With a single step over a weathered, cracked slab of concrete, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made history Friday by crossing over the world's most heavily armed border to greet South Korean President Moon Jae-in for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons. Kim then invited Moon to cross briefly back into the north with him before they returned to the southern side. Those small steps must be seen in the context of the last year -- when the United States, its ally South Korea and the North seemed

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump exchanged insults and threats of nuclear annihilation. Soft-spoken South Korean President Moon Jae-in struggled to be heard. And now Kim and Moon are meeting to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons ahead of Kim-Trump talks scheduled for May or June.    Here's a look at the whirlwind of verbal exchanges -- from "Rocket Man" to "very honorable" -- between the leaders in the months before a critical moment in global diplomacy: (Herad DB)  

Unification is an idea that moves most Koreans, North and South, on an emotional level. For some, especially young people in the South, it may not be a burning issue. Details like the costs, the risks and what specifically both sides stand to gain are rarely given much thought by anyone who isn't an academic, politician or activist. But when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet on Friday, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom

Unification is an idea that moves most Koreans, North and South, on an emotional level.For some, especially young people in the South, it may not be a burning issue. Details like the costs, the risks and what specifically both sides stand to gain are rarely given much thought by anyone who isn’t an academic, politician or activist.]But when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet on Friday, the prospect of unification, even if only in the abstract, will loom l

Bill Clinton offered oil and reactors. George W. Bush mixed threats and aid. Barack Obama stopped trying after a rocket launch. While Seoul and Washington welcomed Pyongyang's declaration on Saturday to suspend further intercontinental ballistic missile tests and shut down its nuclear test site, the past is littered with failure. A decades-long cycle of crises, stalemates and broken promises gave North Korea the room to build up a legitimate arsenal that now includes purported thermonuclear warh

In heated exchanges with his national security team in recent weeks, President Donald Trump repeatedly made clear he saw little incentive for the United States to be involved in Syria's intractable civil war.  Then he pushed the US military back into the quagmire. In doing so, Trump is trying to confront a dilemma that haunted his predecessor, Barack Obama. Syria's seven-year civil war presents few fast or easy solutions for the US, yet the geopolitical rivalries at play, the presence of the Isl

The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Pentagon officials said the attacks targeted the heart of Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons. Explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Trump spoke from the White House. Syrian television reported that Syria's air defen

2:50 a.m. (all times local): The Russian military says Syria's Soviet-made air defense systems have shot down all 12 cruise missile aimed at a Syrian air base.  The Russian Defense Ministry said that 12 cruise missiles have been launched at the Dumayr air base east of Damascus. It said that Syria's air defense assets have downed all of them.  The ministry said that altogether more than 100 cruise and air-to-ground missiles were launched by US, British and French aircraft and navy ships. It did n

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump has put off a final decision on possible military strikes against Syria after tweeting earlier that they could happen “very soon or not so soon at all.” The White House said Thursday he would consult further with allies.Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned such an attack carried the risk of spinning out of control, suggesting caution ahead of a decision on how to respond to an attack against civilians last weekend that US officials are increasingly certain inv

DETROIT -— Federal investigators say they have booted electric car maker Tesla Inc. from a group that’s investigating a fatal crash in California that involved an SUV using the company’s Autopilot system.The National Transportation Safety Board said it removed Tesla as a party to the investigation after the company prematurely made information public.“Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB,” the agency said in a st

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's pick to be America's top diplomat is playing down expectations for a breakthrough deal on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program at a planned summit with the North's leader.Mike Pompeo, the current CIA director, told members of the Senate Foreign Relations considering his nomination Thursday that "no one is under any illusions that we will reach a comprehensive agreement through the president's meeting" with Kim Jong Un in May or early June.The summit

DETROIT, US (AP) -- Uber will start doing annual criminal background checks on U.S. drivers and hire a company that constantly monitors criminal arrests as it tries to do a better job of keeping riders safe. Uber (AP-Yonhap)The move announced Thursday is one of several actions taken by the ride-hailing company under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who said that the changes aren't just being done to polish the company's image, which has been tarnished by driver misbehavior and a long string of other e

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers that regulation of his company is "inevitable," but still came to Capitol Hill prepared to defend against proposals he thought went too far. He rarely had to. After about 10 hours of hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, markets rallied and privacy advocates were disappointed at the prospect that Facebook appeared to emerge unscathed, left to its own devices to manage how it collects vast amounts of personal data and handles user privacy."This is still ve

NEW YORK (AP) -- Get ready to find out if your Facebook data has been swept up in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.　 　Starting Monday, the 87 million users who might have had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica will get a detailed message on their news feeds. Facebook says most of the affected users (more than 70 million) are in the U.S., though there are over a million each in the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.K.　 　In addition, all 2.2 billion Facebook users will receive a notice title

BEIRUT — Suspected poison gas was used to attack the last remaining foothold for the Syrian opposition in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, killing at least 40 people, including families found in their homes and shelters, opposition activists and local rescuers said Sunday.The attack on the besieged town of Douma came almost exactly a year after a chemical attack in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens of people. That attack prompted the US to launch several dozen Tomahawk cru