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California track's alarming spate of horse deaths prompts criminal probe

The alarming number of horse deaths at a California racetrack has drawn the attention of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, which has announced it was conducting a criminal investigation with state regulators.

The DA investigation has been prompted by the deaths of 22 thoroughbreds at Santa Anita Park since Dec. 26 and is being conducted jointly with the California Horse Racing Board, according to a Reuters report Friday.

The deaths of the horses due to catastrophic injuries suffered in training and during races over the short period of time have alarmed horsemen and racing fans and led to a renewed focus on the racing industry’s long-standing problem with drugs--both legal and illegal. These substances can mask injuries a horse may have suffered due to the stress of running on spindly legs.

ANOTHER HORSE DIES TWO DAYS AFTER CALIFORNIA TRACK RESUMES RACING; DEATHS NOW NUMBER 22

“We are cooperating fully with the District Attorney’s Office. We will not be providing any additional details about the ongoing, confidential investigation,” Shawn Loehr, CHRB chief of enforcement, said, according to KABC-TV.

Santa Anita spokesman Mike Willman said in a statement that the track welcomes the district attorney's "sincere interest in solving these very serious issues that we've experienced over the past two months."

Santa Anita in Arcadia has canceled racing in response to the breakdown deaths.

SANTA ANITA PARK SUSPENDS RACING INDEFINITELY AFTER 21ST HORSE DIES

Some trainers have blamed the deaths on heavy rains which has affected maintenance of Santa Anita's dirt track.

On Thursday, 3-year-old filly Princess Lili B snapped both front legs during a workout, forcing her to be put down.

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After the breakdown, the Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, announced that two prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs will be banned the day of a race and that jockeys will not be allowed to use a whip on a horse as they compete.

Source: Fox News National

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Bay Area has third-largest homeless population in US, report finds

The San Francisco Bay Area has the third-largest homeless population in the nation, behind only New York and Los Angeles, according to a report published Wednesday by a local think tank.

The report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute found that 28,200 people in the Bay Area are "experiencing homelessness," compared to 76,500 in New York and 55,200 in Los Angeles. The report also found that two-thirds of the Bay Area's homeless are unsheltered, living on the streets or in cars. The only metropolitan area with a higher unsheltered percentage is Los Angeles, where 75 percent of the homeless population is unsheltered.

HOMELESSNESS TICKS UP NATIONWIDE, AS WEST COAST STILL LEADS THE COUNTRY

"The absolute size of the Bay Area’s homeless population, combined with the region’s dearth of temporary shelter options and an insufficient supply of supportive housing, desensitizes the public and condemns the homeless to lives of hardship," read the report's executive summary, which also estimated that it would take until 2037 for every homeless person in the Bay Area to receive a bed, given current rates of low-income housing construction and "inflows into homelessness."

The report recommends a regional approach to the problem, with the Bay Area's nine counties and 101 cities sharing resources and collaborating with state authorities to implement a better tracking system for those seeking help.

"The Bay Area's homeless crisis is a regional humanitarian crisis that does not abide traditional local boundaries," Bay Area Council Economic Institute President Micah Weinberg said in a statement. "One city, one county alone cannot solve homelessness, but that's largely how we've been approaching it."

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The report also recommends building more low-income housing, putting the cost of building permanent housing for every homeless person in the Bay Area at $12.7 billion.

"We failed at every level to build enough homes. The lack of tending to it over decades has created a tremendous problem," Bay Area Council Executive Director Jim Wunderman told KTVU, adding, "It's like a city of people who are without shelter."

Click for more from KTVU.com.

Source: Fox News National

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Golf: Spieth rates his Masters chances but not everyone agrees

Jordan Spieth of the U.S. hits off the 2nd tee during the second day of practice for the 2019 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Jordan Spieth of the U.S. hits off the 2nd tee during the second day of practice for the 2019 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

April 9, 2019

By Andrew Both

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Jordan Spieth visited the Augusta National media interview room almost unnoticed for his assigned rendezvous with the press on Tuesday, like a guest invited to make up the numbers.

Only a handful of journalists bothered turning up to hear what the 2015 Masters champion had to say, a far cry from the not-so-long ago days when he packed out the house, seemingly destined to become an all-time great.

Though Spieth is only 25, and time is still on his side, his star has waned considerably since he captured the 2017 British Open, his third major title, leaving him only a PGA Championship short of the career grand slam of all four modern majors.

He became the second player after Jack Nicklaus to complete three legs of the slam before the age of 24, rarefied company to be sure.

Spieth almost pulled off a comeback for the ages in the final round last year, storming from nine strokes behind Patrick Reed to finish third with a closing 64.

But Spieth has regressed since then, so much so that a tie for 30th at the Texas Open on Sunday was his best stroke play result all year.

But he struck an upbeat note on Tuesday as he assessed his chances this week.

“My expectations are high,” he said.

“I feel great about the state of my game right now. I feel like my recent results aren’t a tell of where my game is actually at, and I feel I’ve made a lot of strides in the last couple of days in the tee-to-green game.

“Really just off the tee, my long game has been the only separation from being able to win golf tournaments over the last month or so.”

Not everyone is convinced.

“His golf swing has changed so much, it’s almost been completely stripped of all its athleticism,” Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said of Spieth in a conference call last week.

“His swing has completely changed, and it looks to me like he’s in a very tough spot, and who knows if he’ll ever find his way back.

“A lot of people who go down that road can’t remember how to get back home.”

That might sound a little bit negative but there are no more guarantees in golf than in any other walk of life.

Spieth of course was much more optimistic.

“I feel really good about my game, where it’s at, heading into this week,” he said.

“It’s just a matter of trust in the stuff that I’m working on… I don’t feel like there’s any added pressure this week.

“I feel kind of under the radar, which is really nice. That changes day-to-day out here though.”

(Reporting by Andrew Both; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Source: OANN

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Boeing jet under scrutiny after Ethiopia crash

Airlines in Ethiopia, China, Indonesia and elsewhere grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 jetliner Monday after the second devastating crash of one of the planes in five months. But Boeing said it had no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies.

As the East African country mourned the 157 victims of the Ethiopian Airlines plane that went down in clear weather shortly after takeoff Sunday, investigators found the jetliner's two flight recorders at the crash site outside the capital of Addis Ababa.

An airline official, however, said one of the recorders was partially damaged and "we will see what we can retrieve from it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.

A witness to the crash told The Associated Press that smoke was coming from the rear of the plane before it hit the ground.

"Before falling down, the plane rotated two times in the air, and it had some smoke coming from the back then, it hit the ground and exploded," Tamrat Abera said. "When the villagers and I arrived at the site, there was nothing except some burning and flesh."

Ethiopian authorities are leading the investigation into the crash, assisted by the U.S., Kenya and others.

The crash was similar to that of a Lion Air jet of the same model in Indonesian seas last year, killing 189 people. The crash was likely to renew questions about the 737 Max 8, the newest version of Boeing's single-aisle airliner, which was first introduced in 1967 and has become the world's most common passenger jet.

Safety experts cautioned against drawing too many comparisons between the two crashes until more is known. Besides the groundings by airlines in Ethiopia, China and Indonesia, Caribbean carrier Cayman Airways, Comair in South Africa and Royal Air Maroc in Morocco temporarily grounded their Max 8s.

Ethiopian Airlines decided to ground its remaining four 737 Max 8s until further notice as "an extra safety precaution," spokesman Asrat Begashaw said. The carrier had been using five of the planes and awaiting delivery of 25 more.

But Chicago-based Boeing said it did not intend to issue any new recommendations about the aircraft to its customers. It plans to send a technical team to the crash site to help investigators and issued a statement saying it was "deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew" on the jetliner.

Among the airlines still using the plane are Southwest, American and Air Canada.

In Washington, Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said passenger safety was the first priority for the administration.

"I want travelers to be assured and that we are taking this seriously and monitoring latest developments," she said.

It's unusual for authorities to take the step of grounding planes, and it's up to each country to set standards on which planes can fly and how those planes are maintained, said Todd Curtis, an aviation safety analyst who directs the Airsafe.com Foundation.

"If there is a suspicion ... that there's not only something inherently wrong with 737 Max 8 aircraft, but there are no procedures in place to cure the problem, then yes, they should either ground the plane, or there are several levels of things they could do," Curtis said.

People from 35 countries died in the crash six minutes after takeoff from Ethiopia's capital for Nairobi. Ethiopian Airlines said the senior pilot issued a distress call and was told to return but all contact was lost shortly afterward. The plane plowed into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu, scattering debris.

"I heard this big noise," resident Tsegaye Reta told the AP. "The villagers said that it was a plane crash, and we rushed to the site. There was a huge smoke that we couldn't even see the plane. The parts of the plane were falling apart."

Kenya lost 32 people, more than any country. Relatives of 25 of the victims had been contacted, Transport Minister James Macharia said, and taking care of their welfare was of utmost importance.

"Some of them, as you know, they are very distressed," he said. "They are in shock like we are. They are grieving."

In Addis Ababa, members of an association of Ethiopian airline pilots wept uncontrollably for their dead colleagues. Framed photos of seven crew members sat in chairs at the front of a crowded room.

The flight's main pilot, Yared Getachew, issued a distress call shortly after takeoff and was told to return, but all contact was lost.

Canada, Ethiopia, the U.S., China, Italy, France, Britain, Egypt, Germany, India and Slovakia all lost four or more citizens.

At least 21 staff members from the United Nations were killed in the crash, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who led a moment of silence at a meeting where he said "a global tragedy has hit close to home."

Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are major hubs for humanitarian workers, and some had been on their way to a large U.N. environmental conference set to begin Monday in Nairobi. The U.N. flag at the event flew at half-staff.

The crash shattered more than two years of relative calm in Africa, where travel had long been chaotic. It also was a serious blow to Ethiopian Airlines, which has expanded to become the continent's largest and best-managed carrier and turned Addis Ababa into the gateway to Africa.

The state-owned carrier has a good reputation and the company's CEO told reporters no problems were seen before Sunday's fight. But investigators also will look into the plane's maintenance, which may have been an issue in the Lion Air crash.

The plane was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines in November. The jet's last maintenance was on Feb. 4, and it had flown just 1,200 hours.

China's Civil Aviation Administration said that it ordered airlines to ground all 737 Max 8 aircraft as of 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) Monday, in line with the principle of "zero tolerance for security risks."

It said it would issue further notices after consulting with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing.

China Southern Airlines is one of Boeing's biggest customers for the aircraft.

Comair, the operator of British Airways and Kulula flights in South Africa, said it has grounded its Boeing 737 Max 8 while it consults with Boeing, other operators and technical experts. The statement did not say how many planes are affected. Wrenelle Stander, executive director of Comair's airline division, said that Comair "remains confident in the inherent safety of the aircraft."

An official with Royal Air Maroc said the carrier in Morocco has halted the commercial use of its sole operational model, pending tests and examinations. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with departmental rules, said the plane was scheduled to fly on Monday from Casablanca to London but was replaced.

The 737 is the best-selling airliner in history, and the Max, the newest version of it with more fuel-efficient engines, is a central part of Boeing's strategy to compete with European rival Airbus.

"Safety is our No. 1 priority and we are taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident, working closely with the investigating team and all regulatory authorities involved," Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing's stock fell 7 percent to $391.80 in afternoon trading.

___

Meseret reported from Addis Ababa. Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and AP Airlines Writer David Koenig in Dallas, Texas, contributed.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Source: Fox News World

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16 killed in attack by suspected herdsmen in Nigeria

An official in the central Nigerian state of Benue says 16 people have been killed in an attack apparently staged by herdsmen.

Wednesday's bloodshed comes three days before Nigeria's election, in which President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a second term. Buhari has been accused by some of failing to effectively respond to violence between farmers and herdsmen that has killed thousands of people in recent years.

The Benue governor's spokesman, Iterver Akase, says the latest attack occurred in the Ebete community of Agatu.

The commander of an army task force in the region, Gen. Adeyemi Yekini, says more patrol teams have been sent to the community to "restore peace and verify what really happened."

Insecurity in parts of Nigeria threatens to keep some voters away from the polls Saturday.

Source: Fox News World

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Ardern names judge to head royal inquiry into mosque attack

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has named a sitting Supreme Court justice to head New Zealand's top level investigation into the actions of security agencies and other issues related to the mosque shootings last month in which 50 people were killed.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry will look into the gunman's activities before the attack, including how he obtained a gun license in New Zealand and purchased weapons and ammunition, and his use of social media and possible connections with others in New Zealand or overseas.

"The Government will ensure no stone is left unturned as we examine as quickly as possible how the March 15 attack happened, what could have been done to stop it and how we can keep New Zealanders safe," Ardern said Monday in announcing the terms of the inquiry. "The Royal Commission plays a critical role in our ongoing response to fully understand what happened in the lead-up to the attack and to ensure such an attack never happens again."

The commission led by Sir William Young will have a budget of 8.2 million New Zealand dollars ($5.5 million) and will be expected to report its findings to the government by Dec. 10.

Ardern praised Young as having the extensive experience and skills required to lead the inquiry. "I am confident that in his nearly nine years as a judge on our highest bench, Justice Young has the judgment, clarity and care to do the job, with a sound understanding of intelligence issues and experience working in the public eye."

The commission will examine the actions of agencies including the Security Intelligence Service, Government Communications Security Bureau, New Zealand Police, customs and immigration, including what they knew about the gunman before the attack, what they did in response and what they could have done to prevent the attack.

It will question whether security agencies properly prioritized the use of their counter-terrorism resources. Critics have alleged the agencies focused on possible Islamic extremism but did not give enough priority to white extremism.

An Australian white supremacist, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, livestreamed the shootings and released an online manifesto in which he described planning the attacks at the two mosques in Christchurch. He was charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 of attempted murder and was ordered last week to undergo mental health assessments before his next court appearance in June.

A royal commission is the country's highest form of investigation and is run independently from the government. The commission has the power to compel witnesses to testify and organizations to hand over documents. But it remains up to the courts or government to follow through on any recommendations or findings.

Source: Fox News World

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Trey Gowdy on next steps for the Mueller report, Adam Schiff’s future

Trey Gowdy, former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Friday he has full confidence that Attorney General Bill Barr was able to read and write an accurate summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation report in a weekend.

A Justice Department official told Fox News this week that the Mueller report is more than 300 pages long.

“He summarized it, I’m quite certain he read it, he’s a really, really smart guy which is something that should give all of us confidence. Three hundred pages is not that much,” said Gowdy, who is also an attorney, on The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino.

Barr said Friday he plans to submit the full version of Mueller’s report to Congress by "mid-April, if not sooner," and will not give the White House a sneak peek.

BARR TO RELEASE MUELLER REPORT TO CONGRESS BY 'MID-APRIL, IF NOT SOONER;' WILL NOT TRANSMIT TO WHITE HOUSE FOR PRIVILEGE REVIEW

The timetable comes as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – but especially Democrats – have been demanding that Barr release the full report. Barr submitted a four-page summary to congressional leaders last Sunday reporting Mueller did not find evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, while he did not reach a conclusion on whether President Trump obstructed justice.

Barr said the Justice Department and the special counsel are “well along in the process of identifying and redacting” sensitive material, including material that “by law cannot be made public,” “material the intelligence community identifies as potentially compromising sensitive sources and methods; material that could affect other ongoing matters, including those that the Special Counsel has referred to other Department offices; and information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”

Meanwhile, Republican House Intelligence Committee members are calling for Democratic Chairman Adam Schiff’s resignation.

The Republican committee members demanded that Schiff step down as chairman over the California Democrat’s repeated claims to have evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. In a letter, obtained by Fox News and signed by every Republican on the committee, the lawmakers slammed Schiff for his claims in the media that there was “more than circumstantial evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

They repeated their demand in person during a heated hearing on Thursday morning.

ADAM SCHIFF URGED TO STEP DOWN AS CHAIRMAN BY HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE REPUBLICANS 

The letter, which was sent to Schiff as he was confronted by those same Republicans, follows the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

“Your actions both past and present are incompatible with your duty as chairman of this committee,” the letter stated. “We have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties in a manner consistent with your constitutional responsibility and urge your immediate resignation as chairman of this committee.”

“Adam Schiff shouldn’t resign,” said Democratic congressman Ro Khanna of the House Oversight Committee on Fox & Friends Friday. “We have a separation of powers, that’s part of the Constitution. You have strong oversight.” Khanna encouraged everyone to “move on.”

Gowdy responded by listing the members of the Republican House Intelligence Committee. “These are not members of the bomb-throwing caucus and for them to say ‘Adam Schiff, we have lost confidence in your leadership,’ I’ll tell you I think what’s going to happen next, Dana, is the intelligence community is going to say ‘you know what Adam, you disregard the information that you’re provided, you prejudge the outcome of investigations, you had the president not just indicted but in jail, we’re going to stop sharing information with you,’” Gowdy said.

“’If you are the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and you can’t act in a reasonable way, we’re going to stop sharing information with you’ in which case Pelosi will have no choice but to replace Schiff.”

Schiff, a vocal critic of the president, has doubled down on his claim that Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, and he defended himself during Thursday’s hearing.

Schiff pointed to evidence of Russian hacking during the last presidential election and noted that members of Trump’s campaign and family took meetings with Russians.

“You might think that’s OK that they lied about the meeting,” Schiff said. “I don’t think that’s OK.”

Mueller’s determination that the investigation did not support claims of collusion were touted by President Trump as a “total exoneration.”

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Democrats, though, have sought more information about what Mueller may have found on the obstruction issue. While Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined the report could not support an obstruction case, Democrats challenged that conclusion as they wait to see the full report.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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Tiger woods celebrates after winning the 2019 Masters
FILE PHOTO: Golf – Masters – Augusta National Golf Club – Augusta, Georgia, U.S. – April 14, 2019 – Tiger Woods of the U.S. celebrates on the 18th hole after winning the 2019 Masters. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

April 26, 2019

Tiger Woods is sending a message that he thinks he still has enough left, emotionally and physically, to win three more major championships to tie Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 titles.

Speaking to GolfTV in his first sit-down interview since the Masters, Woods said he has taken some time off since his victory at Augusta National, which still doesn’t feel real.

“Honestly, it’s hard to believe,” Woods said. “I was texting one of my good friends last night … that I couldn’t believe that I won the tournament. That it really hasn’t sunk in. I haven’t started doing anything. I’ve just been laying there. And every now and again, I’ll look over there on the couch and there’s the jacket.”

That’s the fifth green jacket for the 43-year-old Woods, who hadn’t won a major tournament since the 2008 U.S. Open. Along the way, four back surgeries, a divorce and other personal issues derailed him.

He said he has been spending time with his children – daughter Sam, 11, and son Charlie, 10 – who weren’t born when their father was the most dominant golfer on the planet.

“They never knew golf to be a good thing in my life and only the only thing they remember is that it brought this incredible amount of pain to their dad and they don’t want to ever want to see their dad in pain,” Woods said. “And so to now have them see this side of it, the side that I’ve experienced for so many years of my life, but I had a battle to get back to this point, it feels good.”

He said he hopes – maybe expects — they’ll see this side again.

And no one will take Woods for granted at the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black Course on Long Island, N.Y., which starts May 16.

Woods said he’ll be ready for a course he already conquered once in a major: the 2002 U.S. Open.

“I’m doing all the visual stuff, but I haven’t put in the physical work yet. But it’s probably coming this weekend,” he said.

Before Woods encountered health and personal problems, it was expected that topping Nicklaus’ major mark was “when” and not “if.” Then the certainty went away, but Woods thought he still had a chance.

“I always thought it was possible, if I had everything go my way. It took him an entire career to get to 18, so now that I’ve had another extension to my career – one that I didn’t think I had a couple of years ago – if I do things correctly and everything falls my way, yeah, it’s a possibility. I’m never going to say it’s not.

“Now I just need to have a lot of things go my way, and who’s to say that it will or will not happen? That’s what the future holds, I don’t know. The only thing I can promise you is this: that I will be prepared.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Maria Butina, the Russian woman who was accused of being a secret agent for the Russian government, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday by a federal judge in Washington after pleading guilty last year to a conspiracy charge.

Butina, who has already served nine months behind bars, will get credit for time served and can possibly get credit for good behavior, the judge said. She will be removed from the U.S. promptly on completion of her time, the judge added, and returned to Russia.

MARIA BUTINA, ACCUSED RUSSIAN SPY, PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY

An emotional and apologetic Butina said in court Friday she is “truly sorry” and regrets not registering as a foreign agent.

“I feel ashamed and embarrassed,” she said, adding that her “reputation is ruined.”

Butina has been jailed since her arrest in July 2018. She entered the court Friday wearing a dark green prison jumpsuit and spoke in clear English, with a slight Russian accent.

“Please accept my apologies,” Butina said.

Butina’s lawyer, Robert Driscoll, said after the sentencing they had hoped for a “better outcome,” but expressed a desire for Butina to be released to her family by the fall.

Prosecutors had claimed Butina used her contacts with the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast to develop relationships with U.S. politicians and gather information for Russia.

Prosecutors also have said that Butina’s boyfriend, conservative political operative Paul Erickson, identified in court papers as “U.S. Person 1,” helped her establish ties with the NRA.

WHO IS MARIA BUTINA, THE RUSSIAN WOMAN ACCUSED OF SPYING ON US?

In their filings, prosecutors claim federal agents found Butina had contact information for people suspected of being employed by Russia’s Federal Security Services, or FSB, the successor intelligence agency to the KGB. Inside her home, they found notes referring to a potential job offer from the FSB, according to the documents.

Investigators recovered several emails and Twitter direct message conversations in which Butina referred to the need to keep her work secret and, in one instance, said it should be “incognito.” Prosecutors said Butina had contact with Russian intelligence officials and that the FBI photographed her dining with a diplomat suspected of being a Russian intelligence agent.

Fox News’ Jason Donner, Bill Mears, Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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An official Sri Lankan police Twitter account was deleted after it misidentified an American human rights activist as a suspect in the country’s Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.

On Thursday, police posted the names and photos of six people that they said were at-large suspects in the bombings that killed more than 250 people.

However, one of the names on the list was Muslim U.S. activist Amara Majeed, who quickly tweeted that she had been falsely identified.

“I have this morning been FALSELY identified by the Sri Lankan government as one of the ISIS terrorists that committed the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka. What a thing to wake up to!” she wrote.

SRI LANKA AUTHORITIES SAY EASTER ATTACK LEADER KILLED IN ONE OF NINE HOTEL BOMBINGS

She wrote in a follow-up tweet that the claim was “obviously completely false” and asked social media users to “please stop implicating and associating me with these horrific attacks.”

“And next time, be more diligent about releasing such information that has the potential to deeply violate someone’s family and community,” she continued.

Later, she wrote an update saying police apologized for wrongly mistaking her as a suspect.

Police said in a statement: “However, although one of the released images was identified as one Abdul Cader Fathima Khadhiya in the information provided by the CID, the CID has now informed that a) the individual whose image was labeled as Abdul Cader Fathima Khadiya is not in fact Abdul Cader Fathima Khadiya b) the individual pictured is not wanted for questioning c) Abdul Cader Fathima is the correct name of the suspect wanted by the CID.”

On Friday, the account, @SriLankaPolice2 was deleted with no explanation. Police did not release more information regarding the mistake.

Majeed, who founded “The Hijab Project” when she was 16 years old, told the Baltimore Sun that it was hurtful to be linked to the attacks.

“Sri Lanka is my motherland,” the Brown University student said. “It’s very painful to be associated with [the bombings].”

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Mohamed Zahran, the suspected leader of the attacks which targeted six hotels and churches, killed himself in a suicide bombing at the Shangri-La hotel. Police also said they had arrested the second-in-command of the group, called National Towheed Jamaat. Catholic churches in Sri Lanka canceled all Sunday Masses until further notice over concerns that they remain a top target of Islamic State-linked extremists.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Sri Lankan Special Task Force soldiers stand guard in front of a mosque as a Muslim man walks past him during the Friday prayers at a mosque, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday, in Colombo
FILE PHOTO: Sri Lankan Special Task Force soldiers stand guard in front of a mosque as a Muslim man walks past him during the Friday prayers at a mosque, five days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on Catholic churches and luxury hotels across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Lasseter and Shri Navaratnam

KATTANKUDY, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Mohamed Hashim Mohamed Zahran was 12 years old when he began his studies at the Jamiathul Falah Arabic College. He was a nobody, with no claim to scholarship other than ambition.

Zahran and his four brothers and sisters squeezed into a two-room house with their parents in a small seaside town in eastern Sri Lanka; their father was a poor man who sold packets of food on the street and had a reputation for being a petty thief.

“His father didn’t do much,” recalled the school’s vice principal, S.M. Aliyar, laughing out loud.

The boy surprised the school with his sharp mind. For three years, Zahran practiced memorizing the Koran. Next came his studies in Islamic law. But the more he learned, the more Zahran argued that his teachers were too liberal in their reading of the holy book.

“He was against our teaching and the way we interpreted the Koran – he wanted his radical Islam,” said Aliyar. “So we kicked him out.”

Aliyar, now 73 with a long white beard, remembers the day Zahran left in 2005. “His father came and asked, ‘Where can he go?’.”

The school would hear again of Mohamed Zahran. And the world now knows his name. The Sri Lankan government has identified him as the ringleader of a group that carried out a series of Easter Sunday suicide bombings in the country on April 21.

The blasts killed more than 250 people in churches and luxury hotels, one of the deadliest-ever such attacks in South Asia. There were nine suicide bombers who blew apart men, women and children as they sat to pray or ate breakfast.

Most of the attackers were well-educated and from wealthy families, with some having been abroad to study, according to Sri Lankan officials.

That description does not, however, fit their alleged leader, a man said to be in his early 30s, who authorities say died in the slaughter. Zahran was different.

INTELLIGENCE FAILINGS

Sri Lanka’s national leadership has come under heavy criticism for failing to heed warnings from Indian intelligence services – at least three in April alone – that an attack was pending. But Zahran’s path from provincial troublemaker to alleged jihadist mastermind was marked by years of missed or ignored signals that the man with a thick beard and paunch was dangerous.

His increasingly militant brand of Islam was allowed to grow inside a marginalized minority community – barely 10 percent of the country’s roughly 20 million people are Muslim – against a backdrop of a dysfunctional developing nation.

The top official at the nation’s defense ministry resigned on Thursday, saying that some institutions under his charge had failed.

For much of his adult life, Zahran, 33, courted controversy inside the Muslim community itself.

In the internet age, that problem did not stay local. Zahran released online videos calling for jihad and threatening bloodshed.

After the blasts, Islamic State claimed credit and posted a video of Zahran, clutching an assault rifle, standing before the group’s black flag and pledging allegiance to its leader.

The precise relationship between Zahran and Islamic State is not yet known. An official with India’s security services, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that during a raid on a suspected Islamic State cell by the National Investigation Agency earlier this year officers found copies of Zahran’s videos. The operation was in the state of Tamil Nadu, just across a thin strait of ocean from Sri Lanka.

“LIKE A SPOILED CHILD”

Back in 2005, Zahran was looking to make his way in the world. His hometown of Kattankudy is some seven hours’ drive from Colombo on the other side of the island nation, past the countless palm trees, roadside Buddha statues, cashew hawkers and an occasional lumbering elephant in the bush. It is a town of about 40,000 people, a dot on the eastern coast with no clear future for an impoverished young man who’d just been expelled.

Zahran joined a mosque in 2006, the Dharul Athar, and gained a place on its management committee. But within three years they’d had a falling out.

“He wanted to speak more independently, without taking advice from elders,” said the mosque’s imam, or spiritual leader, M.T.M. Fawaz.

Also, the young man was more conservative, Fawaz said, objecting, for instance, to women wearing bangles or earrings.

“The rest of us come together as community leaders but Zahran wanted to speak for himself,” said Fawaz, a man with broad shoulders lounging with a group of friends in a back office of the mosque after evening prayers. “He was a black sheep who broke free.”

Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed Thaufeek, a friend who met Zahran at school and later became an adherent of his, said the problems revolved around Zahran’s habit of misquoting Islamic scriptures.

The mosque’s committee banned him from preaching for three months in 2009. Zahran stormed off.

“We treated him like a spoiled child, a very narrow-minded person who was always causing some trouble,” said the head of the committee, Mohamed Ismail Mohamed Naushad, a timber supplier who shook his head at the memory.

Now on his own, Zahran began to collect a group of followers who met in what Fawaz described as “a hut”.

At about that time, Zahran, then 23, married a young girl from a small town outside the capital of Colombo and brought his bride back to Kattankudy, according to his sister, Mathaniya.

“I didn’t have much of a connection with her – she was 14,” she said.

Despite being “a bit rough-edged”, Zahran was a skilled speaker and others his age were drawn to his speeches and Koranic lessons, said Thaufeek. He traveled the countryside at times, giving his version of religious instruction as he went.

Also, Zahran had found a popular target: the town’s Sufi population, who practice a form of Islam often described a mystical, but which to conservatives is heresy.

Tensions in the area went back some years. In 2004, there was a grenade attack on a Sufi mosque and in 2006 several homes of Sufis were set afire. Announcements boomed from surrounding mosques at the time calling for a Sufi spiritual leader to be killed, said Sahlan Khalil Rahman, secretary of a trust that oversees a group of Sufi mosques.

He blamed followers of the fundamentalist Wahhabi strain of Islam that some locals say became more popular after funding from Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Wahhabism, flowed to mosques in Kattankudy.

It was, Rahman said, an effort “to convert Sufis into Wahhabis through this terrorism”. Rahman handed over a photograph album showing charred homes, bullet holes sprayed across an office wall and a shrine’s casket upended.

ONLINE RADICAL

It was an ideal backdrop for Zahran’s bellicose delivery and apparent sense of religious destiny.

He began holding rallies, bellowing insults through loudspeakers that reverberated inside the Sufis’ house of worship as they tried to pray.

In 2012, Zahran started a mosque of his own. The Sufis were alarmed and, Rahman said, passed on complaints to both local law enforcement and eventually national government offices. No action was taken.

The then-officer in charge of Kattankudy police, Ariyabandhu Wedagedara, said in a telephone interview that he couldn’t arrest people simply because of theological differences.

     “The problem at the time was between followers of different Islamic sects – Zahran was not a major troublemaker, but he and followers of other sects, including the Sufis, were at loggerheads,” Wedagedara said.

Zahran found another megaphone: the internet. His Facebook page was taken down after the bombings, but Muslims in the area said his video clips had previously achieved notoriety.

His speeches went from denouncing Sufis to “kafirs”, or non-believers, in general. Zahran’s sister, Mathaniya, said in an interview that she thought “his ideas became more radical from listening to Islamic State views on the Internet”.

In one undated video, Zahran, in a white tunic and standing in front of an image of flames, boomed in a loud voice: “You will not have time to pick up the remains of blown-up bodies. We’ll keep sending those insulting Allah to hell.”

“HARD TO TAKE”

Zahran spoke in Tamil, making his words available to young Muslims clicking on their cellphones in Kattankudy and other towns like it during a period when, in both 2014 and 2018, reports and images spread of Sinhalese Buddhists rioting against Muslims in Sri Lanka.

In 2017, Zahran’s confrontations boiled over. At a rally near a Sufi community, his followers came wielding swords. At least one man was hacked and hospitalized. The police arrested several people connected to Zahran, including his father and one of his brothers. Zahran slipped away from public view.

That December, the mosque Zahran founded released a public notice disowning him. Thaufeek, his friend from school, is now the head. He counted the places that Zahran had been driven away from – his school, the Dharul Athar mosque and then, “we ourselves kicked him out, which would have been hard for him to take”.

The next year, a group of Buddha statues was vandalized in the town of Mawanella, about five hours drive from Kattankudy. There, in the lush mountains of Sri Lanka’s interior, Zahran had taken up temporary residence.

“He was preaching to kill people,” said A.G.M. Anees, who has served as an imam at a small mosque in the area for a decade. “This is not Islam, this is violence.”

Zahran went into hiding once more.

On the Thursday morning before the Easter Sunday bombings, Zahran’s sister-in-law knocked on the door of a neighbor who did seamstress work near Kattankudy. She handed over a parcel of fabric and asked for it to be sewn into a tunic by the end of the day.

“She said she was going on a family trip,” said the neighbor, M.H. Sithi Nazlya.

Zahran’s sister says that her parents turned off their cellphones on the Friday. On Sunday, when she visited their home, they were gone.

She does not know if Zahran arranged for them to be taken somewhere safe. Or why he would have carried out the bombing.

But now in Kattankudy, and in many other places, people are talking about Mohamed Hashim Mohamed Zahran.

(Reporting by Tom Lasseter and Shri Navaratnam; Additional reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, Shihar Aneez and Alasdair Pal; Editing by John Chalmers and Alex Richardson)

Source: OANN

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