10 things you need to know today: May 19, 2016

1. EgyptAir flight goes missing en route from Paris to Cairo

An EgyptAir jet carrying 66 passengers and crew disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean Sea and crashed, Egyptian authorities said Thursday. EgyptAir Flight 804 was on its way from Paris to Cairo. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said crews were still searching for the plane, an Airbus A320, and that it was too early to rule out any cause for the crash, including terrorism. The jet disappeared while cruising at 37,000 feet, generally the safest part of a flight.

Reuters

2. Trump releases list of possible Supreme Court nominees

Donald Trump on Wednesday released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees to replace the late conservative justice Antonin Scalia. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R) called the list "impressive." One of the judges — Joan Larsen of the Michigan Supreme Court — served as a law clerk to Scalia. Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, slammed Trump for including "no people of color," and including one judge — Alabama appeals judge William Pryor Jr. — "who equated homosexual sex to bestiality, pedophilia, and necrophilia."

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The Associated Press

3. Fox News poll shows Trump with a narrow lead over Clinton

A new Fox News national poll released Wednesday shows Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton 45 percent to 42 percent in a general election matchup. Clinton led Trump 48 to 41 percent in the same poll last month. Clinton is up by 14 percentage points among women. She leads 90 to 7 percent among blacks, and 62 to 23 percent among Hispanics. Trump leads by 22 points among men, and by 24 points among whites. Fox News said voters overall feel both candidates "lack honesty, empathy, and strong moral values, and they'll say anything to win."

Fox News

4. Nigerian school girl found two years after Boko Haram kidnapping

A Nigerian teenager has been rescued after being held by Boko Haram for two years, authorities in the country said Wednesday. The young woman, identified as Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, was the first of the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist extremist group in April 2014 to be freed. She reportedly emerged from a wooded area with a 4-month-old baby and a suspected Boko Haram member who identified himself as her husband. She told authorities her schoolmates were still in the Sambisa forest, a Boko Haram stronghold.

Reuters CNN

5. Democratic establishment clashes openly with Sanders supporters

A simmering dispute between Bernie Sanders supporters and the Democratic party erupted into open conflict on Wednesday. Sanders accused backers of frontrunner Hillary Clinton of violating party rules to pick up a few extra delegates at the Nevada Democratic Party convention, and some allegedly sent threatening messages to state party Chairwoman Roberta Lange. National Democratic officials demanded an apology and questioned whether violence was next. The Sanders campaign said the suggestion it was fomenting violence was "absolute nonsense."

CNN

6. Fed eyes possible June rate hike

Federal Reserve policy makers expressed support for raising interest rates at their June meeting if the economy continued to improve, according to minutes of their April meeting, released Wednesday. The meeting's participants said it would be appropriate to raise rates if inflation continues to head toward the Fed's 2 percent target and employment conditions continue to improve. The "hawkish" tone probably surprised many investors, said Tony Bedikian of Citizens Bank. Stocks lost some ground after the minutes came out.

Bloomberg

7. Chinese jets intercept U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over South China Sea

Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. military reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The incident occurred as the American aircraft conducted a routine patrol over international waters a week after China scrambled fighter jets as a U.S. Navy ship came close to a disputed South China Sea reef. Both incidents increased tensions over the disputed waters. The U.S. called the aircraft intercept "unsafe." Beijing demanded the U.S. end surveillance near China.

Reuters

8. California lifts tough water-saving rules

California regulators lifted strict statewide water-use restrictions on Wednesday. The state has been suffering one of the worst droughts in its history, but the mandatory statewide 25 percent reduction in urban water use and a fairly wet winter have eased the crisis. The new rules allow local communities to set their own conservation standards. The new policy does not apply to agriculture, which accounts for most of the state's water use and follows different regulations.

The New York Times The Sacramento Bee

9. Two earthquakes hit Ecuador, killing 1

Two earthquakes — the first 6.7-magnitude, the second 6.8 — hit western Ecuador on Wednesday, a month after a more powerful 7.8-magnitude temblor killed more than 650 people in the South American nation. The extent of damage from Wednesday's quakes was not immediately clear, although at least one person was killed. The first of the latest earthquakes did cut off electricity in some coastal towns. President Rafael Correa said schools in Esmeraldas and Manabi provinces would be close until Monday.

The New York Times

10. Amateur fossil hunter finds new dinosaur species

A retired nuclear physicist, Bill Shipp, has discovered a previously unknown dinosaur in the badlands of Montana, according to an article in the journal PLOS ONE. The dinosaur — Spiclypeus shipporum — lived 76 million years ago. Like its close relative the Triceratops, it had a horned face and head frills, ate plants, weighed up to four tons, and reached 15 feet in length. Shipp, a novice fossil collector, said he found the bones in 2005 while looking for dinosaurs, "but with no expectation of actually finding any."

The Guardian