Pound Slides as Parliament Fails to End Brexit Impasse Once More

The failure of May’s last-ditch effort to get her deal through Parliament leaves the U.K. with the choice between crashing out of the European Union without a deal in two weeks and seeking a long extension of its departure date. The British parliament will vote Monday on various alternatives to May’s agreement. Implied volatility on two-week pound-dollar options, which cover the current April 12 deadline for the U.K.’s exit, have surged to the highest level since the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum amid increased anxiety about a no-deal outcome.

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Friday's Brexit vote is last chance to secure exit delay: Attorney General

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Attorney General Geoffrey Cox urged lawmakers to approve the government's EU withdrawal agreement on Friday, saying it was lawmakers' last chance to ensure that Brexit will be delayed until May 22. "This is therefore the last opportunity to take advantage of our legal right," Cox told parliament, citing conclusions of a European Council summit at which the EU agreed to a delay, conditional on the withdrawal agreement being approved this week. Cox was opening a debate that is expected to conclude with a vote at 1430 GMT. ...

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Theresa May’s Brexit Deal Still Looks Doomed. Here’s the Calculation

In parallel to debating May’s deal, members of Parliament are trying to find an alternative way through the impasse with a series of non-binding “indicative votes.” The results this week showed just how hard it will be to find a consensus that a Conservative prime minister could deliver.

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Investigators believe Boeing anti-stall system was activated in Ethiopian crash: Report

In a preliminary finding, officials investigating the crash of an Ethiopian airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 believe that a flight control feature designed to prevent a stall was activated before the plane nose-dived and crashed, The Wall Street Journal reports.

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Trump out for blood in looming 2020 fight as legal perils far from over

The president celebrated victory with the Mueller report – but then his latest effort to invalidate Obamacare left some feeling he ‘stepped all over that message’ Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on 28 March. Photograph: Cory Morse/AP It felt like a victory lap. At a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday night, surrounded by a sea of red Make America Great Again hats, a defiant Donald Trump held the podium before a raucous crowd. “After three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead,” the president declared in a 90-minute speech. Basking after the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which clouded the first two years of his presidency, Trump falsely claimed “total exoneration”. He vowed retaliation against some of his sharpest critics and suggested consequences for the media were in order. He spoke of doing away with Barack Obama’s healthcare law. And he threatened to shut down the US-Mexico border as early as next week. It was a stark reminder of how Trump views his executive authority and a glimpse of his looming fight for re-election. He is much more likely to be re-elected today than he seemed at the end of last week Michael Steele “He is much more likely to be re-elected today than he seemed at the end of last week,” said Michael Steel, a Republican operative who was an aide to former House speaker John Boehner. “I think that Democratic oversight activities will continue, but this definitely took the wind out of their sails.” However, Trump’s legal perils are far from over. According to a short letter to Congress by attorney general William Barr, the special counsel’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election did not clear Trump of wrongdoing. Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, specifically stating that his report “does not exonerate” the president. Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between Trump aides and Moscow, which the president said supported his longstanding claim of “no collusion”. Left unclear was what the special counsel had to say of repeated contacts between Trump associates and Russian nationals, and lies to prosecutors about such communications. On Friday, Barr said that by mid-April he would make public a redacted version of the Mueller report, which is nearly 400 pages long. The attorney general faced criticism after drawing his own conclusion, in his letter to Congress, that Mueller did not have sufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. In a second letter released on Friday, Barr said his initial assessment was not intended to be a summary of the Mueller report and that the American public “would soon be able to read it on their own”. Trump nonetheless seized on Barr’s rendering of the Mueller report. “There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, some bad things, I would say some treasonous things against our country,” Trump told reporters last Sunday. “And hopefully people that have done such harm to our country – we’ve gone through a period of really bad things happening – those people will certainly be looked at. I’ve been looking at them for a long time.” On Fox News, Trump’s most prominent boosters chimed in. “This must be a day of reckoning for the media, for the deep state, for people who abuse power, and they did it so blatantly in this country,” said Sean Hannity, who ranks among Trump’s closest allies. It could be a reset but it’s not going to be, because the president is congenially incapable of resetting Rick Tyler “If we do not get this right, if we do not hold these people accountable, I promise you, with all the love I can muster for this country and our future for our kids and grandkids, we will lose the greatest country God has ever given man. We will lose it.” Initial polls showed little change in public perception of the Mueller investigation or potential wrongdoing by Trump. A CNN survey found nearly 60% of Americans believed Congress should continue to investigate, while 56% said they did not believe Trump had been exonerated of collusion, even though Barr’s letter said the special counsel could not establish a criminal conspiracy. Perhaps most tellingly, 86% said the findings would not affect their vote in 2020. “The political divide is virtually the same,” said Rick Tyler, a former aide to Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign. “If you didn’t like Trump before, you don’t like him anymore now. If you like Trump, you still like him.” “It could be a reset but it’s not going to be, because the president is congenially incapable of resetting.” ‘The party of healthcare’ Indeed, in the immediate wake of what some called the best week of his presidency, Trump returned to the impulsive style of governing that has prompted disorder and left his own party flatfooted. In a major shift, the administration announced on Wednesday it would back a legal effort to fully invalidate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, a move that would threaten healthcare coverage for millions of Americans, an issue which proved central to November’s midterm elections, in which Democrats regained the House. At his Michigan rally Trump renewed his call to toss out the ACA, insisting Republicans would come to be known as the ‘party of healthcare’. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP Trump’s move came over the objections of Barr and Alex Azar, his health secretary. The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, reportedly told Trump the move made no sense, given Republicans do not have a plan to replace the ACA and would be unable to move legislation. “Members feel like [the Mueller report announcement] was great and Trump stepped all over that message with the Obamacare lawsuit announcement,” a House GOP aide told Axios. Tyler said: “While I can argue lots of different structures that would be better than Obamacare, that would be like overthrowing a foreign government with no replacement government. The result would be chaos.” Undaunted, at his Michigan rally Trump renewed his call to toss out the ACA, insisting Republicans would come to be known as the “party of healthcare”. And he didn’t stop there. Trump also vowed to shut down the Mexico border “next week”, a move that would do significant damage to the US economy. Mexico is a vital trading partner but Trump complained it was not doing enough to stop illegal immigration. Trump received familiar support from Fox. But other Republicans warned Trump not to jeopardize an otherwise positive moment. “I think it’s a good thing for America that a detailed and thorough investigation concluded that the president of the United States is not a witting or unwitting agent of a foreign power,” said Steel. “I do think there’s some danger that in the hubris of his response, the president makes mistakes.”

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Russia Ordered a Killing That Made No Sense. Then the Assassin Started Talking.

By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ from NYT World https://ift.tt/2UkGulT

The Legend of Zion

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New York Agrees to Congestion Pricing and a Mansion Tax in $175 Billion Budget Deal

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Mueller report on Trump and Russia to be made public by mid-April: Barr

"Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own," Barr wrote in the letter to the top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate and House Judiciary committees. On March 22, Mueller completed his 22-month probe and Barr on Sunday sent a four-page letter to Congress that outlined the main findings. Barr told lawmakers that the investigation did not establish that members of the election campaign of President Donald Trump conspired with Russia.

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Autopsy: Migrant child who died in US custody had infection

HOUSTON (AP) — A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of a bacterial infection while detained by the U.S. Border Patrol, according to an autopsy released Friday, in a case that drew worldwide attention to the plight of migrant families at the southern U.S. border.

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Trump’s Group Health Plan Rules Struck Down as ACA ‘End-Run’

U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington on Thursday blocked new rules governing so-called association health plans, or AHPs, which let businesses and individuals band together to create group health plans that offer less expensive coverage than the ACA -- but without some of its protections. It follows twin rulings Wednesday by another Washington judge who blocked administration-sanctioned plans to impose work requirements for some Medicaid recipients in Kentucky and Arkansas. The Justice Department has hardened its opposition to Obamacare in separate litigation, and Trump is seeking to make health care a centerpiece of the Republican agenda going in to the 2020 campaign season.

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Joe Biden accused of kissing former Nevada lawmaker, an allegation he doesn't recall

Joe Biden’s spokesman said Friday that the former vice president does not recall kissing Nevada political candidate Lucy Flores on the back of her head during a 2014 event.

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'Pitch up, pitch up': Final moments of Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max jet before crash

A pilot on the Ethiopian Airlines flight which crashed three weeks ago was heard saying “pitch up, pitch up” just moments before the disaster, the Wall St Journal has reported.  The conversation happened when the plane was just 450ft (137m) off the ground as the aircraft begun to point downwards, according to the paper.  The plane's radio reportedly died moments after the comment was captured. All 157 people on board were killed when the Boeing 737 Max crashed.  The plane’s anti-stalling system, which sees its direction automatically righted if a sensor picks up the aircraft is tilting up too far, has been blamed for the disaster.  The investigation is on-going and no official cause for the crash has been made public.  Forensic experts work at the crash site of an Ethiopian airways operated by a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft Credit: TONY KARUMBA / AFP The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that investigators have determined that the flight-control system on an Ethiopian Airlines jet automatically activated before the aircraft plunged into the ground on March 10. The preliminary conclusion was based on information from the aircraft's data and voice recorders and indicates a link between that accident and an earlier Lion Air crash in Indonesia, the newspaper said. Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment on the report. Also on Friday, The New York Times reported that the Ethiopian jet's data recorder yielded evidence that a sensor incorrectly triggered the anti-stall system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.  Once activated, the MCAS forced the plane into a dive and ultimately a crash that killed everyone on board, the newspaper said. Boeing is facing mounting pressure to roll out a software update on its best-selling plane in time for airlines to use the jets during the peak summer travel season. Kebebew Legesse, the mother of Ethiopian Airlines cabin crew Ayantu Girmay mourns at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash Credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner Company engineers and test pilots are working to fix anti-stall technology on the Boeing 737 Max that is suspected to have played a role in two deadly crashes in the last six months. Boeing is also seeing its own expenses rise, although it would not disclose how much it is costing the company to make the software fix and also train pilots how to use it. Cowen Research analysts say a "very rough guess" is that Boeing will pay about $2 billion after insurance to fix the plane, pay crash victims' families and compensate airlines that had to cancel flights. Most Wall Street analysts are betting that the planes will be flying again in less than three months, while noting that it could take longer in countries that plan to conduct their own reviews of Boeing's upgrade instead of taking the word of the U.S. regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.

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UK lawmakers reject Brexit deal for third time

British MPs on Friday rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's EU divorce deal for a third time, opening the way for a long delay to Brexit -- or a chaotic "no deal" withdrawal in two weeks. The pound slipped as lawmakers defied May's plea to end the deadlock that has plunged Britain into a deep political crisis, defeating her withdrawal agreement by 344 votes to 286. The EU has set a deadline of April 12 for a decision, with two likely options: Britain leaves with no deal at all, or agrees a lengthy extension to allow time for a new approach.

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What we learned from Barr's summary of the Mueller report

What’s in the attorney general’s summary of the Trump-Russia investigation? And will the report be made public? Full four-page letter of Barr’s summaryFollow the latest US politics news William Barr sent his summary of the Muller report to Congress on Sunday Photograph: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images Barr is still reviewing Muller’s report William Barr: Although my review is ongoing, I believe that it is in the public interest to describe the report and to summarize the principal conclusions reached by the Special Counsel and the results of his investigation. Barr immediately makes clear that his letter will only be a summary of the top-line conclusions from Robert Mueller’s 22-month investigation. At just four pages long, the letter makes no claim to outline the full substance of the special counsel’s findings, nor does it detail the evidence Mueller has amassed or the legal reasoning behind his decision making. Instead, we have the bare bones. Mueller had handed the full report to the attorney general less than 48 hours earlier, and Barr makes clear he is still reviewing its contents. On the size of the investigation In the report, the Special Counsel noted that, in completing his investigation, he employed 19 lawyers who were assisted by a team of approximately 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants, and other professional staff. The Special Counsel issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records, issued almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses. Here, the sheer size of the Mueller investigation is laid bare for the first time. Although the cost of the Russia investigation has been public for some time, along with the 37 public indictments issued by Mueller, the scale of the evidence he has amassed has not been known. Barr is clearly alluding to how comprehensive the special counsel’s investigation has been. While the length of Mueller’s final report is not known, it is likely to be based on hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence. Democrats have made clear they want access to as much of the report and its underlying evidence as possible. No new indictments The report does not recommend any further indictments, nor did the Special Counsel obtain any sealed indictments yet to be made public. This is the first of Barr’s major announcements: Mueller will issue no fresh charges as the investigation wraps up. This is clearly good news for members of Donald Trump’s inner circle, including his son Donald Trump Jr, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and, indeed, for Trump himself. There had been speculation that a number of sealed indictments in the same district court handling the Mueller prosecution could relate to further indictments from the special counsel. This is now clearly not the case. However, other criminal investigations involving the president and members of his inner circle are ongoing, most notably in the southern district of New York. Barr makes no comment on the status of these proceedings. On collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. As the report states: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” This is undoubtedly a pivotal conclusion of the investigation. Following almost two years of investigation Barr says that Mueller has found no evidence to prove that any member of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. He quotes only a partial sentence from the report to substantiate this. Also of note here is Barr’s supplying a short definition of how Mueller defined collusion. Quoting directly from Mueller’s report in a short footnote, Barr says the special counsel counted collusion as an “agreement – tacit or express – between the Trump campaign and the Russian government on election interference”. This means that for any member of the campaign to be accused of colluding with Russia they would have had to have done so knowingly. Barr says that Mueller found two ways in which Russians interfered during 2016: a coordinated internet disinformation campaign and direct computer hacking. He provides no further details on the crimes themselves but further information on at least some of these actions has already been made public by Mueller through criminal indictments. On obstruction of justice The Special Counsel therefore did not draw a conclusion – one way or the other – as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction. Instead, for each of the relevant actions investigated, the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as “difficult issues” of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction. The Special Counsel states that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Barr briskly moves on to the last major revelation from Mueller: the special counsel was unable to decide whether Donald Trump obstructed justice during the investigation. Barr once again hangs a partial sentence quoted from the report making clear that Mueller did not completely clear Trump of obstruction. But the scant details make it impossible to understand the legal reasoning behind Mueller’s decision nor all the evidence taken into account to make it. Conclusion on obstruction of justice After reviewing the Special Counsel’s final report on these issues; consulting with Department officials, including the Office of Legal Counsel; and applying the principles of federal prosecution that guide our charging decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. This revelation is likely to be the most controversial, at least until more of Mueller’s report is released. It was Barr and his deputy Rod Rosenstein, both appointed to their positions by Trump himself, that decided the president should face no prosecution over obstruction of justice. Although Barr displays those he consulted with to make that decision and cites justice department guidelines governing the process, there is no escaping that the decision not to prosecute the president was made by one of his own cabinet members who has already privately described Mueller’s investigation of obstruction of justice as “fatally misconceived”. Barr explains his decision not to charge Trump with obstruction Generally speaking, to obtain and sustain an obstruction conviction, the government would need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person, acting with corrupt intent, engaged in obstructive conduct with a a sufficient nexus to a pending or contemplated proceeding. In cataloguing the President’s actions, many of which took place in public view, the report identifies no actions that, in our judgement, constitute obstructive conduct, had a nexus to a pending or contemplated proceeding, and were done with corrupt intent, each of which, under the Department’s principles of federal prosecution guiding charging decisions, would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to establish an obstruction-of-justice offense. Barr provides a little elaboration on his decision not to charge Trump with obstruction. Critically, Barr makes the point that at least part of the reason Trump is not being charged is due to the lack of an underlying crime. That while there may be sound arguments for Trump obstructing justice, it was not itself a criminal act because there had been no crime in the first place. There is also a suggestion from Barr here that while many of these potentially obstructive actions took place in public – it seems likely he is partially referring to Trump’s public comments on his decision to fire FBI director James Comey – there are others the public may not yet know about. Will the public see the Mueller report? As I have previously stated, however, I am mindful of the public interest in this matter. For that reason, my goal and intent is to release as much of the Special Counsel’s report as I can consistent with applicable law, regulations, and Departmental policies. The attorney general concludes by making a commitment to making parts of Mueller’s report available to the public. In a letter to lawmakers on 29 March, Barr said a redacted version of the report would be delivered to Congress by mid-April, possibly before. Senior Democrats have indicated they will issue a subpoena for the full report if they are not satisfied with what Barr provides.

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Is This The Perfect Chevrolet Corvette C2 Restomod?

The C2 generation of the 1960s Chevrolet Corvette has to be one of the most charismatic incarnations of America’s favorite sports car. This custom 1967 model heading to auction with Barrett-Jackson blends old and new together.

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Attorney General Barr says Mueller report to be released 'by mid-April'

We are preparing the report for release,” Barr wrote.

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Things That Are Working, and Things That Aren’t: Weekend Reads

From themes like Brexit to the Mueller report and Medicare, and places like Japan, Kosovo and Gaza, our reporters looked deep into successes, failures and cases that still have a long way to go to be figured out. Joe Mayes, Irene Garcia Perez, and Aine Quinn tell the story of businesses that are now spending millions for naught. There’s also this piece from Alan Crawford that explains how Britain’s tortured relationship with Europe just got worse.One Week Into the Mueller Report Fight, Battle Lines Are DrawnWhile Attorney General William Barr determined that the findings in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report into the 2016 election didn’t warrant an obstruction charge, there may still be plenty that the White House wants to keep secret and that Democrats want to see.

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'That's unacceptable': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stops person who insulted Republican

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shut down an audience member at an MSNBC town hall after someone called former Rep. Bob Inglis a "moron."

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Chance of UK 'no-deal' Brexit has risen 'sharply', says France

French President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Friday the risk of Britain leaving the European Union without a deal had risen "very sharply" following parliament's rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal agreement for a third time. "France is well prepared (for no deal) and will accelerate its preparations for such a scenario," the Elysee said in a statement. It said it was now up to Britain to present an alternative plan in the coming days -- whether new elections, a second referendum, or a proposal for a customs union -- otherwise the country would leave the EU with no deal.

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The Latest: Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Latest on protests at Gaza border with Israel (all times local):

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Mueller Did the Right Thing

It seems that “13 hardened Democrats” or “angry Democrats” did not deliver a politically motivated, illegitimate hit job after all. Based on what we know so far, the special counsel’s office reported that it did not find evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. This is a fabulous vindication of the integrity of the system.No one is noticing that. Instead, the Trump team is gorging on schadenfreude, and the anti-Trump team is choking on bile.It’s fair to say that those who spent hour upon cable-TV hour lovingly anticipating that President Trump would be frog-marched from the White House in handcuffs after the delivery of this report have egg on their faces. It isn’t clear which hurts more, the disappointment about being wrong or the worry about drooping ratings.But there’s plenty of egg to go around. Team Trump spent nearly two years denouncing the Mueller investigation as a “rigged witch hunt.” By one count, the president used the term “witch hunt” more than 1,100 times. He mercilessly eviscerated his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for the sin of following Justice Department guidelines instead of corruptly abusing his office to shield Mr. Trump from scrutiny. At various times, the president has also suggested that the inquiry was a sinister plot of the “deep state”; a ploy by supporters of “crooked” Hillary Clinton to extract revenge (while also suggesting that the real collusion was between Democrats and the Russians); and an “illegal hoax” perpetrated by the “fake news” media. President Trump claimed that the Mueller probe was staffed by “very bad and conflicted people” and that the investigation was a “disgrace to our nation.”The battle space was thus prepared for a Mueller report that would be devastating to the president. His supporters would disbelieve anything that reflected badly on Trump because the investigation itself, along with the law-enforcement bodies tasked with carrying out their responsibilities in an impartial fashion, had been discredited.Yet, when it turned out that the investigators did not invent or plant evidence, did not default to process crimes such as lying to investigators, did not spring a perjury trap, and, above all, did not permit their own feelings or political preferences to taint the administration of justice, there has been no embarrassment from Team Trump. On a dime, they have reversed themselves completely. A totally corrupt witch hunt has become a total vindication. (It wasn’t that. Even Attorney General William Barr’s letter acknowledged that the report did not “exonerate” the president on the charge of obstruction of justice.) But even if it had been a clean bill of health, how can they trust the Mueller people? Weren’t they thoroughly corrupt? A disgrace?President Trump has a long history of impugning anyone or anything he perceives as a threat to his own interests and flattering anyone he thinks can help him. When he feared he would lose an election, he denounced the voting as “rigged.” Judge Curiel became a “Mexican” judge when Trump feared he might rule against him in the Trump University case. Gold-star parents, deceased heroic senators, Charles Krauthammer, S. E. Cupp, Jeff Bezos, and an endless list of others have joined the ranks of the slighted. On the other hand, if you repent and join the Trump fan club -- as pretty much the entire invertebrate Republican party has done -- then you are swiftly forgiven and elevated. Lindsey Graham went from “nasty” and “dumb mouthpiece” to favorite golfing buddy in a trice.This transparently solipsistic approach to the world would be of little interest if it were just a quirk of a New York businessman. But when Trump employs the tactic to undermine confidence in institutions such as the justice system, he does lasting damage.The “witch hunt” was nothing of the kind. Honorable people did the right thing. Politics did not taint a criminal investigation. But that reality is buried under an avalanche of bad faith.© 2019 Creators.com

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Investigators believe anti-stall system activated in Ethiopia crash: WSJ

Investigators probing the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia have reached a preliminary conclusion that a suspect anti-stall system activated shortly before it nose-dived to the ground, the WSJ reported Friday citing people familiar with the matter. The findings were based on flight recorder data and represented the strongest indication yet that the system, known as MCAS, malfunctioned in both the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 and the Lion Air crash in Indonesia last year, the Wall Street Journal said. US government experts have been analyzing details gathered by their Ethiopian counterparts for the past few days, the newspaper added, and the emerging consensus was relayed at a high-level briefing of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday.

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Taipei's goes dark for Earth Hour

Taiwan's tallest building joined cities around the world to mark Earth Hour by turning off its lights on Saturday in a call for global action on climate change. (March 30)

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Turks vote in local elections which could see Erdogan lose in big cities

Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than 16 years thanks to strong economic growth and supreme campaigning skills, has become the country's most popular, yet also most divisive, leader in modern history. With the economy contracting following a currency crisis last year in which the lira lost more than 30 percent of its value, some voters appeared ready to punish Erdogan who has ruled with an increasingly uncompromising stance. This week, as authorities again scrambled to shore up the lira, Erdogan cast the country's economic woes as resulting from attacks by the West, saying Turkey would overcome its troubles following Sunday's vote and adding he was "the boss" of the economy.

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Trump threatens to shut border with Mexico next week

The president returns to a familiar threat as Democrats continue to deny him funding for construction of a border wall.

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Pound Slides as Parliament Fails to End Brexit Impasse Once More

The failure of May’s last-ditch effort to get her deal through Parliament leaves the U.K. with the choice between crashing out of the European Union without a deal in two weeks and seeking a long extension of its departure date. The British parliament will vote Monday on various alternatives to May’s agreement. Implied volatility on two-week pound-dollar options, which cover the current April 12 deadline for the U.K.’s exit, have surged to the highest level since the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum amid increased anxiety about a no-deal outcome.

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Four killed as thousands protest at border, but Gaza-Israel truce holds

Five rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel, prompting Israeli tanks to respond by firing on Hamas military posts early Sunday, hours after a massive Palestinian protest along the border between Israel and Gaza. The rocket attack and Israeli response did not cause any casualties, according to the Israeli army and witnesses in Gaza.

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Trump blasts Russia probe, calls 2020 Democrats 'radical'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Presenting himself as both vindicated and vindictive, a fired-up President Donald Trump turned the findings of the Russia investigation into a political weapon at a Michigan rally that was part victory lap, part 2020 campaign push.

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Judge nixes Mexican holiday for executive charged in U.S. college admissions scandal

A federal judge on Friday nixed the international family vacation plans of a former senior executive at private equity firm TPG Capital charged in connection with the U.S. college admissions scandal, saying he posed a flight risk. Bill McGlashan, who prosecutors say was among the wealthy parents who engaged in fraud and bribery schemes to help get their children into colleges, had sought to go ahead with a planned family vacation to Mexico.

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Virginia Fends Off Purdue and Naysayers to Reach the Final Four

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This Week’s Wedding Announcements

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Ukraine election: Comedian is front-runner ahead of first round

Petro Poroshenko is seeking re-election but the surprise front-runner is comic Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

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North Korea says Madrid embassy raid was 'grave terror attack'

Pyongyang calls for an investigation and says it is watching rumours that the FBI played a role.

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Mark Zuckerberg asks governments to help control internet content

Mark Zuckerberg writes an open letter calling for new laws to monitor internet content.

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Saudi Arabia 'hacked Amazon boss's phone', says investigator

An investigator working for Jeff Bezos says Saudi Arabia accessed data on the Amazon boss's phone.

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Rolling Stones postpone North America tour over Mick Jagger illness

Mick Jagger's doctors have advised him not to travel.

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Gaza protests: Thousands mark 'Great Return' anniversary

Three die in clashes on the border with Israel, as Palestinians mark the "Great March of Return".

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Ethiopian pilot: 'Pitch up, pitch up!'

Details are emerging of the final moments of the flight, which crashed six minutes after take-off.

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Migrant ship hijacking: Three teenagers charged in Malta

The men have been accused of terrorist activity after seizing a tanker and sailing it to Malta.

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Afghan VP survives second assassination attempt

The Taliban say they tried to kill Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, in an ambush in which a bodyguard died.

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Brazil judge overturns ban on Bolsonaro's coup celebration

A judge says marking the 1964 coup does not amount to rewriting history or hiding the truth.

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Pope calls on Moroccans to fight fanaticism

The pontiff is visiting Morocco, which has a small Catholic community, to promote inter-faith dialogue.

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Malawi's antibiotics crisis: Why the drugs don't work for some

In Malawi, doctors say resistance to antibiotics is making their work increasingly difficult.

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Earth Hour: Switching off lights to highlight climate change

Some of the world's most famous landmarks are plunged into darkness to draw attention to climate change.

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US-Mexico border: Migrants held as Trump threatens closure

Migrants are forced to sleep outside as US officials struggle with a surge in asylum-seekers.

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New audio increases pressure on Trudeau in SNC-Lavalin affair

Former Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould releases a recording to bolster her version of events.

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Thai baby elephants cheered as they escape mud pit

Six baby elephants who were stuck in steep muddy pit for two days are rescued by Thai park rangers.

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Muses no more: Ballet's newest choreographers

After centuries of taking orders now women are the ones calling the shots in ballet.

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Tornado chasers face storm as lawsuit hits close to home

A lawsuit claims reckless behaviour by storm chasers before a fatal crash. Is there a wider problem?

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US school shootings: Have drills gone too far?

One school apparently shot teachers "execution style" with pellets as part of a rehearsal for the real thing.

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How Village People's cop Victor Willis aims to 'reboot' the group

Victor Willis, the pop group's former singer and songwriter, has overcome legal battles and rehab.

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Is there an Austrian link to New Zealand mosque attacks?

The main suspect in the mosque massacre was familiar with Austria's far-right scene.

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The Bollywood factor in India's election

A film about Prime Minister Modi is facing criticism for mythologising him ahead of a national vote.

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Life after a devastating mining disaster

Brazil's Brumadinho dam disaster is having consequences in towns which are near similar dams.

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Mark Zuckerberg asks governments to help control internet content

Mark Zuckerberg writes an open letter calling for new laws to monitor internet content.

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Mueller report on Trump and Russia to be made public by mid-April: Barr

"Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own," Barr wrote in the letter to the top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate and House Judiciary committees. On March 22, Mueller completed his 22-month probe and Barr on Sunday sent a four-page letter to Congress that outlined the main findings. Barr told lawmakers that the investigation did not establish that members of the election campaign of President Donald Trump conspired with Russia.

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Autopsy: Migrant child who died in US custody had infection

HOUSTON (AP) — A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of a bacterial infection while detained by the U.S. Border Patrol, according to an autopsy released Friday, in a case that drew worldwide attention to the plight of migrant families at the southern U.S. border.

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Venezuelans Take to the Streets After Another Round of Blackouts

“We will continue to hit the streets,” Juan Guaido, head of the National Assembly recognized as interim president by some 50 nations, told protesters Saturday in San Antonio de Los Altos. Unlike other protests since January, Guaido did not call for huge rallies in the capital of Caracas but rather urged Venezuelans to protest at key locations or in their own neighborhoods. “My food is rotting and my appliances are going haywire,¨ said Yolanda Bellorin, a retired lawyer protesting among her neighbors in Caracas’ Colinas de la California neighborhood.

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Corporations are endangering Americans. Trump doesn't care

From Boeing to Monsanto and beyond: this week has revealed the tip of the iceberg of regulatory neglect ‘Trump and his appointees have unambiguously signaled to corporations they can now do as they please.’ Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images Why didn’t Boeing do it right? Why isn’t Facebook protecting user passwords? Why is Phillip Morris allowed to promote vaping? Why hasn’t Wells Fargo reformed itself? Why hasn’t Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) recalled its Roundup weedkiller? Answer: corporate greed coupled with inept and corrupt regulators. These are just a few of the examples in the news these days of corporate harms inflicted on innocent people. To be sure, some began before the Trump administration. But Trump and his appointees have unambiguously signaled to corporations they can now do as they please. Boeing wanted to get its 737 Max 8 out quickly because airlines want to pack in more passengers at lower fuel costs (hence the “max”). But neither Boeing nor the airlines shelled out money to adequately train pilots on the new software made necessary by the new design. Nonetheless, Trump’s FAA certified the plane in March 2017. And after two subsequent deadly crashes, the US was slower to ground them than other countries. Last week Facebook admitted to storing hundreds of millions of Facebook users’ passwords in plain text that could be searched by more than 20,000 Facebook employees. The admission came just a year after the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed that Facebook shared the personal data of as many as 87 million users with a political data firm. In reality, Facebook’s business model is based on giving personal data to advertisers so they can tailor their pitches precisely to potential customers. So despite repeated reassurances by Mark Zuckerberg, the firm will continue to do what it wants with personal information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the power to force Facebook to better guard users’ privacy. But so far Trump’s FTC has done nothing – not even to enforce a 2011 agreement in which Facebook promised to do just that. Altria (Phillip Morris) was losing ground on its sales of cigarettes, but the firm has recently found a future in vaping. Because inhaling nicotine in any form poses a health hazard, the FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb wanted to curb advertising of vaping products to teenagers. Gottlieb thought he had Altria’s agreement, but then the firm bought the vaping company Juul. Its stock has already gained 14% this year. What happened to Gottlieb? He’s out at the FDA, after barely a year on the job. Wells Fargo has publicly apologized for having deceived customers with fake bank accounts, unwarranted fees and unwanted products. Its top executives say they have eliminated the aggressive sales targets that were responsible for the fraud. But Wells Fargo employees told the New York Times recently that they’re still under heavy pressure to squeeze extra money out of customers. Some have witnessed colleagues bending or breaking internal rules to meet ambitious performance goals. What has Trump’s Consumer Financial Protection Agency done about this? Nothing. It’s been defanged. This week, a federal jury awarded $80m in damages to a California man who blamed Monsanto’s (now Bayer’s) Roundup weedkiller for his cancer, after finding that Roundup was defectively designed, that Monsanto failed to warn of the herbicide’s cancer risk, and that the company acted negligently. It was the second jury in eight months to reach the same conclusion about Roundup. Roundup contains glyphosate, a suspected carcinogen. Cases from more than 1,000 farmers and other agricultural workers stricken with non-Hodgkin lymphoma are already pending in federal and state courts. What has Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency done about glyphosate? In December 2017 its office of pesticide programs concluded that glyphosate wasn’t likely to cause cancer – although eight of the 15 experts on whom the agency relied expressed significant concerns about that conclusion, and three more expressed concerns about the data. These are just tips of a vast iceberg of regulatory neglect, frozen into place by Trump’s appointees, of which at least 187 were lobbyists before they joined the administration. This is trickle-down economics of a different sort than Trump’s corporate tax cuts. The major beneficiaries of this are the same big corporations, including their top executives and major investors. But these burdens are trickling down as unsafe products, fraudulent services, loss of privacy, even loss of life. Big money has had an inhibiting effect on regulators in several previous administrations. What’s unique under Trump is the blatancy of it all, and the shameless willingness of Trump appointees to turn a blind eye to corporate wrongdoing. Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress yell “socialism!” at proposals for better balancing private greed with the common good. Yet unless a better balance is achieved, capitalism as we know it is in deep trouble. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. He is also a columnist for Guardian US

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Joe Biden accused of kissing former Nevada lawmaker, an allegation he doesn't recall

Joe Biden’s spokesman said Friday that the former vice president does not recall kissing Nevada political candidate Lucy Flores on the back of her head during a 2014 event.

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