HARI SREENIVASAN: President Trump has made good on his vow to impose steep tariffs on
two imported metals.
The orders he signed today set a 25 percent levy on foreign steel and 10 percent on aluminum.
He makes an exemption for Canada and Mexico while negotiating changes to the North American
Free Trade Agreement.
The tariffs are set to take effect in 15 days.
Mr. Trump signed the orders with industry workers looking on after arguing the tariffs
are vital.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: The American steel and aluminum industry has
been ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices.
It's really an assault on our country.
It's been an assault.
The actions we are taking today are not a matter of choice.
They are a matter of necessity for our security.
HARI SREENIVASAN: House Speaker Paul Ryan and other leading Republicans oppose the tariffs.
Speaking in Atlanta today, Ryan argued for a focus on China.
REP.
PAUL RYAN (R-WI), Speaker of the House: I'm just not a fan of broad-based across-the-board
tariffs, because I think you will have a lot of unintended consequences.
You will have a lot of collateral damage.
Not just consumers, but businesses.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Hours before the president's announcement, 11 Asian-Pacific signed a pact
to slash tariffs on their mutual trade.
President Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement last year.
We will examine his actions today right after the news summary.
In the day's other news: Lawmakers in Florida sent a newly adopted gun control bill to Republican
Governor Rick Scott.
He wouldn't say if he will sign it.
The bill passed the state House on Wednesday.
It sets a minimum age of 21 to purchase rifles, and also creates a program for arming teachers
who get training.
The Mississippi legislature today approved an abortion bill that would likely be the
most restrictive in the nation.
It outlaws the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
A number of states now have limits of 20 weeks.
Mississippi's Republican governor says he will sign the bill, but abortion rights groups
have promised to sue.
The Northeastern U.S. has started digging out after the second big storm in a week.
Parts of New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts got two feet of snow in the last 24 hours,
and Dover, Vermont, got 2.5 feet.
Crews worked overnight to remove downed trees, plow highways and clear railway tracks.
Some 800,000 customers were in the dark, including some who lost power in the first storm.
In Britain, a former Russian spy and his daughter are still critically ill after being poisoned
by a nerve agent.
Police also say 21 others needed treatment after Sunday's attack, but most have recovered.
The investigation is continuing, but officials are not directly blaming Russia, so far.
Dan Rivers of Independent Television News has our report.
DAN RIVERS: It is a sign of the severity of the potential hazard that fire crews were
being equipped with protective suits and masks today as they approached the bench where Sergei
and Yulia Skripal were found, as senior officers watching on as the crew re-secured a forensic
tent over the scene.
This afternoon, the officer who was hospitalized after first attending the incident was named
as Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey.
He has now regained consciousness and is in serious, but stable condition.
MAN: He's well.
He sat up.
He's not the Nick that I know, but, of course, he's receiving a high level of treatment.
He's in the safe hands of the medical professionals.
DAN RIVERS: The government has not confirmed precisely which nerve agent was used, but
was trenchant in its condemnation of the culprits.
AMBER RUDD, British Home Secretary: The use of a nerve agent on U.K. soil is a brazen
and reckless act.
This was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way.
People are right to want to know who to hold to account.
DAN RIVERS: Yulia and Sergei Skripal and remain in a critical condition, pictured here in
the Zizzi restaurant which they may also have visited on Sunday.
This CCTV of them leaving shows Yulia holding a red handbag.
This photo of the immediate aftermath of the incident shows her handbag discarded on the
ground as a police officer not wearing any productive suit or mask gathers evidence.
At Sergei Skripal's house, several tents have now been put up and the cordon around it has
been extended.
It's not clear why the police activity at Sergei Skripal's house has increased so markedly
today, but it's possible officers are looking to see if there are any traces of the nerve
agent inside the property.
Sergei Skripal's wife and son both died in recent years and are buried in Salisbury,
a family consumed by repeated tragedy, with some now wondering if their deaths were more
than just terrible coincidences.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Sergei Skripal had once been a double agent for Britain before being
caught and later freed in a spy swap.
Fresh disclosures today about the investigation of possible Russian links to the Trump campaign.
The Washington Post reported there's evidence that a meeting between a Trump backer and
a Russian official before the inauguration aimed to create a back channel with the Kremlin.
And The New York Times reported the president has asked two key witnesses about their conversations
with investigators.
Meanwhile, former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty today to tax evasion
and bank fraud in federal court in Virginia.
Turkey announced plans today for a joint operation with Iraqi forces against Kurdish rebels in
Northern Iraq.
It could start after Iraq's elections on May 12.
The Turks are already attacking U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria.
The Turks say they're allied with rebels inside Turkey.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared today the U.S. commitment to Africa is clear.
That's after President Trump triggered outrage in January with a slur about African nations.
Today in Ethiopia, Tillerson met with a top African Union official, who said it's time
to move past the uproar.
MOUSSA FAKI MAHAMAT, Chadian Politician (through translator): I believe that this incident
is behind us.
I believe that the visit today by the U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson is the proof
of the relations between Africa and the United States.
HARI SREENIVASAN: This is Tillerson's first diplomatic trip to Africa.
He will also stop in Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria.
This was International Women's Day, with marches and demonstrations across the world.
In the Philippines, hundreds of women clad in pink protested in Manila accusing President
Rodrigo Duterte of violating women's rights.
Spanish women in Madrid brought traffic to a standstill during a full-day strike against
the wage gap and gender violence.
And in New Delhi, hundreds marched toward the Indian Parliament to highlight sexual
attacks.
Some carried signs reading "Don't rape" and other slogans.
The U.S. Forest Service named an interim chief today in a shakeup over alleged sexual misconduct.
Vicki Christiansen is a former firefighter.
She will succeed Tony Tooke.
He retired yesterday following a "NewsHour" investigation into an alleged culture of sexual
harassment and assault at the agency.
On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average gained nearly 94 points to close at
24895.
The Nasdaq rose 31 points, and the S&P 500 added 12.
And it turns out fake news travels six times faster than the real thing, at least on Twitter.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reached that conclusion after
reviewing millions of tweets spanning 10 years.
They say, even accounting for the influence of bots, fake news moves farther, faster,
deeper and more broadly than the truth.
Twitter funded the study.