| Ukraine: Jet may have been shot down Posted: 17 Jul 2014 10:15 AM PDT  The country's president and members of the government say pro-Russian separatists may be to blame.
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| Yahoo News Malaysia: Live blog on airliner down Posted:  Yahoo News Malaysia: Live blog on airliner down
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| Russia slams sanctions 'blackmail' Posted: 17 Jul 2014 07:45 AM PDT  The US and EU bolstered sanctions against Russia over its alleged support of separatists in Ukraine, drawing an angry rebuke on Thursday from Moscow which said the measures amounted to "blackmail". President Barack Obama in sanctions imposed Wednesday took his first direct swipes at the Russian economy's finance, military and energy sectors, further escalating the worst standoff between the Kremlin and the West since the Cold War. Washington had warned last week that Moscow had to demonstrate a clean break from separatists or face the tougher sanctions. The Russian foreign ministry reacted to sanctions in a furious statement: "We do not intend to tolerate blackmail and reserve the right to take retaliatory measures" against the US.
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| 22 bodies counted at Ukraine plane crash site Posted: 17 Jul 2014 10:54 AM PDT  GRABOVO, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday as it flew over the country, and both the government and the pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied any responsibility for downing the plane.
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| Hamas, Israel resume attacks after brief truce Posted: 17 Jul 2014 10:26 AM PDT GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Fierce fighting between Israel and Hamas resumed Thursday, including an airstrike that killed three Palestinian children feeding pigeons on their roof, after a temporary cease-fire that allowed Gazans to stock up on supplies. |
| 10 Things to See: A week of top AP photos Posted: 17 Jul 2014 09:29 AM PDT  Here's your look at highlights from the weekly AP photo report, a gallery featuring a mix of front-page photography, the odd image you might have missed and lasting moments our editors think you should see.
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| Boehner losing optimism on border legislation deal Posted: 17 Jul 2014 09:31 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid hardening positions by both political parties, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday he's losing optimism that Democrats and Republicans can agree before their summer break on legislation to address the influx of young Central Americans across the U.S. border.
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| Microsoft cutting 18,000 jobs, signals new path Posted: 17 Jul 2014 10:50 AM PDT  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft announced the biggest layoffs in its history Thursday, saying it will cut 18,000 jobs as it streamlines its Nokia mobile device business to focus on using the Windows Phone operating system.
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| Republicans criticize handling of IRS inquiry Posted: 17 Jul 2014 09:54 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans chastised the Justice Department on Thursday for failing to share information with Congress about its investigation into the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service. Lawmakers called anew for a special prosecutor to look into the matter.
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| California bank robbery ends in 3 deaths Posted: 17 Jul 2014 09:50 AM PDT  STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — Three bank robbers took three screaming women hostage as they made their getaway and waged a ferocious, high-speed gunbattle with police that left three people dead and cars and homes riddled with bullets, authorities said.
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| Senators call on GM CEO to fire top lawyer Posted: 17 Jul 2014 10:23 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers on Thursday demanded General Motors fire its chief lawyer and open its compensation plan to more potential victims as a Senate subcommittee delved deeper into GM's mishandling of the recall of small cars with defective ignition switches.
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| 66-yard crater appears in far northern Siberia Posted: 17 Jul 2014 08:09 AM PDT  MOSCOW (AP) — Russian scientists say they believe a 60-meter (66-yard) wide crater discovered recently in far northern Siberia could be the result of changing temperatures in the region.
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| Dog hailed as hero for alerting deaf boy to fire Posted: 17 Jul 2014 08:44 AM PDT  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A pit bull named Ace is being hailed as a hero for licking the face of a sleeping, deaf 13-year-old Indianapolis boy to alert him that the house was on fire.
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| Violent bank robbery in Calif. leaves hostage, 2 suspects dead Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:40 AM PDT  STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — Robbers fleeing a California bank took three women hostage and threw two of them from their getaway vehicle, as they fired repeatedly at police during a high-speed chase. Police shot out their tires but the shooting continued, fatally wounding two suspects and the last hostage.
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| Massive whale sharks relocating to Europe's cooler water Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:20 AM PDT  The largest living fish, whale sharks, may increasingly be using volcanic islands off the western coast of Europe as a new home as sea surface temperatures rise, researchers say. The whale shark is a titan, known to reach up to 41.5 feet (12.65 meters) in length and 47,000 lbs. (21,500 kilograms) in weight, and some anecdotes suggest they can get even larger. Unlike predators such as great white sharks, whale sharks are gentle giants, using rows of their tiny teeth as a filter to strain out tiny creatures in the water for meals, just like the largest whales do. "Whale sharks are the largest living fish, yet they are also very elusive," said lead study author Pedro Afonso, a marine and fisheries ecologist at the University of the Azores.
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| 'NO ILLEAGLES HERE.' Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:48 AM PDT  Rumors, some cruel, spread along with hostility toward migrant children from Central America.
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| In CIA museum, treasures of spycraft Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:50 AM PDT  Yahoo News' Olivier Knox in inner sanctum, where tools of Hitler, bin Laden, special rat corpse hide.
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| Matt Bai: The Trouble With Boehner Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:47 AM PDT  About five months ago, just after the State of the Union address, I theorized that Barack Obama and John Boehner might still have a chance to do something big together. Both men badly wanted the legislative legacy that had eluded them on issues where there was already some consensus, like debt reduction and immigration. And Boehner appeared ready to put some distance between himself and the most rigid ideologues in his caucus.
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| Elephants in zoos struggling with obesity from captivity Posted: 17 Jul 2014 05:21 AM PDT  African elephants in captivity are packing on the pounds, and experts warn that the rise in obesity is contributing to infertility, which could be detrimental to the survival of the species in zoos. To get a handle on the problem, one group of researchers in Alabama is looking for a better way to measure body fat on the already huge animals. Just like humans, elephants with excess fat are more likely to develop heart disease, arthritis and infertility, Daniella Chusyd, a graduate student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said in a statement. Previous studies have shown an alarming number of African elephants in zoos have irregular or no ovarian cycles. [Elephants Images: The Biggest Land Animal]
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| Militants killed after audacious attack on Kabul airport Posted: 16 Jul 2014 11:28 PM PDT  By Mirwais Harooni and Abdul Saboor KABUL (Reuters) - Militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked Kabul International Airport in the Afghan capital on Thursday in one of the most audacious assaults on the facility, used by both civilians and the military, in a year. The attack on the airport comes at a time of great uncertainty for Afghanistan as votes from the second round of a disputed presidential election are to be recounted. The poll is meant to mark Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power. The attack lasted about four hours after four unidentified militants armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades opened fire on the airport from the roof of a building just to its north.
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| Israeli official says permanent Gaza ceasefire agreed Posted: 17 Jul 2014 04:20 AM PDT  There is no immediate confirmation from Hamas however.
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| Israel, Hamas begin humanitarian truce Posted: 17 Jul 2014 01:46 AM PDT  Fighting raged until just moments before the start of the five-hour cease-fire.
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| Nuclear talks: Obama hints at extension Posted: 16 Jul 2014 03:23 PM PDT  Obama says negotiations with Iran could go past the July 20 target date.
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| What Christie's 'judge problem' could mean for conservatives Posted: 16 Jul 2014 02:17 PM PDT Social conservatives are skeptical about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie after he reappointed a liberal judge to the New Jersey Supreme Court. |
| FBI warns that driverless cars could be used for evil Posted:  The recent debut of new autonomous models from Google, Cadillac, and Audi may have you dreaming of someday putting a self-driving car in your garage. Alas, the FBI has a warning for you: An idling driverless car is a devil's playground.
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| California man charged with stealing beeswax for drug habit Posted: 16 Jul 2014 04:34 PM PDT  A California man has been charged with stealing nearly 200 pounds (91 kg) of beeswax from the beekeeper who employed him and selling it to support his drug habit, in what local police say is their first arrest for pilfering the gooey substance. Karl Robert Glick, 26, a resident of Madera County in California's agricultural Central Valley, was arrested on Saturday after his employer found in Glick's car a $1,700 receipt for sale of beeswax to a Fresno company, Madera County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart said. Deputies also seized nearly 200 pounds (91 kg) of beeswax from Glick's home, Stuart said. Authorities believe Glick was melting the wax into sellable portions at his home, where deputies also found drug paraphernalia, she said.
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| EU toughens sanctions against Russia Posted: 16 Jul 2014 02:59 PM PDT  EU leaders also requested no new financing deals between European Investment Bank, Moscow.
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| CDC director admits shortcomings at germ labs Posted: 16 Jul 2014 01:09 PM PDT  The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Wednesday that systemic safety problems have for years plagued federal public health laboratories that handle dangerous germs such as anthrax and bird flu.
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| U.S. Justice Dept. says investigating lost IRS emails Posted: 16 Jul 2014 03:19 PM PDT  The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday confirmed it is investigating the loss of Internal Revenue Service emails being sought by congressional Republicans in an inquiry over tax scrutiny of conservative political groups. In written testimony to be delivered to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the probe "includes investigating the circumstances of the lost emails" from the computer of Lois Lerner, a retired IRS official. Last month, the IRS acknowledged losing some of Lerner's emails to a computer hard-drive failure, an incident that has rekindled Republican outrage in the long-running controversy over IRS targeting of conservative political groups. A Justice Department official said there had been no determination of whether the probe was criminal in nature.
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| After 12 hours, passengers exit from stalled casino boat Posted: 16 Jul 2014 03:45 PM PDT  TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — After 16 hours stuck at sea, passengers stranded on a casino boat that ran aground off Georgia's coast were ferried to shore Wednesday aboard two Coast Guard cutters.
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| U.S. toughens sanctions against Russia Posted: 16 Jul 2014 03:16 PM PDT  Meanwhile, the West continues to grapple for a way to quell an insurgency in Ukraine.
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| Bomb hoax shuts down University of Louisiana campus Posted: 16 Jul 2014 01:44 PM PDT  Louisiana State Police say the bomb threat that shut down the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for a day was a hoax.
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| Israel agrees to temporary cease-fire Posted: 16 Jul 2014 12:05 PM PDT  Israel has accepted a proposed 6-hour humanitarian cessation of hostilities in Gaza.
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| U.S. escalating sanctions against Russia Posted: 16 Jul 2014 02:17 PM PDT Meanwhile, the West continues to grapple for a way to quell an insurgency in Ukraine. |
| Assad declares victory, push to topple him elusive Posted: 16 Jul 2014 12:25 PM PDT  In a lavish ceremony, a smiling and confident President Bashar Assad was sworn in for a third seven-year term on Wednesday, praising his supporters for "defeating the dirty war" and denouncing insurgents who have "failed in trying to brainwash you or break your will."
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| California death penalty ruled unconstitutional Posted: 16 Jul 2014 04:03 PM PDT  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - California's system for imposing and carrying out the death penalty is so long and drawn-out that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and thus is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. Ruling in the case of Ernest Dewayne Jones, who was condemned to death in 1995 and has yet to be executed, Judge Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. Central District of California said that to take "nearly a generation" to decide on Jones' appeals was unconstitutional. As part of the ruling, Carney vacated the death penalty sentence in Jones' case. "The dysfunctional administration of California's death penalty system has resulted, and will continue to result, in an inordinate and unpredictable period of delay," Carney wrote in his opinion, filed on Wednesday.
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| Funerals being held for slain family near Houston Posted: 16 Jul 2014 12:25 PM PDT  Six white caskets containing the bodies of a suburban Houston couple and four of their five children were wheeled into a church for funeral services Wednesday, not far from where the family was gunned down at their home a week ago.
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| FBI: 3 cartel members accused of abducting S.C. man Posted: 16 Jul 2014 12:33 PM PDT  Three men affiliated with a Mexican drug cartel kidnapped a South Carolina man and held him for ransom for nearly a week in a dispute over $200,000 in marijuana, authorities said Wednesday.
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| Senate GOP blocks birth control bill Posted: 16 Jul 2014 11:56 AM PDT  The bill aims to restore free contraception when employers object on religious grounds.
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| DA claims Hernandez fiancee lied to grand jury Posted: 16 Jul 2014 11:27 AM PDT  Prosecutors have spelled out what they say is evidence that the fiancee of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez lied to the grand jury that indicted him on a murder charge, including comments she made about a box she discarded at Hernandez's direction.
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