Skimm'd with waffles

"Dr. Dre is not a medical doctor" – Dr. Dre just lost a trademark battle with a gynecologist named Dr. Drai.

THINGS HAPPENING FAR AWAY

North Korea

The Story

Early this morning, President Trump welcomed home three Americans who had been held in North Korea.

Tell me more.

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are prepping for a historic one-on-one date in coming weeks. On the table: whether North Korea is ready to give up its nuclear weapons program. These three prisoners are thought to be the last Americans detained in the North. One was detained since 2015 for alleged spying. The others since last year for "hostile" acts against the country. Sending them home is seen as an important show of good faith ahead of that summit.

theSkimm

Although it's looking good so far, North Korea has a history of giving us lots of hope and then disappointing in the end.

Israel

The Story

Iran and Israel are creeping closer to an all-out war.

Tell me more.

The two countries have long been enemies. In recent years, Iran's been building up its military presence in neighboring Syria and Israel's been especially edgy. Last month, Syria blamed Israel for a missile attack that killed some Iranians. Then earlier this week, it accused Israel of pulling a repeat, killing about 15 people – including eight Iranians. Yesterday, Israel accused Iran of firing 20 rockets at Israeli forces. If confirmed, it'd be the first time Iran's directly hit Israel from Syria. Since then, Israel's hit back with dozens of rockets.

theSkimm

This comes days after the US decided to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and put sanctions back on the country. A move Israel was very much in support of. And Iran was very much not.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

What to say when you buy shoes out of your price range…

Big spender. Novartis and AT&T are too. These are just two companies that have supposedly paid President Trump's personal lawyer hundreds of thousands of dollars each for access to the administration. Quick refresher: Cohen is the one who paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump. And whose home, office, and hotel room the FBI recently raided. Now it looks like he was also accepting large checks from companies like Novartis (for $1.2 million) and AT&T (for $600,000) for "insights" and access to the Trump admin. And there are some ethics concerns about Cohen potentially profiting off his ties to the prez. Novartis and AT&T also say that special counsel Robert Mueller's office called them last year to find out more about these transactions.

What to say when you get a call during "The Handmaid's Tale"...

Pause. That's what ZTE – one of China's largest tech companies – is doing to its main operations. The Chinese phone-maker is one of the top smartphone suppliers in the US. Last year, it pleaded guilty to illegally shipping US equipment to Iran and North Korea. And agreed to a truce with the US but apparently never held up its end of the deal. The US responded by banning American companies from selling products to ZTE until 2025. Many saw this as a move to show China how much damage the US can do at a time when the countries are on the brink of a trade war. As a result, ZTE's shares have been halted from trading for weeks. And now, the company has stopped its main operations.

What to say when you submit your final project before the weekend…

My work here is done. NBC just wrapped up its internal investigation on harassment in the workplace. The #MeToo movement has taken down dozens of powerful men who were accused of sexual misconduct. Former "Today" anchor Matt Lauer was one of them. As a result, NBC looked into the news division's workplace behavior. Now, it's saying that there's no culture of harassment there. And that there was "no evidence" senior execs knew about Lauer's behavior. NBC says its own counsel did the digging. Some people thought it wasn't the best move to have internal people looking into its own office...and should have called in backup from an outside co. But NBC says two outside law firms were cool with it.

What to say when you're burning out from a crazy work week…

Running out of steam. And EpiPens. Yesterday, the FDA said there's a shortage of EpiPens – the emergency drug that treats life-threatening allergy attacks. The agency blames manufacturing problems. Mylan – the co that makes and distributes them – says the hundreds of people who are having trouble getting EpiPens should get in touch. In other nauseating news, that romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak is still a thing. Now, it's in 29 states and more than 100 people have gotten sick. It's the worst outbreak in more than a decade. So, in case you missed the first memo, avoid romaine lettuce.

What to say when you hear that Glassdoor is cashing out…

Somebody's cashing in on this Rockefeller art collection.

SKIMM MORE

The headlines about Russia, the election, and the Trump campaign are nonstop. What do female millennial voters think – and will it have any impact on how they vote in 2018? theSkimm ran the numbers with Vanity Fair's the Hive and SurveyMonkey. Here's what we found.

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