10 things you need to know today: February 25, 2019

1. Trump delays higher tariffs on Chinese imports

President Trump announced via Twitter on Sunday that he would delay hikes on Chinese import tariffs that were scheduled to start March 1. Trump said negotiators from the world's two biggest economies were making "substantial progress" on a host of issues, including "on important structural issues including intellectual property protection." He said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would finalize a trade deal in a summit at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach, Florida, club. The new tariffs had been scheduled to hit at the end of a three-month truce Trump and Xi agreed to in December. The trade war has rattled financial markets and dragged down projections for global economic growth.

CNN

2. 2019 Oscars: Green Book, Rami Malek, Olivia Colman win

Green Book came out on top at the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday, winning the Best Picture award. The night's other winners included: Roma's Alfonso Cuaron for Best Director and Best Cinematography; The Favourite's Olivia Colman for Best Actress; Bohemian Rhapsody's Rami Malek for Best Actor; If Beale Street Could Talk's Regina King for Best Supporting Actress; Green Book's Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for Best Animated Feature; and Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt, and Benjamin Rice won for Best Original Song for A Star is Born's "Shallow." Spike Lee won the first Oscar of his career, taking home the Best Original Screenplay award for BlacKkKlansman.

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Variety The New York Times

3. South Korea says Trump, Kim might declare end to Korean War

The office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday that President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might agree at their second summit to a joint statement officially declaring an end to the Korean War, which was halted in a 1953 truce. "The possibility is open," said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for Moon. Moon has advocated declaring the war over as a way to build trust between North Korea and the United States and to prod the North to move toward giving up its nuclear weapons. Trump and Kim are meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday and Thursday. Kim is heading to Hanoi by train, but North Korean and American negotiators are already there working out an agenda.

The New York Times

4. Schiff: Democrats will demand Mueller report with subpoena if necessary

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Democrats would issue a subpoena for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report on his team's investigation into Russian election meddling and possible collusion by President Trump's campaign if Attorney General William Barr doesn't give the document to Congress. "We will obviously subpoena the report. We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress; we will take it to court if necessary. And in the end, I think the (Justice) Department understands they're going to have to make this public," Schiff said on ABC's This Week. Reports last week suggested that Mueller's office would wrap up its 21-month investigation soon, possibly sending the report to Barr as soon as this week.

Reuters

5. Embattled Virginia politician likens resignation calls to lynching

Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), who is black, made an impromptu speech in the state Senate on Sunday and compared widespread calls for his resignation due to sexual assault allegations to Jim Crow era lynchings. "I've heard much about anti-lynching on the floor of this very Senate, where people were not given any due process whatsoever," Fairfax said. "And yet we stand here in a rush to judgment with nothing but accusations and no facts and we decide that we are willing to do the same thing." Two women, both of them African Americans, have accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting them.

The Associated Press

6. Commandos kill hijacking suspect in Bangladesh

Military commandos in Bangladesh shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to hijack a state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight and demanded to speak to the country's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. Authorities described the Bangladeshi man, believed to be 25 years old, as a terrorist, and said he was killed by commandos who stormed the plane after the pilot, concerned about the man's "suspicious behavior," made an emergency landing after taking off from Dhaka, the country's capital. Witnesses said the man had tried to get into the cockpit, waving a gun and threatening to blow up the plane. None of the more than 140 passengers and seven crew members on the Boeing 737-800 were harmed.

The Washington Post

7. Taliban deputy chief joins negotiations with U.S.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, currently the Islamist group's deputy leader, arrived in Qatar on Sunday for what will be the highest-level talks yet between insurgents and the U.S. on ending the Afghanistan war. The talks are scheduled to start Monday in Qatar's capital, Doha, aiming to build on a deal framework the two sides agreed to in principle last week. The draft agreement calls for the U.S. to withdraw its remaining soldiers from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban's vow to never let Afghanistan be used by terrorists. The group ran the country when al Qaeda leaders sheltered there plotted the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The New York Times BBC News

8. Cubans expected to approve constitutional referendum

Cubans voted on a constitutional referendum on Sunday that is expected to pass but possibly with an unusual level of opposition. The draft constitution retains the island's one-party communist rule but legitimizes private businesses and acknowledges foreign investment. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the first leader outside the Castro family in more than 60 years, lined up to vote along with his wife outside a polling station early Sunday. He urged Cubans to vote "yes" and criticized "imperialist threats" by the U.S. against Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Results are expected Monday.

NBC News Reuters

9. White House reportedly creating panel to challenge climate change consensus

The White House is planning to create a working group comprised of specific federal scientists to reconsider the determination that the burning of fossil fuels is bad for the planet, The Washington Post reported Sunday, citing three senior Trump administration officials. The panel, a National Security Council initiative not subject to public records requests, will include members who are skeptical about climate change and the impact humanity has on global warming, the officials said. The scientific consensus is that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are driving global warming, and if something isn't done to curb them, the planet won't be able to recover.

The Washington Post

10. 3 killed in Amazon Prime Air cargo plane crash

An Amazon Prime Air cargo plane operated by Atlas Air crashed into a swampy area about 30 miles from George Bush International Airport, killing three people, Atlas Air said Sunday. The Saturday crash occurred as the plane was nearing its destination on a flight from Miami. "It is with great sadness that Atlas Air Worldwide has confirmed that the three people on board ... did not survive the accident," the company said in a Sunday afternoon statement. Atlas CEO Bill Flynn said the company was setting up assistance programs for relatives of the people who were killed. Federal and local authorities are searching for the plane's flight recorders.

USA Today