Trump says will know next week if summit with Kim will proceed
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would know next week whether his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would take place on June 12 in Singapore as scheduled, casting further doubt on plans for the unprecedented meeting.
White House aides are preparing to travel to Singapore this weekend for a crucial meeting with North Korean officials to discuss the agenda and logistics for the summit, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Visiting Washington, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that if the United States seeks peace with North Korea and wants to make history, "now is the time" for the two countries' leaders to hold their first-ever summit.
The US delegation, which includes White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin and deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel, was being dispatched after Trump said on Tuesday there was a "substantial chance" the summit would be called off amid concerns Pyongyang is not prepared to give up its nuclear arsenal.
Attempted assassination turned my world upside down, says Yulia Skripal
Yulia Skripal survived an assassination attempt that British authorities blame on Russia. But the daughter of one of Russia's most famous spies says she wants to return to her country "in the longer term", despite the poisoning.
"The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking," Skripal told Reuters in an exclusive statement. "My life has been turned upside down."
Yulia and her father, Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain's MI6 foreign spy service, were found unconscious on a public bench in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Yulia Skripal, 33, was in a coma for 20 days.
Mike Pompeo says official's 'sonic' brain injury in China matches Cuba problem
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the brain injury sustained by an American official in China was "very similar" to those that affected US and Canadian diplomats in Cuba.
The US embassy in China issued a health alert on Wednesday after a US government employee who had experienced an "abnormal" sound was diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury.
"The medical indications are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba," Pompeo told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Pompeo said the US was moving medical teams to the area to work on the case.
Emptying the nest: US couple gets court to evict 30-year-old son
Most parents are living the life of "empty nesters" by the time their children reach 30, but one US couple had to go to court to give their son that extra little push.
Michael Rotondo, who was still living in his parents' home in New York state at that age, argued he was not a burden to them, saying they "don't provide laundry or food."
"We don't talk, we stay out of each other's way," Rotondo told US media.
Football: Iniesta says going to 'new home' Japan
Andres Iniesta tweeted on Wednesday he was going to his "new home" with his "friend" Hiroshi Mikitani, owner of Japan's Vissel Kobe, implying he would now be playing there after leaving Barcelona.
The 34-year-old posted a photo of himself and Mikitani in what appeared to be a private jet, along with emojis of the Japanese flag and a football.
Iniesta announced last month that he would be leaving Barca at the end of the season, bringing an end to a 22-year association with the club.
