Political news

• U.S. troops' move to Poland unnerves Kremlin

  12-01-2017 23:56
  By Anna Koper and Andrew Osborn WARSAW/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Poland on Thursday welcomed several thousand U.S. troops along with tanks and heavy equipment under a planned NATO operation to beef up its Eastern European allies, vexing the Kremlin, which said the troops' presence is a threat to Russia. The largest U.S.military reinforcement of Europe in decades of around 2,700 troops, out of 3,500 planned, arrived as part of operation Atlantic Resolve, aimed at showing Moscow Washington's commitment t
  
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• Irish court case on whether Brexit can be reversed to be heard this month

  12-01-2017 23:50
  A crowdfunded legal challenge to determine whether Britain's divorce from the European Union can be reversed once it has been triggered will be launched in Dublin by the end of January, the lawyer behind the case said on Thursday. British Prime Minister Theresa May says she will invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, triggering two years of formal divorce talks. Lawyers for the British government have said that, once started, the process is irrevocable, but some EU lead
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn discusses Nato comments with Nia Griffith

  12-01-2017 23:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jeremy Corbyn and shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith meet after a reported row over comments about Nato.
  
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• Trump plan to donate foreign hotel profits can't be checked

  12-01-2017 23:39
  
  It's a public relations win for the president-elect: Donald Trump's company says it will donate profits from any foreign governments that use his hotels. In practice, however, the public may never know ...
  
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• Trump State pick irks Beijing, muddles policy on S China Sea

  12-01-2017 23:21
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's pick to lead the State Department top U.S. diplomat has stoked confusion over South China Sea policy by appearing to advocate a blockade of Chinese man-made islands.
  
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• Argentina unveils 2017 debt plan, bond sales seen next week

  12-01-2017 23:19
  By Luc Cohen BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina clinched an 18-month financing deal worth $6 billion with six banks on Thursday, Finance Minister Luis Caputo told reporters, saying the government planned to tap international capital markets for $10 billion in 2017. Sovereign bond issuance will start on Jan. 19, with a sale of $3 billion to $5 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated paper. The sale will kick off an international financing program under which Argentina expects to sell $7 billion of dol
  
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• Cyprus talks to resume on Jan 18, UN hopes for 'last effort'

  12-01-2017 23:17
  GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks to resolve the decades-old division of Cyprus ended without agreement on Thursday but with a plan for officials to reconvene on Jan. 18 to tackle the thorny security question, before a fresh attempt to forge a political deal. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters he was confident that the participants were determined to make a "last effort" to find a solution. There was no precise date set for the guarantors of the process - the Greek, Turkish and British
  
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• Venezuela arrests anti-Maduro politicians in sweep

  12-01-2017 23:14
  By Diego Oré and Alexandra Ulmer CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela rounded up a dissident former general and two other regional politicians on Thursday in what the opposition called a wave of repression by socialist President Nicolas Maduro's government. With its popularity falling during a brutal economic crisis, Maduro's government cast the arrests as part of a crackdown against "terrorists" and coup plotters. Authorities put ex-general Raul Baduel, who was first jailed in 2009 for six year
  
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• FBI investigated over pre-election decisions on Clinton email

  12-01-2017 23:13
  By Julia Edwards Ainsley and Julia Harte WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday said it would probe a Federal Bureau of Investigation decision to announce an inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails shortly before the November presidential election, a move she has blamed as a factor in her defeat. The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General said in a statement that its investigation would focus in part on decisions leading up to public statements by FBI Director Jam
  
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• Capitol Hill Buzz: Russian news site interrupts C-SPAN

  12-01-2017 23:13
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Moscow, we have a problem.
  
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• Obama awards Biden Presidential Medal of Freedom

  12-01-2017 23:07
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama awarded Vice President Joe Biden with the highest civilian honor Thursday, commemorating an "extraordinary man with an extraordinary career in public service."
  
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• Lawmaker drops loaded gun on floor near children at hearing

  12-01-2017 23:04
  CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire lawmaker attending a public hearing on the merits of full-day kindergarten has dropped her loaded gun onto the floor near where children were sitting. Rep. Carolyn Halstead says she's "mortified" by what happened.
  
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• Rival of Libya's UN-backed government tries to seize ministry buildings in Tripoli

  12-01-2017 23:03
  By Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A self-declared prime minister sidelined by Libya's U.N.-backed government tried to seize the defence ministry and other state offices on Thursday, but a government spokesman said the attempt to capture the buildings by force had failed. The claims and counter-claims could not be independently confirmed, but the incident showed the extreme frailty of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), which has only ever had partial control over Tripoli sinc
  
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• US agrees to pay billions to Marines affected by toxic water

  12-01-2017 23:00
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has agreed to provide disability benefits totaling more than $2 billion to veterans who had been exposed to contaminated drinking water while assigned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
  
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• Further Brexit court cases to be launched in Dublin and London

  12-01-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Government faces two more potential hurdles to process of leaving EU, on top of supreme court’s impending verdict on article 50 caseFresh legal challenges aimed at preventing a hard Brexit will be launched this month as MPs craft parliamentary amendments in the hope of securing a second vote on any final deal with the European Union.Ireland’s courts will host an ambitious crowdfunded attempt to refer an appeal to the EU’s highest tribunal about whether the process of Brexit is
  
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• Former MI6 spy known to U.S. agencies is author of reports on Trump in Russia

  12-01-2017 23:00
  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christopher Steele, who wrote reports on compromising material Russian operatives allegedly had collected on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, is a former officer in Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, according to people familiar with his career.     Former British intelligence officials said Steele spent years under diplomatic cover working for the agency, also known as MI6, in Russia and Paris and at the Foreign and Commonwealth Offi
  
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• Canada's Trudeau grilled about luxury holiday on Aga Khan's island

  12-01-2017 22:56
  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, under fire for holidaying on a Caribbean island owned by the Aga Khan, on Thursday revealed he had flown there by private helicopter - an apparent breach of official ethics rules. Trudeau, 45, came to power in November 2015 promising to run an open and accountable administration but has been dogged by repeated questions about his luxury Bahamas vacation over the New Year, which his officials first declined to talk about. Opposition legislators say the holi
  
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• Trump's Pentagon pick cruises toward likely confirmation

  12-01-2017 22:54
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Gen. James Mattis on Thursday cruised toward likely confirmation as Donald Trump's defense secretary, easily prevailing in a Senate vote granting him an exemption to run the Pentagon as a recently retired officer. At his confirmation hearing, he called Russia the nation's No. 1 security threat, accusing its leader of trying to "break" NATO.
  
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• U.S. stocks end lower, dollar sags as Trump trades ease

  12-01-2017 22:50
  By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks fell and the U.S. dollar dropped to a five-week low on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump, in his eagerly-awaited news briefing the previous day, failed to provide details on fiscal policies that were expected to bolster the economy. Investors were hoping for commentary on the new administration's plans for fiscal stimulus and tax cuts. Instead, Trump remarked on a broad range of topics such as the Mexican wall, allegat
  
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• Obama making changes to Cuban immigration policy

  12-01-2017 22:50
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is ending a longstanding immigration policy that allows any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident, a senior administration official said Thursday.
  
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• Carson defends his qualifications to be housing chief

  12-01-2017 22:49
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson defended his experience and credentials Thursday to serve as the nation's new housing secretary, turning to his life story to show that he understands the needs of the country's most vulnerable.
  
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• GOP leaders look to early health care bill, details vague

  12-01-2017 22:45
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Under mounting pressure from Donald Trump and rank-and-file Republicans, congressional leaders are talking increasingly about chiseling an early bill that dismantles President Barack Obama's health care law and begins to supplant it with their own vision of how the nation's $3 trillion-a-year medical system should work.
  
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• Indonesia’s hunt for honest taxpayers

  12-01-2017 22:42
  The country of Indonesia in Southeast Asia is a land of superlatives. In an astonishing display of personal honesty, more than 600,000 Indonesians came clean and declared unpaid taxes that were long overdue. The new revenue was equal to about a third of Indonesia’s economy.
  
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• The Latest: C-SPAN online feed interrupted by Russian site

  12-01-2017 22:39
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on activities in Congress (all times EST):
  
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• Pirelli expect fewer pitstops in new-look F1

  12-01-2017 22:38
  By Alan Baldwin BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Formula One fans can expect to see fewer pitstops this year and faster, more aggressive-looking cars, according to tyre supplier Pirelli's motorsport head Paul Hembery. "The (tyre) degradation (wear) levels will be reduced substantially compared to the past," he told Reuters at the Autosport International show on Thursday. "And the gap between the (tyre) compound levels will be much reduced...so I think the strategy elements that we've seen in the
  
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• Panama says Odebrecht agrees to pay $59 million in bribe scandal

  12-01-2017 22:37
  Panama's attorney general said on Thursday Brazilian construction company Odebrecht has made a verbal agreement to pay $59 million in reparations for bribes it paid in Panama to win business in the country between 2010 in 2014. The sum is the amount in bribes Odebrecht admitted paying to officials and intermediaries in the Central American nation in a plea agreement disclosed last month in a U.S. court. Attorney General Kenia Porcell told reporters she had received "a formal verbal pledge" that
  
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• Euro zone finance ministers to discuss legality of Monte Paschi rescue - source

  12-01-2017 22:36
  Euro zone finance ministers will discuss on Jan. 26 the "compatibility" of Italy's bailout for bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena with European Union rules, an official in the bloc told Reuters on Thursday. The comments cast doubt on the rescue plan for the ailing bank, Italy's third largest lender. Rome decided in December to salvage Monte dei Paschi after a plan to raise capital in the markets failed. The bank was the weakest among top euro zone banks in a stress test ran last year by the Eur
  
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• Obama ending policy giving residency to Cubans arriving in U.S.

  12-01-2017 22:35
  The Obama administration is ending a policy that granted residency to Cubans who arrived in the United States without visas, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing a senior administration official. The United States and Cuba have spent several months negotiating the change, including an agreement from Cuba to allow those turned away from the United States to return, the official said, according to AP.
  
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• U.S. judge orders VW executive detained

  12-01-2017 22:28
  MIAMI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered a Volkswagen executive charged in the Justice Department's diesel emissions investigation held without bail pending trial. Oliver Schmidt was arrested Saturday at Miami's International Airport as he planned to fly home after a vacation. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff ruled Schmidt was a flight risk.
  
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• Protests will aim to disrupt Trump inauguration - organizers

  12-01-2017 22:23
  By John Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators are expected to turn out in Washington next week for protests aiming to "shut down" the inauguration of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president, organizers said on Thursday. Protesters will attempt to close down 12 security checkpoints at the U.S. Capitol, where Trump will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, and along the 2.5-mile (4-km) parade route down Pennsylvania Avenue, according to leaders of a group called DisruptJ20.
  
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• APNewsBreak: Obama to ease Sudan sanctions on way out

  12-01-2017 22:23
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is set to ease sanctions against Sudan and broaden now limited talks with the long estranged African government, a U.S.-designated terrorism sponsor whose leader has been indicted on war crimes charges, The Associated Press learned Thursday.
  
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• Trump's HHS pick will sell off stock to avoid conflicts

  12-01-2017 22:22
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be the nation's top health official will sell off stock holdings to avoid potential conflicts of interest, according to government documents released Thursday.
  
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• U.S. says it killed three members of al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen strikes

  12-01-2017 22:16
  The U.S. military said on Thursday it killed three members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in two strikes in central Yemen last week and in late December. A strike on Jan. 8 killed one AQAP operative and a strike on Dec. 29 killed two members of AQAP, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
  
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• Takata to pay $1 billion to settle U.S. air bag probe - sources

  12-01-2017 22:15
  By David Shepardson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan's Takata Corp is expected to plead guilty to fraud charges as early as Friday as part of a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its handling of air bag ruptures linked to 16 deaths worldwide, sources said. It could help Takata win financial backing from an investor to potentially restructure and pay for massive liabilities from the world's biggest auto safety recall. In 2015, Takata admitted in a separate $70 million settlemen
  
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• North Dakota's experience with pipeline protests spurs bills

  12-01-2017 22:11
  North Dakota's Republican-led and largely oil-friendly Legislature is quickly introducing a raft of bills spurred by the bitter dispute between Dakota Access protesters and law enforcement, from restricting ...
  
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• Amazon to add more than 100,000 jobs in U.S. hiring spree

  12-01-2017 22:11
  By Jeffrey Dastin and Emily Stephenson NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc on Thursday said it will create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States, from software development to warehouse work, in its latest move to win over shoppers by investing in faster delivery. The world's largest online retailer will grow its full-time U.S. workforce by more than 50 percent to over 280,000 in the next 18 months, it said in a press release. Amazon is spending heavily on new warehouses so it ca
  
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• World's jobless to rise amid slower growth, uncertainty - U.N. agency

  12-01-2017 22:10
  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The ranks of the world's jobless are expected to grow this year due to slow growth, political and economic uncertainty and a lack of investment, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Thursday. Unemployment is rising in major emerging economies, especially those reliant on commodity exports such as Russia, South Africa and Brazil, the United Nations agency said. Due to the failure to create jobs, global unemployment is forecast to increase by
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Supporter Favourite To Fight Copeland By-Election After Labour Drafts All-Women Shortlist

  12-01-2017 22:02
  
  Jeremy Corbyn and grassroots movement Momentum are facing a key test in the Copeland by-election as one of his supporters emerged as the favourite to fight the seat for Labour.
  Rachel Holliday, a community campaigner, was among three women candidates shortlisted by a special panel of the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) on Thursday.
  Holliday, who founded a local homeless hostel for ex-servicemen in the Cumbria constituency, voted for Corbyn in the leadership race and has
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn Supporter Favourite For Copeland By-Election After Labour Drafts All-Women Shortlist

  12-01-2017 22:02
  
  Jeremy Corbyn and grassroots movement Momentum are facing a key test in the Copeland by-election as one of his supporters emerged as the favourite to fight the seat for Labour.
  Rachel Holliday, a community campaigner, was one of three women candidates shortlisted by a special panel of the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) on Thursday.
  Holliday, who founded a local homeless hostel for ex-servicemen, voted for Corbyn in the leadership race and has impressed his senior allies
  
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• Theresa May to deliver long-awaited Brexit speech on Tuesday

  12-01-2017 21:42 via theguardian.com
  
  PM to set out approach before triggering article 50 – but many MPs are concerned about lack of clarity on key EU issuesTheresa May will lay out her plans for Britain’s exit from the European Union on Tuesday, in a major speech that will be closely scrutinised in financial markets, and by other European leaders.
  The prime minister has come under intense political pressure to reveal more details of her negotiating priorities before she triggers article 50, the formal divorce process fr
  
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• CIA nominee agrees Russia tried to interfere in election

  12-01-2017 21:42
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's pick to run the CIA told Congress on Thursday that he accepts the findings in an intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the U.S. election with the goal of helping Trump win, even though the president-elect has been skeptical of some of the report's conclusions.
  
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• Army minister accuses Corbyn of siding with Russia against Nato

  12-01-2017 21:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Mike Penning says Labour leader ‘would rather collaborate with Russian aggression’ in row over Estonia troop deploymentA Conservative defence minister has launched an extraordinary attack on Jeremy Corbyn, accusing the Labour leader of collaborating with Russian aggression.Mike Penning, the armed forces minister, took issue with Corbyn’s comments that it was “unfortunate that troops have gone up to the border on both sides” – referring to Nato and Russian forc
  
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• Ex-MI6 officer Christopher Steele in hiding after Trump dossier

  12-01-2017 20:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The author of memos claiming Russia has compromising material on Donald Trump is in hiding.
  
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• British parliament's intelligence watchdog to scrutinise Trump dossier

  12-01-2017 20:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Intelligence and security committee says dossier, prepared by former MI6 agent, falls under its remit as MPs call for inquiryParliament’s intelligence and security watchdog is expected to carry out “inquiries and discussions” relating to the Trump dossier prepared by a former MI6 agent as part of its work in scrutinising the British intelligence agencies.Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general who has led the intelligence and security committee (ISC) since 2015, said it &ld
  
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• U.S. Justice Dept watchdog investigating FBI decisions in Clinton email probe

  12-01-2017 20:48
  By Julia Edwards Ainsley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday said it would probe a Federal Bureau of Investigation decision to announce it was reopening an inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails shortly before the November presidential election, a move she has blamed as a factor in her defeat. The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General said its probe would focus in part on decisions leading up to public statements by FBI Director James Comey regarding the Clin
  
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• Biden: Intel officials told us Trump allegations might leak

  12-01-2017 20:46
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that top intelligence leaders told him and President Barack Obama they felt obligated to inform them about uncorroborated allegations about President-elect Donald Trump out of concern the information would become public and catch them off-guard.
  
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• Takata to pay $1 billion in U.S. settlement - sources

  12-01-2017 20:38
  By David Shepardson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan's Takata Corp is expected to agree to plead guilty to charges as early as Friday as part of a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve a government investigation into deadly air bag ruptures, sources said. The settlement includes a $25 million criminal fine, $125 million in victim compensation and $850 million to compensate automakers who have suffered losses from massive recalls, the sources said, as well as an independent
  
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• France plays down Paris Middle East peace talks prospects

  12-01-2017 20:38
  By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande sought on Thursday to play down prospects for Middle East peace talks this weekend in Paris, saying only direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians could resolve the conflict. France has tried to breathe new life into the peace process over the past year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the United Nations, European Union, United States and major Arab countries gathered to try to revive moribund talks. So
  
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• Save the Children demands higher U.N. budget to tackle crimes against children

  12-01-2017 20:33
  By Luke Mintz LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The head of Save the Children International Helle Thorning-Schmidt on Thursday demanded increased U.N. funding to investigate crimes against children, as she condemned violations of their rights worldwide. "More than 50 percent of those affected by war are children," she said in a speech at the London School of Economics. This has to change." Her speech came as the ceasefire between government and rebel forces in Syria – where some 8 mill
  
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• Congress takes first steps to dismantle health care law

  12-01-2017 20:33
  
  Congressional Republicans are taking the first steps toward dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law, facing pressure from President-elect Donald Trump to move quickly on a replacement. "We ...
  
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