Who runs the world? Kim Kardashian.
Hello, this is Anna bringing you Thursday's news from around the world
Today's headlines
Trump offers grandmother pardon
A 63-year-old grandmother who was jailed in 1996 on a non-violent drug charge has been released from prison after being granted clemency by President Trump after a meeting with Kim Kardashian West. Alice Johnson was reunited with her family after leaving the prison in Pickens County, Alabama, in an emotional display. Her case became world-famous when Kardashian West began lobbying for her release and met with Trump last week. The White House said Johnson had been a model prisoner and worked hard to rehabilitate herself.
A tense phone call
Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly had a tense phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation where Trump made a controversial, yet incorrect, historical reference, sources familiar with the discussion told CNN. According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a ‘national security’ issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, ‘Didn't you guys burn down the White House?’ referring to the War of 1812.
A British business icon dies
Peter Stringfellow, the British businessman who rose to fame for his topless nightclubs and Hugh Hefner-style sexual relations, has died at the age of 77 of cancer. Stringfellow wanted to keep his illness private, and died early on Thursday after spending time in hospital, a spokesman said.
Cocaine purest in a decade in Europe
The purity of street cocaine across Europe is at its highest level in a decade and the number of people seeking treatment for use of the drug is on the rise, an EU report has found.
US ‘sonic attacks’
More US citizens have been evacuated from China amid concerns that American government personnel and their families may be the target of ‘sonic attacks’ by a rival country. US state department officials said on Wednesday it had sent ‘a number of individuals’ from its consulate in Guangzhou back to the US for ‘further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms’.