A string of bombings across Texas concluded in a fatal and dramatic scene when the suspect blew himself up
Happy Wednesday readers, this is Anna skimming the fat off today's top stories for you.
Austin bombings - A man suspected of being the bomber behind a series of explosions across Texas blew himself up in a vehicle as a swat team approached, police have confirmed. The suspect, identified by police as a 24-year-old white man, killed himself in Round Rock, a town 20 miles north of Austin, after being tracked to a hotel. A law enforcement official later told the Associated Press that the dead Austin bombing suspect was named Mark Anthony Conditt; aged 23.
No liar here - A polygraph test taken by adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2011 has concluded she was ‘truthful’ in her claims that she had an affair with Donald Trump. The test was obtained by CBS News and revealed that she had unprotected sex with Trump in 2006, a year after he married wife Melania Trump in 2005. The president denies the alleged affair. Trump’s lawyers are seeking $20 million (£14m) from the actress as they say she broke a non-disclosure deal, which she claims is invalid.
CEO gone - Controversial London-based company Cambridge Analytica has suspended its chief executive amid claims the firm gleaned personal data from up to 50 million Facebook users through improper means. Secret recordings showed Alexander Nix boasting about the company’s role in Donald Trump‘s election victory. Nix claimed his firm ran all the elements of the Trump campaign. He was recorded saying: ‘We did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting, we ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy.’
Myanmar in crisis - The president of Myanmar, Htin Kyaw, has resigned citing health issues. Htin Kyaw was an important ally for Aung San Suu Kyi, and his resignation comes at a difficult time for Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under scrutiny following a campaign of violence carried out by the military in Rakhine state, which has led to an exodus of 700,000 Rohingya Muslims over the border to Bangladesh.
Celebrity politics - Former Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon announced she is running for New York governor after months of speculation. Nixon said on Twitter Monday that she will challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York's Democratic primary in September. Her campaign website said Nixon won't accept any corporate endorsements and will limit contributions from any individual or organisation to $65,100. ‘We want our government to work again. On health care, ending massive incarceration, fixing our broken subway,’ Nixon said in a video announcing her candidacy. ‘We are sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us.’
Breaking with convention - Donald Trump has gone rogue and called to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his victory in Sunday’s Russian elections, breaking a general trend among western leaders to not endorse the Russian leader’s re-election to a fourth term in power. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump confirmed he had called Putin to ‘congratulate him on his electoral victory’, and said the pair would ‘probably get together in the not too distant future so that we can discuss the arms race’.
Flying low - Populations of birds across France have fallen by a third over the last decade and a half, researchers have said. ‘The situation is catastrophic,’ said Benoit Fontaine, a conservation biologist at France’s National Museum of Natural History and co-author of one of the studies. ‘Our countryside is in the process of becoming a veritable desert,’ he said in a communique released by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), which also contributed to the findings.
Plastic purge - How much plastic is in the ocean is set to treble in a decade unless litter is curbed, a major report has warned. Plastics is just one issue facing the world's seas, along with rising sea levels, warming oceans, and pollution, it says. But the Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the UK government said there are also opportunities to cash in on the ‘ocean economy’. They say this is predicted to double to $3 trillion (£2 trillion) by 2030.