Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in meet for historic inter-Korean summit

North Korea's state news agency on Saturday called the inter-Korean summit a turning point for the Korean peninsula, while President Donald Trump said he would maintain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang ahead of his own unprecedented meeting with Kim Jong Un.

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Rivals see ruse in Palestinian political forum to be convened by Abbas

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - Political rivals accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday of pushing ahead with a rare and disputed national decision-making meeting to tighten his grip on power and sideline them. Abbas has billed Monday's convening of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), a 700-member assembly within the umbrella Palestinian Liberation Organisation, as a chance to forge a united front against Israel and the United States. Last week, 109 PNC members urged Abbas to postpone the meeting to allow greater participation.

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'Iranians killed in suspected Israeli strike' in Syria

Missile strikes overnight in central Syria killed at least 26 pro-regime fighters, most of them Iranians, a monitor said Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles struck a military base in the province of Hama late Sunday, in an assault it said bore the hallmarks of an Israeli operation. "At least 26 fighters were killed, including four Syrians," the monitor said, adding that the main target of the missile strike was the base of the regime's 47th Brigade. "The others are foreign fighters, a vast majority of them Iranians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based war monitor. "Given the nature of the target, it is likely to have been an Israeli strike," he said, adding that strikes also hit an air base in nearby Aleppo province where surface-to-surface missiles were stored. Unidentified strikes near #Hama and #Aleppo in #Syria. Possible #Israeli action. pic.twitter.com/hTx583G8OL— Strategic Sentinel (@StratSentinel) April 29, 2018 Syrian state media late Sunday had denounced a "fresh aggression" following reported raids by "enemy missiles". Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told army radio on Monday morning that he was "not aware" of the latest strikes. But, he said, "all the violence and instability in Syria is the result of Iran's attempts to establish a military presence there. Israel will not allow the opening of a northern front in Syria." The latest strikes came amid heightened tensions in Syria after Damascus and its ally Iran accused Israel on April 9 of conducting deadly strikes against a military base in the centre of the country. At least 14 soldiers, including seven Iranians, were killed in the strike on a military base in Homs province. Days later, on April 14, the United States, France and Britain bombarded several Syrian regime military positions in response to a suspected chemical attack on the rebel stronghold of Douma which killed dozens, according to rescue services. Syria remains technically at war with neighbouring Israel, which is concerned at the growing presence of Iranian forces and those of Tehran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah on Syrian territory. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed in an interview Thursday to strike at any attempt by Iran to establish a "military foothold" in Syria. "If they attack Tel Aviv, we'll strike Tehran," he told the Arabic-language Elaph news website. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in Tel Aviv, lashed out at Iran's "ambition to dominate the Middle East".

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Stage Set for Trump’s Meeting with Kim Jong Un

The president shared updates about his forthcoming summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, saying he spoke with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, and that the meeting’s time and location are being set.

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Woman Allegedly Suffering From PTSD Sues Southwest Airlines After Engine Failure Flight

She called it a "horror."

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Philippines' Duterte says Kuwait work ban 'permanent'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said the temporary ban on Filipinos going to work in Kuwait is now permanent, intensifying a diplomatic standoff over the treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf nation. Duterte in February prohibited workers heading to Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid whose body was found stuffed in her employer's freezer. The resulting row deepened after Kuwaiti authorities last week ordered Manila's envoy to leave the country over videos of Philippine embassy staff helping workers in Kuwait flee allegedly abusive employers.

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Ex-con candidate compounding GOP woes in West Virginia

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Republican Don Blankenship doesn't care if his party and his president don't think he can beat Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin this fall.

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Palestinians vote on aging leadership as Abbas tightens grip

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The top-tier leadership group of the PLO— average age 70 — is up for election for the first time in over two decades, when hundreds of delegates attend a West Bank convention this week.

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Russia, Turkey, Iran hold Syria talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday hosted his Iranian and Turkey counterparts for talks on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical attack that has exposed differences between the three powers. The three nations have been attempting to find a political solution to the Syrian conflict at talks that started last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, in competition with the US and UN-backed Geneva initiative. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held separate bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu and then Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif, who stressed the warmth of their relationship in opening comments.

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IS 'emir' killed in southern Yemen: police

A top Islamic State group leader was killed and three others arrested in a government raid on Saturday in southern Yemen, police said. Saleh Nasr Fadl al-Bakhshi, self-proclaimed "emir" of the radical group's branch in the Aden and Abyan regions, was killed in the raid on an IS hideout in government-held territory, a senior officer with Aden's police force told AFP. The government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been based in southern Yemen since 2015, after Shiite Huthi rebels drove it from the capital Sanaa and much of the country's north, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention.

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White House Correspondents’ Dinner: Conservatives walk out as Michelle Wolf brutally ridicules Trump and aides

Michelle Wolf started as she meant to go on. “Good evening, here we are at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” she greeted guests at Saturday’s prestigious media dinner in Washington. Former press secretary Sean Spicer took to Twitter to call the performance a “disgrace”.

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Kanye West Called Emma Gonzalez His Hero. She Responded by Saying James Shaw Jr. Was Hers

Parkland school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez was seemingly disinterested in Kanye West's praise of her. Just days after the 40-year-old rapper tweeted of his support…

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North Korea’s ‘Complete Denuclearization’ pledge raises questions after summit

The leaders of North Korea and South Korea committed to the idea of a nuclear-free region in Friday’s historic summit, but U.S. officials want proof that Kim Jong Un will get rid of his weapons.

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U.S. concerned by 'destabilizing and malign activities' of Iran: Pompeo

By Lesley Wroughton and Ori Lewis TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The United States is deeply concerned by Iran's "destabilizing and malign activities", new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. The former CIA director was speaking on a flying visit to the region, where he had earlier in the day met with Saudi King Salman in Riyadh and stressed the need for unity among Gulf allies as Washington aims to muster support for new sanctions against Iran to curb its missile program. The whirlwind trip to NATO in Brussels and to Middle East allies came only hours after Pompeo was confirmed as Trump's top diplomat.

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Pompeo briefs Saudi, Israel on Trump plans for Iran deal

Washington's new chief diplomat was to meet Saudi and Israeli leaders on Sunday to rally coordinated opposition to Tehran and brief them on President Donald Trump's threat to end the Iran nuclear deal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched down in Riyadh on Saturday shortly after Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen fired missiles across the kingdom's border. US officials travelling with Pompeo told reporters the Huthi missiles had been supplied by Iran, and cited the attacks as evidence that regional powers should work together.

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Syrian army tightens noose around Palestinian camp

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian troops on Sunday tightened the noose around a Palestinian refugee camp held by Islamic State militants in southern Damascus where hundreds of civilians face an uncertain future, state media, witnesses and residents said. Nearly two weeks into a campaign to capture the last area near the capital outside government control that has left many parts of the once teeming Yarmouk camp in ruins, state media announced al Qadm neighborhood next to the camp was retaken. Opposition sources said the army was now engaged in fierce fighting with militants on the outskirts of Yarmouk camp where an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 militants are now encircled.

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Arizona schools to remain closed Monday as walkout continues

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona teachers' walkout over pay and education funding appears headed into a second week as major school districts say schools will remain closed Monday.

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Young Siblings Hold Hands in Hospital After Their Parents Were Killed in Car Crash

Their newborn baby sister was also killed.

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Saudi Aramco appoints first woman to board of directors

Saudi national oil giant Aramco said Sunday that five new members had been appointed to its board of directors, including the first woman in the firm's history. Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, 60, is the former head of US oil company Sunoco Inc. and has been director of oil services company Baker Hughes since July last year. Other newly-appointed Aramco board members include Minister of Finance Mohammed al-Jadaan, while Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh was retained as the company's chairman, state-owned Aramco said in a statement.

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'Iranians killed in suspected Israeli strike' in Syria

Missile strikes overnight in central Syria killed at least 26 pro-regime fighters, most of them Iranians, a monitor said Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles struck a military base in the province of Hama late Sunday, in an assault it said bore the hallmarks of an Israeli operation. "At least 26 fighters were killed, including four Syrians," the monitor said, adding that the main target of the missile strike was the base of the regime's 47th Brigade. "The others are foreign fighters, a vast majority of them Iranians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based war monitor. "Given the nature of the target, it is likely to have been an Israeli strike," he said, adding that strikes also hit an air base in nearby Aleppo province where surface-to-surface missiles were stored. Unidentified strikes near #Hama and #Aleppo in #Syria. Possible #Israeli action. pic.twitter.com/hTx583G8OL— Strategic Sentinel (@StratSentinel) April 29, 2018 Syrian state media late Sunday had denounced a "fresh aggression" following reported raids by "enemy missiles". Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told army radio on Monday morning that he was "not aware" of the latest strikes. But, he said, "all the violence and instability in Syria is the result of Iran's attempts to establish a military presence there. Israel will not allow the opening of a northern front in Syria." The latest strikes came amid heightened tensions in Syria after Damascus and its ally Iran accused Israel on April 9 of conducting deadly strikes against a military base in the centre of the country. At least 14 soldiers, including seven Iranians, were killed in the strike on a military base in Homs province. Days later, on April 14, the United States, France and Britain bombarded several Syrian regime military positions in response to a suspected chemical attack on the rebel stronghold of Douma which killed dozens, according to rescue services. Syria remains technically at war with neighbouring Israel, which is concerned at the growing presence of Iranian forces and those of Tehran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah on Syrian territory. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed in an interview Thursday to strike at any attempt by Iran to establish a "military foothold" in Syria. "If they attack Tel Aviv, we'll strike Tehran," he told the Arabic-language Elaph news website. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in Tel Aviv, lashed out at Iran's "ambition to dominate the Middle East".

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Arizona police officer shot by carjacking suspect dies

NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — A police officer in the Arizona border city of Nogales was killed after he tried to stop a carjacking suspect.

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US has 'obligation' to pursue N.Korea diplomatic track: Pompeo

The US has an "obligation" to pursue a diplomatic solution with North Korea, and there is a "real opportunity" for progress, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview broadcast Sunday. America's top diplomat also said he and North Korean leader Kim held in-depth talks about a denuclearization "mechanism" when they met over Easter weekend.

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Fox News Reporter: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Deserves Apology After Press Dinner

Fox News reporter Ed Henry said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee

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Duterte permanently bans Filipinos going to work in Kuwait after maid found stuffed in freezer

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said the temporary ban on Filipinos going to work in Kuwait is now permanent, intensifying a diplomatic standoff over the treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf nation. Mr Duterte in February imposed a prohibition on workers heading to Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in the Gulf state. The crisis deepened after Kuwaiti authorities last week ordered Manila's envoy to leave the country over videos of Philippine embassy staff helping workers in Kuwait flee allegedly abusive employers. The two nations had been negotiating a labour deal that Philippine officials said could result in the lifting of the ban but the recent escalation in tensions has put an agreement in doubt. "The ban stays permanently. There will be no more recruitment for especially domestic helpers. No more," Mr Duterte told reporters in the southern city of Davao. There was no immediate response from Kuwait, where around 262,000 Filipinos are employed - nearly 60 percent of them as domestic workers, according to the Philippines' foreign department. Last week the Philippines apologised over the rescue videos but Kuwaiti officials announced they were expelling Manila's ambassador and recalling their own envoy from the Southeast Asian nation. In quotes | Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines Kuwait also detained four Filipinos hired by the Philippine embassy and issued arrest warrants against three diplomatic personnel, Manila said. Mr Duterte on Sunday described the treatment of workers in Kuwait as a "calamity". He said he would bring home Filipina maids who suffered abuse as he appealed to workers who wanted to stay in the oil-rich state. "I would like to address to their patriotism: come home. No matter how poor we are, we will survive. The economy is doing good and we are short of our workers," he said. About 10 million Filipinos work abroad, seeking high-paying jobs they are unable to find at home, and their remittances are a major pillar of the Philippine economy. The Philippine government has for decades hailed overseas workers as modern heroes but advocacy groups have highlighted the social cost of migration, tearing families apart and making Filipinos vulnerable to abuse. Mr Duterte lashed out at Kuwait in February, alleging Arab employers routinely rape Filipina workers, force them to work 21 hours a day and feed them scraps. However after the latest row, Mr Duterte used a conciliatory tone as he addressed the "diplomatic ruckus" on Saturday. "Apparently it seems as if they have anger against Filipinos ... I do not want to send (workers) because apparently you do not like Filipinos," he said in a speech before Filipinos in Singapore. "Just do not hurt them. I plead that they'd be given a treatment deserving of a human being," he said in the same event.

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Pompeo starts Mideast tour with call for new Iran sanctions

By Lesley Wroughton RIYADH (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on a hastily-arranged visit to the Middle East as the United States aims to muster support for new sanctions against Iran. The visit to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Amman just two days after Pompeo was sworn-in comes as President Donald Trump is set to decide whether to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that is still supported by European powers. "We are urging nations around the world to sanction any individuals and entities associated with Iran's missile program, and it has also been a big part of discussions with Europeans," Brian Hook, a senior policy advisor traveling with Pompeo, told reporters.

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Voters vent frustration, disappointment with Washington, elected officials

ABC News contributor Frank Luntz held a focus group with Democratic and Republican voters to understand how they feel about the state of politics heading into the midterms.

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Comey: Partisanship 'wrecked' House Intelligence Committee

In an exclusive interview on Meet the Press, former FBI Director James Comey talks about Republican reports from the House Intelligence Committee.

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'Iranians killed in suspected Israeli strike' in Syria

Missile strikes overnight in central Syria killed at least 26 pro-regime fighters, most of them Iranians, a monitor said Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles struck a military base in the province of Hama late Sunday, in an assault it said bore the hallmarks of an Israeli operation. "At least 26 fighters were killed, including four Syrians," the monitor said, adding that the main target of the missile strike was the base of the regime's 47th Brigade. "The others are foreign fighters, a vast majority of them Iranians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based war monitor. "Given the nature of the target, it is likely to have been an Israeli strike," he said, adding that strikes also hit an air base in nearby Aleppo province where surface-to-surface missiles were stored. Unidentified strikes near #Hama and #Aleppo in #Syria. Possible #Israeli action. pic.twitter.com/hTx583G8OL— Strategic Sentinel (@StratSentinel) April 29, 2018 Syrian state media late Sunday had denounced a "fresh aggression" following reported raids by "enemy missiles". Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told army radio on Monday morning that he was "not aware" of the latest strikes. But, he said, "all the violence and instability in Syria is the result of Iran's attempts to establish a military presence there. Israel will not allow the opening of a northern front in Syria." The latest strikes came amid heightened tensions in Syria after Damascus and its ally Iran accused Israel on April 9 of conducting deadly strikes against a military base in the centre of the country. At least 14 soldiers, including seven Iranians, were killed in the strike on a military base in Homs province. Days later, on April 14, the United States, France and Britain bombarded several Syrian regime military positions in response to a suspected chemical attack on the rebel stronghold of Douma which killed dozens, according to rescue services. Syria remains technically at war with neighbouring Israel, which is concerned at the growing presence of Iranian forces and those of Tehran's Lebanese ally Hezbollah on Syrian territory. Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed in an interview Thursday to strike at any attempt by Iran to establish a "military foothold" in Syria. "If they attack Tel Aviv, we'll strike Tehran," he told the Arabic-language Elaph news website. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in Tel Aviv, lashed out at Iran's "ambition to dominate the Middle East".

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Madagascar's president rules out resignation despite protests

Madagascar's President Hery Rajaonarimampianina on Sunday refused to yield to opposition demands that he resign from office, following eight days of anti-government protests in the capital. The opposition accuses the government of trying to elbow them out of the race through new electoral laws they claim benefit the incumbent. The protests erupted last week and on the first day two people were killed and at least 16 people wounded, with the police accused of firing real bullets at the crowd.

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Israeli says 3 Palestinian infiltrators from Gaza killed

Israeli troops fatally shot two Palestinians who infiltrated the country from Gaza and attacked soldiers with explosives Sunday night, and in a separate incident killed another Palestinian who tried to ...

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Rep. Gohmert reacts to recovered Strzok-Page text messages

Recovered FBI text messages were delivered to congressional committees; House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Louie Gohmert reacts on 'Fox & Friends.'

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Detractors deride Duterte for asking Filipinos to leave Kuwait

By Neil Jerome Morales MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine labor group and a senator accused President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday of gambling with the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Filipinos in Kuwait, after he asked them to come home amid a diplomatic dispute over reported labor abuse. The Philippines and the Gulf Arab state are embroiled in a row over what Duterte says is a pattern of mistreatment of domestic workers by Kuwaiti employers. The Philippine ambassador has been asked to leave following attempts by embassy workers to "rescue" distressed workers there, which Kuwait says is a breach of its sovereignty.

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3 Palestinians shot dead on Gaza border: Israeli army

Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians on Sunday after two separate infiltration bids on the Gaza border, the army said. "2 suspects attempted to infiltrate Israel from the southern Gaza Strip and damage the (border) security fence," the army tweeted. Forty-five Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of what organisers have dubbed the Great March of Return on March 30, with more than 1,500 wounded.

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Michelle Wolf performs stand-up routine at White House Correspondent's dinner

Wolf's routine took shots at President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and the media.

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Russian FM says US trying to 'divide Syria into parts'

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister said Saturday the United States is trying to divide Syria.

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Saudi Aramco appoints first woman to board of directors

Saudi national oil giant Aramco said Sunday that five new members had been appointed to its board of directors, including the first woman in the firm's history. Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, 60, is the former head of US oil company Sunoco Inc. and has been director of oil services company Baker Hughes since July last year. Other newly-appointed Aramco board members include Minister of Finance Mohammed al-Jadaan, while Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh was retained as the company's chairman, state-owned Aramco said in a statement.

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RIP Larry Harvey: Burning Man's leading light dies at 70

Larry Harvey, the co-founder of the Burning Man festival who grew it from an event on a San Francisco beach to a desert arts festival of global significance, died Saturday. He was 70. Harvey had been hospitalized after a stroke on April 4, and had remained in critical condition. "Though we all hoped he would recover, he passed peacefully this morning at 8:24am in San Francisco, with members of his family at his side," wrote Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell in the organization's official announcement.  SEE ALSO: Burning Man Isn't What You Think, and Never Has Been Harvey's story has already passed into countercultural legend. A former landscape gardener and carpenter, he and his friend Jerry James decided to burn a large wooden figure of a man on San Francisco's Baker Beach in 1986.  The Burning Man event, repeated annually, began to draw exponentially increasing numbers of attendees — so many that Harvey and friends needed a new location where it could grow relatively unchecked by authorities. In 1990 they found one in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, and the week-long extravaganza of Burning Man began.  Much of the event's energy in those early years was provided by the Cacophony Society, a culture-jamming collective of California artists. But it was Harvey who became the face and the driving force behind Burning Man's expansion. After a particularly anarchic version of the festival in 1996, in which one participant ran his car over a number of people in tents, Harvey oversaw Burning Man's transformation into Black Rock City — a temporary urban environment with roads, gas lamps and an army of volunteers.  Harvey was a self-educated deep thinker who would never use one word where a paragraph would do. He was often to be found delivering lectures and giving interviews, his signature cowboy hat never far from his head. But that ceaseless brain provided the philosophy and principles that made Burning Man what it is today — a year-round global network with 85 official regional events on six continents.  He insisted that the event resist commercialization, so that even now, with around 70,000 regular annual attendees, the only things you can buy with actual money at Burning Man are ice and coffee. He balanced the "radical self reliance" needed to survive in the harsh desert environment with a "gift economy" culture — encouraging participants to offer goods and services freely to others in the name of community.  Harvey insisted that everyone think of themselves as a participant and a provider; at Burning Man, there were to be "no spectators." Indeed, the volunteerism rate at Black Rock City — roughly 70% of attendees get involved with one of the events' many sub-organizations such as the Lamplighters or the Department of Public Works — has amazed the urban planners and city managers who made the pilgrimage.  Burning Man's fame soon far outgrew the numbers who made the actual trek to Black Rock. In particular, Silicon Valley took to the event with a vengeance. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were regular attendees. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were not only enthusiastic Burners themselves, but chose their CEO, Eric Schmidt, because he was the only candidate who had been to Burning Man.  SEE ALSO: Make Burning Man suck again! Harvey allowed and accommodated the increasing number of celebrities (such as Kanye West and Katy Perry) to attend. He weathered storms of grumbles from old-time Burners over the "turnkey" camps that accommodated the rich, pointing out that only 2 percent of attendees were members of society's wealthiest 1 percent.  He soothed the event's constant conflicts with its landlords at the Bureau of Land Management, and encouraged the artists whose work has spread out from the festival, now installed in locations such as Las Vegas and the San Francisco Bay Bridge.  But his mind was forever on the philosophy behind the event and the good it could do in the world at large. Burning Man was never just a party or an arts festival to Harvey; it was what anarchists call a Temporary Autonomous Zone, a space to try different ways of living, that would inspire change back in the "default world." Harvey called Burning Man a "hundred year movement," and felt that regional events known as "burns" would soon overtake the need for one central Burning Man. And still it grew. Every year Harvey designated a theme for the event — from the simple ("Floating World," a nod to the prehistoric lake bed of Black Rock) to the historical ("Da Vinci's Workshop") to the obscure ("Caravansary"). Some themes were more successful than others, but they all inspired jaw-dropping art and playfully improvised theme camps. Harvey had initially set up Burning Man as a private corporation — one that began to take in more than $10 million in annual ticket revenue. (Its expenditure often matched that, not least because the BLM kept raising its land use fees). Facing down criticism on this front, Harvey turned the organization into a nonprofit. He ceded day-to-day management to Goodell, his dear friend and colleague for 22 years, and designated himself Chief Philosophical Officer. A sign above his office door read "Larry Harvey does not exist." But he did. He most definitely did, and he changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who have attended the event and found it to be transformational.  "Larry Harvey had an idea and because of that idea my life changed forever," wrote one attendee on Facebook who first got together with her husband at the event. "That idea brought me dozens of amazing friends from across the globe, obscene amounts of fun, broken bones, an empty wallet, dreadful over-confidence, desert survival skills (sometimes), the ability to cook dinner for 50 people in tent in a sandstorm, some beautiful corsets, a half-share in a lock-up garage in Reno, camping kit that's eternally full of gypsum, and the love of my life." Harvey is survived by a son, a brother, a nephew, and a hundred-year movement. 

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Palestinians vote on aging leadership as Abbas tightens grip

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The top-tier leadership group of the PLO— average age 70 — is up for election for the first time in over two decades, when hundreds of delegates attend a West Bank convention this week.

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Donald Trump Demands Democratic Senator Quit In Saturday Morning Twitter Rant

President Donald Trump kickstarted his weekend by launching a blistering

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Duterte permanently bans Filipinos going to work in Kuwait after maid found stuffed in freezer

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said the temporary ban on Filipinos going to work in Kuwait is now permanent, intensifying a diplomatic standoff over the treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf nation. Mr Duterte in February imposed a prohibition on workers heading to Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in the Gulf state. The crisis deepened after Kuwaiti authorities last week ordered Manila's envoy to leave the country over videos of Philippine embassy staff helping workers in Kuwait flee allegedly abusive employers. The two nations had been negotiating a labour deal that Philippine officials said could result in the lifting of the ban but the recent escalation in tensions has put an agreement in doubt. "The ban stays permanently. There will be no more recruitment for especially domestic helpers. No more," Mr Duterte told reporters in the southern city of Davao. There was no immediate response from Kuwait, where around 262,000 Filipinos are employed - nearly 60 percent of them as domestic workers, according to the Philippines' foreign department. Last week the Philippines apologised over the rescue videos but Kuwaiti officials announced they were expelling Manila's ambassador and recalling their own envoy from the Southeast Asian nation. In quotes | Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines Kuwait also detained four Filipinos hired by the Philippine embassy and issued arrest warrants against three diplomatic personnel, Manila said. Mr Duterte on Sunday described the treatment of workers in Kuwait as a "calamity". He said he would bring home Filipina maids who suffered abuse as he appealed to workers who wanted to stay in the oil-rich state. "I would like to address to their patriotism: come home. No matter how poor we are, we will survive. The economy is doing good and we are short of our workers," he said. About 10 million Filipinos work abroad, seeking high-paying jobs they are unable to find at home, and their remittances are a major pillar of the Philippine economy. The Philippine government has for decades hailed overseas workers as modern heroes but advocacy groups have highlighted the social cost of migration, tearing families apart and making Filipinos vulnerable to abuse. Mr Duterte lashed out at Kuwait in February, alleging Arab employers routinely rape Filipina workers, force them to work 21 hours a day and feed them scraps. However after the latest row, Mr Duterte used a conciliatory tone as he addressed the "diplomatic ruckus" on Saturday. "Apparently it seems as if they have anger against Filipinos ... I do not want to send (workers) because apparently you do not like Filipinos," he said in a speech before Filipinos in Singapore. "Just do not hurt them. I plead that they'd be given a treatment deserving of a human being," he said in the same event.

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Syrian army, Islamic State wage fierce battle in south Damascus

The Syrian army and its allies engaged in a fierce battle on Saturday with Islamic State fighters in an enclave south of Damascus held by the jihadist group. Reuters witnesses, a war monitor and state television reported intense fighting including artillery bombardment and small arms fire. The army had made broad advances, said state television.

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Nicaragua student protesters put conditions on talks

University students at the forefront of anti-government unrest in Nicaragua on Saturday issued conditions for talks with the government of President Daniel Ortega. In a bid to calm the situation, 72-year-old veteran leader Ortega has agreed to hold talks, but the framework has not yet been defined. The students told a news conference in Managua that their demands must be met for them to take part.

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Modi-Xi talks highlight India-China rivalry, cooperation

BEIJING (AP) — The leaders of China and India stressed the importance of close ties in talks Saturday, against the background of their rivalry for leadership in Asia and the potential for cooperation on economic and security matters.

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Israeli military kills three Palestinians along Gaza Strip border

Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians along the border with the Gaza Strip in two separate incidents on Sunday, the Israeli military said. The shootings follow a month of violence along the Israel-Gaza border, where Palestinians have been holding protests every Friday pressing for the right of return for refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. In the first incident on Sunday, two men "attempted to infiltrate" into Israel from the southern Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement.

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Southwest Airlines sued after woman claims post-traumatic stress disorder following fatal engine explosion

A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight that made an emergency landing after an engine burst apart is suing the company, saying she has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder sparked by the carriers’ alleged negligence. Lilia Chavez was sitting three rows behind the window that was shattered by shrapnel from the exploding engine. Ms Chavez, a California native, has argued in her federally filed lawsuit that she has been suffering from PTSD, depression and other personal injuries since the fateful flight.

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Detractors deride Duterte for asking Filipinos to leave Kuwait

By Neil Jerome Morales MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine labor group and a senator accused President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday of gambling with the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Filipinos in Kuwait, after he asked them to come home amid a diplomatic dispute over reported labor abuse. The Philippines and the Gulf Arab state are embroiled in a row over what Duterte says is a pattern of mistreatment of domestic workers by Kuwaiti employers. The Philippine ambassador has been asked to leave following attempts by embassy workers to "rescue" distressed workers there, which Kuwait says is a breach of its sovereignty.

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Kim Jong-un: North Korea to allow foreign experts to witness nuclear site closure in May

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has said that he will dismantle his country’s main nuclear testing site in May and invited South Korean and US experts, and journalists to view the process. The dictator’s pledge was made to Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s prime minister, during their historic talks on Friday, according to Mr Moon’s spokesman. As well as promising to close the Punggye-ri bomb testing site Kim said he would change North Korea’s time zone by half an hour, reverting it to match South Korea’s. Reports of the pledge came as senior White House figures spoke optimistically about hopes for full North Korean denuclearisation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who held secret talks with Kim in Easter when he was still head of the CIA, said the US has an "obligation" to pursue a diplomatic solution with North Korea. In an interview with ABC news, he said the US must "engage in diplomatic discourse to try and find a peaceful solution so that Americans aren't held at risk by Kim Jong Un and his nuclear arsenal". Rocket man: How Kim Jong-un emerged from his father's shadow to silence the doubters Kim and Mr Moon, meeting in a ‘truce village’ between their countries’ borders on Friday, pledged to work towards the “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsular. The meeting, which some analysts have criticised for not producing a timetable or firm plans for denuclearisation, came ahead of Kim’s scheduled talk with US President Donald Trump, expected within the next few weeks. According to a team of Chinese geologists the Punggye-ri site may not be usable anyway, having suffered a land collapse following North Korea’s sixth nuclear bomb test in September 2017. However, Yoon Young-chan, Mr Moon's spokesman said that Kim claimed that the site still had new tunnels “in a very good condition”. On Sunday Mr Yoon quoted Kim as saying: “Once we start talking, the United States will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States… if we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would be need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?” Analysts have cast doubt over the meaningfulness of Kim’s pledges. Before Friday’s talks Jeffrey Lewis, director East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said that Kim did not need the Punggye-ri site, and could “shift big tests to neighbouring mountains”. Korean detente How did we get here? Professor Tong Zhu, fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at Beijing’s Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, told The Telegraph: “There is no way that North Korea is going to give up its nuclear deterrent capability.” “North Korea worked so hard to obtain that capability in the first place. Its primary objective is to keep its nuclear capabilities, then the next priority is to address the negative consequences resulting from its nuclear development. Then to develop a normal relationship with the rest of the international community.” On Sunday John Bolton, the US National Security Adviser, was asked by Fox News if the US making concessions to North Korea, such as easing sanctions, would require Kim to fully give up his nuclear weapons. "We have very much in mind the Libya model from 2003, 2004,” he replied. Mr Bolton was referring to Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi allowing US and UK weapons inspectors to view and help dismantle the Libya’s nuclear and chemical weapons programmes around that time. Gaddafi’s move followed years of sanctions against Libya, but many US government officials claimed that the 2003 US invasion of Iraq was the biggest influence for him denuclearising. Analysts have argued that Kim sees the fate of Gadaffi, who was toppled from power then killed in the Libyan civil war in 2011 after US forces attacked troops loyal to him, as a cautionary tale. Others have said that Mr Trump's recent threats to scrap the Iran nuclear deal, will make North Korea nervous about US promises. Addressing the concerns, Mr Pompeo said last night/SUN: "I don't think Kim Jong Un is staring at the Iran deal and saying, 'Oh goodness, if they get out of that, I won't talk to the Americans any more,’. There are higher priorities that he is more concerned about than whether or not the Americans stay in the [Iran deal]." With the clock ticking towards the historic Trump-Kim meeting, on Sunday Mr Yoon also suggested that Kim’s decision to alter North Korea’s time zone to match South Korea’s was made when he saw two wall clocks in a summit room showing different times for the two countries. Mr Yoon said that Kim found it “heartbreaking” seeing the un-matched clock hands. In August 2015 North Korea announced a new ‘Pyongyang time’ zone for the country, which was half an hour before Japan and South Korea’s time zone. The move was made to symbolically distance North Korea from Japan, which occupied the country from 1910 until 1945. Pope Francis last night/SUN lauded Kim and Mr Moon for their "brave commitment... to follow a sincere path to peace towards a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons."

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Syria regime, US-backed forces in deadly clashes: monitor

Rare clashes broke out on Sunday between Syrian regime forces and a US-backed alliance in the east of the country, killing a total of 15 combatants, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the clashes in Deir Ezzor province killed nine pro-regime fighters and six members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. State news agency SANA said the army seized control of four villages in the eastern province, where the Kurdish-led SDF alliance has been fighting the Islamic State jihadist group.

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Armenia opposition stages show of force ahead of PM vote

Supporters of Armenia's opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan rallied in the capital on Sunday, hoping that a massive show of force two days ahead of a parliamentary vote will help propel him to power. "The victory of the velvet revolution is irreversible," Pashinyan told the ecstatic crowd chanting "Nikol Prime Minister". Pashinyan, who needs a handful of votes from lawmakers to become the country's next premier, saw his chances boosted Sunday when a senior lawmaker said the ruling Republican Party would not stand in the way of his candidacy.

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Rep. Gohmert reacts to recovered Strzok-Page text messages

Recovered FBI text messages were delivered to congressional committees; House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Louie Gohmert reacts on 'Fox & Friends.'

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