| CDC issues emergency 'all-hands' call for Ebola response Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:26 PM PDT  The CDC has issued its highest alert over the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
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| 81-year-old farmer rescued from Ind. grain bin Posted: 06 Aug 2014 02:45 PM PDT  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An 81-year-old Indiana farmer survived the crushing grip of an avalanche of corn inside a grain bin in part because he's "10 times tougher than the average guy," one of his relieved sons said Wednesday.
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| Obama to sign $16.3B veterans spending bill Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:14 PM PDT  President Barack Obama will travel to a military facility outside Washington on Thursday to sign a $16.3 billion plan to ease health care delays at Veterans Affairs facilities as he seeks to restore confidence in an agency tarnished by the problem. The legislation, passed just before Congress left for summer recess, is intended to clear months-long wait lists for healthcare appointments at VA hospitals and clinics. News that the agency was covering up the delays led to the ouster of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki in May. The measure contains $10 billion in new emergency spending and allows veterans to use private doctors at the department's expense if they cannot get an appointment in less than 30 days. A senior administration official said new leadership at the VA has accelerated veterans' access to care but acknowledged that more work needs to be done.
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| Israel, Hamas at odds over truce extension Posted: 06 Aug 2014 02:20 PM PDT  Israel and Hamas appeared at odds Thursday over prolonging a 72-hour Gaza ceasefire, with the Jewish state indicating it would back an unconditional extension but Hamas denying any agreement. Egyptian mediators have accelerated efforts to extend the truce after it expires at 0500 GMT on Friday, shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian delegations in Cairo. "Israel has no problem extending the ceasefire unconditionally," an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity late Wednesday. There was no immediate reaction from Hamas.
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| Hamas leader: No deal on truce extension Posted: 06 Aug 2014 01:38 PM PDT  Leader said via Twitter "no agreement" to prolong cease-fire, contrary to earlier reports.
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| Checking in on the 90-year-old vet who is running across America Posted: 06 Aug 2014 06:55 AM PDT 90-year-old runs (and hitchhikes when he's tired) across the country. |
| Judge considers moving evidence in N.H. kidnapping case Posted: 06 Aug 2014 02:10 PM PDT  A judge on Wednesday said she would rule as soon as possible on whether to move evidence including the trailer home of a man charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl who returned home after nine months.
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| Kentucky floating restaurant sinks into Ohio River Posted:  Jeff Ruby opened his floating restaurant, The Waterfront, in Kentucky in 1996, but lately it's seen a run of misfortune.
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| U.S. allows use of Ebola test overseas as crisis deepens Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:36 PM PDT  U.S. health regulators on Wednesday authorized the use of an Ebola diagnostic test developed by the Pentagon to help contain the world's worst outbreak of the deadly virus. The move was one of a number of steps taken by the U.S. government this week to address the highly contagious disease that has killed more than 930 people in Africa and sickened hundreds more, including two Americans being treated in Atlanta. The diagnostic test was authorized for use abroad on military personnel, aid workers and emergency responders in laboratories designated by the Department of Defense to respond to the Ebola outbreak, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. The test, called DoD EZ1 Real-time RT-PCR Assay, is designed for use on individuals who have symptoms of Ebola infection, who are at risk for exposure or who may have been exposed.
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| Russia to ban all U.S. agricultural imports in apparent pushback Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:37 PM PDT  Country to also block all EU fruit, vegetable products, Russian official said.
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| New Nigeria Ebola cases amid fears epidemic 'out of control' Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:09 PM PDT  The death toll of the Ebola epidemic neared 1,000 on Wednesday as fears rose that the disease is taking hold in Africa's most populous nation of Nigeria, after a second death among seven confirmed cases in Lagos. The spread of the disease comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) met in an emergency session in Geneva to decide whether to declare an international crisis. The latest official toll across west Africa hit 932 deaths since the start of the year, it said on Wednesday, with 1,711 confirmed cases, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The death of a nurse in Lagos, a megacity of more than 20 million, came as 45 deaths were confirmed across west Africa between Saturday and Monday, with aid agencies, including Doctors Without Borders, saying the terrifying tropical disease is out of control.
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| Boston bombing suspect friend pleads not guilty in gun case Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:45 AM PDT  A high school friend of the accused Boston Marathon bomber pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges including having owned a gun that prosecutors believe may have been used by suspects in the 2013 attack. Stephen Silva, 21, appeared in Boston federal court to enter his plea on charges that include drug violations as well as having possessed a Ruger P95 9mm pistol with its serial number filed off. Prosecutors say Silva possessed the firearm in February 2013, two months before the bombing suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, used a similar weapon to kill a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police officer three days after the bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 260. Jonathan Shapiro, Silva's lawyer, outside court on Wednesday emphasized that the indictment does not draw a connection between Silva and the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.
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| Dutch PM halts search for MH17 victims Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:22 AM PDT  Premier says search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims in Ukraine too dangerous.
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| Court hears arguments in 6 gay marriage fights from 4 states Posted: 06 Aug 2014 12:12 PM PDT  A federal appeals court began to hear arguments Wednesday in six gay marriage fights from four states — Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee — in the biggest such session on the issue so far, and hundreds of supporters rallied near the courthouse.
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| Russia promises 'quite substantial' ban on U.S., EU food imports Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:57 PM PDT  By Polina Devitt and Dmitry Zhdannikov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will ban all imports of U.S. food products as well as fruit and vegetables from the European Union after President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation for Western sanctions against Moscow, a state news agency reported on Wednesday. With Russia a major buyer of food from the United States and Europe, the ban marks a deep escalation of an economic tit-for-tat set off by the crisis in Ukraine, which has brought East-West relations to their lowest since the Cold War.
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| Israel agrees to extend Gaza cease-fire Posted: 06 Aug 2014 11:14 AM PDT  Israel has conditionally agreed to extend a ceasefire that ended a month of fighting in Gaza beyond a Friday deadline, an Israeli official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official did not say for how much longer Israel had agreed to extend the truce, only that: "Israel has expressed its readiness to extend the truce under its current terms," referring to the deal brokered by Egypt that took effect on Tuesday. Hamas had no immediate comment. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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| U.S. to spend up to $550M on African rapid response forces Posted: 06 Aug 2014 03:11 PM PDT  The United States will announce on Wednesday plans to spend $110 million a year over the next three to five years to help African nations develop peacekeeping forces that can be rapidly deployed to head off militant threats and other crises, an Obama administration official told Reuters. President Barack Obama is expected to unveil the program during the third day of a summit of African heads of state in Washington, along with another U.S. plan to spend an initial $65 million to bolster security institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Tunisia, the official said. The United States would partner with Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda to develop rapid response forces. Those forces would be ready to deploy as part of United Nations' or African Union missions, the official said.
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| 60 suspected Islamic militants killed in Iraqi airstrike Posted: 06 Aug 2014 08:49 AM PDT  An Iraqi army airstrike targeting the Islamic State group that's seized wide swaths of territory across the country's north killed some 60 suspected militants Wednesday, state television reported.
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| Hawaii residents stock up as Julio and Iselle threaten Posted: 06 Aug 2014 01:44 PM PDT  HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii residents furiously stocked up on essentials as two hurricanes churned toward the islands, prompting flash flood warnings, closing schools and disrupting travel plans across the islands.
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| Sense of 'normal' returns to Gaza Posted: 06 Aug 2014 01:25 PM PDT  Kids are playing. Stores are open. There's mourning, too.
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| 50 killed in Iraq-Islamic State clashes Posted: 06 Aug 2014 10:26 AM PDT Fifty people were killed in fighting between Iraqi government forces and Islamic State insurgents in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, hospital officials said. Witnesses said the dead had been held in a makeshift prison created by the Sunni Islamist militants that was bombed by government aircraft. Government officials were not immediately available for comment. Mosul has been under insurgent control since June, but there have been hit and run attacks by government forces and allied Kurdish peshmerga fighters. |
| 18 suspected al-Qaida gunmen, 10 Yemeni soldiers killed in clashes Posted: 06 Aug 2014 10:05 AM PDT  Ten Yemeni soldiers and 18 suspected al-Qaida militants were killed Wednesday in confrontations in three provinces, security officials and the defense ministry said. Five soldiers were killed in an ambush in the southern province of Shabwa in the third attack of its kind this month blamed by security officials on the jihadists. "Gunmen probably belonging to Al-Qaeda opened fire on an army vehicle in Habban in Shabwa province, killing five soldiers and wounding another," a security official said. Meanwhile, two soldiers were killed and two wounded in a clash with gunmen in Sayun, in the southeastern Hadramawt province, another security official said.
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| D.C. voters will decide pot legalization issue on Nov. 4 Posted: 06 Aug 2014 09:39 AM PDT  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An initiative to legalize marijuana possession in the District of Columbia was cleared on Wednesday for a Nov. 4 vote in the U.S. capital, an election board spokeswoman said. Dr. Malik Burnett, District policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance, which backs the initiative, said in a statement, "It is clear from the number of signatures the campaign was able to submit that citizens want a major change in D.C.'s marijuana laws." Initiative 71 allows adults over the age of 21 to possess up to 2 ounces (56 grams) of marijuana. It allows for the cultivation of up to six marijuana plants at home. The ballot measure does not touch on the sale of marijuana.
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| Sources: Fears Russia will Invade Ukraine Posted: 06 Aug 2014 09:34 AM PDT  US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and NATO pointing to increased border troop buildup.
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| Despite expanded search, Wash. state 6-year-old still missing Posted: 06 Aug 2014 07:57 AM PDT  BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — Officers in Washington state worked through the night, asking residents of an east Bremerton mobile home park about a missing 6-year-old girl, but Jenise Wright remains missing.
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| Spain catches its navy running cocaine from Colombia Posted: 06 Aug 2014 06:50 AM PDT  MADRID (AP) — Spanish police say they have seized 127 kilograms of cocaine from Spanish navy training ship, which allegedly carried the drug from Colombia and dropped off some in New York.
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| Change your password! Russian gang's record setting cyberhack Posted: |
| Houston airport worker dies after 45-foot fall Posted: 06 Aug 2014 08:58 AM PDT HOUSTON (AP) — A contract worker at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston has died after falling about 45 feet from the rail system's elevated tracks. |
| Trainside crowd comes together, frees man's leg Posted: |
| Wildfires force temporary evacuation of alien hunters' search facility Posted: 06 Aug 2014 06:07 AM PDT  The wildfire that has consumed more than 31,000 acres in northern California forced the temporary evacuation of a telescope facility used to monitor the skies for extraterrestrial life.
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| Target endorses gay marriage Posted: 06 Aug 2014 08:18 AM PDT  Retailer joins Starbucks, Apple, Intel in taking public stand on same-sex unions.
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| United Boeing 777 cites fire aboard, lands in Canada Posted: 06 Aug 2014 06:04 AM PDT  HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — A spokesman for the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, says a United Airlines Boeing 777 airliner on its way to Brussels from the U.S. has made an emergency landing after a fire on the aircraft.
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| US drone said to kill 7 militants in Pakistan Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:05 AM PDT  ISLAMABAD (AP) — A U.S. drone fired two missiles at a sprawling compound in a northwestern tribal region of Pakistan on Wednesday, killing seven militants, two Pakistani intelligence officials said.
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| US general killed in Afghan attack was engineer on first war mission Posted: 06 Aug 2014 09:23 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Harold J. Greene, the two-star Army general who became the highest-ranking U.S. military officer to be killed in either of America's post-9/11 wars, was an engineer who rose through the ranks as an expert in developing and fielding the Army's war materiel. He was on his first deployment to a war zone.
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| Pistorius murder trial nears verdict; runner due in court Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:47 AM PDT  The murder trial of fallen South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius resumes Thursday for closing arguments after months of gripping testimony that captured the world's attention. It will be a final showdown between two of the country's top legal minds: defence lawyer Barry Roux, and senior state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, nicknamed "Bulldog" because of his brutal style of questioning. The hearing is set down for two days before Judge Thokozile Masipa, who is then expected to adjourn the case for a couple of weeks before delivering her verdict. South Africa does not have trial by jury.
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| George Takei's Hiroshima visit: Recalls time in U.S. internment camp Posted: 06 Aug 2014 02:27 AM PDT  The "Star Trek" actor opens up about revisiting the site where an atomic bomb killed two of his relatives, and he recounts his time spent in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
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| Rosetta probe makes space history in rendezvous with comet Posted: 06 Aug 2014 08:22 AM PDT  The space probe Rosetta made a historic rendezvous with a comet on Wednesday, climaxing a 10-year, six-billion-kilometre (3.7-billion-mile) chase through the Solar System, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. It marks the first time a spacecraft has been sent into orbit around a comet, a wanderer of the Solar System whose primeval dust and ice may hold insights into how the planets formed. Rosetta's rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was confirmed at 0929 GMT at distance of 400 million km from Earth, according to signals received at ground stations. On its Twitter page, the Rosetta mission said "Hello, comet!" in each of the languages of the agency's 20 nations.
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| Missouri inmate executed for killing neighbor Posted: 05 Aug 2014 11:50 PM PDT  BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri inmate was put to death Wednesday for raping and killing a college student in 1995, making him the first U.S. prisoner put to death since an Arizona lethal injection went awry last month.
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| Tensions grow in Ukraine over Russia troop buildup Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:28 PM PDT  DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The steadily advancing Ukrainian army is setting its sights on the largest rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine, while Western officials on Wednesday warned that a Russian military buildup on Ukraine's border could herald a major incursion to protect the separatists.
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| AP source: BofA nears $16-$17B settlement with US Posted: 06 Aug 2014 04:47 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Bank of America is nearing a $16 billion to $17 billion settlement to resolve an investigation into its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, a person directly familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
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