| America, meet Josh Earnest Posted: 20 Jun 2014 11:58 AM PDT  Nearing his first day at the White House, Obama's new press secretary is more honey, less vinegar.
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| CDC cedes control to USDA in anthrax probe Posted: 20 Jun 2014 03:57 PM PDT  The anthrax scare putting 84 workers at risk marks the latest in string of CDC lapses.
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| HealthCare.gov revamped by new health chief Posted: 20 Jun 2014 01:53 PM PDT  Aiming to prevent future insurance chaos, Burwell has overseen big changes for the site.
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| Big Sioux River crests; I-29 reopens Posted: 20 Jun 2014 02:41 PM PDT  A swollen river that threatened homes where Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota meet crested earlier and at a lower level than expected early Friday. Minnesota officials toured waterlogged areas of that state, saying the severity and breadth of flooding make a federal disaster request a near certainty.
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| Ukraine declares cease-fire in restive east Posted: 20 Jun 2014 01:08 PM PDT  Pres. Poroshenko has ordered a 1-week cease-fire, halting operations against pro-Russian insurgents.
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| Murder charge pending for 102-year-old woman Posted: 20 Jun 2014 01:16 PM PDT  Nearly five years after a woman was charged with killing her 100-year-old roommate in a Massachusetts nursing home, a second-degree murder charge is still pending against her at the age of 102.
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| 3 Americans killed in Afghan bombing Posted: 20 Jun 2014 09:31 AM PDT  In wake of tragedy, Afghan president supports calls for U.N. mediation.
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| Diplomats report progress in Iranian nuclear talks Posted: 20 Jun 2014 12:16 PM PDT  Iran and six world powers reported minor progress Friday on drafting the wording of a nuclear deal, but key sections of the document remained blank, reflecting significant differences on how much Iran needs to limit its nuclear program in exchange for full relief from sanctions.
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| Pope's view on legalizing drugs: Just say no Posted: 20 Jun 2014 01:45 PM PDT  Pope Francis condemned the legalization of recreational drugs as a flawed and failed experiment as he lent his voice Friday to a debate that is raging from the United States to Uruguay.
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| Iranian operatives now in Iraq Posted: 20 Jun 2014 12:21 PM PDT  Iran has sent "small numbers" of agents to Iraq to help Baghdad's Shiite-led government, the U.S. said.
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| House backs limits on Obama's authority, $570B in defense spending Posted: 20 Jun 2014 09:57 AM PDT  The Republican-led House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a $570 billion defense bill that halts any Guantanamo transfers for a year in the furor over the American-for-Taliban swap and pulls back government spying.
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| Report: Half of vets with PTSD got treatment Posted: 20 Jun 2014 09:47 AM PDT  Only about half of the veterans diagnosed with PTSD last year after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan received the recommended therapy despite efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs to beef up its mental health staffing, the Institute of Medicine said in a report released Friday.
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| 80 percent of senior execs got bonuses, VA says Posted: 20 Jun 2014 11:58 AM PDT  The VA says nearly 80 percent of its senior executives got performance bonuses last year, despite widespread treatment delays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals and clinics.
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| Ukraine: 1-week cease-fire starts now Posted: 20 Jun 2014 10:14 AM PDT  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko orders his forces to cease fire and halt military operations for seven days against pro-Russia separatists in the country's east — the first step in what he hopes is a concrete plan to end the conflict that has cost more than 350 lives.
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| Send military to southern border: Boehner Posted: 20 Jun 2014 10:43 AM PDT  House Speaker calls for President Obama to send National Guard to deal with unaccompanied minors.
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| 7 Ukrainian troops killed; rebels drive tanks Posted: 20 Jun 2014 09:15 AM PDT Seven Ukrainian troops were killed in overnight fighting in the restive east, an official said Friday, as clashes between government forces and pro-Russia rebels flared ahead of the publication of a presidential peace plan that includes a unilateral cease-fire. |
| IRS chief says inspector general to review 'hard drive crashes' Posted: 20 Jun 2014 07:59 AM PDT  Under fire from Congress, IRS chief Koskinen will look at computer data loss.
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| NYC to pay $40M to 5 convicted in 'Central Park jogger' case Posted: 19 Jun 2014 08:34 PM PDT  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has agreed to pay $40 million to five men who were convicted, and later exonerated, of brutally raping a female jogger in Central Park in 1989, settling a long-fought civil rights lawsuit, according to a person familiar with the matter. The violent attack, which became known as the Central Park jogger case, made national headlines as a sign that the city's crime rate had spiraled out of control, while the outcome of the prosecution raised questions about race and the justice system. The five men – Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam – were between 14 and 16 years of age at the time of the rape and confessed after lengthy police interrogations. The victim, Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old investment banker, nearly died from the attack and was left with no memory of it.
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| 3 shot after Denver-area rap concert, suspect sought Posted: 20 Jun 2014 06:43 AM PDT  MORRISON, Colo. (AP) — Law enforcement officers were searching for a gunman Friday after three people were shot and wounded at the end of a rap concert at the popular Red Rocks outdoor amphitheater in the foothills west of Denver.
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| Islamists in Iraq start destroying symbols of its history Posted: 20 Jun 2014 07:46 AM PDT  Militant Sunni Islamists who seized swathes of northern Iraq last week have destroyed symbols of Iraq's heritage in the city of Mosul, including statues of cultural icons and the tomb of a medieval philosopher. Witnesses said militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had destroyed a statue of Othman al-Mousuli, a 19th Century Iraqi musician and composer, and the statue of Abu Tammam, an Abbasid-era Arab poet. The tomb of Ibn al-Athir, an Arab philosopher who traveled with the army of warrior sultan Salahuddin in the 12th century was desecrated after ISIL took the city.
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| US blacklists Thailand, Malaysia for failure to fight human trafficking Posted: 20 Jun 2014 11:08 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has blacklisted Thailand and Malaysia for failing to meet its minimum standards in fighting human trafficking, a move that could strain relations with two important U.S. partners in Asia.
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| Congress probes how IRS emails could go missing Posted: 20 Jun 2014 09:19 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service commissioner said Friday the agency will not share with Congress additional details about its lost emails related to the ongoing tea party investigation until its own review is finished because he said Republicans are releasing inaccurate, interim information. |
| UN development chief echoes Obama's 'inclusive governance' message for Iraq Posted: 20 Jun 2014 02:46 PM PDT  By Dasha Afanasieva ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Iraq needs more inclusive governance across sectarian and religious divides if it is to end its turmoil, something only its own politicians can deliver, one of the United Nations' top officials said on Friday. Helen Clark, head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the world body's third most senior figure, said only a political solution in Iraq, and in neighboring Syria, could end the crises. "The political leaders need to come together to plan how you can run Iraq within its current borders," the former New Zealand prime minister told Reuters in an interview in Istanbul. "Iraq must solve its own problems ... People have to want one country," she said, when asked if that was possible without foreign military intervention.
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| UN: More than 50 million displaced worldwide Posted: 20 Jun 2014 01:09 AM PDT  The number of people uprooted by war and crisis soars to the highest level since WWII.
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| Ebola outbreak 'totally out of control' Posted: 20 Jun 2014 05:53 AM PDT  Doctors Without Borders senior official says West Africa can't cope with spread of virus.
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| Iraq's top cleric increases pressure on al-Maliki Posted: 20 Jun 2014 02:54 PM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — The most respected voice for Iraq's Shiite majority on Friday joined calls for the country's prime minister to form an inclusive government or step aside, a day after President Barack Obama challenged Nouri al-Maliki to create a leadership representative of all Iraqis.
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| Fleeing Iraqis join large tide of displaced people Posted: 20 Jun 2014 03:08 PM PDT  TAZA KHORMATO, Iraq (AP) — In a battered car loaded with blankets and clothes, Hassan Abbas and his mother left a dusty town in northern Iraq, fleeing this week's violence and joining what the United Nations says is the largest worldwide population of displaced people since World War II.
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| AP PHOTOS: Glimpse at refugees, as UN count surges Posted: 20 Jun 2014 11:25 AM PDT Women and children seeking asylum from Eritrea sit along a sidewalk in Sanaa, Yemen. Syrian refugee children play soccer at a camp in Lebanon. Iraqis fleeing violence in the city of Mosul carry their belongings as they arrive at a refugee camp north of Baghdad. |
| Syria says no aid deliveries without its approval Posted: 20 Jun 2014 04:52 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Syria says any attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to rebel-controlled areas without government approval is tantamount to "an attack on the Syrian state" as well as its territorial integrity and political independence. |
| Obama expands government benefits for gay couples Posted: 20 Jun 2014 03:18 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after the Supreme Court struck down a law barring federal recognition of gay marriages, the Obama administration granted an array of new benefits Friday to same-sex couples, including those who live in states where gay marriage is against the law.
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| Defiant IRS head, skeptical GOP interrogators Posted: 20 Jun 2014 02:05 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Defiant before skeptical Republicans, the head of the IRS refused to apologize Friday for lost emails that might shed light on the tax agency's targeting of tea party and other groups before the 2010 and 2012 elections.
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| Ukraine orders 1-week government cease-fire Posted: 20 Jun 2014 02:06 PM PDT  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president ordered his forces to cease fire Friday and halt military operations for a week against pro-Russian separatists in the country's east — the first step in a peace plan he hopes will end the fighting that has killed hundreds.
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| Stephanie Kwolek, Kevlar inventor, dies at 90 Posted: 20 Jun 2014 02:45 PM PDT  DOVER, Del. (AP) — Police Lt. David Spicer took four .45-caliber slugs to the chest and arms at point-blank range and lived to tell about it. Like thousands of other police officers and soldiers shot in the line of duty, he owes his life to a woman in Delaware by the name of Stephanie Kwolek.
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| World Cup of big surprises smiles on Americas Posted: 20 Jun 2014 04:15 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The World Cup of surprises is turning into a sweet samba party for teams from the Americas.
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| BRAZIL BEAT: Van Persie defends Rooney's showing Posted: 20 Jun 2014 04:41 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Don't blame Wayne Rooney for England's early World Cup exit. That's the message from his Manchester United teammate, Robin van Persie, who knows firsthand that when a team plays badly, critics often fault the squad's biggest star.
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| Obama extends family leave rights of gay couples Posted: 20 Jun 2014 10:34 AM PDT  President Barack Obama on Friday will announce a rule that makes legally married same-sex couples eligible for benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act in all 50 states, a White House official said. Currently, legally married couples are eligible for those benefits if they reside in a state in which same-sex marriage is legal. Obama is directing the Department of Labor to propose a rule extending the FMLA rights even to states where gay unions are not legal. The rule is being issued as Attorney General Eric Holder announces the results of a review of U.S. laws in the wake of the landmark 2013 Supreme Court Windsor decision that held that the survivor of a same-sex couple could claim the federal estate tax exemption for surviving spouses.
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| Congress to probe how IRS emails could go missing Posted: 20 Jun 2014 06:34 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen (KOSS-kuh-nenn) is telling Congress that eight federal employees connected to the tea party investigation experienced hard drive crashes. |
