PoliticsYahoo NewsMueller report: How we got here and where we're going
The Mueller report is almost here. The 448-page document will cover the two parts of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation: Russian interference with the 2016 election and possible collusion by President Trump's campaign; and possible obstruction of justice by the president. But before the redacted report is released, following Attorney General William Barr's Thursday-morning press conference, here are the moments that brought us to the Mueller report: 'Russia, if you're listening' and the 2016 election Months before election night, Russian hackers worked to steal emails and documents from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
NewsReutersMan who carried gas cans into NY cathedral charged with attempted arson
Wednesday's incident occurred two days after a massive fire severely damaged the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, causing global shock and sorrow. A New York City Police Department official said Marc Lamparello, a New Jersey resident, was charged with second-degree attempted arson, second-degree reckless endangerment and trespassing after he entered the Roman Catholic cathedral in midtown Manhattan just before 8 p.m. on Wednesday and was confronted by a security guard. As Lamparello turned to leave the cathedral, police said, gasoline spilled from the cans he was carrying, causing cathedral staff to alert police officers stationed outside the church.
NewsAssociated PressAppeals court backs California laws to protect immigrants
A federal appeals court on Thursday kept in place three California laws intended to protect immigrants, continuing the state's efforts to be a national leader in opposing Trump administration policies. The court upheld lower court rulings denying the Trump administration's request to block law enforcement from providing release dates and personal information of people in jail, as well as to throw out a law barring employers from allowing immigration officials on their premises unless the officials have a warrant. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected U.S. District Judge John Mendez's reasoning last year for denying a portion of the third law, which requires the state to review detention facilities where immigrants are held.
- U.S.WTVD – Raleigh/Durham
Driver with STAYUMBL license plate, notorious for cutting people off around Durham, charged in incident with bus
The STAYUMBL license plate is notorious on the road and social media. Folks say the driver behind the wheel will speed up, cut people off and then slam on her brakes, sometimes causing a crash.
- WorldUSA TODAY
28 killed on Portuguese island of Madeira as tourist bus plunges off embankment and hits a house
A bus carrying German tourists plunged off an embankment on the Portuguese island of Madeira on Wednesday and slammed into a house, leaving 28 people dead, according to the local mayor. Portugal's RTP News quotes Filipe Sousa, the mayor of the city of Santa Cruz, as confirming the deaths of 11 men and 17 women. The news agency said Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was flying to the island to survey the tragedy.
- BusinessCar and Driver
View Photos of the Volkswagen I.D. Buggy
VW's I.D. Buggy, one of its ambitious lineup of EV concepts, will owe much to the classic Sixties beach-lifestyle icon if it ever makes it to production. From Car and Driver
WorldAFPIsrael destroys family apartments of accused Palestinian killer
Israeli forces destroyed two apartments in the occupied West Bank on Friday that housed the family of a Palestinian accused of killing an Israeli woman in February, the army said. Soldiers surrounded the apartment block in the flashpoint southern city of Hebron beginning late on Thursday. They then destroyed the two apartments that were home to the family of Arafat Irfaiya, 29, with the use of heavy construction equipment in the early hours of the morning.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
How to Get Rid of Lawn Weeds
The best way to eradicate weeds is to use a two-prong approach of applying fertilizer and herbicide at different times of the year. A regular application of fertilizer produces strong, healthy grass plants that have a better chance of fighting off weeds. And herbicides have been proven to be effective at killing existing weeds and deterring the growth of new weeds.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Measles Crisis: Judge Dismisses Parents' Suit Against NYC
A New York judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought against the city's Department of Health by five parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. In addition to mandating the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children in zip codes affected by the crisis, it threatened parents with fines of up to $1,000. There have been 329 confirmed cases of the viral illness, mostly among observant Jews in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
- PoliticsNational Review
Pelosi, Schumer Call on Mueller to Testify Publicly Over 'Partisan' Handling of Mueller Report
The Democratic leaders in the House and Senate called Thursday for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify publicly before Congress in response to what they called Attorney General William Barr's “regrettably partisan handling” of Mueller's final report on the Russia investigation. “Attorney General Barr's regrettably partisan handling of the Mueller report, including his slanted March 24th summary letter, his irresponsible testimony before Congress last week, and his indefensible plan to spin the report in a press conference later this morning — hours before he allows the public or Congress to see it — have resulted in a crisis of confidence in his independence and impartiality,” Schumer and Pelosi said.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 1-Ukrainian presidential candidates trade insults in rowdy stadium debate
The two men vying to be Ukraine's next president traded insults in a raucous debate on Friday in front of thousands of supporters before an election that could put a comedian with no political experience in charge of a country at war. The debate, held in a hulking football stadium, was one of the last opportunities for incumbent President Petro Poroshenko to try to overhaul a significant lead in the opinion polls enjoyed by his challenger Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comic. At stake in Sunday's election is the leadership of a country on the frontline of the West's standoff with Moscow following 2014 protests that caused Poroshenko's Kremlin-backed predecessor to flee into exile, and foreshadowed Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
WorldAssociated PressWidows, ace guide to climb Everest to honor Sherpas
Five years after one of the deadliest disasters on Mount Everest, three people from Nepal's ethnic Sherpa community are preparing an ascent to raise awareness about the Nepalese mountain guides who make it possible for hundreds of foreign climbers to scale the mountain and survive. Kami Rita, a renowned climber who lived through the 2014 ice avalanche on Everest's western shoulder that killed 16 fellow Sherpa guides, aims to break his own record by reaching the mountaintop a 23rd time this spring. Furdiki Sherpa, who lost her husband in a mountaineering accident, and Nima Doma, whose husband was killed in the 2014 avalanche, are also attempting to summit Everest, to bring attention to the plight of Sherpa families living in the shadow of the world's highest peak.
WorldAFPUS shrugs as North Korea demands Pompeo exit talks
Donald Trump has said he's in love with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea on Thursday demanded that the United States remove the secretary of state from future negotiations after Pompeo apparently encouraged Trump to stand firm and walk away from a summit with Kim in Hanoi in February. The State Department offered a low-key initial response, with a spokesman saying the United States "remains ready to engage North Korea in a constructive negotiation" but not commenting directly.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Views of the Notre Dame Cathedral before, after, and during blaze
The structure of the Notre Dame Cathedral has been saved from a massive fire that had threatened to gut the 800-year-old landmark in Paris, fire officials said late Monday. The blaze collapsed the cathedral's spire and spread to one of its rectangular towers. "Two-thirds of the roofing has been ravaged,” and firefighters would work through the night to cool down the building, Gallet said.
- WorldThe National Interest
How the U.S. Navy Sunk Imperial Japan's Top Secret Aircraft Carrier
Warfare History Network Security, Asia The first torpedo struck farthest aft. Over the next 30 seconds three more warheads detonated against the massive aircraft carrier's hull, working their way forward. The explosions and instant flooding immediately killed scores of men, many asleep in their bunks.
- BusinessConsumer Reports
Don't Wait to Book Summer Air Travel | 737 Max
That's because the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max fleet, affecting more than 350 jets worldwide, is now scheduled to last for almost the entire summer season, and is almost certain to have an effect on flight availabilities and ticket prices. Southwest, the world's largest Max operator, says it will cancel 160 flights a day from June 8 through Aug. 5, up from 90 per day, and American will scrub 115 flights daily until Aug. 19. Combined, that means roughly 40,000 seats will be taken out of service every day during the peak travel period.
NewsAssociated PressColumbine focuses on healing as questions loom after manhunt
A Colorado community changed forever by the attack that killed 13 people at Columbine High School moved ahead Thursday with ceremonies marking the anniversary of the tragedy while awaiting more details on what led a Florida teen "infatuated" with the shooting to buy a shotgun and kill herself in the snowy foothills nearby. Many questions remained unanswered about 18-year-old Sol Pais, but a friend disputed the contention by authorities that she posed a threat. Adrianna Pete painted a complex picture of Pais, saying she was deeply troubled, lonely and often talked about suicide but was also brilliant, kind and a talented artist who loved to draw.
WorldAFP Relax NewsFrance salutes 'exemplary' firefighters for saving Notre-Dame
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday hailed as "exemplary" hundreds of firefighters who saved Notre-Dame in the devastating blaze, as efforts intensified to shore up the still fragile cathedral. Some 600 firefighters worked throughout the night Monday to put out the fire at the Paris landmark and prevent an even worse disaster, in a blaze that felled the spire and destroyed two-thirds of its roof. A prayer vigil was held at another of Paris's landmark churches, the Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart), on Thursday which was due to remain open all night.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Sarah Sanders reiterates Comey claims despite admitting to lying
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, has defended claims she repeatedly made to reporters in 2017 regarding Donald Trump's firing of then FBI director James Comey – despite admitting to investigators for the special counsel Robert Mueller that they had no basis in fact. Sanders admitted in statements to the special counsel that her repeated claims that the president fired Comey because the rank-and-file of the FBI had lost confidence in him as FBI director were “a slip of the tongue” and “not founded on anything”, according to the redacted version of the Mueller report released on Thursday.
WorldReutersThousands of Peruvians say goodbye to ex-president following suicide
Thousand of Peruvians said goodbye on Thursday in Lima to ex-president Alan Garcia -- who killed himself this week - in the second of three days of national mourning declared by President Martin Vizcarra. Garcia shot himself in the head on Wednesday to avoid arrest in connection with alleged bribes from Brazilian builder Odebrecht, in the most dramatic turn yet in Latin America's largest graft scandal. Friends, allies and leaders across the political spectrum paid homage to Garcia at the headquarters of his APRA party, one of Latin America's oldest political parties, and one which twice helped usher Garcia to the presidency.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
'Mueller report absolutely does not clear the president': Opinionline
Los Angeles Times, in an editorial: "It's true that the special counsel didn't establish that Trump's campaign criminally cooperated with Russia in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential campaign. Instead, the report provides evidence that a Russian organization with ties to the Kremlin tirelessly promoted Trump and bashed Hillary Clinton on social media with the (evidently) unwitting aid of Trump campaign officials and Trump himself. It also notes several overtures by Russians to supply stolen emails and other “dirt” to the Trump campaign, drawing interest rather than alarm from campaign officials.
WorldAFPNorth Korea's Kim to meet Putin as tensions rise with US
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un will visit Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin this month, the Kremlin said Thursday, as tensions between Washington and Pyongyang spiked higher. The Kremlin announced the talks just hours after North Korea launched a blistering attack on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, demanding he be removed from negotiations over its banned nuclear programme. Pyongyang also claimed to have tested a new kind of weapon with a "powerful warhead".
WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: Crown of Thorns presented at Paris service
He says firefighters have been able to cool down the walls and debris that fell inside the cathedral from the roof. He says "it's a miracle that the cathedral is still standing, and that all the relics were saved," he said. The fire Monday night burned through the network of enormous centuries-old oak beams supporting the monument's vaulted stone ceiling, dangerously weakening the building.
- TechnologyUSA TODAY
BlackBerry Messenger or BBM to be shut down for consumers on May 31
That would be BlackBerry Messenger or BBM, a mobile messaging app created way back in 2005 when BlackBerry was run by the Canadian enterprise known then as Research In Motion or RIM. Since 2016, BBM has been under the auspices of Creative Media Works, a division of PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk or Emtek, one of Indonesia's largest media, content and tech businesses. The company has just blogged that on May 31, the consumer version of BBM would be shutting down for good.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
8 Things We Learned Driving the Roush Ford F-150 SC, a Pickup Truck on Steroids
Eight things you should know about this beast, which is what happens when you turn a Ford truck into an off-road monster. From Popular Mechanics
