Coordinated suicide bombings strike Sri Lanka
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Soldiers shut down roads across the country, social media platforms were blocked and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed after a series of coordinated bombings ripped across the country on Sunday at Roman Catholic churches and at high-end hotels frequented by foreigners.
More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more injured. More than 30 of the dead were foreigners, including American, British, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese nationals, according to officials and news reports.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility. But 10 days earlier, a top police official had warned government security officials of possible suicide attacks at churches by National Thowheeth Jama’at, a group that aims to spread Islam by killing nonbelievers. Thirteen people had been arrested by late Sunday.
See: We have photographs and video of the aftermath.
Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the messaging services Viber and WhatsApp were inaccessible. A government official said the platforms were blocked to prevent the spread of misinformation about the attacks and hate speech that could inspire more violence.
Context: Much of Sri Lanka’s history has been marred by sectarian tensions and civil war. Nationalists in the Sinhalese Buddhist majority have been stoking fears of minority groups, particularly Muslims, and the nation has been caught up in rivalries between China and India.
Workers at a 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina have complained of defective manufacturing, debris left on planes and pressure to not report violations.
There is no evidence that the problems have led to major safety incidents. But faulty parts have been installed in planes. Tools and metal shavings have been left inside jets, often near electrical systems. Aircraft have taken test flights with debris in an engine and a tail, risking failure.
A Times investigation found a culture at the 10-year-old plant that often valued production speed over quality, echoing broader concerns about Boeing in the wake of two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max.
How we know: Reportersreviewed hundreds of pages of internal emails, corporate documents and federal records, and interviewed more than a dozen current and former employees.
Response: “Boeing South Carolina teammates are producing the highest levels of quality in our history,” Kevin McAllister, Boeing’s head of commercial airplanes, said in a statement. “I am proud of our teams’ exceptional commitment to quality and stand behind the work they do each and every day.”
Parallel interpretations of the report by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, have played out since its release last Thursday, as allies of President Trump and Democrats battle for control over the narrative of the report’s conclusions. Here’s the report, in searchable form.
On Sunday morning talk shows, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, and other Trump aides claimed vindication for the president. Mr. Trump tweeted: “The Trump Haters and Angry Democrats who wrote the Mueller Report were devastated by the No Collusion finding! Nothing but a total ‘hit job’ which should never have been allowed to start in the first place!”
Democrats have focused on the revelations in the report: the culture of deceit in the White House, the Trump campaign’s welcoming of help from Russian actors and Mr.
