AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

Putin claims crushing victory in Russian presidential vote

MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin rolled to a crushing re-election victory Sunday for six more years as Russia’s president, and he told cheering supporters in a triumphant but brief speech that “we are bound for success.”

There had been no doubt that Putin would win in his fourth electoral contest; he faced seven minor candidates and his most prominent foe was blocked from the ballot.

His only real challenge was to run up the tally so high that he could claim an indisputable mandate.

With ballots from 80 per cent of Russia’s precincts counted by early Monday, Putin had amassed 76 per cent of the vote. Observers and individual voters reported widespread violations including ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the claims are unlikely to dilute the power of Russia’s longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin.

As the embodiment of Russia’s resurgent power on the world stage, Putin commands immense loyalty among Russians. More than 30,000 crowded into Manezh Square adjacent to the Kremlin in temperatures of minus 10 (15 Fahrenheit) for a victory concert and to await his words.

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A frustrated Trump lashes out at special counsel Mueller

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday took out his frustrations over the intensifying Russia investigation by lashing out at special counsel Robert Mueller, signalling a possible shift away from a strategy of co-operating with a probe he believes is biased against him.

In a series of weekend tweets naming Mueller for the first time, Trump criticized the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and raised fresh concerns about the objectivity and political leanings of the members of Mueller’s team.

Trump also challenged the honesty of Andrew McCabe, the newly fired FBI deputy director, and James Comey, the bureau’s former director whom Trump fired last year over the Russia probe.

The president’s aggressive stance followed a call Saturday by his personal lawyer for Rod Rosenstein, whom Trump appointed as deputy attorney general and who now oversees Mueller’s inquiry, to “bring an end” to that investigation.

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, which spent the past year conducting a parallel investigation, recently said they had drafted a report concluding no collusion or co-ordination between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. Committee Democrats vehemently disagreed.

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10 Things to Know for Monday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Monday:

1. ‘WE ARE BOUND FOR SUCCESS’

In a fraud-tainted vote, Russia’s Vladimir Putin rolls to a crushing presidential re-election win.

2. WHAT AP INVESTIGATION REVEALS ABOUT KUSHNER REAL ESTATE DEALS

The firm run by the U.S. president’s son-in-law profited by filing false papers declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants across New York City — when, in fact, it had hundreds.

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AP Exclusive: Kushner Cos. filed false NYC housing paperwork

NEW YORK (AP) — When the Kushner Cos. bought three apartment buildings in a gentrifying neighbourhood of Queens in 2015, most of the tenants were protected by special rules that prevent developers from pushing them out, raising rents and turning a tidy profit.

But that’s exactly what the company then run by Jared Kushner did, and with remarkable speed. Two years later, it sold all three buildings for $60 million, nearly 50 per cent more than it paid.

Now a clue has emerged as to how President Donald Trump’s son-in-law’s firm was able to move so fast: The Kushner Cos. routinely filed false paperwork with the city declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned across the city when, in fact, it had hundreds.

While none of the documents during a three-year period when Kushner was CEO bore his personal signature, they provide a window into the ethics of the business empire he ran before he went on to become one of the most trusted advisers to the president of the United States.

“It’s bare-faced greed,” said Aaron Carr, founder of Housing Rights Initiative, a tenants’ rights watchdog that compiled the work permit application documents and shared them with The Associated Press. “The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment.”

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Bridge collapse: Out on errands, killed in an instant

MIAMI (AP) — They had just finished up lunch, and set off to run a humdrum errand: a drive to the travel agency to pick up airline tickets for their annual visit to their beloved homeland Cuba.

Osvaldo Gonzalez and Alberto Arias, friends and business partners, happened to pass under a Miami bridge that Thursday afternoon, the road bustling with fellow drivers also out on the most ordinary and unthreatening of life’s tasks.

A teenager was driving her friend to the doctor’s office to pick up some medicine. A father of three was heading home from work. A woman on her way to a nail salon was stopped at a red light. Seconds — inches — would soon separate those who would live from those who wouldn’t.

Sweetwater police Detective Juan Llera was at his office a few blocks away, when he heard what he thought was a bomb exploding.

It was not a bomb; it was a bridge, a structure every American has passed under hundreds of times. But in an instant, this 950-ton span under construction at the Florida International University collapsed, and with no time to act or to flee, the cars that just so happened to be below it were pancaked under the rubble. Six people died.

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Texas A&M stuns reigning champ UNC 86-65 in NCAA 2nd round

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Texas A&M had its big men relentlessly snatching down loose rebounds, its wing players knocking down shots and an entire roster full of guys playing with aggressive confidence.

Stunningly, reigning national champion North Carolina found no match for any of it.

And just as shockingly, the Tar Heels are heading home with the most-lopsided NCAA Tournament loss of Roy Williams’ Hall of Fame career.

The seventh-seeded Aggies manhandled the Tar Heels 86-65 Sunday in the second round of the West Region, marking the second straight year the titleholder has been bounced from March Madness before the Sweet 16. They dominated the glass. They used their size to control the paint and block shots. And they pounced when UNC’s small-ball lineup couldn’t make an outside shot.

The Aggies are moving on to the round of 16 for the second time in three seasons.

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TIPPING OFF: Is UMBC ready for another shocker?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Ramblers are moving on. Are the Retrievers ready to run with them to the Sweet 16?

Loyola-Chicago kept its feel-good story going with a one-point win over third-seeded Tennessee in the second round Saturday as the little guys kept making more noise in the NCAA Tournament. The victory allowed 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago to keep pace with the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, a commuter school in Baltimore which — before Friday night — was best known as a master of the game of chess by those who actually knew of the school.

UMBC etched its name in sports lore when it beat Virginia , the top seed in the men’s tournament, by 20 points, becoming the first No. 16 seed to accomplish the feat in 136 tries. Now, it’s time to see if the Retrievers can put all those post-victory texts and congratulatory calls in the rearview mirror when they play No. 9 seed Kansas State on Sunday with a Sweet 16 berth at stake.

“Yeah, we’re not satisfied,” UMBC guard K.J. Maura said. “We go in tomorrow with the mentality we’re going to win another game. We’re hungry for more.”

So, too, is Loyola, whose prayers again were answered in the waning seconds when Clayton Custer’s winning basket bounced up off the front of the rim, lightly touched the backboard, and dropped softly back down before slipping through the net with 3.6 seconds left . Custer’s winner came two days after Donte Ingram’s buzzer-beating 3 from the March Madness logo beat Miami.

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Death penalty for drug traffickers part of Trump opioid plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to combat opioid drug addiction nationwide calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under current law, a top administration official said Sunday. It’s a fate for drug dealers that Trump, who aims to be seen as tough on crime, has been highlighting publicly in recent weeks.

Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids, said Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s domestic policy director, who briefed reporters Sunday on the plan Trump is scheduled to unveil Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis.

The president will be joined by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown an interest in the issue, particularly as it pertains to her focus on child welfare.

Death for drug traffickers and mandatory minimum penalties for distributing certain opioids are just two elements under the part of Trump’s plan that deals with law enforcement and interdiction to break the international and domestic flow of drugs into and across the U.S.

Other parts of the plan include broadening education and awareness, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts.

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Putin calls UK accusations over ex-spy poisoning ‘nonsense’

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday dismissed British accusations of Russia’s involvement in an ex-spy’s poisoning as “nonsense,” but added that Moscow is ready to co-operate with London in the investigation.

In his first comments on the incident, Putin referred to the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter as a “tragedy,” but added that if the British claim that they were poisoned by the Soviet-designed nerve agent were true, the victims would have been killed instantly.

Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer convicted in his home country of spying for Britain, and his daughter have remained in critical condition following the March 4 poisoning.

“It’s quite obvious that if it were a military-grade nerve agent, people would have died on the spot,” he said. “Russia doesn’t have such means. We have destroyed all our chemical weapons under international oversight unlike some of our partners.”

Putin’s comments came a few hours after British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he has evidence that Russia has been stockpiling a nerve agent in violation of international law “very likely for the purposes of assassination.”

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Northeast snowstorms give ski areas late season powder blast

FAYSTON, Vt. (AP) — Back-to-back nor’easters that have pounded New England have given ski resorts a late-season blast of their life’s blood, luring skiers and snowboarders to the slopes, and allowing smaller ski areas that rely on natural snow to stay open.

From Vermont to Maine, skiers and riders were cheering the mounds of snow.

“It’s amazing,” said Tim Austin, of Brentwood, New Hampshire, as he waited Thursday to board the single person chairlift at Mad River Glen in Fayston, Vermont.

March storms have dumped over 5 feet of snow on Vermont resorts, with Mount Snow in southern Vermont living up to its name; 66 inches have fallen just this month there, according to the Vermont Ski Association.

“It’s the best March in years,” said skier Gregg Fitzgerald, of Starksboro, Vermont, as he took a break at Mad River on Thursday.

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