Kim Jong Un is adding a new wrinkle on the long-standing North Korean strategy of detaining U.S. citizens to use as bargaining chips, experts tell NBC News.

U.S. citizen Kim Hak Song was taken into custody Saturday for "hostile acts against the republic," according to state media, bringing the total number of Americans held in the Hermit Kingdom to four.

Unlike his father, who brought the U.S. to the negotiation table by detaining Americans, Kim Jong Un is using prisoners to protect himself, analysts said.

"Kim Jong Un is using hostage diplomacy as a part of his military and defense strategy with focus on preventing the U.S. from removing him from power as well as to prevent the U.S. from taking military options against North Korea," said Dr. An Chan Il, president of the World Institute for North Korea Studies and a defector.

An early morning fire completely charred a Pala home, leaving only rubble and displacing three adults and two children. 

Cal Fire San Diego firefighters first responded to the fire around 3 a.m. Monday on the 36000 block of Pala Del Norte Road, just north of State Route 76 and slightly west of Pala. 

The flames completely destroyed the home, firefighters said. 

Three adults and two children were displayed. 

Fire engines will remain at the scene for four more hours as they mop down hot spots and clean up. 

No further information was available. 

Former President Barack Obama warned Donald Trump against hiring Mike Flynn as his national security adviser, three former Obama administration officials tell NBC News.

The warning, which has not been previously reported, came less than 48 hours after the November election when the two sat down for a 90-minute conversation in the Oval Office.

The revelation comes on a day that former acting Attorney General Sally Yates is expected to testify that Flynn misled the White House about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the United States.

NBC News has asked the Trump administration for a response.

Students and staff returning to Torrey Pines High School (TPHS) for the first time since an officer-involved shooting that left a 15-year-old student dead in the campus' parking lot will have access to counseling support, psychologists, social workers and mental health professionals. 

"It’s going to be very difficult for all of our students, and Anyone in the community who knows what happened," San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) Superintendent Eric Dill said. "This was big news over the weekend and so hopefully everyone’s had some time to prepare for this and that’s why we want to make sure we have all the support necessary for students and our community and our teachers to help handle this."

The shooting happened Saturday morning just before 3:30 a.m. when the teen called 911, asking officers to conduct a welfare check on a minor -- himself -- who was standing at the TPHS parking lot in the 3700 block of Del Mar Heights Road in Carmel Valley, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Acting Homicide Capt. Mike Holden said.

The student spoke about himself in the third person in what Holden described as a routine, "very general 'check the welfare'" call to police.

The caller stated that the minor who needed to be checked on did not have a weapon, Holden said.

Two officers -- a 28-year veteran and a 4-year veteran of the SDPD -- headed to the parking lot and found the student standing in the front parking lot of the school.

When officers arrived at the parking lot and got out their patrol car, the teenager allegedly pulled a what appeared to be a gun from his waistband and pointed it at the officers. The officers fired their weapons at the teen, fatally striking him several times. The student was rushed to a local hospital where he died a short time later.

A "semi-automatic BB air pistol" was recovered by police at the scene, Holden said.

The student will not be identified, the SDPD said, due to his age. He lived in the neighborhood with his family.

Dill said the SDUHSD will do everything possible to maintain their daily routine while supporting faculty, students, and parents during this event.

"Well we’re going to try and stay on track as much as we can, but obviously recognizing that we have a lot of students that are going to need to process this with teachers, so teachers are going to be told that they need to be prepared to adjust their plans today in order to handle the situation," Dill said.

He encouraged any students or parents who needed help processing the situation to reach out to the school or get in touch with their own support networks. 

"If any students are struggling at all, we have lots of caring adults at all of our schools who can be spoken with and they’ll get the help that our kids need," Dill said.

Dill said it was difficult to lose a student in any circumstances, but especially so in this case. 

"We’re going to get through all of this together," Dill said. "We’ve got a great team of administrators and teachers and a caring community that supports this school and this school district so we’re going to get through this the best we can."

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information can reach out to the SDPD's Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

A pizza delivery driver shot and killed a teenage would-be robber who opened fire on him as he attempted a delivery in Mesquite Saturday night. A second teen is in custody following the attempted aggravated robbery.

Mesquite police said a Domino's Pizza driver was delivering to a home in the 1400 block of Springwood Drive at about 11:20 p.m. when two men answered the door and tried to rob him. 

Police said one of the teens was armed and fired at the delivery driver. The driver was also armed and fired back, killing the teen. 

Responding officers found the wounded teen, identified by the medical examiner's office as 16-year-old Wayne Delaney Osborne, of Mesquite, nearby. He was later pronounced dead.

The second suspect, also 16, was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery. Attorney informaton was not immeditately clear. 

According to police, the home was vacant and a "For Lease" sign was removed from the front of the house. Police believe the teens used the empty residence to lure the driver to the home with plans to rob him. 

Jaden Frazier said he played pee-wee football with Osborne and the two were childhood friends. Frazier went to the shooting site Sunday after hearing the news and said he couldn't believe it was real.

"Wayne was always in a good mood," Frazier said. "I mean, like everybody, he got in trouble every now and then, but I would never know he would do something like that." 

Osborne was a sophomore at John Horn High School in Mesquite. Mesquite ISD released a statement Sunday afternoon:

According to Mesquite police, the delivery driver did not have a license to carry the weapon. They said once the shooting investigation is complete, they will determine whether charges of unlawful carrying of a weapon will be brought against the driver.

Domino's Pizza also released a statement about the driver on Sunday evening.

The owner of the Domino's on Galloway Avenue said it was a tragic situation for everyone involved, adding that the driver had been working for him for about nine months. 

Driver's typically carry less than $20 in change.

A world premiere musical, Shakespeare classics and San Diego favorites are a few of the many pieces that will make up The Old Globe's 2017 to 2018 season. 

“Our 2017–2018 Season is as varied and exciting as any I’ve had the privilege to present,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein in a statement. “The lineup includes everything that makes The Old Globe one of this country’s preeminent theatres: Broadway-caliber musical theatre, sumptuously produced classics, and powerful and innovative world premieres, all created by artists who are working at the very top-rank of the contemporary American and international theatre. It’s also a diverse season, in every sense."

The season will kick off in September with the world premiere musical "Benny & Joon", based on the beloved 1993 offbeat romantic comedy.

The musical, with a book by Kirsten Guenther, music by Nolan Gasser and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, follows auto mechanic Benny and his eclectic sister Joon. The musical will run from Sept. 7 to Oct. 22. 

A second world-premiere play -- with live music -- will open next spring at the Globe. "American Mariachi", by José Cruz González, transports audiences back to 1970s, when two cousins start an all-girl mariachi band. 

Following the 2016 success of her last play, playwright Anna Ziegler returns to the Globe next year for the world premiere of "The Wanderers". The funny and mysterious new drama, commissioned by the Globe, explores the hidden ties between two couples. The play will run from April 5 to May 6, 2018. 

A new adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel "A Thousand Splendid Suns" will come to life in a new play, written by Ursula Rani Sarma. The play is directed by Carey Perloff in association with American Conservatory Theater. It will run from May 13 to June 17, 2018. 

Two classic revivals will take over the winter part of the Globe's new season. "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Uncle Vanya" will play in January to March, and February to March, respectively. "Uncle Vanya" is a Globe-commissioned world premiere translation by Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky.

Audiences seeking out Shakespeare in the next year will have two options. The fourth "Globe for All Tour" will bring the playwright's "Twelfth Night" to audiences across the County in October and November. In November, the Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program will present the classic "Romeo and Juliet". 

Also filling out the season: "Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!", returning for its 20th annual production, "The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey", a tour-de-force one man show by playwright James Lecesne, Karen Zacarias's "Native Gardens", developed at the 2017 Powers New Voices Festival, and the U.S. premiere of "Dr. Seuss's The Lorax". 

A driver smashed through the doorway of a restaurant in Del Mar on Monday, confirmed the San Diego Fire-Rescue.

Shattered door frames and broken flower pots were scattered around the Flower Child restaurant after the crash.

It appeared to be an elderly man reversing from his parking spot, who accidentally stuck his foot on the gas pedal instead of his brakes and hit a pedestrian, Trenten Pecaro, a witness told NBC 7.

An elderly woman was sideswiped by the driver, said Pecaro. Paramedics were requested at the scene and attended to her.

"It could have been way worse than it was," said Pecaro. "Everyone was shocked at first. Everyone was just standing there."

Pecaro says there weren't any people except employees inside because the restaurant was set to open in half an hour.

Crews were requested at the scene of the crash on the 2000 block of Via De La Valle. It happened just before 10:45 a.m., near the Del Mar Shopping Center and east of Interstate 5.

"It's so surreal to see something like that," said Pecaro. "I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay, and no one was hurt."

San Diego police are also responding to the incident. It was not yet clear whether anyone was injured. No other information was immediately available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

Another Trump has big plans in Washington.

Tiffany Trump, President Donald Trump's younger daughter, has enrolled at Georgetown Law, a university spokesman confirmed Monday.

"I am so proud of Tiffany. Georgetown University is a truly amazing school, and she is going to love her time in Washington, D.C.," her brother Eric Trump told DailyMail.com.

Trump, 23, is a 2016 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she double majored in sociology and urban studies.

Georgetown Law is about a mile-and-a-half from the White House and is ranked 15 by U.S. News and World Report.

A spokeswoman for the Trump family did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.

When the Defense Intelligence Agency renewed former director Mike Flynn’s security clearance in April 2016, he didn’t inform the agency that he’d been paid nearly $34,000 by a Russian state media outlet, NBC News reported.

Flynn disclosed a December 2015 trip to Moscow to the DIA, but never disclosed payment he received from RT, two U.S. officials told NBC News.

The U.S. Constitution prohibits retired generals from accepting foreign payments without permission, and now the Defense Department inspector general is investigating whether Flynn broke the rules.

When Flynn became national security adviser, he was required to obtain a new White House security clearance under the auspices of the CIA, but the clearance wasn’t granted before he was pushed out of the job.

Backlash for a sales pitch from Jared Kushner's family firm to Chinese investors came quickly, with one former White House ethics advisor calling the weekend's presentation "corruption, pure and simple."

Richard Painter, formerly an attorney for President George W. Bush, said the sales pitch, which focused on an "investor visa" program and mentioned both Jared Kushner and President Donald Trump, came "very, very close to solicitation of a bribe."

Over the weekend, the Kushner Companies invited wealthy foreigners to sink cash into a New Jersey real estate project via the EB-5 program. The so-called "golden visa" program gives foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in U.S. development projects a faster track to pursue green cards for themselves and their families.

Nicole Meyer, Kushner's sister, said Monday through a spokesperson that she was sorry if anyone misinterpreted her mention of her brother.

A woman arrested for allegedly shooting at her neighbor after a noise dispute escalated into a SWAT standoff appeared in court Monday.

Brittany Lefler, 35, is accused of firing a shot through a neighbors front door and locking herself in a Clairemont Mesa home for about six hours.

"Shock" and "fear" were some of the words witnesses used to describe the chaos that erupted when Lefler allegedly fired a gun through a neighbor's door, because she was angry over a noise complaint.

Lefler listened carefully, jotting down notes while neighbors testified against her.

Last December, police were called to her apartment on Beadnell Way  after a neighbor complained she was being too loud. Lefler received a warning and the police left, but they returned after she confronted the complaining neighbor by shooting at her door and pointing a gun at two more people.

The disturbance in the neighborhood prompted the evacuation of residents in surrounding apartments, road closures and even a precautionary lock down of a nearby preschool.

The victim who reported the noise complaint told police Lefler had fired shots at her during the confrontation, while she was in her apartment and as she walked on a staircase outside.

Lefler refused to leave her apartment for six hours while SWAT teams surrounded the location before her eventual arrest. Police say there were three people inside the apartment she fired into, including a 10-year-old child.

Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates appeared before a Senate panel investigating Russian interference on the 2016 presidential election, testifying that Michael Flynn was susceptible to blackmail by Russia.

Authorities have identified the passenger killed when a car flipped off a ramp near Carlsbad in the early hours of Sunday morning. 

Mireyya Hernandez, 22, of Descanso, was sitting in the back right passenger seat of a double-cab pickup truck driving northbound on Interstate 5 shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office. She was one of three people in the car. 

As the driver took the transition to State Route 78 east, the driver lost control of the car. 

The vehicle rolled over the ramp and tumbled down a nearby embankment, landing on its roof near to the Buena Vista Lagoon in Carlsbad. 

The impact of the crash crushed the roof of the car, trapping all three passengers inside. 

First responders traveled down a steep and muddy embankment during rain showers to access the car and began an extensive rescue effort, Oceanside Fire Department Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence said.

Several units were called to the scene of the crash, and crews used multiple rescue tools in the extensive effort to access the victims, including air bags to lift the car, and Jaws of Life to remove parts of the car, Lawrence said. 

Hernandez was pronounced dead on scene. 

Two other victims were taken to a local hospital. Their conditions are not known. 

American Airlines is being sued by an Australian traveler who says he suffered injuries after being seated next to two obese people for a 14-hour flight, NBC News reported.

Michael Anthony Taylor, 67, told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph he spent most of a trip from Sydney to Los Angeles "crouching, kneeling, bracing or standing."

He said the airline wouldn’t change his seat and that the positions worsened his scoliosis and caused back injuries as well as neck bruising.

The flight occurred on Dec. 28, 2015. A spokesperson for American Airlines told NBC News the company had just received the lawsuit and is reviewing the allegations.

A water contact closure was issued Monday for Imperial Beach due to contamination from Tijuana River runoff.

According to the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health, sewage contaminated runoff has been entering the Tijuana Estuary from the Tijuana River after the recent rainfall.

The shoreline will remain closed until testing indicates the water is no longer contaminated.

Report of a suspicious device in the parking lot of Grossmont Center Mall Monday was not a threat, according to the La Mesa Police Department (LMPD).

The incident was reported at 4:04 p.m, police said.

A small black box was left in a Target basket in the middle of the parking lot. 

Officers blocked off the area while they investigated the device. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department Bomb/Arson team was also called out.

As of 4:55 p.m., police were clearing the area after the device was found not to be a threat.

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.

It's another financially troubling time at San Diego's City Hall.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer's latest budget proposal is leaking red ink.

And the City Council is hearing from unhappy "stakeholders" trying to save their funding.

The annual budget review process is when councilmembers really fight for their constituencies, hoping the mayor can balance specific wish lists with his overall priorities before reaching a final spending plan.

"Community services" such as street upgrades reflect where Faulconer wants to direct big bucks.

He's calling for the largest investment in so-called "infrastructure" projects in the last decade.

But $44 million in cuts are needed in the $1.4 billion general fund budget, because of unexpectedly high costs such as pensions and personnel expenses.

So the fiscal knife is targeting arts and culture programs, looking to slice nearly a third of last year's $14 million outlay.

While the rest is still more than those programs got three years ago, it's not acceptable to members of the arts community.

Dozens took their case to City Hall on Monday -- both outside for a protest demonstration on Civic Center Plaza, and inside the Council chamber.

Council members reviewing the mayor's proposals heard Barry Edelstein, artistic director of the Old Globe Theatre, stress the programs' importance here and far beyond.

“The Globe and our colleagues are doing national-level work in arts engagement -- bringing the arts to populations that are socially and culturally diverse around our city. That's the stuff that these cuts are going to hurt.!"

The Council's response to the mayor's proposals are expected in a week or so.

City budget analysts already are warning of big deficits in the following fiscal year.

A San Diego teenager is one of eighteen Penn State fraternity brothers facing charges in connection with the hazing death of a fraternity pledge.

Luke Visser of Encinitas is one of eight members charged with involuntary manslaughter in Timothy Piazza’s death.

He was also charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, consumption of alcohol by a minor, 12 counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, 14 counts of hazing and 14 counts of recklessly endangering another person, according to the Centre County District Attorney.

Visser is a graduate of La Costa Canyon high school in Carlsbad. He was also listed as a member of the school's varsity football team in 2014 and 2015, according to Maxpreps.com.

Prosecutors say Visser admitted to running the beer pong tournament on the night of a hazing event known as "The Guantlet."

Surveillance video shows Visser may have been one of the last fraternity members to see Piazza before he fell down the basement stairs, according to prosecutors. He was one of four fraternity brothers who carried Piazza’s limp body from the floor to the couch.

Authorities say the victim repeatedly fell down a flight of stairs after he and other pledges were made to participate in a gantlet of drinking stations that included guzzling vodka, beer and wine.

Beta Theta Pi members failed to request help for 19-year-old Timothy Piazza, causing him to suffer for hours and possibly making his injuries worse, a prosecutor said Friday in announcing the results of a grand jury investigation.

"This is a very sad day for Centre County — it's been sad ever since we lost a child for reasons that are totally preventable," District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said.

An attorney for the chapter didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The grand jury, aided by security camera footage, said the fraternity was heavily stocked with booze for the event.

Piazza, a sophomore engineering student from Lebanon, and 13 others accepted pledge bids at the ceremony on Feb. 2. The pledges were pressured to drink heavily.

The victim tumbled down a flight of stairs that night and fell several other times, injuring his head, Miller said. The next morning, he fell down the stairs again.

Piazza was unconscious when help was finally summoned. He died two days later as a result of a traumatic brain injury.

Miller said doctors estimate Piazza had a blood-alcohol content of nearly 0.40 percent. In comparison, the legal limit for drivers is 0.08 percent.

An 18-acre religious retreat planned for Mission Valley has hit another snag in approval.

The Legacy International Center plans to feature replicas of Roman catacombs and Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall, according to the developer’s website.

The San Diego Planning Commission, set to review the project this week, requested a continuance on Friday and a new date for review has not yet been set, according to a public information officer with the city.

The retreat is planned for the lot where the Mission Valley Resort sits along with the Family Restaurant, and a liquor store.

Opposition to the development is already mounting among San Diego’s LGBTQ community because of the developer’s ties to the discredited “ex-Gay” movement.

Televangelist Morris Cerullo describe the site as a tourist attraction in an online promotional video, saying the idea for it came to him from Jesus in a dream.

The location is near the Interstate 8 freeway in Mission Valley, just down the hill from Hillcrest and UCSD Medical Center.

Traffic has already been listed as a concern among opponents of the idea, along with Cerullo’s belief in trying to turn gay people straight.

“Thinking you can be changed from your orientation, it’s really a step backwards in where we are as a community. It really has no place in San Diego,” said Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, the president of the San Diego Democrats for Equality club.

The Union Tribune first reported on new details on the $160 million project this morning.

If approved by the San Diego Planning Commission, the Legacy Center would need full City Council approval as well.

Hundreds of San Diegans rallied in front of the City Administration building Monday morning to protest a proposed 31 percent cut to the arts in the coming fiscal year budget. 

The proposed fiscal year 2017 - 2018 budget would reduce funding from $14 million to $10 million for arts, culture and community festivals. 

Supporters from organizations across San Diego, like the San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition, San Diego Museum Council and more, came out for the "Rise Up for the Arts" event, asking the City Council and Mayor to reconsider the cuts.

"We’re concerned these 31 percent cuts are going to be devastating to a wide range of the programs that matter most to our neighborhoods, to our schools," Allen Sidecar, with the San Diego Arts and Culture Coalition, told City Councilmembers at Monday's budget hearing.

The mayor proposed a cut to the arts as a way to help deal with the 2018 deficit. The 2018 proposed budget is $112 million, almost a one percent increase from the previous year. 

Back in 2012, the Penny for the Arts 5-year blueprint was created to restore arts, culture and community festivals. The blueprint got nearly 10 percent of the city transient occupancy tax money.

This year's proposal would reduce that by less than half, meaning organizations who get these funds would have a smaller allocation given to them.

James Castaneda, a San Diego resident, called arts a unifying force, adding that cutting funding would cause long term damage. 

"It’s what drives community…arts is a mean for teens, whether they're troubled, whatever they have going on, to vent, to put how they're feeling into something constructive," Castaneda said.

Supporters said the proposed cut in funding would not be something arts organizations across San Diego could make up for in private donations. 

"These funding cuts are way too drastic, they can’t really turn back on their word," said Jennie Grunstad, with the New Children's Museum. "We need to be out here, support the arts; kids need art, grownups need art too, and we’re out here to stand up for what we believe in."

She stood in front of the City Administration building, along with hundreds of others, on Monday morning, rallying with a sign in her hands. 

Grunstad said the cuts would be devastating to arts in San Diego, a field crucial to the community. 

"People are much more successful when they have access to art, especially as children," she said. "We really need this funding for the arts, it’s more important than anything."