Here are some of the headlines and stories you need to know from around the web this morning, Monday, May 14:
The U.S. opened its new embassy in Jerusalem today (CNN)
President Donald Trump, in a pre-recorded video message, unveiled the new embassy in a ceremony on Monday morning. The ceremony also featured Jared Kushner, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and American pastors Robert Jeffress and John Hagee. Netanyahu addressed the crowd, calling the United States “the most powerful nation on earth, our greatest ally.”
The opening of the embassy was met with protest from Palestinians... (The Guardian)
Israel says that the terror group Hamas has been using the Palestinian protests to try to storm the border, and that it had to kill terrorists to keep Israeli citizens safe. Before the embassy opened Monday, the Israel Defense Forces dropped leaflets on the Palestinian side of the security fence, warning protesters to stay back from the fence itself. Amnesty International condemned Israel's actions as the murder of protesters. So far, 41 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli defense forces, according to the reports, in what has become one of the most contentious days between the two groups since 2014.
...And praise from at least one Democratic senator and a former Democratic VP candidate (CNN)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) praised the opening of the new embassy in Jerusalem, calling it a “long overdue move.” The Senate Minority Leader and longtime outspoken critic of nearly everything the president does released an official statement saying, “I applaud President Trump for doing it.” Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), who ran as Al Gore's vice presidential candidate in 2000, also praised the move. During his political career, Lieberman ran as both a Democrat and an Independent.
A double amputee reached the top of Mount Everest (Newsweek)
Causing the rest of us to ask what we're doing with our lives, 69-year-old Xia Boyu didn't just lose both his legs, he lost them in an earlier attempt to climb the mountain. In 1975, he was stranded on Mount Everest during an expedition sponsored by the Chinese government and lost both his feet to frostbite. His legs later had to be amputated due to blood cancer. In his fifth attempt to climb the highest mountain in the world, he finally did it.
Stephen Hawking's family invites time travelers to a memorial service (Reuters)
On June 15, Stephen Hawking's family will host a memorial service for the late physicist at Westminster Abbey, and they've invited time travelers from the future. Hawking tried something like this himself once. In 2009, he hosted a party at Oxford, but only sent out invitations after the party had ended. Disappointingly (albeit predictably) nobody showed up. Hawking died on March 14.
Hundreds of Alfie Evans fans gather to say goodbye (ITV)
The 23-month-old died on April 28 after doctors in England ordered him to be taken off of life support and the British court system blocked his parents from flying him to Italy for additional treatment. Evans will be buried in a private ceremony, but several hundred supporters gathered to see the funeral procession and leave flowers and tributes.
Trump vows to save a Chinese company, despite increasing tariff threats (New York Times)
President Trump tweeted on Sunday that he had asked the U.S. Department of Commerce to help save ZTE, a Chinese phone company that employs roughly 75,000 people. This is a change in tone for Trump, who once accused China of “raping” American industries, and said that the Asian nation was responsible for “the greatest theft in the history of the world.”
China responds by saying that it's willing to work with the U.S. (Reuters)
On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that he will work with the U.S. to reach a positive outcome in trade negotiations. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will be in Washington, D.C., from Tuesday through Saturday to work on negotiating a trade deal with the U.S.
An asteroid will narrowly avoid hitting the Earth on Tuesday (Newsweek)
An asteroid larger than the Statue of Liberty will pass by us at about half the distance between the Earth and the moon on Tuesday. The large chunk of space rock will be rocketing safely past our planet at a staggering 28,655 mph, or about a tenth the speed of a bolt of lightning.
