COLU @ CONCEPTS

     N. Korea missile fears in Japan: 'Whatever will be, will be FUSSA, Japan (AP) — Residents living near U.S. military bases in Japan are facing a fresh reality: Their neighborhoods are on the front-line of North Korea's dispute with America and if Pyongyang were to attack they would have just minutes to shelter from incoming missiles. "It's impossible. There is no way we can run away from it," said Seijiro Kurosawa, a 58-year-old taxi driver in Fussa, near Yokota Air Base. "We don't have bunkers, shelters or anything like that." His company recently instructed drivers to park their cabs and take immediate refuge in the event of an attack, but he isn't sure where he could go. "All we can do is run into a department store perhaps," he said. A possible missile strike and what to do about it have dominated TV talk shows and other media in Japan in recent weeks as regional tension has spiked, with the North Korean regime con...

   Lawmakers seal deal on $1T plan government-wide funding bill WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans and Democrats forged a hard-won agreement Sunday night on a huge $1 trillion-plus spending bill that would fund the day-to-day operations of virtually every federal agency through September, denying President Donald Trump funding for a border wall and rejecting his cuts to popular domestic programs. Aides to lawmakers involved in the talks announced the agreement after weeks of negotiations. It's expected to be made public early Monday. The catchall spending bill would be the first major piece of bipartisan legislation to advance during Trump's short tenure in the White House. While losing on the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump won a $15 billion down payment on his request to strengthen the military. The measure funds the remainder of the 2017 budget year, rejecting cuts to popular domestic programs targeted by Trump, such as medical research and i...

Trump says China pressuring North Korea on missile, nukes SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Donald Trump said in a television interview to be aired Sunday that he believes China's president has been putting pressure on North Korea as it pursues its missile and nuclear weapons programs. In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," Trump said he won't be happy if North Korea conducts a nuclear test and that he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping won't be happy, either. Asked if that means military action, Trump responded: "I don't know. I mean, we'll see." Turning to diplomacy after flexing military muscle, the United States urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to increase economic pressure on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, leaning on China in particular to turn the screws on its wayward ally. (April 28) On Saturday, a North Korean mid-range ballistic missile apparently failed shortly after launch...

At 100 days in, Trump seems both outsider and insider HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President Donald Trump is turning from his dramatic debut as an outsider president to focus on advancing his plans to cut taxes and get tough on trade deals. "We are not going to let other countries take advantage of us anymore," he said Saturday in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center. "From now on it's going to be America first." But even as he returned to friendly political turf in Pennsylvania, Trump seems caught between his role as an outsider candidate and that of a now-elected negotiator. He's still figuring out how to deal with the very insiders he vowed to drain from Washington's "swamp." He's spent 100 days being educated on the slow grind of government even in a Republican-dominated capital, and watching some of his promises —from repealing former President Barack Obama's health care law to temporarily bann...