North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to meet with South Korean president at border

North Korea's Kim Jung Un will meet next month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a border village in a high-profile meeting that could prove significant in global efforts to resolve a decades-long standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
The announcement was made after officials met at the border village of Panmunjom. The Koreas plan to hold another preparatory meeting on April 4 to discuss protocol, security and media coverage issues during the April 27 meeting, according to a joint statement released by the countries.
Few other details were released.

March 29: South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, left, shakes hands with North Korean delegation head Ri Son Gwon before their meeting at the northern side of the Panmunjom, North Korea.  (Korea Pool via AP)

The leaders of the two Koreas have held talks only twice since the 1950-53 Korean War, in 2000 and 2007, under previous liberal governments in Seoul.
A top South Korean official told reporters that setting up dialogue to eliminate Kim's nuclear weapons program would be a critical point of the meeting.
Ri Son Gwon, chairman of a state agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs, led the North’s three delegates, saying the past 80 days have been filled with "unprecedented historic events between the rivals,” referring to the Korea’s renewed talks before the Winter Olympics and the agreement on the summit.
He also expressed hopes for an outcome that would meet the "hope and desire of the nation."
Thursday’s announcement comes after a surprise meeting between Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, which goal appeared to seek improving relations ahead of the North’s planned talks with Moon and President Donald Trump.
In setting up separate talks with Beijing, Seoul, Washington, and potentially with Moscow and Tokyo, North Korea may be moving to disrupt any united front among its negotiating counterparts. By reintroducing China, which is the North's only major ally, as a major player, North Korea also gains leverage against South Korea and the United States, analysts say.
Washington and Seoul have said Kim previously told South Korean envoys that he was willing to put his nukes up for negotiation in his talks with President Donald Trump. However, the North has yet to officially confirm its interest in a summit between Kim and Trump.

Planned Parenthood Cartoons

Backlash after Planned Parenthood branch tweets: 'We need a Disney princess who's had an abortion'

A local Planned Parenthood office in Pennsylvania had some advice for the creators at Disney Tuesday after tweeting about the need for princesses who have “had an abortion” or are “trans.”
The tweet from Planned Parenthood Keystone, which was viewed by Fox News but has since been deleted, said, “We need a disney princess who’s had an abortion. We need a disney princess who’s pro-choice. We need a disney princess who’s an undocumented immigrant. We need a disney princess who’s actually a union worker. We need a disney princess who’s trans.”
The tweet was posted around 9:30 a.m. and taken down a few hours later.
Social media users later shared captured screenshots of the post.
In a statement provided to Fox News, Planned Parenthood Keystone President and CEO Melissa Reed said "Planned Parenthood believes that pop culture - television shows, music, movies - has a critical role to play in educating the public and sparking meaningful conversations around sexual and reproductive health issues and policies, including abortion. We also know that emotionally authentic portrayals of these experiences are still extremely rare - and that's part of a much bigger lack of honest depictions of certain people's lives and communities.
"Today, we joined an ongoing Twitter conversation about the kinds of princesses people want to see in an attempt to make a point about the importance of telling stories that challenge stigma and championing stories that too often don't get told," Reed said. "Upon reflection, we decided that the seriousness of the point we were trying to make was not appropriate for the subject matter or contect, and we removed the tweet."
The tweet quickly sparked a social media backlash.
"We need a disney princess who can stop my money from going to planned parenthood where they spend it on killing future princesses," one user wrote. Another deemed the tweet "disgusting" and an attempt to "indoctrinate our kids."
The decision not to defund Planned Parenthood was amongst the criticisms leveled against the $1.3 trillion spending bill President Trump signed last week.

Illegal immigrant cop killer smirks at death sentence-- and victims’ families grin back

Illegal immigrant Luis Bracamontes smiled again Tuesday as a California jury handed him a death sentence following his conviction in the 2014 killing of two sheriff's deputies, but this time, the deputies' families gave the cold-blooded killer a taste of his own medicine.
"I was smiling back at him purposely," Jeri Oliver, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver's mother, told The Sacarmento Bee after court. Debbie McMahon, the mother of fallen Placer County Sheriff Detective Michael Davis Jr., agreed “to smile at him for a change."
The convicted cop killer made headlines during his trial in January when he smiled and went into a profanity-laced rant in court, saying, “I wish I had killed more of the mother-------s,” and promised to “kill more, kill whoever gets in front of me ... There's no need for a f---ing trial."
He also shouted in court that he was guilty and asked to be put to death. The defense tried to convince the judge to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
After hours of deliberation Tuesday, a Sacramento Superior Court jury ruled that Bracamontes will get what he asked for and receive the death penalty for his heinous crimes.
As the verdict was being read, the illegal immigrant from Mexico was silently clapping and smiling, sometimes at the families of the slain deputies, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Bracamontes went on a multi-county killing rampage in 2014, murdering Oliver and Davis.
The ruling comes just days after Janelle Monroy, his wife, was sentenced to nearly 50 years in prison for helping her husband to murder the deputies. The jury dismissed her argument last month that she feared Bracamontes would kill her if she did not help him.
WIFE WHO AIDED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HUSBAND IN SLAYINGS OF 2 SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES GETS 50 YEARS

Bracamontes' wife, Janelle Monroy, was sentenced last week to 50 years in prison.  (Sacramento Bee via Associated Press)

Family members and law enforcement officials were reluctant to speak out during the trial, but on the verdict day, many finally voiced their views.
"I feel free to say it now. He's a despicable and evil human being and the death penalty is totally appropriate," Placer Sheriff Devon Bell told the Bee. Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones said the verdict “is a step along the road toward justice.”

A photo of slain Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver.  (Associated Press)

Despite the sentence, however, it remains to be seen whether Bracamontes will actually be put to death. The last time California executed an inmate was in 2006. An average waiting time for the execution is nearly 18 years due to legal challenges to the state’s methods of execution.
The convicted cop killer will return to court in late April for a formal sentencing by the judge. Families of the killed officers will address the court and Bracamontes.

"I feel free to say it now. He's a despicable and evil human being and the death penalty is totally appropriate."

Kim Jong Un meets with Chinese leader on 'unofficial visit,' state media says

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on an "unofficial visit" to Beijing, China's state-run media reported late Tuesday.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing North Korean state radio, reported that Kim had visited China between Sunday and Wednesday local time at Xi's invitation and was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol Ju.
Xi held talks with Kim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and he and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife, the official Xinhua news agency said. They also watched an art performance together, the news agency said.
Xi hailed Kim's visit as embodying the importance with which the North Korean leader regarded ties with China.
"We speak highly of this visit," Xi told Kim, according to Xinhua.
In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: "The Chinese government contacted the White House earlier on Tuesday to brief us on Kim Jong Un's visit to Beijing. The briefing included a personal message from President Xi to President Trump, which has been conveyed to President Trump.
"The United States remains in close contact with our allies South Korea and Japan," Sanders added. "We see this development as further evidence that our campaign of maximum pressure is creating the appropriate atmosphere for dialogue with North Korea."
Kim was described by Xinhua as saying that his country wants to transform ties with South Korea into "a relationship of reconciliation and cooperation." The two Koreas are still technically at war because their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency published Kim's personal letter to Xi dated on Wednesday, where he expressed gratitude to the Chinese leadership for showing what he described as "heartwarming hospitality" during his "productive" visit.
Kim said that the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries will provide a "groundbreaking milestone" in developing mutual relations to "meet the demands of the new era." Kim also said that he's satisfied that the leaders confirmed their "unified opinions" on mutual issues.
In a speech at a banquet in China, Kim described the traditional allies as inseparable "neighboring brothers" with a relationship molded by a "scared mutual fight" to achieve socialist ideals, according to KCNA.
"It's most proper that my first overseas trip would be the capital of the People's Republic of China as it's also one of my noble duties to value the North Korea-China friendship as I do my own life and extend it (for another generation)," said Kim, according to the agency.
The North Korean leader is expected to hold separate summits with South Korean President Moon Jae In in late April and U.S. President Donald Trump in May. Analysts say Kim would have felt a need to consult with his country's traditional ally ahead of his planned meetings.
China remains North Korea's only major ally and chief provider of energy, aid and trade that keep the country's broken economy afloat.
The North's diplomatic outreach to Seoul and Washington came after an unusually provocative year when it conducted its most powerful nuclear test to date and three ICBMs tests designed to target the U.S. mainland.
The developments were interpreted as the North being desperate to break out of isolation and improve its economy after being squeezed by heavy sanctions.

'Violent deportee' reportedly escapes ICE custody at JFK airport

A man escaped custody from federal immigration officials Tuesday night at at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City.  (Reuters)

A man described as a “violent deportee” reportedly managed to escape from federal immigration custody Tuesday night at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City.
The circumstances leading up to the incident are not immediately clear.
U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents removed the unidentified man’s handcuffs while going through airport security, law enforcement sources told the New York Daily News. He eluded authorities at Gate B23 in Terminal 4 at around 8:30 p.m. local time.
He was supposed to be escorted onto a plane.
The man was previously arrested on a weapons charge according to the paper.
A law enforcement source told the paper video captured the man jumping into a taxi leaving the airport. The New York Post reported that he is not considered a threat to people at the airport.
A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately reply to Fox News' request for comment.

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Obama wants to 'create a million young Barack Obamas'

Barack Obama has said he would like to create “a million young Barack Obamas” to take on the baton of “human progress”, during a discussion in Japan about his post-presidential life.
“The single most important thing I could do is to help develop the next generation,” he said.
The former US president said his nonprofit the Obama Foundation could create a “platform for young, up-and-coming leaders” to exchange information with each other about projects they were working on.
“If I could do that effectively, then – you know – I would create a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack Obamas or Michelle Obamas,” Obama told a conference in Tokyo. “Or, the next group of people who could take that baton in that relay race that is human progress.”

Obama also talked about the potential for young people to bring about change, hailing Saturday’s March for our Lives gun-control demonstrations.

“This was all because of the courage and effort of a handful of 15- and 16-year-olds, who took the responsibility that so often adults had failed to take in trying to find a solution to this problem, and I think that’s a testimony to what happens when young people are given opportunities, and I think all institutions have to think about how do we tap into that creativity and that energy and that drive.
“Because it’s there. It’s just so often we say: ‘Wait your turn.’”
Obama had also tweeted his support on Saturday, writing: “Michelle and I are so inspired by all the young people who made today’s marches happen. Keep at it. You’re leading us forward. Nothing can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.” Donald Trump has yet to comment personally on the marches, although the White House praised the demonstrators for exercising their right to free speech.
Obama also discussed the problem of social media walling off readers according to their political views.
“One of the things we’re going to be spending time on, through the foundation, is finding ways in which we can study this phenomenon of social media and the internet to see are there ways in which we can bring people from different perspectives to start having a more civil debate and listen to each other more carefully,” he said.
The former president also told the conference that denuclearisation negotiations with North Korea were difficult because the country’s isolation meant other countries had little leverage over it.
“North Korea is an example of a country that is so far out of the international norms and so disconnected with the rest of the world,” he said.
Obama has been cautious about criticising his successor, although he has made an exception for issues such as the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries and Trump’s heavily criticised remarks equating neo-Nazis with the protesters opposing them in Charlottesville, Virginia.
He was speaking at an event sponsored by a Japanese nonprofit group in Tokyo on Sunday.