The FBI has opened a campaign finance investigation into Li "Cindy" Yang, a donor to President Trump and founder of a Florida massage parlor chain caught in a human trafficking investigation, the Miami Herald reports.
Driving news: The FBI subpoenaed records this week related to a donation to Trump's 2020 campaign from an employee of Yang's massage parlors who wrote a $5,400 check, the maximum allowed under federal law, with Yang's help, as reported by the New York Times. It's unclear if that employee was reimbursed by Yang for the donation.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a trip to Russia next week, the State Department announced Friday.
Details: Pompeo is set to speak with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on May 14 in Sochi to discuss "bilateral and multilateral challenges" between the U.S. and Russia. It will be Pompeo's first trip to Russia during his tenure heading the State Department.
President Trump said in a Twitter thread Friday that China is paying billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury due to tariffs hours after he reignited the trade war with a tariff spike. This is a claim he's made before, including back in January, when he said it twice during a press conference and on Twitter.
Reality check: The tariffs are paid by U.S. importers of affected Chinese goods, not by China's government or by Chinese companies. Importers then either raise costs on consumers, lower their own profit margins or both.
The Trump administration says Nepal is “central” to its strategy in the Indo-Pacific, but the small South Asian country is already home to a battle for influence between its giant neighbors: China and India.
Why it matters: Nepal is a signatory to Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, and the government sees a railway deal with China as a “game changer” for the country, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali tells Axios. The U.S. is also flexing its muscles, though, while India is desperate to keep Nepal in its sphere of influence. Gyawali says investment from the big powers is welcome, but Nepal won’t take sides in their great power contest.
Scientists have found new evidence that bat-like dinosaurs once fluttered through the skies.
What's new: A tiny dinosaur with membranous, bat-like wings lived during the Upper Jurassic period, according to a study in Nature on Wednesday. A fossil of the species — named Ambopteryx longibrachium — was found in northeastern China's Liaoning Province and dated to around 163 million years ago, bolstering the conclusions of a 2015 study detailing a less well-preserved but similar fossil finding called Yi qi. The specimen in the new study, by Min Wang and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is superbly preserved — researchers were even able to glean information from its stomach contents.
The FBI and federal prosecutors seized a North Korean cargo vessel — named the Wise Honest — on Thursday for allegedly transporting and selling coal in violation of international sanctions, NBC News reports.
Why it matters: Justice Department officials told the Washington Post this marks the first time the U.S. has seized a North Korean cargo ship for violating sanctions. It's sure to ratchet up tensions with North Korea, which has recently resumed short-range missile testing, despite President Trump's efforts to rein in Kim Jong-un with a pair of summits.
China has detained an estimated 1 million to 2 million Uighur Muslims, but the world has turned a blind eye. Dan and Axios' Dave Lawler discuss why there's been no repercussions from the U.S., other world governments or global corporations.
North Korea fired 2 suspected short-range missiles eastward Thursday, South Korea's military said, per AP.
Details: The launch began about 4:30 p.m. local time from the northwest location of Sino-ri, towards the east, the South’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, according to Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday canceled a scheduled visit to Greenland to return to Washington, D.C., amid heightened tension over Iran, AP first reported.
Why it matters: Iran'sPresident Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday, on the 1st anniversary of President Trump’s withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, he would suspend key nuclear deal commitments and would increase uranium enrichment if new terms weren't reached within 60 days. Hours later, Trump announced sanctions on Iranian metal industries.
