China's Xi Jinping arrives in North Korea on historic visit

Tens of thousands of North Koreans lines the streets of central Pyongyang on Thursday and cheered as Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, arrived for a two-day state visit with Kim Jong-un to reinforce their uneasy alliance in the face of two leaders’ increasing tension with the United States. A smiling Kim greeted the crowds as he drove past Chinese flags with Mr Xi in an open-top Mercedes on their way to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a complex that serves as the mausoleum for North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung. Mr Xi was afforded the honour of being the first foreign leader to have “received a tribute” at the palace, “which fully reflects the enthusiasm and respect of the host,” reported the NK News website, citing Chinese state media. Images of the pomp and grand ceremony would likely have bolstered Mr Xi, who has been embarrassed by mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in recent weeks, and who must face Donald Trump, the US president, at the G20 summit in Japan next week in the midst of a bitter trade dispute. Mr Xi is first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years, and the visit gives Kim a much-needed boost as he strives to restore his image as an international statesman after his failure to secure a deal to relieve punishing international sanctions during a summit with Mr Trump in Hanoi in February. Xi and Kim met in the North's capital on Thursday, their fifth meeting in 15 months Credit: CCTV via AP In meeting with Mr Xi, Kim wants to show Mr Trump that he has China’s support on nuclear negotiations even as talks have come to a halt with Washington and the next US presidential election looms. Analysts say the trip is equally a chance for China to showcase its influence in the region.  “Comrade Xi Jinping is visiting... in the face of crucial and grave tasks due to complex international relations, which clearly shows the Chinese party and the government place high significance on the friendship,” the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on Thursday. The North Korean media revealed little about the substance of their discussions, although it is expected that Pyongyang will seek Beijing’s help in securing sanctions relief and may discuss future investment through China’s global development “Belt and Road” initiative. China is historically North Korea’s largest trading partner. Mr Xi, whose entourage includes the head of China’s state economic planner, may offer fresh support measures for its floundering, sanctions-bound economy. Inside North Korea: Everyday life in the secretive state, in pictures However, President Xi’s visit, accompanied by Peng Liyuan, will remain largely symbolic and is unlikely to produce any major announcements or agreements. After he arrived at the airport, the two leaders reviewed a military guard procession and a 21-gun salute. The Chinese president was due to attend a welcoming banquet on Thursday evening and to be entertained by a mass gymnastic performance. He was also expected during his visit to pay tribute at the Friendship Tower, which commemorates Chinese troops who fought together with North Koreans during the 1950-53 Korean War. The conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, leaving the North technically still at war with South Korea. The timing of Xi’s visit to North Korea was no accident, said Li Zhonglin, a North Korea expert at China’s Yanbian University, told Reuters. China could be hoping to play a role in coaxing the North and the United States to resume denuclearisation talks after this year’s failed Kim-Trump summit in Hanoi, he added.

Iran shoots down US drone as tensions soar

Iran shot down a US spy drone Thursday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with the two sides at odds whether it was in Iranian or international airspace, in the latest incident stoking tensions between the arch-foes. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the "US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone" was hit with a missile "after violating Iranian air space" over the waters of Hormozgan province. The Pentagon confirmed a US surveillance drone was shot down by Iranian forces, but it insisted the unmanned aircraft was in international airspace.

President Trump Refuses to Apologize for His Central Park Five Ad: 'They Admitted Their Guilt'

President Donald Trump has once again refused to apologize for demonizing the Central Park Five.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Danny Glover call for slavery reparations before Congress

Coates argued that "it is impossible to imagine America without the inheritance of slavery."

New accountability report finds NASA has been paying Boeing huge bonuses for failing

Between its various ongoing Mars missions, orbiters studying asteroids and other planets, and a Moon trip on the horizon, NASA spends a lot of money. Boeing, which has contracts with NASA to build the rocket for its Space Launch System (SLS) is a big recipient of that cash, and a new government accountability report reveals that NASA has not only been paying more and more despite Boeing falling way behind on its deadlines, it's actually also been paying the company bonuses for its performance. As Ars Technica explains, the new government report is somewhat troubling, especially when you consider that the SLS program has now fallen well behind schedule. The Space Launch System has been in the works since the early 2010s and is designed to give NASA the power it needs to launch missions to the Moon and Mars. For starters, NASA just wants it to send an empty Orion spacecraft around the Moon, but those plans have had to be delayed since the rocket simply won't be ready in time. NASA has apparently been fudging the numbers a bit with regards to how much the whole program is going to cost, and while the agency already acknowledged cost overruns totaling around a billion dollars, the reality is even worse: > While NASA acknowledges about $1 billion in cost growth for the SLS program, it is understated. This is because NASA shifted some planned SLS scope to future missions but did not reduce the program’s cost baseline accordingly. When GAO reduced the baseline to account for the reduced scope, the cost growth is about $1.8 billion.Oof. On top of that, the report reveals that NASA has been paying Boeing what amounts to performance bonuses for its role in the program. Audits of the company's performance on the SLS rocket have received several positive ratings from NASA assessors, leading to "award fees" of $271 million to be paid to the company. > NASA paid over $200 million in award fees from 2014-2018 related to contractor performance on the SLS stages and Orion spacecraft contracts. But the programs continue to fall behind schedule and overrun costs.Lovely.

AOC’s Holocaust Remarks Divide Congressional Democrats

Democrats are split over Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's comments earlier this week equating American immigrant-detention centers with the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, some in her party defending the remarks while others spoke against them.“The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,” the 29-year-old New York Democrat said during an Instagram Live stream on Monday. “I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that ‘never again’ means something.”Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday cautioned freshman Democrats that they are responsible for remarks they make."They come to represent their districts and their point of view," Pelosi said. "They take responsibility for the statements they make.""The President must walk away from these cruel, ineffective and discriminatory policies, and work with Democrats to support smart, effective immigration reform that honors our values and keeps families together and safe," Pelosi added in a statement.New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Ocasio-Cortez was "wrong" to make the comparison."They are entirely different realities," de Blasio said on MSNBC.  "Of course she was wrong,""You cannot compare what the Nazis did in concentration camps," he said. "It was a horrible moment in history. There is no way to compare."However, Senator Brian Schatz, who is of Jewish heritage, defended Ocasio-Cortez's use of the comparison."Every American Jew that I know is disgusted by the cruel treatment of children and families at our southern border," the Hawaii Democrat wrote on Twitter. "If you want to show solidarity with American Jews, help us to stop this, and don’t feign outrage at the language that people use to describe this tragedy."The Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler, who is also Jewish, also defended Ocasio-Cortez."One of the lessons from the Holocaust is ‘Never Again’ - not only to mass murder, but also to the dehumanization of people, violations of basic rights, and assaults on our common morality. We fail to learn that lesson when we don’t callout such inhumanity right in front of us," he wrote on Twitter.Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers made no secret that they found the New York representative's comments distasteful.Representative Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, took to Twitter to ask Ocasio-Cortez to "do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this."The Jewish Communities Relations Council (JCRC) also issued a condemnation of the remarks."As concerned as we are about the conditions experienced by migrants seeking asylum in the United States . . . the regrettable use of Holocaust terminology to describe these contemporary concerns diminishes the evil intent of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish people,” the JCRC said in a statement.

Iran says will take drone incident to UN to show US 'lying'

Iran said Thursday it would go to the UN to prove that a US spy drone it shot down had entered Iranian airspace, contrary to Washington's claims. "We'll take this new aggression to #UN & show that the US is lying about international waters," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, after a US general said the drone was taken down some 34 kilometres (21 miles) off the Iranian coast. "The US wages #EconomicTerrorism on Iran, has conducted covert action against us & now encroaches on our territory," he wrote.