| | | | | Trump's on top. Turkey's in a tizzy. Tobacco's on a trip. It's Wednesday, and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door: | | | Let's just step back a moment, shall we. Donald Trump -- billionaire and reality TV host -- is the GOP nominee for president. This seemed unthinkable last summer, when Trump descended down the escalators at Trump Tower to announce his campaign. Everyone just thought he was running to enhance his brand. But he's the party's standard bearer now, whether the GOP likes it or not. He was nominated yesterday in a night of speeches that featured passionate praise from his children and fiery denunciations of Hillary Clinton from some of his former rivals. Trump pushes on to the general election in the fall, with the GOP less than totally united behind him. | | | Donald Trump's not going to handle the plagiarism controversy over his wife's convention speech "Apprentice" style. No one's going to be hauled before Trump, in a darkened boardroom, to explain themselves before he utters "you're fired" because, well no one's getting fired for this epic screw-up. Melania Trump's initially well-received speech Monday night borrowed phrases from Michelle Obama's convention speech in 2008. That much isn't in doubt. Unless you're part of the Trump campaign, which maintained yesterday that nope, no words were cribbed from Obama. Melania Trump just used some "common words." Words arranged exactly like Obama used eight years ago, but whatever. The campaign says no one's being fired and that we should all just move on. | | | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to get his hands on anyone who might be connected to last week's coup attempt, even if they're not in the country. Yesterday he cast his angry gaze toward the U.S. and cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey formally requested the extradition of Gulen, a longtime rival of Erdogan who lives in Pennsylvania. Erdogan blames Gulen for the failed coup; Gulen says he had nothing to do with it. President Obama talked with Erdogan about this yesterday and expressed his support for Turkey, but U.S. officials aren't saying if they'll send Gulen back. | | | Well, that was awkward. Secretary of State John Kerry had his first press conference with his British counterpart, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson yesterday. Let's just say it didn't go well. The media ripped into Johnson over his many past insults of world leaders, while Kerry displayed the greatest poker face humankind has ever seen. Kerry did grimace though when a reporter asked Johnson about his "long history of wild exaggerations and frankly outright lies." Ouch. Johnson just muttered something about his comments being "misconstrued" and that the press should really be asking more substantive questions. | | | If the end is truly near for Roger Ailes at Fox News, it will be a stunning career close for the man who's led the news channel since its inception. Many media outlets yesterday reported that talks are in the works about just how Ailes will leave. It may happen within days, and he won't leave empty handed: he could get a $40 million payout. Not a bad way to walk into the sunset. Allegations of sexual harassment haved dogged Ailes, including in a recent lawsuit from ex-Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson. Megyn Kelly, one of the network's biggest stars, has also reportedly accused Ailes of harassment. | | | People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. | | The heat is on
Stop us if you've heard this one before: Last month was the hottest June on record, the 14th straight month of worldwide, record-breaking temperatures. | | RIP, Garry
He gave us "Happy Days" in the 70s and a "Pretty Woman" in the form of Julia Roberts. Director-producer Garry Marshall has died at 81. | | Mystery solved
The final winners of this year's record Powerball came forward yesterday. They put a plan together before all the money-grubbing relatives showed up. | | Get outta here
Twitter's given the heave-ho to a conservative editor after he instigated some vile hatred toward "Ghostbusters" star Leslie Jones. | | Smokeable energy
In South Africa you literally can get on "the first thing smoking out of town," now that a couple of commercial planes are being powered by tobacco plants. | | $1 billion
That's how much Unilever, the maker of Axe Body Spray and Dove soap, is paying for Dollar Shave Club. Who knew dollar razors could be worth so much? | | | | | | | |
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