WorldAFPUS North Korea envoy in Moscow as Russia plans for Kim-Putin talks
The US special envoy for North Korea was due in Moscow on Wednesday as the Kremlin said it was preparing for possible talks between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. Media reports said the first summit between the two leaders could come as early as next week. "Active preparations for a potential meeting are underway," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said in comments reported by news agencies.
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.
PoliticsYahoo NewsSarah Sanders invented story about FBI agents' reaction to Comey firing, Mueller report says
The day after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, then-deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders stood at the podium in the White House briefing room and told reporters that the president had had “countless conversations” with members of the FBI who said morale at the bureau was low and they had lost confidence in Comey. He's questioned Director Comey's reason for needing to stay at the FBI,” Sanders said during the May 10, 2017, briefing. He had countless conversations with members from within the FBI.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
Porsche's 911 Speedster Is Gloriously Real and Not for the Likes of You, Peasant
This is the final production version of the 911 Speedster, a send-off for the 991.2 generation of Porsche's iconic 911 sports car. After seeing the car in concept form, we now know how much it will cost and what engine it uses: a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six. Orders for the 1948 copies of the Speedster open May 7, and we don't yet know how many of those will come to the U.S. In keeping with Porsche's recent tradition, the company will send off the 991.2 version of its 911 with a limited-production special model sure to send the brand's fans into a tizzy.
- 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.
- NewsThe Telegraph
Denver schools closed as police hunt 'armed and dangerous' girl obsessed with Columbine massacre
Denver-area public schools were closed on Wednesday as authorities searched for a young Florida woman who flew to the city and bought a gun after becoming "infatuated" with the mass shooting at Columbine High School. The FBI said Sol Pais, 18, was "considered to be extremely dangerous" and "made threats to commit an act of violence in the Denver metropolitan area" just days before the 20th anniversary of the attack that killed 13 people. All schools in the Denver area were urged to tighten security because the threat was deemed "credible and general," said Patricia Billinger, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Columbine and more than 20 other schools outside Denver locked their doors for nearly three hours on Tuesday afternoon before Wednesday's complete closures were announced.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
The Best Portable Hammocks You Can Take Anywhere
Tranquility you can take with you. Anywhere. From Popular Mechanics
- WorldThe Independent
Man with two cans of petrol and lighters arrested inside New York cathedral days after Notre Dame fire
A man has been arrested after walking into St Patrick's Cathedral in New York with two cans of petrol, lighter fluid and lighters just days after a fire tore through Notre Dame in Paris. The 37-year-old New Jersey man allegedly pulled up in a minivan outside the landmark in Manhattan on Wednesday night, walked around the area, and then returned to the vehicle to retrieve the items, said New York Police Department (NYPD). As he enters the cathedral he's confronted by a cathedral security officer who asks him where he's going and informs him he can't proceed into the cathedral carrying these things,” said NYPD deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism John Miller.
- U.S.WPVI – Philadelphia
Driver of car and 6 victims hit in North Philadelphia all being investigated, police say
Philadelphia police are saying arrests could potentially be on the way for some of the 6 people who were hit by a speeding Buick in North Philadelphia Tuesday.
BusinessAFPAmazon to pull plug on China retail operations: report
Amazon plans to close down its online retail operations that cater to consumers in China in an apparent admission of defeat to local e-commerce rivals such as Alibaba and JD.com, a report said on Thursday. The US e-commerce pioneer will maintain other operations in China such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kindle e-books and cross-border teams that help ship goods from Chinese merchants to customers abroad, Bloomberg News said, citing unidentified people familiar with the plans. An Amazon spokesperson did not explicitly confirm plans to throw in the towel on domestic e-commerce, but said the company was looking to focus more on cross-border sales.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
'Democratic socialists' Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Tlaib prefer socialism to democracy
First Bernie Sanders and now also Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and a bunch of other new office-holders proclaim themselves “democratic socialists.” What is that? The Party was the forerunner of the group Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib belong to today, and the YPSL was the organization Bernie Sanders joined as a college student. Back then, we called ourselves “democratic socialists” to emphasize our difference from Communism and miscellaneous other dictatorial regimes in the Third World that proclaimed themselves “socialist.” We were not more moderate in terms of our opposition to capitalism.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Washington braced for release of redacted Mueller report
Almost two years after Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to investigate potential ties between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia, the American people will finally read his report on Thursday – albeit in redacted form. The public release of the 400-page Mueller report marks a significant moment for a country on tenterhooks over what the former FBI director has uncovered. It marks the first time that US citizens and members of Congress will be able to hear from the special counsel directly rather than through the lens of his Department of Justice (DoJ) bosses or the media.
BusinessAssociated PressSome of Samsung's new folding phones are already breaking
Some of Samsung's new, almost $2,000 folding phones appear to be breaking after just a couple of days. Journalists who received the phones to review before the public launch said the Galaxy Fold screen started flickering and turning black before completely fizzling out. Two journalists said they removed a thin, protective layer from the screens that they thought was supposed to come off, but was meant to stay.
BusinessUSA TODAYStop Facebook's targeted advertising by changing your account settings
Adjust your Facebook ad preferences You can do the following on Facebook's desktop website, and you can also access ad preferences through your Facebook app. From the site, click the on the downward arrow in the upper corner and click on Settings. Click on Ads on the left side.
WorldReutersMadeira mourns 29 German bus crash victims as foreign minister heads for island
Madeira began three days of mourning on Thursday for 29 German tourists who died after their bus veered off a steep road, as Germany's foreign minister and a trauma team flew to the Portuguese island to meet survivors. The bus, carrying 55 tourists and one guide, overturned on Wednesday evening in the coastal town of Canico, its mayor, Filipe Sousa, told reporters. Portugal's public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the accident, whose cause authorities said they could not yet determine.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Bereft Catholics to be greeted by 'ephemeral wooden' Notre-Dame in front of the charred original
Catholics and tourists who can no longer approach Notre-Dame after Monday's devastating fire will be consoled by an “ephemeral cathedral” made of wood until the stricken cathedral reopens, its chief priest has announced. Notre-Dame's 12 million annual visitors will still be able to marvel at Europe's most visited historic building from the outside, but Monseigneur Patrick Chauvet said for the faithful something more was needed. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, has backed the idea, he said.
- WorldTime
Notre Dame's Bell Towers Would Have Fallen Without Swift Action, Paris Fire Officials Say
Firefighters took swift action after flames engulfed Paris' Notre Dame cathedral and focused their efforts on preventing the fire from reaching its famed bell towers in order to save the entire structure, fire officials said Wednesday. “The two towers are pillars which keep the entire building up,” a Paris Fire Brigade official said during a press conference about two days after a fire spread in the cathedral. First responders to the fire said the flames could have had a much worse effect had they not acted quickly and put in place equipment to prevent a collapse.
- 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.
- U.S.KABC – Los Angeles
Debate rages on over no-kill policy at Long Beach animal shelter
A heartfelt fight in Long Beach to save as many animals as possible at the city's animal shelter continued at a special city council meeting Tuesday.
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.
- BusinessCar and Driver
11 Must-See New Cars and SUVs at the 2019 New York Auto Show
Go figure, an important auto show played host to several consequential vehicles' coming-out parties. From Car and Driver
PoliticsYahoo 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.
WorldReutersNorth Korea calls for Pompeo to be dropped from talks; tests tactical weapon
The North's official KCNA news agency quoted senior foreign ministry official Kwon Jong Gun as warning that no one could predict the situation on the Korean peninsula if the United States did not abandon the "root cause" that compelled North Korea to develop nuclear weapons. The statement came shortly after North Korea announced that leader Kim Jong Un had overseen the testing of a new tactical guided weapon, which KCNA said has a "peculiar mode of guiding flight" and "a powerful warhead." It was the North's first weapon test since talks in Vietnam between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in late February broke down over conflicting demands by North Korea for sanctions relief and by the United States for North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
- 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.
