5 things you need to know Friday
China to send special envoy to help defuse North Korea crisis
China is expected to send a high-level special envoy to North Korea on Friday amid rising tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. Song Tao, the head of China’s ruling Communist Party’s International Department, will be the first ministerial-level Chinese official to visit North Korea since October 2015. The planned visit comes after President Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping over North Korea and its secretive leader, Kim Jong Un. Trump has said Chinese pressure exerted on its heavily-dependent ally is central to U.S. policy toward the North which has gone two months without test firing a missile, the longest such dry spell this year.
Decision to allow the import of elephant trophies formally announced
A federal notice regarding the move to permit big-game hunters to import elephant trophies will be posted in the Federal Register Friday. The White House reversed an Obama-era ban on importing parts of elephants killed in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Though elephants are listed as endangered, a provision of the Endangered Species Act allows the government to give permits to import such trophies if there is evidence that the hunting benefits conservation for that species. In October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overturned a similar ban on lion trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia, having found that hunting has enhanced the survival of the lion in these two southern African countries. Animal-protection advocates slammed the decision as a "venal and nefarious pay-to-slay arrangement" that allows hunters to pay hefty fees to local government agencies for permission to hunt animals.
Leonid meteor shower to peak
Feeling nostalgic for summer's spectacular solar eclipse? Another sky show is on tap. The peak of the Leonid meteor shower — an annual mid-November treat — will be visible across the night sky late Friday night and early Saturday morning (The Leonids appear to be coming from the constellation Leo the Lion, hence their name). Viewers should see an hourly rate of some 10 to 20 meteors, experts say. Visibility will be excellent because the new moon arrives Saturday, so meteors won't be washed out by lunar light. The best time to watch the Leonids is usually between the hours of midnight and dawn.
There finally will be no more 'Mike & Mike'
After 18 years on the air — and a messy, months-long breakup — ESPN's Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg will end their Mike & Mike program on Friday. The network announced in May that the duo would be parting ways. At the time, rumors swirled that the two were no longer on speaking terms. Since then, they have insisted they are still friends. "I'm going to miss him. It's just that simple," Greenberg said in June. Greenberg is moving on to a new morning ESPN TV show, while Golic will remain on morning radio with new partner Trey Wingo.
'Justice League' flies into theaters
The highly anticipated superhero film Justice League hits theaters Friday. The ensemble film, which teams Ben Affleck's Batman, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and other DC Comics superheroes in a bid to save the planet from an invader, is Warner Brother's biggest DC Comics superhero movie to date. The journey to the big screen, however, hasn't been an easy one. From last year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice precursor being met with bad reviews, to a family tragedy that resulted in director Zack Snyder stepping aside from the project and Avengers director Joss Whedon taking over, the film has been marred with challenges. The end result should please fans.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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