| The Latest: Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel Posted: 30 Mar 2019 03:48 PM PDT  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Latest on protests at Gaza border with Israel (all times local):
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| Venezuelans Take to the Streets After Another Round of Blackouts Posted: 30 Mar 2019 10:32 AM PDT  "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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| Justin Trudeau facing renewed calls to resign as secret tape escalates SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal Posted: 30 Mar 2019 09:13 AM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing renewed calls to resign after a secretly recorded telephone call between two senior figures in his administration was made public, escalating claims he tried to shield an allegedly corrupt firm from prosecution. The 17-minute call took place in December between Jody Wilson-Raybould, then the attorney general, and Michael Wernick, then Canada's most senior civil servant, about the engineering company SNC-Lavalin, which was accused of paying bribes to Libyan officials. Mr Wernick is heard in the audio telling Ms Wilson-Raybould that Mr Trudeau is interested in having the firm avoid criminal prosecution in favour of paying a fine, repeatedly saying that the prime minister is in a "pretty firm" frame of mind on the issue. "I think he is going to find a way to get it done one way or another. He's in that kind of mood. I wanted you to be aware of that," Mr Wernick is heard saying at one point. Ms Wilson-Raybould in turn pushes back, raising concerns that the conversation could amount to "political interference" and an attempt to breach her "prosecutorial independence". She declined to push for the prosecution to be dropped. Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former Canadian attorney general Credit: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP Ms Wilson-Raybould was eventually moved from the role in January, one month after the phone call, and given the more junior position of veterans affairs minister. She has since resigned and gone public with claims she was inappropriately leaned on. The audio was released by Ms Wilson-Raybould along with more than 40 pages of documents backing up her allegations. She said that she chose to secretly record the conversation because she was concerned something "inappropriate" would be said. She said she "took the extraordinary and otherwise inappropriate step of making an audio recording of the conversation" without telling Mr Wernick, adding that it was "something that I have never done before this phone call and have not done since". Mr Wernick stepped down from his role as Privy Council clerk earlier this month. The scandal has plunged Mr Trudeau's re-election hopes into doubt, seeing his Liberal Party fall behind the opposition Conservative Party ahead of the vote in October. Michael Wernick, the former Privy Council clerk Mr Trudeau's party has been ahead in the polls for most of his time in office since he won a crushing victory in 2015. But the liberal poster boy, often compared to Emmanuel Macron, now finds his party trailing the Conservatives by around six points, according to the website Calculated Politics. Andrew Scheer, the Conservative leader, said that Mr Trudeau had lost the moral authority to govern and must resign. "He looked Canadians in the eye and told them that no one had raised concerns with him. This is false and he owes Canadians an explanation," Mr Scheer said of the prime minister. Last month Mr Trudeau denied any wrongdoing and declined to apologise, saying any lobbying by him or his inner circle for the company was done to protect jobs. SNC-Lavalin is one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world and employs around 9,000 people in Canada.
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| Boston Uber driver arrested for allegedly raping woman Posted: 31 Mar 2019 06:07 AM PDT  Boston Uber driver arrested for allegedly raping woman.
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| Morocco institute trains imams to counter extremism Posted: 30 Mar 2019 08:34 AM PDT  With its watchwords of dialogue and coexistence, the Mohammed VI Institute that trains Muslim prayer leaders to serve in Morocco and abroad was Saturday one of the first stops on Pope Francis's visit to the kingdom. Since 2015, the institute has received trainee imams from Morocco as well as several other African states and France. Under the patronage of King Mohammed, its mission is to counter "radical speech", its director Abdeslam Lazaar said.
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| UK PM May would have to look closely at customs union if parliament votes for it: minister Posted: 31 Mar 2019 03:06 AM PDT ![UK PM May would have to look closely at customs union if parliament votes for it: minister]( "UK PM May would have to look closely at customs union if parliament votes for it: minister") British Prime Minister Theresa May would have to look closely at pursuing a customs union with the European Union if parliament votes for it, justice minister David Gauke said on Sunday. In a first round, the idea of seeking a customs union with the European Union was one of the most popular options, although it fell just short of a majority. Asked by BBC TV whether May would have to go back to the EU and negotiate for a customs union if parliament voted for it, Gauke said: "I think she would need to look very closely at that." "If parliament is voting overwhelmingly against leaving the European Union without a deal but is voting in favor of a softer Brexit, then I don't think it is sustainable to say we will ignore parliament's position and leave without a deal." Gauke also said May's three-times defeated deal was not dead, and was still one of the options open to lawmakers.
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| Did Saudi Arabia hack Jeff Bezos? Amazon CEO adviser says Saudis 'got private information' Posted: 31 Mar 2019 05:27 PM PDT  Saudi Arabian officials with an interest in harming Jeff Bezos obtained his "private information," according to an adviser to the world's richest man.
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| The F-111 Aardvark: The Strike Aircraft That Was Dumped for the F-15 Eagle Posted: 30 Mar 2019 11:00 AM PDT  Time for a comeback?
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| Trump threatens to seal the border if Mexico doesn't 'immediately stop' immigrants Posted: 31 Mar 2019 03:54 PM PDT  Donald Trump threatened to close the southern border next week if Mexico doesn't "immediately" step up its efforts to block immigrants.
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| Why 'Florida Man' is a thing: Weirdness in other states goes unnoticed Posted: 31 Mar 2019 09:08 AM PDT  There's just as much weirdness in every other state, but Florida has more people — and most important, wide-open public records laws.
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| Erdogan Loses Key Cities as Turkey Feels the Sting of Recession Posted: 31 Mar 2019 05:03 PM PDT  The Turkish lira traded down 0.4 percent against the dollar at 2:50 a.m. in Istanbul. Erdogan's first setback at the polls in years shows his ruling AK Party and its nationalist partner are paying the price after the economy dipped into its first recession since the global financial crisis.
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| Armed police raid home after parents refuse to take unvaccinated boy with high fever to hospital Posted: 30 Mar 2019 09:27 AM PDT  With guns drawn, the police officers broke down the door of the suburban Phoenix home in the early hours of a February morning."Come out with your hands up!" an officer yelled, with the dark front porch and foyer inside suddenly flooded with light from the officers' flashlights.The target of the raid: an unvaccinated 2-year-old boy with a high fever.Video from the officers' body cameras that was released on Thursday shows that moments later, the child's father emerges, walking out backward with his hands over his head. The boy's mother then comes out, too, cradling her young son in her arms.The boy was whisked away to a hospital, and since that raid on 25 February, he and the couple's two other children, aged 4 and 6, have been in the state's custody. The parents have been charged with child abuse.The boy's case is among the most extreme examples of the authorities overriding the rights of parents to make decisions for their children's health, and it comes at a time of rising concern about unvaccinated children infecting others around them.The parents, Brooks Bryce and Sarah Beck, say the authorities drastically overreacted. "They treated us like criminals, busting in our door," Mr Bryce told a local TV station. "I mean, I don't know what kind of trauma that did to my kids."But the Chandler Police Department has defended its role in the confrontation, saying it was compelled to carry out a court-ordered welfare check after the child's doctor became concerned that the boy might have meningitis, a potentially life-threatening illness, and was not receiving necessary emergency care.In rare cases, parents can be stripped of their ability to make health care decisions on behalf of their children. Even rarer are the occasions when parents lose custody of their children for declining treatment.But with 315 individual cases of measles confirmed in 15 states this year, authorities are on high alert for people exhibiting symptoms of infectious diseases, especially children and toddlers who lack vaccinations for that disease and other illnesses.Under Arizona law, parents may decline vaccinations for their child based on personal, religious or medical exemptions. But that law is in opposition to the "parens patriae" theory, a centuries-old principle that empowers the state to look after the interests of children and others unable to care for themselves."It's a pretty high standard to meet," said Douglas S Diekema, who has been a practising emergency room doctor for 30 years at Seattle Children's Hospital. "I don't know that I've ever called Child Protective Services, though I've thought about it a couple of times."Police records show that on 25 February, Ms Beck had taken her 2-year-old boy to a clinic, where his temperature was recorded at above 100 degrees.The child's doctor became concerned that he could have meningitis, after learning that he was lethargic and had not been vaccinated. Ms Beck was told to take him to an emergency room."I called the doctor back and said, 'Hey, I'm not sure how you got this 105 reading, my son's acting fine,'" Ms Beck told a local TV station. "'This doesn't really seem like a medical emergency.'"The child's doctor, after learning Ms Beck had ignored the recommendation to take the child to the hospital and having follow-up phone calls to the family go unanswered, then contacted the Arizona Department of Child Safety.Asked to do a welfare check, police officers later arrived at the family's door, but were not allowed in. The body camera footage released on Thursday shows the police twice knocking and trying to enter, before an officer reaches Mr Bryce by telephone just before midnight, and tells him that he needs to verify that their youngest child is improving."No, you don't need to," Mr Bryce replies. He remains polite, saying "No, thank you" when he is asked to come out of his home.An emergency court order was issued, allowing police to take the child into custody. The officers asked the family to leave their home and take the child to the hospital, the video shows. After two more unsuccessful attempts at knocking at the door, they reminded Mr Bryce that they had a court order and broke down the door, nearly four hours after they arrived at the home.Though neither parent was arrested, each was charged with one count of child abuse after an investigation. Two of the children, including the youngest, were taken by ambulance to the hospital, and the third was taken by the Department of Child Safety, according to the police.All three children remain in separate foster care placements, according to The Arizona Republic.Mr Diekema, the emergency room doctor in Seattle, said he personally encounters parents refusing a treatment plan "maybe every month or two," meaning it likely happens in his hospital on a weekly basis. But there are procedures in place to stave off a hospital visit escalating into a child custody battle.Sometimes, he said, a compromise can be found on a less aggressive form of treatment that is acceptable to the doctor; other times, another doctor at the hospital can give a second opinion, which some parents find more comforting.Mr Diekema, who is also a bioethics professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said he tries to avoid coercion when he can. He recalled telling a patient's parents, "I hate to say this, but I have to let you know that if you walk out of this emergency department, without agreeing to something that makes me comfortable, I'll have to call child protective services."He said the doctor in Arizona would have been obligated to call the authorities if the family did not follow the clinic's instructions.The boy was eventually found to have a respiratory illness. A judge has told the child's parents that the state wants them to regain custody of their children, but it was unclear when that would happen."We love our children, we love them," Ms Beck told another local TV station. "If our children needed help, we would absolutely help them."The New York Times
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| Ukraine police seize $60mn of heroin, say 'never seen so much' Posted: 31 Mar 2019 08:36 AM PDT  Ukraine police seized heroin worth about $60 million -- over half a tonne of the powder -- in raids in the country's centre and west, officials said Sunday, describing it as the biggest haul they had ever seen. "I have never seen so much heroin seized by the Ukrainian police," Knyazev said. In a separate investigation, officials found "almost 130 kg of heroin worth $10 million" at a house in a village in the western Transcarpathia region, Larysa Sargan, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General wrote on Facebook.
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| 'Pitch up, pitch up': Final moments of Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max jet before crash Posted: 30 Mar 2019 03:30 PM PDT  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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| Brexit in meltdown: Theresa May under pressure to forge softer divorce deal Posted: 31 Mar 2019 04:34 AM PDT  After one of the most tumultuous weeks in British politics since the 2016 referendum, it was still uncertain how, when or even if the United Kingdom will ever leave the bloc it first joined 46 years ago. A third defeat of May's divorce deal, after her pledge to quit if it was passed, left one of the weakest leaders in a generation grappling with a perilous crisis over Brexit, the United Kingdom's most significant move since World War Two. "There are no ideal choices available and there are very good arguments against any possible outcome at the moment but we are going to have to do something," said Justice Secretary David Gauke, who voted in the 2016 referendum to stay in the EU.
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| No foolin! Nor'easter to bring rain, wind and maybe snow to East Coast next week Posted: 30 Mar 2019 08:49 AM PDT ![No foolin! Nor'easter to bring rain, wind and maybe snow to East Coast next week]( "No foolin! Nor'easter to bring rain, wind and maybe snow to East Coast next week") A powerful early April nor'easter storm is forecast to wallop the East Coast with rain, wind, pounding surf, and maybe even some unwelcome snow next week.
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| Afghan veterans of Syrian war struggle back home Posted: 31 Mar 2019 10:00 AM PDT  HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) — Too poor to even buy pens and notebooks for school, Mehdi left his home in Afghanistan soon after his 17th birthday and headed to Iran, hoping to make his way to Europe and find work.
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| Kellyanne Conway bristles at 'really inappropriate question' about husband on Fox News Posted: 31 Mar 2019 05:20 PM PDT  "What are you, Oprah now?" Conway said to "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace. "I think it's a really inappropriate question."
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| New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez compares the impact of climate change to 9/11 Posted: 30 Mar 2019 06:22 AM PDT  AOC faces major backlash after making comments comparing 9/11 to the impact of climate change.
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| Chicago prosecutor open to investigation into Smollett case Posted: 29 Mar 2019 09:09 PM PDT  CHICAGO (AP) — Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx is open to an outside investigation into her office's decision to drop all charges against Jussie Smollett, the prosecutor wrote in a newspaper editorial.
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| Turkey's ruling AKP set for defeat in Ankara vote, dead heat in Istanbul Posted: 31 Mar 2019 05:04 PM PDT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP looked set for defeat in the capital Ankara and faced a dead heat in Istanbul after Sunday's local election delivered a blow to a party in power for a decade and a half. Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have won every vote since the party first came to power in 2002, but they had risked losing Ankara and faced a tough fight in Istanbul as an economic slowdown took hold in Turkey. With 99 percent of the ballot boxes counted, the joint opposition candidate for Ankara mayor was winning with 50.89 percent of votes and the AKP on 47.06 percent, Anadolu state agency reported citing preliminary results.
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| 2020 Jeep Gladiator Costs More Than the Wrangler, but Not by Much Posted: 29 Mar 2019 09:01 PM PDT  The price premium for Jeep's pickup is less than we expected, but it can still crest the $50K mark.
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| UK's May under pressure to rule out long Brexit delay: report Posted: 30 Mar 2019 08:21 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Theresa May is under growing pressure from within her Conservative Party to lead Britain out of the European Union in the next few months, even if it means a no-deal Brexit, The Sun newspaper reported. A letter signed by 170 of the 314 Conservative lawmakers in parliament, including 10 cabinet ministers, was sent to May after her Brexit deal was rejected for a third time by the House of Commons on Friday, the newspaper reported. The vote left Britain's withdrawal from the EU in turmoil on the day that the country was originally due to leave the bloc.
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| Trump administration awards $1.7 million family planning grant to anti-abortion group Posted: 30 Mar 2019 11:39 AM PDT  The non-profit Obria Group says the $1.7 million award it is receiving from the Trump administration will help fund a chain of crisis pregnancy centers that oppose abortion and do not offer contraceptives.
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| This $20 Alexa smart speaker is just as good as a $50 Echo Dot Posted: 30 Mar 2019 07:32 AM PDT  Okay seriously, don't buy an Amazon Echo Dot. We love the Echo Dot, don't get us wrong, but there's a comparable smart speaker out there that looks the same and gives you the same hands-free access to Alexa. The difference, however, is that it costs half as much. You'll pay $50 for an Echo Dot on Amazon or elsewhere, but the Eufy Genie Smart Speaker with Hands-Free Amazon Alexa can be had for just $19.99. Definitely check it out before you buy a Dot.Here's what you need to know from the product page: * eufy Genie is a voice-controlled smart speaker with Amazon's intelligent Alexa voice assistant. Just say the wake word "Alexa" and Genie plays music, controls your smart home devices, answers your questions, sets calendars, reports the weather and news and more.(2.4GHz Wi-Fi Network Support Only, No Bluetooth) If you have more than one Eufy Genie or Echo in your home, Spatial Perception Technology intelligently selects the Eufy Genie or Echo closest to you to answer your request. * Built with a 2W speaker that delivers dynamic audio and room-filling sound, so you can truly enjoy your favorite playlists from streaming services like Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Pandora and iHeartRadio. Call or message almost anyone hands-free with your Eufy Genie and instantly connect to other Alexa-enabled devices in your home using just your voice. * Enables a true voice-controlled smart home experience. Use Genie to control all Alexa-compatible Eufy smart products, such as RoboVac 11c and Lumos LED Smart Bulbs, in addition to other brands that work with Alexa. * Easy setup with the free EufyHome app. Use the Amazon Alexa app to access 10000+ skills and services, such as Sirius XM, Domino's Pizza, Uber, ESPN, NPR News, and much more. Plus, Genie is always getting smarter. Future updates include: Alexa messaging and calling. (EufyHome requires a smartphone or tablet running iOS 8.0 (and above) or Android 4.3 (and above) to operate.) * What You Get: eufy Genie, AC power adapter (5ft/1.5m), AUX cable (5ft/1.5m), user manual, safety instruction card, our worry-free 12-month warranty and lifetime technical support.
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| Why Iran Is So Afraid of a Free Iraq Posted: 30 Mar 2019 02:42 PM PDT  The octogenarian Iraqi Grand Ayatollah remains an outsized political force that Iran must reckon with.
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| 3 Tips for Saving Money on Medical Expenses Posted: 30 Mar 2019 04:36 AM PDT  Inside Edition teamed up with RxSaver by RetailMeNot and its medical expert, Dr. Holly Phillips, for tips on how to save on medical expenses during this time of year.
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| Four killed as thousands protest at border, but Gaza-Israel truce holds Posted: 30 Mar 2019 07:09 PM PDT  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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| Comic, Billionaire, Comeback Queen Vie in Ukraine Election Posted: 31 Mar 2019 05:45 AM PDT  Five years after a violent revolution demanding political re-alignment with Europe and an end to post-communist corruption, voters aren't happy. Anti-establishment fervor has made Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old TV comic with no political experience, the front-runner. Who leads Ukraine is of global significance since the country of 42 million people, locked between Russia and the European Union, became a geopolitical battleground.
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| Who else gets a Jussie Smollett deal?: Today's Toon Posted: 31 Mar 2019 11:24 AM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| Immune system therapy shows wider promise against cancer Posted: 31 Mar 2019 10:23 AM PDT  ATLANTA (AP) — A treatment that helps the immune system fight deadly blood cancers is showing early signs of promise against some solid tumors, giving hope that this approach might be extended to more common cancers in the future.
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| Mueller report: Trump and Republicans target Adam Schiff as new villain Posted: 31 Mar 2019 05:38 AM PDT  On television, in Congress and before a crowd of thousands, President Donald Trump and Republicans are mounting a ferocious revenge campaign against one Democrat – representative Adam Schiff.Moments after taking the stage at a Michigan campaign rally on Thursday night, Mr Trump mocked the California lawmaker as "little pencil-neck Adam Schiff." House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, compared Mr Schiff to communist scaremonger Joseph McCarthy. And House whip Steve Scalise, R-La, used a colloquy on the House floor to press majority leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md, to remove Mr Schiff as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee."There has to be accountability, because it's all lies," Mr Trump said to a crowd booing the mention of Mr Schiff's name. "And they know it's lies – they know it."Together, the attacks levelled in the week since special counsel Robert Mueller III delivered his findings represent an unusually coordinated assault against the leading Democratic voice questioning whether Mr Trump and his associates had conspired with Russia to throw the 2016 election in his favour.Mr Mueller had been Mr Trump's villain for nearly two years, with the president lashing out at the "conflicted prosecutor" and his "angry Dems" investigators engaged in a "phony witch hunt."Now, with attorney general William Barr's four-page summary of Mr Mueller's report indicating no conclusion of a criminal conspiracy, Mr Trump and Republicans have a new target for their vitriol.The Trump campaign circulated a memo to TV producers on Monday questioning Mr Schiff's credibility, citing a litany of pronouncements that it claimed had been rebutted by Mr Mueller. Mr Trump on Thursday called for Mr Schiff to resign his House seat, accusing him of "knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking," and the nine GOP members of the Intelligence panel signed a letter demanding he step down as chairman, questioning whether he was abusing his position and damaging the panel's integrity.Mr Schiff has stood resolute amid the attacks, maintaining that there is public evidence of collusion – such as Mr Trump's public July 2016 plea to Russia to hack Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's emails – even if Mr Mueller determined that evidence does not amount to a crime. When Republicans confronted Mr Schiff at an Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday, he struck back."You might think that's OK – I don't," Mr Schiff said repeatedly as he recounted a litany of interactions between Trump associates and Russia. "I think it's immoral. I think it's unethical. I think it's unpatriotic. And, yes, I think it's corrupt and evidence of collusion."He has won uniform backing from House Democratic leaders, including speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, who called Republicans "scaredy-cats" for attacking Mr Schiff before the Mueller report is publicly released."What is the president afraid of? Is he afraid of the truth, that he would go after a member ... a respected chairman of a committee in the Congress?" she asked. "They just don't know what to do, so they have to make an attack."The GOP's outsize attention on Mr Schiff reflects his two years of omnipresence on Sunday talk shows and weekday cable news programmes. The congressman who represents Hollywood has long been ribbed by Republicans – and privately, even by some Democrats – for his frequent appearances.When Democrats were the minority party in the House, that tactic was intentional. Television was a "tool," Mr Schiff said last year, for "exposing what the majority's doing and often exposing what the majority's not doing."Since taking over as chairman, he has scaled back his appearances, but he has not pulled any punches when it comes to voicing his belief that Trump subordinates' contacts with Russians, their clandestine finances, and the lies they told to lawmakers and federal law enforcement are evidence of likely wrongdoing, even if they do not rise to the level of a crime.That caught Mr Trump's attention, making him a target of presidential derision with jeering nicknames like "liddle," "sleazy," and "Adam Schitt."In recent days, the president tried out the "pencil neck" insult at a White House meeting with House Republicans before using it at Thursday's rally, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations."He's got the smallest, thinnest neck I've ever seen," Mr Trump said. "He is not a long-ball hitter."The official Trump campaign on Friday rolled out a T-shirt with an image of Mr Schiff with a pencil for a neck and a red ball on his nose.For Republicans, the attacks on Mr Schiff are at least partial payback for months of Democratic attacks on the previous committee chairman, representative Devin Nunes, R-Calif, who oversaw a circumscribed probe of Russian ties to the Trump campaign and instead focused on Obama administration decisions that prompted the Justice Department probe."Important context is what happened to Devin Nunes," representative Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, said this week, pointing to Democratic pressure in 2017 after lawmakers found out that Mr Nunes made a late-night visit to the Trump White House to view classified materials pertaining to the Russia investigation.When Mr Nunes publicly alleged that Mr Trump's affiliates may have been picked up in a federal wiretap, that prompted allegations that Mr Nunes had disclosed secret surveillance reports, spurring an Ethics Committee investigation that ultimately cleared him. But as the cloud grew, Mr Nunes said in April 2017 that he would recuse himself from the committee's Trump-Russia probe.Later, Democrats accused Mr Nunes of destroying the credibility of the Intelligence panel and trying to use his subpoena power to undermine federal law enforcement as he sought to publicise the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.Mr Schiff said this week it was imperative that lawmakers be able to determine whether Mr Mueller weighed all the evidence they are looking into, especially regarding money laundering and Mr Trump's plans to build a tower in Moscow during his presidential campaign.But for the GOP, the matter is settled – and what goes around comes around."Here you have Mr Schiff, who essentially spent 22 months lying to the country," Mr Gaetz said. "I don't know how he's going to have credibility with the intelligence community."Mr Nunes himself has been largely quiet about Mr Schiff, but his fellow Republicans have not been shy about raising the Democratic attacks on Mr Nunes."Didn't the Mueller report justify exactly what chairman Nunes has said?" Mr McCarthy asked on Thursday amid his attacks on Mr Schiff. "I think chairman Nunes comes out on top. The concerns that he had with what was being said, what was being done was just proven correct."He added, referring to Mr Schiff and Mr Nunes respectively, "One member lied to the American public; one member told the truth and was attacked for it."Mr Schiff knows as well as anyone the political perils of assuming a role as a presidential inquisitor: He won his seat in 2000 by ousting representative James Rogan, R-Calif, who was among the House managers of President Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial. Mr Schiff capitalised on Democratic outrage to raise millions of dollars from donors across the country eager to exact revenge.Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham, R-SC, speaking in a Fox News interview this week, compared Mr Schiff to Jim Garrison, the New Orleans prosecutor who spent decades pursuing an unproven conspiracy to assassinate President John F Kennedy."Adam Schiff has got to make a decision about his political future," he said. "Does he want to be the guy that won't let it go when the authority of the investigation, Mr. Mueller, has concluded there was no collusion?"But there is no indication Mr Schiff's pursuit of Mr Trump has caused him any political trouble in a district that preferred Ms Clinton by 50 percentage points in 2016 and re-elected him to a 10th term last year with 78 per cent of the vote.Mr Schiff, in fact, has emerged as one of the Democratic Party's most talented fundraisers, with $4.7m (£3.6m) in his campaign account – more than any other sitting House member. This week, he was named a national finance chair for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, aimed at holding the party's new majority.House Democrats are not in full agreement about how forcefully they want to continue to pursue the Russia matter now Mr Mueller has completed his report. But they are unanimous in their defence of Mr Schiff and their insistence that Mr Trump is not in the clear until they can see the full extent of the special counsel's findings.As Mr Scalise pressed Democrats to remove Mr Schiff – a decision under the sole control of Ms Pelosi – Mr Hoyer made clear on Thursday he was not going anywhere."Let me assure the gentleman, there is not a person on my side of the aisle that believes that Mr Schiff has done anything but act in the highest interest of our government, of the Intelligence Committee, and of full knowledge for the American people," he said.The Washington Post
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| GM removes made-in-Mexico Chevy Blazer from Comerica Park display after controversy Posted: 30 Mar 2019 08:33 PM PDT ![GM removes made-in-Mexico Chevy Blazer from Comerica Park display after controversy]( "GM removes made-in-Mexico Chevy Blazer from Comerica Park display after controversy") GM swapped out its Mexican-made SUV that was on display at America's favorite pastime where UAW workers congregate.
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| American tourist visiting Australia beaten unconscious Posted: 31 Mar 2019 08:09 AM PDT  An American tourist was beaten unconscious while visiting Melbourne, Australia, in what police describe as a random attack.
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| EU has been patient over Brexit but patience runs out: Juncker Posted: 31 Mar 2019 12:34 PM PDT ![EU has been patient over Brexit but patience runs out: Juncker]( "EU has been patient over Brexit but patience runs out: Juncker") The European Union has had a lot of patience with Britain over Brexit but patience runs out, the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said in an interview on Italian state TV RAI on Sunday. Juncker, whose words were translated into Italian, said he would like Great Britain to be able to reach an agreement in the coming hours and days that could be followed. "So far we know what the British parliament says no to, but we don't know what it might say yes to," he said.
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| Arab leaders to seek U.N. Security Council resolution on Golan Posted: 31 Mar 2019 12:51 PM PDT  Arab leaders, long divided by regional rivalries, also ended their annual summit in Tunisia calling for cooperation with non-Arab Iran based on non-interference in each others' affairs. Arab leaders who have been grappling with a bitter Gulf Arab dispute, splits over Iran's regional influence, the war in Yemen and unrest in Algeria and Sudan sought common ground after Washington recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan. "We, the leaders of the Arab countries gathered in Tunisia ... express our rejection and condemnation of the United States decision to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan," Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.
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| F-15s on Steroids: Why the F-15X Should Make F-35 Fans Pretty Nervous Posted: 31 Mar 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Or maybe not.
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| Social Security, IRA and tax mistakes to avoid when planning retirement Posted: 30 Mar 2019 04:05 AM PDT ![Social Security, IRA and tax mistakes to avoid when planning retirement]( "Social Security, IRA and tax mistakes to avoid when planning retirement") Retirement planning mistakes, especially Social Security, 401(k) and IRA blunders, can be costly. Here are some errors that you can fix, thought.
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| INSIGHT-Regulators knew before crashes that 737 MAX trim control was confusing in some conditions - document Posted: 31 Mar 2019 04:00 PM PDT ![INSIGHT-Regulators knew before crashes that 737 MAX trim control was confusing in some conditions - document]( "INSIGHT-Regulators knew before crashes that 737 MAX trim control was confusing in some conditions - document") U.S. and European regulators knew at least two years before a Lion Air crash that the usual method for controlling the Boeing 737 MAX's nose angle might not work in conditions similar to those in two recent disasters, a document shows. The European Aviation and Space Agency (EASA) certified the plane as safe in part because it said additional procedures and training would "clearly explain" to pilots the "unusual" situations in which they would need to manipulate a rarely used manual wheel to control, or "trim," the plane's angle. The undated EASA certification document, available online, was issued in February 2016, an agency spokesman said.
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| One year on, tough times loom for Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed Posted: 30 Mar 2019 09:16 PM PDT  In his first speech as Ethiopian prime minister last April, Abiy Ahmed called for an end to the repressive, exclusionary governance that had plunged the country into turmoil. "Before Abiy came, our fear was that Ethiopia would descend into civil war," said Hassen Hussein, a top official in the Oromo Democratic Front, one of the many banned groups welcomed back from exile. While Abiy has remade the public face of the ruling omnipotent Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), diplomats and politicians say politics remains very much as usual at the local level.
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| Where the investigations related to President Trump stand Posted: 30 Mar 2019 09:17 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Where investigations related to President Donald Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him:
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| Experts: Jussie Smollett fiasco could taint Chicago prosecutors preparing to try R. Kelly Posted: 30 Mar 2019 10:05 AM PDT  Reeling from the outcry over dropping the charges against Jussie Smollett this week, Chicago prosecutors prepare to try R. Kelly on multiple sex crimes.
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| Study This Submarine (It Destroyed a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier in a War Game) Posted: 31 Mar 2019 05:45 AM PDT  In 2005, USS Ronald Reagan, a newly constructed $6.2 billion dollar aircraft carrier, sank after being hit by multiple torpedoes. Fortunately, this did not occur in actual combat, but was simulated as part of a war game.
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| Ebola treatment center in Congo reopens after attack Posted: 30 Mar 2019 02:02 PM PDT ![Ebola treatment center in Congo reopens after attack]( "Ebola treatment center in Congo reopens after attack") An Ebola treatment center located at the epicenter of the current outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has resumed operations after it was attacked last month, the country's health ministry said on Saturday. The center run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the district of Katwa was set on fire on Feb. 24 by unknown attackers, forcing staff to evacuate patients. "For now it is managed by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF," it said, referring to the United Nations children's fund.
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| Popular comedian races ahead in Ukrainian presidential election Posted: 31 Mar 2019 04:30 PM PDT  Exit polls and early counting put 41-year-old Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, comfortably ahead of incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in the first round, though short of a majority. Zelenskiy's rise coincided with voters around the world upending the status quo, propelling anti-establishment forces such as U.S. President Donald Trump and Italy's 5-Star movement to power. Investors are also watching to see if the next president will push reforms required to keep the country in an International Monetary Fund bailout program that has supported Ukraine through war, sharp recession and a currency plunge.
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