NewsUSA TODAYMan accused of throwing 5-year-old boy over Mall of America balcony was 'looking for someone to kill'
A 5-year-old boy was standing outside of the Rainforest Cafe restaurant at Mall of America with his mom when a stranger "looking for someone to kill" threw him off of a third-floor balcony, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday. The boy fell nearly 40 feet after the Friday attack, and suffered head trauma and multiple broken bones. He is fighting for his life at a Minneapolis hospital.
- NewsThe Independent
Trump news: President 'doesn't regret' tweeting 9/11 video about Ilhan Omar, as first 2020 Republican challenger emerges
President Trump has pledged his support to the people of France after the iconic Notre Dame cathedral suffered a devastating fire last night. “The United States stands with French citizens, the city of Paris, and the millions of visitors from around the world who have sought solace in that iconic structure,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said. Closer to home, Trump is also facing his first Republican challenger for the 2020 presidential election in the form of Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, although is it deemed unlikely that anyone will seize the party's nomination from the incumbent.
- WorldBGR News
Hackers unleashed 40 million cyberattacks on Ecuador after Julian Assange's arrest
Javier Jara, Ecuador's undersecretary of the electronic government department of the telecommunications ministry, added a little more context, telling the news service the attacks were “volumetric” and seemingly focused on overwhelming servers with traffic to render them useless. Those attacks hit the country's foreign ministry, central bank, office of the president, internal revenue service and a number of ministries and universities particularly hard. For the moment, Assange is being housed at London's Belmarsh Prison.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Mueller Report Rollout Won't Have Mueller
The Mueller report isn't out yet, but the rollout is and it's already causing controversy. The Justice Department will hold a press conference Thursday morning about the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report—but Mueller won't be there and the document may not be released until after Attorney General William Barr speaks about the nearly 400 pages he went through to redact. The House Judiciary Committee expects to get the Mueller report from DOJ following Barr's press conference scheduled for 9;30 a.m., one committee member and one aide told The Daily Beast.
BusinessConsumer Reports2020 Toyota Highlander Preview
This new Highlander features sleeker styling, revised powertrains, a robust suite of standard safety equipment, and a more comprehensive infotainment system. It holds tight to its winning formula, although there are incremental improvements throughout that promise to make it even more appealing to family shoppers. The new Highlander goes on sale in December, with a hybrid version following in February 2020.
WorldReutersIsraeli president tasks Netanyahu with forming new government
In office for the past decade, Netanyahu won a fifth term despite an announcement by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in February that he intends to charge the prime minister in three corruption cases. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing. "At a time of great turmoil in our region, we have managed not only to maintain the state's security and stability, we have even managed to turn Israel into a rising world power," Netanyahu said at the nomination ceremony after President Reuven Rivlin gave him the mandate to form a new government.
- NewsUSA TODAY
'Worst has been avoided': Notre Dame Cathedral's structure is saved; French president vows to rebuild
PARIS – The structure of the Notre Dame Cathedral has been saved from a massive fire that had threatened to gut the 800-year-old beloved landmark, fire officials said Monday. The worst has been avoided, although the battle is not yet totally won,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, who had rushed to the scene. Macron pledged to rebuild the church and said a national fundraising campaign would be launched Tuesday.
WorldAFPInstagram accounts of Iran Guards commanders blocked
The Instagram accounts of several Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders have been blocked, the Tabnak news website reported Tuesday, with the photo-sharing website saying it was complying with US sanctions. The United States announced on April 8 that it has placed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic republic, on their list of "foreign terrorist organisations". Tabnak, a site close to Iranian conservatives, said Instagram blocked the accounts of Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, Major General Mohammad Bagheri and Major General Ghassem Soleimani.
WorldAssociated PressAlan García, ex-Peruvian president, dies at 69
Alan García, a former Peruvian president whose first term in the 1980s was marred by financial chaos and rebel violence, and who was recently targeted in Latin America's biggest corruption scandal, died on Wednesday at the age of 69. President Martin Vizcarra announced on Twitter that García died after undergoing emergency surgery for a bullet wound hours earlier. García shot himself before being detained by police amid allegations he received illegal payments from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht after Peruvians voted him back into the presidency for a second term in 2006.
- Lifestylemotorious
Porsche Collection Destroyed in Explosion
The building itself also contained one of America's largest Porsche collections according to the Charlotte Observer. The rather unassuming red brick building didn't boast about the treasures within, but video from the Charlotte Observer revealed a huge hole in the roof and the charred remains of what appears to be a 550 Spyder amongst other less identifiable wreckage. Bob Ingram, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, and his wife reportedly started the collection in 1998 after a visit to the Monterey Historic Automobile Races.
CelebrityYahoo NewsOcasio-Cortez backs boycott of New York Post over cover attacking Ilhan Omar
While President Trump repeatedly attacks the New York Times and other purveyors of “fake news,” New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is targeting her own media foe: the New York Post. In a Sunday interview with the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery,” the freshman New York congresswoman explained why she is endorsing a boycott of the paper organized by local Yemeni-American bodega owners, calling the Post's attack on her friend Rep. Ilhan Omar “beyond the pale. Ever since she was elected last November, the Post has relentlessly attacked Ocasio-Cortez over her progressive views and her opposition to Amazon's plan to move its headquarters to Queens.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
Photos of the Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio NRING Special Editions
The NRING package is available on both the Giulia Quadrifoglio and the Stelvio Quadrifoglio. From Car and Driver
- WorldThe Independent
Ola Bini: Wikileaks collaborator and Assange ally accused of plotting to blackmail Ecuador president faces 'threats in jail', parents say
The parents of a Swedish programmer who was an early ally of Julian Assange and Wikileaks and who has now been accused of trying to blackmail Ecuador's president, is facing threats in jail, his parents have claimed. Ola Bini, 36, was arrested last Thursday in Ecuador, hours after Mr Assange was detained by police in London who entered the Ecuadorian embassy. Mr Assange was charged with skipping bail by a London judge, while the US charged him with conspiring with whistleblower Chelsea Manning to hack a US computer.
WorldReutersTrump security adviser unveils new U.S. sanctions to pressure Cuba, Venezuela
U.S. national security adviser John Bolton announced a series of new sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela on Wednesday as the Trump administration sought to boost pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the countries that support him. Bolton, in a speech to an association of veterans of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, said the United States was adding five names linked to Cuba's military and intelligence services to its sanctions blacklist, including the military-owned airline Aerogaviota. Bolton said Washington planned new limits on remittances to Cuba and changes to end the use of transactions that allow Havana to circumvent sanctions and obtain access to hard currency.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Bernie's Fox News Town Hall Was a Ratings Smash. More Dems May Follow Him There.
Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) Monday evening Fox News town hall event was the most-watched town hall event of the 2020 campaign thus far, according to early Nielsen data. According to early Nielsen data, more than 2.5 million viewers tuned in to hear Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” make his case on Fox News during the 6:30pm hour, prior to primetime. The prior town hall ratings record for the 2020 cycle was a CNN-hosted event with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), which drew 1.95 million total viewers.
- NewsAOL.com
Woman claims to spot Jesus in photo of flaming Notre Dame Cathedral roof
A woman who was reading about the Notre Dame Cathedral fire on Monday couldn't believe her eyes when she spotted a religious figure in a photo of the historic church's flaming roof. Lesley Rowan, a 38-year-old mother from Alexandria in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, took to social media to share the photo, which she believes depicted Jesus Christ. "I may be letting my mind play tricks on me here, folks take a close look at this picture and what do you see," she wrote on Facebook, the Daily Mail reports.
NewsUSA TODAYWhy closing the U.S.-Mexico border would be 'catastrophic' for this Texas city
President Donald Trump's threat to seal the border has sent jolts of alarm across the U.S.-Mexico border, but few places feel it more acutely than this border city. Trump last week threatened to close the southern border if Mexico didn't do a better job of halting crossings of immigrants from Central America hoping to reach the U.S. On Tuesday, Trump softened his stance, saying Mexico “started apprehending more people” but told reporters closing the border was still an option.
- U.S.KABC – Los Angeles
1 dog killed, another injured in snake attack at Laurel Canyon dog park
Rattlesnake season is just beginning and dog owners in Laurel Canyon are already on the lookout after two dogs suffered snake bites, one of which was deadly.
BusinessAssociated PressEU threatens to tax $20 billion of US goods over Boeing aid
The European Union has drawn up a list of $20 billion worth of U.S. products it could tax in an escalating feud over plane industry subsidies, the EU's executive commission said Wednesday. The commission said the EU could tax the products , which range from aircraft parts to frozen fish, from early next year in retaliation for U.S. financial support to Boeing that it says hurt Europe's Airbus. The extent of the EU punitive duties will depend on a ruling by the World Trade Organization.
BusinessAFPIndia acts against Tiktok app over pornography concerns
The Indian government on Tuesday ordered tech giants Google and Apple to take down the Chinese-owned Tiktok video app after a court expressed concerns over the spread of pornographic material, sources told AFP. Tiktok has already been banned in neighbouring Bangladesh and hit with an enormous fine in the United States for illegally collecting information from children. The app, which claims to have 500 million users worldwide with more than 120 million in India, has been fighting the effort to shut it down after a high court in Chennai called for the ban on April 3.
- BusinessCar and Driver
Hybrids vs. Plug-In Hybrids
In addition to hybrids (HEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), the universe of electrified vehicles (that is, vehicles that incorporate an electric motor into their powertrain) includes full-electric vehicles (EVs) that are powered solely by a large battery pack and have no gasoline engine. These vehicles are largely defined by the amount of electric assist and electric-only range they provide. They may be small-battery "mild" hybrids-with electric motors that add some acceleration, recover energy during braking, and provide some juice for stop-start systems-or big-battery, long-range EVs.
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: FBI says armed woman 'infatuated' with Columbine
Investigators say a woman who made undisclosed threats that led to tightened security at Columbine High School bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition shortly after landing in Denver from Miami. Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the FBI in Denver, says a "massive manhunt" is underway for 18-year-old Sol Pais. Doors were locked at Columbine and at more than 20 other schools in the Denver area on Tuesday afternoon after the threat.
- WorldReuters
South Sudan offers to mediate political transition in Sudan
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has offered to help mediate a political transition in Sudan after the fall of autocratic president Omar al-Bashir to weeks of popular protests, Kiir's office said on Wednesday. His move came seven months after Bashir helped mediate a shaky peace deal between Kiir and the main opposition rebel group in South Sudan, which won independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of conflict. Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup, was himself toppled last week by the military, which has vowed free elections within two years, though protesters remain in the streets, demanding an immediate handover to an interim civilian authority.
- PoliticsTime
Nancy Pelosi
Too often it seems we have a surplus of bluster in our national politics and a deficit of action. In the 2018 midterms, Nancy was the driving force that brought a Democratic majority back to the House, and opened the door for a Congress that's more diverse than any other in our nation's history and has some of its youngest members ever. Never one to back down from a bully, Nancy didn't mince words during a visit to the White House after the elections.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
How One Man's Deleted Tweet Launched a Worldwide Notre Dame Conspiracy Theory
Hale quickly tweeted that his friend had “zero evidence” for the claim beyond a purported conversation with cathedral staff, and he deleted the original tweet minutes later. But it only took those few minutes for his tweet to become a core piece of proof for right-wing conspiracy theorists who are convinced, without any actual evidence, that the fire was set by terrorists. With one tweet, Hale became sucked into a right-wing media machine eager to both rile up its audience and earn more traffic on social media.
