Wednesday morning news: May 2, 2018

Trump welcomes Southwest Airlines crew at White House » President Trump on Tuesday welcomed some of the passengers and crew from Southwest Airlines flight 1380, who reacted quickly after an engine exploded in-flight.

TRUMP: Captain Schults, I especially want to commend you for your life-saving actions. I understand you were one of the first women ever to fly tactical fighter aircraft in the United States Navy. You drew from years of training and safety, and you knew how to land that plane. We salute you and every member of this crew.

Captain Tammie Jo Schults was piloting the Boeing 7-37 out of New York last month when the engine blowout occurred in route to Dallas. Debris from the busted engine smashed a window killing passenger Jennifer Riordan, who was seated just inside the window.

Trump responds to leak of Mueller questions » Earlier in the day, President Trump took to Twitter to blast the publication of a set of questions special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly wants to ask him. The New York Times published the 44 questions after getting them from someone with access to the president’s legal team.

The president said, “It is so disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were ‘leaked’ to the media.” Trump touted a lack of questions directly referencing collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives. But some of the questions do touch on whether the Trump campaign coordinated in any way with the Kremlin.

Several of the questions on the leaked list focus on possible obstruction of justice, as well as Trump’s dealings with his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Mueller’s team has said Trump is not a target of the investigation.

White House delays decision on tariff exemptions » The White House is putting off a decision on giving some U.S. allies carve-outs from tariffs on steel and aluminum. WORLD Radio’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The 30-day delay gives U.S. officials some wiggle room ahead of tense trade talks with China this week. Leaders of the European Union, Mexico, and Canada pushed for the exemptions to avoid a trade war among allies.

The White House said Monday it has reached an agreement with South Korea on steel imports and has agreements in principle with Argentina, Australia, and Brazil on steel and aluminum imports. But EU leaders suggested they won’t negotiate on anything but a permanent exemption to the import taxes, stating: “As a longstanding partner and friend of the U-S, we will not negotiate under threat.”

The EU says if the Trump administration refuses to lift the new tariffs on steel and aluminum, it could retaliate with a list of tariffs worth about $3.5 billion.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kristen Flavin.

U.S. starts interviewing migrants from caravan on border » Border inspectors have allowed about eight members of a migrant caravan that arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border last week to enter the United States for interviews with asylum officers.

About 140 other asylum seekers from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala still await their turn on the Mexican side of the border near San Diego. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has pledged to send more immigration judges to the border if needed and to prosecute people who apply for asylum under false pretenses.

On Monday, the Justice Department said it filed illegal entry charges against 11 people identified as caravan members.

Teacher walkouts continue in Arizona » 

AUDIO: AZ teacher protest

Arizona teachers gathered for a fourth day at the state capitol on TuesdaY as their statewide walkout continued.

AUDIO: (singing) We’re not gonna take it, no. No!

Teachers continued to call for better pay and more school funding as state lawmakers met to try to pass a new budget plan introduced a day earlier.

The plan negotiated between the Legislature and GOP Governor Doug Ducey provides the first 10 percent of what will be a 20 percent pay raise by 2020.

It also restores $100 million out of the nearly $400 million in recession-era cuts to a fund that helps schools pay for books, buses and other expenses.

Terror attack kills dozens in Nigeria (KC✓) (JC✓)

One day after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with President Trump at the White House to discuss combating terrorism, another deadly attack has killed dozens in northeastern Nigeria. WORLD Africa reporter Onize Ohikere reports.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Police say the first suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in the northeastern town of Mubi, where worshipers gathered for afternoon prayers. Then, as people scrambled for shelter, a second bomb went off. Witnesses said the blast was so powerful, it blew off the mosque’s roof. The bombings killed at least 24 people.

No group claimed responsibility, but Boko Haram continues to stage attacks in the region. Last November, the group killed at least 50 people in an attack on the very same mosque.

For WORLD Radio, I’m Onize Ohikere reporting from Abuja, Nigeria.

California sues over EPA emission rules rollback » Another lawsuit against the Trump administration, this time by California and 16 other states upset with the EPA’s proposed rollback of Obama-era auto emission standards.

Those states want to keep regulations that would require new automobiles to average 36 miles per gallon by 2025, a standard the EPA now says is “not appropriate.”

Announcing the suit Tuesday, California Governor Jerry Brown said keeping the standard is a life and death issue.

BROWN: This cannot be taken lightly. I take this as an existential threat to America, to California and to the world and I’m going to fight it with everything I can.

California already has an EPA waiver allowing it to set tougher emission standards than the federal government to reduce carbon emissions.

(AP Photo/Hans-Maximo Musielik) People who traveled with the annual caravan of Central American migrants, rest where the group set up camp to wait for access to request asylum in the US, outside the El Chaparral port of entry building at the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, April 30, 2018.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.