Friday morning news: June 1, 2018

U.S.-North Korea summit update » Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim Yong Chol, a top North Korean official for the third time on Thursday, trying to get the U.S.-North Korean denuclearization summit back on track. 

Pompeo told reporters the latest round of negotiations has been delicate but promising.

POMPEO: The conditions are putting President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un in a place where we think there could be real progress made by the two of them meeting. It does no good if we’re in a place where we don’t think there’s real opportunity to place them together. We’ve made real progress toward that in the last 72 hours.

The U.S. granted Kim Yong Chol special permission to travel to New York, since he’s on a restricted travel list.

Earlier this month Trump called off the presidential summit, which was scheduled for June 12th in Singapore. 

New steel, aluminum tariffs » Meanwhile, the Trump administration imposed steep tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and the European Union Thursday. 

In a conference call with reporters, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said negotiations for new trade agreements with those countries and the EU are not proceeding as fast as President Trump would like.

ROSS: Therefore, they will be placed under the 25 percent tariff on steel and the 10 percent tariff on aluminum. 

Those new tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect late Thursday night. 

Ross said the president’s goal is to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, and the administration is eager to have further discussions. 

But allies responded in anger. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the U.S. move an “affront” and said his country would apply counter-tariffs on July 1. European officials threatened to retaliate against some U.S. goods, including orange juice and peanut butter.

Florida school shooter video released » Prosecutors have released cellphone videos of Parkland, Florida school shooter Nicholas Cruz planning his attack. 

CRUZ: My name is Nick, and I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018. My goal is at least 20 people. It’s going to be a big event. When you see me on the news, you’ll all know who I am. 

Cruz shot and killed 17 people on February 14th at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. 

The state attorney’s office in Broward County released the videos after turning them over to Cruz’s defense team as part of the pre-trial discovery process. 

Cruz has offered to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

Trump’s net worth drops » The White House is proving to be expensive for President Trump. 

Bloomberg is reporting Trump’s net worth slipped $100 million in the past year, to an estimated $2.8 billion.

Trump insists his real net worth is far higher than that. When he announced his presidential campaign in 2015, he gave this figure: 

TRUMP: So I have a total net worth, net worth, not assets, not liab[ilities], a net worth, after all debt, $8,737,540,000..

Trump said his figure was determined by an independent auditing firm and has blamed lower estimates on “dishonest reporting.” 

Bloomberg said the $100 million loss in Trump’s net worth was the result of falling revenue at Trump Tower in New York and several of his golf courses. 

Trump pardons D’Souza » And President Trump announced Thursday he will grant a full pardon to Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative commentator and filmmaker.

In 2012, D’Souza directed the second highest grossing political documentary in U.S. history. 2016: Obama’s America earned over 3$3 million. 

In 2014, he was sentenced to five years probation for making illegal campaign contributions. 

D’Souza admitted to wrongdoing but said he was targeted for selective prosecution by the Obama administration. 

D’SOUZA: When you look around the country at other situations, there seems to be a pattern of this administration using the instruments of the law, the IRS and so on, to go after its critics. And that’s happened in a number of other cases quite apart from mine. 

President Trump echoed that sentiment in a tweet Thursday, saying D’Souza was— quote—  “treated very unfairly by our government.” 

Denmark bans burqas » Denmark is the latest country to ban head coverings. WORLD Radio’s Kristen Flavin has details.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Danish lawmakers approved the law that bans public wearing of garments that completely cover the head and face. 

The government says the law is not aimed at any particular religion and does not ban headscarves, turbans or the Jewish yarmulke. 

Austria, France, Belgium and Switzerland already have similar laws. Several Muslim-majority countries have enacted them as well, citing security concerns after the garments were used to conceal terrorist bombs. 

Supporters of burqa bans argue the practice is forced on women, often through threat of violence. Critics say the bans show religious intolerance. 

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Jim Henry. Straight ahead: a special guest is here to kick off our Spring Giving Drive. And John Stonestreet is back for Culture Friday. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference, Thursday, May 31, 2018, in New York. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.