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EXCERPT Searches of his homes had netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notices, among them one covering the day of the crash", they said.

PARIS — Rescuers resumed the difficult task of searching for the 150 victims of a deadly plane crash in the French Alps, as the search for clues was dealt a setback Wednesday afternoon. Investigators said they had so far been unable to retrieve any data from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, and the inquiry has been hampered further, an official said, by the discovery that the second black box, which was found on Wednesday, was severely damaged, and its memory card dislodged and missing.

NEW evidence has emerged that the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in southern France yesterday dived for 18 minutes, and not eight as previously thought. France’s Transport Minister Segolene Royal said this morning that the crew had stopped responding to radio messages at 10.30am, with the plane flying over the Mediterranean sea. The aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain in the French Alps at 10.48am, suggesting that the plane had descended from 28,000ft to 2,000ft without signalling an emergency. Ms Royal added that events in the cockpit in the 60 seconds between 10.30am and 10.31am were ‘crucial’ and...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took time to hang out with the press Monday night, joking with a room packed with national political reporters about their sometimes-testy relationship. "I'm well aware that some of you may be a little surprised to see me here tonight. My relationship with the press has been at times, shall we say, complicated,'" Clinton said to laughs at a dinner for the Robin Toner Program in Political Reporting in downtown Washington, D.C. "But I am all about new beginnings: A new grandchild, another new hairstyle, a new email account, a new relationship with the...

President Obama met with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for about an hour at the White House on Monday as Clinton moves closer to launching her long-awaited presidential campaign. “President Obama and Secretary Clinton enjoy catching-up in person when their schedules permit," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. "This afternoon they met privately for about an hour at the White House and discussed a range of topics."

National Security Adviser Susan Rice fell for a social media hoax on Monday when she posted that renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe had died — two years after his actual death.

EXCERPT The roughly 300 emails from Mrs. Clinton’s private account that were turned over last month to a House committee investigating the attack showed the secretary and her aides closely monitoring the fallout from the tragedy, which threatened to damage her image and reflect poorly on the State Department. They provided no evidence that Mrs. Clinton, as the most incendiary Republican attacks have suggested, issued a “stand down” order to halt American forces responding to the violence in Benghazi, or took part in a broad cover-up of the administration’s response, according to senior American officials. But they did show that...

The director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is stepping down following controversy surrounding the agency’s proposal to ban certain types of ammunition. The ATF announced Friday that Director B. Todd Jones is resigning at the end of the month “to pursue other opportunities in the private sector." “ATF employees are hard-working, dedicated individuals who serve the public to make our nation safer every day,” Jones said in a statement. “I have seen firsthand their extraordinary commitment to combating violent crime, ridding the streets of criminals, and leveraging all available resources to keep our communities safe.”...

The man formerly known as Carlos Irwin Estévez has put his foot firmly in his mouth again. Early Thursday morning, the star of Platoon, Wall Street, and Two and a Half Men took to Twitter to vent his frustration with President Obama’s appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter. You see, Obama was engaging in his annual tradition of filling out the NCAA tourney bracket on live television—a practice that seems to irk millions of myopic Americans far more than, say, George W. Bush’s pre-9/11 staycation. Sheen, as is his wont, tweeted the following racist gibberish directed at the commander-in-chief:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said early Tuesday that he has no regrets about signing the controversial letter to Iranian leaders warning that Congress would overrule a deal on which it wasn't consulted. "I would sign it and, as John Hancock said, I would sign it in large print so the ayatollah wouldn’t need his reading glasses," Cruz said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" when asked if he would still sign the letter if given a second chance. "I think this deal that is being negotiated by the Obama administration is both profoundly dangerous both to the security of our ally, Israel,...

Former White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer describes the Hillary Clinton email scandal as another “pimple on the ass of progress,” quoting his former colleague at the White House David Axelrod. “I think this is what David Axelrod referred to as a pimple on the ass of progress,” Pfeiffer explained in an interview with broadcaster Charlie Rose. “Eighteen months from now or 20 months from now, when people go to the polls to vote in the presidential election, I can’t imagine anyone’s going to change their vote because of this.”

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s news conference March 10 left many questions unanswered, and so we were reluctant to fact check it immediately. But enough information has emerged in recent days to at least take a preliminary step at annotating some of her key points. We aim to update this as additional information emerges. At this point, given the fluid situation, we are holding off on issuing a Pinocchio rating but we may do so in the future. Certainly, her claim that her e-mails were immediately preserved has now been called into question — as has her statement that she complied with...

EXCERPT "It was something she did. It was legal. I suspect she didn't want [Republican congressman] Louie Gohmert rifling through her emails, which seems to me to be a kind of reasonable position for someone to take. It amounts to -- just like everything else before it, it amounts to nothing but a bunch of people flapping their jaws about nothing."

President Obama on Saturday urged Americans to sign his new “Student Aid Bill of Rights” and collectively work towards reducing the cost of higher education. “In an economy increasingly built on innovation, the most important skill you can sell is your knowledge,” Obama said in his weekly address Saturday. “That’s why higher education is, more than ever, the surest ticket to the middle class.” “But just when it’s never been more important, it’s also never been more expensive,” he added. “The average undergrad who borrows to pay for college ends up graduating with about $28,000 in student loan debt.” The...

Hillary Clinton’s explanation for her use of a personal email account while she served as secretary of state suffered another blow Friday as the State Department disclosed that the email accounts of senior department officials were not automatically archived until last month. Clinton said at a news conference Tuesday that she believed the vast majority of work-related emails she sent or received from her private account were “preserved” because she was in correspondence with other officials using “.gov” accounts. However, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters archiving of the work email boxes of senior State Department officials besides the...

The South Carolina Republican and potential 2016 presidential contender offered to share everything he's ever sent with NBC's "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd -- but said there's not really much to turn over. "You can have every email I've ever sent -- I've never sent one," he said. "I don't know what that makes me."

Katie Couric is in talks to return to embattled NBC. Sources at the network confirmed that Couric has already been talking to her longtime fan Andrew Lack, the former NBC exec who was named head of NBC News this morning.

Jake Tapper ‏@jaketapper 3h3 hours ago Kerry: "I believe we have all the (HRC) emails...let me check on that when I actually have time to pay attention to such an important issue" 0 replies 63 retweets 44 favorites

WASHINGTON — The White House counsel's office was not aware at the time that Hillary Rodham Clinton was secretary of state that she relied solely on personal email and only found out as part of the congressional investigation into the Benghazi attack, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person said Clinton's exclusive reliance on personal email as the nation's top diplomat was inconsistent with the guidance given to agencies that official business should be conducted on official email accounts. Once the State Department turned over some of her messages in the Benghazi investigation, making it apparent she...

The Obama administration released a plan on Friday for how the Department of Homeland Security will deal with a shutdown, as Congressional leaders remain at an impasse over how to fund the agency. The Associated Press reports that airport security checkpoints, Secret Service, and border patrols are among the operations exempted from a shutdown. But those deemed “non-essential” workers would be furloughed. “Essential” workers must continue to work, but they won’t be paid until Congress finds an agreement to fund the agency. The House failed to approve a stop-gap measure on Friday night that would have extended the agency’s funding...