French President Francois Hollande confirmed the plane, which left Paris headed for Cairo carrying 66 passengers and crew, had crashed into the Mediterranean Sea after an unexplained disappearance from radar. Ships have been dispatched to the last points of radar confirmation to find the wreckage. Officials caution that investigations are in their early stages, as many were quick to point to terrorism fears after the Greek defense minister announced the plane suddenly dropped 22,000 feet, spun sharply and then disappeared from radar. [Jade Walker and Peter Andrew Hart, HuffPost]
A look back at the worst aviation disasters. [USA Today]
"Revenue has increased by what Trump campaign statements say is almost $190 million, with gains coming from golf courses to branded merchandise to book royalties." [WaPo]
Local communities must now set water conservation limits. [NYT]
Incorrect blood tests may have resulted in patients making different health decisions. [WSJ | Paywall]
Mitt Romney has reportedly stopped trying to recruit a candidate to run as an independent rival. [CNN]
"Two Chinese fighter jets carried out an 'unsafe' intercept of a U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, drawing a rebuke from Beijing, which demanded that Washington end surveillance near China." [Reuters]
WHAT'S BREWING
For a disputed offer of $138,900. [Reuters]
Because a 2012 hack of the professional networking site just got dumped online. [Tech Crunch]
As The Wall Street Journal puts it, "Blue feed, red feed." [WSJ | Paywall]
From loose change last year. [HuffPost]
Why people need to stop saying, "That's still on?" [Vulture]
"I'm mad at the way my apps shut down while in use, at the texts that don't send, at an iTunes that doesn't sync. I'm cranky about poky performance, with videos that sometimes take forever to download, if they do at all." [Bloomberg View]
WHAT'S WORKING
"After launching #AerieReal, the retailer's sales grew 20 percent in the 2015 fiscal year, and the boom shows no signs of waning." [HuffPost]
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BEFORE YOU GO
~ Breaking down what President Barack Obama's new overtime pay rules mean for you.
~ Inside the glut of good TV, and why it's now harder than ever to succeed in the business.
~ Rolling Stone is all over Oscar Isaac's leading man life, and no one is mad about it.
~ The startup where you have to spend a night scrubbing toilets.
~ Watch America's diet change, year by year.
~ We really are getting old -- turns out Rory Gilmore Alexis Bledel welcomed a baby boy last fall.
~ People are rather unhappy with Blake Lively's joke about having an Oakland booty.
~ That "Good Wife" spinoff won't be on TV -- it'll be on CBS's digital subscription service.
~ We too are stumped by this brick wall optical illusion that's swept the Internet.
~ Why quinoa overproduction is hurting its original harvesters.
~ Imagine the hacker's paradise Google Home could be.
Send tips/quips/quotes/stories/photos/events/scoops to Lauren Weber at lauren.weber@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter @LaurenWeberHP. And like what you're reading? Sign up here to get The Morning Email delivered to you.