North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump have arrived at the summit venue Singapore. The historic first meeting of the two leaders will discuss a peace treaty and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Kim arrived first at the Capella Resort, on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, shortly before 9 am local time. He ignored the cameras, walking into the hotel with eyeglasses in hand. Trump followed a few minutes later, turning to face the cameras with a carefully neutral expression before he entered the venue.

The historic handshake of the two leaders before a row of US and North Korean flags took place at 9:04. Trump smiled and patted Kim on the back, ushering him towards the conference room. Trump said earlier he would know whether the summit would succeed within the first few minutes of meeting with Kim.

“We will have a great relationship, I have no doubt,” Trump said in a brief photo-op.

“Past practices and prejudices were obstacles on our way forward, but we overcame all of them and are here today,” Kim said. “That’s true,” quipped Trump.

The two are scheduled to meet for two hours in private, accompanied only by their translators. </s> SINGAPORE (AP) — The small island nation of Singapore, which prides itself on law and order, is feeling the pressure of more than 3,000 members of the press arriving for a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The heavy media presence along with stringent security measures for the summit Tuesday has added to the frenzy unusual for the laid-back tropical state.

For over a week, journalists have been staking out Singapore’s luxury hotels, airports and government buildings to catch a glimpse of officials involved in summit preparations.

Unruly ones have already crossed red lines. Police said Friday they arrested two South Korean journalists from the national broadcaster KBS suspected of trespassing in the residence of the North Korean ambassador. </s> SINGAPORE: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana on Sunday (Jun 10), two days before a planned summit with United States President Donald Trump.

"The entire world is focusing on the historic summit between the DPRK and the US, and thanks to your sincere efforts ... we were able to complete the preparations for the historic summit, and I would like to thank you for that," Mr Kim, speaking through an interpreter, told PM Lee.



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"I have the expectation that this (summit) will be very successful."

During the meeting, Mr Lee and Mr Kim discussed Singapore-North Korea relations, as well as developments in the North and the region.

Mr Lee complimented the bold and admirable decision by Mr Kim and US President Trump to come together for Tuesday's summit.

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Mr Lee also wished Mr Kim success for the summit and expressed hope that the meeting will advance the prospects for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the larger region.

"We discussed developments in the Korean Peninsula, as well as in the region," said Mr Lee in a Facebook post. "I complimented him on his decision to meet President Trump, and wished him a successful summit and a good stay in Singapore."





The meeting took place less than four hours after Mr Kim touched down at the Changi Airport, where he was received by Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Education Minister Ong Ye Kung.

Mr Kim's motorcade left Changi Aiport accompanied by traffic police escorts as it headed for the St Regis Hotel, where he is expected to stay.

Kim Jong Un landed in Singapore on Sunday afternoon (Jun 10).

Mr Trump is staying at the Shangri-La Hotel, which is also in the Tanglin area within Singapore’s city centre.



Motorcade for Kim Jong Un arrives at St Regis Hotel in downtown Singapore. #TrumpKimSummit https://t.co/dw8NVVcNEs pic.twitter.com/bdtI68Alzg — CNA (@ChannelNewsAsia) June 10, 2018

The two leaders are to meet on Tuesday at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island where talks on denuclearisation of North Korea in exchange for economic help will be on the table.

Both Sentosa and the Tanglin area have been designated special event areas by the police and security has been tightened at both places.

Last week, Singapore authorities also warned travellers arriving at and departing from Singapore to expect flight delays as airspace will be restricted from Sunday to Thursday.

More than 2,500 journalists have descended on Singapore to cover the event, and will be based at a media centre at the F1 pit building.

The unprecedented meeting, the first time a sitting US president meets a North Korean leader, was nearly called off just two weeks before the event.

Watch our comprehensive coverage of the Trump-Kim summit live on YouTube from 7am on Tuesday (Jun 12). Subscribe to our channel here.

You can also watch the livestream, and read updates at www.channelnewsasia.com/trumpkimsummit. </s> BANGKOK — A second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set for Vietnam’s capital from Feb. 27-28.

Trump and Kim met last June in Singapore, outreach the American president has said opened a path to peace. But that face-to-face hasn’t resulted in any solid plan for ridding the North of nuclear weapons.

The Singapore summit made history by simply being the first-ever meeting between sitting leaders of the longtime enemies. It was filled with pageantry and memorable moments, such as the first handshake, walks in a garden, and a brief glimpse inside Trump’s limousine.

This time, observers will be looking for something more concrete.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Singapore - President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un converged on this island city-state Sunday ahead of one of the most unusual and highly anticipated summits in recent world history, a Tuesday sit-down meant to settle a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal.

Trump descended from Air Force One into the steamy Singapore night, greeting officials and declaring he felt "very good," before he was whisked away to his hotel, driving along a route lined with police and photo snapping onlookers. Trump traveled to Singapore from Canada, where he attended a meeting of the Group of Seven Nations.

Hours earlier, a jet carrying Kim landed. After shaking hands with the Singapore foreign minister, Kim sped through the city's streets in a massive limousine, two large North Korean flags fluttering on the hood, surrounded by other black vehicles with tinted windows and bound for the luxurious and closely guarded St. Regis Hotel.

Kim smiled broadly Sunday evening as he met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"The entire world is watching the historic summit between (North Korea) and the United States of America, and thanks to your sincere efforts ... we were able to complete the preparations for the historic summit," Kim told Lee through an interpreter.

Trump is set to meet with Lee on Monday.

Trump has said he hopes to win a legacy-making deal with the North to give up their nuclear weapons, though he has recently sought to manage expectations, saying that it may take more than one meeting.

The North, many experts believe, stands on the brink of being able to target the entire US mainland with its nuclear-armed missiles, and while there's deep skepticism that Kim will quickly give up those hard-won nukes, there's also some hope that diplomacy can replace the animosity between the US and the North.

This will be the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting US president. The North has faced crippling diplomatic and economic sanctions as it has advanced development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The North Korean autocrat's every move will be followed by 3,000 journalists who have converged on Singapore, and by gawkers around the world, up until he shakes hands with Trump on Tuesday. It's a reflection of the intense global curiosity over Kim's sudden turn to diplomacy in recent months after a slew of North Korean nuclear and missile tests last year raised serious fears of war.

Part of the interest in Tuesday's summit is simply because Kim has had such limited appearances on the world stage. He has only publicly left his country three times since taking power after his father's death in late 2011 - twice traveling to China and once across his shared border with the South to the southern part of the Demilitarised Zone in recent summits with the leaders of China and South Korea respectively.

But it's Kim's pursuit of nuclear weapons that gives his meeting with Trump such high stakes. The meeting was initially meant to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons, but the talks have been portrayed by Trump in recent days more as a get-to-know-you session. Trump has also raised the possibility of further summits and an agreement ending the Korean War by replacing the armistice signed in 1953 with a peace treaty. China and South Korea would have to sign off on any legal treaty.

It's unclear what Trump and Kim might decide on Tuesday.

Pyongyang has said it is willing to deal away its entire nuclear arsenal if the United States provides it with a reliable security assurance and other benefits. But many say this is highly unlikely, given how hard it has been for Kim to build his program and that the weapons are seen as the major guarantee to holding onto his unchecked power.

Any nuclear deal will hinge on North Korea's willingness to allow unfettered outside inspections of the country's warheads and nuclear fuel, much of which is likely kept in a vast complex of underground facilities. Past nuclear deals have crumbled over North Korea's reluctance to open its doors to outsiders.

Another possibility from the summit is a deal to end the Korean War, which North Korea has long demanded, presumably, in part, to get US troops off the Korean Peninsula and, eventually, pave the way for a North Korean-led unified Korea.

The fighting ended on July 27, 1953, but the war technically continues today because instead of a difficult-to-negotiate peace treaty, military officers for the US-led United Nations, North Korea and China signed an armistice that halted the fighting. The North may see a treaty - and its presumed safety assurances from Washington - as its best way of preserving the Kim family dynasty. The ensuing recognition as a "normal country" could then allow sanctions relief, and later international aid and investment.

Just meeting with Trump will also give Kim a recognition North Korea has long sought, setting him up as global player and equal to the US domestically and, internationally, as the leader of a "normal country" worthy of respect. </s> SINGAPORE (AP) — On the eve of their historic and unprecedented summit, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un prepared Tuesday for a meeting that could define the fate of millions, along with their own political futures, with Trump forecasting a "nice" outcome and Kim spending the day out of view.

Both sides were finalizing preparations for the meeting, which was to kick off at 9 a.m. Tuesday with a handshake between Trump and Kim, an image sure to be devoured around the world. Trump and Kim planned to meet one on one, joined only by translators, for up to two hours before admitting their respective advisers, a U.S. official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations and insisted on anonymity.

The summit will be the first between a North Korean leader and a sitting American president. In Singapore, the island city-state hosting the summit, the sense of anticipation was palpable, with people lining spotless streets Monday waving cell phones as Trump headed to meet Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

As Trump and Lee sat down for a working lunch at the Istana house, Trump sounded optimistic, telling Lee, "we've got a very interesting meeting in particular tomorrow, and I think things can work out very nicely." Trump had earlier tweeted about the "excitement in the air!"

Meanwhile, U.S. and North Korean officials huddled at the Ritz-Carlton hotel Monday ahead of the sit-down aimed at resolving a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal. A second round of meetings was planned for the afternoon as officials worked to lay the groundwork for progress to be made Tuesday, according to the official familiar with the preparations. Delegates were outlining specific goals for what Trump and Kim should try to accomplish and multiple scenarios for how key issues can be resolved.

A look at what to expect from the Kim-Trump summit

SINGAPORE (AP) — After a sudden and welcome turn to diplomacy following last year's threats, insults and fears of war — remember "fire and fury" and "dotard"? — Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un are ready to shake hands, sit down face-to-face and ... do what exactly?

Some observers insist that it's the beginning of the complete denuclearization of North Korea. No, no, say others, you need to manage your expectations. This is just an elaborate get-to-know-you session, albeit between the two most famous leaders in the world, and nuclear armed at that.

Actually, says another group, there will indeed be disarmament, a peace treaty ending the Korean War and North Korea's emergence as a contributing member of the international community — but just not right now.

Whatever the results, it will be one of the more unusual summits in recent history as a flamboyant, often erratic U.S. president gets a close-up look at a hereditary socialist despot who sits on a nuclear weapons program.

Here's a look at how Tuesday's first-ever meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the United States might turn out:

North Korea gets first big dose of Trump summit news

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Koreans got their first big dose of news Monday that their leader Kim Jong Un had arrived in Singapore for what even the state-run media was calling a historic meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The news covered the front page of the ruling party's newspaper and was the top — and only — item on the first news broadcast of the day on Korean Central Television, which for many North Koreans is the only channel available.

People crowded around poster stands at subway stations around the capital to read the news and gathered at noon in front of the city's main train station to watch a big screen display of images of Kim getting off the special Air China flight that took him to Singapore.

A report by the Korea Central News Agency said the summit would have "wide-ranging and profound talks" and noted that it is being held "under the great attention and expectation of the whole world."

The relative speed with which the state media got the news of Kim's arrival in Singapore out to the North Korean public suggests a certain level of confidence that the meeting will go well — or at least well enough. For the North, Kim Jong Un has already won a huge propaganda bonus by merely having the summit and sitting down as an equal with the U.S. president, an accomplishment his father and grandfather sought but could never realize.

Brothel bans weighed in Nevada as legal pimp runs for office

PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) — A state marketed as a place where people can indulge in all manner of sins is confronting its status as the only place in America where you can legally pay someone for sex.

A coalition of religious groups and anti-sex trafficking activists has launched referendums to ban brothels in two of the seven Nevada counties where they're legally operating. The push to outlaw the industry dovetails with a campaign by the state's most famous pimp for a seat in the state Legislature.

Nevada, according to brothel owner Dennis Hof, was built "on gaming, liquor, girls and mining."

"But there's a shift occurring," said Jason Guinasso, a Reno-based attorney involved with the effort to get the anti-brothel measures on the November ballot.

Hof, who has half a dozen brothels operating in the two counties and starred in the HBO adult reality series "Cathouse," is challenging incumbent Assembly member James Oscarson of Pahrump in a Republican primary on Tuesday.

ROME (AP) — Italy and Malta dug in for a second day Monday and refused to let a rescue ship with 629 people aboard dock in their ports, leaving the migrants at sea as a diplomatic standoff escalated under Italy's new anti-immigrant government.

"Enough!" said Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. "Saving lives is a duty, but transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp isn't."

He tweeted: #Chiudiamoiporti. "We're closing the ports."

Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat also refused to take in the Aquarius ship of the humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee. He accused Italy, which coordinated the rescue, of violating international norms governing sea rescues.

Italy's position, Muscat said, risks "creating a dangerous situation for all those involved."

MBANDAKA, Congo (AP) — Irene Mboyo Mola spent 11 days caring for her husband as he died of Ebola in a hospital where she said nurses were too scared to get close. She helped him to the bathroom, picked up his feverish body when he lost his balance, and reinserted an IV that fell out of his bleeding arm.

"He told me all he could see was death," recalls Mola, a 30-year-old mother of six, as she sat slumped on the floor in her small hut.

That close contact put Mola at high risk of getting a disease that has no cure and kills about half of those infected. But now, as Congo battles the most serious Ebola outbreak since the devastating 2014 epidemic in West Africa, health workers have something new to offer: a vaccine.

With thousands of doses dispatched to front-line health workers, the world is watching to see if a promising but still experimental vaccine might help stop this terrifying disease faster than traditional measures doctors have tried since Ebola was identified 40 years ago.

Even if the vaccine helps, there are serious hurdles. The shots must be transported deep into forests with few paved roads without it spoiling in the heat. Health workers have to identify and track down anyone who's had contact with a sick person. Hardest of all, they must persuade a scared and wary population that shots pushed by foreigners could save their lives.

Immigration firm seems to thrive after Trump lawyer's help

NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T and drug giant Novartis got nothing but bad publicity when they asked Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen for help with business, but a Florida immigration firm that tapped him appears to have gotten nearly everything it wanted.

When Nicholas Mastroianni II hooked up with Cohen last year, his business was threatened by a looming regulatory crackdown on the federal EB-5 program that offers foreigners permanent residency visas if they invest in certain U.S. real estate projects.

Cohen put Mastroianni in touch with a lobbying firm that was paying him for referrals. And although it's not clear exactly what the firm did, the proposed crackdown on the visa program collapsed and Mastroianni's business — U.S. Immigration Fund — is now set to pocket tens of millions in fees for acting as a visa broker in a string of ongoing projects.

"Without regulation, the fat cats are still lapping at the bowl," said David North, a fellow at the nonpartisan research firm Center for Immigration Studies who has supported the EB-5 overhaul efforts led by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Neither Cohen nor Mastroianni responded to requests for comment about their newly revealed business relationship.

JARABLUS, Syria (AP) — Nearly 50 children orphaned by the Syrian war escaped the hell that was their hometown of Aleppo after they appeared in a distressing video and appealed for their lives as government forces moved in under a hail of fire.

In the year and half since, the children and their instructors have been uprooted twice more: once to escape similar bombardment in another rebel stronghold and again when they fled a town that has been overwhelmed by people seeking shelter from Syria's war.

The orphanage first established in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, known as the Center for the Exceptional, has finally landed in a small house in the sleepy northern town of Jarablus, which was once a hub for Islamic State militants along the border with Turkey but has been governed by a Turkey-backed administration since 2016.

More than six million people — nearly a quarter of Syria's pre-war population — have been displaced inside Syria because of the war. For Aleppo's orphans, the war trauma and the loss of parents were compounded by the recurrent uprooting from the only familiar place they knew.

"It was better back home. We had our toys and our home. We had a court to play in and we had a toys room, a looms area, and a hall for learning singing," said Yasmine Qamuz, an 11-year-old whose mother is missing and whose father died of a heart condition in Aleppo. Qamuz said she left her favorite yellow doll behind in Aleppo.

A theme of tolerance, inclusion at this year's Tony Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — A small-scale, intimate musical about hard-won cultural understanding was an altogether apt Tony winner on a night where tolerance and inclusion were constant themes.

"The Band's Visit," about an Egyptian police band that gets stranded in a remote Israeli desert town, forcing both sides to get to know each other, triumphed over much flashier shows to win best musical Sunday night — and a total of 10 awards. The closest runner-up, with six, was the blockbuster London import "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," which won best play.

One by one, the winners of "The Band's Visit" referenced the show's themes of acceptance and finding a common humanity. Tony Shalhoub, named best actor in a musical, spoke of his father's arrival at Ellis Island from Lebanon in 1920. "May we, their descendants, never lose sight of what they taught us," he said. Ari'el Stachel, who won for best featured actor, praised the show for "telling a small story about Arabs and Israelis getting along, at a time that we need that more than ever." Addressing his parents in the audience, Stachel, whose father was born in Israel, confessed that "for so many years of my life I pretended I was not a Middle Eastern person."

The show also won awards for its luminous lead actress, Katrina Lenk, and its director, book and score, among others. Producer Orin Wolf said the message was one of unity, in a world that "more and more seems bent on amplifying our differences." Composer David Yazbek, speaking later at the Tony after-party, said the show had special resonance amid "the climate of divisiveness that we're seeing." The show isn't just about Jews and Arabs, he said; "It's about any tribes that have figured out reasons to be at odds with each other."

The Middle East conflict, immigration, LGBT equality, gun control — many social issues came up, explicitly or implicitly, during the ceremony, which was hosted with a light (and musical) touch by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban. The night's first big winner, Andrew Garfield, best actor in a play for "Angels in America," earned hearty cheers when he declared, "Let's just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked." He was referring to last week's Supreme Court decision in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of religious objections.

NEW YORK (AP) — With a bleep on live television and double fists raised in the air, Robert De Niro got the theater crowd on its feet at the Tony Awards with a rousing political introduction of his old friend Bruce Springsteen that was focused squarely elsewhere: on President Donald Trump.

De Niro, a staunch Trump opponent, dropped a couple of F-bombs heard clearly by the Radio City Music crowd Sunday night. The CBS television audience heard dead silence instead before he raised his arms — twice — and earned a sustained standing ovation.

The legendary actor urged the audience to vote in November and lauded Springsteen for his own political commitment before the singer sat at a piano for a moving performance based on his "Springsteen on Broadway" show that had him singing his classic hit, "My Hometown."

De Niro said of Springsteen: "Bruce, you can rock the house like nobody else and even more importantly in these perilous times, you rock the vote, always fighting for, in your own words, truth, transparency and integrity in government. Boy, do we need that now."

The anti-Trump sentiment swept backstage as playwright Tony Kushner and others from "Angels in America" spoke to reporters about its three big wins: best play revival and acting trophies for Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane </s> North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will arrive in Vietnam on February 25 ahead of a planned second summit with US President Donald Trump. The pair are expected to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsular. Mr Trump previously claimed the US would have been 'in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed', had he not been elected. </s> US President Donald Trump will today hold a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, ahead of the historic US-North Korea summit on Tuesday. The meeting between the two leaders will be followed by expanded bilateral meetings and a working lunch.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that the President, Secretary of State, White House Chief of Staff, and National Security Adviser have arrived in Singapore for the June 12 summit. Today, Sung Kim, a former US ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, will lead a US delegation for a working group with a North Korean delegation at the Ritz Carlton hotel, Sanders said.

“We are also planning a briefing by senior administration officials in the filing centre at the JW Marriott tentatively scheduled for 5pm local time,” she said in the briefing note issued in Washington yesterday.

During the flight, the President spent time meeting with his staff, reading materials, and preparing for his meetings in Singapore. Chairman Kim on Sunday held a meeting with Prime Minister Lee. He thanked Singapore’s organisation of the summit as if it was “their own family affair”.

The two leaders discussed bilateral relations as well as the summit and the recent positive developments on the Korean peninsula. Lee complimented the bold and admirable decision by Kim and Trump to come together for the Summit.

Prime Minister Lee wished Kim a success for the summit and expressed hope that the US-DPRK meeting will advance the prospects for peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the larger region. Singapore is one of the few countries that have diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea.

Trump and Kim are set to meet on Tuesday at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa for talks which could see North Korea dismantle its nuclear arsenal in return for economic help and security guarantees. The summit will be the first meeting between Trump and Kim and mark a turnaround of relations between the two leaders after a long-running exchange of furious threats and insults.

The two leaders have had an extraordinary up-and-down relationship over the past 18 months. Some 2,500 journalists are reporting on the event, which is costing Singapore government about SGD 20 million.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> US President Donald Trump will today hold a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, ahead of the historic US-North Korea summit tomorrow.

The meeting between the two leaders will be followed by expanded bilateral meetings and a working lunch.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that the President, Secretary of State, White House Chief of Staff, and National Security Adviser have arrived in Singapore for the June 12 summit.

Today, Sung Kim, a former US ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, will lead a US delegation for a working group with a North Korean delegation at the Ritz Carlton hotel, Sanders said.

"We are also planning a briefing by senior administration officials in the filing centre at the JW Marriott tentatively scheduled for 5pm local time," she said in the briefing note issued in Washington yesterday.

During the flight, the President spent time meeting with his staff, reading materials, and preparing for his meetings in Singapore.

He thanked Singapore's organisation of the summit as if it was "their own family affair".

The two leaders discussed bilateral relations as well as the summit and the recent positive developments on the Korean peninsula.

Lee complimented the bold and admirable decision by Kim and Trump to come together for the Summit.

Prime Minister Lee wished Kim a success for the summit and expressed hope that the US-DPRK meeting will advance the prospects for peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the larger region.

Singapore is one of the few countries that have diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea.

Trump and Kim are set to meet on Tuesday at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa for talks which could see North Korea dismantle its nuclear arsenal in return for economic help and security guarantees.

The summit will be the first meeting between Trump and Kim and mark a turnaround of relations between the two leaders after a long-running exchange of furious threats and insults.

The two leaders have had an extraordinary up-and-down relationship over the past 18 months.

Some 2,500 journalists are reporting on the event, which is costing Singapore government about SGD 20 million.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump arrive in Singapore ahead of the upcoming summit.