Daily News Roundup

WEDNESDAY, April, 18

The late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, AAP reports.

Irwin’s wife Terri, daughter Bindi and son Bob will attend the April 26 ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard.

“Steve’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is an incredible honour for our family. Steve would have been so chuffed. He was always such a proud Australian …” Terri Irwin said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We will celebrate Steve’s legacy and continue to protect wildlife and wild places.”

Irwin’s best mate and director of Australia Zoo and Wildlife Warriors, Wes Mannion, will co-emcee the ceremony.

Irwin became a global star, particularly in the US, for his crocodile wrangling exploits and wildlife conservation efforts.

The world was shocked on September 4, 2006, when the 44-year-old was killed by a stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef near Port Douglas.

Wildlife warriors from around the world will attend the Steve Irwin Gala Dinner on May 5 in Beverly Hills to celebrate his life and legacy.

###

President Donald Trump says the United States is having direct talks with Pyongyang at “extremely high levels” to try to set up a summit between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Mr Trump made the acknowledgement during a photo opportunity with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as they opened two days of talks at the President’s Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, which is to include a round of golf, ABC news reports.

Mr Abe obtained an agreement from Mr Trump to bring up the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea during any summit.

Mr Trump said US officials were looking at five different locations for a late-May or early-June meeting with Mr Kim.

Asked if any of those were in the United States, Mr Trump said “no”.

He did not identify who on the US side was talking to the North Koreans.

“We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels, with North Korea,” he said.

“And I really believe this allows good will, that good things are happening.

“We’ll see what happens … because ultimately it’s the end result that counts, not the fact that we’re thinking about having a meeting, or having a meeting,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump and Mr Abe are having two days of talks largely focused on the prospective summit with Mr Kim as Japan seeks a US commitment that any denuclearisation deal the President seals with Mr Kim

###

Barbara Bush, the 37th first lady of the United States, has died at the age of 92 after long illnesses including heart disease.

She had recently been in and out of hospital but last week announced in a statement she would instead return home to “focus on comfort care”.

Mrs Bush was the second woman in history to be both a wife and a mother of a United States president — her husband George HW Bush and son George W Bush.

Abigail Adams was the wife of the second president, John Adams, and mother of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams.

The Bush family matriarch had been treated for decades for Graves’ disease, a thyroid condition.

She also had heart surgery in 2009 for a severe narrowing of her main heart valve and was hospitalised a year before that for surgery on a perforated ulcer.

Mrs Bush married George HW Bush on January 6, 1945.

They had six children and were married longer than any presidential couple in American history.

Eight years after she and her husband left the White House, Mrs Bush stood with her husband as their eldest son George W Bush was sworn in as the 43rd president.