Explosions kill at least 190 in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — At least 190 people were killed and hundreds more hospitalized with injuries from eight blasts that rocked churches and hotels in and just outside of Sri Lanka’s capital on Easter Sunday, officials said, the worst violence to hit the South Asian country since its civil war ended a decade ago.

With a curfew imposed, police conducted a search operation on the outskirts of Colombo, where the latest of eight blasts took place.

India: Woman kidnapped, raped by 4 men

Muzaffarnagar, Apr 21 (PTI) A 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and raped by four men here, police said Sunday.

The incident took place on Saturday in Jhaberpur village which comes under the jurisdiction of Purkazi police station.

According to a complaint lodged by the woman's family, she was kidnapped by the four men in a car who took her to a nearby sugarcane field and raped her, said SSP Virender Singh.

The accused had also recorded the act, he said, adding that a probe into the matter was underway.

Oklahoma City bombing ‘Survivor Tree’ DNA to live on

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Science and technology are helping Oklahoma City to sustain the DNA — and the spirit — of a tree that has symbolized hope in the 24 years since the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history shook the city to its core.

As part of an annual remembrance of the bombing, civic leaders and state officials on Friday transplanted a tree that was cloned from a scarred American elm that withstood the blast that leveled half of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.

US prosecutors recommend 18-month jail term for Butina

WASHINGTON, April 20. /TASS/. US prosecutors have recommended a judge in Washington to sentence Russian citizen Maria Butina to 18 months in prison, according to documents submitted to the court.

"The government’s recommended sentence of 24 months (prior to factoring in cooperation), with a downward departure to 18 months, based on substantial assistance to law enforcement, is well within the range of sentences imposed by courts for similar conduct," the document reads.

US tries to make allies replace Russian weapons with its own

MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The United States’ demands NATO countries should be spending more on defense in fact are aimed at making them purchase US military hardware to replace that of Russian manufacture still in service in the armies of many countries of the alliance, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS in an interview.

Warren becomes first 2020 Democrat to call for Trump impeachment

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday became the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to make a full-throated call for the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump after the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report.

Democrats subpoena Mueller report amid calls for impeachment

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, has issued a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report as Democrats intensified their investigation of President Donald Trump, but leaders stopped short of liberal demands for impeachment proceedings.

Merkel 'highly qualified' for EU post: Juncker

20 Apr 2019; DW: Angela Merkel will bid farewell to the chancellor's office in Berlin in 2021. The outgoing president of the European Commission thinks she is "a complete and endearing work of art" who would do well in Brussels.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Germany's Funke Media Group on Saturday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is "highly qualified" for a top European Union job.

FAKE NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

by AMANDA SEITZ and BEATRICE DUPUY

20 Apr 2019; (AP) - A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out. Here are the real facts:

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CLAIM: Man who threw boy over Minnesota mall balcony is a Somali immigrant.

Trump laces into ex-advisers who cooperated in Mueller’s investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at current and former aides who cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, insisting the deeply unflattering picture they painted of him and the White House was “total bullshit.”

In a series of angry tweets from rainy Palm Beach, Florida, Trump laced into those who, under oath, had shared with Mueller their accounts of how Trump tried numerous times to squash or influence the investigation and portrayed the White House as infected by a culture of lies, deceit and deception.

Pompeo says U.S. to continue negotiation after DPRK's tactical weapon test-firing

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday the United States will continue to work to negotiate with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to achieve the Korean Peninsula denuclearization.

Pompeo's remarks came after Pyongyang test-fired a new tactical guided weapon earlier this week.

Turkey understands NATO's concerns on Russian missile deal: FM

ANKARA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday that Turkey understands NATO's concerns over its procurement of the Russian S-400 air defense missiles.

"We are aware of NATO's concerns. It is not right to say that Turkey is not considering them," Cavusoglu said at a press conference with his Romanian and Polish counterparts in Ankara, adding that Turkey needs air defense systems urgently.

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