Hey everyone, welcome to the first weekly Flashback Friday, a weekly segment in which I’ll be taking a look back at and reviewing the past week. Let’s get straight into it.

First, and most notably, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia kicked off last night with the shortest opening ceremony ever seen, lasting only 15 minutes. Robbie Williams featured with Russian singer Aida Garifullina, causing some controversy within his act. After the opening ceremony was completed, Russia went up against Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the tournament, and kicked off their World Cup campaign with a bang, defeating Saudi Arabia 5-0, in a fairly one-sided match. Meanwhile Spanish head coach Julen Lopetegui was sacked just a few days out from Spain’s opening match against Portugal. Lopetegui was announced as the new head coach of Spanish club Real Madrid, to the dismay of the Spanish board, who were not notified of the impending announcement prior to it being made, and subsequently sacked Lopetegui due to their lack of being informed. The players are reportedly unperturbed by the incident, and will play on as they planned to in the tournament. Egypt will play Uruguay in the next match of the tournament tonight. (Also, there’s some odd stuff going on in Russia during the World Cup now, which involves bears and the infamous Vuvuzela. You can see for yourself here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w8gYl8IFSBI)

In other news, a major event looked on by many around the world occurred earlier this week, that event being the Singapore Summit between United States President Donald Trump, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. The historical meeting took place on neutral territory, with the two leaders meeting and shaking hands in front of the media, before undergoing talks spanning a number of hours. After going slightly longer than planned with their initial meeting, the two leaders shared in a lunch inclusive of food from both their countries, and then went back to talk a little more before fronting the media and signing documents which contained an agreement in which North Korea would work towards complete denuclearisation if their country, whilst the US would put in place security guarantees for North Korea. After the historic signing of this agreement in which both countries committed to working together to achieve peace, they once again shook hands outside before going their separate ways with their respective delegations. Trump later fronted the media to discuss what had occurred, with the world somewhat in awe of what had been achieved in this one day, with history being made.

Meanwhile back in Australia, only two members of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party remain in the Senate after New South Wales Senator Brian Burston quit the party to become an independent Senator. Upon quitting the party, he made the somewhat bold statement that the party should be called ‘Gone Nation’, and claimed that there was a lack of, if any, democracy in the party due to Pauline Hanson’s decision making. Burston was asked by Hanson to resign on earlier due to his intent to support the company tax cuts proposed by the Government, something which she did not wish for her Party to support. One Nation is now left with two representatives in the Senate, being Western Australian Senator Peter Georgiou, who Burston has encouraged to honour the deal made with the government to pass the company tax cuts, as well as Senator Pauline Hanson herself.

In some more tragic news this week, well-known celebrity television chef Anthony Bourdain has passed away after battling with his mental health. The travelling chef, known for cooking all over the world and documenting it for television entertainment in his television shows Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, tragically took his own life. Bourdain was loved by many who watched his television series’, and will no doubt be missed greatly. His death follows the tragic loss of famous handbag designer Kate Spade earlier in the week, who also tragically took her own life. Their passing is a timely reminder that mental health is a serious thing, and we should always be open to discuss it. Our hearts go out to their families and friends at this time.

And finally, in entertainment news, the long-awaited and highly-anticipated Disney Pixar animated film The Incredibles 2 has been released in cinemas. The film, which takes off from where the first Incredibles left off, features all the original characters from the first film, with most of the original cast retaining their roles, inclusive of Craig T. Nelson as Mr Incredible, Holly Hunter as Elastigirl, Sarah Vowell as Violet, Brad Bird as Edna Mode, and my personal favourite, Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone. The only major change in casting has been for the role of Dash, originally voice by Spencer Fox, however now being voiced by Huck Milner. It has been almost 14 years since the first Incredibles film was released to cinemas around the world, so you can imagine the anticipation and the hype of the fans for the long-awaited sequel. Disney Pixar’s Incredibles 2 is out in cinemas today.

And that’s it for this week’s Flashback Friday. Hope you all enjoyed reading, and this segment will be back next Friday. Enjoy the week ahead, have fun, and as per the schedule, I’ll be back with something on Monday. Thanks for reading.

JJ