Your Thursday Evening Briefing

Wells Fargo, North Korea, Cuba | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, April 19, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Thursday Evening Briefing]( By KAREN ZRAICK AND BRENT MURRAY Good evening. Here’s the latest. Max Whittaker for The New York Times 1. U.S. regulators are [expected to fine Wells Fargo $1 billion]( for a range of alleged misdeeds, in the biggest bank penalty of the Trump era. The company is accused of forcing customers to buy auto insurance policies that they didn’t need and of improperly charging mortgage customers, according to people briefed on the action. Above, its headquarters in San Francisco. The penalty is likely to be announced Friday. Wells Fargo used to be regarded as one of the country’s best-run banks. But it’s been reeling from a [string of self-inflicted crises]( in recent years. _____ Eric Thayer for The New York Times 2. Rudy Giuliani will join President Trump’s legal team. Mr. Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and longtime friend of President Trump, [will work to “quickly” resolve the special counsel investigation]( into Russian election interference and possible ties to Trump associates. Mr. Trump will also hire two former federal prosecutors based in Florida, giving him a broader legal stable as he faces the special counsel and the threat of an investigation into his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. _____ Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 3. North Korea has apparently removed a major obstacle to negotiations with the U.S. South Korea reported that Kim Jong-un is [no longer demanding that American troops be removed from South Korea]( as a condition for denuclearization. If confirmed, that’s a game changer. Above, American soldiers in South Korea dragged dummies during a competition earlier this month. Officials are scrambling to work out the details for a meeting between Mr. Kim and President Trump in the coming weeks. They’re still hunting for a location, and travel time is a major concern: It’s unclear [whether Mr. Kim’s fleet of Soviet-era planes can fly]( more than a few thousand miles. _____ Hassan Ammar/Associated Press 4. A Pentagon assessment has [concluded that the American-led strike against the Syrian government]( seen above, most likely will not stop its chemical weapons program. And we launched a new podcast, “Caliphate,” following our reporter Rukmini Callimachi as she reports on the Islamic State. In the latest episode, she talks to a former member about how and why he joined. [Listen here]( and you can also [sign up for email updates]( about new episodes. _____ Tristan Spinski for The New York Times 5. For decades, marriage to an American citizen has been a virtual guarantee of legal residency, the main hurdle being proof that the relationship is legitimate. Not anymore. Now some people who had old deportation orders are being [arrested when they show up for their marriage interviews](. That’s what happened to Leandro Arriaga, above with his family. He spent two months in detention before a judge released him with an ankle monitor. Would you pass the green card marriage interview? Here is a sampling of [questions gathered from immigration lawyers]( that you can try with your partner. _____ Jacqueline Larma/Associated Press 6. Two black men whose arrests at a Starbucks in Philadelphia led to protests have spoken about the ordeal for the first time. [Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, both 23, said]( they went to the Starbucks for a meeting involving real estate that they had been working on for months. “I want to make sure that this situation doesn’t happen again,” Mr. Robinson, right, said on “Good Morning America.” “What I want is for young men to not be traumatized by this, and instead motivated, inspired.” Starbucks announced it would close thousands of stores for anti-bias training next month. The announcement thrust a fundamental question to center stage: [D]( such training actually work?]( ____ Irene Perez/Cubadebate, via Associated Press 7. For the first time in decades, Cubans have a president whose last name is not Castro. Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, left, took the helm of government to a standing ovation from the National Assembly. [Here’s what we know about him.]( He replaces Raúl Castro, who stepped down after two terms as president. [Mr. Castro will remain the leader]( of the Communist Party and the head of the armed forces. There’s a sense of wistfulness among aging Cuban exiles in Miami who have been waiting decades to see the Castros go. But with a handpicked successor taking office, they [don’t expect real change anytime soon](. _____ Marc Ducrest/Montreux Jazz Festival, via EPA 8. Two years after the sudden death of Prince by accidental overdose, the authorities in Minnesota announced that no one would be criminally charged in the case. The county attorney said the enigmatic musician died after unknowingly taking counterfeit Vicodin that contained fentanyl. But, he said, there was [“no reliable evidence of how Prince obtained” the fatal drug](. Though Prince had been a strict proponent of sober living, friends said he had suffered from chronic hip pain that he was trying to manage and perform through. _____ Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado. Source photo: C Flanigan/Getty Images. 9. At the time of his death, Prince was mentoring Janelle Monáe as she worked on what would become [her new album, “Dirty Computer.”]( It’s her first solo studio album in five years, and a celebratory ode to femininity and queer people. Our Times Magazine writer Jenna Wortham traveled to Los Angeles for a listening party — and then to Ms. Monáe’s artistic compound, Wondaland Arts Society in Atlanta, to discuss it. “Right now I’m escaping the gravity of the labels that people have tried to place on me that have stopped my evolution,” Ms. Monáe said. “You have to go ahead and soar, and not be afraid to jump.” _____ via, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 10. Robots have taken our jobs, learned our chores and beaten us at our own games. Now, researchers in Singapore say they have trained one to perform another task known to confound humans: [assembling furniture from Ikea.]( It took a robot just 20 minutes to put together most of a $25 Stefan chair. But take heart: The robot didn’t succeed right away. There were several failed attempts, and researchers tweaked the system repeatedly before the robot was finally able to assemble the chair on its own. _____ Comedy Central 11. Finally, the late-night hosts were still digesting the news of the secret trip to North Korea by the C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, over Easter weekend. “I can’t believe Trump kept something this big secret!” [Stephen Colbert exclaimed](. “How did he do it? I mean, the only possible explanation is that Michael Cohen paid him $130,000 to stay quiet about it.” Have a great night. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. Want to catch up on past briefings? [You can browse them here](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? 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