"With the spate of sicknesses & deaths of New Yorkers & Americans vacationing in the Dominican Republic," the Senate minority leader and Democrat from New York said on Twitter, "The federal government must double its efforts on getting to the bottom of things."

At least 10 American citizens have died after an apparent sudden health issue in the Dominican Republic since June 2018.

Schumer suggested the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) -- a federal agency which is heavily involved in the aftermath of mass shootings and crimes involving firearms -- should get involved as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"ATF & more CDC experts should help the FBI with fact-finding. Now," the politician said.

The FBI currently has a team in the Dominican Republic assisting with toxicology tests of three American deaths, some of which could be related to alcohol. The US Embassy announced the agency's involvement in early June and said results may take up to 30 days.

The most recent American to die in the Caribbean country, New Yorker Vittorio Caruso, died from respiratory and heart failure after a long history of related health problems, the Dominican Republic's Attorney General's office said, citing a preliminary autopsy report.

A US official said earlier this month there has not been an unusual uptick in reported deaths in the Dominican Republic and the US has not issued a travel warning.

The 10 deaths, US and local officials have said, are not related.

CNN's Rosa Flores contributed to this report.

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A pregnant woman was shot, then indicted in her baby's death. Lawyers will try to get the charges dismissed

White says that there isn't a time frame for when the motion will be reviewed by a judge.

The Jefferson County grand jury indicted Jones, 27, on a manslaughter charge June 27.

Jones was five months pregnant on December 4 when she got into a fight with another woman outside a Dollar General store in Pleasant Grove, just west of Birmingham, CNN affiliate WBMA reported.

"It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby," Pleasant Grove police Lt. Danny Reid told AL.com shortly after the shooting.

He said the fight caused the other woman, Ebony Jemison, to react and defend herself. He would not describe Jones, the pregnant woman, as a shooting victim.

Ebony Jemison was originally charged with murder and attempted murder, but those charges were dismissed, WBMA reported.

The indictment may or may not lead to prosecution, according to a statement from the Jefferson County District Attorney Bessemer Division's office.

"While the Grand Jury has had its say, our office is in the process of evaluating this case and has not yet made a determination about whether to prosecute it as a manslaughter case, reduce it to a lesser charge or not to prosecute it," Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Lynneice Washington said. "We will announce our decision only after all due diligence has been performed."

According to Alabama law, manslaughter happens when:

-- A person recklessly causes the death of another person; or

-- A person causes the death of another person under circumstances that would constitute murder, "except that he or she causes the death due to a sudden heat of passion caused by provocation recognized by law, and before a reasonable time for the passion to cool and for reason to reassert itself."

Manslaughter is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

CNN's Madeline Holcombe and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

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BET Awards both entertained and moved

The men, who as boys were known as the Central Park Five, took the stage to introduce Grammy Award-winning singer H.E.R.

Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam are now known as the Exonerated Five, and they received a standing ovation.

Their story was the basis of the Netflix limited series "When They See Us," which dramatized their experiences of being wrongly convicted in a 1989 rape case in New York. The show has stoked strong feelings about how they were mistreated, subsequent struggles and eventual exoneration.

The 19th annual event celebrates the best in African-American culture.

The show kicked off with a performance by the most-nominated artist of the night, Cardi B.

2019 BET Awards winners: The complete list

The rapper kept it hot with a lap dance for her husband, fellow artist and Migos member, Offset, as she and a host of dancers turned it out.

There were several buzz-worthy moments during the show.

Rapper Snoop Dogg had Twitter scratching its head with his win for the Dr. Bobby Jones gospel award.

Yes, Snoop won the gospel category at the BET Awards

Billy Ray Cyrus sealed his invitation to the family cookout with his performance with Lil Nas X, who is now the reigning rapper of country music with his viral hit, "Old Town Road."

The audience was on their feet singing along to the song, which has stoked debate about whether it's country or hip hop.

Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' hits No. 1

Tyler Perry turned the stage into a pulpit while receiving the Ultimate Icon Award.

Perry, who went from writing and starring in plays to owning his own studio, spoke about learning to turn pain into powerful stories.

"When I built my studio, I built it in a neighborhood that is one of the poorest black neighborhoods in Atlanta, so that young kids could see that a black man did that and they can do it, too," Perry said. "The studio was once a Confederate army base, which meant that there were Confederate soldiers on that base plotting and planning on how to keep 3.9 million Negroes enslaved. Now that land is owned by one Negro."

Mary J. Blige was presented a lifetime achievement award from Rihanna and performed a medley of her hits.

There were tributes to the late director John Singleton, who died in April following a stroke, and rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was gunned down March 31 in Los Angeles near a clothing store he owned.

Hussel's family accepted his award, and DJ Khaled and singer John Legend participated in a musical tribute."

Host Regina Hall gave the audience a little Beyoncé/"Homecoming" parody at the beginning of the show, which played off Hall being a native of Washington D.C.

Singer Sugar Bear kicked off a tribute to D.C.'s go-go music with the classic 1980s song, "Da Butt."

Hall's friend and fellow D.C. native Taraji P. Henson hopped on stage to join her in the energetic dance.

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Judge says Democrats can begin collecting Trump financial records in emoluments suit

Judge Emmet Sullivan, of the US District Court in Washington, denied an attempt by the Justice Department to stop the Democrats from collecting information from the Trump Organization and to appeal early court decisions in the lawsuit, which tests the constitutionality of Trump's business holdings while he serves as President.

The case is one of several avenues Democrats have to get to Trump's financial records.

Sullivan said the group of more than 200 members can begin collecting evidence June 28 through late September. Previously, the members of Congress said they plan to seek both documents and depositions from the Trump Organization.

But the Justice Department had hoped to take the case to an appeals court before the evidence collection began.

"This case will be poised for resolution within six months; an immediate appeal would hardly materially advance its ultimate termination," Sullivan wrote on Tuesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the ruling and said in a statement, "No one is above the law -- not even the President. Once again, the courts have resoundingly reaffirmed our efforts to hold the President accountable for corruption, and ensure that the President acts in the public interest, not his own interest."

This may not be the end of the fight for Trump's records, however.

The Justice Department will continue to challenge the rulings so far and will attempt to take its challenge directly to a federal court of appeals despite Sullivan's decision Tuesday. In a statement Tuesday, spokesperson Kelly Laco said the department will appeal.

The case "presents important questions that warrant immediate appellate review and is another impractical attempt to disrupt and distract the President from his official duties," Laco said.

In a similar case over Trump's business proceeds that had reached the evidence-collection phase, the Justice Department took the same unusual step to get an appeals court to review the matter.

The appeals court has not yet made a decision in that case, which remains paused.

More than 200 Democratic senators and House members sued Trump in this case. They claim his refusal to present his business holdings to Congress for their approval deprived them of a vote, and his continued business holdings violate the constitutional anti-corruption section known as the Emoluments Clause, which says elected officials cannot collect proceeds from foreign powers.

Sullivan previously signed off on their lawsuit, saying they had the authority to challenge the President and that the legal definition of "emoluments" was broad.

"This extraordinary lawsuit has all the hallmarks of a case worthy of" early review by an appellate court, because it looked at an issue that's never been fully weighed by the courts before, the Justice Department had argued.

But the members of Congress called the early appeal of an appeal a delay tactic built around Trump running for reelection.

"If the President succeeds in running out the clock, an entire presidential term will have gone by with the nation's highest officeholder making countless foreign policy decisions under a cloud of potentially divided loyalty and compromised judgment caused by his enrichment from foreign states. That is precisely the nightmare scenario the Framers adopted the Foreign Emoluments Clause to avoid," the members of Congress wrote in a previous court filing.

On Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, and Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, issued statements applauding Sullivan's direction to begin evidence collection. "In a thoughtful, well-reasoned opinion, Judge Sullivan articulated what the law makes clear: there is absolutely no reason to delay one more day. ... Today, the courts spoke: no longer."

CNN's Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.

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Trump and Kim make history, but a longer and more difficult march lies ahead

Trump became the first sitting US President to set foot on North Korean soil -- a milestone Trump repeatedly touted in the hours that followed -- and later in a triumphant tweet before departing South Korea on Air Force One, calling the occasion "a great honor."

Those 20 steps were, indeed, a remarkable achievement. The fact that US officials and the notoriously rigid North Korean bureaucracy were able to pull together such a momentous meeting in around 24 hours, after Trump proposed the idea on Twitter, is a testament to the warm personal relationship that has developed over the last year between the two leaders.

It is also highly significant that the two were able to go beyond a simple two-minute handshake previewed earlier by the US President, and speak privately for nearly an hour -- announcing they would form teams with the goal of resuming working level denuclearization talks by mid July.

But as the buzz wears off from a dizzying day of impromptu diplomacy, a far longer and more difficult march lies ahead to achieve the ultimate goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Denuclearization

It was noteworthy that Trump never once mentioned the word denuclearization on Sunday.

If the last year of stalled diplomacy with Pyongyang has proven anything, it's that negotiations over North Korea's prized nuclear arsenal are fraught with complexities and, at times, seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

My 19 trips to North Korea have shown me it is a country unique in the world, with a vastly different worldview than anywhere else. Dealing with a country like this requires an equally unique approach.

It may be difficult for outsiders to understand why this isolated Northeast Asian nation clings to an arsenal that has cost it dearly in terms of severe economic sanctions and isolation from much of the global community.

From the North Korean regime's viewpoint, nuclear weapons guarantee their survival as a sovereign state and provide legitimacy for leader Kim Jong Un. Kim spent his first years in power growing his arsenal at breakneck speed, spending much of 2016 and 2017 launching ballistic missiles and testing nuclear weapons at a disturbing pace. North Korea's last nuclear test in September, 2017, was so powerful it triggered a 6.3 magnitude earthquake and literally moved a mountain at it's now-shuttered Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

The world's attention

Kim's defiant and militaristic behavior got the world's attention. North Korean officials in Pyongyang repeatedly told me that Kim's ultimate goal was never to unleash the horrific weapons he created, but to use them to gain leverage and come to the negotiating table from a position of strength.

Arguably, Kim has accomplished that goal in spades. His diplomatic detente with Trump has led to meetings with some of the worlds most powerful leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also met repeatedly with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has staked much of his political capital on keeping diplomacy with the north alive, despite numerous setbacks -- including the collapse of February talks between Trump and Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam, and subsequent bellicose rhetoric and the resumption of short range ballistic missile testing by the North Koreans.

Buys Kim time

Kim has so far been unable to achieve his ultimate goal of relief from crushing sanctions. Sources told me earlier this year he was bewildered by the disappointing outcome of the Hanoi Summit, going so far as to dole out severe punishments for key members of his negotiating team in an effort to save face.

The US has also failed to achieve its ultimate goal of getting North Korea to relinquish any of its nuclear weapons, or even agree upon a definition of denuclearization.

Despite the theatrics of Sundays historic day at the DMZ, those tremendous challenges remain. Both Kim and Trump seem to be banking on their personal relationship as the solution that will help them overcome the huge divide that remains between the US and North Korea.

If anything, Sunday's meeting buys Kim time to prove to skeptics inside his country that he is capable of striking a deal with the US, despite the breakdown of talks in Hanoi.

Working level negotiations have proven an utter failure thus far. Barring a significant shift in either the US or North Korean positions, there is a little reason to be optimistic about the long-term results of Sunday's triumphant 20 steps at the DMZ.

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