- PoliticsThe Telegraph
Mueller report: Donald Trump attempted to have Russia investigation's special counsel fired
Key findings from special counsel's Trump investigation Redacted report finds Russians 'did not have cooperation of President' Trump tweets 'GAME OVER' and says 'I'm having a good day' Mueller found Trump's answers 'inadequate' but decided against subpoena Democrats decry 'partisan effort to spin Mueller report' Analysis: Mueller's report shows how Donald Trump was saved from himself Donald Trump ordered the removal of special counsel Robert Mueller after expressing fears the Russia probe would “end” his presidency, the newly released Mueller report concluded.
NewsAssociated PressSuspect in attack on boy at Mall of America held on $2M bail
A man accused of throwing a 5-year-old boy from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America said little Tuesday during his first court appearance but appeared lucid and followed the court's directions. Emmanuel Aranda, 24, of Minneapolis, is charged with attempted premeditated first-degree murder in Friday's attack. The child plunged almost 40 feet and is fighting for his life in a Minneapolis hospital with head trauma and multiple broken bones.
- WorldUSA TODAY Opinion
Notre Dame fire: Why should France rebuild cathedral? Embers of Christianity still burn.
The tragic fire that nearly destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday stunned France, western Christianity, and much of the world. Although the shocking fire did extraordinary damage to the world-renowned building, its effect is a stark illustration of the empty, blackened hole at the heart of secular Europe. In his 2005 book, "The Cube and the Cathedral," Catholic scholar George Weigel contrasted the secular vision that produced La Grande Arche de la Defense in Paris (a postmodern monstrosity) with the Christian vision that produced Notre Dame Cathedral.
- BusinessReuters
McDonald's pulls Signature Crafted burgers, doubles down on Quarter Pounders
McDonald's Corp said it would remove costlier, premium burgers from its menus in favor of its more popular Quarter Pounders, shifting its focus to simpler and quickly-served burgers. The company said its new deluxe and bacon Quarter Pounders received good feedback and it would continue to focus on such items. "It (the removal) probably has more to do about the process of cooking the burger in McDonald's than it does what the consumer is saying about the food," said Howard Penney, a managing director at Hedgeye Risk Management.
PoliticsFOX News VideosFox News denied access to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez town hall on veterans' health care
Organizers of the Protect Veterans Health Care at the VA town hall in New York featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tell Fox News that the event was at capacity, but video from inside the building tells a different story. Fox & Friends Weekend' co-host and veteran Pete Hegseth sounds off on the rejection.
WorldAFPNotre-Dame's precious rooster statue found 'battered' in debris
A wrought copper statue of a rooster that sat atop Notre-Dame has been found "battered" in the debris of the Paris cathedral following its devastating fire, France's culture ministry said. The statue is considered all the more important because it contains three holy relics -- including a fragment of the Crown of Thorns believed by Christians to have been worn by Jesus Christ during his crucifixion, placed there to protect Parisians. The sculpture of the bird -- which is an unofficial symbol of France -- was recovered Tuesday by a restorer picking through the rubble left when the spire on which it had sat toppled at the height of the inferno that ravaged Notre-Dame on Monday, a ministry spokesman told AFP.
- NewsUSA TODAY
How Pete Buttigieg handled anti-gay protesters shouting about Sodom and Gomorrah at Iowa rally
Protesters shouting about "Sodom and Gomorrah" interrupted South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday at an Iowa campaign rally. One of the men who shouted about the biblical cities destroyed by God's wrath for their sinful ways was Randall Terry, a Christian activist who founded the anti-abortion rights group Operation Rescue. "The good news is, the condition of my soul is in the hands of God, but the Iowa caucuses are up to you," an unshaken Buttigieg responded, pointing at the crowd.
WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: Portugal confirms 29 Germans killed on Madeira
Portugal's foreign ministry has confirmed that all 29 people killed in a tour bus crash on Madeira Island were German. Authorities previously said they were still working to identify the victims of Wednesday evening's crash, which saw the bus veer off a road and roll down a steep hill. The statement says Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva will join his German counterpart Heiko Maas later Thursday on the Portuguese island off northwest Africa.
- BusinessReuters
UPDATE 1-Sears sues Lampert, claiming he looted assets and drove it into bankruptcy
Sears Holdings Corp sued longtime former chairman Eddie Lampert, his hedge fund ESL Investments and others like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, claiming they illegally siphoned billions of dollars of assets from the retailer before it went bankrupt. The lawsuit, made public on Thursday, was filed by the restructuring team winding down Sears' bankruptcy estate and suing on behalf of creditors, many of whom blame Lampert for the retailer's downfall. The complaint seeks the repayment of "billions of dollars of value looted from Sears," including while it was in what Lampert would later call a "death spiral" where it sold core assets to meet daily expenses with no real plan for becoming profitable.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Lou Dobbs Wonders Who Ilhan Omar Represents 'Because It Isn't America'
Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs continued right-wing media's weeklong outrage cycle over Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's comment about 9/11 by accusing her on Wednesday night of not representing America. For days now, Fox opinion hosts and Republican politicians have taken aim at the Muslim-American lawmaker for remarks she made last month, claiming she minimized the 9/11 terror attacks when she said Muslim-Americans were treated as second-class citizens because “some people did something.” This resulted in President Trump tweeting out an inflammatory video targeting the freshman congresswoman—a video Omar says sparked new death threats against her. Speaking to Republican strategist Amy Tarkanian on Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not stripping Omar of her committee assignments over her remarks.
BusinessBloombergThese Are the Health Companies at Risk in the 'Medicare for All' Debate
Health insurers and now hospitals have led the sector-wide plunge even as policy analyst like Veda's Spencer Perlman argue that Medicare for All has a slim shot at becoming law. While the broader healthcare sector remains under pressure -- S&P 500 health care names have lost more than 6 percent over the past three days in their biggest drop since December -- managed care's sell-off appears to have abated for now with S&P 500 insurer names now little changed intraday.
WorldReutersPeru's ex-president Garcia kills himself to avoid arrest in Odebrecht probe
Peru's former president Alan Garcia shot himself in the head on Wednesday to avoid arrest in connection with alleged bribes from Brazilian builder Odebrecht, taking his own life, in the most dramatic turn yet in Latin America's largest graft scandal. Garcia, a towering and charismatic figure who played a central role in Peruvian politics for more than three decades, died in a hospital at age 69 after shooting himself at his house in Lima when police arrived with a warrant for his arrest. Garcia's death shocked the Andean country that had watched his transition from a fiery leftist who was elected president at age 36 to a free-market crusader who won a second term in 2006.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
The Best Portable Hammocks You Can Take Anywhere
Tranquility you can take with you. Anywhere. From Popular Mechanics
WorldAFPUkraine presidential candidates finally agree debate
Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday finally agreed to a debate to close a presidential campaign that has at times descended into farce. Poroshenko originally called the event for last Sunday but Zelensky was a no-show, leading the incumbent to hold a one-man debate next to an empty podium at a Kiev stadium. With Zelensky scoring 72 percent support to Poroshenko's 25, according to the most recent opinion poll, this could be the last chance the incumbent has to boost his flagging campaign.
- WorldThe Telegraph
North Korea sends hit squads after defectors from its secret police
North Korea has dispatched teams to neighbouring China to track down and kill, if necessary, as many as seven members of the Ministry of State Security who have fled in a snowballing series of defections, according to dissident media. The crisis in the ranks of North Korea's secret police agency can be traced back to immediately after the failure of the Hanoi summit between Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, and US President Donald Trump in February, reported the Daily NK, citing reports from its network of undercover “citizen reporters” in North Korea and China.
WorldAFPEU, Canada warn of reprisals as US targets foreign interests in Cuba
The European Union and Canada warned Wednesday of reprisals after the United States for the first time allowed lawsuits against foreign companies operating in Cuba, including EU and Canadian firms. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Washington will on May 2 end routine wavers to the 1996 Helms-Burton act and allow for lawsuits over property seized by Cuba. "The EU and Canada consider the extraterritorial application of unilateral Cuba-related measures contrary to international law," they said in a joint statement from Brussels.
- NewsUSA TODAY
NTSB investigating American Airlines JFK flight that 'struck an object' at takeoff
The Associated Press reports the plane tipped in strong wind, and a wingtip hit a runway marker during takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. American flight 300, an Airbus A321, took off from JFK at 8:40 p.m. April 10 and landed back at the airport 29 minutes later, American spokesman Ross Feinstein said in a statement to USA TODAY. The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it's investigating the incident with help from the Federal Aviation Administration, American and the union for the airline's pilots.
NewsReuters'I wanna be dead': Teen obsessed with Columbine posted dark thoughts online
The Florida teenager whose purported fascination with the 1999 Columbine school massacre sparked a massive hunt for her this week appears to have kept an online journal peppered with violent imagery and awash in despair, anger and suicidal thoughts. An online journal written by someone who identified herself as "Sol Pais" - the teenager who authorities said was found dead on Wednesday - included entries that alluded to "plans" that would lead to the author's death, though they did not describe specific threats against others. Pais, 18, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday, authorities said, days after she traveled to Denver from her home in Florida and bought a shotgun ahead of Saturday's 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado.
PoliticsYahoo News'What's with @FoxNews?': Trump fumes after Bernie Sanders town hall
Bernie Sanders drew big ratings and rave reviews for his Fox News town hall on Monday night. And President Trump apparently isn't happy about his favorite cable network's role in it. Many Trump Fans & Signs were outside of the @FoxNews Studio last night in the now thriving (Thank you President Trump) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for the interview with Crazy Bernie Sanders,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday night.
- 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.
- NewsAOL.com
20-year-old college student falls 100 feet off cliff to her death
A 20-year-old college student plummeted 100 feet to her death off a cliff during a school trip last weekend. Although it is considered one of Arkansas' most photographed spots, Hawksbill Crag has been the site of multiple deaths by unintentional falls in recent years, including that of a 19-year-old University of Arkansas coed in 2016. Briar Cliff University released a statement on Saturday following Norton's tragic death.
- NewsThe Independent
Opioid crisis: US doctors accused of trading prescriptions for sex and cash in major scandal
Scores of medical professionals across seven states were charged by federal prosecutors on Wednesday with schemes to illegally distribute millions of pain pills — in some cases exchanging opioid prescriptions for sex, in others for cash with an added “concierge fee”, and in one case routinely prescribing opioids to friends on Facebook. Officials called the case the “single largest prescription opioid law enforcement operation in history”. The indictments, unsealed in federal court in Cincinnati on Wednesday, accuse 60 people, including 31 doctors, seven pharmacists and eight nurses of involvement in the schemes, which included opioid prescriptions issued for gratuitous medical procedures like unnecessary tooth-pulling.
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.
NewsAssociated PressWarnings, watches issued as strong storms enter Southeast
Forecasters warned about tornadoes and other violent weather Thursday as a front that unleashed twisters and hail in the lower Midwest moved into the storm-weary Southeast. The National Weather Service issued a series of tornado warnings about a system pushing eastward across Louisiana, where strong storms covered much of the state. A tornado watch reached from coastal Louisiana into central Mississippi, and more weather alerts were likely.
BusinessReutersSenate leader calls for raising minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21
McConnell said https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=C7912202-0742-4404-8775-8836F261DDEF the bill would be introduced in May. Shares of Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc, which owns a 35 percent stake in e-cigarette maker Juul, fell 3 percent on the news. Philip Morris International and U.S-listed shares of British American Tobacco were also trading lower.
