WorldUSA TODAYVenezuelan forces kidnap opposition leader Juan Guaido's chief of staff in raid
WASHINGTON – Venezuelan intelligence officials kidnapped opposition leader Juan Guaido's chief of staff and ransacked a second opposition official's residence Thursday, Guaido and other officials said Thursday. During an early morning raid that escalated an already tense political standoff, armed officers descended on the apartment of Roberto Marrero, a lawyer and top adviser to Guaido. The intelligence officials, who are loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, planted two rifles and a grenade at the apartment and took Marrero to an undisclosed location, according to an account posted by Guaido on Twitter.
WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: New Zealanders to observe Muslim call to prayer
People across New Zealand will listen to the Muslim call to prayer on Friday as the nation marks one week since a gunman attacked two mosques and killed 50 people. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and thousands of other people plan to congregate in Hagley Park opposite the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch to observe the call to prayer at 1:30 p.m. Many radio and television stations plan to broadcast the event live. At least 42 people died at the Al Noor mosque and at least seven at the nearby Linwood mosque in last Friday's attack.
- BusinessThe National Interest
Bringing the Sting: The U.S. Navy Is Getting New F/A-18E/F Super Hornets
David Axe Security, The Super Hornets would be the first new-build examples of the Block III variant of the F/A-18E/F. The Block III flies farther and carries more weapons than an older F/A-18E/F can do and also is stealthier than earlier Super Hornet models are. The U.S. Navy in mid-March 2019 awarded Chicago plane-maker Boeing a $4-billion contract to build 78 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for the U.S. Navy. The Super Hornets would be the first new-build examples of the Block III variant of the F/A-18E/F. The Block III flies farther and carries more weapons than an older F/A-18E/F can do and also is stealthier than earlier Super Hornet models are.
BusinessConsumer ReportsSome Pickups Lag in Passenger Crash Protection
Because of the results, CR's Overall Score for the Toyota Tundra fell below the threshhold for the vehicle to be recommended, leaving only the Ford F-150 as a CR recommended truck in the full-size category. Pickup trucks are becoming increasingly popular for hauling families as well as cargo,” says Jennifer Stockburger, director of operations at CR's Auto Test Center. That means assessments like this one—that look at passenger safety as well as driver safety—are just as important for pickups as they are for cars and SUVs.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 2-U.S. sanctions Iran's nuclear research unit, urges Tehran to negotiate
The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on 14 people and 17 entities connected to an Iranian research organization it said had played a central role in the country's past nuclear weapons effort and which remains active. Among those designated for sanctions was the Shahid Karimi group, which works on missile and explosive-related projects for Iran's Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, and four associated individuals, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a Statement. The United States charges that the organization, known by its Farsi acronym SPND, oversees nuclear-relevant research for Iran and is active in the training of new scientists.
NewsUSA TODAYHarvard University sued over allegedly profiting from what are believed to be the earliest photos of American slaves
Among the photographed: an African man named Renty and his daughter, Delia. Former professor Louis Agassiz, a biologist, had the photos taken to support an erroneous theory called polygenism that he and others used to argue that African-Americans were inferior to white people. Now, a woman who says she is a direct descendant of that father and child – Tamara Lanier, the great-great-great granddaughter of Renty – is suing Harvard over the photos.
- NewsAssociated Press
Correction: Southern Flood Threat story
A corrected version of the story is below: Unprecedented spring flooding possible, US forecasters say The National Weather Service says the flooding of Nebraska and Iowa is just a preview of potentially historic widespread major flooding to hit much of America this spring By SETH BORENSTEIN and JEFF MARTIN Associated Press The stage is set for unprecedented major flooding this spring for most of the nation, U.S. weather officials said Thursday. More than 200 million Americans are at risk for some kind of flooding, with 13 million of them at risk of major inundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its spring weather outlook.
- NewsThe Independent
JetBlue pilots who drugged and raped flight attendants continued working for airline without repercussion, lawsuit says
Three female flight attendants claim they were drugged and two of them raped by two JetBlue pilots during a layover in Puerto Rico, a new lawsuit filed this week in New York federal court has claimed. At least one of the female flight attendants said she was forced to work with one of the accused pilots after the alleged rape. After making their way to a beach in Puerto Rico near the hotel they were staying during their layover in May of last year, the women were offered sips from one of the flight attendant's alcoholic beverages.
- BusinessTime
Facebook Employees Had Access to 'Hundreds of Millions' of Users' Passwords
Facebook on Thursday confirmed that it had improperly secured “hundreds of millions” of user's passwords, leaving them open to be viewed by company employees. The unsecured passwords were discovered amid a “routine security review in January,” after which Facebook says it fixed the improper storage issue. The company's internal investigation claimed to find no evidence of password-related impropriety.
WorldAFPSyria says Trump Golan U-turn ignores international law
The Syrian government on Friday condemned US President Donald Trump's pledge to recognise Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, saying it flies in the face of international law. Trump said on Thursday it was time for Washington to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic territory it seized from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and annexed in a move never recognised by the international community. His abrupt tweet broke with UN Security Council resolutions and with more than half a century of US foreign policy treating the Golan as occupied territory whose future would be negotiated in talks with Syria on a comprehensive peace.
- NewsUSA TODAY Opinion
Robert Kraft's plea deal offer for prostitution charges hinders real progress on sex trafficking
Almost 300 people were charged last month with soliciting prostitution in conjunction with a massive human sex trafficking investigation in Florida. The Palm Beach State Attorney's Office said this week that it offered New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and 24 other men a standard diversion program traditionally given to first-time offenders. The program requires the men concede their guilt, attend a class about prostitution, perform 100 hours of community service, and pay a fine of $5,000 per count.
- BusinessCar and Driver
See Photos of the New 2020 Porsche Cayenne Coupe
Porsche joins competitors Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz with a coupe version of its Cayenne SUV at a modest price premium over the standard Cayenne and Cayenne Turbo. From Car and Driver
WorldReutersCitigroup to sell Venezuelan gold in setback to President Maduro: sources
Maduro's government has since 2014 used financial operations known as gold swaps to use its international reserves to gain access to cash after a slump in oil revenues left it struggling to obtain hard currency. Under the terms of the 2015 deal with Citigroup's Citibank, Venezuela was due to repay $1.1 billion of the loan on March 11, according to four sources familiar with the situation. Citibank plans to sell the gold held as a guarantee - which has a market value of roughly $1.358 billion - to recover the first tranche of the loan and will deposit the excess of roughly $258 million in a bank account in New York, two of the sources said.
- WorldThe National Interest
Love it or Hate it?: China Is Studying Russia's New Su-57 Stealth Fighter
David Axe Security, The Su-57's overall capability is "not bad at all," Global Times paraphrased Wang as saying. Perhaps the main lesson should be that, despite their differences of philosophy, the Russians and Americans both armed their stealth fighters with guns. One Chinese expert holds a mixed view of Russia's Su-57 stealth fighter, Beijing's state media reported.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
'I want to set the record straight': Jared Kushner's father comes to his defense in op-ed
WASHINGTON – The father of Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and a key White House adviser, authored an opinion piece in the Washington Post pushing back against accusations of corruption and conflicts of interest. "Over the past two years, the news media have told a story about my family and our business with little regard for nuance, logic or even facts," Charles Kushner writes. "Though I am a private person and prefer to keep the details of my family's business as private as possible, I want to set the record straight."
SportsFOX News VideosCNN takes over a week to report Covington lawsuit
What happened to 'facts first'? Reaction from former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino.
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Nebraska puts flood damage at more than $640 mln
Figures compiled by the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency put damage statewide from recent flooding at more than $640 million. Nebraska's governor earlier said the state suffered nearly $1.4 billion in estimated losses and damage, including $840 million in crop and cattle losses. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has added nine counties to the state flash flooding disaster proclamation, bringing the total to 52 out of Iowa's 99 counties.
- SportsTime
USC Just Named a New President. Here's What She Said About the Admissions Scandal
As the University of Southern California (USC) grapples with the fallout from a sweeping college admissions scandal, officials announced the appointment of a new president who vowed to bring lasting change to a campus that has been plagued by controversy. Carol Folt, who stepped down in January as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), will take over as USC president on July 1, becoming the first permanent female president at the school. USC was one of several schools named in last week's indictment of wealthy parents who are accused of bribing athletic coaches and facilitating cheating on standardized tests to get their children into elite colleges, including Georgetown, Yale, Stanford and USC.
- WorldBloomberg
Trump Courts American Jews With Bid to Secure Netanyahu's Re-Election
President Donald Trump forcefully interjected himself into Israeli politics on Thursday, recognizing the Golan Heights as the country's territory in a bid to secure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election next month -- and perhaps his own a year later. Trump has made naked appeals to U.S. Jewish voters to abandon any allegiance to the Democratic Party, calling his opposition anti-Semitic while promoting his unprecedented decisions to expand U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty at the expense of the Palestinians. The president moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, recognizing the divided city as Israel's capital.
WorldAFPPolice, tradesmen rush to prepare ravaged mosque for Friday prayers
New Zealand police and tradesmen are working intensively in the hope of readying the Al Noor mosque to hold Friday prayers, just a week after it was the centre of a racist shooting which left 50 dead. "Police have been working relentlessly, doing everything in our power to gather all appropriate evidence from what are active crime scenes so we can allow people to return to the mosques as quickly as possible," a police spokesman said, referring to Al Noor and a second mosque in Christchurch attacked by the gunman. An army of carpenters, glaziers, gardeners and carpet layers could be seen entering the Al Noor grounds Thursday and the police spokesman said they were trying to return the mosque to its original state.
- BusinessU.S.News & World Report
Economic Inequality: What It Is and How It Impacts You
Economic inequality is a broad term that encapsulates the gap between the income and wealth amassed by different groups in a society. Americans reference it when questioning why CEOs earn so much more than their employees or how historical and current policies have barred families of color from accumulating wealth. "Economic inequality is the more generic name and within that you could talk about income inequality and wealth inequality," says Jim Freeland, professor of business administration at Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
WorldReutersHezbollah sanctions harming Lebanon, says President Aoun
U.S. sanctions on Hezbollah are harming Lebanon as a whole, President Michel Aoun said on Thursday ahead of a visit to the country by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The United States deems the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah group a terrorist organization and has been steadily increasing financial sanctions against it as part of efforts to counter Iran. Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah has a large armed militia that has helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his eight-year war against rebels, but it is also a political party in Lebanon with seats in the parliament and cabinet.
- BusinessCar and Driver
Which Subcompact Crossovers and SUVs are Best? Here Are All 17, Ranked
Need help determining which tiny SUV is better than another? Let these rankings be your guide. From Car and Driver
- NewsUSA TODAY
Catholic Church scandal: 395 Illinois priests, deacons accused of sexual misconduct
CHICAGO – Nearly 400 Catholic clergy members in Illinois have been accused of sexual misconduct, but church officials have only informed congregants of a fraction of those who have faced allegations, according to attorneys who represented clergy sex abuse victims across the USA. A 182-page report, published Wednesday by the Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates, includes the names, background information, photos and assignment histories of each accused clergy member. The danger of sexual abuse in Illinois is clearly a problem of today, not just the past,” the report concludes.
BusinessReutersU.S. lawmaker seeks Boeing whistleblowers, some MAX 737 orders in jeopardy
American Airlines pilots were preparing to test Boeing's planned software upgrade for an anti-stall system on MAX simulators this weekend, saying they want their own safety guarantees on the software fix. The 737 MAX was Boeing's fastest selling jet before an Ethiopian Airlines crash near Addis Ababa on March 10, which followed a Lion Air crash in Indonesia on Oct. 29. Ethiopian and French investigators have pointed to "clear similarities" between the two crashes, which killed 346 people, putting pressure on Boeing and U.S. regulators to come up with an adequate fix.
