PoliticsAFPTrump slammed for 'silence' on white supremacist threat
Democrats led by an Arab-American lawmaker attacked President Donald Trump's "silence" on the rise of white supremacy Sunday as reaction to the New Zealand mosque massacre spilled into a heated US debate over religious and racial bigotry. With controversy swirling over Trump's tepid response to the massacre, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was forced to deny any affinity between the president's anti-immigration rhetoric and the accused Christchurch shooter's extremist views. "The president is not a white supremacist," Mulvaney said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
- NewsThe Independent
US weather: Thousands flee midwest as three die amid flooding triggered by 'bomb cyclone'
Thousands of people are being forced to leave their homes after a so-called bomb cyclone brought flooding to huge swathes of the American midwest. From Nebraska to Kansas, and Missouri to Illinois, residents have been evacuated amid flooding that has killed at least three people. The governors of Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin have declared states of emergency.
WorldReutersU.S.-backed force says it has taken positions in Islamic State Syria camp
U.S.-backed fighters said they had taken positions in Islamic State's last enclave in eastern Syria and air strikes pounded the tiny patch of land beside the Euphrates River early on Monday, a Reuters journalist said. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia said in an update on Monday that tens of militants had been killed during what it called fierce clashes, and one SDF fighter had been injured. It said Islamic State had sent four suicide bombers to points close to SDF fighters.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The Mercedes-Maybach GLS Will Be the Most Expensive Car Built in America
Mercedes-Benz USA's CEO confirmed the Mercedes-Maybach GLS to Automotive News. It will be built at the same Vance, Alabama, plant as the regular GLS, making it the most expensive passenger vehicle built in the States. The regular Mercedes-Benz GLS-class is set to make its debut within the next few months.
NewsAssociated PressNY self-help guru pleads not guilty to child porn charges
The spiritual leader of an upstate New York self-help group pleaded not guilty on Monday to newly filed child pornography charges at a hearing where it became clear that his co-defendants are trying to avoid going to trial with him next month. Keith Raniere was charged last week with exploiting a child and possessing child pornography. Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza told a judge on Monday that the government is in "active plea negotiations" with Allison Mack, best known for playing a teenage friend of Superman on the "Smallville" TV series, and two other defendants in the sex-trafficking case.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
Every New Compact Crossover and SUV Ranked from Worst to Best
Pick out the right right-sized and right-priced SUV. From Car and Driver
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Beto O'Rourke raises $6.1m in first 24 hours, smashing Bernie Sanders' record
Democratic hopeful Beto O'Rourke raised an unprecedented $6.1m during the first 24 hours of his official run for the White House, his campaign announced on Monday. The stunning sum is more than rival Bernie Sanders and every other 2020 Democratic rival who has disclosed their first-day fundraising totals. O'Rourke brought in $6,136,763 in online donations from all 50 states and territories, his campaign said.
CelebrityUSA TODAYWhat we know about Olivia Jade, Lori Loughlin's daughter caught up in admissions scandal
Before March 12, Olivia Jade Giannulli was a powerful social media influencer still on the rise as a YouTube and Instagram star. But Tuesday's stunning announcement of a federal investigation into a college-admission fraud scheme has dramatically changed the narrative for the 19-year-old freshman at the University of Southern California โ who goes by her social media name "Olivia Jade." Jade's parents, "Fuller House" star Lori Loughlin and designer Mossimo Giannulli, whose Mossimo label has been featured at Target stores, have both been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
NewsAssociated PressPirro's show not on Fox lineup, week after Omar comments
Fox News weekend host Jeanine Pirro's show didn't air a week after her comments questioning U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar over her wearing a Muslim head covering. The Fox News schedule for the upcoming weekend doesn't include the show. President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday morning about Pirro's absence, saying she should be brought back.
WorldAFPIsrael court bars extreme-right election candidate Ben-Ari
Israel's supreme court on Sunday disqualified the controversial leader of the extreme-right Jewish Power party, Michael Ben-Ari, from running in next month's elections. Ben-Ari has come under fire for comments he made about Israeli Arabs, which Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said earlier this month amount to "incitement to racism". The elections committee had approved Ben-Ari to run in the April polls, but the opposition left-wing Meretz party successfully appealed the decision to the supreme court.
- WorldUSA TODAY
New Zealand PM vows tighter gun laws after death toll in Christchurch terror attack rises to 50
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernย reiterated her promise for changes to the country's gun lawsย Sunday, two days after a gunman killed 50 people in a terrorist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch. Ardern said at a news conference that laws need to change and โthey will change.โ She said her Cabinet will discuss the policy details Monday. New Zealand has fewer restrictions on rifles or shotguns than many countries.
BusinessReutersBrotherly love at Reliance? India's Mukesh Ambani provides 'support' to brother Anil as debt paid off
India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, who controls oil-to-telecoms powerhouse Reliance Industries that is now worth many times the troubled business group run by his younger brother Anil, appears to have offered some kind of support to ensure Anil paid off a 5.5 billion rupees ($80 million) debt. If Anil didn't pay the debt, then he had been threatened by India's Supreme Court with a prison term. The nature of the backing and how it was delivered is unclear, but in a statement Anil Ambani thanked his billionaire brother "for standing by me during these trying times, and demonstrating the importance of staying true to our strong family values by extending this timely support".
- WorldThe National Interest
Navy vs. Nukes: U.S. Navy Plans to Test Missile Defenses Against ICBM
The Pentagon plans a โfirst-of-its-kindโ test of an unprecedented weapons capability to intercept and destroy an enemy Intercontinental Ballistic Missile "ICBM" -- from a Navy ship at sea using a Standard Missile-3 Block IIA. The concept, as articulated by Pentagon officials and cited briefly in this years' DoD โMissile Defense Review,โ would be to use an advanced SM-3 IIA to โunderlayโ and assist existing Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI), adding new dimensions to the current US missile defense posture.
BusinessAFPMalaysia summons two Goldman Sachs units linked to 1MDB scandal
Malaysian prosecutors said Monday they will summon Goldman Sachs units in London and Hong Kong to appear at a June hearing of a case linked to corruption in state investment fund 1MDB. The Wall Street titan is accused of misleading investors in the case when it helped 1MDB raise $6.5 billion through a series of bond issues in 2012 and 2013. Malaysian authorities are seeking fines in excess of the $2.7 billion allegedly misappropriated from the bond issues as well as the $600 million Goldman earned in fees.
- NewsThe Independent
California poppies: City declares public safety crisis after 'super bloom apocalypse'
Officials in the California city of Lake Elisnore have previously had large crowds come and see the wildflowers that burst into a vibrant blaze of gorgeous colour as spring gets underway. It happens when it rains hard. But this spring, the poppies have been so abundant and so strikingly coloured โ orange peel, marigold and burned copper โ that the number of people coming to walk among them has simply been too many.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Netanyahu Seeks Trump Bump as He Brings Re-Election Bid to U.S.
Netanyahu's officially coming for the AIPAC conference, an annual pro-Israel policy gathering that's become a key stop for political leaders, but his visit will serve up excellent campaign optics back home. He's certain to be photographed meeting President Trump while his speech, delivered in his American-accented baritone, will get plenty of airtime in Israel. He'll be speaking in English to an American crowd, but the most important audience will be the Israelis back home,โ said Natan Sachs, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Up to 500 homes damaged in 1 Nebraska county
The state's emergency management agency says more record crests are expected in various rivers by Tuesday. Nebraska has had much of the worst of the late-winter flooding that's been seen across the Midwest. Hundreds of homes are damaged and the state says 660 people are staying in shelters.
- U.S.WPVI โ Philadelphia
Washington teen who shoved friend off bridge pleads guilty
A woman has pleaded guilty to pushing her 16-year-old friend from a bridge at a popular swimming area near Vancouver.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Mesut Ozil sparks new political row over wedding invite for Turkish president
The footballer Mesut รzil has become embroiled in a new political row in Germany over reports he asked Recep Tayyip Erdoฤan,ย Turkey's president, to beย guest of honour at his wedding. The Arsenal star resigned from the German national team last year claiming he was a victim of racism after coming under fire over his public support for Mr Erdoฤan . German politicians spoke out after he was pictured with his fiancee, Amine Gulse, meeting Mr Erdoฤan at Istanbul airport last week.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Ethiopian official: 'Clear similarities' between catastrophic Boeing plane crashes
On a day when thousands mourned the 157 victims of last Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines crash, Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said โclear similarities'' were found between that accident and a fatal Lion Air crash Oct. 29, 2018, in Indonesia. Both doomed flights involved the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, putting the onus on the American manufacturer to find the source of the catastrophic failure of its now-grounded plane. The flight data and voice recorders, or black boxes, were recovered in good condition and the preliminary information retrieved from them confirmed satellite-based tracking data that indicated the flights followed comparable paths, Moges said.
NewsAssociated PressNew Zealand citizens open to gun reform after massacre
The New Zealand leader's promise of tightened gun laws in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings has been widely welcomed by a stunned population. Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern said her Cabinet will consider the details of the changes on Monday. She has said options include a ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles that were used with devastating effect in Christchurch and a government-funded buyback of newly outlawed guns.
WorldReutersIsraeli rabbi, wounded in Palestinian attack, dies: hospital
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. The rabbi, Achiad Ettinger, 47, was a father of 12 and a resident of a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. He was shot on Sunday shortly after the soldier was stabbed to death at an intersection on a busy highway in the territory.
WorldAFPSaudi crown prince approved 'intervention' against dissidents: report
More than a year before the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved a secret campaign to silence dissenters, The New York Times reported on Sunday. American officials referred to it as the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group, the Times said. At least some of the clandestine missions were carried out by members of the team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi in October at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, suggesting his murder was part of a wider campaign against dissidents, the report said, citing the US officials and associates of some Saudi victims.
- NewsU.S.News & World Report
3 Things Students Should Know About AP Registration Changes
The College Board, the not-for-profit organization that oversees the Advanced Placement program, recently announced its plans to alter AP registration policies. Since this decision directly affects students who are considering enrolling in AP courses, you must know exactly which changes will take place, as well as when. -- AP exam registration will now take place in November.
PoliticsReutersTrump renews attack alleging social media's political bias
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused social media platforms Facebook, YouTube and Twitter of favoring his Democratic opponents over him and his fellow Republicans. "But fear not, we will win anyway, just like we did before! #MAGA," he said in a tweet. MAGA refers to Trump's 2016 campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc declined to comment.
