NORTH-KOREA   –  North Korea sentenced a South Korean-born American citizen to 10 years of hard labor for subversion and espionage, a North Korean official told CNN.

Kim Dong Chul is the second American that North Korea has given a hard labor sentence in the past two months. In March, University of Virginia student Otto Frederick Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly removing a political banner from a Pyongyang hotel. CNN’s Will Ripley spoke to Kim in January, after he said he had been in detention for three months.  Kim said he moved to Yanji, a Chinese city near the Chinese-North Korean border that acts as a trade hub between the two countries, in 2001. From Yanji, Kim said he commuted daily to Rason, a special economic zone on the North Korean side of the border, where he served as president of a company involved in international trade and hotel services. According to Kim, he spied on behalf of “South Korean conservative elements” on the country’s nuclear and military program. “I was tasked with taking photos of military secrets and ‘scandalous’ scenes,” he said at the time.

.(CNN.COM/photo: img.washingtonpost.com)…[+]

U.S   – Scores of protesters took to the streets yesterday outside a Donald Trump campaign event here, drawing out police officers in riot and tactical gear and on horseback who sought to disperse the crowd.

The crowd gathered in the streets outside the OC Fair & Event Center as Trump addressed several thousand supporters at the Center’s amphitheater. At least one police car was damaged and several scuffles broke out amid the hectic scene. Protesters blocked a main intersection, impeding traffic, and officers with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and Costa Mesa Police Department worked to disperse the crowd, ordering protesters out of the streets. About 20 people were arrested, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department tweeted late Thursday night after the protests had cleared. Lt. Mark Stichter, the Sheriff’s Department’s public information officer, could not provide an official estimate on the number of protesters, but demonstrators could be seen filling the intersection of Fairview Road and Fair Drive.(CNN.COM/photo: www.trbimg.com)…[+]

USA – Jagged rocks installed to deter homeless encampments below a freeway overpass have sparked a debate between people arguing for compassion and residents demanding safer, cleaner streets. City crews installed the riprap next to the walls of the 5 Freeway overpass late last week at the request of Sherman Heights residents, who had complained that homeless encampments on Imperial Avenue had made it difficult and sometimes dangerous for pedestrians. “When we saw the rocks going up, we celebrated,” resident Ildifonso Carrillo said. Carrillo, a member of the Sherman Heights group Compassionate Solutions, said residents were fighting to improve the quality of life in their neighborhood. “We’re not anti-homeless,” he said. “We’re pro-resident.” Devonna Almagro, executive director of the Sherman Heights Community Center, said residents recently had approached Mayor Kevin Faulconer with concerns about the overpass when he was making an appearance in the neighborhood. ”

(latimes)…[+]