The regional bureau of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Friday, May 31, 2019. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. TRUMP ANNOUNCES NEW MEXICAN TARIFFS
The president says he’s slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports to pressure the country to do more to crack down on migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.
2. SURVIVORS OF BUDAPEST BOAT SINKING RECALL CHAOS
They say they were lucky to grab onto a drifting lifeboat while looking in horror as others around them struggled in the dark, rainy waters, shouting for help.
3. WHY NORTH KOREAN PURGE REPORTS SHOULD ELICIT CAUTION
While Pyongyang has previously executed scapegoats, there is also a history of the South Korean media and government reporting North Korean scoops that turn out to be wrong.
4. BAGHDAD’S GREEN ZONE REMAINS POLARIZING
Formerly known as “Little America” following the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, it has become a hated symbol of the country’s inequality.
5. WHERE MIGRANT ROUTE GETS TREACHEROUS
After trekking for days from Colombia, they must traverse Panama’s Darien jungle, where authorities have almost no presence and armed men prey upon travelers.
6. TIANANMEN PROTESTERS REFLECT 30 YEARS ON
While many participants have moved on, some remain wedded to the cause even as China’s rulers seek to sandblast the protests and the military’s bloody crackdown from history.
Faced with a dwindling word list and a group of spellers that showed no weakness, the Scripps National Spelling Bee gave up and declared the eight of them co-champions.
8.WHAT POLICE KNEW ABOUT JUSSIE SMOLLETT CASE
New documents in the case against the “Empire” actor show that prosecutors told Chicago detectives beforehand that charges could be dropped.
9. POPE FOLLOWS IN FOOTSTEPS OF A SAINT
Francis will be in Romania for a three-day, cross-country pilgrimage that in many ways is completing the historic 1999 trip by St. John Paul II.
10. RAPTORS MAKE NBA FINALS HISTORY
Pascal Siakam scores 32 points and Toronto wins the first championship-round game played outside the United States, beating Golden State 118-109.