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+U.S. judge frees Indonesian immigrant held by Trump order
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+A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered the release of an illegal immigrant who is among 47 Indonesians in New Hampshire challenging the Trump administration’s order to deport them.
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+SPONSORED
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+Rombot, part of a wave of Indonesian Christians who fled their country following deadly riots in 1998, learned of the policy change when he appeared for an Aug. 1 check-in with ICE and was arrested.
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+“He walks out of the courthouse right now,” Chief U.S. District Judge Patti Saris said after concluding that Rombot’s detention violated his rights.
+
+He walked out of the U.S. District Court in Boston in his blue jail scrubs, without a chance to change into street clothes.
+Rombot’s lawyers said he was arrested despite a 2015 letter from ICE saying he would have a chance to prepare for an “orderly” departure.
+
+The judge cited that letter during Wednesday’s hearing in holding that Rombot’s detention despite ICE’s previous guidance violated his due process rights under the U.S. Constitution.
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+“This is what intent was, that he would be given the opportunity to leave under his own steam and not under shackles,” she said.
+
+Outside the courtroom, Rombot said: “I just want to say thank you to my attorney, my pastor and all of my friends.”
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+The U.S. Attorney’s office is considering an appeal, a spokeswoman said.
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+ICE officials said the arrangement had always been a temporary one and that the agency always had discretion to deport the people covered by the arrangement.
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+The Indonesians are part of an ethnic community of about 2,000 people clustered around the city of Dover in New Hampshire’s seacoast region.
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+Members of the group and advocates say they fear they could face discrimination or violence if forced to return to the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
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+Their cause has drawn the support of Republican Governor Chris Sununu and New Hampshire’s all-Democratic congressional delegation, including U.S.
+Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
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+Saris previously ordered a stay to the deportations.
+She is currently weighing whether she can order a longer delay to give the affected people time to renew their efforts to gain legal status.

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+Trump formally nominates Gina Haspel to be next CIA director
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+WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump formally notified Congress on Tuesday that deputy CIA director Gina Haspel is his pick to lead the agency.
+
+Trump tweeted last month that he had selected Haspel to replace Mike Pompeo, who is being considered to be secretary of state.
+But the president had not sent the formal paperwork to Capitol Hill.
+
+Logistical issues, including an FBI background check that took longer than expected, was to blame, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss the issue and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
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+Still, the delay prompted critics to speculate that the delay signaled the White House was having second thoughts about the nomination.
+Some lawmakers and human rights groups oppose Haspel’s nomination because of her role in the CIA’s detention and harsh interrogation of terror suspects after 9/11.
+
+The Senate intelligence committee is expected to have a confirmation hearing for Haspel in coming weeks, followed by a vote in the full Senate.

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+Trump's North Korean gamble ends with 'special bond' with Kim
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+Nearly five hours of unprecedented and surreal talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un culminated on Tuesday with fulsome declarations of a new friendship but just vague pledges of nuclear disarmament.
+
+For Trump, that amounted to a triumphant outcome in his extraordinary gamble with the rogue kingdom's despotic leader.
+But there were scant details on what new commitments had been secured from Kim, even as Trump announced he would end the regular military exercises the US conducts with South Korea.
+Whether nuclear disarmament is indeed the final outcome of Tuesday's summit won't be known for years, if not decades.
+But the dramatic act of extending his hand to one of America's longtime adversaries will forever illustrate Trump's gut-driven, norm-shattering tenure.
+"We both want to do something.
+We both are going to do something.
+And we have developed a very special bond," Trump said at the conclusion of the landmark summit.
+"People are going to be very impressed.
+People are going to be very happy."
+The document he and Kim signed said the North Korean leader "reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
+In exchange, Trump agreed to "provide security guarantees" to North Korea.
+But there was no mentioning the previous US aim of "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization."
+And Kim's commitments did not appear to go beyond what he already pledged to do in April when he met South Korean President Moon Jae-in along their countries' border.
+Trump insisted during a news conference the agreement went further than many people expected.
+But he acknowledged the effort to rid North Korea of its nuclear arsenal was in its early stages.
+"We will do it as fast as it can mechanically and physically be done," he said.
+More critical, in Trump's telling, was the development of a personal bond with Kim, a brutal dictator responsible for the deaths not only of his own citizens but of at least one American, Otto Warmbier, who was returned to the US in a coma only to die days later.
+"I think our whole relationship with North Korea and the Korean Peninsula is going to be a very much different situation than it has in the past," Trump said during the summit.
+Later, during his news conference, Trump said Warmbier's death contributed to the summit taking place.
+"Without Otto, this would not have happened," Trump said.
+Trump and Kim -- both intent on making history -- greeted each other early in the day with extended hands in front of a row of US and North Korean flags, a previously unthinkable sight that reflects a new chapter in the two countries' acrimonious relationship.
+Trump's threats to politely walk out of the meeting if his expectations were unmet did not materialize.
+Instead he predicted he could "solve a big problem, a big dilemma" alongside his new partner.
+"Working together, we'll get it taken care of," Trump said.
+The remarks came amid an improbable series of events that few could have anticipated even three months ago.
+The unlikely images of US and North Korean counterparts engaging in friendly dialogue lent the day an air of unreality.
+In a detailed menu, the White House said the men were served Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream for dessert.
+Other unforeseen events also surrounded the summit, increasing the drama.
+Minutes before the historic handshake, Trump tweeted that his top economic adviser Larry Kudlow had suffered a heart attack.
+Immediately after the encounter, Dennis Rodman -- one of the only Americans to have met Kim -- was openly weeping while being interviewed by CNN's Chris Cuomo.
+Even Kim seemed to acknowledge the surreality of the day.
+"Many people in the world will think of this as a (inaudible) form of fantasy ... from a science fiction movie," his translator was overheard saying as the two leaders walked down a white-columned colonnade.
+At the conclusion of the summit, Trump hailed the talks as a historic, and personal, achievement.
+"We learned a lot about each other and our countries," Trump said.
+"I learned he's a very talented man."
+When pressed about those comments in light of Kim's brutal tactics, Trump continued praising the North Korean leaders' ability to run a country at a young age.
+"He is very talented," Trump said, citing Kim's ability to "take over a situation like he did at 26 years of age and run it, and run it tough."
+Kim assumed power after his father Kim Jong Il, also a brutal dictator, died in 2011.
+Throughout the day, Trump and Kim's body language was openly friendly, a striking warmth given Kim's iron grip on power and dismal record on human rights.
+Trump's move to meet him attracted fierce criticism for normalizing a regime routinely called out for its human rights abuses, that over years has built an image of fearsome renegade regime, throwing around threats of nuclear war.
+The day began with Trump patting Kim on the back and placing his hand on the North Korean's shoulder as they walked into their first meeting.
+Later they were seen smiling and laughing over lunch.
+Trump told reporters he would "absolutely" extend an invitation to the White House to Kim, who also heralded a new era.
+"Today, we had a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind," Kim said through a translator.
+"The world will see a major change."
+The meeting came only months after the two men traded nuclear taunts, ratcheting up tensions and leading to fears of war.
+By contrast, Trump appeared to back off a military footing on Tuesday, declaring the US will stop the "war games," an apparent reference to joint military exercises with South Korea that North Korea has long rebuked as provocative.
+Trump also said he hopes to eventually withdraw US forces from South Korea, but said "that's not part of the equation right now."
+"I want to get our soldiers out.
+I want to bring our soldiers back home," Trump said.
+"But that's not part of the equation right now.
+I hope it will be eventually."
+Tuesday's meeting, convened at a luxury hotel on the island of Sentosa, came just three months after Trump accepted North Korea's invitation for talks on the spot.
+It was an extraordinarily compressed timeline for the landmark summit, which at one point was called off entirely as communication broke down between Washington and Pyongyang.
+The talks were quickly revived, leading to the highly choreographed event that unfolded Tuesday.
+After the men shook hands, they repaired inside for one-on-one talks.
+In that first meeting they were joined only by translators, a break from standard practice of having at least one aide present for high-stakes huddles.
+Later in the day, advisers joined the talks for a larger bilateral session and a working lunch.
+Trump took keen interest in the pageantry of the day, insisting the pictures beamed around the world reflect a commanding leader making a decisive, world-altering move.
+At the same time, he'd admitted he didn't believe he required extensive preparation to take stock of Kim.
+As part of the advance work, Trump commissioned a highly produced video meant to convince Kim to relinquish his weapons and open his country to outside investment.
+Trump showed Kim the movie on an iPad during their talks.
+Here in futuristic Singapore, however, Kim was able to view the benefits of economic advancement at close range.
+He was spotted taking a moonlit stroll around the high-end Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino, owned by GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, the type of glitzy development few North Koreans could ever imagine coming to their country.
+Kim was cheered by onlookers who caught sight of the dictator, who until earlier this spring was not believed to have ever left North Korea as supreme leader.

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+Florida shooting: Gun control law moves step closer
+
+New gun control measures for Florida have passed another legal hurdle, weeks after one of the worst school shootings in US history.
+
+The state's House of Representatives passed a bill raising the age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 and imposing a three-day waiting period on all gun sales.
+
+The bill, already passed by the Senate, now goes to the state governor.
+
+Seventeen people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February.
+Expelled former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, has been charged in the attack.
+He was formally indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday on 34 counts, including 17 counts of premeditated first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.
+
+He is suspected of using a legally bought AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to carry out the 10-minute attack, gunning down teachers and students.
+
+What is in the new law?
+In addition to raising the age and bringing in the three-day waiting period, the legislation:
+
+Introduces a voluntary armed "guardian programme" for schools, named after Aaron Feis, a coach who died in the Parkland shooting.
+It allows school personnel to be armed, subject to school district approval and specialist training
+Classroom teachers are excluded from carrying arms unless they have a security forces background
+Bans devices, such as bump stocks, that modify a semi-automatic weapon to fully automatic
+Raises mental health funding and increases the power to seize or ban guns under mental health concerns
+The legislation does not include a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons like the AR-15, despite it being a key demand of Parkland students and their parents.
+
+Florida law already mandates a three-day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun but a person as young as 18 can buy a rifle with no waiting period.
+The Republican-controlled House debated the bill for about eight hours on Wednesday before voting 67-50 in favour.
+
+Has the move been welcomed?
+Ryan Petty, whose daughter was among those killed, hailed the House's vote in a tweet.
+
+He said: "We know that when it comes to preventing future acts of school violence, today's vote is just the beginning of our journey."
+
+State Democratic Party legislators who backed the bill said it was necessary despite the "poison pill" of allowing more guns in schools under the guardian programme.
+Florida now joins at least six other states in allowing school employees to carry firearms.
+
+Following the Parkland shooting, many surviving students had lobbied politicians for greater gun control.
+
+Gun control activists will hope the Florida measures will be a turning point in their battle with the powerful National Rifle Association and others who defend firearms ownership under the Second Amendment of the US constitution.
+
+On the day the vote passed, a 17-year-old woman student was killed in a suspected accidental shooting at a high school in Alabama.
+
+What happens now?
+Governor Rick Scott will need to sign the bill, known as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, into law.
+
+It will automatically become law within 15 days unless he vetoes it.
+
+Mr Scott has not yet said he will back it, telling reporters he would "review the bill line by line" and consult victims' families.
+
+He has previously said he opposes US President Donald Trump's call to arm teachers.
+He had also previously opposed increasing the purchase age from 18 to 21.