| Vice President Pence downplays concerns over disruptions to health care Posted: 23 Feb 2017 06:27 PM PST  Vice President Mike Pence dismissed concerns Thursday about the pace of Republican plans to repeal and replace the health care law passed by Democrats under President Barack Obama, promising an "orderly transition" to a new system. It was the only comment by Pence in a 20-minute speech that went beyond boilerplate rhetoric and touched on challenges facing the new administration.
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| U.S. seeks extradition of ex-Guatemala officials on drug charges Posted: 24 Feb 2017 04:43 PM PST ![U.S. seeks extradition of ex-Guatemala officials on drug charges]( "U.S. seeks extradition of ex-Guatemala officials on drug charges") The United States will request the extradition of former Guatemalan Vice President Roxana Baldetti and a former cabinet minister on drug trafficking charges, the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala said on Friday. Baldetti has been imprisoned in Guatemala since 2015 on charges of leading a network that defrauded the government of the Central American country along with former president Otto Pérez Molina, who has also been arrested and is awaiting trial.
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| Pipeline protest camp cleared, but area far from normal Posted: 24 Feb 2017 11:17 AM PST  CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Authorities this week cleared the last holdouts from a large Dakota Access pipeline protest camp on federal land in North Dakota, but it will be a while before the region returns to normal.
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| Latinos Don't Actually Hate Trump Posted: 23 Feb 2017 09:05 PM PST  Only 40 percent of Hispanics said Trump would be a poor or terrible president, while 50 percent said he would be an average, good or great president.
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| South Africa's Zuma condemns violence against foreigners Posted: 23 Feb 2017 10:55 PM PST ![South Africa's Zuma condemns violence against foreigners]( "South Africa's Zuma condemns violence against foreigners") South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has condemned acts of violence between citizens and non-nationals, his office said on Friday. Anti-immigrant violence has flared sporadically in South Africa against a background of near-record unemployment, with foreigners being accused of taking jobs from citizens and getting involved in crime. Citizens in Pretoria are set to march against foreigners on Friday and domestic media are reporting vandalism and acts of violence in the Atteridgeville area west of the capital.
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| Best Mildew-Resistant Paint for Your Bathroom Posted: 25 Feb 2017 03:00 AM PST  Remodeling a bathroom is messy and expensive, about $9,300, on average, according to HomeAdvisor.com. And in some metropolitan areas, $20,000 is what it takes. After all that work and expense, yo...
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| More Egypt Copts flee jihadists in Sinai Posted: 25 Feb 2017 12:30 PM PST  Egyptian Coptic Christians fled the Sinai for a second day Saturday following a string of apparent jihadist attacks, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi instructed his government to help shelter them. A church official said more families arrived in the Suez canal city of Ismailiya, a day after about 250 Copts sought shelter in one church alone there. Three Christians have been shot dead over the past week in the city of El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, where Islamic State group jihadists are waging an insurgency.
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| Infant who survived in 1920s sideshow incubator dies at 96 Posted: 24 Feb 2017 11:47 AM PST  MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Lucille Conlin Horn weighed barely 2 pounds when she was born, a perilous size for any infant, especially in 1920. Doctors told her parents to hold off on a funeral for her twin sister who had died at birth, expecting she too would soon be gone.
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| IS suicide blast kills 51 near Syria's Al-Bab Posted: 24 Feb 2017 11:20 AM PST  Al-Bab (Syria) (AFP) - An Islamic State group suicide bomber killed 51 people outside Syria's Al-Bab on Friday, in a major blow just hours after rebels seized the town from the jihadists. In a statement distributed online, the group said its suicide bomber "drove his car bomb into the middle of a gathering of Turkish soldiers and apostates working in Susian".
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| Uber blasts Google, claims self-driving car lawsuit is a ‘baseless attempt to’ slow Uber down Posted: 24 Feb 2017 01:05 PM PST 
Not ever one to back down from a fight, it took Uber less than 24 hours to respond to a lawsuit alleging that it misappropriated extremely sensitive and proprietary technical data from Waymo, Google's self-driving car division.
In a statement provided to Business Insider, Uber vehemently denies all of the allegations. Not only that, Uber articulates that the lawsuit itself is merely an underhanded and desperate attempt for Waymo to slow down Uber's progress with respect to self-driving car technologies. "We are incredibly proud of the progress that our team has made, an Uber spokesperson said. "We have reviewed Waymo's claims and determined them to be a baseless attempt to slow down a competitor and we look forward to vigorously defending against them in court. In the meantime, we will continue our hard work to bring self-driving benefits to the world." If this case winds up in court, and there's no reason to believe it won't, we can certainly expect fireworks. As we detailed yesterday, Waymo's allegations involve a concerted effort from former employees to stealthily access and download gigabytes upon gigabytes of top secret and proprietary technical information. The most glaring accusation involves Anthony Levandowski -- a former Google employee who now works at Uber by way of Otto -- who allegedly absconded with 9.7GB of "confidential files and trade secrets, including blueprints, design files and testing documentation." Waymo notes that it didn't file suit against Uber lightly, so this doesn't seem like the type of dispute that will quickly dissolve with a mutually agreeable settlement agreement.
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| Boy in Starvation Case Pictured as Doctor Reveals 9-Year-Old's Alleged Nightmare of Neglect Posted: 24 Feb 2017 06:16 AM PST ![Boy in Starvation Case Pictured as Doctor Reveals 9-Year-Old's Alleged Nightmare of Neglect]( "Boy in Starvation Case Pictured as Doctor Reveals 9-Year-Old's Alleged Nightmare of Neglect") Cameron Hoopingarner died at 9 years old, weighing less than 15 pounds.
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| Trump vows military build-up, hammers nationalist themes Posted: 24 Feb 2017 01:59 PM PST ![Trump vows military build-up, hammers nationalist themes]( "Trump vows military build-up, hammers nationalist themes") By Emily Stephenson and Steve Holland NATIONAL HARBOR, Md./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said he would make a massive budget request for one of the "greatest military buildups in American history" on Friday in a feisty, campaign-style speech extolling robust nationalism to eager conservative activists. Trump used remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an organization that gave him one of his first platforms in his improbable journey to the U.S. presidency, to defend his unabashed "America first" policies. Ahead of a nationally televised speech to Congress on Tuesday, Trump outlined plans for strengthening the U.S. military, already the world's most powerful fighting force, and other initiatives such as tax reform and regulatory rollback.
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| Dog the Bounty Hunter at CPAC day 3 Posted: 24 Feb 2017 01:30 PM PST  ABC News' Lana Zak catches up with the reality TV star at CPAC
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| Welcome To Pluto, The Underworld Of The Solar System Posted: 23 Feb 2017 09:05 PM PST  On Thursday, the International Astronomical Union approved themes for naming surface features on Pluto and its moons. For the dwarf planet, most of the naming themes relate to the underworld.
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| 'Ring of fire' eclipse treat for southern skygazers Posted: 24 Feb 2017 08:13 AM PST  A spectacular "ring of fire" solar eclipse Sunday will regale skygazers in South America and southern Africa, with seafarers in the nearby Atlantic getting a front-row view too, astronomers say. The eclipse -- during which the Sun will all but disappear as the Moon crosses its path -- will be most visible in a 100-kilometre (62-mile) band cutting through Chile, Argentina, Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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| China's New Frigate Design Looks Awfully Familiar Posted: 24 Feb 2017 09:37 AM PST  The three-hull design is more heavily armed than the American ship that inspired it.
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| Leggings Legend LuLaRoe Sued for Overcharging Customers on Sales Tax Posted: 24 Feb 2017 01:35 PM PST  LuLaRoe, the ridiculously successful fashion company known for its bright and comfortable leggings and genius marketing plan, is in trouble. While the company's innovative direct sales model (one that relies largely on Facebook and other Internet communities) has made many women loyal supporters of the business because it allows them the unique opportunity to build their own pop-up shops and make commission as consultants, the business structure has also had its complications. The California-headquartered company was slammed with a lawsuit on Feb. 17 in U.S. District Court in Western Pennsylvania that alleges it has been illegally collecting sales tax in states that don't have it.
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| 2nd Florida mosque hit by arson in past 6 months Posted: 24 Feb 2017 02:13 PM PST  TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — An intentionally set fire damaged a prayer hall at a Tampa-area mosque early Friday, investigators said.
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| Nevada plans July pot sales despite warning of US crackdown Posted: 24 Feb 2017 09:41 AM PST  CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada still plans to launch recreational marijuana sales in July despite warnings this week of a federal crackdown by the administration of President Donald Trump, state officials said Friday.
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| The Neanderthal In You May Be Controlling Your Gene Expression Posted: 23 Feb 2017 11:27 PM PST  According to a study, Neanderthal DNA sequences present in the modern human genome are, even now, influencing gene expression — especially those related to traits such as height and susceptibility to schizophrenia.
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| California governor proposes spending $437 million on aging dams, flood control Posted: 24 Feb 2017 12:16 PM PST ![California governor proposes spending $437 million on aging dams, flood control]( "California governor proposes spending $437 million on aging dams, flood control") California Governor Jerry Brown on Friday proposed spending $437 million for flood control and emergency response and preparedness, days after damage at the country's tallest dam, located northeast of the state capital, led to the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people downstream. Damage to both the regular spillway and its emergency counterpart at the Oroville Dam earlier this month brought issues with aging infrastructure into sharp relief in a state that relies on a complex system of dams and reservoirs to irrigate farms and provide drinking water for nearly 40 million people.
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| Arrest Made in Cold Case Murder of Georgia Beauty Queen After Tip Leads to Suspect Posted: 24 Feb 2017 01:36 PM PST  Tara Grinstead vanished without a trace 12 years ago.
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| Syria peace talks struggle as bomb kills dozens Posted: 24 Feb 2017 11:10 AM PST  The UN struggled on Friday to get a new round of Syrian peace talks off the ground, but with few signs of progress as dozens more civilian deaths underlined the scale of the challenge. The UN's Syria envoy, who brought rival regime and opposition delegates symbolically together late Thursday, held separate meetings with them Friday to hammer out the talks' format. "We discussed issues relating to the format of the talks exclusively," said Syrian regime delegation chief Bashar al-Jaafari after meeting de Mistura.
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| Tesla now offers insurance and maintenance for life Posted: 24 Feb 2017 08:00 AM PST  Self-driving cars are going to ruin everything--in a good way. If all goes as planned, they'll dramatically reduce auto accidents and highway fatalities; boost fuel efficiency; minimize traffic jams; and maybe even cut the number of vehicles we own. Autonomous vehicles are likely to wreak havoc on the insurance industry, too. For insurance agents who might not be worried about that doomsday scenario just yet, they should take a look at Tesla. That's because Tesla has slowly begun offering lifetime insurance policies to some buyers--and that package covers vehicle maintenance, too. The automaker hasn't widely discussed the feature, but it became public knowledge during an earnings call earlier this week. According to Tesla's President of Global Sales and Service, Jonathan McNeill, the insurance and maintenance package has been quietly rolling out to shoppers in Asian markets, where it's proven very popular. In fact, McNeill says that the majority of Tesla buyers in Asia have opted to shell out for the package. Tesla hasn't yet confirmed the price of the package, nor has it hinted when it might be available to shoppers in other markets. However, the offering clearly stems in large part from the company's confidence in its semi-autonomous (and soon, fully autonomous) Autopilot software. Would you be willing to pay upfront for a lifetime insurance and maintenance package? If so, how much? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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| Navy: Arrest of AWOL sailor and new mother was 'last resort' Posted: 24 Feb 2017 03:07 PM PST  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A 24-year-old U.S. Navy sailor who had a baby in August was arrested and remains on a military hold after being accused of deserting her post, court records show.
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| Unlike colleagues, Michigan congressman embraces town halls Posted: 25 Feb 2017 12:30 AM PST  BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan congressman is embracing the town halls that many of his Republican counterparts have avoided as people lash out at President Donald Trump's early actions and the planned repeal of the federal health care law.
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| Uber, 1Password, Fitbit and OKCupid user data exposed by massive security flaw Posted: 24 Feb 2017 08:28 AM PST 
The good news is that hackers do not appear to have taken advantage of a severe Cloudflare security bug that would have given them access to sensitive customer data including passwords and authentication tokens. The bad news is that the bug was only recently discovered, which means it went undetected for nearly five months. Cloudflare is a content delivery serviced used by more than 5.5 million sites, including plenty of popular ones that you might use on a regular basis such as Uber, 1Password, Fitbit and OKCupid. In other words, it's probably a good idea to change your passwords immediately. The bug was initially discovered by Google's Project Zero security researcher Tavis Ormandy, Ars Technica explains. He then contacted Cloudflare once he realized what he discovered, comparing it to Heartbleed in scope and severity. The company promptly fixed the issue. "The bug was serious because the leaked memory could contain private information and because it had been cached by search engines," Cloudflare CTO John Graham-Cumming wrote in a post on the company blog. "We are disclosing this problem now as we are satisfied that search engine caches have now been cleared of sensitive information. We have also not discovered any evidence of malicious exploits of the bug or other reports of its existence." The security bug could have exposed plenty of user data, including passwords, cookies, tokens used to authenticate users, and even Cloudflare's encryption keys used to protect server-to-server traffic. And all that data was then cached by search engines including Google, Yahoo, and Bing, which would have given hackers nearly live access to the data. Even though Cloudflare acknowledged the issue, Ormandy took issue with the company's disclosure. "It contains an excellent postmortem, but severely downplays the risk to customers," he wrote in an update. He was also the one to mention the names of the companies that may have been affected by security breaches in a Twitter message. https://twitter.com/taviso/status/834900838837411840 1Password said in a blog post that thanks to its triple encryption layer, no sensitive data was ever exposed to hackers.
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| Sessions Memo Hints At Expansion Of Federal Prison Population Posted: 24 Feb 2017 09:28 AM PST  The federal prison population shrunk for the first time in more than 30 years under Obama, but a memo on private prisons hints at an increase under Trump.
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| Wisconsin man jailed for cutting off woman's pinky finger: media Posted: 25 Feb 2017 12:36 AM PST ![Wisconsin man jailed for cutting off woman's pinky finger: media]( "Wisconsin man jailed for cutting off woman's pinky finger: media") A Wisconsin man was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison on Friday for cutting off a woman's pinky finger with a machete and trying to close the wound with a blow torch during a ceremony for a fellow fan of a hip hop band, media reported. In August, Jonathan Schrap, 25, and three other people held a "ritualistic memorial" at his home for a fellow fan of hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse who died in 2015, a local ABC affiliate reported, citing a criminal compliant filed by the state. Schrap pleaded no contest earlier this week to a felony charge of second degree reckless injury charge, according to online court records.
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| Iran complying with nuclear deal, says UN watchdog Posted: 24 Feb 2017 10:03 AM PST  Iran is complying with the landmark nuclear deal it sealed with major world powers in 2015, according to a report from the UN watchdog seen by AFP on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency addressed key limits set under the agreement, which is under intense scrutiny after the election of US President Donald Trump. The report said Iran is not pursuing construction of its existing heavy water research reactor and has not enriched uranium above an agreed 3.67 percent-limit.
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| 7 Reasons Why We Love MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolours Posted: 25 Feb 2017 08:00 AM PST  Watch Yahoo Beauty Director, Dana Oliver, try on the 7 new shades of the MAC Retro Matt Liquid Lipcolour line. Here's why we love them so much!
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| U.S.-backed offensive pounds Islamic State in western Mosul as civilians flee Posted: 24 Feb 2017 05:15 AM PST ![U.S.-backed offensive pounds Islamic State in western Mosul as civilians flee]( "U.S.-backed offensive pounds Islamic State in western Mosul as civilians flee") U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces captured Mosul airport on Thursday, state television said, in a major gain in operations to drive Islamic State from the western half of the city. Elite Counter Terrorism forces advanced from the southwestern side and entered the Ghozlani army base along with the southwestern districts of Tal al-Rumman and al-Mamoun
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| The Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Makes 680 HP, 626 Lb-Ft of Torque Posted: 24 Feb 2017 09:38 AM PST  It does 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and hits 192 mph. Basically, think of it as a four-door Porsche 918 Spyder.
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| Trump blasts media, anonymous sources _ after WH uses them Posted: 24 Feb 2017 01:39 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unloaded on the news media Friday for using anonymous sources — just hours after members of his own staff insisted on briefing reporters only on condition their names be concealed.
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| Verizon’s unlimited advertising is confusing everyong Posted: 24 Feb 2017 11:58 AM PST 
Verizon has rolled out a thorough ad campaign to go with its new unlimited data plan. As is normal these days, the ads focus on the pricing per line when you have four lines, which works out to $45 per line, plus taxes and fees. Unfortunately for sales reps working in Verzion's stores, wannabe customers don't read the fine print.
Several Verizon retail sources have told BGR that customers are coming in "every hour" asking for "that $45 Unlimited plan," just to be told that actually, it's $80 plus taxes for the plan if there's just one of you. I'm sure Verizon is happy that customers are excited by the pricing of its unlimited plan, but people wanting one line for $45 per month seems to be causing serious problems for the retail outlets. One employee said that "if I have to explain the bad math to one more customer, I'm going to go [around the city] and write '$80' on every Verizon ad I can find." A poster on the Verizon subreddit echoed the comments: "I swear man, if another customer comes in and asks for our new $45 UDP, I'm gonna rip the posters off the walls. I'm not even cushioning my response to customers anymore. I just tell them it's gimmicky marketing math meant to get them in store. Anyone else having a lot of push back from frustrated customers on this phrasing?"
Verizon is definitely not the first wireless network to focus on the per-line unlimited cost, rather than being more upfront about the pricing. Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T have all used per-line pricing in the past, despite the fact that most people don't actually have four lines per account. Still, it seems like people have been waiting so long for a Verizon unlimited plan that this ad campaign has sparked more interest than usual.
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| SpaceX Is Delaying Its Mars Mission Until 2020 Posted: 24 Feb 2017 09:37 AM PST  With so much going on, SpaceX can't commit to a 2018 mission to the red planet.
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| Remembering Steve Jobs In 10 Quotes Posted: 24 Feb 2017 07:46 AM PST  The former Apple co-founder and chief executive left a memorable legacy -- and some memorable quotes. Here are 10 quotes in remembrance of Jobs' birthday.
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| 6 charged in death of UConn student run over after party Posted: 24 Feb 2017 06:57 PM PST ![6 charged in death of UConn student run over after party]( "6 charged in death of UConn student run over after party") STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Six University of Connecticut students were charged Friday with alcohol-related offenses connected to the death of a student who was run over by a fire department vehicle after leaving a party last fall.
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| Boosting Erdogan powers will make 'strong Turkey': PM Posted: 25 Feb 2017 06:21 AM PST  Prime Minister Binali Yildirim urged Turks to approve constitutional changes to boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers on Saturday, saying it would make Turkey stronger. "For a strong Turkey, lasting stability, our choice is 'yes'. This is our wish, it will come," Yildirim told the gathering in Ankara of party members and supporters from the country's 81 provinces.
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| Palestinians, Israel soldiers clash in West Bank's Hebron Posted: 24 Feb 2017 08:18 AM PST  Hundreds of Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers Friday in the powderkeg West Bank city of Hebron on the anniversary of a 1994 massacre carried out by a far-right Jewish settler. Soldiers fired tear gas and sound grenades to disperse the crowd as cannons doused them with stinking water, an AFP correspondent said. Jewish settlers, of whom 500 are entrenched in the centre of the city of around 200,000 Palestinians, hurled stones at the protesters who also pelted soldiers with stones.
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| Two major Windows 10 updates could be in store for 2017 Posted: 24 Feb 2017 03:28 AM PST  The Creators Update, the next major update to Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system, will be available to users free of charge from spring 2017. Likely to roll out first of all to testers in the Windows Insider program, the update probably won't be publicly available until early 2018. As the name suggests, Microsoft's Creators Update is designed to bring out everyone's creative side, from novice users to gamers to experienced graphic designers, whether for home or professional use.
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| Peru's president tells Trump he prefers 'bridges to walls' Posted: 24 Feb 2017 03:35 PM PST  LIMA, Peru (AP) — The first Latin American president to visit Donald Trump at the White House told the U.S. leader Friday he prefers "bridges to walls," sending him a gentle rebuke of his controversial proposal to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
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| Lexus, Porsche, Toyota, Buick: America's most dependable brands Posted: 24 Feb 2017 07:41 AM PST  In the market for a car--maybe one that's a little gently used? You're in luck: this week, J.D. Power published its 2017 Vehicle Dependability Study, showing which brands are likely to cause the fewest headaches down the road. The Dependability Study is a bit like Power's equally popular Initial Quality Study, which is typically issued in June. Both studies assess real-world data from America's registered drivers about the problems they've had with their cars, trucks, and SUVs. The difference is that the Initial Quality Study looks at issues folks have had with new vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership. The Dependability Study, however, looks at vehicles that are three years old--the idea being that brands that score well stand a better chance of holding up over the long term. For the 2017 edition of its Dependability Study, Power polled 35,186 original owners of 2014 model-year vehicles, asking how many issues they'd had with their vehicles in the previous 12 months. Responses were gathered between October and December 2016. The winners, the losers Tied for first place in this year's study were two perennial top-of-the-heap contenders: luxury marques Lexus and Porsche. Each brand had a reported 110 problems per 100 vehicles during the prior year. But premium cars weren't the only ones receiving high scores: in third place was one of the world's best-known mass-market brands, Toyota, with 123 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick followed with a score of 126, and Mercedes-Benz rounded out the top five with 133. The industry average was 156 problems per 100 vehicles. That's four points higher than the 2016 average. At the bottom of the charts were four of Fiat Chrysler's five brands (which is, unfortunately, fairly common in surveys like this). Fiat fared worst of all, with a staggering 298 problems per 100 vehicles, though in fairness, it might've been bested by Smart if Power had been able to find enough Smart owners to include in the survey. In the penultimate spot, Jeep fared much better than its FCA sibling, with owners reporting 209 problems per 100 vehicles during the previous year. Other low performers were Infiniti (203), Dodge (187), and Ram (183). As far as individual models are concerned, Toyota was the clear winner, earning top marks in 10 of Power's 18 segments. (That's a record for this study.) Those winners included the Lexus ES, Lexus GS, Lexus RX, Toyota Avalon, Toyota Camry, Toyota FJ Cruiser, Toyota Prius, Toyota Prius v, Toyota Sienna, and Toyota Venza. And interestingly enough, of all models--luxury and mass-market--the Toyota Camry had the fewest number of issues. Takeaways What does all this mean for you, the buyer? Apart from fewer trips to the garage, high dependability scores could mean more money in the bank. Because of their strong performance, Power says that Toyota vehicles have resale values that are $750 higher than the national average. It also means that when it comes to issues with your next ride, chances are they'll involve the technology on your dashboard, not the transmission. In-car tech accounted for 22 percent of all owners' visits to the shop, and more often than not Bluetooth pairing and misrecognition of voice commands were the culprits. You've been warned.
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