Mosul, Devin Nunes, Nicola Sturgeon: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/28/briefing/mosul-devin-nunes-nicola-sturgeon.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. Flanked by coal miners and touting energy independence, President Trump signed an order to undo President Obama’s climate legacy.

He reversed policies that were intended to fight climate change. Experts say Mr. Trump’s directive all but ensures the U.S. will fail to meet its commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Here’s what you need to know about the order, and here’s a look at the climate change denialists in power in Washington.

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2. House Republican leaders and the White House, under extreme pressure from conservative activists, have restarted negotiations on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Speaker Paul Ryan did not divulge what the next version of the bill might look like.

The midterm elections next year pose a dilemma for House Republicans: Which way to go on health care?

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3. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, insisted that he would continue leading the panel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election.

“Why would I not?” he said. Pressed about Democrats’ concerns that he was too close to President Trump — even being shown intelligence reports on the White House grounds — he added, “That sounds like their problem.”

Mr. Ryan, who could remove Mr. Nunes, said he saw no reason for him to step aside.

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4. The rise of Mr. Trump has emboldened right-wing voices. A podcast created by border patrol agents shot to fame after he appeared on it. Art Del Cueto, above, is one of the hosts.

At the same time, labor shortages and accounts of family separation that accompany the immigration crackdown are leading some people to soften their views.

Some of Representative Steve King’s constituents in Iowa are rethinking their support after Mr. King’s latest anti-immigrant remarks.

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5. The cacophony of gunfire, the dull thud of mortar rounds, the deafening roar of Islamic State car bombs and American airstrikes.

Times reporters deep in the Iraqi city of Mosul saw desperate families, some carrying young children or propping up aging relatives, trying to escape as the sounds of battle closed in.

The senior U.S. commander in Iraq said that an American strike likely triggered the collapse of a building in Mosul that killed more than 100 civilians. In today’s episode of The Daily podcast, one reporter describes the strike’s horrifying aftermath.

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6. “Sexist does not begin to describe this front page.”

That was a British lawmaker taking aim at the tabloid The Daily Mail, after it ran a front-page picture of Prime Minister Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland, with the headline, “Never mind Brexit, who won Legs-it!”

The two leaders had been discussing whether Britain’s departure from the European Union would cause Scotland to leave the United Kingdom.

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7. An ambitious project taking shape in southern France will test a long-held dream: that nuclear fusion, the atomic reaction that takes place in the sun and in hydrogen bombs, can be controlled to generate power.

“Fusion is very hard,” one researcher said. “Plasma is not your friend. It tries to do everything it can to really displease you.”

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8. The president’s boyhood home in Queens sold for $2.14 million, more than double the average value of homes in the area.

The identity of the purchaser was obscured by a recently created limited liability corporation, Trump Birth House.

But there was a clue: The sale was facilitated by a lawyer who specializes in real estate investments by overseas Chinese buyers.

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9. It is the rare debut novel that draws strong praise from our chief book critic, Michiko Kakutani.

“American War” by Omar El Akkad, above, has done just that.

The book depicts a dystopian future where the country is reeling from the aftermath of a second civil war.

“It is a story that extrapolates the deep, partisan divisions that already plague American politics and looks at where those widening splits could lead,” Ms. Kakutani writes.

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10. Finally, we’re reading about the man who wrote “Groundhog Day” twice; famous men’s love letters; and a bunch of great stories that have nothing to do with politics.

And we’re back to our CliffsNotes for late-night comedy. Jimmy Fallon wondered if the failure of the Republican health care bill might provide the president with material for a memoir.

He suggested a few titles, including: “How to Lose Friends and Influence No One.”

Have a great night.

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