Top Stories Today – June 3, 2019
Top Stories Today – June 3, 2019
UK Queen welcomes Trump to palace
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are meeting the Queen on the first day of their state visit to the UK. The pair are at Buckingham Palace for a private lunch and welcome ceremony.
Trump and first Lady arrived on Air Force One earlier on Monday and were taken to the US ambassador’s home in central London, where they are staying.
Minutes before touching down, Trump criticized Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, with whom he has clashed in the past. He tweeted that Khan – who had earlier said the UK should “not roll out the red carpet” for Trump – was a “stone cold loser”, but the president added he was looking forward to his visit. Protests are planned in several UK cities during the three-day visit, including London, Manchester, Belfast, and Birmingham. Talks between Trump and outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May will begin on Tuesday, with the pair expected to discuss climate change and Chinese technology firm Huawei. BBC
Top N Korean official reappears days after purge report
A senior North Korean official who had been reported as being purged over the failed nuclear summit with Washington was shown in state media on Monday enjoying a concert near leader Kim Jong Un. North Korean publications on Monday showed Kim Yong Chol sitting five seats away from a clapping Kim Jong Un in the same row along with other top officials during a musical performance by the wives of Korean People’s Army officers. A report by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency named Kim Yong Chol among the attendees of the event, which it said “impressively represented the ideological and mental features of KPA officers’ wives, who make every moment of their life honorable with ardent yearning for the leader.”
Kim Yong Chol has been North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator and the counterpart of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since Kim Jong Un entered nuclear talks with the US early last year. He traveled to Washington and met President Donald Trump twice before Kim’s two summits with Trump. The Associated Press
Shanahan: US and S Korea military drills no need
Acting US Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said Washington does not need to restore the large-scale joint military exercises that the United States and South Korea suspended last year amid diplomatic negotiations with North Korea. The acting defense secretary said he had based his assessment on talks with military leaders, including the top US military general, the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command and the top general on the Korean peninsula.
President Donald Trump suspended major military exercises on the peninsula last June, without consulting the Pentagon, after his first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In March of this year, Trump tweeted that suspending the drills had reduced tensions with North Korea and saved “hundreds of millions of dollars for the US” The Voice of America
US, Mexican to meet on immigration and tariff threat
As US and Mexican teams launch talks this week in Washington, US President Donald Trump says he is “really okay” proceeding with his threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods unless Mexico does more to cut the number of Central American migrants reaching the border.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Mexican Economy Secretary Graciela Marquez lead off with talks Monday, and there is a scheduled meeting Wednesday between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. Ebrard said he will be “firm and defend the dignity of Mexico.” The Voice of America
Trump deadly serious about Mexico tariffs
President Donald Trump is “deadly serious” about his threat to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico over his concerns of illegal immigration, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, said Sunday. “He is absolutely, deadly serious,” Mulvaney said on Fox News Sunday. “I fully expect these tariffs to go on to at least the 5 percent level on June 10.”
Trump last week tweeted the United States would impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico “until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.” Mulvaney doubled-down on that timeline Sunday, explaining that the White House “for months” has been talking about an “emergency situation” at the US-Mexico border. Politico
WH top economic adviser is leaving
Kevin Hassett, an architect of President Donald Trump’s “pro-American” proposal to base immigration policy on immigrants’ skills, not their family relations, is stepping down as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Trump said Sunday night.
Hassett, 57, previously the director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy institution, has led the panel of economic advisers since September 2017, making him one of the longer-serving senior members of the Trump administration. NBC News