WorldAFPLittle-known Islamist group NTJ accused in Sri Lanka blasts
Before being named prime suspects in Sri Lanka's Easter bomb suicide attacks, National Thowheeth Jama'ath's main claim to fame was being linked to vandalising of Buddhist statues. After long wrangling with radical Buddhist leaders, suicide bomb attacks against churches and hotels would be a spectacular departure for the little-known Islamic extremist group. Cabinet minister and government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne on Monday said authorities believed the NTJ was behind Sunday's attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels in which 290 people died.
WorldAssociated PressNorth Korea's Kim will go into Putin summit needing a win
When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin for their first one-on-one meeting, he will have a long wish list and a strong desire to notch a win after the failure of his second summit with President Donald Trump. Despite a relationship that goes back to the very foundation of North Korea, relations between Pyongyang and Moscow haven't always been the picture of comradery, or even particularly close. More than 10,000 North Korean laborers still employed in Russia, many working in the logging industry in the Russian Far East, are being kicked out by the end of this year as a 2017 U.N. sanctions resolution takes effect.
- NewsThe Independent
Tiger attacks zookeeper in front of visitors: 'He is a wild animal and was acting on instinct'
A beautiful spring morning at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas turned tragic when a male Sumatran tiger attacked a keeper, inflicting wounds that sent her to a hospital. Although keepers are never supposed to be in the same space as the tigers, they found themselves together in the outdoor habitat that morning for reasons under investigation. "There's some sort of error that occurred here," said Brendan Wiley, the zoo's director, told a news conference.
- NewsTime
San Diego Church-Goers Tackle a Woman Brandishing a Handgun and a Baby
An armed woman carrying a 10-month-old baby walked into a San Diego church during Easter services on Sunday and threatened to blow up the building, according to police. The baby and the woman's 5-year-old daughter were both taken into protective custody. “The female walked up on stage and made threats that she was going to blow up the church while waving the handgun,” the San Diego Police Department said in statement shared on Twitter.
ScienceReutersNASA probe records first likely 'marsquake' detected on red planet
NASA's robotic probe InSight has detected and measured what scientists believe to be a "marsquake," marking the first time a likely seismological tremor has been recorded on another planet, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California reported on Tuesday. The breakthrough came five months after InSight, the first spacecraft designed specifically to study the deep interior of a distant world, touched down on the surface of Mars to begin its two-year seismological mission on the red planet. The faint rumble characterized by JPL scientists as a likely marsquake was recorded on April 6, the lander's 128th Martian day, or sol.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Tough trek for Central American migrant caravan heading through Mexico to U.S. border
PIJIJIAPAN, Mexico – Central American migrants hoping to reach the U.S. are finding a much tougher trek than those in previous caravans, meeting unwelcoming townsfolk and a surprise raid by Mexican police and immigration agents who detained hundreds in Mexico's south. While their compatriots were been taken into custody Monday, hundreds of other migrants scrambled away into the brush along the highway in Chiapas state to elude authorities. Many had already learned they would not be received in towns with the same hospitality that greeted previous caravans, and now they know they won't be safe walking along the rural highway either.
- BusinessCar and Driver
How Does the Geely Geometry A Measure Up to the Tesla Model 3?
Major Chinese automaker Geely has launched a sub-brand it's calling Geometry. The electric Geometry A is the first production model, and Geely says it's got the Tesla Model 3 in its sights. Tesla might be struggling with bringing the long-promised $35,000 version of the Model 3 to market, but Chinese automaker Geely is suffering from no such problems with the Geometry A, the first production car from what is set to be a wider EV sub-brand.
BusinessAFPUS stocks lifted to records amid earnings deluge, oil gains again
The surge came as European bourses notched modest gains in the first day back after the Easter recess, while oil prices continued to push higher after the US announced it would crack down on Iranian exports. Investors had been cautious heading into first-quarter earnings period, owing to expectations for an overall drop in profits. But Tuesday's slate of stock market winners included defense giant Lockheed Martin, soft drinks company Coca-Cola, toymaker Hasbro and social media company Twitter.
- BusinessReuters
UPDATE 2-PG&E get approval to pay employees $350 mln to meet safety goals after wildfires
PG&E Corp can pay employees up to $350 million in bonuses this year to spur them to help meet the bankrupt California power provider's safety goals to prevent wildfires, a judge said on Tuesday. PG&E's management has said the company needs to implement the bonus plan to carry out tasks such as clearing trees and branches around power lines to avert contact that triggers wildfires. While the maximum cost of the plan is $350 million, PG&E has said it expects the likely cost will be around $235 million.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Sri Lanka bombings: 'international network' linked to attack as local Islamist group blamed
Apreviously obscure Islamist extremist group known only for vandalising Buddhist statues has emerged as the prime suspect behind suicide bomb attacks that killed close to 300 in Sri Lanka. All seven bombers were Sri Lankan but the the scale and coordination of the attacks has led investigators to decide the homegrown group acted with the help of a more sophisticated international terrorist network, such as Islamic State. Sri Lankan officials admitted they had been tipped off earlier this month that the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) group was due to attack churches, but the warning failed to stop carnage.
- U.S.WPVI – Philadelphia
Jussie Smollett News: Osundairo brothers file defamation lawsuit against 'Empire' actor's attorneys
The two brothers who Chicago police said were involved in an allegedly staged attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett have filed a federal defamation lawsuit against his attorneys.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Trump Drops Plan to Put Herman Cain on Fed as Moore Faces New Scrutiny
Donald Trump shelved his plan to put Herman Cain on the Federal Reserve amid opposition from his own party, with Democrats swiftly urging Republicans to also block the president's pick of fellow supporter Stephen Moore for the U.S. central bank. My friend Herman Cain, a truly wonderful man, has asked me not to nominate him for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board,” the president said in a tweet on Monday. I will respect his wishes.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Delphi murders: Here's what we know about unsolved killings of two teen girls in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS - It's been more than two years since the Delphi murders, when the bodies of Indiana teens Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, were discovered near a wooded creek. The deaths of Abby and Libby horrified people in Indiana and around the world. The emotional toll on the Delphi community has been overwhelming.
BusinessAssociated PressGoogle self-driving unit Waymo picks Detroit factory site
Google's self-driving car spinoff Waymo says it will reopen an axle plant in Detroit to convert conventional vehicles so they can drive autonomously. The company says it will lease a now-closed American Axle & Manufacturing plant north of downtown so it can convert the vehicles, mostly Chrysler Pacifica minivans. Waymo plans to spend around $13.6 million and create up to 400 jobs at the site, which is expected to open in the middle of the year.
- PoliticsTime
Elizabeth Warren Proposes Eliminating Student Debt for Millions of Americans
Democrat Elizabeth Warren is proposing the elimination of existing student loan debt for millions of Americans, part of a sweeping set of education funding proposals announced as she and other presidential candidates seek to differentiate themselves in a sprawling field. The Massachusetts senator says the proposal unveiled Monday would eliminate almost all student loan debt for 42 million Americans, canceling $50,000 in debt for each person with household income under $100,000. According to Warren's description of the plan in a piece to be posted on Medium, the debt cancellation proposal would create a one-time cost to the federal government of $640 billion.
BusinessReutersTeva stops testing its migraine drug as cluster headache treatment
The drug, known generically as fremanezumab, competes with rival treatments from Eli Lilly & Co and Amgen Inc. Lilly in November received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "breakthrough" status for its migraine drug Emgality in treating episodic cluster headaches. In a late-stage trial, three out of four patients treated with Lilly's drug saw at least a 50 percent reduction in weekly cluster headaches. Teva's decision could be positive for Lilly's drug in differentiating it from its rivals, BMO Capital Markets analyst Alex Arfaei said.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The 2020 Jaguar XE in Photos
Updates to its interior and elsewhere make the XE a better luxury sports sedan. From Car and Driver
WorldAFPTurkish police hold ruling party member, five others after opposition chief attack
Turkish police on Monday were holding six people, including a member of the ruling AKP party, after a mob attack on opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu that sparked widespread criticism. Kilicdaroglu, 70, of the Republican People's Party (CHP) was assaulted on Sunday in a crowd as he attended a funeral in Ankara for a soldier killed fighting Kurdish militants in the southeast. The attack came days after the opposition CHP won Ankara and Istanbul from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP in March 31 local elections, seen as a major setback for the ruling party after a decade-and-a-half in power.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Who was behind the Sri Lanka bombings? Everything we know so far about the Easter Sunday attacks
Easter Day bomb blasts at three Sri Lankan churches and four hotels killed 310 people and wounded around 500, following a lull in major attacks since the end of the civil war 10 years ago. The explosions, some of which officials said were suicide bomb attacks, led to an immediate clampdown, with the government declaring a curfew and blocking access to most major social media and messaging sites. The three hotels hit in the initial attacks were the Shangri-La Colombo, Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo and the Cinnamon Grand Colombo.
- LifestyleWoman's Day
75+ Perfect Mother's Day Gifts For $50 or Less
Show the amazing mothers in your life how much you care with these thoughtful (and affordable! gifts. From Woman's Day
BusinessAFPTwitter shares lift off as profits soar; Trump weighs in
Twitter shares flew higher Tuesday after a surprisingly robust quarterly report, which sparked a fresh tirade from President Donald Trump over his claims of unfair treatment by social media. The first-quarter report showed a profit of $191 million, compared with $61 million a year earlier, while revenues increased 18 percent to $787 million for the short messaging platform. Twitter shares soared 15.6 percent to close at a nine-month high of $39.76 after the update from the short messaging platform, showing gains in advertising revenue and some signs that its user base is growing.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Two more defendants agree to plead guilty in college admissions bribery case
On two occasions three years apart, federal prosecutors say, MacFarlane made payments totaling at least $200,000 to the ringleader of the cheating scheme, Rick Singer, to get his daughter and later his son into USC. Janke has admitted to creating fake sports profiles for the children as college athletic recruits to get them into school.
- BusinessAssociated Press
Correction: Oklahoma-Boeing story
In a story April 16 about Boeing Co. winning a contract to service bombers at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, The Associated Press reported erroneously that the B-21 Raider is expected to replace the B-1 and B-52 bombers in the mid-2020s. The B-21 Raider is expected to begin being fielded in the mid-2020s, but will not replace the other bombers then. A corrected version of the story is below: Defense awards Boeing $14.3B bomber maintenance contract Boeing Co. has won a $14.3 billion contract to service and maintain all B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress bombers at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Boeing Co. has won a $14.3 billion contract to service and ma...
- WorldBloomberg
Ukrainian TV Comic Scores Landslide Win to Clinch Presidency
Ukraine's most-watched comedian won a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential runoff as voters vented their frustration at the ex-Soviet republic's lack of progress since a revolution five years ago. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old TV comic who's tapped into fury at the political class, got 73 percent of ballots after almost 99 percent of votes were counted. Incumbent Petro Poroshenko, who conceded defeat after exit polls showed his loss, garnered 25 percent as of Monday morning.
BusinessReutersKohl's expands Amazon returns program to all stores, shares jump
Kohl's Corp said on Tuesday items bought on Amazon.com Inc can now be returned at all its U.S. stores starting July, deepening its partnership with the e-commerce giant and sending its shares up as much as 9 percent. The returns program with Amazon.com, launched in 2017, is currently available in 100 Kohl's stores mostly concentrated in the Los Angeles, Chicago and Milwaukee markets. The new program will allow returns at Kohl's all 1,159 stores in the United States.
