Louisville

Trump denies he told the White House counsel to fire Mueller

President Trump on Thursday claimed that he never told former White House counsel Don McGahn to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, directly contradicting what Mueller said in his report.

Sri Lanka toll revision grim sign of bombings force

The dramatic revision of the death toll in Sri Lanka's Easter bombings, which has been cut by more than 100, is a grim indicator of the power of the deadly blasts. The force of the explosions so badly mutilated bodies that parts of victims were wrongly collated and identified in the initial confusion, officials said. "Many of the victims were badly mutilated... There was double counting," the health ministry said in explaining the new death toll of 253, down from 359 announced on Wednesday.

13-year-old Houston girl dies after fight at middle school

A 13-year-old girl who was placed on life support after being attacked bythree other girls has died, according to ABC 13

Heather Heyer’s Mom Breaks Silence on Joe Biden Invoking Charlottesville for 2020

PoolJoe Biden did not tell Susan Bro, Heather Heyer’s mother, that he would be invoking her daughter’s murder in Charlottesville in August 2017 in his presidential campaign launch video focusing on “the battle for the soul” of America.“But I wasn’t surprised,” Bro, co-founder of the Heather Heyer Foundation set up in her daughter’s memory, told The Daily Beast. “Most people do that sort of thing. They capitalize on whatever situation is handy. He didn’t reach out to me, and didn’t mention her by name specifically, and he probably knew we don’t endorse candidates.”In the launch video for his presidential campaign, Biden said, “We are in the battle for the soul of this nation.” American democracy was “at stake” under Trump, he added.As The Daily Beast reported, the video included footage of men with tiki torches shouting “Jews will not replace us,”and images of swastikas and Confederate flags at the right-wing marches that took place in Charlottesville in 2017.“We saw Klansmen and white supremacists and neo-Nazis come out in the open,” Biden said. “Their crazed faces illuminated by torches, veins bulging and baring the fangs of racism, chanting the same anti-Semitic bile heard across Europe in the ’30s.“That’s when we heard the words of the president of the United States that stunned the world and shocked the conscience of this nation. He said there were quote some ‘very fine people on both sides.’ Very fine people on both sides?” Biden condemned Trump for assigning the same “moral equivalence” to “those spreading hate” as well as “those with the courage to stand against it.”James Alex Fields Jr. was convicted last year of the first-degree murder of Heyer and multiple further counts of malicious wounding. A jury recommended he serve life in prison. Last month he also pleaded guilty to 29 of 30 federal hate-crime charges in exchange for the prosecutors not seeking the death penalty. He will be formally sentenced in July.Asked if she had found Biden’s video exploitative, Bro said, “Since we had not spoken, I’m glad he (Biden) didn’t specifically mention Heather. It’s not all about her.”Bro added, “It’s been almost two years since Heather died. I’m moving forward. I still grieve for my daughter. But I have a realistic understanding that this was a public event, and people will use it however it suits them. It’s just a fact of life.”Of Biden, she said, “For me, what he did this morning was that he told me where he stands on one issue. Now tell us the rest of your platform. That’s what I’m waiting to hear.”“I’ve seen that footage a lot lately for other reasons,” said Bro. “It was like, ‘Here we go again.’ I am told by other reporters those who were there at the time have been traumatized by seeing it again. I’ve not spoken to them personally.” Of President Trump, Bro told The Daily Beast, “He should apply the same thought process as I try to apply for myself: think before you speak, always tell the truth, and be accountable for your actions. I still hold those things out for everyone pretty much. I used to teach my fourth graders that.”Bro would not be drawn on whether she wanted Trump to remain or be ejected from office. “Everybody needs to be informed and make their own decision about who to vote for,” Bro said, adding, “I’m the public face of a 501(c)(3)[non profit]. I can’t do that. I have to make it very clear to the public that the Heather Heyer Foundation does not endorse or support any candidates.“What we as a Foundation and I personally say, is ‘Pay very close attention to what the candidates are saying and also doing. Do the two match up? Find a candidate who believes in what you believe in. Make an informed decision. Don’t just vote on party lines. Make sure you truly support that candidate. And vote.’ Too many people still don’t vote.”Biden’s video didn’t surprise or trigger Bro. “It was more like, ‘Oh yeah, OK, here we go.’ At least twice a week, there’s a news story, documentary, or magazine article mentioning Charlottesville and Heather. It’s not an uncommon thing. It was a defining moment in white history in many ways—a moment when white people finally paid attention. White people say Charlottesville was such a major thing. But murders of people of color in the name of civil rights have gone on for decades, centuries.”Biden’s video had, Bro said, “shifted my day into high gear very suddenly. It was a little annoying to be woken at 7.20 a.m. to start dealing with it. It reminded me of the press turning up at my home at 9am after Heather died. This was not as intense as that.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Texts between the FBI's Strzok and Page draw investigator focus

Nine days after the presidential election, FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page exchanged texts that Fox News has learned are under new scrutiny by congressional investigators reviewing the genesis of the Russia probe; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports.

Jenna Bush Hager reveals she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy: It was 'very isolating'

Jenna Bush Hager is overjoyed to be expecting her third child, but says she's all too familiar with the "pain" that comes with pregnancy complications.

Iran's Zarif warns U.S. of 'consequences' over oil sanctions, offer prisoner swap

The United States on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran's eight biggest buyers, most of them in Asia, to continue importing limited volumes. "We believe that Iran will continue to sell its oil. Reinforcing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's stance, Zarif warned: "If the United States takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that, then it should be prepared for the consequences." He did not give specifics.

Kill a 'Raptor': How to Shoot Down an F-22 Stealth Fighter

The Chinese—like the Russians—have formidable electronic attack capabilities including DRFM jammers.The U.S. Air Force has as a tiny fleet of 186 Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. That’s all that survived out of 187 production aircraft (195 jets if developmental airframes are included) that were built out of the 750 that were originally planned. Of those 186 remaining Raptors, only 123 are “combat-coded” aircraft with another twenty that are classified as backup aircraft inventory machines. The rest are test and training assets.But even if 186 aircraft remain in the Air Force’s inventory—not all of those fighters are operational. At least two—possibly more—jets are not currently flyable. One test aircraft—tail 91-4006—at Edward Air Force Base (AFB) in California has avionics that are so old; it’s not worth bothering to fly it anymore. Another aircraft—02-4037—was badly damaged in a belly landing at Tyndall AFB, Fla. It’s going to take at least four years and $98 million to repair the damage. The Air Force has also had trouble with repairing other F-22s due to snafus with retrieving improperly stored production tooling for the jet.This first appeared in October 2015.

Judge Slams Kim Foxx For Double Standard in Smollett Case: ‘Your Office Created This Mess’

A Cook County judge recently castigated State's Attorney Kim Foxx for upholding a double standard by prosecuting an anonymous woman for filing a false police report after dropping all charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett, who was indicted for the same offense.Smollett was indicted by a grand jury on sixteen charges earlier this year following an extensive investigation that yielded substantial evidence that he paid two associates to attack him in the middle of the night in order to elevate his public profile.Foxx's office then dropped all charges without requiring that Smollett admit guilt, despite the strenuous objections of the Chicago Police Department and the mayor's office. Foxx's office, in explaining the decision, cited Smollett's record of community service and the fact that no one was physically harmed in the commission of his alleged crime.Cook County judge Marc Martin, while presiding over an unrelated case, chastised Foxx and her office for creating an untenable situation in which anyone charged with filing a false police report should expect to be granted the leniency afforded to Smollett.“Well, Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn't have a high-price lawyer, although, her lawyer's very good. And this smells, big time. I didn't create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She's being treated differently,” Martin said to Foxx during a recent court proceeding, according to a transcript obtained by a local Fox affiliate.“There's no publicity on this case. She doesn't have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown,” Martin continued. “It's not right. And [if] I proceed in this matter, you're just digging yourselves further in a hole. [If the] press gets a hold of this, it'll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms. Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?”> Smollett double standard? Cook Co. Judge Marc Martin rips Kim Foxx’s office for its handling of false police report case involving suburban woman. Wonders why they’re not giving her same consideration they gave ⁦@JussieSmollett⁩. Exclusive story tonight ⁦@fox32news⁩ pic.twitter.com/e75GipLRo5> > -- Dane Placko FOX 32 (@dsplacko) April 24, 2019Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case in February but continued to oversee the investigation through her correspondence with her assistant, Joseph Magats. In a series of text messages sent in early March and obtained by the Chicago Tribune, Foxx cautions Magats against appearing overzealous in their prosecution of Smollett.“Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases…16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A,” Foxx wrote to Magats on March 8.“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” she added, referring to the case of disgraced pop singer R. Kelly.Smollett continues to maintain his innocence and has said he is considering suing the Chicago police for damages. The fate of Smollett's tenure on the hit show Empire remains unclear, but his co-stars Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard are demanding that he appear on the show's next season.“Together, as a united front, we stand with Jussie Smollett and ask that our co-star, brother and friend be brought back for our sixth season of Empire,” the show's top cast said in a statement released this week.

Trump won't make immigration adviser available to Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House blocked adviser Stephen Miller from testifying before congressional committees on immigration and a staff shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security, prompting lawmakers on Thursday to demand internal communications on the topic from Homeland Security officials.

Ukraine anger as Russia eases citizenship rules in east Ukraine

Russia on Wednesday made it easier for people living in eastern Ukraine's separatist territories to obtain Russian passports, drawing swift condemnation from Kiev only three days after it elected a new president. President Vladimir Putin signed the decree aimed at residents of the unrecognised Donetsk and Lugansk republics that broke away from Kiev in 2014 and are governed by Moscow-backed rebels. The conflict between the Ukrainian government and breakaway rebels began after Moscow annexed Kiev's Crimea peninsula in 2014.

Frustration builds for Boeing Max plane crash families as they fight to have lawsuits heard in US courts

Human remains and personal belongings were still scattered across the site of the Ethiopian Airlines crash a month after it happened, a relative of one of the victims has claimed.  The London-based relative, whose sister died in the crash, told The Telegraph she was "horrified" to discover "what appeared to be an arm and a fragment of bone" when she visited the spot where 157 people lost their lives in March. She shared photographs showing children's shoes and other personal effects lying uncollected on the ground, taken 28 days after the tragedy, she said.  The relative, who does not want to be identified, also claimed the site wasn't properly secured with gaps in the perimeter allowing people and animals to "freely pass by" where the tragedy took place.  "We're still barely managing to believe what's happened but on top of the tragedy to have also no respect at all to the families and the victims and have those items left on the land... it's outrageous," she said.   The photos shared with The Telegraph show clothes and other personal belongings at the crash site The claims raise serious questions about how the Ethiopian authorities have managed the aftermath of the tragedy and whether the investigation is as thorough as it could be.  Contacted by this newspaper, the Ethiopian embassies in both the UK and the US declined to comment.  The horror has added to a build up of frustration among victims' families following the two recent airline tragedies involving the Boeing 737 Max plane. Victims of Indonesia's Lion Air crash, the first of the two involving the model, have launched legal action against the American aviation manufacturer for the wrongful death of their loved ones.   Among them is Rini Soegiyono, whose younger sister Niar, 39, was killed along with her state prosecutor husband Andri Wiranofa, 41, on the flight on October 29.  Ms Soegiyono, 52, who has been left to raise her nieces, aged just 11 and seven, believes Boeing owes her family and the others taking legal action an explanation for what went wrong.  "The world is also waiting so it is important to know so that it will not happen again. We don’t want any other family to have to go through what we are going through,” she told The Telegraph.  “We screamed, we screamed to the world. We had no experience before, we never thought that it will happen to us, to our family… because at that time, Boeing said that the plane is safe.”   The growing number of Indonesian litigants are now fighting for the right to have their cases heard in US courts, rather than in Indonesia, where victim compensation is likely to be much lower. A decision on whether that right will be granted is imminent.  Divers recovered the black box from the wreckage of the Lion Air plane Credit: Adek Berry/AFP An apology issued earlier this month by Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s CEO, for the double tragedy, and his admission that a preliminary investigation into the Ethiopian crash revealed that both incidents involved similar errors in automated flight systems, gave victims’ families renewed hopes for justice.  But Brian Kabateck, a high-profile California-based lawyer working on behalf of a dozen Indonesian families including Ms Soegiyono’s, said that Boeing owes the crash victims “much more than sympathy,” adding: “They deserve their day in a United States courtroom.” Lion Air flight 610 disappeared from the radar screens 12 minutes after take-off and all 189 passengers and crew were lost. Less than five months later, on March 10, a second Boeing 737 Max jet, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, nosedived into a field six minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa leaving no survivors.  Even after the second crash, Boeing insisted that the 737 MAX was safe, and “was willing to continue to gamble with the lives of the flying public” while furiously working behind the scenes on a software fix, Mr Kabateck alleged.  Boeing declined to comment on the current litigation, referring The Telegraph to general public statements on its website.   For the families of the Ethiopian Airlines victims, the ordeal continues as they await reassurances that everything possible has been done to recover the personal belongings of their loved ones. More than 150 people were killed in the Ethiopian Airlines crash Credit: Eduardo Soteras/AFP The relative said she travelled to the crash site on April 7, almost a month after the tragedy, to be put at ease that the site had been thoroughly excavated after seeing pictures of chaotic scenes in the media.  But to her dismay, she claimed the area was not properly secured and victims' belongings had been left unattended and exposed to the elements.  She described the personal horror of flicking through the debris looking for a trace of her sister, a young aid worker.  "I spent almost two hours looking for anything belonging to my sister and that's the last thing I would wish for anybody. I literally searched every single spot to find something pertaining to her," she told The Telegraph.  "We found what we believe to be remains of human bones, which were then handed over to the guards in a military tent, just outside the site of the crash," she said. She added that to her shock the guards simply used a plastic bag lying on the ground to remove them, ignoring the "minimum standards and procedures" typically applied to the scene of a fatal accident. "I'm concerned that for them [the authorities] the search is finished. It is distressing to see that all the items that can mean the world to a suffering family are still on the ground, just waiting to be collected rather than being searched for," she said.   "There's a risk for the families of not retrieving anything from their loved ones' belongings."

Border Militias Use Facebook Live to Turn Immigrant Confrontations Into ‘Reality TV’

Kevin Lamarque/ReutersThis story originally appeared in Right Richter, a newsletter by Will Sommer. Subscribe now to see what's happening in right-wing media from the safety of your inbox.Militias and other vigilante groups chasing immigrants on the southern border are able to broadcast their activities and gain new supporters thanks to Facebook’s live video feature. So far, the social media giant hasn’t done anything about it. Last week, livestreamed Facebook video of a  United Constitutional Patriots, a militia group in New Mexico, falsely identifying themselves as law enforcement to a group of immigrants and detaining them went viral. While the video eventually prompted a backlash against the group, it was initially filmed for the group’s more than 5,000 Facebook fans, who thrilled as members of the militia ordered migrants around, apparently illegally.The group’s leader has since been arrested on gun charges. But United Constitutional Patriots and the people who shot the immigrant videos are still on Facebook, where they can use Facebook Live to broadcast future border activities against migrants and gain even more attention. The United Constitutional Patriots aren’t the only border group using Facebook to draw in fans. “AZ Patriots,” an Arizona group devoted to confronting migrants, also livestreams its attempts to catch immigrants on Facebook. In one video that’s still live on Facebook, the group’s members are shown questioning migrants at the border.Livestreaming on Facebook is key for border vigilantes looking to raise funds and recruit news supporters, according to Heidi Beirich, the head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. The live video lets them show supporters that they’re actually doing the activities they say they are.“It lets someone be part of the reality TV action,” Beirich said. Want this in your inbox? Subscribe to Right Richter here.Facebook livestreaming became a large part of the militia movement after different militia activists met during the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff, according to John Temple, the author of an upcoming book on the Bundy incident. Militia activists started livestreaming various meetings and court hearings on Facebook, drawing in more members.“They began livestreaming a lot in the subsequent years, because so many people met each other at that first standoff, and all these networks sort of formed,” Temple said. Facebook Live has been fueling border militia activity since at least last year, when “Veterans on Patrol” — an Arizona group led by a QAnon believer — claimed that they’d discovered a Pizzagate-style sex trafficking camp in the Tucson area. The site was clearly just a homeless camp, but that didn’t stop Veterans on Patrol from attracting on “patrols” through the desert, where they allegedly repeatedly trespassed on private property. The Facebook Live footage was later used in court against one of the group’s leaders.Asked why militias like United Constitutional Patriots are still allowed to broadcast their activities on Facebook Live, Facebook said only that they will shut down any fundraisers on the site that involve weapons. “People cannot use our fundraising tools for activities involving weapons,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “We will remove fundraisers this group may try to start on our service and any content that violates our Community Standards.” As it turns out, though, Facebook doesn’t take that strong a stance against the militia groups fundraising. As of Wednesday, one of United Constitutional Patriots’ top posts is a fundraising link meant to raise money to keep the militia going on the border.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here

Sri Lanka's crisis of leadership opens space for nationalist Rajapaksas

Elections to pick a new president are due between October and December and Mahinda Rajapaksa is already targeting President Maithripala Sirisena and his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for failing to preserve the hard fought peace. Rajapaksa cannot contest for president again, but his brother Gotabaya is ready to make a bid, his aide has said. "Rajapaksas' will take the easy benefit and be able to claim with some credibility that if they come back to power, they will adopt the same strong security policy that allowed them to free the country from terrorism," said a Western diplomat.

Russian DNA: How the F-35 Was Partly Inspired By This Old Russian Fighter

The Yak-141 Freestyle may not technically count as a predecessor to the F-35, but the JSF does seem to have at least some Russian DNA floating around its engine design — and as the F-35 came to fruition in the United States, the Yak-141 Freestyle died a quiet death in Russia. However, if a resurgent Russian defense industry chooses to move forward with a carrier-based VTOL aircraft, at least one Russian legislator has called for the Yak-141 to be revived, most likely with a stealthier new look for a new Cold War.For all the yelling and shouting over the Department of Defense’s much-maligned F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, there’s an unusual, often overlooked footnote in the trillion-dollar project’s history: its origins as an experimental Soviet fighter that only fell into Lockheed Martin’s lap because a desperate Russian aerospace company needed some cold, hard cash.Before the F-35, there was the Yak-141 ‘Freestyle’ multi-role vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighter born during a tumultuous period in Russian military history. Though the Yak-141’s first flight in 1987 was a revolutionary contribution to the development of VTOL systems, the hovering death bird was largely developed as the Soviet Union came apart at the seams, and the newly-broke Russian military was in no position to continue development of the new aircraft after the Berlin Wall.(This first appeared in 2018.)

Militia group 'commander' Larry Mitchell Hopkins attacked in New Mexico jail

Officials said they're investigating an assault on Larry Mitchell Hopkins that occurred Monday at the Doña Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces.

What Drove the Mueller Investigation?

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year, $30 million, 448-page report did not find collusion between Donald Trump and Russia.Despite compiling private allegations of loud and obnoxious Trump behavior, Mueller also concluded that there was not any actionable case of obstruction of justice by the president. It would have been hard in any case to find that Trump obstructed Mueller’s investigation of an alleged crime.One, there was never a crime of collusion. Mueller early on in his endeavors must have realized that truth, but he pressed ahead anyway. It is almost impossible to prove obstruction of nothing.Two, Trump cooperated with the investigation. He waived executive privilege. He turned over more than 1 million pages of administrative documents. He allowed then–White House counsel Don McGahn to submit to over 30 hours of questioning by Mueller’s lawyers.Three, anyone targeted by a massive investigation who knows he is innocent of an alleged crime is bound to become frustrated over a seemingly never-ending inquisition.Trump’s reported periodic rages at the Mueller investigation are regrettable but not unnatural, given that Mueller expended a huge amount of government resources to confirm what many knew at the outset: that there was never any collusion with the Russian government to warp the 2016 election.Yet Mueller’s team went down every blind alley relating to its investigation -- except where Obama-era officials were likely culpable for relevant unethical or illegal behavior.The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants were integral to Mueller’s investigations. But there is no mention of how the FISA court was deceived by not being told that the chief evidence used to obtain the warrants was an unverified dossier paid for in part by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.Some of the collusion narrative Mueller examined was based on FBI informants’ unverified stories. Yet strangely, the Mueller team did not investigate whether it was legal in the first place for the FBI, possibly with CIA help, to use informants to spy on a presidential campaign.Former FBI director James Comey figures into the Mueller report. But there is no curiosity about whether he broke the law in leaking what may well have been four classified memos of private presidential conversations to the press for the purpose of forcing an appointment of a special counsel.The Christopher Steele dossier likewise makes an appearance in the Mueller report. But for a team investigating the alleged collusion of foreigners in a U.S. election, there is silence about the salient fact that Steele, a foreign national, enlisted other foreign nationals to dig up dirt on Trump to weaken his election chances -- with part of the funding for this research provided by the Clinton campaign and the DNC.What bothers many Americans about the collusion hoax is the accompanying sanctimony of the so-called investigators. The Mueller team could have helped itself had it just noted that much of the evidence it looked at was a product of Obama-era officials’ unethical or illegal behavior.Comey wrote a memoir, A Higher Loyalty. Its eponymous themes are Comey’s own ethics and principles. But Comey may well have misled the FISA court and possibly lied under oath to a House committee. He was not candid with federal investigators and leaked confidential and classified government memos.Former FBI director Andrew McCabe also wrote a memoir, The Threat. Its argument is that FBI kingpins such as McCabe protect America from dangers such as Donald Trump. But McCabe himself is under criminal referral for lying to federal investigators. His sworn congressional testimony cannot be reconciled with Comey’s. McCabe also likely misled the FISA court. And he apparently contemplated staging a near-coup to remove an elected president through the deliberate misuse of the 25th Amendment.Former CIA director John Brennan is a paid analyst for MSNBC who often railed about Trump’s “treason” and predicted his indictment. Yet Brennan himself has lied under oath to Congress on two occasions. He likely misled Congress about his role in trafficking in the Steele dossiers. And Brennan’s CIA may well have helped the FBI use informants abroad to entrap Trump campaign aides in efforts to find dirt on Trump.Former director of National Intelligence James Clapper is a CNN analyst who often predicted that a supposedly treasonous Trump would be indicted. Clapper, too, has lied to Congress under oath. He once denied and then admitted to leaking confidential documents.The problem with the Mueller investigation, and with former intelligence officials such as Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and McCabe, is pious hypocrisy. Those who have lectured America on Trump’s unproven crimes have written books and appeared on TV to publicize their own superior virtue. Yet they themselves have engaged in all sorts of unethical and illegal behavior.The only mystery left is whether our elite investigators actually believe their own delusions. Or were they constantly broadcasting their virtue as a preventive defense against growing evidence of their own moral lapses?© 2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

EU slams Russia citizenship move as new attack on Ukraine

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union hit out Thursday at Russia's move to fast-track citizenship applications from people living in conflict areas in eastern Ukraine, slamming it as an attack on Ukraine's sovereignty that undermines an already-fragile peace agreement.

Hundreds of migrants break out of Mexico detention centre as it struggles under US pressure

At least 1,300 migrants escaped from a detention centre in Mexico on Thursday night, highlighting how far a surge in arrivals has stretched the country's resources.  Roughly half of the migrants returned voluntarily to the Siglo XXI facility in the border city of Tapachula but around 600 people were still unaccounted for on Friday. The incident arose when several inmates rioted at the centre in southern Mexico. Some threatened to set fire to the facility in protest at overcrowding. The majority of migrants detained at Tapachula are Cuban but Mexican newspaper Reforma has reported Haitians and Central Americans were counted as among those who escaped. "There was a large-scale unauthorized exit of people housed in the migratory station," the National Institute of Migration said in a statement. Federal police with riot shields were sent to the compound but the institute said "there was no confrontation." The escape occurred on the same day as Mexican human rights officials toured the centre to check conditions there. It is the third time since October that migrants have rioted against conditions at the Tapachula centre. According to AFP, the facility was built to accommodate 900 people but residents say it sometimes holds up to 3,000. Mexico has returned 15,000 migrants in the past 30 days, officials have said, amid pressure from President Donald Trump to block the flow of migrants heading north. On Wednesday, the US president reiterated threats to send armed troops to the border if Mexico failed to deal with the so-called migrant caravan heading north. Since October thousands of Cubans and Central Americans have travelled to Mexico in the hope of reaching the US.

Could the inspector general's FISA probe derail Democrats' impeachment plans?

Former Whitewater Independent Counsel Sol Wisenberg expects a hard-hitting report from Michael Horowitz.

Working mom drops the mic with list of society's expectations: 'I'm ready to lean out'

Sarah Buckley Friedberg's late-night rant about societal expectations for working moms has gone viral for all the right reasons.

The U.S. Navy Wants Frigates That Can Pack a Punch

The Navy soon could select a shipyard to build the new class of frigate starting in 2020.The U.S. Navy might tweak its force-structure goals in order to boost the number of frigates.That's what Vice Adm. Bill Merz, the deputy chief of naval operations, told a House of Representatives subcommittee on March 27, 2019. "We’re expecting a pretty hard look at the mix of ships this year," Merz said, according to USNI News.In rewriting the force-structure plan to include more small surface combatants, the Navy could signal its intention to acquire larger numbers of smaller ships at the expense of bigger ships.This first appeared in earlier in April 2019.The idea would be to distribute U.S. naval power across a greater number of less-expensive vessels, reversing a decades-long trend toward larger, and fewer U.S. warships."We know we are heavy on large surface combatants, and we’d like to adjust that to a more appropriate mix, especially with the lethality we’re seeing coming along with the frigate," Merz said.

Iran FM warns US over Strait of Hormuz

Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday warned the United States of unspecified "consequences" if it tried to seal off to Tehran the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage into the oil-rich Gulf. President Donald Trump's administration has been ramping up pressure on the clerical state, this week vowing to stop all oil exports from Iran by sanctioning any countries that defy its order. "We believe Iran will continue to sell its oil, we will continue to find buyers for our oil and we will continue to use the Strait of Hormuz as a safe transit passage for the sale of our oil," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the Asia Society in New York, where he was participating in a UN session.

AOC joins Bernie in backing voting rights for prisoners

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders's support for prison voting rights.

Southwest CEO 'not happy' about Max crisis but backs Boeing

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines executives acknowledge they are upset with Boeing over the grounding of its 737 Max jetliner, a move that has caused the airline to cancel thousands of flights.

Sri Lanka attack leader 'died in hotel bombing', authorities say

The suspected ringleader of the terrorist group accused of carrying out the Easter Sunday bombings died in the blast at the Shangri La hotel, the Sri Lankan authorities claimed on Friday.  Mohamed Zahran, the leader of the local jihadi group National Thawheed Jamath, known for his incendiary speeches on social media, was one of the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks on three hotels and three churches, the police said on an official Twitter account.  The police also revealed that they had arrested the group’s second-in-command and that the assailants’ military training was provided by “Army Mohideen” and weapons training had taken place overseas and at some locations in Sri Lanka’s Eastern province.  Maithripala Sirisena, the president, said the group was driven by “religious fanaticism,” suggesting its leader had killed himself to “set an example” and gain more followers.  However, in a somewhat confusing statement, Chula Senaviratne, the national security chief, said there was “still ambiguity whether he is dead or not” while DNA tests are being carried out.  “There is strong likelihood that the decapitated head of the suicide bomber at Shangri La was the same person we identified in the photographs...” he added. “However, we cannot be absolutely certain.” The statements fit a pattern of claims and counterclaims by Sri Lankan officials that have muddied the waters in the chaotic aftermath of Sunday’s heinous attack as security forces rush to detain suspects and the government investigates a failure to act on key intelligence that could have prevented the tragedy. Images and photos released by Isil appear to show the attackers pledging allegiance to the group Late on Thursday, Sri Lanka’s health ministry drastically revised down its estimated death toll from the coordinated bombings from 359 to 253. Some officials offered the tragic explanation that some bodies had been so torn apart by the blasts that they had been counted as more than one person.  The Indian Ocean island remains on high alert as the authorities hunt down suspects linked to the NTJ which is believed to have been inspired by the global Islamic State terrorist network which claimed responsibility for the attacks earlier this week.  Security agencies are also trying to track down hauls of explosives, some of which may have been left over from Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war.  President Sirisena told reporters in Colombo that some 140 people had been been identified as having links to the Islamic State group, although he reassured the public that the Sri Lankan government has “the capability to completely control ISIS activities.” The government has, however, apologised for its failure to act on precise and repeated intelligence  from India weeks and even hours before the massacre, warning about named suspects who were planning to attack local churches.  Across Colombo, there was a visible increase of security on Friday after the authorities and foreign embassies, including the UK and the US, warned of the possibility of a second wave of attacks.  Muslim communities were asked to stay at home to pray on Friday rather than attend communal prayers in mosques that could also be targeted by extremists.   Amid fears of further attacks, authorities advised Muslims to pray at home on Friday, but many defied the warnings Credit: AFP Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority has been shocked to the core by the atrocity and fears repercussions. Amid the nationwide manhunt, an association of Islamic theologians urged Muslim women not to “hinder the security forces in their efforts” by wearing veils.  The Sri Lankan authorities have confirmed that seven suicide bombers carried out the attacks, including Adbul Lathief Jameel Mohammed who studied engineering for a year in the UK. They said all the bombers came from a middle-class, educated background.  In new details that emerged on Friday, the police said that the attackers had worked out at a local gym and by playing soccer using their authentic national identity cards. They added that the vehicles used in the attack were purchased from a car dealership in Kadawatha, a suburb of Colombo, the capital. They said that the operator of a copper factory who was arrested in connection with the bombings had helped Mohideen make improvised explosive devices and purchase empty cartridges sold by the Sri Lankan military as scrap copper. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister, has said investigators are still working to determine the extent of the bombers’ foreign links. Police presence is high on the streets of Colombo amid fears of further attacks Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, reported on Wednesday that two of the suspects had recently returned from fighting in Syria and Iraq. The prime minister admitted to Sky News that the authorities knew of the returnees from Syria but legally couldn’t do anything about it. “We knew they went to Syria … But in our country, to go abroad and return or to take part in a foreign armed uprising is not an offence here,” he said.  “We have no laws which enable us to take into custody people who join foreign terrorist groups. We can take those who are, who belong to terrorist groups operating in Sri Lanka.” Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, an analyst at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, told the Telegraph that the country’s tourism industry would take a long time to recover from the attacks.  “They’ve hit the very sector of the economy that had some momentum,” he said. “While the arguments are about it being part of Isis and geopolitical terrorism, the consequences of the attack are very specific to Sri Lanka.”   ___

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The Easter Sunday suicide bomber who lived and studied in the UK had been under police surveillance in Sri Lanka for years, it emerged on Thursday. Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, 36, who studied aerospace engineering in the UK for almost two years, was on a Sri Lankan terror watchlist, according to sources close to his family. The claim raises further embarrassing questions for the Sri Lankan authorities over their failure to stop Sunday’s coordinated attacks on churches and hotels. The source, close to his brother, said: “He was under surveillance for years.” It came as footage emerged on Thursday night believed to show Jameel Mohamed with a rucksack laden with explosives, and a suitcase at the Taj hotel in Colombo on Easter Sunday. In the pictures, obtained by Sky News, he is wearing a baseball cap just like two other suspected bombers pictured on CCTV footage before they struck the Shangri-La hotel. British intelligence officers are combing through Jameel Mohamed’s connections made in the UK to determine whether he could have been radicalised in this country. He flew into the UK on January 1 2006 and lived in a rented bedsit in Tooting in south London before flying home at the end of September 2007. He returned again in 2008. The guesthouse blown up by Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who lived and studied in the UK Credit: Sam Tarling The Daily Telegraph has been told that he was initially denied a visa to enter the UK but that his father - a wealthy tea trader in Sri Lanka - had threatened to bring a legal claim against the High Commission if it didn’t reverse the block on his son’s travel. Sources have insisted Jameel Mohamed was initially prevented from entering Britain because of ‘administrative problems’ with his visa application, and not because he posed any danger at that time. He enrolled at Kingston University on an aerospace engineering course as part of a programme tied to the Asian Aviation Centre in Colombo. Kingston was one of four universities ‘named and shamed’ in 2015 by then prime minister David Cameron over claims it had hosted the most events with extremist speakers.  The claim was vehemently contested by Kingston, which insisted that it was ‘highly unlikely’ students were being radicalised. Family friends said Jameel Mohamed, who spent a year at Kingston University in 2006, was being monitored by police in Sri Lanka as he plotted the terror attacks with seven other suspected jihadis. Jameel Mohamed killed two people when he detonated his bomb at a guesthouse near Colombo zoo. His original target was the five-star The Taj Samudra hotel, located close to three other high-end hotels targeted in coordinated attacks. But his bomb failed to detonate and he was forced to return to a safe house before launching his the attack. As the investigation into the attacks continued in the UK and Sri Lanka, more details were emerging on Thursday about Jameel Mohamed. People who knew the suspected bomber told The Telegraph that the he was sympathetic towards Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). “But we never took him seriously when he talked about his views,” said a childhood friend. “Who would have thought we would have maniacs who would commit this kind of atrocity and kill all innocent people?” Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, 36, is bearded with a rucksack, thought to contain explosives, and a suitcase at the Taj hotel  Credit: Sky News Some of Jameel Mohamed’s friends and family members have been taken into police custody for questioning, including an older brother and a brother-in-law. A police spokesman confirmed that at least one of his brothers, who runs the family tea trading business, is currently detained and is being interrogated. Other friends and acquaintances told The Telegraph that he was “a bit different” from the others. “He was always a bit weird,” a friend, who did not want to be named told The Telegraph. “A bit of a recluse.” His sister, Samsul Hidaya, said her brother had been radicalised during his studies abroad, but thought that followed a stint in Melbourne, Australia, rather than in London. On Friday The Australian newspaper reported  that  Jameel Mohamed studied at Swinburne University in Melbourne between 2009 and 2013. Samsul Hidaya, one of Mohamed's sisters, told the Daily Mail that her brother came back from Australia after his post-graduate studies a “changed man.” Quoting AAP, the report said her brother became "a different man" in Australia and became withdrawn and intense. "My brother became deeply, deeply religious while he was in Australia," Ms Hidaya said. "He was normal when he went to study in Britain, and normal when he came back. But after he did his postgraduate in Australia, he came back to Sri Lanka a different man. "He had a long beard and had lost his sense of humour. He became serious and withdrawn and would not even smile at anyone he didn't know, let alone laugh." A Kingston University spokesman said: “The University does not tolerate any form of incitement to hatred or violence, and condemns in the strongest terms extremist activity. It has been fully compliant with the Government’s Prevent duty guidance since its instigation, and takes these responsibilities extremely seriously.” The fresh details emerged amid growing public concern about further attacks in Colombo. Tensions remained high as it was reported that the mastermind of the bombings may still be alive.  The fate of Zahran Hashmi, an extremist cleric also called Mohamed Kasim Mohamed Zahran, has been unknown since Sri Lankan intelligence accused him of orchestrating the multiple suicide bombings that killed 359 people.  Hashmi, the alleged leader of the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) group that the government believe carried out the atrocity, was thought to have been killed. But his death has not been confirmed, BBC Sinhala reported on Thursday.  The report was based on a statement by Ruwan Wijewardene, the deputy defence minister, who declined to comment specifically on the fate of Hashmi. He did say, however, that the 'leader' of the suicide bomber team that struck three churches and three luxury hotels had died. Zahran Hashmi, the alleged mastermind of the plot, may still be alive Previously it had been reported that Hashmi had died after blowing himself up at the Shangri La hotel breakfast buffet, but the police have disputed these claims.  Close to 60 people have been detained in sweeping arrests across the island as the government faces growing anger over its failure to act on crucial Indian intelligence earlier this month about possible attacks on churches.  The public’s nerves were frayed further by a small blast near a magistrates court on Thursday morning in Pugoda town, about 25 miles east of the capital, Colombo. No casualties were reported.  Traffic was also disrupted near the island’s main international airport as the police inspected a suspicious vehicle.  The Indian Ocean island remains under curfew and emergency security measures while the counter-terrorism operation, assisted by experts from the US, UK, Australia and UAE, is underway. All Catholic churches have been instructed to stay closed and suspend services until security improves.  Christians in Jaffna, in the north of the country, issued a statement urging “patience and peace as the truth of these heinous crimes emerges,” adding: “our grief is never a call for retribution.” Their appeal came as Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community spoke of their fears about retaliation and reported online abuse and stones being thrown at Muslim homes and businesses. Sri Lanka’s government believes that the massacre was carried out with the NTJ, previously an obscure local Islamist group, with assistance from overseas terrorism networks due to its precise and coordinated nature and the use of military-grade explosives. Sri Lanka is on a heightened state of alert Credit: Eranga Jayawardena/AP The targeting of Christians and hotels popular with westerners bore the hallmarks of global jihadi terrorism.  The Islamic State terrorist group on Tuesday claimed credit for the bloodbath and released a video of the suicide bombers swearing allegiance to the militant group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  It did not provide further proof that it had engineered the attack. However, the Hindu newspaper reported on Wednesday that investigators had found that two of the suspects had recently returned from fighting in Syria and Iraq.  The video released on Isil’s Aamaq news agency showed Hashmi at the centre of a group of eight attackers in front of an Islamic State flag. He was the only person to keep his face uncovered.  India’s CNN News 18 channel first reported the possible involvement of Hashmi in the massacre, claiming that Indian intelligence sources had indicated to the Sri Lankans that he was planning to attack the Indian High Commission in Colombo in early April. Over the last few years, Hashmi has gained thousands of followers for his incendiary sermons denouncing non-Muslims on pro-IS social media accounts.  A woman mourns her mother, killed in the St Sebastian's church Credit: Carl Court /Getty Images Hilmy Ahamed, the vice-president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, told The Telegraph he had been trying to warn officials about Hashmi’s extremism for three years after it emerged that he was radicalising young pupils in his Koran classes. Hashmi's group began as an offshoot of the Sri Lanka Thawheed Jamaath, which has denied any involvement in the bombings.  Hashmi was reported in the local press as a divisive figure within his own community who incited violence against other Muslims.  According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Hashmi was operating out of southern India, or had links there, in the months before Sunday's bombings. "All his YouTube videos of hate speech were uploaded in India," claimed Mr Hilmy. "He has a base in either Chennai or Bangalore." Hashmi’s Indian ties are expected to come under closer investigation. India's National Investigation Agency had specific intelligence ahead of the serial blasts, which it passed on to Colombo, but no action was taken by the Sri Lankans. The Hindu reported that Indian investigators unearthed the plot during an interrogation of an IS sympathiser in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu six months ago.

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