North America

NEW YORK (AP) — Just days after a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max nosedived in Indonesia and killed all 189 people aboard, an Ethiopian Airlines pilot began pleading with his bosses for more training on the Max, warning that crews could easily be overwhelmed in a crisis and that one of their planes could be the next to go down.

“We are asking for trouble,” veteran pilot Bernd Kai von Hoesslin wrote in a December email obtained by The Associated Press, adding that if several alarms go off in the cockpit at once, “it will be a crash for sure.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s first — and possibly last — public statement on the Russia investigation is fueling fresh calls on Capitol Hill to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, a step that Democratic leaders have so far resisted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday that charging President Donald Trump with a crime was “not an option” because of federal rules, but he used his first public remarks on the Russia investigation to emphasize that he did not exonerate the president.

“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller declared.

29 May 2019; AFP: US National Security Advisor John Bolton accused Iran Wednesday of "almost certainly" being behind sabotage attacks on oil tankers off the UAE coast this month, as he visited Abu Dhabi amid soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The accusation, which follows a US military buildup in the Gulf, came on the eve of emergency Arab and Gulf summits called by Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia to discuss the standoff and ways to isolate Tehran.

29 May 2019; DW: Several fake social media accounts spreading messages in support of Iran have been removed from Facebook and Twitter. The deletion of the accounts came after an investigation by internet security firm FireEye.

Facebook and Twitter said on Tuesday that they have deleted fake accounts impersonating political candidates and journalists used as part of a pro-Iran social media campaign.

Washington, May 29 (PTI) The Trump administration once again refused to label China as a currency manipulator, even though on Tuesday it kept Beijing on a list of countries whose trade surpluses with the US and other indicators are closely tracked.

In its semi-annual report on macroeconomic and foreign exchange policies of major trading partners of the US, sent to the Congress, the Treasury department said that no country meets the criteria to be labelled as one seeking to gain unfair trade advantages over the US by manipulating its currency.

UNITED NATIONS, May 28 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations official on Tuesday urged the international community to pay close attention to the dire humanitarian situation in Syria and take concrete action to stop attacks on schools and hospitals.

"Can't this Council take any concrete action when attacks on schools and hospitals have become a war tactic that no longer sparks outrage?" UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller threw the hard-hitting question towards the Security Council, which was discussing the humanitarian situation in Syria.

NEW YORK, May 28. /TASS/: The relatives of Paul Whelan, who is detained in Russia on espionage charges, have expressed gratitude to the presidential Human Rights Council which will look into how he is treated at the pre-trial detention center of Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

"We are grateful that President Putin's Human Rights Council will be looking into Paul's treatment at Lefortovo," Paul Whelan’s brother David said in a letter emailed to TASS on Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS, May 28 (APP): Militant attacks on schools in Afghanistan increased almost threefold last year, making it increasingly difficult to ensure education for children in many parts of the country, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

According to a report released Tuesday, there were 192 attacks on schools in 2018, up from 68 in 2017.

LYNN, Mass. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Seth Moulton is highlighting his plan to improve mental health care in the United States, particularly for veterans, by revealing his own struggles with post-traumatic stress.