General news

• Democrats announce new criteria to qualify for Feb. 7 debate

  17-01-2020 23:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Democratic National Committee on Friday announced its criteria for the first debate to be held after voting begins in the 2020 presidential campaign, including a new pathway to the stage based off delegate pledges.As they have before, qualifiers will need to meet polling and grassroots funding thresholds to participate in the Feb. 7 debate in Manchester, New Hampshire.Party officials are relying on the same polling and grassroots thresholds as for the January debate in Des Moines, Iowa: eith
  
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• Trump calls Iran's Supreme Leader 'not so supreme' in threatening tweet

  17-01-2020 23:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President Trump has a new target for his Twitter ire -- Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Khamenei on Friday morning called Trump a "clown" who is only pretending to support Iran's people, and criticized the Trump-authorized killing of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. In Khamenei's first time leading Friday prayers at the Mosella mosque in Tehran since 2012, he said Iran's retaliatory missile strikes were a "slap on the face" to the U.S. that demonstrated Iran's "power."Trump respo
  
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• Trump administration announces reversal of Michelle Obama's healthy school food reforms — on her birthday

  17-01-2020 23:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Trump administration has proposed new school lunch rules that critics say would allow for more pizzas, burgers and french fries to be served to children across the country instead of veggies — a cut to former first lady Michelle Obama’s signature achievement to try and make school lunches healthier.The timing is also notable; the latest rule proposals were announced on Mrs Obama’s birthday.
  
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• How Trump's impeachment differs from a criminal trial

  17-01-2020 23:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Yes, it's a trial — but the Senate's impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump won't resemble anything Americans have seen on Court TV.In Trump's trial, the Senate will serve as both judge and jury.COURTROOM TRIAL: Federal trials, both civil and criminal, are presided over by District Court judges who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
  
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• Meghan Markle's former LA mansion is still looking for a buyer, and the asking price just dropped — here's a look inside

  17-01-2020 23:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Before Kensington Palace, Frogmore Cottage, and declaring a pursuit of financial independence, Meghan Markle already lived like a queen.
  
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• Pakistan FM, after visits, says Iran wants to de-escalate

  17-01-2020 23:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Pakistan's foreign minister, who has shuttled between Washington and Tehran in the course of a week, voiced confidence Friday that Iran was seeking to lower tensions.Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi discussed Iran and Afghanistan's peace process Friday with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, five days after seeing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani."They don't want war, they don't want further bloodshed," Qureshi told reporters in Washington.
  
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• Johnson Plans Muted Brexit Celebrations After Big Ben Backdown

  17-01-2020 23:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed away from crowdfunding for the ringing of Big Ben to mark the U.K.’s departure from the European Union on Jan. 31, opting instead for muted commemorations his office said would seek to “heal divisions and re-unite communities.”Johnson will take his cabinet for a meeting in the north of England on the day and government buildings will be lit up, his office said in an email.The statement made no mention of ringing the bell,
  
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• High Court to Rule on ‘Faithless Electors’ in Presidential Vote

  17-01-2020 23:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether states can penalize members of the Electoral College if they refuse to vote for the presidential candidate who won the statewide vote, taking up an issue that could affect the outcome of a tight election.Accepting cases from Washington and Colorado, the justices will consider whether electors have a constitutional right to vote as they please, even if that means bucking the will of the state’s voters.The court will probably hea
  
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• Disney is renaming '20th Century Fox'

  17-01-2020 23:15 via cnn.com
  
  20th Century Fox is an icon of Hollywood history. Its epic fanfare title card has appeared in front of "The Sound of Music," "Star Wars" and other major films over the past 85 years. But in 2020, that name is no more.
  
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• U.S. Supreme Court takes up presidential Electoral College dispute

  17-01-2020 23:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  As the 2020 race heats up, the Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a dispute involving the complex U.S. presidential election system focusing on whether Electoral College electors are free to break their pledges to back the candidate who wins their state's popular vote, an act that could upend an election. The Supreme Court will take up appeals in two cases - from Washington state and Colorado - involving electors who decided to vote in the Electoral College process for someone other than Dem
  
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• A 'naked philanthropist' who says she raised $1 million for Australia's fires is now sending nudes to people who donate to Puerto Rico

  17-01-2020 23:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Kaylen Ward says she raised $1 million for Australia, sending nudes to people who donated. Now she is doing the same, raising money for Puerto Rico.
  
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• Trump Rolls Back Michelle Obama’s School Lunch Nutrition Rules

  17-01-2020 23:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration announced a rollback of Michelle Obama’s signature initiative for healthy school lunches on Friday, coinciding with the former first lady’s birthday.Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a proposed new regulation that would make it easier for school cafeterias to offer a la carte entrees to students and allow more varieties of vegetables to be used to meet nutrition requirements.Perdue said the proposed rule will offer schools more flexi
  
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• Hillary Clinton weighs in on 2020 primaries: 'Vote for the person you think is most likely to win'

  17-01-2020 23:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Hillary Clinton has some advice for voters planning to participate in the Democratic primaries when voting begins in a few short weeks: "Try to vote for the person you think is most likely to win."The former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic nominee spoke at the Television Critics Association press tour on Friday while promoting Hulu’s new four-part documentary series based on her life, titled Hillary.
  
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• Prosecutor: Revoke bail for impeachment figure Robert Hyde

  17-01-2020 22:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A Massachusetts judge is considering whether to revoke bail in a protective order case against a Connecticut man who has emerged as a figure in the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.A prosecutor made the request to revoke Robert F. Hyde's bail during a hearing in Malden District Court on Thursday, with police accusing Hyde of repeatedly violating a civil protective order obtained by a political consultant, The Hartford Courant reported.The consultant obtained the restraining
  
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• Washing Trump's hair and Bloomberg's meatballs: offbeat moments in US election campaign

  17-01-2020 22:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Donald Trump's fixation on water pressure, the bizarre tweets of Michael Bloomberg, a candidate who does push-ups at campaign gatherings, and another who can recite state capitals at lightning speed: AFP is starting its weekly list of the offbeat highlights from the run-up to the US presidential election.In a country where the age of several front-runners in the race for the White House has raised concerns, 38-year-old Army veteran Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii, performed a set of push-u
  
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• Painting found in Italian museum wall is stolen Klimt

  17-01-2020 22:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A painting found stashed inside a wall at an Italian museum has been confirmed as the stolen "Portrait of a Lady" by Austria's Gustav Klimt, prosecutors said on Friday, two decades after the artwork went missing.The century-old painting was discovered concealed in an external wall by gardeners at the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art in Piacenza, northeast Italy, last month."It is with no small emotion that I can tell you the work is authentic," prosecutor Ornella Chicca told reporters.
  
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• Weinstein jury seated after prosecutors accuse defense of excluding white women

  17-01-2020 22:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The jury, comprised of six white men, three black women, one black man and two white women, is set to hear opening arguments next week.Lawyers seated two white female jurors on Friday after Weinstein's defense team had exhausted their opportunity to eliminate potential jurors who did not exhibit explicit bias against the defendant or otherwise seem unfit to serve.Three legal experts said the defense appeared to assume white women would be more likely to sympathize with Weinstein's accusers.
  
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• Trump administration to roll back school lunch regulations on fruits and vegetables

  17-01-2020 22:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The USDA announced they plan to roll back school lunch regulations championed by Michelle Obama to allow schools "more flexibility" in what they serve because “because they know their children best.”
  
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• Warren Calls On Perry To Step Down From Energy Transfer Board

  17-01-2020 22:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is calling on former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry to step down from the board of the general partner that controls Dallas-based pipeline giant Energy Transfer LP.In a letter dated Jan. 16, Warren said Perry’s decision to join the board is “unethical” because Energy Transfer lobbied the Department of Energy he oversaw. The company is led by billionaire Kelcy Warren, who isn’t related to Elizabeth Warren.
  
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• Supreme Court will hear case that could decide future presidential elections

  17-01-2020 22:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Must the 538 members of the Electoral College vote for their states' winning candidates, or can they exercise independent judgment?
  
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• US dumps huge amounts of sand on Miami Beach to tackle climate change erosion

  17-01-2020 22:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Dozens of trucks have started dumping hundreds of thousands of tons of sand on Miami Beach as part of US government measures to protect Florida's tourist destinations against the effects of climate change."We have erosion hotspots," said Stephen Leatherman, an expert on beaches and the environment at Florida International University.Leatherman -- known locally as "Dr Beach" -- said that rising sea levels, triggered by climate change, are causing the accelerated erosion of the famous beach, as we
  
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• Hillary Clinton urges people to vote, fearing 4 more years of Trump: ‘Lord knows what will happen’

  17-01-2020 22:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Hillary Clinton pleaded for Democratic voters to be practical with their primary vote in the coming election this year. That’s because, she argued, nothing could be worse than a second term for President Trump.
  
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• New sinkhole found at endangered Mississippi dam

  17-01-2020 22:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  An inspection found a new sinkhole at a Mississippi lake where an earthen dam could fail because of high water levels linked to heavy rains, officials said Friday.The sinkhole was discovered at Oktibbeha County Lake on Thursday after county supervisors approved a plan to drain the lake in an effort to keep it from breaching, the Starkville Daily News reported.Measuring about 3 feet (0.9 meters) deep and 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide, the hole hadn't gotten larger by Friday, but officials feared that
  
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• Boeing discovers issue with 737 Max flight computers, source says

  17-01-2020 22:08 via cnn.com
  
  Boeing's troubled 737 Max has run into a new glitch.
  
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• 18 Things You Probably Don't Know About Prohibition

  17-01-2020 22:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A century ago, the government effectively banned booze. The details are much weirder than what you remember from history class.
  
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• Feds reportedly investigating 2017 leak, with focus on James Comey

  17-01-2020 22:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The New York Times reports the Justice Department has launched an investigation into a 2017 leak of classified information about a Russian intelligence document. CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge spoke to CBSN's Tanya Rivero about why the investigation is apparently focusing on former FBI Director James Comey.
  
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• Iran Has New Submarines, And That's Bad News For America

  17-01-2020 22:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The new Fateh-class vessel was unveiled by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani late last week, at a ceremony held at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
  
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• Trump is getting the band back together

  17-01-2020 21:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Alan Dershowitz is not the first name that comes to mind when I think of draining the swamp. The great bog (sometimes mistakenly referred to as the "Acela corridor") that stretches from Washington, D.C., all the way north to Boston is full of strange and fascinating creatures — vicious snapping turtles, will-o'-the-wisps, skunk apes, mokele-mbembes. Few are more at home in that brackish environment than the millionaire celebrity law professor whose clients have included the producers of De
  
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• Argentina’s Chubut Bonds Tumble as Province Seeks Debt Overhaul

  17-01-2020 21:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s Chubut province bonds plunged to the lowest since November after local officials said they wanted to renegotiate the debt.The bonds due 2026 slid as much as 8 cents to 63.3 cents on the dollar after its economy minister Oscar Antonena proposed reducing coupons and suspending principal payments for four years on $650 million of the overseas bonds. Antonena told local reporters that the province is sending the proposal to its local legislature along with a fiscal r
  
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• A 15-year-old orphan who lives with his grandparents is being kicked out of their senior living community because he's too young

  17-01-2020 21:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Collin Clabaugh has been living with his grandparents in a 55-and-over gated community in Arizona since last year, when both of his parents died.
  
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• Kidnapped US teen rescued by police thanks to Snapchat

  17-01-2020 21:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A California teen who had been drugged and kidnapped was rescued by police this week after using Snapchat to alert her friends to her abduction.One man was arrested as he left the motel in San Jose, in northern California, where the girl was being held and two other suspects were taken into custody on Wednesday, police said in a statement.
  
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• Justices to consider faithless electors, ahead of 2020 vote

  17-01-2020 21:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Supreme Court said Friday it will decide ahead of the 2020 election whether presidential electors are bound to support the popular vote winner in their states or can opt for someone else.Advocates for the court's intervention say the issue needs urgent resolution in an era of intense political polarization and the prospect of a razor-thin margin in a presidential election, although so-called faithless electors have been a footnote so far in American history.About 30 states require presidenti
  
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• Rand Paul Slams the Bidens over Alleged Corruption: ‘It Smells to High Heaven’

  17-01-2020 21:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) said Thursday that Joe and Hunter Biden’s activity in Ukraine “goes to the heart of the matter” surrounding the upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate, and argued that GOP senators must be willing to call President Trump’s preferred witnesses, or “all hell is going to break lose.”Appearing on Hannity, Paul stated that he believed the alleged corruption perpetrated by Hunter Biden in his role on the board of a Ukrainian gas company
  
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• Trump Gets High Court Review on Contraceptive Coverage Opt-Out

  17-01-2020 21:35 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the Trump administration’s bid to give employers and universities the broad right to claim a religious or moral exemption from the Obamacare requirement that they offer free birth control through their health-care plans.Agreeing to re-enter a fractious debate over contraceptive coverage, the justices said they will decide whether a federal appeals court was right to put President Donald Trump’s policy on hold. The high court will l
  
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• Nearly 100 million under winter weather alerts as sprawling storm picks up across US

  17-01-2020 21:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Forecasters say blizzards are expected for the Upper Midwest. By Saturday, snow is expected in Pennsylvania, New York and much of New England.
  
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• Pompeo Says State Department Will Probe Suspected Surveillance of Former U.S. Ambassador

  17-01-2020 21:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said the State Department will investigate the possibility that former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was illegally surveilled while serving in Kiev."We will do everything we need to do to evaluate whether there was something that took place there," Pompeo told conservative radio host Tony Katz in an interview.Earlier this week, House Democrats released texts between Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas and Connecticut Republican congress
  
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• Appeals court won't rehear Mississippi 15-week abortion case

  17-01-2020 21:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A federal appeals court said Friday that it will not reconsider its rulingthat Mississippi's law banningmost abortions after 15 weeks is unconstitutional.The 2018 state law remains blocked and Mississippi's only abortion clinic remains open.Mississippi is likely to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.
  
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• Groom accused of sexually assaulting teenage waitress at wedding spared jail

  17-01-2020 21:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A man accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his own wedding reception pleaded guilty to misdemeanours after more serious charges against the New Jersey groom were dropped, keeping him out of prison.In a Pennsylvania court on Thursday, 32-year-old newlywed Matthew Aimers received six years of probation as part of a plea agreement on misdemeanour charges of simple assault, indecent exposure and disorderly conduct during his November 2018 reception. Charges of indecent assault, imprisonment of
  
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• Bull-noser: Camera records moose trapping Alaska man in shed

  17-01-2020 21:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  An Alaska man carrying garbage to his shed had to take cover inside when a curious bull moose decided to join him.A Ring home security camera captured Curtis Phelps trapped inside the shed while the moose, with just one antler, tried to push his way inside.The moose eventually moved on and Phelps escaped after calling his wife, Amy, with his cellphone.
  
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• Iran leader's speech fails to quell plane anger

  17-01-2020 21:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Some Iranians reacted angrily Friday to a speech by the country's supreme leader, which they said sought to downplay days of protests after a tension-filled month in the Islamic republic."He didn't even try to calm the people and totally ignored the protesters," said one activist in Iran.Protests erupted after the Iranian government admitted to having accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jet on January 8, killing all 176 people on board.
  
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• Kate Middleton bows out of idea of having more kids with Prince William

  17-01-2020 21:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Duchess of Cambridge addressed the possibility of more children during a Wednesday visit to the city of Bradford on Wednesday.
  
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• 3 more linked to neo-Nazi group arrested in Georgia

  17-01-2020 21:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Three men linked to a violent white supremacist group known as The Base were charged with conspiring to kill members of a militant anti-fascist group, police in Georgia announced Friday, a day after three other members were arrested on federal charges in Maryland and Delaware.The Base, a collective of hardcore neo-Nazis that operate as a paramilitary organization, has proclaimed war against minority communities within the United States and abroad, the FBI has said.Unlike other extremist groups,
  
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• 8 in 10 black voters say Trump is racist, new poll shows

  17-01-2020 21:05 via cnn.com
  
  More than eight in 10 African Americans believe President Donald Trump is racist and that he has contributed to making racism a bigger problem in the United States, according to a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
  
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• Democrats Slam EPA Over Conflict of Interest Filings

  17-01-2020 20:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- The Environmental Protection Agency flouted ethics requirements meant to ensure regulators overseeing industrial pollution and chemical safety aren’t doing favors for former employers and clients, congressional Democrats alleged Friday.Newly released documents show the EPA allowed senior officials to avoid or delay completing required ethics forms, top Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said in a letter to the agency.“In the absence of a functioni
  
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• Some Weird Gas Balls Are Swirling Around Sagittarius A*

  17-01-2020 20:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  But they behave just like stars.
  
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• Was the Taal Volcano eruption large enough to influence the climate?

  17-01-2020 20:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Taal volcano roared to life last weekend for the first time in more than 40 years, sending a massive plume of volcanic ash towering over the Philippines.This was the first time that Taal has erupted since 1977, an event that marked the end of an active period for the volcano that had begun in 1965. Taal did show signs of unrest periodically throughout the 1990s, but it did not erupt during that period, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.The eruption, which be
  
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• Michelin strips star from French culinary beacon Bocuse

  17-01-2020 20:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or (France) (AFP) - Two years after the death of renowned French chef Paul Bocuse, the Michelin Guide has stripped his flagship restaurant of the coveted three-star ranking it held for half a century, prompting anger and dismay from his culinary peers.The Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near food-obsessed Lyon in southeast France, was the oldest three-starred restaurant in the world, having held the accolade since 1965.The Michelin Guide told AFP on Friday that the establishmen
  
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• ICE leader blames 'sanctuary' policies for NYC killing

  17-01-2020 20:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Matthew Albence, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said at a news conference Friday that the slaying could have been prevented if city officials had complied with a federal request to turn over the assailant, a Guyanese national, for deportation.“It's unbelievable that I have to come here and plead with the city of New York to cooperate with us to help keep this city safe,” Albence said.
  
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• Families of Canadians killed in Iran crash to receive $25,000 to help with first expenses, Trudeau says

  17-01-2020 20:47 via cnn.com
  
  The families of Canadian citizens or permanent residents killed in the downing of a passenger plane in Iran will receive $25,000 per victim from the Canadian government to help with immediate needs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday.
  
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• Ukraine president rejects PM's resignation over leaked recording

  17-01-2020 20:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he wanted to give his prime minister a "second chance" and refused to accept his resignation after a recording emerged of the premier questioning the head of state's grasp of economics.Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk had offered to quit after the leaked recording revealed him saying the president had a "primitive understanding" of the economy."I have decided to give you and your government a second chance," Zelensky said during a meeting with Gon
  
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