BEIJING (AP) — China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative meshes perfectly with the goals of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

Putin’s comments to a Belt and Road forum in Beijing may help alleviate concerns over potential tensions between China and Russia, given Beijing’s rapidly expanding economic footprint in Central Asia, Moscow’s traditional sphere of influence.

Putin told some three-dozen leaders attending the conference that China’s moves “fit perfectly into our plans.”

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The federal government has six months to identify potentially thousands of children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border early in President Donald Trump’s term, a judge ordered Thursday.

Trump administration officials said they had a goal of six months but opposed any deadline, saying it could take as long as two years to reunite children with their parents if efforts to speed up the process fail.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — One of the largest annual gatherings of indigenous people in the United States begins Friday in New Mexico, where organizers of the two-day powwow say they want to build awareness around the deaths and disappearances of Native American women.

MOSCOW, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia will cooperate on an array of major strategic projects and increase capabilities to jointly cope with security threats and challenges, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe said Thursday.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping promised Friday to set high standards for Beijing’s sweeping infrastructure-building initiative as fellow leaders praised the effort despite worries it is saddling some countries with too much debt.

Xi avoided mentioning debt in a speech at a Belt and Road forum celebrating his signature foreign initiative. But he promised changes in response to complaints about costs, dubious payoffs from the projects and possible environmental damage.

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A privately owned deep-sea search vessel with U.S. Navy salvage team on board has departed for Okinawa, Japan to assist search operations for a downed Japanese F-35A fighter, U.S. Navy said in a statement Thursday.

The Vessel, DSCV Van Gogh, is a multipurpose diving support and construction platform equipped with U.S. Navy remotely operated vehicles and a towed-pinger locator system, said the statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — North Korea insisted the U.S. agree to pay $2 million in medical costs in 2017 before it released detained American college student Otto Warmbier while he was in a coma, a former U.S. official said Thursday.

An envoy sent to North Korea to retrieve the 21-year-old student signed an agreement to pay the $2 million on instructions passed down from President Donald Trump, the former official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter.

25 Apr 2019; AFP: NASA and SpaceX remained tight-lipped Thursday about what caused a mysterious but apparently serious incident last weekend during engine tests on the Crew Dragon capsule designed to carry US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year.

SpaceX said that an "anomaly" had occurred during Saturday's ground tests at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

NEW YORK (AP) — An important pretrial hearing in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault case could play out in secret if a judge rules against news organizations fighting to keep the courtroom open.

Both the prosecution and defense have asked that Friday’s hearing, which will deal with trial strategy and potential witnesses, be held behind closed doors.

Prosecutors say they want to protect Weinstein’s right to a fair trial and shield the identities of women who’ve accused the disgraced movie mogul of wrongdoing.

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Thursday said that China opposes interference in Ukraine's internal affairs by any foreign forces.

"China takes an objective and impartial position on the issue of Ukraine," Wu Haitao, deputy permanent representative of the Chinese mission to the United Nations, told a Security Council meeting on Ukraine.

"We respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine," he added.

26 Apr 2019; AFP: At least 1,300 mainly Cuban migrants escaped Thursday from a detention center in southern Mexico after threatening to set fire to the facility to protest against overcrowding.

The escape occurred at dinner time when several inmates mutinied at the center in Tapachula, in the southern state of Chiapas, according to witnesses.

"There was a large-scale unauthorized exit of people housed in the migratory station," the National Institute of Migration (INM) said in a statement.

MCCALL, Idaho (AP) — A pilot who was trying to crash-land this week in an Idaho field instead brought his small plane to rest at the top of a 60-foot (18-meter) tree, officials said.

Pilot John Gregory was not hurt in the Monday night crash, which happened when his single-engine Piper Cub PA-18 lost power and a wing strut became entangled in the tree, according to the fire department in the resort town of McCall.

Gregory was rescued from his perch atop the giant white fir by volunteer firefighter Randy Acker, who owns a tree removal company.