General news

• Obama praises Labor Secretary Perez, who's weighing DNC bid

  16-12-2016 23:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama weighed in on the race to head the Democratic National Committee on Friday, praising Labor Secretary Tom Perez as "tireless, wicked smart" and "extraordinary."
  
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• Duterte slams US: Will not stop drug war

  16-12-2016 23:46 via cnn.com
  
  The Philippine President vowed Friday to keep up his controversial campaign against drugs as long as he remains in office.
  
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• Big storm hits California, chopper saves homeless and dogs

  16-12-2016 23:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A pre-winter storm drenched California with rain and dumped nearly three feet of snow to help bolster the vital Sierra Nevada snowpack but also triggered mud flows, street flooding and the dramatic rescue Friday of two homeless women and 10 dogs from a flooded river island near Los Angeles.
  
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• Obama signs bill for Flint water, Calif. drought

  16-12-2016 23:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed a bill Friday authorizing water projects across the country, including $170 million to address lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, and $558 million to provide relief to drought-stricken California.
  
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• Prosecutor confident in Milwaukee shooting case

  16-12-2016 23:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MILWAUKEE (AP) — The prosecutor who charged a former Milwaukee police officer with killing a black man in a shooting that sparked riots in Wisconsin's largest city said Friday that he's not trying to send a message to the public about police use-of-force.
  
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• Coming Soon: The 'Real' Presidential Election

  16-12-2016 23:35 via nbcnews.com
  
  In a typical election year, the mid-December meeting of the electoral college interests only political junkies and civics teachers. Not this time.
  
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• Tazawa finalizes $12 million, 2-year contract with Marlins

  16-12-2016 23:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MIAMI (AP) — Right-handed reliever Junichi Tazawa has finalized his $12 million, two-year contract with the Miami Marlins after passing a physical.
  
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• Louisville suspends assistant after Wake Forest probe

  16-12-2016 23:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville has suspended Lonnie Galloway for the Citrus Bowl following a review of how the co-offensive coordinator handled Wake Forest game plans he received from fired Demon Deacons broadcaster Tommy Elrod.
  
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• Democrats eye confirmation fight over Trump's Treasury pick

  16-12-2016 23:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are eyeing the Senate confirmation hearings for Donald Trump's Treasury secretary pick selection as a prime opportunity to chip away at the Republican's populist appeal with working-class voters and begin rebuilding their own party's economic message.
  
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• Trump family and businesses were paid $12.5 million during campaign

  16-12-2016 23:29 via money.cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump paid nearly $12.5 million to his own businesses and family members during his 18-month campaign for president, a CNN review of federal reports shows.
  
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• Obama signs bill to review civil rights-era killings

  16-12-2016 23:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Racially motivated, civil rights-era killings that are now cold cases will get fresh looks under legislation signed by President Barack Obama.
  
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• Obama points finger at Putin for cyber attacks on U.S. election

  16-12-2016 23:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday strongly suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally oversaw the computer hacks of Democratic Party emails that American intelligence officials say were aimed at helping Republican Donald Trump win the Nov. 8 election. At a pre-Christmas press conference, Obama leveled a fierce attack against Russia, calling it a smaller and weaker country than the United States that "does not produce an
  
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• Hall of Famer Rod Carew has heart, kidney transplant

  16-12-2016 23:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew has undergone successful heart and kidney transplant surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.
  
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• Obama accuses pro-Assad forces of having 'blood on their hands' – video

  16-12-2016 23:17 via theguardian.com
  
  US president Barack Obama says the the bloodshed in the Syrian city of Aleppo is on the hands of the Assad regime and its allies Russia and Iran. Speaking at the White House on Friday, in his last press conference of the year, Obama went on to discuss his response to Russian hacking of the DNC in the run-up to the election, telling Putin to ‘cut it out’Obama says he warned Russia to ‘cut it out’ over election hackingContinue reading...
  
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• Obama pauses press conference to help sick reporter

  16-12-2016 23:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US President Barack Obama paused his final end-of-year press conference to get help for a reporter who fell ill.
  
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• Obama says he warned Russia to 'cut it out' over election hacking

  16-12-2016 23:15 via theguardian.com
  
  The US president held his final press conference of 2016, criticizing the media for its coverage of Hillary Clinton’s emails, and discussing Russia and SyriaObama promises retaliation against Russia over hacking during US electionBarack Obama pointed a finger at Vladimir Putin for hacking the US election, admitting he directly told his Russian adversary to “cut it out”.Obama also used his final press conference of 2016 to criticize the media for its coverage of Hillary Clinton&
  
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• Clinton: Putin's Alleged Involvement in Hack Stems From 'Personal Beef'

  16-12-2016 23:13
  
  The former presidential candidate made the comments at an event in NYC.
  
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• How Technology Will Bring Loved Ones Back to Life

  16-12-2016 23:12 via nbcnews.com
  
  The ability to upload our minds to the Cloud is still a long way off, but new digital archiving technologies could be our first step toward immortality.
  
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• The Latest: Lawmakers adjourn session curbing gov's powers

  16-12-2016 23:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on efforts by the North Carolina General Assembly to shift or reduce powers of the new incoming Democratic governor (all times local):
  
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• First lady: White House needs 'grown-up' in times of crisis

  16-12-2016 23:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama says the White House needs a "grown-up" and the nation will come to appreciate President Barack Obama.
  
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• Philippines' Duterte: 'bye-bye America' and we don't need your money

  16-12-2016 23:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told the United States on Saturday to prepare for repeal of an agreement on deployment of troops and equipment for exercises, declaring "bye-bye America", and we don't need your money. "Prepare to leave the Philippines. Prepare for the eventual repeal or abrogation of the VFA." The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), signed in 1998, accorded legal status to thousands of U.S. troops who were rotated in the country for military exercises and humanitarian assistanc
  
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• Many GMO studies have financial conflicts of interest

  16-12-2016 23:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Financial conflicts of interest were found in 40 percent of published research articles on the genetically modified crops, also known as GMO crops, French researchers said this week. The findings in the December 15 edition of the US journal PLOS ONE focused on hundreds of research articles published in international scientific journals. "We found that ties between researchers and the GM crop industry were common, with 40 percent of the articles considered displaying conflicts of interest," said
  
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• US drops bold warning from anti-smoking pills Chantix, Zyban

  16-12-2016 22:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators on Friday removed a bold-letter warning from Pfizer's anti-smoking drug Chantix about risks of dangerous psychiatric side effects.
  
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• Historical society, artist preserve 'Subway Therapy' notes

  16-12-2016 22:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The subway sticky notes that New Yorkers used to express their thoughts about the future of the nation after last month's election will be preserved in a museum, officials announced Friday.
  
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• U.S. intelligence agencies feud with Republicans over Russian hacking

  16-12-2016 22:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Mark Hosenball Republican members of Congress are complaining that U.S. intelligence agencies are refusing to brief them widely on a classified CIA report that concluded Russia hacked Democratic Party data in an effort to help Donald Trump win the presidency. The Republicans said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has refused their requests for full briefings of Congress' two intelligence committees.
  
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• The Latest: Obama silent on need to brief electors on Russia

  16-12-2016 22:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Barack Obama's year-end news conference (all times EST):
  
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• 'Cut it out,' Obama told Putin on cyber attacks

  16-12-2016 22:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President Barack Obama said Friday he had confronted Vladimir Putin in person over allegations of Russian hacking when they met ahead of the US election, telling him to "cut it out" and promising a firm response. Just five weeks before he leaves the White House, the outgoing president has vowed to retaliate against Moscow over the cyber-meddling, which US intelligence says was designed to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, a Putin critic. "Our goal continues to be to send a cle
  
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• US stocks retreat; banking shares decline

  16-12-2016 22:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  New York (AFP) - Wall Street stocks finished lower Friday following profit-taking in banking shares and some other equities that had scored big gains in the post-election rally.
  
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• US offers $25 million reward for info leading to al-Baghdadi

  16-12-2016 22:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has more than doubled its offer of a reward to $25 million for information leading to the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliph.
  
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• China seizes U.S. underwater drone in South China Sea

  16-12-2016 22:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Chinese warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by a U.S. oceanographic vessel in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday. The drone was taken on Dec. 15, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), officia
  
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• Obama denounces Aleppo 'horror' as evacuation suspended

  16-12-2016 22:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  US President Barack Obama denounced the "horror" in Aleppo Friday and called for impartial observers after Syria's government suspended the evacuation of civilians and fighters from the last rebel-held areas. Obama said President Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime and its Iranian and Russian backers are solely responsible for the slaughter of civilians in Aleppo. "The world as we speak is united in horror at the savage assault by the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies on the city of A
  
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• Trump builds team of bosses to shake up Washington

  16-12-2016 22:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By James Oliphant and Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With more than 20 nominees now selected, Donald Trump’s cabinet appears much like the president-elect himself: mostly older, white males, many of them wealthy, who see themselves as risk-takers and deal-makers and prize action over deliberation. Trump, who says Washington is "broken" and controlled by special interests, has largely eschewed technocrats with long government experience. Trump's roster of agency heads and advisers
  
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• Venezuela cash crisis sparks looting, protests

  16-12-2016 22:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Desperate Venezuelans looted delivery trucks and clashed with police Friday as a botched plan to introduce new banknotes left people stranded without cash -- the latest shortage in a spiraling economic crisis. Formerly the highest denomination bill, the 100-bolivar note was worth about three US cents, and accounted for 77 percent of the cash in circulation in Venezuela. In the eastern city of Maturin, dozens of people blocked off a major avenue and looting broke out.
  
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• Obama urges Trump to take foreign election impact seriously

  16-12-2016 22:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President Barack Obama suggested strongly on Friday that Russia's Vladimir Putin knew about the email hackings that roiled the U.S. presidential race, and he urged his successor, Republican Donald Trump, ...
  
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• What if electors go rogue?

  16-12-2016 22:04 via cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump is busy building his Cabinet and planning his agenda, but he isn't really, officially going to be President quite yet. One of the peculiarities of American democracy is that it's actually a group of 538 "electors" -- members of the Electoral College -- in this nation of 318 million who actually pick the president.
  
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• Wall Street falls as Oracle weighs

  16-12-2016 22:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday, weighed by a more than 4-percent drop in Oracle shares, while recently-battered stocks in the real estate and utilities sectors posted the largest gains.
  
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• Can vote go against Trump?

  16-12-2016 22:04 via cnn.com
  
  Donald Trump is busy building his Cabinet and planning his agenda, but he isn't really, officially going to be President quite yet. One of the peculiarities of American democracy is that it's a group of 538 "electors" -- members of the Electoral College -- in this nation of 318 million who actually pick the president.
  
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• Vine will live on as simpler video app for Twitter

  16-12-2016 21:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter's video app, Vine, will live on as a simpler tool for the micro-messaging service.
  
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• Catalan leader mulls early vote on break with Spain

  16-12-2016 21:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Separatist leaders in Catalonia plan to seek Spanish government support for a referendum on the region's independence, but a lack of consent from Madrid will not stop them from staging the vote, the president of the regional government said Friday.
  
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• Michelle Obama: 'Now We Are Feeling What Not Having Hope Feels Like'

  16-12-2016 21:57
  
  The first lady spoke to Oprah Winfrey during a pre-taped interview.
  
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• Aleppo evacuation halted as both sides trade blame

  16-12-2016 21:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Diplomats sought to salvage the evacuation of eastern Aleppo after it stalled Friday amid recriminations by both sides in Syria's civil war, raising fears the cease-fire could collapse with thousands still ...
  
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• US supports French proposal for independent Aleppo monitors

  16-12-2016 21:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Friday she favors a French-drafted U.N. resolution calling for independent international monitors to oversee the evacuation of civilians and rebel fighters ...
  
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• Polish lawmakers block parliament to protest media rules

  16-12-2016 21:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Opposition lawmakers in Poland, upset that the conservative ruling party plans to limit reporters' access to lawmakers, protested Friday in the lower house of parliament, singing the national anthem and chanting "Free media!" and "Democracy!"
  
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• Obama says has 'great confidence' that Russia was behind hacks

  16-12-2016 21:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he had "great confidence" that the hacking of Democratic Party officials and institutions were carried out by Russia and at the behest of high-level Russian officials. "The intelligence that I've seen gives me great confidence in their assessment that the Russians carried out this hack," Obama said at a White House news conference. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason, writing by Mohammad Zargham, editing by G Crosse)
  
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• Trump moves to cancel deals in Azerbaijan, Georgia

  16-12-2016 21:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump Organization has canceled a licensing deal for a hotel in Azerbaijan and is taking steps to do the same for a project in neighboring Georgia, part of a string of recent efforts by the president-elect to extricate his business from thorny relationships five weeks before he takes office.
  
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• Correction: Minnesota-Boycott story

  16-12-2016 21:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In a story Dec. 15 about University of Minnesota football players boycotting football activities following player suspensions after an alleged sexual assault, The Associated Press erroneously reported the date of the alleged attack. It was Sept. 2, not Sept. 3.
  
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• Correction: Minnesota-Suspensions story

  16-12-2016 21:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In a story Dec. 14 about the suspensions of 10 University of Minnesota football players over an alleged sexual assault, The Associated Press erroneously reported the date of the alleged attack. It was Sept. 2, not Sept. 3.
  
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• Obama defends U.S. approach toward war in Syria

  16-12-2016 21:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President Barack Obama on Friday defended the U.S. approach toward the civil war in Syria, saying he understood the desire for action to end the conflict but it would have been impossible to do "on the cheap" without a full U.S. military intervention.
  
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• Obama says Ronald Reagan would "roll over in his grave" at the thought that a third of GOP voters approve of Putin

  16-12-2016 21:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama says Ronald Reagan would "roll over in his grave" at the thought that a third of GOP voters approve of Putin.
  
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• Drug overdose deaths rise significantly in past 5 years

  16-12-2016 21:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Drug overdose deaths have increased by 33 percent in the past five years across the country, with some states seeing jumps of nearly 200 percent.
  
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