10 things you need to know today: May 6, 2018

(Image credit: NBC/Screenshot)

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1. Trump talks immigration at Ohio tax event
2. Iran warns against U.S. exit from nuclear deal
3. North Korea denies U.S. sanctions prompted denuclearization pledge
4. Anti-Putin protesters met by riot police in Moscow
5. Bomb attack kills 12 in Afghan mosque
6. Pakistani coal mine explosion kills 23
7. Rockfall kills 7 in South African gold mine
8. McCain reportedly does not want Trump to attend his funeral
9. Justify wins Kentucky Derby
10. Stormy Daniels, Ben Stiller, Martin Short appear in SNL cold open

last updated 6 May 2018

1. Trump talks immigration at Ohio tax event

President Trump was in Cleveland, Ohio, Saturday for a tax policy event at which he instead devoted much of his attention to immigration. "They don't want the wall, but we're going to get the wall, even if we have to think about closing up the country for a while," Trump said. "We're going to get the wall. We have no choice. We have absolutely no choice. And we're going to get tremendous security in our country." It is unclear what he meant by "closing up the country." Trump also promoted Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), who is running for the Senate seat now held by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

Iran issued a warning Saturday against U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which President Trump has threatened. "If America leaves the nuclear deal, this will entail historic regret for it," said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Meanwhile, Trump's new personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told reporters Saturday his client is "committed to regime change" in Iran, which Giuliani cast as a way to make Tehran a U.S. and Israeli ally. The United States' last round of regime change in Iran, the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup that ousted a democratic government, contributes to poor U.S.-Iran relations to this day.

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North Korea on Sunday said it did not decide to pledge to denuclearize because of increased U.S. sanctions leveled by the Trump administration in recent months. North Korean state media accused Washington of "misleading public opinion" by claiming the sanctions prompted the vow. Such a claim "cannot be construed otherwise than a dangerous attempt to ruin the hardly-won atmosphere of dialogue and bring the situation back to square one," said a foreign ministry representative in Pyongyang. President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet this month.

Thousands of demonstrators turned out to protest Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming inauguration in Moscow on Saturday. Gathering in Pushkin Square at the city center, they were met by police in riot gear who promptly arrested opposition leader Alexei Navalny. An estimated 1,600 protesters were arrested in Moscow and other cities with anti-Putin rallies. In Moscow, demonstrators chanted slogans including, "Down with the tsar!" and "Russia without Putin!" The Russian president faced seven challengers in his March re-election campaign; he won his fourth term with 77 percent of the vote. Navalny was banned from the ballot.

A bombing at a mosque in the eastern Khost province of Afghanistan killed at least a dozen people and wounded 33 more on Sunday, local officials reported. The mosque was being used as a voter registration center for an upcoming parliamentary election. A suicide attack on another voter registration location in Kabul last month left at least 57 people dead. While Sunday's attack has yet to be claimed by the Islamic State or the Taliban, the April incident was claimed by ISIS.

An explosion and subsequent landslides at a coal mine in Quetta, Pakistan, killed at least 23 people Saturday and Sunday. Another 16 people are injured, and 12 more miners are thought to be trapped in the rubble. Officials reported the blast happened because of an accumulation of methane gas. The mines, which are owned by the state-run Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation but operated by private contractors, are known to have a poor safety record. Rescue efforts are ongoing Sunday.

An earthquake Thursday led to a rockfall in a gold mine near Johannesburg, South Africa, trapping 13 miners for several days. The mining company, Sibanye-Stillwater, on Saturday reported seven of the miners were killed and the other six are hospitalized for their injuries. They are in stable condition. This is the second time workers have been stuck in a Sibanye-Stillwater mine in South Africa this year. Earlier in 2018, about 1,000 miners were trapped for hours thanks to a power failure. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the firm will be investigated.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer, has reportedly told friends he does not want President Trump at his funeral. Instead, The New York Times reported Saturday citing an unnamed source close to the McCain family, the senator would prefer the presence of Vice President Mike Pence, his former congressional colleague. The Times report says McCain's wishes have been communicated to the White House. The senator's final book, a memoir, is due to release this month.

After pulling ahead of the pack in the final half mile, Justify won the 144th Kentucky Derby on a rain-drenched track Saturday. Trained by Triple Crown-winner Bob Baffert, Justify was the favorite to win, with 3-1 odds going into the legendary race. He is the first colt since 1882 to win without having raced as a 2-year-old, breaking the the 136-year-old "Curse of Apollo." "When he got away clean, I thought we had a chance," Baffert said. "He was doing it easy." Good Magic and Audible came in second and third, respectively.

Saturday Night Live came back from a brief break with a star-studded cold open anchored by comedian Ben Stiller reprising his role as President Trump's hapless personal attorney Michael Cohen, now being wiretapped by the FBI (in real life, the agency monitored the metadata of his calls but did not tap them). Cohen is on the phone with Alec Baldwin's President Trump, Kate McKinnon's Rudy Giuliani, Martin Short's Dr. Harold Bornstein, and the actual adult film star Stormy Daniels as herself. Her message for the Trumps of SNL and the White House alike: "A storm's coming, baby."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.