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Happening Today: N. Korea Summit, Santa Fe School Shooting, Ebola, Obama, Royal Wedding Flowers

What to Know

  • Weeks before his planned North Korea summit, Trump is staring down a dealmaker's worst nightmare: overpromising and under-delivering
  • Congo began an Ebola vaccination campaign in a northwest provincial capital in a major effort to stem an outbreak
  • Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have new job titles: movie and TV show producer for Netflix

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Trump the Dealmaker Faces Challenges Ahead of N. Korea Summit

Weeks before his planned North Korea summit, President Trump is staring down a dealmaker's worst nightmare: overpromising and under-delivering. As the Singapore meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un draws near, the president and his allies are growing increasingly anxious about how he can score a win on the world stage. While Trump has not suggested he wants to back out, he has struggled to define his objectives for the historic sit-down, and last week he drew fresh criticism from his foreign foil. Trump, who has pitched himself as the ultimate negotiator, has focused on ambitious deals as president but has struggled with the fine print. He just hit the pause button on his threatened trade war with China, announcing an agreement to reduce America's trade deficit with China — but few details. He recently withdrew the U.S. from the international Iran-nuclear deal — without outlining a path forward with his allies. And his Middle East peace plan, which he deputized his son-in-law to lead, is months overdue and facing a more skeptical audience than ever.

Mass School Shootings Mostly Happening in Small-Town America

If you want to know where mass school shootings are most likely to occur, look no farther than small-town and suburban America. The massacre that killed 10 people at a high school in Texas last week was just the latest to happen in a small or suburban city. Of the 10 deadliest school shootings in the U.S., all but one took place in a town with fewer than 75,000 residents and the vast majority of them were in cities with fewer than 50,000 people. These are seemingly idyllic places to grow up: low crime rates, good schools and a sense of community where everyone seems to know your name. And it's exactly those attributes, experts say, that are why small rural and suburban towns are a breeding ground for the next school shooter. Experts say the phenomenon is due to a variety of factors that include easy access to guns and the copycat effect of disturbed suburban and small-town teenagers emulating each other. It's also blamed on the pressures of living in small towns that make it harder for disgruntled teenagers to adjust.

Nurse Dead in Congo as Ebola Vaccination Campaign Starts

Congo began an Ebola vaccination campaign in a northwest provincial capital in a major effort to stem an outbreak that has already made its way from rural towns into a city of more than 1 million people. The campaign comes a day after the health ministry announced a nurse has died from Ebola in Bikoro, the rural northwestern town where the outbreak began and was first announced in early May. The death toll is now 27. There are 49 hemorrhagic fever cases: 22 confirmed as Ebola, 21 probable and six suspected, according to a health minister. In a hopeful sign, two patients who were confirmed as positive for Ebola have recovered, and are returning to their homes though they will be monitored, the health minister said. They have left the hospital "with a medical certificate attesting that they've recovered and can no longer transmit the disease because they have developed antibodies against Ebola," the health minister said.

Michelle, Barack Obama Ink Netflix Production Deal

Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have new job titles: movie and TV show producer for Netflix. The streaming service announced the Obamas have signed on to produce content for the platform, and are creating a new production company as well. They'll make series as well as movies. The Obamas' production company is called Higher Ground Productions. Stevie Wonder played his song by the same name at Obama's first inaugural concert after being used as one of the campaign's unofficial theme songs. The announcement didn't say how many shows and movies the Obamas would make, how long the deal would last or how much it is worth. No content from the deal is expected to be available until at least 2019, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press. Netflix has 125 members in 190 countries, the company says, and it is dominant in the growing market for streaming services.

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Donate Royal Wedding Flowers

Residents of London hospice were surprised with flowers from the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. An employee at St. Joseph's Hospice told "Today" that the newlyweds donated 50 bouquets of their wedding flowers to patients who were "absolutely thrilled, surprised and delighted." The bouquets were made up of flowers sourced from their private garden at Kensington Palace and included forget-me-nots and sprigs of myrtle. St. Joseph's thanked Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for the "lovely gesture" in a Facebook post, adding that the hospice "smells and looks gorgeous." Kensington Palace confirmed that the flowers were donated to a number of charities and hospices.

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