WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: Kim upbeat on eve of 1st summit with Putin
The Latest on the summit between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un (all times local): 2:20 a.m. Thursday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has stepped out of his khaki-green armored train in far-eastern Russia, smiling and upbeat ahead of a much-anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin The summit Thursday comes amid deadlocked global diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear program. Dressed in a black coat and a fedora, Kim first met Wednesday with Russian officials at Russia's Khasan train station near its border with North Korea before traveling on to Russia's Pacific port city of Vladivostok for a summit Thursday with Putin.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Parents of 5-year-old boy found in shallow grave allegedly beat him after long, cold shower
The parents of a missing 5-year-old boy have been charged with murder after their son was found buried in a shallow grave in a rural area of Illinois, police say. The body of Andrew "AJ" Freund, who was reported missing April 18, was found covered in plastic and buried in Woodstock, Illinois, on Wednesday, Crystal Lake police Chief James Black said. Police interviewed the boy's parents the night before after authorities had gathered evidence from cellphone data, they said.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Trump to Hannity: Russia Investigation 'Was a Coup' and 'Attempted Overthrow' of Government
Trump, who has largely avoided reporters since last week's release of the special counsel's report revealed at least 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice, called his good friend Hannity to discuss the findings. Having begun his broadcast by hyping a new Fox News story about texts previously released last year between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the conservative primetime star said he disagreed with the president when he said at the beginning of his presidency that he wanted to move past investigating 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. “Do you regret saying that?” Hannity asked, expressing an urgent need to get to the bottom of Clinton's private email server, something Hannity described last week as a current threat to national security.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Joe Biden: Anita Hill not satisfied with former vice-president's apology
Former vice-president Joe Biden, who launched his third campaign for president on Thursday, told Anita Hill he regretted the way he handled her testimony against Clarence Thomas at the 1991 supreme court hearings but she was not “satisfied” by the conversation. Biden contacted her earlier this month to express his “regret for what she endured” during the hearing, an attempt to reckon with a defining moment from his past that looms over his present bid for the White House. But in an interview with the New York Times that published hours after Biden launched his 2020 campaign, Hill said she was not satisfied with his outreach and declined to characterize his comments as an apology.
WorldAFPUK dismisses Iran prison swap offer
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday dismissed the suggestion of a prisoner swap for a British-Iranian mother being held in Tehran as a "vile" diplomatic ploy, while her husband told AFP the idea was "almost impossible". In New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday suggested a swap between Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is in jail in Tehran for alleged sedition, and Negar Ghodskani, an Iranian woman held in Australia on a US extradition warrant. "The woman in jail in Australia is facing due process, a proper legal procedure, and she is alleged to have committed a very serious crime," he told reporters in London.
PoliticsFOX News VideosCould the inspector general's FISA probe derail Democrats' impeachment plans?
Former Whitewater Independent Counsel Sol Wisenberg expects a hard-hitting report from Michael Horowitz.
- BusinessCar and Driver
In-Depth Photos of Our Long-Term 2019 Mazda CX-5 Turbo
We got the expensive one, too, because that's what you're buying. From Car and Driver
- NewsThe Independent
Three-year-old boy found alone near US border with name and number written on his shoes
Border Patrol agents found a three-year-old boy alone in a field in Texas after likely being abandoned by smugglers at the southern border, authorities said. US Customs and Border Protection said that the boy's name and a phone number were written on his shoes when agents found him on Tuesday morning. The child will likely be sent to a facility for unaccompanied minors operated by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
- CelebrityThe Telegraph
Anzac Day 2019: How the Gallipoli battle helped forge Australia and New Zealand's national identities
Today is Anzac Day, the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, with events taking place across the globe to honour those who served in war. Recognised annually on April 25, the day marks the anniversary of the first significant military action fought by Australian and New Zealand soldiers during the First World War. On this date in 1915, the troops, who quickly became known as the Anzacs, landed in Turkey, joining the allied expedition that planned to capture the Gallipoli peninsula.
WorldReutersPutin says U.S. guarantees unlikely to prompt North Korea to de-nuclearize
Russian President Vladimir Putin said after holding his first face-to-face talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday that U.S. security guarantees would probably not be enough to persuade Pyongyang to shut its nuclear program. Putin and Kim held a day of talks on an island off the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok two months after Kim's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ended in disagreement, cooling hopes of a breakthrough in the decades-old nuclear row. The talks between Putin and Kim did not appear to have yielded any major breakthrough.
NewsUSA TODAYBoy thrown off balcony at Mall of America miraculously suffered 'zero brain damage,' pastor says
A 5-year-old boy who was thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America miraculously suffered no brain damage, his family pastor said. The boy fell nearly 40 feet after a stranger "looking for someone to kill" picked him up and threw him earlier this month. Bloomington, Minn.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Trevor Noah Mocks Trump for Throwing a Tantrum Over How Many Twitter Followers He Has
On Wednesday, the news broke that President Donald Trump had an Oval Office meeting with Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, wherein he proceeded to badger the bearded tech bro over his follower count. Trump, who boasts close to 60 million Twitter followers—far short of former President Obama's 106 million-plus—reportedly argued that he'd lost a significant number of followers due to purges targeting conservatives. But Dorsey “had to explain to the president that like other Twitter users, @realDonaldTrump periodically loses followers when the site deletes fake or bot accounts,” reported The Daily Beast.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Putin Chef's Firm Seeks Contempt Against Mueller Over Report
Mueller and Attorney General William Barr must explain to a judge why they shouldn't be held in contempt for violating court rules with the 448-page report, according to a filing in Washington Thursday. Mueller and Barr violated the regulation by prejudging Concord's guilt and putting details about their evidence in the report, he said. "The practical effect of the broadside by AG Barr and SC Mueller on Concord was to advise the world (including potential jurors) that the allegations in the indictment are true and that the defendants in this case were operating as part of a Russian-government led interference campaign," Dubelier wrote.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Former Texas tennis coach pleads guilty in court in college admissions scandal
BOSTON – Michael Center, former men's tennis coach at the University of Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in federal court Wednesday, becoming the third college coach to admit guilt in the nation's college admissions scandal. Center, who acknowledged accepting $100,0000 in bribes to falsely designate a college applicant as an athlete, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud. He was appearing before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns, who accepted the plea agreement.
WorldAssociated PressCuban migrants stage mass escape from center in south Mexico
The National Immigration Institute said 700 of the Cubans had returned voluntarily, but 600 were still on the loose. Federal police with riot shields later streamed into the compound to control the situation, as a crowd of angry Cubans whose relatives were being held at the facility gathered outside. "My wife and child have been in there for 27 days in bad conditions," said Usmoni Velazquez Vallejo, as he waited outside for news.
- BusinessReuters
UPDATE 1-U.S. adds another Chinese e-commerce site to 'notorious' list for IP protection
The U.S. Trade Representative said on Thursday it has added Pinduoduo.com, China's third-largest e-commerce platform, to its "notorious markets" list for a proliferation of counterfeit products, as the agency also called out China as a priority to watch for intellectual property rights concerns. In its annual review of trading partners' protection of intellectual properties rights and so-called "notorious markets," the U.S. Trade Representative said 36 countries warranted additional bilateral engagement over these issues. The agency kept China on the list and lifted Saudi Arabia up as a priority.
- NewsAOL.com
13-year-old Houston girl dies after fight at middle school
A 13-year-old girl who was placed on life support after being attacked by three other girls has died, according to ABC 13. Kashala Francis, a student at Attucks Middle School, died Wednesday morning at Texas Children's Hospital, six days after being beaten up after class last week, police and her mother Mamie Jackson said. Doctors discovered a tumor in the back of Francis' head while she was on life support and believed the fight may have worsened her condition.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Who were the Sri Lanka bombers? Everything we know so far about the Easter Sunday attacks
Easter Day bomb blasts at three Sri Lankan churches and four hotels killed 359 people and wounded hundreds more, following a lull in major attacks since the end of the civil war 10 years ago. The explosions, some of which officials said were suicide bomb attacks, led to an immediate clampdown, with the government declaring a curfew and blocking access to most major social media and messaging sites. The three hotels hit in the initial attacks were the Shangri-La Colombo, Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo and the Cinnamon Grand Colombo.
- WorldThe National Interest
Power Problems: China Wants to Control the North Korea Conundrum
Jacob Stokes Security, Asia Beijing is playing the role of powerbroker during high-profile international negotiations and gaining leverage that it can deploy on other issues. All parties to the negotiations with North Korea are trying to chart a path forward after the second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi. Most of the post–summit analyses focus on denuclearization steps, corresponding sanctions relief, and potential symbolic moves toward peace.
- NewsUSA TODAY
'I smiled in the face of bigotry': A woman's response to anti-Islam protesters goes viral
A Muslim woman's response to protesters at a conference in Washington, D.C., has gone viral. Shaymaa Ismaa'eel, 24, was attending a conference for the nonprofit group Islamic Circle of North America when she spotted a group of Islamophobic protesters, reports CNN. "On April 21st I smiled in the face of bigotry and walked away feeling the greatest form of accomplishment," she wrote in a tweet on April 23 accompanying the images, which has drawn more than 292,000 likes.
BusinessAFPDeutsche Bank handing over Trump loan documents: source
Deutsche Bank has begun to provide documents on financing for some of President Donald Trump's projects to New York State authorities, a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Wednesday. In mid-March, New York Attorney General Letitia James subpoenaed the German bank, demanding records related to loans and lines of credit granted to the Trump Organization. The money was intended to finance projects such as Trump hotels in Washington, DC, Miami and Chicago, another source told AFP last month on the condition of anonymity.
NewsBloombergWarren's College-Loan Plan Is a Decent Start
The proposal has three basic components — making public universities free, providing more funding for historically black colleges and universities, and cancelling large amounts of student debt. The idea of free public universities is something I've argued against in the past. Warren's plan would use government funding to replace the lost tuition, but this system might not allow universities to increase their expenditures in the future to meet the needs of research or educational-quality improvements.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoPolice: Slain Illinois boy was beaten, put in cold shower
Police believe an Illinois couple who reported their 5-year-old son missing last week killed him days earlier by beating him and forcing him to stand in a cold shower for an extended period of time, according to court documents released Thursday.
WorldAssociated PressRussia offers Ukrainians in conflict zones quick citizenship
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday to expedite citizenship applications from Ukrainians who live in parts of Ukraine held by Russia-backed separatists, a move that could hold back a peace process to end years of bloodshed. The decree, which was published on the Kremlin's website, states that some residents in the parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are under separatist control will have their applications considered in less than three months. Putin's decision could trigger a major escalation of the war that started in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and shatter hopes for peace in the area — also known as Donbass — that were renewed with the election of a new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
- BusinessReuters
UPDATE 3-T-Mobile US profit beats estimates as it signs up more customers
T-Mobile US Inc first-quarter revenue and profit jumped from a year earlier, beating Wall Street's estimates, as competitive pricing lured new subscribers to its monthly cellphone plans. The company said it added a net 656,000 phone subscribers in the first quarter, up from 617,000 additions a year earlier and substantially more than the 612,000 new subscribers analysts had expected, according to research firm FactSet. T-Mobile, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscriber count, is awaiting approval of its $26 billion deal to buy smaller rival Sprint Corp, which it has said will give it scale to compete with market leaders Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc.
