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What's driving Donald Trump's feud with John McCain? War record, Obamacare among the themes

President Donald Trump's feud with the late Sen. John McCain dates way back, to long before the real estate magnate launched a campaign for president.

Justice 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.

US woman sues Harvard over 'slave ancestor' pictures

A US woman who says she is descended from slaves who were photographed in 1850 by a racist Harvard University professor on Wednesday sued the university over the "exploitation" of the images of her ancestors. Tamara Lanier filed suit in the northeastern state of Massachusetts over the photographs taken in South Carolina of a slave and his daughter, known only by their first names: Renty -- the patriarch of her family -- and Delia. The images, thought to be the earliest known photographs of American slaves, are currently in a museum at the university near Boston.

'Our Darkest of Days.' New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Reflects on How The Country Can Move Forward

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has garnered international praise for her empathetic but defiant response in the wake of the terror attacks on two…

Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido says senior aide was kidnapped by intelligence agents

The Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has said intelligence agents arrested his chief of staff after a pre-dawn raid, signalling that president Nicolas Maduro may be cracking down on the opposition's challenge to his rule. Mr Guaido invoked the constitution in January to assume the interim presidency after declaring Maduro's 2018 re-election a fraud, and has been recognised by dozens of Western nations as the country's legitimate leader. Mr Maduro, who has overseen a dramatic collapse of the country's economy, has called Mr Guaido a puppet of the United States and said he should “face justice”, but has not explicitly ordered his arrest.

The Latest: Minnesota to help Nebraska flood fight

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on Midwest flooding (all times local):

Danish MP told her baby not welcome in parliament

A Danish MP said on Tuesday she was ordered to remove her infant daughter from parliament's chamber, sparking surprise in a country often hailed as a pioneer in women's rights. "You are not welcome with your baby in the parliament's chamber," speaker Pia Kjaersgaard, an outspoken former leader of the far-right Danish People's Party, allegedly told MP Mette Abildgaard. "I didn't ask for permission to bring her since I had previously seen another colleague bring a child into the chamber without any problems," Ms Abildgaard, whose Conservative party is part of the ruling centre-right coalition, wrote on Facebook. Ms Abildgaard, who is in her 30s, said she found herself in an exceptional situation with her five-month-old daughter, and had never brought her into the chamber before. But she said the infant was "in a good mood and had a pacifier in her mouth." Mette Abildgaard responded to the incident on Facebook Ms Kjaersgaard passed the message to an assistant, who then asked Ms Abildgaard to remove the baby from the room. Ms Abildgaard handed the child to an assistant and returned to the chamber to vote. "MPs should be in the chamber, not babies or children," insisted Ms Kjaersgaard when questioned by news agency Ritzau. She said clear rules would be issued on the subject. The Scandinavian country is often held up as a champion of gender equality and women's rights, and as a child and family-centred nation with generous parental leave. Ms Abildgaard noted that she was entitled to a year's maternity leave with full pay, but that she had chosen to return to work. Her Facebook post garnered more than 600 comments within the space of a few hours. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern holds her baby after speaking at the UN General Assembly Credit: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri "A chamber that represents mothers, fathers and babies ought to be open to mothers, fathers and babies," one person wrote. In 2016, an Icelandic lawmaker made headlines after breastfeeding her infant while speaking at the podium in parliament. And in September, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern became a symbol for working mothers when she brought her baby to the UN General Assembly in New York.

`Confusing` Sign May Have Caused Deadly Charter Bus Crash in Virginia

As investigators work to determine what caused a charter bus crash in Virginia that killed two people and hospitalized 54 others, people familiar with that stretch of interstate wonder if a group of signs may have contributed to the crash.

AT&T and Comcast are actually working together to stop robocalls

It's been said that war makes strange bedfellows, and now we can say the same thing about the out-of-control problem of robocalls and spam calls that bombard all of our phones day-in, day-out. Normally, AT&T and Comcast are competing telecommunications giants, but in the case of the anti-robocall fight, they've come together to announce what may be a first-of-its-kind triumph -- the ability to authenticate calls made across both companies' networks.That paves the way for both AT&T and Comcast to start offering call authentication between the two networks to customers later this year. Letting customers, in other words, see verified calls not only when they originate from within their network but also from outside it.AT&T today announced that the successful test leading to this breakthrough was conducted on March 5 on phones used on both companies' consumer networks. It was done across AT&T Phone's digital home service and Comcast's Xfinity Voice home phone service, and the calls were authenticated via the industry's SITR/SHAKEN protocol. That standard lets consumers know if an incoming call is really coming from the number listed on the caller ID.Developments like these can't come soon enough for some people -- including AT&T's CEO himself, Randall Stephenson, who was appearing at The Economic Club of Washington D.C. today and actually got interrupted by a robocall. You can watch him decline the call on his Apple Watch below, incredulously letting people know he was getting interrupted by one of these calls:https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1108422307008184326?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1108422307008184326&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2019%2F3%2F20%2F18274519%2Fatt-ceo-robocall-randall-stephenson-live-interview-fcc-ajit-paiAccording to AT&T, other major service providers are going to be conducting similar cross-service tests in the coming months -- likewise verifying that they can use the STIR/SHAKEN standard to verify calls from outside their network. Speaking of that industry protocol, AT&T and Comcast also jointly chair the working group that's developing technical standards for it.Beyond that, carriers like AT&T also deploy a variety of their own solutions to keep customers protected from as many of these spam and robocalls as possible. In AT&T's case, that includes free and automatic in-network systems that ID or block billions of unwanted or illegal robocalls, with no download or action needed on the customer's part. AT&T offers additional layers of protection, such as its AT&T Call Protect app that's also available by going to your account settings on myAT&T and turning it on. When you download the app, you can create a personal blocked number list. As an indication of the greater awareness the general public has begun giving to this issue, John Oliver devoted part of his HBO show Last Week Tonight in recent days to the topic of robocalls. As of mid-day Wednesday, almost 6 million people have watched the clip of that segment posted to YouTube, in which Oliver talks about an automated call his show put together that would keep ringing each FCC commissioner every hour and a half:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO0iG_P0P6M

Who is running for president? Here's a list of the candidates so far

The 2020 field has become crowded in recent weeks. Here's a look at who has announced their candidacy or opened an exploratory committee in the hunt for the presidency.

Trump Pours Gas on GM's Already Smoldering Relations With UAW

In a series of tweets starting Saturday, Trump attacked both General Motors Co. and the UAW over the closing of a Chevrolet Cruze factory in Lordstown, Ohio. GM and the UAW each pushed back, but the two have otherwise been very much at odds entering bargaining over a new four-year labor contract.

Catholic Church in US state failed to disclose 200 accused clergy: law firm

The Catholic Church has failed to disclose more than 200 names of clergy accused of abuse in the US state of Illinois, a law firm claimed Wednesday. The firm Jeff Anderson & Associates has previously released names of accused clergy in other parts of the country based on information it compiled from public sources such as lawsuits. Its latest report outlined 395 Catholic clergy and laypersons in Illinois who have been accused of sexually assaulting children.

Citigroup 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.

The Pentagon's Watchdog Is Investigating Whether the Acting Defense Secretary Boosted Boeing

The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has launched an investigation into Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan.

The Latest: Forecasters: 'historic' flooding could hit South

The Latest on the upcoming flood threat in the South (all times local):

Huawei: Politicizing cybersecurity is a losing proposition

Huawei is an independent company, owned by our employees and not the Chinese government, writes Joy Tan, senior vice president of Huawei USA.

Bernie Sanders urges US to follow New Zealand's lead in banning assault weapons: 'This is what real action looks like'

Bernie Sanders has urged America to follow the lead of New Zealand in banning military style and semi-automatic weapons – a measure taken by the authorities in Wellington within days of the mosque shooting that left 50 people dead. The Vermont senator, one of the early frontrunners of Democrats contesting for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, said New Zealand had set an example with the speed of its response. “This is what real action to stop gun violence looks like,” he said on Twitter.

Trump changes his mind on Electoral College, now wants to keep it

In a not-totally-unexpected reversal of policy, President Trump, who before being elected president called the Electoral College “a disaster for democracy,” now says it’s “far better for the U.S.A.”

'Generation Nazarbayev' jokes, hopes after Kazakh leader resigns

People under 30 in Kazakhstan have only known one leader -- Nursultan Nazarbayev, who announced his resignation this week after shepherding the country from the Soviet era. "The word 'Nazarbayev' means something like the word 'parent'," said 18-year-old film student Madi Makanov, who lives in the country's largest city Almaty. Kazakhstan has a young population, with around 40 percent of people under 24, according to estimates based on UN figures.

The Latest: Defense expert supports cop who shot black teen

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Latest on the homicide trial of a white Pennsylvania police officer in the shooting of an unarmed black 17-year-old (all times local):

Kentucky Governor Signs Law Prohibiting Abortions Based on Unborn’s Sex, Race, or Disabilities

Kentucky governor Matt Bevin on Tuesday signed a bill that bans abortions chosen on the basis of an unborn child's sex, race, or disability.A court filing in the U.S. District Court in Louisville indicated that the governor has signed the bill, which included an "emergency clause" stipulating that it would go into effect immediately.Physicians must now certify in writing that the patient did not request the abortion for a reason related to the baby's sex, race, or disabilities. Flouting the new law puts doctors at risk of losing their medical license or being prosecuted for a felony, although the mother of the unborn child would not be targeted.The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the bill in federal court as an unconstitutional restriction on a woman's right to abortion.“Instituting laws that instantly affect critical patient care should not be a cat-and-mouse game,” the group said, asking that it be notified when the bill is signed.Another new law that bans abortions after about six weeks or when a heartbeat can be detected forced Kentucky's sole abortion clinic, EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville, to cancel some appointments on Friday until a federal judge intervened.“EMW and its abortionists have responded with a novel claim: Women have a constitutional right to undergo race-based abortions, gender-based abortions, and disability-based abortions. In plaintiffs’ view, somewhere in the Fourteenth Amendment’s penumbra lies a protection for eugenics,” the governor's lawyer M. Stephen Pitt wrote in defending the ban on eugenics-based abortions. “This is a perverse distortion of Roe v. Wade.”

Missouri towns prepare for deluge as floods move downstream

A string of small Missouri towns on Wednesday prepared for the next deluge along the snow-melt-swollen Missouri River after flooding wreaked nearly $1.5 billion in damage in Nebraska, killing at least four people and leaving another man missing. High water unleashed by last week's late-winter storm and swiftly melting snow this week has already inundated a large swath of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa along the Missouri River, North America's longest river. The Missouri River's next big flood crest was due to hit St. Joseph, Missouri, about 55 miles (89 km) north of Kansas City, Missouri, and Atchison, Kansas, a short distance downstream, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman James Lowe said on a briefing call.

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.This seems to be one attempt by T-Mobile to push back against critics of the proposed merger who worry it will leave customers with less choice and the potential for prices to rise. "We're walking the walk and laying the foundation for a world where we can take the fight to Big Cable on behalf of consumers and offer real choice, competition and savings to Americans nationwide," T-Mobile CEO John Legere about the home broadband pilot.The service will be offered only in areas where T-Mobile expects to deliver speeds of around 50 Mbps through fixed unlimited wireless service over LTE, with no data caps. The carrier points to one economist's estimate that showed while customers today pay around $80 a month for wired in-home broadband service, "the new T-Mobile will save customers up to $13.65 billion a year on home broadband by 2024".As context for why it decided to pursue the new service, T-Mobile went on to note in its announcement that almost half of Americans today have no competitive choice for high-speed in-home broadband. "The New T-Mobile," the company declares, "will be armed with spectrum and network assets that will build the highest capacity wireless network in US history, covering millions with 5G, not just a few people in a few blocks of a few cities like the other guys."If you're eligible to participate in the home broadband pilot, T-Mobile plans to start sending out invitations by email and regular mail this week.We mentioned T-Mobile's pending merger with Sprint, and it's also worth pointing out, as a reminder, that it's still under review by federal regulators. T-Mobile has said it feels optimistic everything will be approved in the first half of this year.

Australian fury as Erdogan invokes Gallipoli after Christchurch massacre

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, has sparked a diplomatic confrontation with Australia and New Zealand over the Christchurch massacre by threatening that anti-Muslim Westerners would be sent home “in coffins” like those killed the Battle of Gallipoli.  The Turkish leader has made the killings in New Zealand a centre-piece of his political campaign ahead of local elections at the end of the month and has been playing footage of the mass killing before crowds at his rallies.    In a speech near the site where thousands of New Zealander and Australian troops were buried after the 1915 Battle of Gallipoli, Mr Erdogan said the Christchurch shooter and the First World War soldiers were both motivated by anti-Islamic sentiments.  “Your grandfathers came and saw that we're here. Then some of them walked back, while others left in coffins,” Mr Erdogan said. “If you come with the same intention, we'll be waiting for you.” His comments were met with fury in Australia, where Scott Morrison, the prime minister, summoned Turkey’s ambassador and demanded that Mr Erdogan retract his remarks.  “Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians, and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment,” Mr Morrison said. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would consider 'all options' in reviewing ties  Credit: Getty "I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table.” Mr Morrison said Australia was reviewing its travel advice for Turkey. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders are expected in Turkey on April 25 to commemorate Anzac Day, marking the first landings in Gallipoli.  Around 8,000 Australians and nearly 3,000 New Zealanders were killed during the disastrous year-long campaign against Ottoman forces, which was overseen by Winston Churchill. Around 130,000 were killed in total on both sides.  Mr Morrison said Mr Erdogan’s comments violated a pledge made by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, who reportedly said “after having lost their lives on this land [the fallen soldiers] have become our sons as well.” New Zealand mosque massacre - In pictures Mr Erdogan had already been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop. New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that such politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it’s totally unfair". Mr Peters announced on Tuesday that he would be travelling to Turkey this week at Istanbul’s request to attend a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. “Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey,” Ms Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. “He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face.” Turkey's Vice-President Fuat Oktay (R) and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (C) speak to the media after visiting Al Noor mosque in Christchurch Credit: Getty Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, said she was dispatching her deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, to Turkey to confront Mr Erdogan’s comments about the massacre which left 50 people dead at the hands of a white supremacist gunman.  “Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey,” Ms Ardern said in Christchurch. “He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face.” Mr Erdogan earlier threatened that if “If New Zealand fails to hold the attacker accountable, one way or another we will hold him to account.” However, in a comment piece in the Washington Post, Mr Erdogan praised Ms Ardern for showing “courage, leadership and sincerity”. He called on all Western leaders to follow her example and "embrace Muslims living in their respective countries”. He also said there was no difference between the hateful ideology of Brenton Tarrant, the mosque gunman, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).  Mr Erdogan has made a habit of provoking fights with foreign governments ahead of elections as a way of whipping up his base of nationalist voters.  Ahead of a referendum to change Turkey’s constitution in 2017, Mr Erdogan accused Dutch and German ministers of being Nazis. He expelled Israel’s ambassador from Ankara a month before the 2018 presidential elections.  Mr Erdogan often presents himself as a global champion of Muslims facing repression, from the occupied Palestinian territories to western China, where up to 1 million Uighur Muslims are believed to be detained by the Chinese government.  Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.

Devin Nunes sued a Twitter account dedicated to a cow. Now it has more followers than he does

Rep. Devin Nunes filed a $250 million lawsuit against Twitter and a number of parody accounts. Now, one dedicated to a cow has, um, mooved past him.

Ford Will Build the Mustang Hybrid in Michigan and the Mustang-Inspired Electric Crossover in Mexico

Both of these new models will be on sale in about two years.

Samantha 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.

Venezuela arrests Guaido aide for 'terrorism' in defiance of US

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime defied the US on Thursday to arrest a top aide of opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom Washington recognizes as the crisis-hit country's interim leader. The United States has repeatedly warned Maduro's government against arresting Guaido or his close aides, saying it would face unspecified repercussions.

Correction: Mob Shooting story

NEW YORK (AP) — In a story March 16 about an arrest in the killing of a reputed Gambino crime boss, The Associated Press erroneously reported where the victim was born. Francesco Cali was born in New York City, not in Sicily.

Trump visits tank factory and renews attack on war hero McCain

The president complains that he was never thanked for giving McCain the "kind of funeral he wanted."

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, according to satellite images from the European Space Agency (ESA). > And for better comparison a GIF animation of the images showing the Mozambique flood before (March 2nd) and after (March 20th) Mozambique Copernicus Sentinel-1️ Better quality GIF https://t.co/h8608N8so5 MozambiqueFloods MozambiqueFloods2019 RemoteSensing Beira Idai pic.twitter.com/d9hOmdiBbp> > -- Pierre Markuse (@Pierre_Markuse) March 21, 2019The destruction is particularly severe around Mozambique's fourth largest city, Beira. SEE ALSO: The West accepts its drought-ridden future, slashes water use"The situation is terrible. The scale of devastation is enormous. It seems that 90 per cent of the area is completely destroyed," said the Red Cross's Jamie LeSueur, who is working in the region. > The latest delineation maps for Mozambique: > ✴️Nhantaze: 24,837.7 ha (248 sq km) flooded > ✴️Macorreia: 9,862.5 ha (98.6 sq km) flooded > Maps and geospatial data: https://t.co/w3uo4SPyREMozambiqueFloods Idai IdaiCyclone pic.twitter.com/0siHZhW6hM> > -- Copernicus EMS (@CopernicusEMS) March 21, 2019Though there's little evidence showing that the planet is experiencing more cyclones and hurricanes, there is mounting evidence that these storms are growing stronger compared to storms in the 21st century.What's more, cyclones, like any big storm today, can now carry more water: The world has warmed by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1 Celsius, over the last century, and for every 1 degree C of warming the atmosphere holds seven percent more water. > This just in: shocking footage from our team via helicopter that has just arrived in Beira, Mozambique. The devastation is widespread with barely a house intact following CycloneIdaipic.twitter.com/BnyqVIJ9YF> > -- IFRC Africa (@IFRCAfrica) March 17, 2019Since the 1960s, only three tropical storms of category 3 or stronger have hit Mozambique, according to Weather.com.When the total number of fatalities are confirmed and the great inland sea dissipates, Idai's rampage may end up being the worst storm on record in the Southern Hemisphere, the EU noted.  WATCH: Jordan Peele explains the childhood experience that made him love horror

Report claims Boeing has been forced to delay first Starliner launch by months

NASA needs a way to get astronauts to the International Space Station that doesn't involve paying Russia heaps of money, so it struck deals with both SpaceX and Boeing to build crew capsules capable of fulfilling that need. Earlier this month, SpaceX successfully sent its Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, paving the way for crew tests to be conducted within months, but what about Boeing?A new report from Reuters suggests that Boeing is having a much, much harder time getting its Starliner spacecraft ready for its first big test. Boeing, which analysts thought would beat SpaceX's Crew Dragon to delivery by a significant margin, has now reportedly pushed back its maiden flight to the space station by several months, and the first crewed flights won't happen until close to the end of the year, if they happen in 2019 at all.The report, which cites unnamed sources, claims that the first unmanned test flight of Starliner has been delayed by three months. Adjusting the timeline based on that new information, Boeing's first crewed flight of the spacecraft wouldn't be ready until November, and that's assuming everything goes perfectly from here on out.Both Crew Dragon and Starliner have been plagued by delays over the past couple of years, forcing NASA to strike new deals with Russian space agency Roscosmos to fly NASA crew members to the ISS and back. The clock is ticking, and right now it's clear that SpaceX is much closer to delivering NASA much-needed crew-capable spacecraft than Boeing is.In the meantime, NASA is doing its best to prepare for a worst-case scenario in which one or potentially both programs fail to deliver before the end of 2019. The agency is mulling the decision to throw more money at Russia to ensure its astronauts can make it to the ISS throughout 2019 and into 2020, but no decisions have been finalized as of yet.

Biden 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.

USC Just Named a New President. Here's What She Said About the Admissions Scandal

"I am not afraid about taking on challenges," Carol Folt said.

Crashed Boeing jets lacked two safety features that would have cost extra

Two Boeing jets that crashed in Ethiopia and Indonesia each lacked a pair of cockpit safety features that the plane manufacturer charged extra for. The systems  might have helped the pilots as they struggled to control their planes, aviation experts said. Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in October killing 189 people, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 went down on March 10, shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, with the loss of 157 lives. Both Boeing 737 Max aircraft were new but did not have an angle of attack indicator, which shows how much the nose is tilted. They also did not have an angle of attack disagree light, which is triggered if other sensors are giving conflicting information, the New York Times reported. Such safety features were not required on new planes by the US Federal Aviation Administration, and Boeing charged a fee to have them put in if an airline requested them. Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines had opted not to. Boeing has now announced the angle of attack disagree light will be free on new 737 Max planes. Ethiopia Airlines crash Bjorn Fehrm, an aviation analyst, told the New York Times: "They're critical and cost almost nothing for the airlines to install. Boeing charges for them because it can. But they're vital for safety." The various extra customised features offered by plane manufacturers can be expensive, with airlines paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for them. Many low-cost airlines opt not to do so if regulators have not made them mandatory. Airlines with Boeing 737 Max 8s in their fleet The US Justice Department has reportedly issued a number of subpoenas as part of an investigation, which is in its early stages, looking at Boeing's safety procedures. In a statement Ethiopian Airlines said its pilots went through all the extra training required by Boeing and the FAA to fly the 737 Max. As investigators look into the crashes attention has turned to a new software in the planes that can push the nose down in some circumstances, for example when the sensors suggest the plane may be stalling. The FAA has said satellite-based tracking data showed the movements of both flights were similar before they crashed. It has emerged that the Lion Air pilots frantically scrambled through a handbook to understand why the jet was lurching downwards.

Glyphosate under fire from San Francisco to Sri Lanka

Glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup, is the subject of fierce controversy across the globe and is classified by the World Health Organization as "probably" being carcinogenic. A California court on Tuesday found that Roundup was a "substantial factor" in Edwin Hardeman, 70, getting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after spraying the weedkiller on his garden for decades.

New Zealand Bans Assault Rifles in Wake of Deadly Attacks

The ban takes immediate effect to prevent stockpiling of firearms while the legislation is being drafted, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Thursday. Further changes in gun laws to tighten licensing and increase controls over ammunition will be made in coming months. “I strongly believe that the vast majority of legitimate gun owners in New Zealand will understand that these moves are in the national interest, and will take these changes in their stride,” she said.

Robert Kraft's plea deal offer for prostitution charges hinders real progress on sex trafficking

Those who buy sex have more power and privilege than those who sell it. There's a disgusting imbalance in every commercial sex interaction.

Your guide to what you can and can't expect from Robert Mueller's final report on Trump, Russia investigations

Special counsel Robert Mueller is nearing the completion of his investigation into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Nebraska underwater: 74 cities, 65 counties declare emergencies as flooding envelops state

Seventy-four cities, 65 counties and four tribal areas in Nebraska declared states of emergency Tuesday as swaths of the Midwest battled flooding rivers.

Loesch: CNN's gun control townhall was an embarrassing display of bias

CNN townhall on gun control wins award; radio host Dana Loesch on the hostility she faced during the townhall.

Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank: Palestinian medics; Israel reviewing

A Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian medics said, and the military announced on Thursday that a soldier had discharged his weapon and it was reviewing the incident. The Palestinian Red Crescent said one of its crews treated a man with two bullet wounds at an Israeli military roadblock near the city of Bethlehem on Wednesday and that Israeli forces had shot him. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man as a 26-year-old from Bethlehem and said another Palestinian had also been shot and critically wounded.

Google slapped with massive $1.7 billion antitrust fine – its third in three years

Reports a few days ago said that Google would receive a new massive fine in Europe, and the EU on Wednesday delivered its latest ruling against the tech giant. This time around we're looking at a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) antitrust fine as a result of illegal practices in Google's AdSense business.The EU says that Google abused its dominant position again, this time concerning its AdSense business. The company did it for more than a decade, the European Commission explained, preventing AdSense customers from inking advertising deals with rivals. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had this to say alongside the judgement:> Today the Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for illegal misuse of its dominant position in the market for the brokering of online search adverts. Google has cemented its dominance in online search adverts and shielded itself from competitive pressure by imposing anti-competitive contractual restrictions on third-party websites. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules. The misconduct lasted over 10 years and denied other companies the possibility to compete on the merits and to innovate - and consumers the benefits of competition.Google was slapped with a €4.3 billion ($4.88 billion) antitrust fine last year related to Android, and a €2.4 billion ($2.73 billion) fine the year before for its search business. In total, Google is looking at fines totalling €8.2 billion ($9.31 billion) from the EU in just the last three years. The company has appealed the previous two rulings, and it's likely to do it again with this new fine.What's interesting is that Google earlier this week announced a massive change for Android in Europe that's meant to appease an earlier ruling by the Commission. Users will soon see prompts that will allow them to select the default Internet browser and search engine on their Android devices. That doesn't mean the previous fine relating to Google's Android platform will go away, of course.The EU's full ruling on the AdSense antitrust case is available at this link.

Pound up but still faces pressure after Brexit delay deal

The pound rose Friday but was struggling to claw back its latest losses after the EU gave Britain a Brexit deadline extension, while equity markets were boosted by a positive lead from Wall Street. At a summit in Brussels, Prime Minister Theresa May was given until April 12 to push her divorce agreement through a fractious parliament next week. The sterling has come under pressure owing to the uncertainty in the past few days, falling to as low as $1.3004 Thursday, though it has recovered slightly and is still maintaining its position, helped by this week's dovish outlook on interest rates from the Federal Reserve.

Turkey's Erdogan sparks spat with Australia, New Zealand

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's president has sparked an acute diplomatic spat with far-off New Zealand and Australia, referring to a key World War I campaign and the more recent Christchurch mosque shooting as targeting Islam.

Delta declared America's best airline: The Points Guy

Delta Air Lines tops a new list of the best -- and worst -- airlines in America for its impressive on-time performance and network of lounges.