Donald Trump arrives in Singapore ahead of historic US-North Korea summit

US President Donald Trump arrived in Singapore on Sunday ahead of a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the future of Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal.
Trump flew into Singapore's Paya Lebar Air Base aboard Air Force One, looking to lay the groundwork for a nuclear deal with one of America's most bitter long-time foes, directly following his divisive meeting in Canada + with some of Washington's closest allies that further strained global trade ties.

Trump's arrival came just hours after Kim, wearing his trademark dark "Mao suit" and distinctive high-cut hairstyle, landed in the ultra-modern city-state on his longest trip overseas as head of state.

The two are due to meet on Tuesday on the resort island of Sentosa for their high-stakes summit, the first-ever talks between a US and North Korean leader and the culmination of a head-spinning diplomatic dance.

Such a meeting was unthinkable just months ago when Trump and Kim were exchanging insults and threats that raised fears + of war in the region. But a series of diplomatic overtures involving North Korea, South Korea and the United States reduced tensions and led Trump in March to quickly accept Kim's invitation to meet.

Trump initially touted the potential for a grand bargain with North Korea to rid itself of a nuclear missile programme that has advanced rapidly to threaten the United States, insisting he would swiftly achieve what previous US administrations have failed to do.

But he has since lowered expectations, saying the talks would be more about starting a relationship with Kim for a negotiating process that would take more than one summit. This has included backing away from an original demand for North Korea's swift denuclearisation.

Kim has given little sign of any willingness to dismantle his nuclear programme, which experts believe he sees a vital to the survival of his family's dynastic rule.
However, Trump and his aides insist that a US-led "maximum pressure" campaign of the toughest-ever economic sanctions, diplomatic action and military threats is what has drawn Kim to the negotiating table.

Body of Pak exchange student shot in Texas school shooting arrives in Karachi

Sabika Sheikh was among 10 students and staff slain Friday at Santa Fe High School. The alleged shooter is 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who is being held on capital murder charges.

The body of a 17-year-old Pakistani exchange student killed in a mass shooting at a high school in Texas has arrived in the port city of Karachi, where her family lives. Sabika Sheikh was among 10 students and staff slain Friday at Santa Fe High School. The alleged shooter is 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, who is being held on capital murder charges.

Sabika had planned to return home in a few weeks for Eid al-Fitr, the three-day holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Her body reached her hometown before dawn Wednesday and she was to be buried later in the day.

Sabika was her family’s oldest child and began classes at Santa Fe High School last August.

Sabika, a Karachi teenager, was studying at Santa Fe High School in Texas on a US State Department scholarship under the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme. She had been attending classes at the school since August last, and said that getting accepted into a US programme to study was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Sabika, the eldest of three sisters, was to return home in Pakistan in three weeks, by Eid ul-Fitr. Her host family said their time with her was "such a precious gift."

A memorial service was held for the young woman at a mosque Sunday night in Stafford. A memorial of flowers and messages for Sabika has been grown outside of the high school.

Meanwhile, her father Abdul Aziz Sheikh, has urged US President Donald Trump to take action.

Her family was notified on Friday that Sabika was one of the 10 killed at the hands of a gunman inside of Sante Fe High School. Sheikh now has a strong message for the president.

"I would like to say to the Trump administration, kindly stop this type of incident," Sheikh said.

Sheikh called on Trump to reform gun laws in the name of his daughter.

Did China just bribe Donald Trump to undermine national security?

Did the president of the United States just betray the nation’s security in return for a bribe from the Chinese government?

Don’t say that this suggestion is ridiculous: Given everything we know about Donald Trump, it’s well within the bounds of possibility, even plausibility.

Don’t say there’s no proof: We’re not talking about a court of law, where the accused are presumed innocent until proved guilty. Where the behavior of high officials is concerned, the standard is very nearly the opposite: They’re supposed to avoid situations in which there is even a hint that their actions might be motivated by personal gain.

Oh, and don’t say that it doesn’t matter one way or the other, because the Republicans who control Congress won’t do anything about it. That in itself is a key part of the story: An entire political party — a party that has historically wrapped itself in the flag and questioned the patriotism of its opponents — has become entirely complaisant in the possibility of raw corruption, even if it involves payoffs from hostile foreign powers.

The story so far: In the past few years ZTE, a Chinese electronics company that, among other things, makes cheap smartphones, has gotten into repeated trouble with the U.S. government. Many of its products contain U.S. technology — technology that, by law, must not be exported to embargoed nations, including North Korea and Iran. But ZTE was circumventing the ban.

Initially, the company was fined $1.2 billion. Then, when it became clear that the company had rewarded rather than punished the executives involved, the Commerce Department forbade U.S. technology companies from selling components to ZTE for the next seven years.

And two weeks ago the Pentagon banned sales of ZTE phones on military bases, following warnings from intelligence agencies that the Chinese government may be using the company’s products to conduct espionage.
All of which made it very strange indeed to see Trump suddenly declare that he was working with President Xi Jinping of China to help save ZTE — “Too many jobs in China lost” — and that he was ordering the Commerce Department to make it happen.

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