AP News in Brief 06-01-18

North Koreans to meet Trump; ‘good progress’ toward summit

NEW YORK — A top aide to Kim Jong Un will make a rare visit to Washington Friday to hand a letter from the North Korean leader to President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said after reporting “good progress” in talks between the two sides to revive an on-again, off-again nuclear summit.

“I am confident we are moving in the right direction,” Pompeo told reporters at a news conference in New York after meeting Thursday with former North Korean military intelligence chief Kim Yong Chol. “Our two countries face a pivotal moment in our relationship, and it would be nothing short of tragic to let this opportunity go to waste.”

He would not say that the summit is a definite go for Singapore on June 12 and could not say if that decision would be made after Trump reads Kim Jong Un’s letter. However, his comments were the most positive from any U.S. official since Trump abruptly canceled the meeting last week after belligerent statements from the North.

The two countries, eying the first summit between the U.S. and the North after six decades of hostility, have also been holding negotiations in Singapore and the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas.

Early Thursday, Trump told reporters “we are doing very well” with North Korea. He added there may even need to be a second or third summit meeting to reach a deal on North Korean denuclearization but still hedged, saying “maybe we’ll have none.”

Former dean convicted of shooting student over marijuana

BOSTON — A former high school dean known as an anti-violence advocate was convicted Thursday of shooting and nearly killing a student he had recruited to sell marijuana for him.

Shaun Harrison, 58, was found guilty of all charges, including armed assault with intent to murder, by a Suffolk Superior Court jury in its second day of deliberations.

“Shaun Harrison was really a fraud, he was living a lie, and it was clearly exposed in this case,” District Attorney Dan Conley said. “Not only was he not a man of God or a role model for young people, he manipulated them in a way that was terribly offensive.”

Harrison, who had worked as a dean at Boston English High School for five years, recruited 17-year-old Luis Rodriguez to sell marijuana for him at the school and shot him on March 3, 2015, because he believed the student was not generating enough sales and withholding money.

Rodriguez, now 20, testified that he came from a dysfunctional family and trusted Harrison, who students nicknamed “Rev.”

Italy edges toward populist-led government on second try

MILAN — Italy advanced swiftly toward a populist government on a second try Thursday, after the leaders of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the right-wing League announced a compromise deal aimed at overcoming the president’s objections.

With developments moving quickly, the premier-designate tapped at the beginning of the week to head an interim government of technocrats stepped aside, while President Sergio Mattarella called a meeting with the populist’s pick: a law professor whose attempt to form a government failed four days ago.

Political neophyte Giuseppe Conte, who skipped teaching a class at the University of Florence to return to Rome, was summoned to meet Mattarella at the presidential palace Thursday night.

After months of stalemate followed an inconclusive parliamentary election in March, the Italian political landscape has shifted into overdrive.

Makeup and pig’s blood: Reporter describes his faked slaying

KIEV, Ukraine — To mimic gore, they used makeup and pig’s blood. They shot bullet holes in one of his sweatshirts. And to top off Arkady Babchenko’s staged murder, they even took him to the morgue.

The journalist revealed Thursday how Ukrainian security services faked his murder to thwart a contract hit allegedly arranged by Babchenko’s native Russia.

Police said Tuesday night that Babchenko had been shot and killed in his apartment building. The next day, he showed up alive in front of journalists and authorities revealed that it all had been a ruse and said that the organizer of the planned assassination had been arrested.

Trump mulls commuting Blagojevich’s term, pardoning Stewart

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday he’s considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption, and pardoning lifestyle entrepreneur Martha Stewart, who served a stint in federal prison after being convicted of charges related to a stock sale.

Hours earlier, Trump said on Twitter that he will pardon conservative commentator and Obama critic Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud. The White House announced later Thursday that the pardon had been granted.

As he left Washington to fly to Texas, Trump tweeted: “Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!” D’Souza, an outspoken critic of former President Barack Obama, had claimed that his prosecution by the Obama Justice Department was politically motivated, but the presiding federal judge said D’Souza had failed to prove it.

Trump later shared his thoughts on Blagojevich and Stewart with the reporters accompanying him on Air Force One. Both had connections to Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” reality television show: Blagojevich was a contestant in 2010 and Stewart hosted the 2005 spinoff series, “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.”

Blagojevich was convicted on numerous counts of corruption, including for trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by Obama and for shaking down a children’s hospital. As governor, he had the right to name someone to fill the Senate vacancy, but he was caught on FBI wiretaps discussing ways to make money off of it. He began serving a 14-year prison sentence in 2012 and is scheduled for release in 2024.

___

St. Paul archdiocese to pay $210M to clergy abuse victims

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced a $210 million settlement Thursday with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of its plan for bankruptcy reorganization, making this the second-largest payout in the scandal that rocked the nation’s Roman Catholic Church.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson said the money, a total of $210,290,724, will go into a pot to pay survivors, with the amount for each survivor to be determined.

Anderson said a formal reorganization plan will now be submitted to a bankruptcy judge for approval, and then it will be sent to the victims for a vote. Anderson expected they will readily approve it.

“We changed the playing field,” said Jim Keenan, who was sexually abused as a child in the 1980s by a Twin Cities-area priest. “They have to listen to victims now, and that is huge.”

Marie Mielke, who was sexually abused from 1997 to 2000 by a St. Paul seminarian who later became a priest, urged fellow survivors to have the courage to stand up.

___

All business: Spelling bee finalists cut out distractions

OXON HILL, Md. — Naysa Modi attended the festive Memorial Day barbecue that kicks off the week for competitors in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but she left on the first bus available to return to the convention center outside Washington where the bee is staged. She blew off that evening’s opening ceremonies, too, feeling like she’d seen it all before.

Naysa, who first competed in the bee as a cherubic 9-year-old, is now a poised and accomplished speller in her fourth appearance, with a businesslike approach to match.

“I know what to expect now. I’m not that overwhelmed,” said Naysa, whose outgoing personality masks a fierce competitive drive.

“I try not to think about it,” she added, “but I know inside I have expectations for how I’m going to do.”

The 12-year-old seventh-grader from Frisco, Texas, was one of 16 spellers who advanced to Thursday’s prime-time finals after surviving five rounds that stretched over 4½ hours and were never quite difficult enough for the unflappable group onstage.

___

New business deals bring autonomous vehicles a step closer

DETROIT — Two technology giants announced major new investments in self-driving vehicles Thursday, bringing the world a step closer to a time when autonomous cars are a part of everyday life — a reality that General Motors aims to achieve in some places as early as next year.

The deals, and other ongoing negotiations, show that the technology is authentic and it’s accelerating.

“It’s all starting to coalesce into something that’s more real,” said Navigant Research analyst Sam Abuelsamid, who closely follows autonomous vehicle developments.

SoftBank, a giant Japanese tech investment firm, announced Thursday it would spend $2.25 billion for a 20 percent stake in GM’s autonomous vehicle business. Then Waymo, Google’s self-driving operation, said it would buy up to 62,000 more minivans from Fiat Chrysler to expand its soon-to-start ride-hailing venture.

Not to be outdone, Uber’s new CEO said at a Wednesday conference that he’s in talks with Waymo about adding Waymo self-driving vehicles to the Uber network to carry passengers, although there was no indication that was imminent.