- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
Russian collusion is a dead end. But the Mueller report doesn't end the danger for Trump.
This is already a victory for President Donald Trump. There is a question of how specific and how tough Mueller's report will be on individuals who are not indicted. My guess is he will not say things like ousted FBI Director James Comey said about Hillary Clinton. Unlike in Comey's case, it would not be improper for the chief prosecutor on a case to express his opinion.
WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: New Zealanders to observe Muslim call to prayer
People across New Zealand will listen to the Muslim call to prayer on Friday as the nation marks one week since a gunman attacked two mosques and killed 50 people. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and thousands of other people plan to congregate in Hagley Park opposite the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch to observe the call to prayer at 1:30 p.m. Many radio and television stations plan to broadcast the event live. At least 42 people died at the Al Noor mosque and at least seven at the nearby Linwood mosque in last Friday's attack.
WorldReutersU.S. imposes first new North Korea sanctions since failed summit
The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on two Chinese shipping companies it says helped North Korea evade sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, the first such steps since a U.S.-North Korean summit collapsed last month. The U.S. Treasury Department also issued an updated advisory that listed 67 vessels that it said had engaged in illicit transfers of refined petroleum with North Korean tankers or were believed to have exported North Korean coal. The department identified the newly sanctioned firms as Dalian Haibo International Freight Co Ltd and Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co Ltd, which it said had helped North Korea evade U.S. and international sanctions.
- BusinessThe National Interest
Bringing the Sting: The U.S. Navy Is Getting New F/A-18E/F Super Hornets
David Axe Security, The Super Hornets would be the first new-build examples of the Block III variant of the F/A-18E/F. The Block III flies farther and carries more weapons than an older F/A-18E/F can do and also is stealthier than earlier Super Hornet models are. The U.S. Navy in mid-March 2019 awarded Chicago plane-maker Boeing a $4-billion contract to build 78 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for the U.S. Navy. The Super Hornets would be the first new-build examples of the Block III variant of the F/A-18E/F. The Block III flies farther and carries more weapons than an older F/A-18E/F can do and also is stealthier than earlier Super Hornet models are.
- NewsUSA TODAY
JetBlue lawsuit claims pilots drugged three crew members and raped two
Two JetBlue pilots allegedly drugged three crew members, with one pilot raping two of the women during a Puerto Rico layover, a new lawsuit claims. The lawsuit, filed by two of the crew members referred to as Jane Doe, alleges that pilot Eric Johnson, along with fellow pilot Dan Watson, passed three of their JetBlue colleagues an open beer on the beach outside the Intercontinental Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on May 9, 2018. The plaintiffs contend the beer contained a date rape drug.
BusinessAFPAfter crashes, Boeing rolls out safety feature previously sold as option
Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft will be outfitted with a warning light for malfunctions in the anti-stall system suspected in October's fatal crash in Indonesia, an industry source told AFP Thursday, standardizing a feature previously sold as an optional extra. The development comes as the manufacturer struggles to cope with the fallout from both the Indonesia crash and another in Ethiopia this month, which have cast a spotlight on the safety certification process and shaken confidence in a plane that is crucial to its future plans. Known as a "disagree light," this safety feature will become standard and is among the modifications the company will present to US authorities and clients in the coming days, the source said on condition of anonymity.
- BusinessConsumer Reports
IRS Loosens Tax Penalty for Millions
In more typical tax years, most taxpayers must pay at least 90 percent of their federal taxes for a given year, or 100 percent of what they owed the year before, in order to avoid an underpayment penalty. The change comes in response to public outcry. As the tax season progressed this year, reports of taxpayer outrage at lower refunds and higher-than-expected tax bills suggested far more people than expected were caught unawares.
- BusinessCar and Driver
See Photos of the New 2020 Porsche Cayenne Coupe
Porsche joins competitors Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz with a coupe version of its Cayenne SUV at a modest price premium over the standard Cayenne and Cayenne Turbo. From Car and Driver
WorldBloombergBrexit End Likely to Be Based on a Customs Union, JPMorgan Says
The realities of the Brexit situation indicate that the U.K. is going to end up with “something that's founded on a customs union” with the European Union, according to Karen Ward, chief market strategist for Europe, Middle East and Africa at JPMorgan Asset Management. There are two realities to Brexit,” Ward said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. One is: there is a border between northern and southern Ireland.
- PoliticsThe Telegraph
Kellyanne Conway thanks Trump for defending her after president calls her husband a 'stone cold loser'
White House aide Kellyanne Conway publicly backed Donald Trump on Wednesday after an extraordinary 48-hour Twitter row between the president and her husband came to a head. Mrs Conway used a cable news interview to insist she would not resign and rebuked her husband George for airing his views in public. It follows two days during which Mr Conway and Mr Trump have traded blows on twitter in a war of words that has generated a slew of headlines.
NewsAssociated PressEx-cop says he thought he saw a gun when he shot black teen
A white former police officer said Thursday he thought a weapon was pointed at him when he shot and killed an unarmed black teenager outside Pittsburgh last summer. Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld took the stand at his homicide trial and insisted he was in fear for his life when he gunned down 17-year-old Antwon Rose II. Rosfeld, 30, got choked up and dabbed away tears as he recounted finding the mortally wounded Rose on the ground.
SportsFOX News VideosCNN takes over a week to report Covington lawsuit
What happened to 'facts first'? Reaction from former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino.
NewsReutersAmid U.S. Midwest flooding, residents in Missouri, Kansas rush to fill sandbags
Floodwaters that devastated swaths of Nebraska and Iowa rolled downstream along America's longest river on Thursday, swamping more Midwestern farmland as waterfront communities in Missouri and Kansas hurried to shore up strained levees. Flooding of the Missouri River triggered by last week's so-called "bomb cyclone" storm has already inflicted damage estimated at nearly $1.5 billion in Nebraska, killed at least four people in Nebraska and Iowa and left a man missing below Nebraska's collapsed Spencer Dam. Missouri Governor Mike Parson declared a state of emergency for his state as high water forced evacuations of several small farm communities.
CelebrityUSA TODAY'A gift sent from the heavens': Nebraska pals find fridge full of beer during flood cleanup
After a long day of flood cleanup, two guys in Nebraska got an unexpected but welcomed "gift sent from the heavens": free, cold beer. Friends Kyle Simpson and Gayland Stouffer had spent Sunday cleaning mud from Simpson's property after massive flooding across the Midwest left large swaths of land swamped and levees overwhelmed. In Linwood, Simpson and Stouffer, clad in chest waders and tired from the day of work, were heading back to Simpson's car when they noticed what looked like a refrigerator in the distance, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
NewsAFPSchool shooting survivor stricken by 'survivor's guilt' takes own life
A teenager who survived the Parkland school shooting in Florida has killed herself while struggling with survivors' guilt, local media reported Friday. Sydney Aiello, 19, was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas last February 14 when a former student opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon, killing 14 students and three staff members. Among the dead were two of Aiello's best friends, Meadow Pollack and Joaquin Oliver.
- BusinessU.S.News & World Report
Strengthen Your Retirement Security in 7 Steps
Retirement security is the ability to live a comfortable retirement without the burden of financial stress. Early planning is the best way to ensure a financially secure retirement, but not everyone has the luxury of time to prepare. The financial decisions you make in the years approaching retirement will have a significant impact on your retirement security.
BusinessAssociated PressThe Latest: Ethiopian airline defends pilots' training
The Latest on the Ethiopian plane crash (all times local): 7:15 p.m. Ethiopian Airlines says its pilots went through all the extra training required by Boeing and the U.S. aviation regulator to fly the 737 Max 8 jet that crashed this month, killing all 157 passengers. CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said Thursday that the airline's pilots completed the training meant to help them shift from an older model to the newer 737 Max 8.
- WorldNational Review
May Now Open to No-Deal Brexit If Parliament Rejects Her Deal
British prime minister Theresa May, after repeatedly warning the public of the dangers associated with a so-called no-deal Brexit — in which the country leaves the European Union absent a formal agreement with the EU — is now reportedly open to that option if Parliament continues to reject the deal she has negotiated with Brussels. After announcing Wednesday that she had formally requested that the EU extend the Brexit deadline from March 29 to June 30, May came to accept the possibility that the U.K. will crash out of the body if Parliament refuses to approve the terms of her deal, The Financial Times reported. The EU convened in Brussels on Thursday to discuss May's deadline-extension request, which she was forced to resort to after parliament twice rejected the deal she negotiated with EU leaders.
- WorldThe Guardian
Trump says US will recognize Israel's sovereignty over Golan Heights
He said: “After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability! By defying a 52-year-old unanimously adopted UN resolution on “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war”, Trump has also broken the postwar norm of refusing to recognise the forcible annexation of territory – which has underpinned western and international opposition to the Russian annexation of Crimea.
WorldReutersNew Zealand reopens mosques that were attacked; many 'march for love'
Smelling of fresh paint, the two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch where a gunman killed 50 worshippers last week reopened their doors on Saturday, with many survivors among the first to walk in and pray for those who died. At the Al Noor mosque, where more than 40 of the victims were killed by a suspected white supremacist, prayers resumed with armed police on site, but no graphic reminders of the mass shooting, New Zealand's worst. Aden Diriye, who lost his 3-year-old son, Mucad Ibrahim, in the attack, came back to the mosque with his friends.
NewsAssociated PressACLU sues FBI for records related to black extremists report
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the FBI on Thursday for records related to a divisive 2017 report that said black extremists were on the rise following the shooting deaths of several African-Americans. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Northern California names the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice. The ACLU and its foundation were joined by the Center for Media Justice, based in Oakland, California, as plaintiffs.
- WorldLiveScience.com
'Inland Oceans' from One of Southern Hemisphere's Worst Storms Seen from Space
A deadly cyclone that hit southern Africa left extensive flooding that looked like "inland oceans" in images from space taken just days after the storm made landfall. Sentinel-1, a satellite mission that's part of the European Union's Earth-observation program, Copernicus, captured imagery on March 19 that showed far-reaching floodwaters around Mozambique's town of Beira on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Cyclone Idai could turn out to be "one of the worst weather-related disasters" in the Southern Hemisphere, said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization.
BusinessUSA TODAYRobocalls: AT&T CEO gets spam call alert on his Apple Watch during a live interview
On Wednesday, Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T, was in the middle of a live interview on stage at the Economic Club of Washington D.C. when he got a notification on his Apple Watch indicating that he was receiving a call. Stephenson temporarily interrupted the interview as he checked to see who was calling. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson gets a robocall while onstage at @TheEconomicClub.
BusinessAFPToxicologist denies manipulating studies in Monsanto damages proceedings
A toxicologist from Roundup weedkiller manufacturer Monsanto denied Friday that she had influenced scientific studies to hide the dangers of the product, in the damages phase of a trial in California. One of the lawyers for the plaintiff -- a 70-year-old retiree with cancer -- asked Dr Donna Farmer to explain internal documents from Monsanto made public in 2017. Among other documents, a February 2015 email sent to Farmer by another senior Monsanto scientist refers to the technique of writing scientific articles and then paying recognized scientists -- presented as independent -- to sign them.
BusinessUSA TODAYHome loan applications rise as wealthier shoppers hunt for more expensive houses
Mortgage interest rates are now decidedly lower than a year ago, and home shoppers are buying in, but most are wealthier consumers purchasing more expensive homes. Total mortgage application volume rose 2.3 percent last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. Falling rates were likely behind a sizable jump in loan applications to purchase a home.
