| Assad calls U.S. forces 'invaders', but still hopeful on Trump Posted: 11 Mar 2017 08:22 AM PST ![Assad calls U.S. forces 'invaders', but still hopeful on Trump]( "Assad calls U.S. forces 'invaders', but still hopeful on Trump") By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said U.S. forces in Syria were "invaders" and he had yet to see "anything concrete" emerge from U.S. President Donald Trump's vow to prioritize the fight against Islamic State. Assad has said he saw promise in Trump's statements emphasizing the battle against Islamic State in Syria, where U.S. policy under President Barack Obama had backed some of the rebels fighting Assad and shunned him as an illegitimate leader.
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| The Latest: Court files: Man shot by police had violent past Posted: 10 Mar 2017 05:42 PM PST ![The Latest: Court files: Man shot by police had violent past]( "The Latest: Court files: Man shot by police had violent past") HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a man who was shot and killed by police at a California sports complex (all times local):
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| Firefighter Dies in Crash While Responding to Fire That Killed 2-Year-Old Posted: 12 Mar 2017 07:27 AM PDT  The fire was sparked by a hoverboard.
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| Canada, US to probe uptick in migrant flow Posted: 10 Mar 2017 05:57 PM PST  Canada and the United States pledged to cooperate to determine why migrants are increasingly attempting to cross the border illegally into America's northern neighbor. The pledge came after talks between Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and visiting US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. "No one is suggesting the construction of a wall along the Canadian border," Goodale told a news conference, referring to US President Donald Trump's plan to do just that on the Mexican border.
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| Damascus twin bombings kills dozens Posted: 11 Mar 2017 11:32 AM PST ![Damascus twin bombings kills dozens]( "Damascus twin bombings kills dozens") Twin bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims on Saturday killed 46 people in Damascus, most of them Iraqis, a monitoring group said, in one of the bloodiest attacks in the Syrian capital.
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| AP PHOTOS: China's Great Hall of the People Posted: 10 Mar 2017 06:49 PM PST  BEIJING (AP) — Encompassing the area of 24 soccer fields, the Great Hall of the People, where China's ceremonial legislature and its official advisory body hold their annual sessions, is a cavernous edifice that dwarfs the humans who work in it.
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| World faces worst humanitarian crisis since WWII: UN Posted: 11 Mar 2017 06:02 AM PST  The United Nations is warning that the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II, with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine in four countries. "Otherwise, many people will predictably die from hunger, livelihoods will be lost and political gains that have been hardwon over the last few years will be reversed," O'Brien said in his stark warning to the UN Security Council.
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| Boston St. Patrick's parade to allow gay veterans to return Posted: 10 Mar 2017 08:35 PM PST ![Boston St. Patrick's parade to allow gay veterans to return]( "Boston St. Patrick's parade to allow gay veterans to return") A group of gay veterans of the U.S. military can march in this year's Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade, parade organizers said on Friday after an earlier move to exclude them sparked outrage and boycott threats in the liberal city. The parade, one of the United States' largest honoring Irish-American heritage, had long excluded openly gay participants, saying that admitting them would conflict with organizers' Roman Catholic beliefs. In 2015 organizers agreed to allow the gay veterans' group, OUTVETS, to march in the face of pressure from city officials and sponsors who pulled their financing.
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| Is Russia Threatening NATO In North Atlantic Region? Posted: 12 Mar 2017 12:57 AM PST  Both NATO and Russia have undergone massive military escalations in recent months with each side accusing the other of provocation.
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| California paves way to self-driving car tests without humans Posted: 10 Mar 2017 07:57 PM PST ![California paves way to self-driving car tests without humans]( "California paves way to self-driving car tests without humans") By Paul Lienert DETROIT (Reuters) - California, the largest U.S. car market, plans to allow testing on public roads of self-driving vehicles without human backup drivers by the end of the year, state officials said Friday. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles is seeking public comment on proposed regulations for driverless testing and public use of autonomous vehicles that will no longer be required to have conventional manual controls such as steering wheels and pedals. The proposed change provides a path to the eventual sale and deployment of self-driving vehicles in California, state transportation secretary Brian Kelly said in a statement.
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| Break up the family? White House weighs new border deterrent Posted: 11 Mar 2017 05:15 AM PST ![Break up the family? White House weighs new border deterrent]( "Break up the family? White House weighs new border deterrent") When Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly confirmed this week that the Trump administration was considering separating immigrant mothers from their children at the border – a calculated way to deter other families from making the journey to seek refuge in the United States – Lisa Koop immediately thought of the fears and hardships many of her clients faced. For their part, officials say the surge is so large that such a drastic policy is necessary.
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| US officials probe CIA contractors after intelligence leaks Posted: 12 Mar 2017 07:49 AM PDT  US authorities probing the recent leak of secret materials are focusing on past CIA contractors who may have been upset over job losses, the Wall Street Journal said Sunday. WikiLeaks delivered a blow to America's top spies by publishing earlier this month nearly 9,000 classified documents the anti-secrecy group said were part of the Central Intelligence Agency's entire arsenal of cyber-attack plans. The WikiLeaks dump has set off an intense probe into how the materials -- which detailed how the CIA focuses on breaking into personal electronics like smartphones -- got away from the agency.
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| Thousands gather to mourn former Haitian president Preval Posted: 11 Mar 2017 11:10 AM PST  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Thousands of people from around Haiti gathered at a city park Saturday for former President Rene Preval's state funeral capping six days of mourning for the man who led the country during a devastating January 2010 earthquake and its chaotic aftermath.
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| Driving change: Travis Kalanick, the force behind Uber Posted: 11 Mar 2017 07:03 PM PST  Uber's rise to the top of the ride-sharing industry is due in large part to its hard-charging founder and chief executive, Travis Kalanick. After a series of missteps and embarrassments for Uber and Kalanick, the San Francisco startup has acknowledged it is searching for a number-two executive to handle some of the day-to-day management tasks. Kalanick, 40, is known for taking a hard line in battles with regulators and taxi operators in markets opposing the entry of a new kind of competitor.
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| A Boy Named Lucas part 5: Taking the stand Posted: 10 Mar 2017 05:33 PM PST  In the final part of our five-part series, ABC News' Brian Ross talks to Lucas Greenfield, a gay teen, who details taking the stand to put the pastors who abused him behind bars.
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| Jordanian soldier who shot Israeli schoolgirls walks free from jail Posted: 12 Mar 2017 01:40 PM PDT ![Jordanian soldier who shot Israeli schoolgirls walks free from jail]( "Jordanian soldier who shot Israeli schoolgirls walks free from jail") By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - A Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls has been freed after serving 20 years in prison, with many Jordanians celebrating his release and calling him a national hero, witnesses and family sources said on Sunday. Ahmad Daqamseh, 45, was taken to his family home in the village of Ibdir near the city of Irbid in northern Jordan where dozens of relatives and wellwishers gave him a rousing welcome. In July 1997, a five-member Jordanian military tribunal found Daqamseh guilty of opening fire on a group of Israeli schoolchildren and killing seven of them before soldiers seized him and rushed to help the victims.
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| Police Funds Extended For Madeleine McCann Case Posted: 12 Mar 2017 04:54 AM PDT  The British girl went missing in May 2007 and several efforts to find her have failed so far.
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| Slaying of thief fuels Italy's debate on legitimate defense Posted: 12 Mar 2017 10:00 AM PDT  ROME (AP) — Italian opposition politicians from the far right populist parties and other conservative forces on Sunday demanded a new law quickly on legitimate defense to protect law-abiding citizens.
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| Corruption cases in China jumped one-third in 2016 Posted: 11 Mar 2017 06:15 PM PST ![Corruption cases in China jumped one-third in 2016]( "Corruption cases in China jumped one-third in 2016") The number of corruption cases heard by Chinese courts jumped by about one-third last year, as the country's top prosecutor vowed on Sunday there would be no let up in China's campaign against deep-seated graft. Since assuming office more than four years ago, President Xi Jinping has waged war on corruption, warning, like others before him, that the problem is so bad it could affect the ruling Communist Party's grip on power. Dozens of senior figures have been jailed for corruption and abusing their positions, including a once powerful domestic security chief, Zhou Yongkang.
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| Countdown to Dutch elections overshadowed by diplomatic row Posted: 12 Mar 2017 12:32 PM PDT  Three days before key Dutch elections campaigning was reaching fever pitch Sunday with the far-right poised to make huge gains, and the poll overshadowed by a bitter diplomatic row with Turkey. The stakes are high, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberals (VVD) predicted to return as the largest party in the 150-seat parliament scooping up between 23 to 27 seats, according to the latest aggregated polls. Rutte, who is bidding for a third term, is facing a strong challenge from far-right anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV).
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| Woman Finds Boy Who Left Heartbreaking Note On Her Doorstep After His Mom Died Posted: 12 Mar 2017 08:12 AM PDT  She plans to meet him soon.
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| ACLU sues over initial hearings for detained immigrants Posted: 10 Mar 2017 07:24 PM PST ![ACLU sues over initial hearings for detained immigrants]( "ACLU sues over initial hearings for detained immigrants") SAN DIEGO (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government to limit the amount of time that people can be held before seeing an immigration judge, saying many are held for months while waiting for an initial appearance.
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| Guy Kawasaki on the most important thing he learned working with Steve Jobs Posted: 12 Mar 2017 06:00 AM PDT 
Even though Guy Kawasaki has held many hats throughout his illustrious career, his name has been synonymous with Apple for as long as most people can remember. Kawasaki's first stint at Apple dates back to 1983 where he served as the company's Mac evangelist, essentially touting the benefits of the Mac platform to developers and the public at large.
Earlier this year, Kawasaki penned an interesting post on Quora where he detailed what he learned from his time working with Steve Jobs. What makes Kawasaki's perspective so fascinating is that his experience working with Jobs occurred during the mid-1980s, long before Jobs managed to tone down his legendary temper. Based on his time at Apple, Kawasaki relays that being 100% honest at all times was the most valuable thing he learned from working with Jobs. Indeed, we've seen a number anecdotes from former and current Apple employees over the past few years articulating the same, namely that Jobs didn't necessarily demand that everyone agree with him at all times, but rather that he respected complete honesty, no matter how brutal. On the flipside, Jobs himself was never one to shy away from hurting anyone's feelings in the interest of delivering cold hard truths. Laying out the benefits of steadfast honesty, Kawasaki writes: - Telling the truth is a test of your character and intelligence. You need strength to tell the truth, and intelligence to recognize what is true.
- People yearn for the truth—that is, telling people that their product is good just to be positive doesn't help them improve it.
- There's only one truth,so it's easier to be consistent if you're honest. If you are dishonest, you have to keep track of what you have said.
All in all, some wise guidelines for life, both in and out of the workplace.
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| Pope considering Egypt trip: Vatican Posted: 11 Mar 2017 10:37 AM PST  The Vatican is examining the possibility of Pope Francis visiting Egypt, but no dates have been set, his spokesman said Saturday after Italian reports suggested the trip would happen in May. "A trip by the Holy Father to Egypt is under study but neither dates nor a programme have been finalised," the spokesman, Greg Burke, said in a statement. Italy's national broadcaster RAI had claimed that Pope Francis would visit Cairo from May 20-21 and that his programme would include a stop at the Al-Azhar university and mosque complex.
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| Fillon's party apologizes for anti-Semitic attack on French rival Macron Posted: 12 Mar 2017 12:37 PM PDT ![Fillon's party apologizes for anti-Semitic attack on French rival Macron]( "Fillon's party apologizes for anti-Semitic attack on French rival Macron") Francois Fillon's party has apologized for tweeting a caricature of Emmanuel Macron, his main rival in the race to be France's next president, that Fillon himself admitted was anti-Semitic, adding to a row of controversies around his campaign. Another development on Sunday was a report in the French weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche saying an anonymous person had given Fillon two suits costing 13,000 euros at a chic Paris boutique. France sets a limit of 4,600 euros that any individual can donate to all candidates during an election campaign.
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| First Daughter Begins Celebrations For Purim Posted: 11 Mar 2017 04:16 AM PST  The Jewish holiday Purim begins at sunset on March 11 and ends on the evening of March 12 this year.
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| Attorney general seeks resignations of 46 US attorneys Posted: 10 Mar 2017 06:34 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during prior presidential administrations, the Justice Department said Friday.
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| Scars of looting, destruction all that remain at Mosul museum Posted: 11 Mar 2017 09:08 AM PST ![Scars of looting, destruction all that remain at Mosul museum]( "Scars of looting, destruction all that remain at Mosul museum") By Kawa Omar MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - After two and a half years under Islamic State control, all that is left in Mosul's museum are the traces of looting and destruction. Inside the rubble-strewn building, where militants filmed themselves destroying ancient artifacts, the large stone wing of a statue of lamassu -- an Assyrian winged bull deity -- lies on the dusty floor among other broken remnants of the past. A block engraved with Arabic Islamic calligraphy lies close by, and some Islamic manuscripts have been left undamaged.
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| Second post-sanctions Airbus joins Iran fleet Posted: 11 Mar 2017 01:40 AM PST  Iran received its second new Airbus plane Saturday under an order that Tehran placed last year after a partial lifting of international sanctions. The A330-200 landed in Tehran's Mehrabad airport to join national carrier Iran Air's fleet for long-haul flights, state news agency IRNA reported. Iran Air received its first Airbus, a A321 used for domestic flights, on January 12.
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| Garbage dump landslide in Ethiopia Posted: 12 Mar 2017 08:10 AM PDT ![Garbage dump landslide in Ethiopia]( "Garbage dump landslide in Ethiopia") A landslide swept through a massive garbage dump on the outskirts of Ethiopia's capital, killing at least 35 people and leaving several dozen missing, residents said, as officials vowed to relocate those who called the landfill home.
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| President Trump commends US Secret Service for its handling of White House intruder Posted: 11 Mar 2017 12:17 PM PST  During a working lunch at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, the president commented on the intruder who scaled a fence to enter the White House grounds Friday.
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| Muhammad Ali's son says he was detained again at airport Posted: 11 Mar 2017 01:30 AM PST  Muhammad Ali Jr. was detained and questioned at a Washington airport before being allowed to board a flight to Fort Lauderdale after meeting with lawmakers to discuss a separate airport detention incident last month, a lawyer for the late heavyweight champion's son said Friday.
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| Cyclone kills at least 50, affects 176,000 in Madagascar Posted: 11 Mar 2017 10:26 AM PST  Cyclone Enawo killed at least 50 people and affected 176,000 people after it hit Madagascar earlier this week, the national disaster management agency said Saturday, with thousands forced into emergency shelters. The toll issued by the head of the BNGRC agency Thierry Venty was significantly higher than the earlier estimate of just four deaths and 10,000 people displaced issued on Thursday. More than 53,000 people have been displaced and 180 injured by the storm, the agency said in a statement on Friday, while 32,000 have been affected in the capital city Antananarivo alone.
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| Photos of the day - March 12, 2017 Posted: 12 Mar 2017 02:34 PM PDT ![Photos of the day - March 12, 2017]( "Photos of the day - March 12, 2017") Colored powder is thrown at a man during celebrations of the Holi Festival in Kathmandu; an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man dressed in a likeness of President Trump takes part in the reading from the Book of Esther ceremony performed on the Jewish holiday of Purim in Jerusalem; and Bucknell celebrates at center court after defeating the Navy in overtime of an NCAA college basketball Patriot League Championship game in Lewisburg, Pa. These are some of the photos of the day. (AP/EPA/Getty/Reuters)
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| Cop Visits 3-Week-Old Baby Whose Life He Helped Save After He Stopped Breathing Posted: 11 Mar 2017 10:32 AM PST  The baby is now doing well.
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| Trump's choice for FDA has ties to Wall Street, drug makers Posted: 10 Mar 2017 11:55 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative doctor-turned-pundit with deep ties to Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry is President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration.
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| Holi Set To Coat India In Color Posted: 11 Mar 2017 05:10 AM PST  Holi, the Festival of Colors, creates a stunning spectacle to celebrate the arrival of spring each year.
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| Philippines, Maoist-rebels agree to resume talks next month Posted: 12 Mar 2017 01:30 AM PST ![Philippines, Maoist-rebels agree to resume talks next month]( "Philippines, Maoist-rebels agree to resume talks next month") Negotiators from the Philippine government and Maoist-led rebels have reached an agreement to resume formal peace negotiations next month, a month after an angry President Rodrigo Duterte canceled talks after rebels ambushed soldiers. The two sides would hold talks in the first of April to work out a bilateral ceasefire, Duterte's peace adviser Jesus Dureza said after two-day informal talks in Utrecht over the weekend.
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| Scalp Microblading Offers New Hope to a Woman with Thinning Hair Posted: 10 Mar 2017 07:00 PM PST  Eyebrow microblading is a hot trend, and the same technique can be a great fix for thinning hair on the scalp as well. Adda doesn't know why her hair has been falling out, but she's noticed hair loss and thinning for some time.
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| Hoverboard eyed in fire that killed girl, critically hurt 2 Posted: 11 Mar 2017 02:35 PM PST ![Hoverboard eyed in fire that killed girl, critically hurt 2]( "Hoverboard eyed in fire that killed girl, critically hurt 2") HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A fire that killed a toddler and critically injured two others, and also led to critical injuries to a responding fire official, appears to have been sparked by a recharging hoverboard, authorities said.
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| Facebook search traps Italian mobster in Mexico Posted: 11 Mar 2017 03:51 AM PST  A fugitive Italian mobster who had been living in Mexico under a false identity was behind bars Saturday after being tracked down on Facebook, police said. Giulio Perrone, who is in his mid-sixties, had been a fugitive since 1998, when his lawyers failed in a final appeal against a 22-year prison sentence for links to the Naples mafia, the Camorra, and international drug trafficking. Perrone disappeared the following year and had been unheard of until Italian police established, through Facebook, that he was living as Saverio Garcia Galiero, in Tampico, in the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico.
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| T-Mobile adds more data to its unlimited plan before it starts throttling you Posted: 11 Mar 2017 12:03 PM PST 
So far, 2017 has seen more changes to cellphone plans than the last five years before. In the space of a couple of weeks, all the big carriers suddenly started offering unlimited data plans for reasonable prices. AT&T even removed its ridiculous triple-play requirement for unlimited customers, which was generous. For T-Mobile, which started the unlimited data trend last year, it didn't seem like things could get much better. But the entry of Verizon and AT&T forced it to remove the last real restrictions on the data plan, meaning that you can use hotspot data or watch HD video. ' But one thing all the unlimited plans have in common is a soft cap. Once you go over a monthly threshold of data usage, you're subject to being throttled at peak times. It's a "soft cap" rather than a data limit, because you aren't cut off from data, and there's no overage charge. Whichever way you slice it, though, it's still a limit of some kind. For T-Mobile customers, that limit just went up. The threshold for throttling used to be 28GB per month, and that's now been raised to 30GB. If you hit that level of data usage in a month, you will be "deprioritized" at peak times. That means other customers will be given priority, and in crowded locations, that's going to mean your data slows way down. The 2GB increase might not sound like much, but it moves T-Mobile way into first place for total data allowance. AT&T and Verizon put their cap at 22GB, while Sprint's at 23GB. Those are still generous allowances, and you're not guaranteed to have permanently slow internet after hitting the cap, but it's worth thinking about for particularly heavy data users.
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| Western Australia shuns Hanson's nationalists in state poll Posted: 11 Mar 2017 08:01 PM PST ![Western Australia shuns Hanson's nationalists in state poll]( "Western Australia shuns Hanson's nationalists in state poll") By Jonathan Barrett and Harry Pearl SYDNEY (Reuters) - The rapid resurgence of nationalist politics in Australia was abruptly halted on Saturday after Pauline Hanson's One Nation party drew less than 5 percent of the vote and was set to win just one seat in a state poll. The election in mineral-rich Western Australia was won convincingly by the center-left Labor party, leaving Hanson's right wing, anti-immigration party trailing far behind. The vote was the first major test of popularity for Hanson since winning a place in the federal parliament last year, when she rode a wave of anti-establishment sentiment similar to that seen in the United States and Europe.
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| After 2 months, Mattis is only Trump pick at Pentagon Posted: 10 Mar 2017 11:45 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Jim Mattis is not lonely in the Pentagon, but two months into his tenure as secretary of defense not a single political appointee has joined him.
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| Red-faced Thai cops admit monk 'may have escaped' temple siege Posted: 10 Mar 2017 11:35 PM PST  An elderly monk wanted for massive fraud may have escaped a three-week siege of his temple, Thai police admitted Saturday, thwarting a much-trumpted dragnet ordered by the kingdom's junta. On February 16 the Thai junta invoked special powers to seal off the the 1,000-acre grounds of the Wat Dhammakaya temple on the outskirts of Bangkok. Since then thousands of police officers have laid siege to the temple in a bid to arrest 72-year-old monk Phra Dhammachayo, who was believed to be holed-up inside.
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| Niantic CEO Teases ‘New Products’ At SXSW 2017 Posted: 11 Mar 2017 10:38 AM PST  Niantic Labs founder and CEO John Hanke just dropped a bombshell during his appearance at this year's SXSW Conference. He apparently revealed that new "new products" are coming soon.
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| Germany's Schaeuble says scope for tax cuts is limited Posted: 11 Mar 2017 05:03 AM PST ![Germany's Schaeuble says scope for tax cuts is limited]( "Germany's Schaeuble says scope for tax cuts is limited") German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble rejected demands on Saturday from some fellow conservatives for large tax cuts after a September election, saying there was only scope for about 15 billion euros in reductions. Schaeuble, whose priority is maintaining a balanced budget in Europe's biggest economy, told Badische Neueste Nachrichten newspaper that deeper tax cuts would require new debt. Some members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) want to see tax cuts of about 30 billion euros.
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