General news

• Eleven states sue US government over transgender bathroom policy

  25-05-2016 23:24 via theguardian.com
  
  States trying to overturn directive, which they call a ‘massive social experiment’, that schools allow students to use the bathroom matching their gender identityCalling the Obama administration’s rules on transgender students “a massive social experiment”, Texas and 10 other states announced Wednesday that they are suing over the administration’s directive to US public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gen
  
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• 10 watches to invest in now

  25-05-2016 23:12 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Each spring watch collectors descend in a frenzy on the "rare and important" timepiece auctions taking place in Geneva. This May they're drooling a bit more than usual over Phillips' special sale on May 14, "Start Stop, Reset: Epic Stainless Steel Chronographs."
  
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• Timepieces that changed the world

  25-05-2016 23:11 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Mechanical watchmaking is not a world of revolutions, it's a world of evolutions, where change comes only slowly and tradition is a sacred trust.
  In the five hundred or so years that watches have existed, however, there have been a few that have changed the watchmaking world. Some of these watches broke new ground in design, some in technology -- and some both. Here are ten that made history and became part of it at the same time.
  
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• Three journalists disappear within days

  25-05-2016 22:48 via rss.cnn.com
  
  First, Spanish journalist Salud Hernandez went missing while working on a story in Catatumbo, a remote region in northern Colombia with a heavy guerrilla and organized crime presence.
  
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• Child sex abusers face chemical castration

  25-05-2016 22:47 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Child sex abuse is now punishable by death and chemical castration in Indonesia after its president on Wednesday issued a new law following the brutal gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl.
  
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• Israel's Netanyahu adds hard-liner to coalition

  25-05-2016 22:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named one of Israel's most polarizing politicians as defense minister on Wednesday, solidifying his parliamentary majority at the risk of antagonizing the international community and his own military — and clouding already slim hopes for a resumption of peace efforts.
  
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• Jon Stewart adopts paint-covered horse; ex-owner backs care

  25-05-2016 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — A horse adopted by Jon Stewart and his wife reported to have been shot more than 100 times by a paintball gun was instead used as a canvas for children's finger-painting parties, the former owner of the horse said.
  
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• 11 states sue over Obama's school transgender directive

  25-05-2016 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Texas and 10 other states are suing the Obama administration over its directive to U.S. public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. The ...
  
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• South Carolina Governor signs 20-week abortion ban

  25-05-2016 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican Gov. Nikki Haley signed legislation Wednesday that immediately outlaws most abortions in South Carolina at 20 weeks beyond fertilization.
  
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• New York joins global movement to scrap 'tampon tax'

  25-05-2016 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Women in New York will soon save cents when purchasing sanitary products, as the state joins the global movement denouncing the so-called tampon tax as sexist and unfair. The bill will go to Governor Andrew Cuomo to be signed into law, following the states of Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania where similar legislation has already passed. "Repealing this out-of-touch tax has been decades in the making," said New York state senator Susan Serino, who sponsored the bill.
  
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• Memorable moments from the National Spelling Bee

  25-05-2016 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — The 284 kids competing in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee got their first opportunity to approach the microphone on Wednesday — and to hear the dreaded bell that signals an incorrect spelling. At the end of Wednesday's onstage rounds, the field will be cut to no more than 50 spellers for Thursday's finals.
  
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• Investigators: Homeowner shoots worker, self; both die

  25-05-2016 22:31 via news.yahoo.com
  LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) — A man who fatally shot a heating oil company employee who went to his house to do work and then shot and wounded himself has died of his injuries, authorities said.
  
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• Documents show 'American Sniper' Kyle embellished record

  25-05-2016 22:31 via news.yahoo.com
  HOUSTON (AP) — Documents show that slain Navy Seal and "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle misrepresented the number of medals he received.
  
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• Warriors could join list of teams that flopped in playoffs

  25-05-2016 22:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Despite finishing the regular season with a record-breaking 73 wins, the Golden State Warriors find themselves one game away from playoff elimination. Down 3-1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals after a 118-94 road loss Tuesday night, the defending NBA champions will have to win three straight games to advance. Golden State would join a list of dominant regular season teams that were eliminated without reaching the finals. Teams like the undefeated 2007 Patriots,
  
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• The Latest: Michigan man faces murder charge in 2014 death

  25-05-2016 22:23 via news.yahoo.com
  MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on charges filed against a Michigan man in the 2014 fatal shooting of a 36-year-old woman (all times local):
  
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• Gunman captured after shootings on Phoenix-area highway

  25-05-2016 22:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz. (AP) — A gunman armed with a rifle, body armor and extra ammunition opened fire at cars on a highway in the Phoenix outskirts, leaving at least two people injured before police captured him near a stolen car that crashed into a ditch, authorities said Wednesday.
  
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• Clinton email server broke government rules, watchdog finds

  25-05-2016 22:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton broke government rules by using a private email server without approval for her work as U.S. secretary of state, an internal government watchdog said on Wednesday. The long-awaited report by the State Department inspector general was the first official audit of the controversial arrangement to be made public. It was highly critical of Clinton's use of a server in her home, and immediately fueled Republican attacks on Clinton, the Democratic
  
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• The golden voice of Cameroon, Anne Marie Nzie, dies at 84

  25-05-2016 22:20 via news.yahoo.com
  YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Singer Anne Marie Nzie, known as the golden voice of Cameroon, has died. She was 84.
  
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• NASA to inflate habitat at space station

  25-05-2016 22:20 via rss.cnn.com
  
  The International Space Station is about to get a little bigger.
  
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• Church slaying families accept pursuit of death penalty

  25-05-2016 22:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The husband of a woman gunned down at a historic black church in Charleston with eight other people said Wednesday he won't be at peace until the man charged in the slayings is put to death.
  
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• The Latest: Tiny Texas school district joins in lawsuit

  25-05-2016 22:08 via news.yahoo.com
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Latest on 11 states suing the Obama administrative over a federal directive about transgender students in public schools (all times local):
  
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• Opinion: Is he the least bad option?

  25-05-2016 22:05 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Editor's note: Michael Kugelman is senior associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.
  
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• Cameron says Tata Steel UK gets 'encouraging' offers

  25-05-2016 22:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Kylie MacLellan and William James NAGOYA, Japan/LONDON (Reuters) - Tata Steel has received a number of serious offers for its businesses in Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday as steel workers marched past Downing Street to put pressure on the government to get a deal. Britain's steel industry has been hit by cheap Chinese imports, high energy costs and a global supply glut and in March Tata said it wanted to sell its remaining plants in the country, putting 15,000 jobs at
  
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• Teen sues in locker room rape, alleges lengthy racist abuse

  25-05-2016 22:01 via news.yahoo.com
  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A black teenager who prosecutors say was sexually assaulted by three white football players in the locker room of a Idaho high school has sued the school district, alleging the rape was the culmination of months of racist taunts and physical abuse.
  
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• Hardline Israel alliance raises US 'questions' on peace

  25-05-2016 21:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded an accord Wednesday to appoint nationalist Avigdor Lieberman as defence minister in an alliance Washington said raised "legitimate questions" over his government's commitment to a two-state solution. The Yisrael Beitenu party of Lieberman, a bearded and stocky former foreign minister, will add five lawmakers to Netanyahu's previously wafer-thin majority if the coalition deal is given parliamentary approval as expected. The two men, who have in
  
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• Crews assess damage after tornadoes, hail, rain pound Plains

  25-05-2016 21:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) — Western Kansas survey crews took advantage of calm conditions Wednesday to assess damage from severe weather that swept through the Great Plains, and the National Weather Service said more storms could be on the horizon.
  
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• Special Report: Industry helps Chinese game their way into and through U.S. colleges

  25-05-2016 21:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Koh Gui Qing, Alexandra Harney, Steve Stecklow and James Pomfret IOWA CITY, Iowa (Reuters) - The advertisements were tailored for Chinese college students far from home, struggling with the English language and an unfamiliar culture. Coaching services peppered the students with emails and chat messages in Chinese, offering to help foreign students at U.S. colleges do much of the work necessary for a university degree. For dozens of Chinese nationals at the University of Iowa, the offers prove
  
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• House wading into California's long-running water war

  25-05-2016 21:54 via news.yahoo.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Wading into a longstanding California water war, the House Wednesday endorsed a Republican plan to shift more water to San Joaquin Valley farmers and cut the flow for threatened fish and growers in another part of the state.
  
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• Florida 6th-grader wins National Geographic Bee

  25-05-2016 21:54 via news.yahoo.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida sixth-grader has won the 2016 National Geographic Bee.
  
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• Belgium questions 4 IS suspects who may have planned attacks

  25-05-2016 21:54 via news.yahoo.com
  BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian prosecutors said Wednesday they have questioned four suspected Islamic State group recruiters, who may have planned new attacks in the country.
  
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• Documents: Hiker found dead in '15 survived at least 26 days

  25-05-2016 21:49 via news.yahoo.com
  AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Documents show an Appalachian Trail hiker whose remains were found last year in Maine survived at least 26 days after getting lost. During that time, her texts went undelivered because of poor cell reception.
  
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• 'Lost my way': Murray pushed to 5 sets again at French Open

  25-05-2016 21:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PARIS (AP) — As if ordering room service, Andy Murray's latest unheralded French Open tormenter requested that a can of Coke and a Mars bar be brought to him right there on Court Philippe Chatrier for sustenance during their five-setter.
  
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• Lawyer for Mexico drug lord demands payment from US networks

  25-05-2016 21:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MEXICO CITY (AP) — A lawyer for imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman says he'll sue television networks if they air a new series on Guzman's life without paying him.
  
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• The Latest: Stephens wraps up play at French Open with win

  25-05-2016 21:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the French Open (all times local):
  
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• Here's what Taliban's new chief can expect in the job

  25-05-2016 21:43 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Congratulations Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. You've been elected by the central Shura of the Taliban as the movement's new Emir, just the third since it was founded.
  
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• French gardener on trial for killing British expat was 'jealous', court told

  25-05-2016 21:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Patricia Wilson, who was killed in her rural French home in 2012, said to have had a tumultuous relationship with the accusedThe last person to see British expat Patricia Wilson alive has described her friend’s tumultuous relationship with the gardener accused of her murder - and how she frantically searched the rural French house for signs of life after realising she had gone missing.
  Fiona McKinley, 61, who had a close relationship with Wilson, 58, described how she grew increasingly wor
  
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• Striking pictures capture moment of migrant shipwreck off Libya

  25-05-2016 21:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Dramatic images released by the Italian navy Wednesday captured the moment a heavily overcrowded boat overturned in a shipwreck off Libya which left at least five people dead. The blue fishing vessel, its deck heaving with people, tipped over after the migrants rushed to one side on spotting a rescue ship -- an all too frequent mistake which has led to many disasters in the Mediterranean. The navy said its Bettica patrol boat had spotted "a boat in precarious conditions off the coast of Libya wi
  
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• Exclusive - EU launches contingency talks for Brexit vote: sources

  25-05-2016 21:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Gabriela Baczynska, Jan Strupczewski and Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union officials and diplomats launched a round of confidential discussions this week to prepare a coordinated response to a possible British vote to leave the bloc next month, EU sources told Reuters on Wednesday. Britain will hold a referendum on EU membership on June 23. Senior diplomats from founding powers Germany and France, as well as several other countries, met on Monday for talks chaired by Euro
  
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• Spurs' Leonard unanimous pick for NBA All-Defensive Team

  25-05-2016 21:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NBA Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs was a unanimous selection to the 2015-16 NBA All-Defensive First Team announced Wednesday. Also on the All-Defensive top lineup was forward Draymond Green of the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, center DeAndre Jordan and guard Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers and guard Avery Bradley of the Boston Celtics.
  
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• South Korea's president arrives in Ethiopia

  25-05-2016 21:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — South Korea's President Park Geun-hye has arrived in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Wednesday night to start her three-nation visit to Africa.
  
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• State officials sue U.S. government over transgender bathroom policy

  25-05-2016 21:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The lawsuit accused the federal government of overstepping its constitutional powers by taking actions that should be left to Congress or individual states. Amid a national debate on transgender rights, President Barack Obama's administration on May 13 told U.S. public schools that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice, upsetting Republicans and raising the likelihood of fights over federal funding and legal authority.
  
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• Trump's 'jaw-dropping hypocrisy'

  25-05-2016 21:31 via rss.cnn.com
  
  Hypocrisy is not a strong enough word to describe Donald Trump's recent attacks on Bill Clinton's past alleged sexual misconduct from the 1990s. We really need to come up with a new term and maybe call it "pulling a Trump."
  
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• Pressure builds on IS with twin assaults in Syria, Iraq

  25-05-2016 21:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The operations to the north of IS's de facto Syrian capital Raqa and near the jihadist-held Iraqi city of Fallujah are adding to pressure on the extremist group, which has seen territory under its control shrink in recent months. The US-led coalition that launched air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq in mid-2014 is providing air support on both fronts, as efforts intensify to dismantle the group's self-styled Islamic "caliphate" straddling the Syrian-Iraqi border. Since the start of the Fall
  
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• Leader is a 'clever' pick

  25-05-2016 21:28 via rss.cnn.com
  
  The Afghan Taliban's new leader is an educated and well-respected member of the organization who could prove easier to negotiate a peace settlement with, a founding member of the group tells CNN.Sponsored:
  Drivers With No Tickets In 3 Years Read ThisDo NOT pay your next car insurance bill until you try this.
  
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• Belgian police detain four on suspicion of being in terrorist group

  25-05-2016 21:27 via theguardian.com
  
  After police raids on houses in Antwerp, suspected recruiters are charged with participating in activities of terrorist groupPolice in Belgium have detained four people on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist group – accusing them of attempting to recruit people to fight with Islamist militants in Syria or Libya. Following a police search of houses in Antwerp on Wednesday, two were formally arrested, with two others given a conditional release. The federal prosecutor’s office said a
  
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• Zimbabwe: Thousands march for Mugabe

  25-05-2016 21:26 via news.yahoo.com
  HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Thousands gathered in Zimbabwe on Wednesday to support President Robert Mugabe, with speakers calling for him to rule for life.
  
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• ExxonMobil CEO: ending oil production 'not acceptable for humanity'

  25-05-2016 21:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Shareholders win vote that could support board candidates concerned about climate as Rex Tillerson faces turbulent annual meetingRex Tillerson, the boss of oil giant ExxonMobil, said cutting oil production was “not acceptable for humanity” as he fought off shareholders’ and activists’ attempts to force the company to fully acknowledge the impact of climate change on the environment and Exxon’s future profits.During a long and fractious annual meeting in Dallas on We
  
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• Lions lick tent while campers inside it in Botswana park

  25-05-2016 21:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Two South African campers had a close encounter with lions who licked the tent they were in at a campsite in Botswana.
  
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• U.S. says new Israeli coalition raises 'legitimate questions'

  25-05-2016 21:20 via news.yahoo.com
  Reports of Israel's new right-wing governing coalition raise "legitimate questions" about the direction of Israeli policy but the United States will judge the new government based on its actions, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday. "We have also seen reports from Israel describing it as the most right-wing coalition in Israel's history and we also know that many of its ministers have said they oppose a two-state solution," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
  
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• Canadian man found not criminally responsible in deadly stabbing rampage

  25-05-2016 21:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Psychiatric experts: Matthew de Grood had mental disorder that made him incapable of appreciating or knowing that his actions that killed five were wrongA Canadian man has been found not criminally responsible for killing five people in a 2014 stabbing rampage.A judge delivered the verdict in the first-degree murder trial of Matthew de Grood on Wednesday. Justice Eric Macklin of court of queen’s bench said he accepted findings from psychiatric experts who said De Grood had a mental disorde
  
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