Nation & World Glance
BEIJING — The arrival of a special train in Beijing and unusually heavy security at a guesthouse where prominent North Koreans have stayed in the past have raised speculation that Kim Jong Un is making his first visit to China as the North’s leader.
Kim has summits planned with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April and with President Donald Trump by May. While there has been no word of a similar meeting with Chinese leaders, China has been one of North Korea’s most important allies even though relations have recently chilled because of Kim’s development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. A vehicle convoy entered the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Monday evening and a military honor guard and heavy security were seen later. That followed reports from Japanese network NTV and public broadcaster NHK of a special North Korean train arriving in Beijing under unusually heavy security.
A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said she was not aware of the situation and had no further comment. North Korea’s state-run media had no reports of a delegation traveling to China.
GOP-led states back Trump in California ‘sanctuary’ lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO — Texas and more than a dozen other states led by Republican governors got behind the Trump administration on Monday in its lawsuit over California’s so-called sanctuary laws that protect people in the U.S. illegally.
California’s laws are designed to interfere with or block federal immigration enforcement but the state does not have that authority, the other states said in a court filing in the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against California. The filing in federal court in Sacramento supports the Justice Department’s attempt to block the laws.
The Justice Department sued California in March over three state laws, including one that requires the state to review detention facilities where immigrants are held and another that limits the ability of state and local law enforcement officials to turn people over to immigration authorities.
Federal officials have said California officials have prevented them from removing dangerous people who are in the U.S. illegally.