| All your news in a single email. We scour 100+ sources so you don't have to. Culture, science, sports, politics, business, and more - all packaged in a 5-minute read below. |
| Need To Know. |
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| Easter Bombings in Sri Lanka. |
At least 290 people were killed and over 500 injured after a coordinated set of bombings targeting worshipers at Easter mass was carried out in Sri Lanka yesterday. At least 24 people had been arrested in connection with the blasts, which targeted three Roman Catholic churches and three high-end hotels, which officials said were carried out by seven suicide bombers. The government temporarily shut down social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, citing the prevalence of false information that could stoke ethnic or sectarian violence. Early this morning officials said the little-known Islamist militant group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath, was behind the attacks. The country, which has become a popular tourist destination, has seen little religious violence in recent memory - the population is over 70% Buddhist, though thriving Hindu (13%), Christian (7%), and Muslim (10%) communities exist (deep dive here). Historically, the country had suffered through ethnic violence for decades until the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the Tamil Tigers, conceded to the Sri Lankan government in 2009.
See photos of the devastation here (paywall). |
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| Ukraine's Comedian-in-Chief. |
| In a landslide win, Ukrainian voters elected comedian Volodymyr Zelensky as president in the second round of national elections yesterday. With the official vote still being counted, incumbent Petro Poroshenko conceded after exit polls showed the political newcomer had taken over 70% of the vote. Zelensky, who ran on a politically center-left platform but primarily against what he called Ukraine's "old guard", played the country's president in a nationally televised series, Servant of the People, from 2015 to 2019. Poroshenko had been in power since 2014, assuming office in the aftermath of Russia's annexation of the Crimea, a strategic peninsula that was historically part of Ukraine, jutting into the Black Sea. |
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| Irish Journalist Killed. |
| Lyra McKee, a well-known Irish journalist, was shot and killed during a riot in Northern Ireland over the weekend. The 29-year-old McKee, named to the Forbes' 30 under 30 list in 2016 for her reporting on the lingering effects of The Troubles, the decades-long strife between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. McKee was also well-known for her essay "A Letter to My 14-Year-Old Self", which detailed her struggles growing up gay in the city of Belfast (read here). Officials have yet to identify a suspect though they believe a separatist group known as the New IRA was behind the killing - two teenagers were arrested and released without charges yesterday. |
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| In The Know. |
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| Sports, Entertainment & Culture. |
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> John Singleton, Oscar-nominated director of Boyz n the Hood, in intensive care after suffering stroke (More)
> NBA Playoffs underway as Boston Celtics sweep Indiana Pacers and Golden State goes up 3-1 on Los Angeles Clippers (More) | See full playoffs bracket (More) |
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> Philadelphia Flyers remove statue of Kate Smith, best known for her rendition of God Bless America, after allegations of racism against the late singer (More)
Today is Earth Day! In 2019, Grove’s concentrates kits will stop 260,000 lbs of single-use plastic from entering into the ecosystem. Try it today! (More) #Ad |
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| Science & Technology. |
| > DNA analysis of 13th-century crusaders reveals the Western European fighters intermixed, had offspring with locals (More) |
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| > IBM stops sale of AI tool Watson for predictive drug discovery, will focus on clinical use of artificial intelligence (More) |
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| > Five-month-long US flu season, spurred by second wave of viruses, becomes longest in a decade (More) |
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| Business & Markets. |
| > Toyota and SoftBank's Vision Fund to invest $1B in Uber's autonomous (self-driving) business unit ahead of its IPO (More) |
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| > Venezuela again tops Bloomberg's misery index of world's worst economies (More, paywall) |
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| > US housing market nears 2-year low as new housing starts slide despite lower mortgage rates (More) |
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| Politics & World Affairs. |
| > US to end waivers to China, Turkey, and others that allowed them to purchase oil from Iran, tightening up sanctions on Iranian oil exports (More) |
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| > House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D, NY-10) issues subpoena for unredacted Mueller report from Justice Department (More) |
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| > Parents sentenced to life in prison in California's "House of Horrors" case; David and Louise Turpin accused of enslaving, torturing their 12 children (More) |
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| Etcetera. |
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| Happy Earth Day! Here are the best photos from space of our only home. |
See which US counties are growing the fastest.
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| Men in their thirties get more money from their parents than women. |
| Cronuts are so 2013, say hello to the croiffle. |
| Study confirms the one predator feared by great white sharks. |
Bees survived the Notre Dame fire by getting drunk on smoke.
*Thanks to Natalie B. for the submission! See something great? Let us know at [email protected]! |
| The most jaw-dropping concept cars from the New York Auto Show. |
| Previously thought extinct, this exotic Hawaiian flower was found by a drone. |
| Clickbait: 18-foot-long python takes Detroit neighborhood hostage (w/ video). |
| Historybook: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Ellen Glasgow born (1873); Earth Day first celebrated in US (1970); RIP photographer Ansel Adams (1984); RIP President Richard Nixon (1994); Former NFL football player Pat Tillman dies in Iraq War (2004). |
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- Pat Tillman |
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