Nation & World Watch
vNew York: Poll: Most in US favor Russia probe
A slim majority of Americans favor an independent investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with the Russian government, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
More than three-quarters of Democrats favor an independent investigation into Trump’s Russian ties while only one-quarter of Republicans do. Overall, 52 percent of Americans favor such a probe, while 23 percent are opposed. An additional 22 percent say they neither favor nor oppose an investigation.
Asked whether they favor an independent investigation into the issue of Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 campaign, Americans broke along similar margins.
vMadison, Wis.: Suspect in killings dies of wounds
A northern Wisconsin man suspected in a string of fatal shootings that ended in a shootout with police died of his wounds Saturday.
Nengmy Vang, 45, died around 1:30 a.m., state Department of Justice spokesman Johnny Koremenos said. Vang had been hospitalized since March 22, when police shot him during a standoff at his apartment in Weston, about 90 miles west of Green Bay.
Investigators say Vang barricaded himself in the apartment after killing three people in a rampage that spanned three cities. Investigators said Vang launched his attack after a domestic incident with his wife.
vColombia: Huge flood buries town, kills over 100
An avalanche of water from three overflowing rivers swept through a small city in Colombia while people slept, killing at least 154 residents and injuring 400, authorities said Saturday.
The incident triggered by intense rains happened around midnight in Mocoa, a city of about 40,000 near Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador that is tucked between mountains at the crux of two rivers.
President Juan Manuel Santos warned the death toll could rise. “We don’t know how many there are going to be,” he said of the fatalities when he arrived at the disaster zone. “We’re still looking.”
vIraq: Dozens of militants die in airstrikes near Syria
The Iraqi government says its fighter jets have carried out airstrikes against the Islamic State outside Mosul, killing more than 100 militants.
Saturday’s statement said the strikes hit three IS targets in Baaj, a remote northwestern town near the Syrian border, and killed 150 to 200 militants. It said the militants had crossed over from Syria, suggesting that IS still enjoys free movement across the borders.
Airstrikes have been vital to the monthslong operation to retake Mosul from IS. In January, Iraq declared eastern Mosul “fully liberated.” Fighting is underway to recapture the city’s western side.
vJapan: Fleet kills 333 whales in Antarctic
Japan’s whaling fleet returned home Friday after killing 333 whales in the Antarctic, achieving its goal for the second year under a revised research whaling program.
The Fisheries Agency said the fiveship fleet finished its four-month expedition without major interference from anti-whaling activists who have attempted to stop it in the past.
Japan said the hunt was for ecological research. Research whaling is allowed as an exception to a 1986 international ban on commercial whaling. Opponents of the Japanese program say it’s a cover for commercial whaling because the whales are sold for food.