| US Fires Missile to Test System Designed to Intercept Missile Attack Posted: 30 May 2017 08:31 AM PDT  Just two days after North Korea's latest missile launch, the US military fired a missile from the California coast in a test designed to defend against an attack from the rogue country.
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| Correction: Mississippi Shooting-The Latest story Posted: 31 May 2017 03:15 PM PDT  BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — In a story May 30 about a series of shootings in Mississippi, The Associated Press reported erroneously, based on incorrect information from authorities, the middle name of the man charged in the shootings. His name is Willie Cory Godbolt, not Corey.
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| Now I Get It: What happens if Trump backs out of the Paris Agreement? Posted: 31 May 2017 01:28 PM PDT  It looks likely that President Trump is going to follow through on his campaign promise to "cancel" U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change. The accord, created to reduce the effects of climate change, was signed by nearly 200 nations — including the U.S. under the Obama administration. Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga takes a look the agreement and what it means if the U.S. officially backs out.
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| Feds Consider Banning All Laptops on Flights to and From U.S. Posted: 30 May 2017 12:53 PM PDT  "I might," said Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
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| Elon Musk will stop advising Trump if the US withdraws from Paris climate agreement Posted: 31 May 2017 11:36 AM PDT 
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stirred up a bit of controversy a few months ago when he joined President Trump's s economic and manufacturing advisory councils. While Musk's participation predictably generated no shortage of criticism, Musk maintained that he would use the position for "doing good" on a range of issues.
As Musk explained via Twitter earlier this year: "Advisory councils simply provide advice and attending does not mean that I agree with actions by the Administration. My goals are to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization, a consequence of which will be the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a more inspiring future for all." All that said, Elon Musk earlier today took to Twitter again and relayed that he will leave the councils if President Trump opts to pull out from the Paris climate agreement. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/869971423455924224 While nothing is officially confirmed in either direction just yet, Axios earlier today reported that Trump has already decided to withdraw. As a quick refresher, the Paris Agreement -- as it's sometimes called -- is an all-encompassing agreement designed to stem the rise of global temperatures, with the express goal of "holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels." As for why Trump might be interested in pulling out of the agreement, CBS notes: But pulling out of the agreement is popular with Mr. Trump's political base, many of whom are skeptical of the science underlying climate change policy. Critics of the accord say the limits on emissions place an onerous and disproportionate burden on American businesses...
With Musk now on record stating that he will leave the aforementioned councils if the Trump rumors are true, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few days.
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| Macron vows to renegotiate sale of French shipyard Posted: 31 May 2017 12:29 PM PDT  Saint-Nazaire (France) (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that his government would seek to renegotiate the sale of the STX France shipyard to Italy's Fincantieri, in order to "guarantee job preservation" at the site. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will negotiate "a new shareholding structure" for the sale "in the coming weeks", Macron said during a visit to the Saint-Nazaire shipyard, the last gem in France's once-thriving shipbuilding industry.
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| Twitter skewers Trump’s garbled ‘covfefe’ tweet Posted: 31 May 2017 08:28 AM PDT  President Trump's latest midnight tweet, "Despite the negative press covfefe", has become the day's most popular joke online.
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| Bigelow Aerospace, Time To Put Up Or Shut Up About UFOs Posted: 30 May 2017 04:56 PM PDT  Bigelow Aerospace founder and president Robert Bigelow recently spoke with '60 Minutes' and discussed his long-held belief that alien UFOs have and are visiting Earth. But he's not just another UFO enthusiast, Bigelow has privatized piles of relevant evidence. Whatever he knows, he should tell us.
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| Truck bomb kills at least 80, wounds hundreds in Afghan capital Posted: 31 May 2017 04:05 PM PDT  The blast, at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, was one of the deadliest seen in Kabul, killing 80 people and wounding another 463, Deputy Interior Minister Murad Ali said. A huge crater was caused at the blast site close to the German embassy compound, tearing the front off a building facing the street and shattering windows and blowing off doors in houses hundreds of meters away. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said some embassy staff had been injured and at least one local security guard was killed.
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| Robert De Niro: U.S. has fallen from ‘uplifting drama’ to ‘tragic, dumba** comedy’ Posted: 30 May 2017 09:09 AM PDT  Robert De Niro told Brown University's graduating class that the United States has fallen from "an inspiring, uplifting drama" to a "tragic, dumba** comedy."
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| Pulse Nightclub Survivor, 20, Killed In Car Crash Posted: 31 May 2017 06:29 AM PDT  Jahqui Sevilla, 20, was killed Monday morning along with a 53-year-old mother.
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| Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega dead at 83 Posted: 30 May 2017 08:29 AM PDT ![Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega dead at 83]( "Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega dead at 83") Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, a onetime U.S. ally who was ousted by an American invasion in 1989, died on May 29, 2017, at age 83.
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| This creepy ‘faceless fish’ species was just discovered in the depths of the ocean Posted: 31 May 2017 09:03 AM PDT 
Despite ever increasing numbers of deep-sea expeditions, scientists continue to maintain that humanity has only a very cursory knowledge of the kinds of creatures that live in the depths of Earth's oceans. A month-long voyage off the coast of Australia has just discovered plenty of evidence to support that fact, including a fish with absolutely no face. Easily the most interesting revelation from the scientists' journey, the faceless fish measures roughly 22 inches in length, and looks like a slimy torpedo. The creature is officially known as a "Faceless Cusk," and it certainly lives up to its name. With no visible eyes and a totally featureless head with the exception of two nostrils, its mouth is situated on the bottom of its body, giving it a very odd appearance. 
The creature has only been observed once before, and that was way back in 1873, when a ship snagged one off the coast of Papua New Guinea. This most recent expedition, which was led by Dr. Tim O'Hara of the Australia's Museums Victory, used nets to trawl at depths of 2.5 miles beneath the surface. The group also used sonar and camera rigs to make additional observations, and the team says that of the species they were able to catalog, roughly one-third are completely new to science. "This little fish looks amazing because the mouth is actually situated at the bottom of the animal so, when you look side-on, you can't see any eyes, you can't see any nose or gills or mouth," O'Hara remarked, via satellite. "It looks like two rear-ends on a fish, really."
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| Donald Trump to withdraw US from Paris Agreement on climate change, sources say Posted: 31 May 2017 04:36 AM PDT  Donald Trump is to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, White House sources have claimed. The US is currently one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide in the world, so if President Trump was to pull the country out the landmark pact to reduce such carbon emissions it would be a major blow to a deal that aims to help avert the worst effects of climate change. Following a number of reports in US media about the move, Mr Trump tweeted that he would be announcing "my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days" followed by his campaign slogan "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!".
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| Michael McCarthy On Trial Charged With Killing 'Demon' Child Bella Bond Posted: 31 May 2017 04:27 AM PDT  Michael McCarthy, who allegedly killed 2-year-old toddler Bella Bond was the boyfriend of the child's mother, Rachelle, but not the biological father of Bella.
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| Allegations of abuse, mismanagement shadow gains against IS Posted: 30 May 2017 04:36 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — As the U.S.-led coalition ratchets up operations in Syria, there are concerns that it will result in a rerun of what happened in Iraq, where $1 billion in weapons supplied to local fighters is unaccounted for.
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| Tiger Woods Allegedly Found Asleep at the Wheel Posted: 30 May 2017 08:40 AM PDT  Florida police say the golf superstar was asleep at the wheel of his still-running Mercedes when they found him early Monday morning.
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| Boy, 10, Flies Off Waterslide at Opening Day of New Amusement Park Posted: 30 May 2017 08:49 AM PDT  The Wave in California remains closed as the investigation continues.
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| U.S. top court sides with police over shooting of homeless couple Posted: 30 May 2017 08:10 AM PDT ![U.S. top court sides with police over shooting of homeless couple]( "U.S. top court sides with police over shooting of homeless couple") The U.S. Supreme Court sided with police on Tuesday and threw out a lower court ruling that had upheld $4 million in damages awarded to a homeless couple who sued after being shot 15 times in a backyard shack by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies who were searching for another man. The justices ruled 8-0 in favor of the deputies, Christopher Conley and Jennifer Pederson, and the county, nixing an earlier decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court had ruled in favor of the couple, Angel and Jennifer Mendez, who resided in the wooden shack and sustained serious injuries in the 2010 incident.
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| Rescued Chibok girls won't be going back to home town for school Posted: 30 May 2017 07:53 AM PDT  The rescued Chibok girls will not be going back to their rural home town to complete their schooling, Nigeria's minister for women said on Tuesday. Speaking at a ceremony welcoming 82 newly rescued girls to a government rehabilitation facility in Abuja, Aisha Alhassan said all the girls will be heading back to class in September, without specifying where. There are a total of 106 rescued Chibok girls that were kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists in 2014 who are receiving medical and psycho-social treatment at the Women Affairs Centre, located on the outskirts of the capital.
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| U.S. could be 'left behind' if Trump exits the Paris Climate Agreement Posted: 30 May 2017 03:15 PM PDT  The head of the United Nations has a clear message for countries and companies dragging their feet on climate change: "Get on board, or get left behind." U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday said institutions that "fail to bet on the green economy will be living in a gray future," while those that embrace clean energy technologies will "set the gold standard for economic leadership in the 21st century." Guterres didn't explicitly throw shade at the United States, but he may has well have. SEE ALSO: Trump's budget screws over climate research, but don't freak out yet Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has begun dismantling its ambitious plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions and curb fossil fuel use, at a time when the rest of the world is doubling down on both fronts. The Trump administration is also considering pulling the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, a historic international accord that aims to limit global temperature rise. John Kerry speaks at the U.N. Signing Ceremony for the Paris Climate Agreement.Image: spencer platt/Getty ImagesTrump's top environmental official, Scott Pruitt, who heads the Environmental Protection Agency, has called the Paris agreement a "bad deal" and is one of the strongest advocates of ending U.S. participation in the pact. Pruitt met with Trump on Tuesday ahead of the president's upcoming decision, a fact that made climate advocates particularly nervous. If America withdraws, it would be only the third nation in the world — after Syria and Nicaragua — to abstain. The U.S. may also become a clean energy laggard, as manufacturers and investors flock to China, India, Europe, and other nations that more openly embrace the low-carbon economy. The U.N. secretary general, in his first major climate address since taking office in December, said it's "absolutely essential that the world implements the Paris agreement — and that we fulfill that duty with increased ambition." When asked about a possible U.S. exit, Guterres said the U.N. was "engaging with the American administration." "We believe it will be important for the United States not to leave the Paris agreement," he added. "My door is open to all who wish to discuss the way forward, even those who might hold divergent perspectives," he said earlier in the address. "The climate conversation should cease to be a shouting match." U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, speaks at a conference in London.Image: Jack Hill - WPA Pool/Getty ImagesThe Paris Agreement, which went into force in 2016, calls for nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels by 2100. Yet the Paris agreement isn't the only place where the U.S. and U.N. diverge on climate issues. Trump and his top officials, including Pruitt, have also disputed the U.N.'s widely accepted finding that "human influence on the climate system is clear." In his speech, Guterres said "the science [of climate change] is beyond doubt." He noted that climate-related impacts, including rising sea levels, devastating floods, and long-lasting droughts, "are dangerous, and they are accelerating." Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly expressed skepticism toward the mainstream scientific consensus on climate change. President Trump has pledged to revive coal mining in hard-hit states like West Virginia.Image: spencer platt/Getty ImagesOn Tuesday, a reporter asked White House press secretary Sean Spicer if Trump believes that human activity contributes to global warming. Spicer replied, "Honestly, I haven't asked him." Still, the federal government isn't the only place where Americans can fight climate change, Guterres noted. Local governments, civil organizations, and especially businesses — whose energy investments will stall or propel the low-carbon economy— all have an important role to play. Even if the U.S. withdraws, "it's very important for the U.S. society as a whole, the cities, the states, the companies, the businesses, to remain engaged with the Paris agreement," Guterres said. WATCH: It's official, 2016 was Earth's warmest year on record
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| Sean Spicer says Trump's relationship with Angela Merkel is 'fairly unbelievable' amid dramatic fallout Posted: 30 May 2017 12:48 PM PDT  "We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands," Ms Merkel said at a campaign event in Bavaria after Mr Trump just returned to Washington from his first foreign trip. The comment appeared to be prompted by Mr Trump's continued indecisiveness on whether the US should remain in the Paris Agreement on climate change. "The entire discussion about climate was very difficult, if not to say very dissatisfying," she said about the group of seven (G7) discussions on climate in which Mr Trump participated while in Taormina, Italy.
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| Did Aliens Ever Live On Mars? Posted: 30 May 2017 09:00 AM PDT  We can't say yes or no with certainty, but new findings made by NASA's Curiosity rover extend the time frame in which life as we know it could have existed on the red planet.
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| Fight breaks out between lawmakers on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives Posted: 30 May 2017 09:50 AM PDT  A scuffle broke out between lawmakers on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives when Republican state Rep. Matt Rinaldi said he called ICE to deal with demonstrators protesting the state's "sanctuary cities" ban. According to the Associated Press, Rinaldi told some Hispanic Democratic representatives, "This is B.S. That's why I called ICE," leading to the fight.
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| Dakota Access pipeline expected to begin shipping Thursday Posted: 31 May 2017 03:30 PM PDT ![Dakota Access pipeline expected to begin shipping Thursday]( "Dakota Access pipeline expected to begin shipping Thursday") BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, which is expected to begin shipping oil on Thursday, will face scrutiny later this summer on whether it violated North Dakota rules during construction.
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| Death toll climbs from mudslides and floods in Sri Lanka Posted: 31 May 2017 10:08 AM PDT ![Death toll climbs from mudslides and floods in Sri Lanka]( "Death toll climbs from mudslides and floods in Sri Lanka") The death toll from mudslides and floods in Sri Lanka has climbed past 200, with 96 others missing, the government said Wednesday. The Disaster Management Center said 203 people were confirmed dead. More than 77,000 have been displaced and over 1,500 homes destroyed since rains began inundating the southern and western areas of the Indian Ocean island nation last Friday.
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| Silk Road website founder loses appeal of conviction, life sentence Posted: 31 May 2017 12:38 PM PDT  By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ross Ulbricht, the accused mastermind behind the underground Silk Road website for the sale of illegal drugs to customers worldwide, failed to persuade a federal appeals court to overturn his conviction and life sentence. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday rejected Ulbricht's claim that he was denied a fair trial because he could not introduce evidence of corruption by two federal agents involved in his probe. It also rejected the 33-year-old Ulbricht's claim that his prison term of life with no possibility of parole, was too long.
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| Vietnamese Prime Minister Comes to Talk Trade Posted: 31 May 2017 09:59 AM PDT  On the agenda? Trade and security in the South China Sea. Human rights? Not so much.
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| Turkey condemns US for arming Kurds with weapons ahead of Raqqa assault Posted: 31 May 2017 09:38 AM PDT  The Pentagon has confirmed the first new shipment of arms to Kurdish fighters closing in on Isis in the militants' de facto capital of Raqqa is on its way to Syria. Small arms including AK-47s and small-calibre machine guns as well as vehicles were being transferred to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mainly Kurdish alliance of fighters, spokesperson Eric Pahon told reporters on Tuesday. The news was met with consternation in Ankara, where Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the decision a "mistake".
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| Google points out everyone's terrible spelling, and then misspells a word Posted: 30 May 2017 04:03 PM PDT  While Scripps National Spelling Bee this week tries to convince us that America can spell, Google has the state-by-state breakdown to prove otherwise. SEE ALSO: California State University's grad stole features a pretty brutal spelling error The search engine revealed Tuesday which word comes up the most when people type in, "How to spell..." and the results are something else. America's most misspelled words - it's #spellingbee week and we mapped top "how to spell" searches by state#dataviz pic.twitter.com/oHkRHj8Eku — GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) May 30, 2017 The results are telling — Wisconsin looks up how to spell their own state name the most, while New Hampshire is worried about diarrhea and getting that right. @GoogleTrends "Wisconsin" being the most misspelled word in Wisconsin is perfect. — Jamison Stoltz (@EditorStoltz) May 30, 2017 @GoogleTrends Diorrh... diahrr... dioeri... never mind... — davepaisley (@davepaisley) May 30, 2017 Google itself has some of its own spelling problems to sort out. Its original map spelled Washington D.C.'s most searched word as "nintey," which is definitely not how you spell out the number 90. It was corrected later, along with some incorrect letter counting, with a new map and legend marked as the "one to use." We've made a few corrections to the legend. This is the one to use pic.twitter.com/0Z8fUlzmHc — GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) May 30, 2017 Helpfully, or embarrassingly, Google broke down the searches by letter-length. Most searches are for six to 10 letter words, like California, New York, Minnesota, Kentucky and Ohio's "beautiful" or Illinois' "appreciate." Good old Pennsylvania really pulled through with "sauerkraut." Some concernedly short search queries were "liar" in Rhode Island and "nanny" in Mississippi. The two longest words hailed from West Virginia and Connecticut (way harder to spell than Wisconsin) and were the same: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins. But the best finding was "tomorrow" topping searches in both Arizona and Colorado — but with different letter lengths. In Arizona, searches for the word were six to 10 letters, while in Colorado they were 11 to 19 letters — that's a lot of extra Ms and Rs. @GoogleTrends Interesting how "tomorrow" has eight letters in Arizona and eleven letters in Colorado — ᵖᵉᵗᵉ (@petecasellini) May 30, 2017 Catch the spelling bee finals on Thursday — they'll be on ESPN. Maybe "chihuahua" or "banana" will be the ultimate stumper. But probably not, considering last year's winning words were "gesellschaft" and "Feldenkrais." WATCH: The adaptation differences in the Harry Potter series are wickedly permissible
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| Shutdown for 50th anniversary of Biafra declaration Posted: 30 May 2017 06:10 AM PDT  Shops, schools and businesses were shut in southeast Nigeria on Tuesday, 50 years to the day since the declaration of an independent republic of Biafra sparked a brutal civil war. In Onitsha, the economic hub of Anambra state on the banks of the River Niger, most markets were closed and the streets were largely empty of people and traffic. Separatist sentiment persists in the region, which is dominated by the Igbo people, and the main pro-Biafran independence group has called on supporters to stay at home.
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| Girl, 7, found critically injured after domestic incident in Olney section of Philadelphia Posted: 31 May 2017 04:05 AM PDT  Philadelphia Police are investigating how a 7-year-old girl who is hospitalized in extremely critical condition became unresponsive in her home.
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| Principal's Suicide in School Parking Lot Came Amid Adultery Allegations, Officials Say Posted: 31 May 2017 10:59 AM PDT  Dennis Reeves was allegedly having an affair with his secretary.
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| Ryan Edwards’ Fiancée Mackenzie Standifer Seemingly Confirms Drug Rumors Posted: 31 May 2017 11:33 AM PDT  "Here's a thought… maybe instead of making assumptions and tearing people down, you could spend that time praying for us instead," she tweeted
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| Abandoned Tennessee mental hospital Posted: 30 May 2017 07:03 AM PDT ![Abandoned Tennessee mental hospital]( "Abandoned Tennessee mental hospital") A surreptitious visit to an abandoned asylum brings images of peeling paint, abandoned suitcases, a rack with coats still hanging on it, and more.
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| Man held in killing of 8 people often threatened violence Posted: 31 May 2017 09:45 AM PDT  BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — Willie Cory Godbolt, the man accused of killing a sheriff's deputy and seven people he knew in rural Mississippi, has led a life marked by violence, starting with his own parents.
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| Trump blasts Russia probe, touts ex-adviser Page over FBI, CIA Posted: 31 May 2017 03:54 PM PDT  By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump sought to insert himself into congressional investigations on Russia on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to hear from one of his former advisers, Carter Page, to counter testimony by directors of the FBI and CIA. Trump has been dismissive of probes by the FBI and several congressional panels into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion with his campaign. In a series of early morning tweets, the president quoted a letter from Page, in which he asked to address the House Intelligence Committee promptly and referred to what he characterized as faulty testimony from U.S. intelligence officials.
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| Apple WWDC 2017 Preview: A Siri Speaker Plus Software Posted: 31 May 2017 04:47 PM PDT  WWDC tends to be a software-focused event, but Apple may be announcing several new devices at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 5. There's a remote possibility we'll get a sneak peek of the iPhone 8, but based on recent reports, there's a much better chance we'll see a revamped a new Siri-powered speaker that will compete against Amazon's legion of Alexa speakers, a revamped 10.5-inch iPad Pro and an update to Apple's MacBook lineup. Apple CEO Tim Cook will kick off WWDC 2017 on June 5.
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| Tamir Rice: Police officer who shot 12-year-old boy dead fired Posted: 30 May 2017 10:11 AM PDT  Cleveland Police announced they have fired police officer Timothy Loehmann for the 2014 shooting death of 12 year old Tamir Rice. Mr Loehmann was not fired for the shooting. Cleveland Director of Public Safety Michael McGrath confirmed it was due to inaccuracies on his job application.
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| Pro-Syrian forces staying in border area despite US warnings Posted: 31 May 2017 12:18 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Forces backing the Syrian government haven't left a protected area near Syria's southern border with Jordan despite repeated warnings from the U.S.-led coalition, American military officials said Wednesday.
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| Kathy Griffin Fired by CNN After Disturbing Trump Beheading Stunt Posted: 31 May 2017 12:12 PM PDT  The president's 11-year-old son Barron thought something had happened to his dad when he saw the image.
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