North Korean leader Kim backs China's push for ‘multipolar world’ in talks with foreign minister

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leaderKim Jong Unvoiced support for China’s push to build a “multipolar world” and called for deeper ties between the traditional allies during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, state media said Saturday.

North Korea China

During the meeting Friday, Kim said his government will fully support Chinese efforts to achieve territorial integrity based on its“one-China principle,”a reference to Beijing’s official position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim also outlinedNorth Korea’sposition on unspecified regional and international issues of “mutual concern” and said sustained development of ties between the two countries has become more crucial in the current geopolitical environment, KCNA said.

Wang, on a two-day trip to North Korea, said the countries’ relations were entering a “new phase” following asummitlast year between Kim and Chinese PresidentXi Jinping.

Embracing the ideas of a “new Cold War” and a “multipolarized world,” Kim has sought to break out of international isolation and push a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with governments locked in confrontations with the United States.

While Russia has been Kim’s top foreign policy priority in recent years, sending thousands of troops and large weapons shipments to support its war against Ukraine, he has also been cozying up to China, the North’s traditional main ally and economic lifeline.

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Kim joined Russian President Vladimir Putin at a World War II ceremony in Beijing in September and held his first summit with Xi Jinping in six years, moves that supported his efforts to portray North Korea as part of a united front against Washington.

North Korea and China last month resumed directflight and passenger train services, which had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Wang arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday in his first visit to North Korea in seven years. He earlier met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Sun Hui and discussed ways to facilitate further cooperation and exchanges and holding “in-depth” talks on international issues, state media from both countries said.

The state media outlets did not mention whether Wang and North Korean officials discussed issues related to the U.S. or the ongoingwar in the Middle East.

Wang’s trip to North Korea came before U.S. President Donald Trump travels to Beijing for arescheduled summitwith Xi Jinping in May. Some South Korean officials have expressed hope the Trump-Xi meeting could provide a diplomatic opening with Pyongyang.

Kim has suspended all meaningful dialogue with the U.S. and South Korea since the collapse of his diplomacy with Trump in 2019 during the American president’s first term. Kim has since taken a hard-line stance toward South Korea, which he now defines as his “most hostile” adversary, and rejected U.S. offers to resume talks, calling on Washington to drop its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition.

byCUSTOS CAELORUM

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April 11, 2026

North Korean leader Kim backs China's push for ‘multipolar world’ in talks with foreign minister

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leaderKim Jong Unvoiced support for China’s push to build a “multipolar world” and called for de...

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Fiona Dourif Jokes Noah Wyle Is to Blame for Line About Her 'Witch's Cackle' in “The Pitt ”(Exclusive)

Fiona Dourif tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she suspects Noah Wyle was responsible for a line about her character’s “witch’s cackle” in The Pitt

NEED TO KNOW

• The second season sees a patient flirting with Dourif’s resident Dr. Cassie McKay and complimenting her laugh

• “That's my real laugh. I have a really loud laugh that I actually find quite embarrassing," Dourif says

Fiona Dourifhas a bone to pick withNoah Wyle.

The actress, 44, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she suspects Wyle was responsible for a line about her character’s “witch’s cackle” inThe Pittseason 2.

In the third episode of the season, titled “9:00 A.M.,” a patient flirts with Dourif’s resident Dr. Cassie McKay and compliments her “pretty bird laugh.” Coyly, the doctor responds, “Oh god, my witch’s cackle.”

The actress says that the line was based on her own laugh and notes that Wyle, who plays Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, wrote the episode.

“That's my real laugh. I have a really loud laugh that I actually find quite embarrassing," Dourif says. "Noah Wyle wrote that episode and I remember reading it and being like, 'Oh my god.'"

"People say this to me all the time. They're like, 'Oh, I can always figure out where you are because I can hear your laugh from doors down.' And so they wrote it into the script,” she continues.

Regardless, in the next episode, McKay ends upnabbing a date with the patientafter he’s discharged.

PEOPLE previously shared that Dourif was “really happy” to portray her character’s bashful side in the scenes with her flirtatious patient afterher rough go-aroundin the first season.

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“There are a lot of women who are focused on work and then you get to middle age, like in your 40s, and you want to fill your life out a little bit. It's vulnerable and harder to do than when you're in your 20s,” she said.

"I felt very bashful myself in a lot of these scenes. But it was sweet to take that twirl. I was happy the show explored that with me."

As for Wyle, he told PEOPLE about the multiple roles he balances on set in an interview ahead of the season 2 premiere. TheERalum executive produces the series with showrunners R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells. He has written two episodes each season. He also directed his first episode in season 2.

“There wasn't a lot of time for analysis,” he said of the time between seasons. “We shot the first season and it started airing just as we were pretty much done with it. Then I was back in the writing room two weeks and four days after we wrapped.”

Wyle said the success of the first season gave the production team "validation and proof of concept.”

“We went back to season 2 with a little bit more confidence that our instincts were good and that we should lean into them,” he said.

The Pittseason 2 finale will air Thursday, April 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

Read the original article onPeople

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April 11, 2026

Fiona Dourif Jokes Noah Wyle Is to Blame for Line About Her 'Witch's Cackle' in “The Pitt ”(Exclusive)

Fiona Dourif tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she suspects Noah Wyle was responsible for a line about her character’s “witch...

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The Latest: Kuwait blames Iran for drone strikes as Trump casts doubt on ceasefire

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the two-week ceasefire over Iran's continued chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz, while Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the ceasefire.

APTOPIX Lebanon Israel Iran War

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states after Kuwait’s announcement.

Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahuoffered a potential boost to ceasefire efforts in the region when he said he had approved direct talks with Lebanon. The Lebanese government has not responded as of Friday morning.

The announcement came afterIsrael’s pounding of BeirutWednesday killed more than 300 people. The negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Questions remained over what will happen to Iran’sstockpile of enriched uraniumat the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resumethrough the Strait of Hormuz, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.

Talks between the United States and Iran on a resolution to the conflict are expected to start Saturday in Islamabad, with the White House saying Vice President JD Vance would lead the U.S. delegation.

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Here is the latest:

Japan releases more oil reserves

Japan said it will release an additional 20 days’ worth of oil reserves in May, in a second round address supply uncertainty over the war in the Middle East.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the planned release of the government reserves will start in early May, after an earlier release last month.

Japan started releasing about 50 days’ worth of oil reserves, including from those held by the state, the private sector and oil-producing Gulf nations.

As of April 6, Japan had 230 days’ worth oil reserves, including 143 days’ worth in government stockpiles, according to the Natural Resources and Energy Agency.

Takaichi said her government is working to secure oil imports via routes that do not include the Strait of Hormuz, while Japan seeks to diversify suppliers.

Pakistan to issue visas on arrival ahead of talks

Pakistan said Friday it would issue visas on arrival for those traveling to Islamabad for the Iran-U.S. talks, signaling the interest in the world’s media in the event.

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April 11, 2026

The Latest: Kuwait blames Iran for drone strikes as Trump casts doubt on ceasefire

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the two-week ceasefire over Iran's continued chokehold o...

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Noah Wyle addresses HBO changes to 'The Pitt' controversial ICE episode

Noah Wyle, star doctor on"The Pitt,"says he only found out about changes to the show's controversial ICE episode after the edits had been negotiated with HBO.

The March 19 episode, titled "5:00 p.m.," featured ICE agents bringing a detained patient into the Pittsburgh emergency room, causing fear and disruption for the patients and medical staff, and resulting in the arrest of a nurse.

Executive producerJohn Wells previously revealedthat HBO had requested changes to the episode spotlighting the hot-button political topic.

Speaking toVarietyin a story published April 9, Wyle, who is an executive producer on the show, said he was initially alarmed when he learned about the changes.

"The negotiation was being driven by political reasons, creative reasons, fear, uncertainty, all sorts of legitimate reasons," Wyle said. "I’ll be honest and say that I was concerned about the edits we were making initially."

But the slightly toned-down final result ended up being "show the bear" as opposed to "poke the bear," said Wyle. It made for a better episode.

"I actually think we arrived at something more elegant and a little bit more restrained, which leaves a little bit more ambiguity in it than we may have started out with," Wyle said. "It’s healthier for the storyline in the long run."

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Away from "The Pitt," Supriya Ganesh is an awards show star, attending the 32nd Annual Actor Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 1.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> "The Pitt" won best ensemble at the SAG Actor awards.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Isa Briones and Supriya Ganesh dance at The Actor Awards Netflix afterparty.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

'The Pitt' star Supriya Ganesh, fan-favorite Dr. Samira Mohan, exits

The episode was conceived and filmed in December. But before it premiered in March, the issue of ICE agents in emergency rooms had grown even more politically charged afterPresident Donald Trump escalated enforcement in Minnesota, and the fatal shootings ofRenée GoodandAlex Prettiintensified national scrutiny of ICE.

Wells told"The Town" podcastin February that HBO was supportive of the show: "We showed them the research and they said, 'That looks like a good story.' " But the company sought changes.

"They just wanted to make sure it was balanced," said Wells. "The thing we have to be careful about in showing any of these issues ... is to make sure we're presenting both points of view."

Wyle agreed that the attention on the topic allowed for a slightly more subtle approach.

"Because the context came out after we’d filmed that episode, we didn’t have to do half of what we had done," said Wyle. "That had already been imprinted into the mind of most Americans."

The reverberations of the ICE episode are still felt on "The Pitt," with the staff emotionally reeling as the award-winning series moves to its Season 2 finale on April 16.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Noah Wyle talks 'The Pitt' ICE episode controversy, HBO's changes

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April 10, 2026

Noah Wyle addresses HBO changes to 'The Pitt' controversial ICE episode

Noah Wyle, star doctor on"The Pitt,"says he only found out about changes to the show's controversial ICE episode after th...

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“The Testaments ”stars and showrunner unpack surprise cameo on “Handmaid's Tale ”sequel premiere

This article contains spoilers forThe Testamentsseason 1, episodes 1-3.

Gilead is back. But not for long, if June Osborne has anything to say about it.

Elisabeth Mossmakes a stunning surprise appearance at the end of the first episode ofThe Testaments, the sequel to the series that made her an Emmy winner,The Handmaid's Tale.

But that's not all — her inveterate freedom fighter June, who was nearly killed countless times plotting the demise of the series' central fascist republic, returnsagainfor a thrilling two-hander with newcomer Lucy Halliday in episode 3, both of which debuted on Hulu on Wednesday.

Before the premiere, Halliday, her co-stars, Chase Infiniti, Ann Dowd, and Mabel Li, as well asThe Handmaid's TaleandThe Testamentsshowrunner Bruce Miller, tookEntertainment Weeklyinside Moss' grand return to Gilead. That is, her return to theHandmaid's-verse, more hell-bent than ever on bringing Gilead down.

The long road toThe Testamentsbegan even before acclaimedHandmaid's Talesource author Margaret Atwood published her sequel novel of the same name in 2019. "She started to work on the book and I had these little hints," Miller recalls of which characters to keep alive... or not.

The Handmaid's Taleseries was only in its third season, and June (spoiler alert for a seven-year-old novel) barely appears in Atwood'sTestaments. Still, Miller cites "many factors involved" when ultimately getting hisTestamentsoff the ground. The first he names — "whether Elisabeth Moss is available that week or not, decides whether she's in the show or not."

The Testamentsswitches focus from the abject degradation of the handmaids stratum of Gilead's repressive society, where misogyny is codified as law, to the rarefied echelon of the Commanders' daughters. These children of privilege, led by Infiniti's Agnes MacKenzie, haven't a clue what June's ilk endured four years before, where the events ofThe Handmaid's Taleended inThe Testaments' timeline.

But still, "having the journey of June felt — it could not end until certain things fell into place," Miller says. "That character really felt like she needed, still needs — she had work to do."

The Testamentstells the tale of Agnes' entwined fate with Daisy (Halliday), a rebellious young woman from Toronto who is spirited into Gilead as an agent of subversion after her parents are killed by republic operatives in a targeted bombing.

June, of course, does the spiriting.

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Daisy's parents are eventually revealed as part of Mayday — the resistance network that June joins and ultimately leads significant portions of by the close of theHandmaid's Tale. June is briefly seen at the end of episode 1, lingering in Daisy's parents' shop before the bombing. After the fallout from their deaths in episode 3, she takes Daisy under her wing, making her essentially into a mini-June.

"Elisabeth Moss is the embodiment ofThe Handmaid's Tale. So getting to share the screen with her is a privilege. I was acutely aware of that," Halliday says with earnest conviction. "I think I just found myself watching her a lot. Like, I'd sit in silence between takes, just watching her, because she knows everything about this world.

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.

"The more time I spent watching Elisabeth Moss, the more I realized just how important that feature of your work ethic actually is," she continues. "I'm realizing just how important it is as an actor to be fully prepared, and fully immersed in an environment and in a world and asking every question that you can ask. Because that's your duty in undertaking a role, to be as well-informed in portraying someone's life, and doing it to the best of your ability, and doing it justice."

If anyone knows how Moss works on camera, it's Dowd. For six seasons she played the imperious Aunt Lydia, head of the Aunts, the only faction of women in Gilead with any power, and with no compunction against turning it on their fellow woman. And for six seasons June gave it right back to her.

June ultimately prevails, which Dowd describes in characteristically riveting fashion: "We see her at the end ofThe Handmaid's Taleon her knees in full remorse, begging for forgiveness. In other words, what June Osborne has done is crush her, and Lydia does not push back and say, 'No, uh-uh, you don't understand me.' She allows herself and the walls around her to crumble."

Unfortunately for June, and honestly for Lydia too, they're built back up, fortified, and painted shades of blush and bashful inThe Testaments.Unlike Lydia, however, Dowd absolutely beams when discussing her old sparring partner.

"Oh God, that was such terrific news," the actress says, reflecting on learning of Moss' return. "I love Elisabeth. She has been the heart and soul ofThe Handmaid's Tale, and when she came to be our director, that was so extraordinary. She was hands-down remarkable. So Lizzie has a very special place in my heart, and always will. Any chance to reunite with her is a beautiful one."

Lydia's new whipping post, her second-in-command at Agnes and Daisy's elite girls' school, is Mabel Li's vicious Aunt Vidala. Li reflects that "as someone who was a fan ofThe Handmaid's Tale, when I watched [The Testaments] for the first time and Lizzie turns around, I was like, 'Oh, God.' Her presence is so palpable. It's so powerful. And we know what it means when she shows up somewhere — that resistance is happening."

"Yes," Dowd says, knowingly. "Mayday is there."

The Testamentspremieres new episodes Wednesdays on Hulu.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

byCUSTOS CAELORUM

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April 10, 2026

“The Testaments ”stars and showrunner unpack surprise cameo on “Handmaid's Tale ”sequel premiere

This article contains spoilers forThe Testamentsseason 1, episodes 1-3. Gilead is back. But not for long, if June Osborne has any...

Read More