PoliticsReutersBiden building 2020 White House campaign ahead of expected bid: sources
Biden has told supporters and former staff that he will run, according to one source who has knowledge of discussions. Biden and his aides also have reached out to donors and potential bundlers - people who volunteer to raise money on behalf of the candidate - to assess support, according to another source. A third source with direct knowledge of Biden's plans offered a caveat, saying the former vice president was very close to running, but "it's not 100 percent." “We're leaning into that moment” when Biden gives the green light, the source said.
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.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
The bread crumb papers: Why Cohen document dump should worry Donald Trump and others
While the case against former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is over, the search warrants and other documents unsealed Tuesday contain a series of bread crumbs telling us what may lie ahead in investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller and others. The bulk of the redactions appear in a section called "The Illegal Campaign Contribution Scheme.” Among the crimes to which Cohen pleaded guilty was a scheme involving payments to suppress allegations of Trump's relationships with women to prevent the stories from influencing the 2016 presidential election. Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws by causing a corporate contribution and making an excess contribution.
PoliticsFOX News VideosSamantha Bee skewers Democratic 2020 hopefuls on late-night talk show
Late-night TV host Samantha Bee ripped into the growing field of Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls Wednesday night. The 'Full Frontal' host commented on everything from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign slogan, to former Vice President Joe Biden not making a decision on his third potential presidential run. The TBS star also went after former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
- 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
- BusinessMashable
Brew craft beer at home with the PicoBrew brewing machine — on sale for $150 off at Best Buy
From now until March 23, get the PicoBrew Pico Model C brewing machine for $150 off at Best Buy, bringing the price down to $249. Pico Model C brings the taproom to your home by equipping you to brew award-winning beers from more than 170 breweries around the world without needing complex equipment and supplies. Sort of like a meal kit delivery service, PicoBrew pre-packages all the ingredients you'll need to create the brew of your choosing.
- NewsThe Independent
Harvard 'shamelessly' profits from photos of enslaved people, descendant claims in lawsuit
A descendant of enslaved people has sued Harvard University, alleging that the Ivy League institution has “shamelessly” profited from photos of her ancestors. Tamara Lanier, of Norwich, Connecticut, claims that Harvard has ignored requests to surrender images of a man named Renty, whom she says is her great-great-great grandfather, and his daughter Delia. Lanier is suing Harvard for “wrongful seizure, possession and expropriation” of the images, asking the university to return the photos to her, pay unspecified damages, and recognise her ancestry.
- EntertainmentTime
'Change Is Closer Than We Think.' Inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Unlikely Rise
It's almost always a harmless fan, one of dozens who arrive each day, leaving neon-colored Post-it notes as devotional offerings. But in her first three months in Congress, aides say, enough people have threatened to murder Ocasio-Cortez that Capitol Police trained her staff to perform risk assessments of her visitors. This is the daily reality for America's newest human Rorschach test.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
FBI joins criminal probe into Boeing 737 Max 8 safety certification in wake of crashes
The FBI has joined the widening criminal probe into how Boeing's 737 Max 8 jets were deemed as safe in the months before two of them crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, leading to a worldwide grounding of the vaunted planes amid scrutiny of U.S. certification standards. A person familiar with the inquiry told USA TODAY on Wednesday that the FBI is assisting federal transportation authorities in their investigation into the jet's certification process, which has come under criticism for possible cozy relationships between Boeing and FAA inspectors. The two crashes killed more than 300 people since October. Transportation Department officials are leading the investigation into the Federal Aviation Administration approval of the passenger jet, while the FBI is providing needed resources, said the person, who is not authorized to comment publicly.
- WorldReuters
Hezbollah 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.
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Minnesota to help Nebraska flood fight
The order came after Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts requested Minnesota Army National Guard helicopter support. Minnesota sent one CH-47 Chinook helicopter with 10 personnel to support flood response operations in Nebraska on Wednesday morning. Minnesota Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen says in a statement that the emergency executive order will remain in effect until the emergency flood conditions in Nebraska ease.
- PoliticsYahoo News
In a gift to Netanyahu, Trump tweets U.S. support for Israel annexing Golan
Stepping again into the fraught territory of Middle Eastern politics, President Trump on Thursday reversed a long-standing American policy that treated Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights as temporary. Trump wrote on Twitter: “After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability! The precise legal significance of Trump's tweet was unclear, and its practical impact is limited.
NewsReutersJustice Thomas speaks as U.S. top court confronts racial bias in jury selection
U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared poised to side with a black Mississippi death row inmate put on trial six times for a 1996 quadruple murder who accused a prosecutor of repeatedly blocking black potential jurors, though the court's only black member sounded skeptical. Justice Clarence Thomas, who had not posed a question during an oral argument in three years, asked several in the case involving Curtis Flowers, 48, who has argued that his constitutional right to a fair trial was violated. Thomas, an idiosyncratic conservative and only the second African American ever appointed to the court, signaled through his questions he might vote against Flowers, who otherwise drew broad support among the other justices, both liberal and conservative.
- 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.
WorldAFPNew Zealand bans assault weapons within days of massacre
New Zealand imposed a ban on assault weapons Thursday, moving swiftly following the Christchurch massacre and triggering renewed calls from leading American politicians for gun controls in the United States. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons were now banned with immediate effect, making good on a pledge to the country of the military-style weapons used in last week's slaughter of 50 people. The killings at two Christchurch mosques by an Australian white supremacist have caused national soul-searching over New Zealand's lax gun laws.
NewsThe IndependentFox News contributor called 'complete moron' for falsely saying US was first to end slavery
Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich attempted to counter Senator Elizabeth Warren's call to discuss the injustices of slavery, and its lasting systemic impact on generations of African-Americans, by claiming that the United States does not get “enough credit” for ending slavery. While discussing reparations to descendents of enslaved people on Fox News' "Outnumbered" on Tuesday, Ms Pavlich claimed that the US was the first country to abolish slavery. They keep blaming America for the sin of slavery but the truth is, throughout human history, slavery existed, and America came along as the first country to end it within 150 years,” she said.
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.
- BusinessBGR News
T-Mobile unveils home broadband service that could expand after Sprint merger
T-Mobile on Thursday unveiled a limited home internet service that it plans to pilot for 50,000 mobile customers at $50 a month, with the company promising it could build on that, and eventually offer a lot more once its $26.5 billion merger with Sprint finally goes through. For now, the new invitation-only service will focus on areas where the carrier can deliver high-speed internet access to connect up to 50,000 homes in rural and underserved parts of the country. Once it merges with Sprint, however, T-Mobile says it should be able to cover more than half of the US with broadband service by 2024.
PoliticsUSA TODAYWho is running for president? Here's a list of the candidates so far
Fast facts: The grandson of a Mexican immigrant and son of a Latina activist, Castro's twin brother, Joaquin Castro, is a Democratic congressman from Texas. Campaign site: https://www.julianforthefuture.com/ John Delaney Age: 55 Experience: U.S. House representative from Maryland, 2013-2019; entrepreneur Quote: "Trump wants this campaign to be about socialism and we shouldn't give him what he wants. We need to update our social programs to better fit today's world, and we need to make capitalism more just and inclusive."
- WorldMashable
Giant inland sea created by the disastrous Mozambique cyclone
Cyclone Idai left death, destruction, and a sprawling inland sea in its wake. The powerful tropical cyclone — which struck Mozambique last Thursday as the equivalent of a Category 2 or 3 hurricane with winds of around 100 mph — has left at least 150 dead and 600,000 in need of help in the flooded nation said the EU, though the Associated Press reports over 300 fatalities as of March 21 when accounting for deaths in neighboring Zimbabwe. The cyclone's widespread flooding — in part overshadowed by simultaneous and historic flooding in the Midwest — has left behind an inundated area some 200 square miles in size (518 square kilometers), with the inland sea reaching up to 15 miles wide, accordin...
PoliticsAssociated PressThe Latest: Trump tweets abrupt shift on Golan Heights
President Donald Trump has abruptly declared the U.S. will recognize Israel's sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a major shift in American policy that gives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political boost a month before what is expected to be a close election. The administration has been considering recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the strategic highlands, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967, for some time. Netanyahu had pressed the matter with visiting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just a day earlier.
BusinessReutersAmerican Airlines pilots expect to test 737 MAX software fix in Boeing simulator
American Airlines pilots expect to test Boeing Co's 737 MAX software fix on simulators this weekend, the pilots' union told Reuters on Thursday, a key step in restoring their confidence in the jet after two fatal crashes. Boeing has been working on a software upgrade for an anti-stall system and pilot displays on its fastest-selling jetliner in the wake of the deadly Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October. Similarities between the flight path in the Lion Air incident and a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 have raised fresh questions about the system, and pilots want assurances that the update is solid.
NewsAssociated PressEx-cop says he thought he saw a gun when he shot black teen
A white former police officer said Thursday he thought a weapon was pointed at him when he shot and killed an unarmed black teenager outside Pittsburgh last summer. Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld took the stand at his homicide trial and insisted he was in fear for his life when he gunned down 17-year-old Antwon Rose II. Rosfeld, 30, got choked up and dabbed away tears as he recounted finding the mortally wounded Rose on the ground.
WorldAFPUS-backed forces press offensive against IS Syria enclave
US-backed forces pressed an offensive against the Islamic State group in its last redoubt in Syria on Thursday, denying reports the jihadist enclave had fallen. "Mopping up operations continue in Baghouz camp," the command of the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a brief statement. The SDF, which launched a final assault against the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria on February 9, denied reports that the IS enclave had completely fallen to its forces.
- 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
