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News you might have missed: Afternoon links for Thursday, May 24
World heavyweight champion Jack Johnson (right) battles fellow American Jess Willard at Havana, Cuba in April 1915. Willard took the title with a knockout in the 26th round. President Donald Trump pardoned Johnson on Thursday for a 1913 conviction that Johnson received for transporting a white woman across state lines. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

News you might have missed: Afternoon links for Thursday, May 24

President Trump pardons legendary boxer Jack Johnson (New York Times)

It was a pardon too many decades in coming. President Donald Trump pardoned boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was convicted in 1913 for transporting a white woman across state lines. Actor Sylvester Stallone joined former and current boxers at the White House for this historic moment.

Pelosi says that she thinks impeaching Trump would be a bad idea (CNN)

In a CNN town hall, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that she thought Democrats should refrain from trying to push impeachment.  "Impeachment is, to me, divisive," Pelosi said, adding that if it ever were to happen it "would have to be bipartisan." This isn't the first time that Pelosi has warned her party against pushing for impeachment. In November, Pelosi speculated that focusing too much on impeachment could hurt Democrats in the midterm elections.

Democratic congressman allowed to join all-Republican briefing on classified information (NBC News)

Democrat Congressman and frequent CNN mainstay Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was offered a last minute invite to an otherwise all-Republican briefing on the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign.

A woman claims that Amazon's Alexa recorded a conversation — and sent it to a random person in her contacts list (Washington Post)

The emergence of smart home devices like Google Home, Apple's Homepod, and Amazon's Echo have come with a wide array of new and useful features, and a quite a few privacy concerns as well. In this latest episode, Amazon's Alexa AI, the "brain" of the Echo, allegedly recorded a conversation between a woman and her husband, and then sent it to a random person in their contact list. That person, one of her husband's employees, called the couple and told them to turn the device off. Amazon says that it is investigating the incident.

A British army sergeant was convicted of trying to kill his wife twice (New York Times)

When Sgt. Emile Cilliers tampered with his wife's parachute before a skydiving jump, he never imagined that she'd survive the fall. Somehow she did, despite both her main parachute and her backup chute failing to engage, a feat that authorities attribute to her small size and the soft ground she landed on. Now her husband has pled guilty to tampering with her parachute and to tampering with the gas lines to her house in another attempt to kill her, all to clear the way for another woman he was seeing.

Hawaii volcanic eruptions now include blue fire (NPR)

After weeks of dealing with lava, smoke, and clouds of hydrochloric acid, Hawaiians are now dealing with volcanic blue fire. Apparently, when lava burns plants, the resulting methane can sink down into the ground. It then builds up, and ignites with a blue flame. Hawaii's Kilauea volcano began erupting three weeks ago.

Harvey Weinstein to turn himself to authorities (New York Daily News)

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is expected to turn himself into authorities Friday. Weinstein is facing a multitude sexual harassment charges, at least some of which are not covered by the statute of limitations.

Another nation cuts ties with Taiwan over pressure from China (The Guardian)

The African nation of Burkina Faso cut ties with Taiwan after facing pressure from China. Burkina Faso is the second nation to do so this month. Taiwan's president has accused China of "dollar diplomacy." China still refuses to recognize Taiwan as a legitimate country, and instead views it as a rebellious province.

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