’Slain’ Russian journalist turns up alive at news conference
KIEV, Ukraine — To the gasps, whoops and applause of stunned colleagues, Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko walked into a news conference Wednesday, less than a day after police in the Ukrainian capital said he had been assassinated.
Authorities said his death had been staged to foil a plot on his life by Moscow’s security services and one arrest was made. Russia denounced the faked killing as an outlandish attempt at defamation by its neighbor and foe.
Even Babchenko’s wife was unaware of the deception, and the 41-year-old Kremlin critic who fled to Ukraine 15 months ago apologized to her “for the hell she had to go through in the past two days. There was no choice there, either.”
Neither Babchenko nor Ukrainian Security Service chief Vasyl Gritsak gave details of the sting operation or how they made his wife believe he was dead.
Kiev Police Chief Andriy Krishchenko had announced Babchenko’s death Tuesday, saying the journalist’s wife found him bleeding at their apartment building in Kiev but that he died en route to the hospital. Lawmaker Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister, said the assailant had waited on a staircase in the building and shot Babchenko in the back as he was going to buy bread.
Ex-FBI No. 2 official wrote memo on Comey firing
WASHINGTON — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe drafted a memo on circumstances leading up to the firing of his onetime boss, James Comey, a person familiar with the situation said Wednesday night.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press to discuss a secret document that has been turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller. His team is investigating whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 presidential election and whether the president sought to obstruct that inquiry through actions including the firing of Comey last May.
The memo concerns a conversation that McCabe had with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about Rosenstein’s preparations for Comey’s firing. Rosenstein played an important role in that episode, having authored a memo faulting Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation that the White House held up as justification for President Donald Trump’s decision to fire the FBI director.
Rosenstein has said he wrote a memo laying out his concerns with Comey after learning that the White House intended to fire him.
Trump planning tariffs on European steel, aluminum
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports after failing to win concessions from the European Union, a move that could provoke retaliatory tariffs and inflame trans-Atlantic trade tensions.
The tariffs are likely to go into effect on the EU with an announcement by Friday’s deadline, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The administration’s plans could change if the two sides are able to reach a last-minute agreement, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Trump announced in March the United States would slap a 25 percent tariff on imported steel, and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum, citing national security interests. But he granted an exemption to the EU and other U.S. allies; that reprieve expires Friday.
Europe has been bracing for the U.S. to place the restrictions even as top European officials have held last-ditch talks in Paris with American trade officials to try to avert the tariffs.
“Realistically, I do not think we can hope” to avoid either U.S. tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum, said Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Union’s trade commissioner. Even if the U.S. were to agree to waive the tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, Malmstrom said, “I expect them nonetheless to want to impose some sort of cap on EU exports.”
From wire sources
Florida school shooting suspect foretold intention in videos
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In chilling cellphone videos released Wednesday, the suspect in a February massacre at a Florida high school announced his intention to become the next school shooter, aiming to kill at least 20 people and saying “you’re all going to die.”
The three videos released by prosecutors were found on the cellphone of suspect Nikolas Cruz after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people and injured 17 others.
Cruz, wearing a ball cap, introduces himself in the first video and says he is “going to be the next school shooter of 2018.” He goes on to say that he wants to use an AR-15 to kill at least 20 people and specifies the high school in Parkland. The videos are undated, but on one he says, “Today is the day. Today it all begins. The day of my massacre shall begin.”
“When you see me on the news, you’ll all know who I am,” he says in another and then laughs. “You’re all going to die. … Can’t wait.”
In a second video, Cruz briefly discusses logistics, including that he will take Uber to campus about 2:40. He then says he’ll walk onto campus, go up some stairs, open his bag to take out his weapon and start firing. School surveillance video shows that was almost exactly what he did —the only difference being that he arrived at the school at 2:19 p.m.
Banks would be freer to trade for profit under Fed proposal
WASHINGTON — The largest U.S. banks would have leeway to take riskier trading bets for their own profit under proposed changes the Federal Reserve unveiled Wednesday.
The changes would loosen rules that since the 2008 financial meltdown have barred big banks from using depositors’ money to make sizable bets on stocks and bonds. The Fed now wants to relax these regulations, thereby giving Wall Street greater ability to engage in profit-making trades.
The action the Fed proposed Wednesday would make it easier for all banks to comply with the Volcker Rule, while giving the greatest relief to banks that do less trading. The rule, established under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulation law, was designed to limit the high-risk trading that big banks could do. Those financial institutions needed taxpayer-funded bailouts after the 2008 crisis — a meltdown that was ignited by their excessive risk-taking.
The changes would be applied according to how much trading banks do. At the upper level would be banks with at least $10 billion in trading assets and liabilities. Fed officials said 18 banks fall into that category, accounting for 95 percent of U.S. bank trading and include some foreign banks with U.S. operations.
Less stringent requirements would apply to banks that do less trading. The idea is to give the banks greater clarity on their permissible trading activity without sacrificing their financial soundness, the officials said.
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Weinstein indicted in sex case; lawyer says he’ll fight it
NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein was indicted Wednesday on rape and criminal sex act charges, furthering the first criminal case to arise from a slate of sexual misconduct allegations against the former movie mogul.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said the indictment brings Weinstein “another step closer to accountability” for alleged attacks on two women in New York.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he would “vigorously defend” against the indictment and ask a court to dismiss it. He called the allegations “unsupported” and reiterated that Weinstein strongly denies them.
The indictment came hours after Weinstein’s lawyer said the film producer would decline to testify before the grand jury because there wasn’t enough time to prepare him and “political pressure” made an indictment unavoidable.
“Regardless of how compelling Mr. Weinstein’s personal testimony might be, an indictment was inevitable due to the unfair political pressure being placed on Cy Vance to secure a conviction of Mr. Weinstein,” the statement said.
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