PoliticsUSA TODAYTrump's aides were eager to take Russian dirt on Clinton. But it wasn't a conspiracy, Mueller report said
The Russian government undertook a "sweeping and systematic" campaign to help Donald Trump win the White House in 2016, believing it would benefit from his presidency, and found campaign aides eager to benefit from their help, special counsel Robert Mueller concluded in a report released Thursday. The investigation did not find that the president or his campaign conspired with Russia to win the election. But the special counsel's report revealed a detailed portrait of a campaign that was receptive to Russia's efforts, was eager to benefit from them, and did not appear to appreciate the massive foreign intelligence operation behind those activities.
WorldAssociated PressRelatives of German bus crash victims arrive in Madeira
Relatives of some of the 29 German tourists who died in a bus crash in Madeira arrived on the Portuguese island on Friday as investigators pushed on with the task of finding out why the bus veered off the road and plunged down a slope. German tour operator Trendtours said it had flown in some of the relatives and that it was working with Portuguese authorities to bring the survivors back. Visiting the island on Friday, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa praised the emergency services' swift response to Wednesday's accident in the coastal town of Canico.
WorldAFPAssad urges progress on Idlib deal ahead of Syria talks
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday called for progress on a stalled buffer zone deal around jihadist-dominated Idlib region ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending his country's eight-year war. Assad met envoy Alexander Lavrentiev from key ally Russia in Damascus to discuss the negotiations due April 25-26 in Kazakhstan. Iran and Russia are the major supporters of the Syrian regime, and along with rebel backer Turkey have sponsored repeated rounds of talks in the Central Asian nation.
WorldAssociated PressFire-ravaged Notre Dame now stabilized, firefighters leave
Architects and construction workers have stabilized the damaged structure of Notre Dame cathedral, four days after a fast-spreading fire ravaged the iconic Paris building, and firefighters were leaving the site Friday night, a fire service official said. The promising development came as Notre Dame's parishioners celebrated Good Friday in a nearby church, praying for the damaged monument and celebrating its rescued relics such as the Crown of Thorns believed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. "There is no more risk the edifice's walls could fall down," Lt. Col. Gabriel Plus, chief spokesman for the Paris fire service, told The Associated Press.
- LifestyleUSA TODAY
These are the restaurants open Easter: Starbucks, McDonald's, Denny's and more
If you're in the mood to eat out Sunday, you'll find more restaurants are open Easter than were for Christmas. National chains, including Starbucks, McDonald's and Dunkin', will be open, along with IHOP, Denny's and Waffle House. But according to an analysis by Womply, a small business software provider, 23% fewer restaurants are open on Easter compared with a typical Sunday, so your options might be limited.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
FBI Arrests New Mexico Border Militia Leader Larry Mitchell Hopkins
The FBI arrested a 69-year-old New Mexico man who allegedly illegally detained immigrants crossing the border under the guise of working for the United States Border Patrol. Larry Mitchell Hopkins, who runs The United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), an armed border militia group that spreads far-right conspiracies and rounds up asylum seekers on the border, was arrested by FBI in New Mexico Saturday on charges of possessing firearms and ammunition as a convicted felon. Recent video footage released by UCP shows two members holding what appear to be semi-automatic rifles near immigrants, many of them children.
WorldAFPNotre-Dame paintings removed amid lead pollution fears
French art experts headed into the stricken Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris to remove all the remaining paintings on Friday despite warnings from an environmental group that the site could be a toxic health threat. Officials from the culture ministry were allowed into the 850-year-old landmark to begin retrieving the artworks after fire service officials declared the scorched structure safe enough to go inside. Firefighters and engineering experts have been working on the fragile landmark since a devastating blaze on Monday night, erecting scaffolding and other wooden supports to stop any of the stonework collapsing.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
How To Build a Wind Tester
Who needs an anemometer when you have DIY know-how? From Popular Mechanics
WorldReutersUkrainian presidential candidates trade insults in rowdy stadium debate
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. Zelenskiy, 41, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, tried to cast Poroshenko, 53, as a rich out-of-touch leader who has overseen corruption and failed to end the war.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
Mueller report: Donald Trump failed us as commander in chief
The President of the United States, like all elected officials and public servants, swears to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies. The Mueller report makes clear that Donald Trump has failed miserably in this sacred obligation, and instead has traded his constitutional duty for his own safety. Special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusions lay to rest some — but not all — of the legal issues surrounding the Russian attempts to subvert our democratic processes.
NewsAssociated PressOfficials: South Carolina school girl died of natural causes
South Carolina authorities said Friday that the death of a fifth grade girl at school last month was due to natural causes and not a fight with another student, which they described as lasting only seconds. Solicitor Duffie Stone said at a press conference that 10-year-old Raniya Wright died of a congenital condition called an arteriovenous malformation, a tangle of abnormal blood vessels in the brain. Raniya had been taken to the doctor after complaining of headaches about two weeks before she died.
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.
NewsAssociated PressNOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week
None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. CLAIM: Man who threw boy over Minnesota mall balcony is a Somali immigrant. THE FACTS: The man arrested in the case did not emigrate from Somalia, as posts circulating on social media said.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Church apologizes after video shows cleric inviting kids to spit, slap and cut him for Easter lesson
Videos of the incident were posted to social media during a Monday afternoon after-school event held at the church at which Dempsey was speaking of Easter and the crucifixion. In one of the videos, Dempsey is seen standing still while students take turns spitting on him, some striking him, while other students are heard laughing. The mother of a youth, who reportedly employed a knife handed to him by Dempsey to cut the associate pastor at his invitation, said she was alerted to the video by a friend, according to an on-camera interview with WBNS-TV.
- 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.
- 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.
PoliticsReutersMueller finds no conspiracy, but extensive Trump-Russia contacts
Ultimately, Mueller determined the various contacts either didn't amount to criminal behavior or would be difficult to prove in court, even if people in Trump's orbit sometimes displayed a willingness to accept Russian help, the report showed. Trump and his allies, who derided the Mueller probe as a political "witch hunt", portrayed the report as vindication. "The bottom line is the president is exonerated and the campaign is exonerated of collusion," said Michael Caputo, a former adviser to Trump's campaign.
- WorldThe National Interest
Did Ukraine Just Build a Cruise Missile That Can Stike 1000 Kilometers Away?
As the Ukrainian election heats up in April 2019, the incumbent President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko made a bold claim: Ukraine has made an indigenous cruise missile with a range of 1000 kilometers, capable of carrying a 150-kilogram warhead. Using long-range conventional cruise missiles for deterrence against Russia is not without precedent. The American JASSM long-range aerial-launched cruise missiles are popular exports to countries bordering Russia, with Finland buying regular JASSMs with ranges of around 370 kilometers and Poland buying JASSM-ERs with ranges in excess of 900 kilometers.
- PoliticsTime
Obstruction of Justice Usually Happens Behind Closed Doors. But Trump's Actions Were Public
President Donald Trump called for people investigating him to be fired, attempted to intimidate unfriendly witnesses and praised others for not cooperating with law enforcement. If he'd done those things behind closed doors, they would likely be textbook examples of obstruction of justice. But Trump's actions were public — in tweets, TV interviews and press conferences — and often came at the same time that he was making private arguments along the same lines, according to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report.
LifestyleAssociated PressJournalist who covered Columbine reflects on lives unlived
Twenty years later, I still find myself doing a mental gap analysis of Columbine, though nothing can ever make anything whole. What I always come back to, which makes me dizzy, is contemplating what the world is lacking because these 12 young people and this teacher were abruptly removed from humanity's equation one April morning as the last millennium's final days waned. All because of two young men who decided that violence would be their final path forward.
WorldAFPThree mountaineers presumed dead in Canada avalanche
Three world-renowned professional mountaineers -- two Austrians and an American -- were missing and presumed dead after an avalanche on a western Canadian summit, the country's national parks agency said Thursday. American Jess Roskelley, 36, and Austrians Hansjorg Auer, 35, and David Lama, 28, went missing Tuesday evening in Banff National Park, according to media reports. The three men were attempting to climb the east face of Howse Pass, an isolated and highly difficult route, according to Parks Canada.
- 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.
NewsAFPUS 'House of Horrors' parents jailed for torture, abuse
A California couple were handed life sentences Friday after admitting to imprisoning and torturing 12 of their 13 children in a grisly "House of Horrors" case that shocked the world. David Allen Turpin, 57, and his wife Louise Anna Turpin, 50, had pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts -- including cruelty, false imprisonment, child abuse and torture of their children aged three to 30 -- and will serve at least 25 years before they are eligible for parole. In an emotionally wrenching hearing, several of the children professed continued love for their parents, who lived in the city of Perris, 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.
- 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
- BusinessBGR News
Google is making it easier for Android users in Europe to pick a new browser
Google explained in a new blog post on the matter that Android users in Europe will get search app and browser options, and showed the world what those prompts will look like. The new screens will be shown the first time a user opens Google Play after receiving an update. We're looking at two screens, one for search and one for browsers, as follows below.
