March 28, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) -- East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

Mueller report

• Mueller Finds No Trump-Russia Conspiracy, but Stops Short of Exonerating President on Obstruction (New York Times)
• Barr’s Declaration on Trump Puts Justice Dept. Back in Political Crucible (New York Times)
• Democrats demand Mueller’s full report by next week (Politico)
• Robert Mueller once again failed as federal prosecutor (Reno Dispatch)

Other national news

• Trump administration now wants all of Obamacare struck down (CNN)
• Boeing pushed hard for self-oversight as Congress allowed it to take over some FAA functions (Washington Post)
• FEMA mistakes put 2.3 million disaster victims at risk of ID theft, watchdog says (USA Today)
• German billionaire family that owns Einstein Bros. Bagels admits Nazi past (Washington Post)
• A Growing Problem in Real Estate: Too Many Too Big Houses  (The Wall Street Journal)

WORLD

• May's offer to quit fails to break Britain's Brexit stalemate (Reuters)
• Islamic State group: Syria's Kurds call for international tribunal (BBC)
• Mexico demands apology from Spain and the Vatican over conquest (BBC)
• Netanyahu cuts short U.S. trip after rocket attack from Gaza (Reuters )
• Israeli rabbi, wounded in Palestinian attack, dies: hospital (Reuters)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

U.S.

Mueller report

Mueller Finds No Trump-Russia Conspiracy, but Stops Short of Exonerating President on Obstruction (New York Times)

The investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III found no evidence that President Trump or any of his aides coordinated with the Russian government’s 2016 election interference, according to a summary of the special counsel’s key findings made public on Sunday by Attorney General William P. Barr…Mr. Mueller’s team drew no conclusions about whether Mr. Trump illegally obstructed justice, Mr. Barr said, so he made his own decision.

Barr’s Declaration on Trump Puts Justice Dept. Back in Political Crucible (New York Times)

William P. Barr was a lawyer in private practice in June when he wrote an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department that was sharply skeptical of the special counsel’s inquiry into whether President Trump illegally obstructed justice. Nine months later, Mr. Trump is cleared of that offense, and he has Mr. Barr, his new attorney general, to thank.

Democrats demand Mueller’s full report by next week (Politico)

House Democrats hinted they’d issue a subpoena to the attorney general to get the report.

Robert Mueller once again failed as federal prosecutor (Reno Dispatch)

… Any prosecutor worth his or her salt could and should have brought a substantial obstruction of justice case against Trump. But as I've been reporting for the last 18 years, Mueller has a tendency to choke when it comes to going after American Presidents. ..Mueller has no trouble going after the bottom feeders, the Paul Manaforts of the world, but he remains loathe to implicate the Big Fish. He refused to question the motives or actions of President George W. Bush during the 9/11 investigation. 

Other national news

Trump administration now wants all of Obamacare struck down (CNN)

he Trump administration on Monday said the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down, in a dramatic reversal. In a filing with a federal appeals court, the Justice Department said it agreed with the ruling of a federal judge in Texas that invalidated the Obama-era health care law.

Boeing pushed hard for self-oversight as Congress allowed it to take over some FAA functions (Washington Post)

Congress passed little-noticed provisions that gave the plane’s maker, Boeing, even more power to oversee itself, demonstrating the company’s sway in Washington.

FEMA mistakes put 2.3 million disaster victims at risk of ID theft, watchdog says (USA Today)

 The misstep has put the survivors of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the California wildfires "at increased risk of identity theft and fraud." 

German billionaire family that owns Einstein Bros. Bagels admits Nazi past (Washington Post)

The German family whose holding company owns controlling stakes in companies such as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Panera Bread, Pret a Manger and Einstein Bros. Bagels profited from the horrors of the Nazi regime…. JAB Holdings is a privately held conglomerate that has investments in a wide portfolio of global companies, among them Peet’s Coffee, Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper-Snapple. .The report found that Russian civilians and French prisoners of war were used as forced laborers in the family’s factories and private villas around World War II… “It is all correct,” family spokesman Peter Harf, who is one of two managing partners of JAB Holdings, told Bild. “Reimann Senior and Reimann Junior were guilty. The two men have passed away, but they actually belonged in prison.”

A Growing Problem in Real Estate: Too Many Too Big Houses  (The Wall Street Journal)

 Baby boomers and retirees built large, elaborate dream homes across the Sunbelt—only to find that few people want to buy them.

WORLD

May's offer to quit fails to break Britain's Brexit stalemate (Reuters)

…Britain was supposed to leave the bloc on Friday but Brussels agreed last week to put back the divorce date until April 12 to give it a chance to resolve a three-year crisis that has split the country down the middle. However, it still remains uncertain how, when or even whether the United Kingdom, the world’s fifth-biggest economy, will leave the EU. The possibilities that it will leave with no deal to soften the shock to its economy, or delay the departure date to hold a general election, have increased as other options fade.

Islamic State group: Syria's Kurds call for international tribunal (BBC)

The Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria has called for the creation of an international tribunal to try thousands of suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) group.

Mexico demands apology from Spain and the Vatican over conquest (BBC)

Mexico's president has sent a letter to Spain's King Felipe VI and Pope Francis urging them to apologise for human rights abuses committed during the conquest of the region 500 years ago.  Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the indigenous peoples of Mexico had been the victims of massacres.

Netanyahu cuts short U.S. trip after rocket attack from Gaza (Reuters )

Monday’s violence began when seven Israelis were wounded near Tel Aviv by a morning rocket attack. The Gaza health ministry said five Palestinians were later wounded by a wave of retaliatory strikes….  Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated seven people after the morning missile strike, including an infant, a 3-year-old boy, a 12-year-old girl and a 60-year-old woman suffering from blast injuries, burns and shrapnel wounds.

Israeli rabbi, wounded in Palestinian attack, dies: hospital (Reuters)

An Israeli rabbi died on Monday of wounds from a Palestinian attack a day earlier in the occupied West Bank in which a soldier was killed - an incident that played into Israeli politics three weeks before a national election.