U.S. President Donald Trump officially welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron with an arrival ceremony Tuesday at the White House before the leaders hold official talks and attend a state dinner.

The ceremony is set to include nearly 500 service members from all five branches of the U.S. military, while Trump’s first state dinner will feature entertainment by the Washington National Opera company. 

Tuesday’s bilateral meeting comes with several issues of global importance confronting the governments of both countries, including the war in Syria, Iran’s nuclear program and Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports.

Trump takes great pride in his friendship with Macron, which is one of the reasons he invited the French president to be his guest for the first state visit of a foreign leader in his administration.

“This visit is very important in our current context, with so many uncertainties, troubles, and at times, threats,” Macron said upon arriving in Washington.

Macron will likely use part of his White House talks to try and persuade Trump not to pull out of the six-nation nuclear deal with Iran. Trump has constantly called it a bad agreement. He faces a May 12 deadline to again waive economic sanctions against Iran as part of the agreement.

Iran would regard the reimposition of sanctions as killing the deal and threatens to restart its nuclear program.

Macron has said he knows the deal with Iran is not perfect but said there is no “Plan B.”

Trump also has until May 1 to waive tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports or face a possible trade war.

The French president will also likely talk to Trump about what Macron said is the importance of U.S. forces remaining in Syria. Trump has talked about withdrawing Americans from northern Syria. Macron said that would increase the risk of giving up Syria to the Assad regime and Iran.

Shortly after his arrival in Washington Monday, Macron and his wife, Brigitte, along with Trump and first lady Melania Trump, planted a young tree on the South Lawn of the White House. It came from the Belleau Wood, where more than 9,000 American Marines died in a 1918 World War I battle on French soil. 

The Macrons and Trumps also took a helicopter tour of famous Washington tourist attractions before touching down at Mount Vernon, the 18th century estate of America’s first president, George Washington, where they had dinner.

Macron will address Congress on Wednesday before heading back to Paris.

 
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A woman who played a key role in exposing the lead-tainted water disaster in Flint, Michigan, is among seven people from around the world to be awarded a Goldman Environmental Prize for grassroots environmental activism.

 

LeeAnne Walters was repeatedly rebuffed by Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration, even as she confronted regulators with bottles of brown water that came from her kitchen tap. Finally, with critical help from a Virginia Tech research team and a local doctor, it was revealed in 2015 that Flint’s water system was contaminated with lead due to a lack of treatment.

Walters, a mother of four, “worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring justice to not only her immediate family but all residents of Flint,” the Goldman Environmental Foundation said Monday in announcing this year’s winners.

 

The prize was created in 1989 by the late San Francisco philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman. Winners are selected from nominations made by environmental organizations and others. The prize carries a $200,000 award.

 

In Flint, thousands of home water lines are being replaced due to the lead crisis. The city’s water quality has improved since it stopped using the Flint River as its source after 18 months, although there are many concerns about lead that was ingested, especially by children.

 

The other winners are:

Francia Marquez of Colombia, who rallied other women to vigorously oppose gold mining in the Cauca region.
Claire Nouvian of France, who successfully campaigned against deep-sea fish trawling.
Makoma Lekalakala and Liz McDaid of South Africa, who fought to stop a nuclear plant deal between their country and Russia.
Manny Calonzo of the Philippines, who led an effort to ban lead paint.
Khanh Nguy Thi of Vietnam, who used scientific research to discourage dependency on coal-fired power.

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According to news reports some members of a caravan of migrants that has been crossing Mexico have arrived at the U.S. border.

The reports say that a several dozen members of the caravan have reached the border in Tijuana, Mexico. A few have applied for asylum, but most are awaiting a larger caravan contingent of about 500 asylum-seekers that is expected to reach the border in coming days.

The caravan was formed at the Mexico-Guatemala border a couple of weeks ago. At the time, it was much larger with 1,200 participants, mostly from Honduras.  The group made its way to the Mexican capitol, Mexico City, where it splintered. Some of the migrants planned to stay in Mexico.

The caravan is a yearly event, carried out by the group, Pueblo Sin Fronteras, to dramatize the plight of migrants, driven to seek better lives because of violence and poor economic conditions in their home countries. This year’s caravan was bigger than those in the past. In 2017, only about 200 people participated.

Not welcome at the border

From the beginning, President Donald Trump has reacted with alarm at the prospect of so many people marching towards the U.S. border. Monday, he tweeted about the subject again.

U.S. law requires that people who present themselves for asylum be allowed to make their case and apply.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen issued a statement Monday, saying that her agency would fast track caravan asylum cases. 

“DHS, in partnership with (Department of Justice), is taking a number of steps to ensure that all cases and claims are adjudicated promptly  including sending additional USCIS asylum officers, ICE attorneys, DOJ Immigration Judges, and DOJ prosecutors to the Southern border,” she wrote, adding that migrants requesting asylum would likely be detained and those whose requests were rejected would promptly be sent back.

DHS set to ‘defend’ US border

In the meantime, she said DHS is monitoring the reduced caravan’s progress and would “defend” U.S. borders.

“If members of the caravan’ enter the country illegally, they will be referred for prosecution for illegal entry in accordance with existing law.”Trump seemed set of preventing future caravans:

Asylum-seekers must demonstrate they have a “credible fear” of returning to their own countries because of religious, racial, social or political persecution. If asylum were granted they would be able to live and work legally in the U.S.
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As an intensive manhunt continued Monday for a half-naked man suspected in the slayings of four people at a Waffle House restaurant, authorities shared reports of previous efforts to contain the gun-loving man with paranoid delusions.

More than 80 Nashville police officers continued to search for Travis Reinking early Monday, authorities said. Agents with the FBI, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and troopers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol joined the manhunt.

 

He was also added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top 10 Most Wanted list.

 

Reinking was nearly naked, wearing only a green jacket and brandishing an assault-style rifle when he opened fire in the parking lot and then stormed the restaurant, police say. Four people were killed and four others were injured before a quick-thinking customer wrestled the gun away, preventing more bloodshed.

 

Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said at a news conference that Reinking, 29, was last seen Sunday around a wooded area near an apartment complex where he lived, wearing only pants and no shirt or shoes.

 

Anderson said it’s not clear why Reinking opened fire on restaurant patrons with an assault weapon, though he may have “mental issues.”

 

He may still be armed, Anderson said, because he was known to have owned a handgun authorities have not recovered.

 

“He’s on foot,” Anderson said. “Unless he’s been picked up by a car, he would be fairly close. We don’t want to alarm people, but certainly, everybody should take precautions. It could be he’s in an unoccupied house. We want everybody to be concerned. Neighbors should check on each other.”

 

Nashville public schools will go into “lock-out” mode if Reinking isn’t found in time for class Monday, officials said. That means students will be free to move about the building, but no guests or visitors will be allowed to enter.

 

As the search continued, authorities in Illinois shared past reports suggesting multiple red flags about a disturbed young man with paranoid delusions who liked firearms.

 

In May 2016, Reinking told deputies from Tazewell County, Illinois, that music superstar Taylor Swift was stalking him and hacking his phone, and that his family was also involved, according to a report released Sunday.

 

Another sheriff’s report said Reinking barged into a community pool in Tremont, Illinois, last June, and jumped into the water wearing a pink woman’s coat over his underwear. Investigators believed he had an AR-15 rifle in his car trunk, but it was never displayed. No charges were filed.

 

Last July, Reinking was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he crossed into a restricted area near the White House and refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Donald Trump. Reinking was not armed at the time, but at the FBI’s request, state police in Illinois revoked his state firearms card and seized four guns from him, authorities said.

 

The AR-15 used in the shootings was among the firearms seized.

 

Then, in August, Reinking told police he wanted to file a report about 20 to 30 people tapping into his computer and phone and people “barking like dogs” outside his residence, according to a report.

 

Reinking agreed to go to a local hospital for an evaluation after repeatedly resisting the request, the report said.

 

“There’s certainly evidence that there’s some sort of mental health issues involved,” Tazwell County Sheriff Robert Huston said. But he said deputies returned the guns to Reinking’s father on the promise that he would “keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis.”

 

Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron said that Reinking’s father “has now acknowledged giving them back” to his son.

 

After the shooting, police recovered three of the four guns originally taken from Reinking, officials said. They believe he still has at least one handgun.

 

Phone calls to a number listed for the father, Jeffrey Reinking, went unanswered.

 

It is not clear why Reinking moved recently from Morton, Illinois, to Nashville and if it had anything to do with being near Swift. Police say he was employed in construction for a while, and there would have been enough work in the booming city for him.

 

Police say Reinking drove into the Waffle House parking lot in his gold Chevy Silverado pickup early Sunday and sat there for about four minutes before opening fire outside the restaurant.

 

The victims fatally shot in the parking have been identified as Taurean Sanderlin, 29, of Goodlettsville, and Joe Perez, 20, of Nashville.

 

Sanderlin was an employee at the restaurant.

 

Perez’s mother posted a picture of her son on Facebook and asked for prayers, saying it was the hardest day of her life. “Me, my husband and sons are broken right now with this loss,” Trisha Perez said in the post. “Our lives are shattered.”

 

Reinking then went inside the restaurant and opened fire, police said.

 

One of the fatally wounded inside was DeEbony Groves, a 21-year student at Nashville’s Belmont University. She was remembered as an exceptional student who made the Dean’s list, and a tenacious basketball player.

 

“She was a brilliant young lady, very, very intelligent and a very hard worker,” Gallatin High School basketball coach Kim Kendrick told The Tennessean.

 

Akilah Dasilva was also killed inside the restaurant. The 23-year-old from Antioch was a rap artist and music video producer who had such skills behind the camera that he was a favorite among many of Music City’s independent musicians and recording labels, The Tennessean reported.

 

“Music is my life and I will never stop until I achieve my dreams,” Dasilva said on his Twitter account.

 

Dasilva’s mother told CBS News that her son was a student at Middle Tennessee State University and aspired to be a music engineer.

 

He was at the restaurant with his girlfriend, 21-year-old Tia Waggoner, the paper reported. Waggoner was wounded and is being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dasilva’s family said she underwent surgery and doctors were trying to save her leg.

 

Police say Sharita Henderson, 24, of Antioch, was wounded and is being treated at VUMC.

 

Also wounded was James Shaw Jr., a 29-year-old restaurant patron who burned his hand grabbing the hot muzzle of the assault weapon as he wrestled the gun away. A Nashville native who works as a wireless technician for AT&T, Shaw said he was no hero — despite being hailed as one by Nashville Mayor David Briley.

 

Shaw said he pounced on the suspect out of self-preservation, after making up his mind that “he was going to have to work to kill me.”
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This week’s summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, to be held on Friday, April 27, is expected to produce a denuclearization framework that U.S. President Donald Trump could support when he meets with Kim in May or June.

The North’s reassuring outreach of late, including its decision to unilaterally suspend all nuclear and missile tests, has set an optimistic tone that a deal can be reached. But it is still unclear if real progress toward peace can be achieved.

Past summits

There have been two past inter-Korean Summits in 2000 and 2007, both held in the North. The first produced a joint peace declaration promoting humanitarian exchanges and economic cooperation.

From the second came support for a permanent peace treaty and a U.S. and China-led deal to end Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program for economic assistance and security guarantees.

WATCH: Upcoming Korea talks

​However, North Korea’s continued nuclear development efforts and missile tests, in violation of past agreements, and other hostile acts, including a alleged deadly attack on a South Korean naval ship in 2010, brought an end to any progress made at these summits.

Optimistic signs

Leading up to this week’s inter-Korean summit, there are encouraging developments that a nuclear deal may again be within reach.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign, that led efforts to impose harsh international sanctions ending most North Korean exports, are exerting increasing economic pain that could be pressuring the leadership in Pyongyang to actually give up its nuclear arsenal this time.

“If the situation continues, the foreign exchange could be depleted and North Korea can face a very serious situation at the end of this year. This is one of the reasons why it has come out in favor of dialogue,” said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior North Korea analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made a number of concessions already by agreeing to talk about denuclearization without conditions, by appearing to drop past demands that the U.S. end its military presence on the Korean peninsula, and most recently by announcing the suspension of nuclear and missile tests, and closure of the country’s nuclear test site. 

However it remains unclear if this time around North Korea will keep its denuclearization promises or is just trying to ease international pressure by agreeing to a temporary nuclear freeze or to marginally reduce its nuclear and missile arsenal.

“We cannot be sure as to whether North Korea is going to truly denuclearize, or if it is engaging in the U.S.-North Korea summit in an attempt to get around its isolation temporarily,” said Lee Sang-Hyun, a North Korea analyst with the Sejong Institute and former adviser to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While welcoming North Korea’s unilateral concessions, President Trump on Sunday expressed caution with a Tweet saying, “We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t – only time will tell.”

North Korea is estimated to have approximately 30 nuclear weapons, hundreds of medium and long-range missiles, and has been continuing to produce fissile material at both its nuclear reactor in Yongbyong and in hidden uranium enrichment facilities.

Even if Pyongyang agrees to a nuclear deal, analysts say it could take years to negotiate verification details, access for international inspectors, and to complete the dismantlement process.

Inter-Korean relations

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has played a key role in brokering a new nuclear deal and said North Korea expressed a willingness to pursue “complete denuclearization” during preliminary talks.

The progressive leader has supported tough U.S. measures, including the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, and backing the U.S. led sanctions again North Korea. At the same time he has pursued improving inter-Korean relations by facilitating the North’s participation in the recent winter Olympics.

On Monday, South Korea halted the propaganda broadcasts it blares across the border at North Korea to create a more friendly atmosphere in advance of the Moon-Kim meeting.

At the summit Moon expects a deal to resume humanitarian exchanges and family reunions, and to renew efforts to replace the armistice ending the Korean War with a peace treaty, that would also require the approval of the U.S. led United Nations forces and China.

However Moon is not expected to endorse increasing economic cooperation that would violate U.N. sanctions, or confront Kim about alleged human rights violations committed by his repressive government.
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