General news

• Executions and death sentences worldwide: interactive

  12-02-2015 23:57
  
  At least 778 executions were carried out across the world in 2013, with even more death sentences handed down. This interactive shows the most recent statistics gathered by Amnesty International. Figures marked with a ‘+’ symbol are a minimum estimate, with the real value potentially higher. Figures marked with ‘*’ indicate that at least some executions or death sentences have taken place, but Amnesty was unable to determine how many. Continue reading...
  
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• Greece's Tsipras hopeful of 'mutually acceptable' debt deal

  12-02-2015 23:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BRUSSELS (AP) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has laid out his hope that a "mutually acceptable" debt deal can be secured next week at a meeting of the eurozone's 19 finance ministers.
  
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• Paris moves to sue Fox News for false reporting on Muslim 'no-go zones'

  12-02-2015 23:55
  
  City council approves lawsuit against ‘bloopers factory’ Fox News for incorrectly reporting in wake of Charlie Hebdo attack that some city areas ban non-Muslims Continue reading...
  
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• Senate panel OKs bill barring most transfers from Guantanamo

  12-02-2015 23:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel has approved legislation that would bar most transfers from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a roadblock in President Barack Obama's push to close the detention center.
  
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• Harvard, MIT sued over lack of closed captioning online

  12-02-2015 23:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Advocates for the deaf sued Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday, saying the universities failed to provide closed captioning for online courses, podcasts and other educational programs.
  
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• Greece 'does not blackmail and will not be blackmailed': Tsipras

  12-02-2015 23:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras warned Thursday that his government would not be pressured into breaking promises made to voters in its efforts to resolve a bitter row with the EU over renegotiating the country's bailout. "Greece does not blackmail and will not be blackmailed," Tsipras said after a European Union summit in Brussels, his first since his radical leftist Syriza party swept to power after elections last month. Tsipras insisted that any move forward would involve d
  
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• Media groups set safety standards for freelancers

  12-02-2015 23:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Press freedom groups and international news organizations, including Agence France-Presse, unveiled on Thursday new safety guidelines to protect freelance journalists following a series of high-profile kidnappings and murders in conflict zones. The document, titled "A Call for Global Safety Principles and Practices," lays out seven basic standards for journalists on dangerous assignments. News organizations should ensure that freelancers have adequate training and equipment. The signat
  
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• Anna Fenninger captures giant slalom title at worlds

  12-02-2015 23:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP) — Anna Fenninger of Austria recovered from a near-wipeout late in her run to win the women's giant slalom title at the world championships Thursday, while American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin finished eighth.
  
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• Expedia to buy Orbitz, further shift in online travel space

  12-02-2015 23:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — A wave of deals in the online travel industry has increasingly put some familiar names under two corporate umbrellas: Expedia and Priceline.
  
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• EU to relaunch Ukraine-Russia gas talks: Juncker

  12-02-2015 23:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - the European Union will relaunch trilateral talks with Kiev and Moscow on supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine following Thursday's peace accord with Russia over Ukraine, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said. At a news conference following an EU summit in Brussels, Juncker said negotiators would aim to avoid a repeat next winter of crisis talks required in recent months to maintain supplies to Ukraine, partly funded by EU money. ...
  
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• House GOP pushes tax cuts despite veto threat over costs

  12-02-2015 23:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are advancing a series of tax cuts this week affecting millions of businesses and individuals, despite White House veto threats over adding more than $300 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade.
  
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• Austria's Fenninger wins giant slalom at worlds

  12-02-2015 23:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Beaver Creek (United States) (AFP) - Austria's Anna Fenninger overcame a mid-race slip up to claim the world title Thursday in the women's giant slalom at the Beaver Creek World Alpine Championships.
  
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• Washington city sees 4 police killings in recent months

  12-02-2015 23:35 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PASCO, Wash. (AP) — Four people have been shot and killed by police in recent months in this agricultural city of 68,000 in southeastern Washington, and the most recent death of an orchard worker accused of throwing rocks at officers has sparked protests after witnesses said he was running away.
  
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• Ferguson riot arson charges

  12-02-2015 23:32 via edition.cnn.com
  
  Federal prosecutors are bringing charges in one of the fires in riots that destroyed businesses after the Michael Brown grand jury decision.
  
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• Trial set for Detroit woman in slow cooker bludgeoning death

  12-02-2015 23:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DETROIT (AP) — A trial has been set for June for a Detroit woman accused of bludgeoning her friend to death with a slow cooker during an alcohol-fueled argument about politics.
  
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• Stewart-Haas Racing puts Busch backup plan in place

  12-02-2015 23:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Team owner Tony Stewart has a contingency plan in place should Kurt Busch be unable to drive this season because of his legal troubles.
  
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• Dozens accused in scheme to launder $100m in Mexican drug cartel profits

  12-02-2015 23:29
  
  Federal court in Chicago reveals case in which thirty-two people accused of washing more US profits for powerful Sinaloa drug cartel in gold-for-cash schemeThirty-two people from the United States and Mexico are accused of running a multistate gold-for-cash scheme that laundered more than $100m in US profits for Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, a complaint unsealed this week in federal court in Chicago says.The cartel associates used cash from narcotics sales to purchase scrap and fine g
  
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• Biden in Iowa: 2016 candidate must run on Obama-Biden record

  12-02-2015 23:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that Democrats running for president in 2016 should embrace the record that he and President Barack Obama have built.
  
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• U.S. plays down new Russia sanctions as ceasefire deal eyed

  12-02-2015 23:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The United States played down the chances of new sanctions on Russia while it assesses whether a deal to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, including the withdrawal of Russian forces and equipment, is carried out. The agreement envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists taking hold from Sunday, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more political autonomy. While saying it had not taken the possi
  
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• More sanctions possible if Ukraine ceasefire fails-Merkel

  12-02-2015 23:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union may impose further sanctions if a ceasefire deal sealed in Minsk between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels is not fully implemented, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after an EU summit on Thursday. Fresh from brokering a deal in Minsk between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Merkel told a news conference that EU leaders had asked the executive European Commission to prepare further sanctions in case the ceasefi
  
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• FIFA says it is awarding Fox, Telemundo another World Cup

  12-02-2015 23:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — FIFA is sticking with its American TV partners through another World Cup.
  
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• Boris Johnson in the US: London's mayor explains how he would save British politics

  12-02-2015 23:09
  
  Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, told an audience of urban scholars and planners in Washington DC today that only a radical devolution of powers in Britain away from Whitehall to individual cities, including London, would help save British politics from the “very rocky period” it has entered into.
  
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• Boris Johnson in the US: London mayor explains how he would save British politics

  12-02-2015 23:09
  
  Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, told an audience of urban scholars and planners in Washington DC today that only a radical devolution of powers in Britain away from Whitehall to individual cities, including London, would help save British politics from the “very rocky period” it has entered into.
  
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• 'American Sniper' suspect says he took 'couple of souls'

  12-02-2015 23:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — Police video played in court shows a former Marine telling officers investigating the deaths of famed Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend that he had "taken a couple of souls" and had more to take.
  
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• FBI chief acknowledges racial bias in US policing

  12-02-2015 23:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The director of the FBI acknowledged racial bias in US law enforcement and the need to address the problem Thursday, in an unusually candid speech on police relations with black America. Many people in America's white-majority culture have biases and "react differently to a white face than a black face," James Comey said, weighing in on a delicate issue that sprang to the fore in the US last year after the deaths of several black men at the hands of white policemen. US officers wh
  
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• Federal judge in Alabama orders county to wed gay couples

  12-02-2015 22:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge in Alabama has ordered Mobile County to start issuing gay marriage licenses.
  
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• Detroit hit with $178 million legal bill two months after emerging from bankruptcy

  12-02-2015 22:55
  
  Just two months after Detroit emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, the city has been hit with a massive legal bill.
  
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• 3 Broadway musicals to get to show off at NBA All-Star Game

  12-02-2015 22:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA's All-Star Game in New York this Sunday will have some Broadway-quality entertainment, with the casts of "Chicago," ''Jersey Boys" and "Mamma Mia!" performing during the telecast.
  
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• Competing marches mark anniversary of Venezuela protest movement

  12-02-2015 22:55
  
  Supporters and opponents of President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government braved the rain to take to the streets a year after mass opposition protests began Continue reading...
  
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• Federal judge orders Alabama official to issue marriage licenses to gay couples

  12-02-2015 22:54
  
  Standoff intensifies as US district court judge targets Mobile County official in ruling that reinforces previous decision striking down same-sex marriage banThe dramatic standoff involving more than 40 probate judges in Alabama who are refusing to administer same-sex marriage has been intensified by a federal court that has ordered an official in Mobile to begin issuing licenses or face possible consequences.
  US district judge Callie Granade has bolstered her own ruling from three weeks ago t
  
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• It's no hoot: Oregon city to post signs about attacking owl

  12-02-2015 22:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  SALEM, Ore. (AP) — MSNBC host Rachel Maddow inspired Oregon's capital to post new warning signs in a park where four runners reported attacks from an angry owl likely defending its nest against perceived threats.
  
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• Boehner says Obama military force proposal needs toughening

  12-02-2015 22:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans vowed Thursday to toughen President Barack Obama's day-old legislation to authorize military force against Islamic State fighters, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi warned, "It's going to be hard" to find common ground.
  
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• Chinese phone sensation dips toes in US with accessories

  12-02-2015 22:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Xiaomi, one of China's hottest companies, is bringing its blend of cheap yet fashionable technology and crowd-pleasing antics to the U.S.
  
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• Carnival controversy over claims Rio samba group received cash from dictator

  12-02-2015 22:48
  
  O Globo newspaper said the Beija-Flor group had received $3.5m from Equatorial Guinea leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who seized power in 1979 coup Continue reading...
  
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• Megan Huntsman: Utah woman faces life in jail after admitting killing six of her babies

  12-02-2015 22:47
  
  A woman in Utah has pleaded guilty to killing six of her newborns and storing their bodies in the garage, bringing her case closer to resolution.
  
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• U.S. warns pro-Russian forces against seizing more Ukraine land

  12-02-2015 22:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. government official warned pro-Russian separatists on Thursday against seizing more territory in eastern Ukraine before a ceasefire agreement goes into effect on Sunday. "We are trying to send the message as strongly as we can that any effort to grab more land between now and Saturday night ... will seriously undercut this agreement and to warn against it in the strongest terms," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a conferenc
  
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• Mourners attend private service in honor of UNC's Dean Smith

  12-02-2015 22:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Family, friends, former players and coaches gathered Thursday to honor the life of retired North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
  
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• Work on 'Museum of Bible' under way in US capital

  12-02-2015 22:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Work on a Washington museum dedicated to The Bible got under way on Thursday with those behind it saying it was a world first that would even attract non-believers. The center is to be spread out across 430,000 square feet (40,000 square meters) and will be based in a converted warehouse in downtown Washington near other prestigious national museums based in the US capital. The artifacts on display belong to the private collection of founder Steve Green, a retail tycoon who made headlines last y
  
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• Chan and Sukumaran not the only prisoners Indonesia is ready to execute

  12-02-2015 22:40
  
  Seven other drug offenders who have been denied presidential clemency may be among those executed this month, along with the Australians Continue reading...
  
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• US stocks rise on Ukraine deal, Cisco earnings

  12-02-2015 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  New York (AFP) - US stocks posted solid gains Thursday, rallying on news of a ceasefire in Ukraine as strong earnings from Cisco lifted the technology sector.
  
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• Amanda Knox 'engaged'

  12-02-2015 22:38 via edition.cnn.com
  
  Amanda Knox, convicted last year for a second time by an Italian court in the 2007 death of her British roommate, is engaged, a source close to the family told CNN.
  
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• Heartbreak of slain students' dad

  12-02-2015 22:37 via edition.cnn.com
  
  He wishes he could cry uncontrollably, like his grief-stricken wife. But he's still in shock.
  
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• AP Exclusive: Disney gave input on measles health messages

  12-02-2015 22:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — As the measles outbreak spread last month, Disneyland executives sent a series of emails to California health officials asking them to emphasize that the theme park was not responsible for the illnesses and was safe to visit, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
  
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• Packers coach McCarthy gives up play calling job on offense

  12-02-2015 22:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Packers coach Mike McCarthy made it official Thursday, announcing that he is relinquishing his job calling plays for Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Green Bay offense.
  
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• CBS' Bob Simon remembered as master storyteller

  12-02-2015 22:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Simon was kidnapped in Iraq, beaten in Belfast and held at gunpoint in Romania during a nearly 50-year career at CBS News. His bravery made the mundane way he died — in the back seat of a car on Manhattan's West Side Highway Wednesday night — seem all the more tragic.
  
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• Punches at South Africa parliament

  12-02-2015 22:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Security forces remove members of an opposition party from South Africa's parliament during a state of the nation speech by President Jacob Zuma.
  
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• Chinese smartphone giant dipping toes in US market

  12-02-2015 22:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Xiaomi, one of China's hottest companies, is bringing its blend of cheap yet fashionable technology and crowd-pleasing antics to the U.S.
  
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• Terror ringleader's trail goes cold

  12-02-2015 22:27 via edition.cnn.com
  
  The manhunt for the suspected ringleader of a terror cell in Belgium has gone cold, a senior Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN.
  
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• Colombia's Farc: No soldiers under 17

  12-02-2015 22:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Colombia's left wing Farc guerrillas announce that they will no longer look to recruit soldiers below the age of 17.
  
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• Woman admits to Vermont school teacher's choking death

  12-02-2015 22:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — Abandoning any claims to an insanity defense, a Vermont woman pleaded guilty Thursday to the 2012 strangulation of a prep school teacher who prosecutors say was lured to her death with a ruse about a broken down car.
  
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