Top Stories Today – April 24, 2019
Top Stories Today – April 24, 2019
Kim Jong Un in Russia for Putin meeting
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in the far eastern region of Russia for his first ever meeting with Vladimir Putin, which Kim says is the initial step toward closer ties with Moscow. Wearing a black fedora hat and matching dark overcoat, the smiling Kim was greeted by Russian officials and a military band Wednesday in the port city of Vladivostok.
At the Thursday summit, Kim is expected to push Putin for economic aid — specifically relief from international sanctions that remain in place after nuclear talks with the United States broke down. The Voice of America
Sri Lankan President promises to fire intelligence officials
Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena is vowing to replace the leaders of the nation’s security forces in response to the apparent failure to prevent the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that have now claimed the lives of 359 people.
Reports say Indian intelligence agencies sent out several warnings to Sri Lanka, and that Indian security agencies had gathered details about Islamic militant group National Thowfeek Jamaath (NTJ), which is suspected of carrying out the attacks. In the aftermath of the attacks, several officials have pointed out that the prime minister was blocked out of security meetings by the president, who holds the defense portfolio. The Voice of America
Trump opposes WH aides testifying to Congress
President Trump on Tuesday said he is opposed to current and former White House aides providing testimony to congressional panels in the wake of the special counsel report, intensifying a power struggle between his administration and House Democrats.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump said that complying with congressional requests was unnecessary after the White House cooperated with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of Russian interference and the president’s own conduct in office. “There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan,” Trump said. The Washington Post
Mnuchin to decide whether to release Trump’s tax returns
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that he would make a decision about whether to release President Trump’s tax returns by May 6. Mnuchin sent a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) in response to House Democrats’ demand that six years of Trump’s financial records be made available in response to a request issued several weeks ago. Mnuchin missed the deadline Democrats set, and his Tuesday letter was the first time he’s set a concrete timeframe for the issue. While Democrats have demanded the tax returns as part of congressional oversight efforts, the White House has said they cannot be furnished because they are under audit. The Washington Post via The Week
Trump meets Twitter CEO
US President Donald Trump has met Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey at the White House to discuss social media. In a statement, Twitter said the pair spoke about “protecting the health of the public conversation” ahead of the US 2020 general election.
Earlier Trump had accused the platform of being “very discriminatory” towards him. Trump tweeted a picture of Dorsey and him in the Oval Office and called it a “great meeting”. BBC
Markets close at record highs
Stock indexes closed at record highs on Tuesday, recovering all ground from last year’s decline. The S&P 500 closed at a record high, rising 25 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,933 and surpassing last year’s record set in September. The Nasdaq Composite similarly closed up 1.3 percent, to a record 8,120, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to 26,656. Markets were struggling at the end of 2018, with a steady nosedive that brought averages nearly 20 percent below their peaks. Since then, nearly 80 percent of S&P 500 companies reporting results have exceeded estimates, and strong quarterly profit and revenue reports from Hasbro, Lockheed Martin, and Twitter on Tuesday sent numbers simultaneously soaring. First-quarter gross domestic product data is due Friday. Bloomberg, The Associated Press via The Week