Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:
1. RUSSIA BOOTS 150 DIPLOMATS, INCLUDING 60 AMERICANS
The move is a quid pro quo reply to the wave of Western expulsions of Russian diplomats over the poisoning of an ex-spy and his daughter in Britain.
2. FUNERAL HELD FOR SLAIN BLACK MAN
A standing-room-only crowd packs a church to celebrate the life of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, the focus of angry protests since he was shot to death by Sacramento police.
3. TRUSTED TRUMP AIDE EXITS
With a handshake and a kiss on the cheek from the president, Hope Hicks bids farewell to the White House.
A Los Angeles judge rules that California law requires coffee companies to carry a cancer warning label.
5. WHO’S QUESTIONING TRUMP’S CHOICE TO LEAD VA
Veterans’ groups and others aren’t sure that Dr. Ronny Jackson has the experience to manage an agency paralyzed over the administration’s push to expand private care.
6. FIREWORKS, RIGHT OFF THE BAT
Giancarlo Stanton quickly gets into the swing with his new team, ripping two home runs in the Yankees’ 6-1 opening day win over Toronto.
7. ‘HE DIDN’T DESERVE TO DIE LIKE THIS’
Relatives of 68 people killed in a fire at a crowded Venezuelan police station jail struggle to find out what happened to their loved ones and why conditions were so abysmal.
8. NICOLAS SARKOZY ORDERED TO COURT
The former French president must stand trial on charges of corruption and influence peddling.
9. FACEBOOK PREPS FOR ELECTION
The social network says it’s making progress weeding out fake accounts and fake news, an effort aimed at preventing interference ahead of the U.S. midterms.
10. SETBACK FOR BILL COSBY’S DEFENSE TEAM
The judge in the entertainer’s sexual assault trial rejects demands that he step aside because his wife is a social worker and advocate for assault victims.