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News you might have missed: Afternoon links for Thursday, May 31
French President Emmanuel Macron waves to conference attendees on the steps of the Elysee Palace on Libya on Tuesday in Paris. Macron has called U.S. tariffs against the European Union both illegal and a mistake. (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images)

News you might have missed: Afternoon links for Thursday, May 31

French president says Trump's tariffs are illegal and a mistake (Reuters)

Following the leaders of the European Union and Mexico, French President Emmanuel Macron called the U.S. tariffs against his country (which is a member of the European Union) illegal and a mistake, according to a report from Reuters. The tariffs, which go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, will hit steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. Those countries were initially exempted from these tariffs while they worked on trade deals with the United States.

One of the top U.S. generals said that the U.S. could take down China's artificial islands if it had to (CNN)

When asked about the ability of the United States to react against artificial islands that China has been building, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, said, "I would just tell you that the United States military has had a lot of experience in the Western Pacific taking down small islands." He later clarified that his statement "shouldn't read anything more into that than a simple statement of historical fact."

Are you feeling the need, the need for a sequel? The 'Top Gun' sequel began filming today (USA Today)

In a tweet Thursday, actor Tom Cruise confirmed that filming had already begun on "Top Gun: Maverick," the sequel to his 1986 classic. The film has a release date of July 12, 2019.

The snake population in south Florida has gotten out of hand, so the state is turning to hunters with shotguns (South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Everglades National Park is allowing state-sponsored hunting within its borders for the first time, in a desperate effort to curb the out of control python population. The Burmese pythons, which are not native to the state and were introduced to the environment when they were brought in as exotic pets and then escaped or were released, are decimating the local wildlife.

Planned Parenthood cancelled abortion appointments in Arkansas after the Supreme Court refused to overturn that state's abortion law (NBC News)

When the Supreme Court refused to overturn a law requiring abortion clinics in Arkansas to have a signed contract with a physician who has admitting privileges in a nearby hospital, Planned Parenthood decided that it was not able to perform abortions anymore in that state. Dr. Stephanie Ho, a physician at Planned Parenthood Great Plains in Fayetteville, Arkansas, told NBC News, “the law that we were trying to get blocked went into effect immediately, and the immediate results were we had to turn away from the clinic people who were scheduled to take the pill.”

The spelling bee field just got a whole lot smaller, but one speller was let back in (CBS News)

This linguistic championship started with 516 kids. Now only 41 remain, but it was almost 40. Reagan Remmers of Missoula, Montana, was eliminated for misspelling "balaclava," but was reinstated when the judges determined that her spelling, "Balaklava," was actually a city in Ukraine that shared the same word origin. Obviously. Who doesn't know that? Since Reagan had not asked for the definition, the judges ruled that her spelling was also correct.

Italy may finally have a government after months of disagreement (CNN)

Italians went to the polls in that country's general election on March 4. Since then, the different political parties have failed to form a coalition government. However, on Thursday, Italian President Sergio Mattarella approved Giuseppe Conte as Prime Minister, possibly ending the standoff. Shortly before the announcement, the right-wing League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement announced that they had reached an agreement and would be forming a coalition government. Part of the disagreement was over whether or not Italy should stay in the European Union. The uncertainty surrounded this led to a drop in the stock market. However, as part of the agreement to form a coalition, talk of leaving the EU was put on hold.

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