10 Things to Know for Thursday - 31 May 2018
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:
1. HIGH-STAKES DIPLOMACY PLAYING OUT
A senior North Korean official arrives in New York in the highest-level official visit to the United States in 18 years, as President Trump and Kim Jong Un try to salvage their on-again, off-again nuclear summit.
Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, foreground right, demonstrates on the screen video of the arrest of a man who had ordered the killing of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, during a news conference at the Ukrainian Security Service on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Babchenko , who was reported shot dead in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday showed up at a news conference on Wednesday, saying that the security services faked his death in order to thwart a plot on his life. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
2. 'I'M STILL ALIVE'
Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko walks into a news conference a day after police said he had been assassinated. Authorities say his death was staged to foil a plot on his life by Moscow's security services.
3. GRAND JURY INDICTS HARVEY WEINSTEIN
The indictment on rape and criminal sex act charges furthers the first criminal case to arise from a slate of sexual misconduct allegations against the former movie mogul.
4. WHICH CONSPIRACY THEORY IS BEING DEBUNKED
There's no evidence that the FBI planted a "spy" on Trump's 2016 campaign, a senior House Republican says, despite the president's repeated assertions.
5. IN MIDEAST, AN UNEASY TRUCE
With a cease-fire declared, Israel and Hamas appear to have avoided - for now - a fourth war after a day of intense rocket fire and airstrikes.
6. WHY DRUG COMPANY ISN'T TAKING BLAME
The maker of Ambien says that "racism is not a known side effect" after Roseanne Barr cited the insomnia drug in explaining the tweet that led ABC to cancel her show.
7. WALMART WORKERS GET COLLEGE ON THE CHEAP
America's largest private employer is offering its employees a new perk: affordable access to a college degree.
8. WHAT'S FUELING TRADE TENSIONS
Europe braces for the U.S. to announce restrictions on imported steel and aluminum, a move that could provoke retaliatory tariffs.
9. BELTWAY ABUZZ OVER MELANIA'S WHEREABOUTS
The first lady tries to tamp down speculation about why she's not been seen in public in nearly three weeks, tweeting that she's "feeling great."
10. WHOSE CAUSE REALITY TV STAR IS CHAMPIONING
Kim Kardashian West visits the White House to advocate on behalf of a woman serving a life sentence for drug offenses.
FILE- In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, a Walmart employee scans items while conducting an exercise during a Walmart Academy class session at the store in North Bergen, N.J. Walmart is offering its employees a new perk: affordable access to a college degree. America's largest private employer, which in the past has helped its workers get their high school or equivalency degree, hopes the new benefit will help it recruit and retain higher quality entry-level employees in a tight U.S. labor market. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)