Animals news

• Former Taliban hostage admits striking wife but says she asked to be hit

  10-09-2019 23:59 via news.yahoo.com
  Joshua Boyle, charged with sexual assault, tells court estranged wife Caitlan Coleman was unfit to parent their four childrenJoshua Boyle outside court in Ottawa in March. Boyle has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Photograph: Lars Hagberg/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Canadian man who spent five years held hostage in Afghanistan with his American wife has admitted striking her with a broom, but told a court in Ottawa that she asked to be hit, as his trial for sexual assault nears its conclusion.Under c
  
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• Venezuela starts military exercises along Colombia border

  10-09-2019 23:52 via news.yahoo.com
  President Nicolás Maduro launched extended military exercises along Venezuela's border with Colombia on Tuesday, drawing Washington's attention amid rising friction between the South American neighbors.Maduro has come under mounting pressure from Colombia and the United States, which are among more than 50 nations that back opposition politician Juan Guaidó's bid to oust the socialist president.Tensions spiked recently when Colombia and Venezuela accused each other of harboring hos
  
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• UPDATE 1-N.Korea carried out super-large multiple rocket launcher test on Tuesday -KCNA

  10-09-2019 23:48 via news.yahoo.com
  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of a super-large multiple rocket launcher on Tuesday, North Korean state media KCNA said on Wednesday.North Korea fired a new round of short-range projectiles on Tuesday, South Korean officials said, only hours after it signalled a new willingness to resume stalled denuclearisation talks with the United States in late September.Kim, who had guided the testing of the same multiple rocket launcher before, said its capabilities have been "finally
  
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• Did Trump and Bolton Break Over Iran—or the Leaks?

  10-09-2019 23:40 via news.yahoo.com
  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast / Photo Sergei Gapon/GettyWhen President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that the U.S. would leave the Iran nuclear deal, his administration already had a plan in place. The Trump team didn’t want to back away quietly from the accord. Instead, it wanted total economic annihilation of Tehran, the government’s military proxies, and its most powerful business sectors in order to compel the Iranians to renegotiate or to convince the peopl
  
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• Saudi crown prince hosts Christian evangelicals

  10-09-2019 23:33 via news.yahoo.com
  Saudi Arabia's crown prince hosted a delegation of American Christian evangelicals on Tuesday, state media said, the latest such visit as the conservative Muslim kingdom seeks to repair its image of religious intolerance.Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met the delegation, led by Israeli-American author Joel Rosenberg, at his palace in the western city of Jeddah, the official Saudi Press Agency said."Honoured to be back in kingdom of Saudi Arabia for (the second) time in less than a year," Rosen
  
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• Rare mosquito-borne virus infects North Carolina resident

  10-09-2019 23:24 via news.yahoo.com
  One North Carolina resident was infected with Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) --a rare mosquito-borne virus that has claimed three lives this year and is concerning health officials.
  
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• North Korea carried out super-large multiple rocket launcher test on Tuesday: KCNA

  10-09-2019 23:16 via news.yahoo.com
  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of a super-large multiple rocket launcher on Tuesday, North Korean state media KCNA said on Wednesday.North Korea fired a new round of short-range projectiles on Tuesday, South Korean officials said, only hours after it signaled a new willingness to resume stalled denuclearization talks with the United States in late September.Kim, who had guided the testing of the same multiple rocket launcher before, said its capabilities have been "finally v
  
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• Migrant rescue captain who defied Italy says actions 'were justified'

  10-09-2019 22:59 via news.yahoo.com
  The German captain of rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3, Carola Rackete, who was temporarily arrested in Italy for docking without permission so she could let rescued migrants land, said Tuesday her "actions were justified".Rackete, 31, was arrested on June 29 and held for several days after the Sea-Watch 3 hit an Italian police speedboat while entering the port of Lampedusa island despite a ban from entering Italy's waters."I am still under investigation by the Italian authorities but am I worried?
  
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• The NRA Is Suing San Francisco After the City Declared It a Domestic Terrorism Organization

  10-09-2019 22:52 via news.yahoo.com
  The NRA filed a lawsuit against San Francisco after lawmakers passed a resolution declaring it a domestic terrorist organization.
  
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• Former FEMA Official Arrested on Bribery, Fraud Charges Relating to Puerto Rico Power Restoration

  10-09-2019 22:42 via news.yahoo.com
  A former Federal Emergency Management Agency official has been arrested on charges that she took bribes from the president of a company that received $1.8 billion from the federal government to repair Puerto Rico's power grid after it was decimated by Hurricane Maria.Federal authorities said they arrested former FEMA deputy administrator Ahsha Tribble and the former president of Cobra Acquisitions, Donald K. Ellison, on Tuesday, accusing them of conspiring to defraud the federal government. Also
  
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• Bolton's rootin', tootin' exit: Today's Toon

  10-09-2019 22:34 via news.yahoo.com
  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
  
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• White House disputes accounts of Russian CIA informant

  10-09-2019 22:33 via news.yahoo.com
  The Trump administration on Tuesday disputed reports of a Russian official who was recruited as a spy for the CIA and then evacuated to the United States after revealing information about the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 election.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley and the CIA challenged reports that appeared in The New York Times, CNN and elsewhere about a Russian official with high-level access who provided the U.S. with valuable intelligence for years unti
  
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• Birdwatch: shore things – getting close to waders on their migration

  10-09-2019 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Dunlins and ringed plovers spend most of their time on mudflats but high tide gives a better viewWaders are on the move. September is the peak month to see them as they head south from their northern breeding grounds to winter along the coasts of Europe and Africa.On my coastal patch, high tide forces them to stop feeding and roost for an hour or so; it also allows me to get close to birds that spend most of their time out on the mudflats. Continue reading...
  
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• Netanyahu vows to begin annexing West Bank settlements

  10-09-2019 22:25 via news.yahoo.com
  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday to annex the heart of the West Bank if he wins re-election next week, a move that could inflame the Middle East and extinguish any remaining Palestinian hope of establishing a separate state.Arab leaders angrily condemned Netanyahu's remarks, and a U.N. spokesman warned the step would be "devastating" to the prospects for a two-state solution.Netanyahu said he would extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley — an area seen a
  
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• Moscow's Elections Show Putin Is Losing the War at Home

  10-09-2019 22:25 via news.yahoo.com
  President Vladimir Putin picked fights abroad to distract the Russian people. He's finally running out of distractions.
  
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• Ukraine president meets tycoon Kolomoisky amid concerns over their business ties

  10-09-2019 21:36 via news.yahoo.com
  Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met business tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky on Tuesday, the president's office said, the firstreported meeting since Zelenskiy's inauguration in May between the two men who had long-standing business ties.The president's relationship with Kolomoisky, one of the richest businessman in Ukraine, has been under heavy scrutiny since the start of Zelenskiy's election campaign, amid fears that the tycoon may be wielding influence behind the scenes.
  
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• 'The View' co-hosts trash Trump's children: 'They're not good people'

  10-09-2019 21:20 via news.yahoo.com
  Meghan McCain, Joy Behar and Abby Huntsman had a candid discussion about the power and influence of Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr.
  
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• 'It's perplexing.' How did the Golden Ray ship capsize? Here's a look at possible answers

  10-09-2019 21:16 via news.yahoo.com
  Four trapped crewmen were rescued Monday from the Golden Ray. Why did the cargo ship capsize? We talked to an NTSB expert about the possibilities.
  
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• The sailors trapped on the capsized container ship in Georgia 'were being cooked' inside the vessel as temperatures reached 150 degrees

  10-09-2019 21:10 via news.yahoo.com
  The last four crew members were rescued from the toppled ship Monday night in St. Simons Sound, Georgia.
  
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• Protestors Arrested as California Governor Signs Controversial Vaccine Bills

  10-09-2019 21:07 via news.yahoo.com
  Hundreds of demonstrators packed the California State Capitol on Monday to protest a controversial vaccination bill, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
  
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• Pompeo: Reports Claiming Trump’s Behavior Forced U.S. to Pull Spy from Russia Are ‘Materially Inaccurate’

  10-09-2019 21:01 via news.yahoo.com
  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back Tuesday against reports that claimed President Trump's handling of classified intelligence endangered a top CIA spy in Russia whom the U.S. was then forced to extract, calling them "materially inaccurate."CNN reported this week that the U.S. successfully removed a top-level Kremlin source from Russia due to concerns that Trump and his administration "repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence," putting the spy at risk of being exposed."I've seen that
  
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• Trump decries 'Fake Poll' showing his approval rate in the 30s

  10-09-2019 20:50 via news.yahoo.com
  The president bashed an ABC News/Washington Post poll that showed his approval rating falling by 6 points as fears of a recession grow.
  
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• AOC: 'I want to see every Republican go on the record and knowingly vote against impeachment'

  10-09-2019 20:35 via news.yahoo.com
  With Congress returning to work after the August recess, some House Democrats are renewing their call to begin impeachment proceedings — even if just to get Republicans on the record voting in support of President Trump.
  
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• Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders would stand to benefit from the most from Andrew Yang dropping out of the 2020 presidential race

  10-09-2019 20:31 via news.yahoo.com
  If Andrew Yang's candidacy doesn't end up staying viable through the first few primary contests, his sizable base of supporters will be up for grabs.
  
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• Wilbur Ross's latest storm: Reports he threatened to fire officials over Dorian forecast

  10-09-2019 20:07 via news.yahoo.com
  Accusations that he threatened government scientists over a hurricane forecast are just the latest controversy for the commerce secretary.
  
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• With school shootings an increasingly common fear, some students and teachers have started writing their own wills

  10-09-2019 19:45 via news.yahoo.com
  Teachrs and students are statistically unlikely to find themselves hunted by a school shooter, but their perceived fear is still very real.
  
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• Largest flying animal in history identified: study

  10-09-2019 19:43 via news.yahoo.com
  Scientists on Tuesday unveiled a new species pterosaur, the plane-sized reptiles that lorded over primeval skies above T-rex, Triceratops and other dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous.With a wingspan of ten metres and weighing 250 kilos, Cryodrakon boreas rivals another pterosaur as the largest flying animal of all time, researchers reported in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology."This is a cool discovery," said David Hone, lead author of the study and a researcher at Queen Mary University in Lo
  
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• How salamanders harness limb regeneration to buffer selves from climate change

  10-09-2019 19:43
  Researchers have shown for the first time that salamanders inhabiting the Southern Appalachian Mountains use temperature rather than humidity as the best cue to anticipate changes in their environment. Significantly, they observed that these salamanders actually harness their unique ability to regenerate limbs to rapidly minimize the impact of hot temperatures. The findings may have implications for other animals and even plants.
  
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• Electric eel produces highest voltage discharge of any known animal

  10-09-2019 19:43
  South American rivers are home to at least three different species of electric eels, including a newly identified species capable of generating a greater electrical discharge than any other known animal, according to a new analysis of 107 fish collected in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname in recent years.
  
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• Israeli PM vows to begin annexing West Bank settlements

  10-09-2019 19:33 via news.yahoo.com
  Israel's prime minister on Tuesday vowed to annex the strategic heartland of the West Bank if he wins national elections next week, offering a vision that would likely end any remaining hopes for establishing a Palestinian state.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would annex the Jordan Valley, an area seen as the breadbasket of any Palestinian state, shortly after forming a new government and move later to annex remaining Jewish settlements.Such action would gobble up most of the West Ban
  
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• Trump fires John Bolton amid concerns over leaks and policy disagreements, sources say

  10-09-2019 19:16 via news.yahoo.com
  President Trump announced in a tweet on Tuesday that he had asked his national security adviser, John Bolton, to resign.Sources say the departure was due to disagreements and suspicions that Bolton was involved in leaks.The shocking announcement came less than two hours before Bolton was set to participate in a press briefing at the White House with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
  
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• Meghan McCain Lashes Trump: You’re OK With Inviting the Taliban but Not Hurricane Refugees

  10-09-2019 19:09 via news.yahoo.com
  The women of The View on Tuesday tore into President Donald Trump for rejecting over a hundred Bahamian survivors of Hurricane Dorian, with conservative co-host Meghan McCain taking the president to task for inviting the Taliban to Camp David but refusing entry into the United States for refugees of a natural disaster.After more than one-hundred evacuees were forced off a ferry heading to Florida because they didn’t have visas, acting Customs and Border Protection chief Mark Morgan reassur
  
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• Haitians in hurricane-devastated Bahamas face uncertain future

  10-09-2019 19:09 via news.yahoo.com
  Even before Hurricane Dorian destroyed their shantytown on Abaco Island, life was not easy for the Haitian immigrant community in the Bahamas."I need help," said Blondel Vincent, a Haitian with Bahamian nationality.Vincent, 41, a carpenter, lost his home in the storm and is staying with his wife and children in a Baptist church in a Haitian-majority neighborhood in Nassau.
  
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• Freed in prisoner swap, Ukraine's Sentsov warns: Don't trust Russia

  10-09-2019 19:09 via news.yahoo.com
  Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on Tuesday warned against trusting Russian President Vladimir Putin, after Moscow freed him from jail in a historic prisoner swap with Kiev this weekend.Dressed casually in a polo shirt and jeans, the 43-year-old seemed calm and composed at his first news conference since flying to Kiev on Saturday along with 34 other Ukrainian prisoners."As far as Russia's wishes for peace go, a wolf can put on a lamb's clothing, but his teeth don't disappear.
  
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• In last words, Khashoggi asked killers not to suffocate him

  10-09-2019 19:03 via news.yahoo.com
  In his final words, slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi urged his killers not to cover his mouth because he suffered from asthma and could suffocate, according to Turkey's Sabah newspaper.Sabah newspaper, which is close to Turkey's government, published new details of a recording of Khashoggi's conversation with members of a Saudi hit squad sent to kill him.The paper says the recording of Khashoggi's grisly Oct. 2, 2018 killing and reported dismemberment at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul was
  
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• Michael Flynn's attorney alleges government cover up, while prosecutors leave open possibility of prison

  10-09-2019 18:52 via news.yahoo.com
  Michael Flynn's attorney accused the government of withholding evidence as prosecutors push for sentencing date.
  
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• Low testosterone needn’t spell misery | Brief letters

  10-09-2019 18:51 via theguardian.com
  Testosterone | Disaster tourism | Dog comparisons | StarbucksAs a GP I read your article about testosterone replacement therapy with interest (‘My energy and drive are back’, G2, 9 September). I was disappointed it did not mention the 2016 review that concluded that testosterone supplementation for “low-T” is not supported by evidence. It is not due to lack of awareness that I rarely prescribe testosterone for “low-T”, but lack of evidence. I am sure that is a
  
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• Japan wins partial WTO victory in SKorea duties case

  10-09-2019 18:51 via news.yahoo.com
  The World Trade Organization on Tuesday largely faulted South Korea in a final ruling over anti-dumping duties slapped on imports of industrial pneumatic valves imported from Japan.The WTO's Appellate Body mostly upheld a previous ruling finding that Seoul's anti-dumping duties on Japanese pneumatic valves violated some international trade rules.
  
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• Donald Trump Jr. made a #MeToo joke during dad's North Carolina rally

  10-09-2019 18:43 via news.yahoo.com
  As Donald Trump Jr. took the stage, he kissed his girlfriend and said, "do you think the media's gonna sue me for harassment?"
  
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• Gun Sales Jump 15.5 Percent in August as Dems Renew Push for Regulations

  10-09-2019 18:41 via news.yahoo.com
  Background checks for gun sales, concealed-carry permits, and security spiked in August as congressional Democrats renewed their push for expanded gun control in the wake of several mass shootings.The National Instant Criminal Background Check System recorded a 15.5 percent uptick in background checks last month, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.The jump in gun sales appears to have been spurred by a desire to secure self-protection amid an epidemic of mass shootings in the U
  
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• Donald Trump slams 'fixed' poll showing his latest job approval rating is at 38%

  10-09-2019 18:36 via news.yahoo.com
  The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll had his approval rating at 38%. Trump said the media's "polls are fixed."
  
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• 10-year-old girl films mom driving drunk, police say

  10-09-2019 18:30 via news.yahoo.com
  The girl showed Glendale police officers video in which three children under the age of 15 could be heard yelling at her mother to stop.
  
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• Captain who broke Italy's migrant ban says ready to rescue more people at sea, raps EU

  10-09-2019 18:29 via news.yahoo.com
  A German captain who defied Italy's ban on boats bringing migrants ashore said on Tuesday she was determined to carry on rescuing migrants from the Mediterranean, even though her ship Sea-Watch 3 remains impounded in an Italian port.Carola Rackete, in Barcelona to receive an award from the Catalan parliament for her rescue missions, also urged the European Union to agree on a policy for redistributing migrants around the bloc to help relieve the pressure on Italy.Sea-Watch 3 is currently detaine
  
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• Netanyahu vows to annex West Bank's Jordan Valley if re-elected

  10-09-2019 18:27 via news.yahoo.com
  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a deeply controversial pledge on Tuesday to annex the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank if re-elected in September 17 polls. "There is one place where we can apply Israeli sovereignty immediately after the elections," Netanyahu said in a televised speech. The prime minister also reiterated his intention to annex Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank if re-elected, though in coordination with US President Donald Trump, whose long-await
  
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• Tulsi Gabbard: The Rest of Democratic Primary Field Has Embraced ‘Open Borders’

  10-09-2019 18:08 via news.yahoo.com
  Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) derided her fellow Democratic presidential candidates during a recent interview for embracing permissive immigration policies, accusing them of support for "open borders."Asked if she believes “open borders” is a fair descriptor of the positions embraced by her Democratic primary opponents, Gabbard told YouTube host Dave Rubin that it was an accurate label and dismissed the oft-repeated Democratic rejoinder that conservatives use the phrase t
  
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• China’s Ambassador to South Africa Attacks Trump Over Trade

  10-09-2019 18:04 via news.yahoo.com
  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Lin Songtian, China’s ambassador to South Africa, took out a half-page advertisement in a key local newspaper to attack the stance of the U.S. and President Donald Trump on global trade.In a paid-for editorial in Business Day, South Africa’s biggest financial newspaper, Lin said bullying by the U.S. will drive the world into a “severe recession” and accus
  
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• Woman, 73, charged with killing her 82-year-old neighbor with brick at a home for seniors

  10-09-2019 17:49 via news.yahoo.com
  Chun Yong Oh is charged with first and second degree murder for the death of Hwa Cha Pak, her neighbor at a home for senior citizens in Maryland.
  
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• How Donald Trump Blew Up the Afghan Peace Process

  10-09-2019 17:47 via news.yahoo.com
  The Taliban will now have little confidence in the value of their agreements with any U.S. official.
  
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• Animal model proteins important in study of human disease

  10-09-2019 17:42
  Little is known about the proteins and cellular pathways that lead to the formation of the human heart or the roles various proteins and pathways might play in cardiac disease. Now, scientists have found that unique sets of proteins and pathways present in specific animal models commonly used in research are also present and mutated in human disease.
  
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• Outcry over EU 'way of life' migration portfolio

  10-09-2019 17:39 via news.yahoo.com
  An EU Commission proposal to brand its powerful migration portfolio as "protecting the European way of life" sparked outrage from European lawmakers Tuesday who called it a worrying use of far-right rhetoric.The row erupted after incoming European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen named her cabinet for the next five years and gave the controversially-named job to Greek former MEP Margaritis Schinas.Migration is an explosive topic for the von der Leyen commission that is taking office on Nove
  
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