Top News Stories for Today – Mar 25, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Mar 25, 2019
Mueller report: Trump not colluded with Russia
In a big legal and political win for US President Donald Trump, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded in his final report that there was no evidence that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign or anyone associated with it colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the vote, according to a summary of the confidential report released on Sunday by Attorney General William Barr.
That finding was emphatic, and validated Trump’s long-standing insistence that “there was no collusion” between his campaign and Russian hackers and meddlers who sought to change the outcome of Trump’s presidential battle with Democrat Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state. Using Mueller’s own words, the Barr letter stated that “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” The Voice of America
Democrats: Barr’s letter raises many questions
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement on Sunday that the letter Attorney General William Barr sent to Congress giving his summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report “raises as many questions as it answers.”
Because Mueller does not exonerate President Trump “on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice” and Barr is “not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report,” Pelosi and Schumer argue, “Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents so that the committees can proceed with their independent work.” House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) pledged to call Barr to testify before Congress “in the near future.” Rep. Jerry Nadler via The Week
Russia sends military planes to Venezuela
Two Russian military planes landed in Venezuela’s main airport on Saturday, reportedly carrying dozens of troops and large amounts of equipment. The planes were sent to “fulfil technical military contracts”, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported. Javier Mayorca, a Venezuelan journalist, wrote on Twitter that he saw about 100 troops and 35 tonnes of equipment offloaded from the planes.
It comes three months after the two nations held joint military exercises. Russia has long been an ally of Venezuela, lending the South American nation billions of dollars and backing its oil industry and military. Russia has also vocally opposed moves from the US to sanction the government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. BBC
Parkland youths had midterm ballots rejected at high rate
An election researcher in Florida found that 15 percent of mail-in ballots sent in for the midterm election by Parkland residents between the ages of 18 and 21 were not counted, exceeding the statewide average of 5.4 percent for that age group, The Washington Post reports.
A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018 killed 17 people, and students there quickly organized, calling for stricter gun laws, holding the March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington, and registering voters. University of Florida political scientist Daniel A. Smith determined, based on Florida’s open-source voting file, that about 1 in 7 mail-in ballots submitted by college-age voters in Parkland were not counted, because they didn’t arrive in time or other reasons. The Washington Post via The Week
Many questions remain about Boeing aircraft
The head of Ethiopian Airlines said “many questions on the B-737 MAX airplane remain without answers” and he pledged “full and transparent cooperation to discover what went wrong.” “Until we have answers, putting one more life at risk is too much,” CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said Monday in a statement.
A March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash and Indonesia’s Lion Air crash in October were both Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes. Everyone on board the two flights was killed. The Ethiopian Airlines flight data recorders revealed that there were “clear similarities” between the two doomed flights. Gebremariam asserted that his crews were “well trained” on this aircraft. The Voice of America
Israel strikes Gaza after border bombs
Israeli aircraft targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after Palestinians there threw explosive devices at the border fence during “riots,” the army said. Also Sunday, the health ministry in Gaza announced the death of a Palestinian wounded previously in clashes with Israeli forces.
Palestinians in Gaza had thrown a number of explosive devices toward the border fence with Israel, one of which set off air raid sirens in the south of the country late Saturday, the army said. One Palestinian was wounded in the strike, a medical source in Gaza said. The Gaza health ministry separately announced the death of 24-year-old Habib al-Masri, who was wounded in clashes with the Israeli army. It gave no details on when he was wounded. The Voice of America