| Iran says exercising restraint despite 'unacceptable' escalation of U.S. sanctions Posted: 15 May 2019 10:21 PM PDT  Iran is committed to its obligations under an international nuclear deal despite the U.S. withdrawal from the landmark agreement, its foreign minister said on Thursday, calling the reimposition of U.S sanctions "unacceptable". Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the comments in a meeting with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo as tensions rise in the Middle East, fuelling concern that the United States and Iran are heading for conflict. Iran is exercising "maximum restraint in spite of the fact the United States withdrew from (the) JCPOA last May," Zarif said at the beginning of his meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.
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| Polish Catholic Church expects 'wave' of child sex abuse reports after release of film on paedophilia Posted: 15 May 2019 12:54 PM PDT  Poland's Catholic Church says it is expecting a "wave" of reports of child sex abuse by priests as it struggles to cope with the impact of a new film on paedophilia in the church that has been seen by millions. The crowd-funded two-hour-long film 'Just Don't Tell Anyone' has so far had over 14 million views on YouTube in just three days, and proved to be a sensation in Poland while appearing to deliver a hammer blow to the moral credibility of the Catholic Church. The film, which hears the accounts of victims and some confessions from their abusers, has already prompted Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the head of Poland's episcopate, to issue an apology to "all those harmed" but now the Church appears to be bracing itself for an avalanche of sexual abuse allegations. "So far Poland has not seen the huge increases in reported cases as seen in other countries," said Father Piotr Studnicki, from the Church's Centre for Child Protection, during a television interview. "But that wave is probably coming." The Catholic Church has also said that it will re-open old cases and start new investigations in response to the material shown in the documentary. Reacting to the film Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice, Poland's governing party, said the government was preparing changes to the penal code that would introduce sentences of up to 30 years for child abuse. The film could also have an influence on the European elections later this month. Before its release Law and Justice had sought to make political capital by portraying itself as the defender of the Catholic Church and conservative values, with Mr Kaczynski even going as far to say that "anyone who raises their hand against the Church, raises their hand against Poland". But his party now risks being tainted by the scandal engulfing the Church, and opposition parties have been quick to exploit the possibility. Grzegorz Schetyna, the leader of Civic Platform, Poland's main opposition party, has already parodied his opponent's words by saying "anyone who raises their hand against children, raises their hand against Poland".
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| Top FBI officials were 'quite worried' Comey would appear to be blackmailing Trump Posted: 15 May 2019 06:29 AM PDT  Senior FBI officials were concerned then director James Comey would appear to be blackmailing then President-elect Trump – using tactics notoriously associated with J.Edgar Hoover – when he attended a fateful Jan. 6, 2017 meeting where he informed the real estate magnate about allegations he had consorted with prostitutes in Moscow, according to Jim Baker, the bureau's chief counsel at the time.
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| View 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC400 Photos Posted: 16 May 2019 09:53 AM PDT |
| Pregnant High School Student Found Strangled with Baby Cut From Her Womb in Chicago Posted: 16 May 2019 11:10 AM PDT  A nine-months-pregnant high schooler's body was found in Chicago with her baby cut from her womb.
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| The Latest: Police release name of officer who killed woman Posted: 16 May 2019 03:29 PM PDT  HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the police shooting of a Houston-area woman (all times local):
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| Prying money from NRA CEO's hands: Today's Toon Posted: 15 May 2019 04:51 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| India Claims It Can Track China's New J-20 Stealth Fighter Posted: 16 May 2019 02:36 AM PDT  The Indian Air Force has boasted its Su-30 Flankers have tracked J-20s on radar, but as stealth fighters often employ emitters called "Luneburg Lens" to enlarge their RCS on routine flights, and thus conceal their true capabilities, it's difficult to infer much from this either.In January 2011, the maiden flight of a large, dagger-like grey jet announced that China had developed its first stealth aircraft—the Chengdu J-20 "Mighty Dragon." Six years later, after several substantial revisions, J-20s entered operational service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force.(This first appeared several months ago.)As radar-guided missiles from fighters and ground-based launchers threaten aircraft from dozens, or even hundreds of miles away, stealth capabilities are increasingly perceived as necessary for keeping fighter pilots alive on the modern battlefield.But just how good is the J-20? And what is its intended role? After all, America's first stealth fighter, the F-117 Nighthawk, was not even really a fighter and lacked any air-to-air capability whatsoever.
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| Saudi-led warplanes pound Yemen rebels after pipeline attack Posted: 16 May 2019 12:05 PM PDT  Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed Yemeni rebel targets including in the capital on Thursday following insurgent drone strikes on a key oil pipeline that Riyadh said were ordered by its arch-rival Tehran. The Saudi deputy defence minister said that Tuesday's attack by Yemeni rebels on a major pipeline in his country was "tightening the noose" around peace efforts. The Saudi-led coalition, which has been battling the Huthi rebels since March 2015, confirmed that its warplanes were carrying out multiple strikes across rebel-held territory in Yemen.
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| U.S. House panel threatens action to get Mueller report documents Posted: 16 May 2019 04:57 PM PDT  The Democratic-led committee asked the department to provide "a dozen narrow sets" of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence documents related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's assessment of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election by Wednesday, May 15, as an expression of good faith, Schiff told reporters. "The deadline came and went without the production of a single document, raising profound questions about whether the department has any intention to honor its legal obligations," he said. Schiff had issued a subpoena to the Justice Department last week to obtain Mueller's unredacted report, in addition to other material and documents gathered during the 22-month investigation.
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| Republicans Aren’t All Thrilled by Alabama’s Anti-Abortion Law Posted: 15 May 2019 07:26 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/GettyRepublicans in Washington expressed concern on Wednesday over Alabama's new ban on nearly all abortions, fearing that the law was either too harsh or would be a strategically weak launching pad for overturning Roe v. Wade.The bill signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey (R) bans almost all abortions in the state, even in cases of rape or incest. It garnered headlines for the harsh penalties it would place on those who perform abortions—anywhere from life or 10-99 years in prison. And it was criticized by pro-choice activists as a deadly, thinly veiled attempt to strike down Roe v. Wade. Social conservatives hailed the measure as the purest legislative distillation of anti-abortion principles. But even some staunch conservatives cast doubts on the effort. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) told The Daily Beast that, in theory, passing state laws to jumpstart a legal challenge to Roe was a smart idea. But Rogers said he disagreed with the Alabama bill's language on cases of rape and incest. "I worry that if they're that rigid, how that may impact the Supreme Court's ultimate view of what they're trying to do," said Rogers."My hope is one of the other bills that has the exception in it actually gets to the court," he said, referencing legislation in other states to restrict abortion access. "That has a better chance of overturning Roe than the Alabama bill does."The skepticism from Rogers reflected the broader mood of national Republicans. Not many were willing to offer defenses of the Alabama bill on its merits, choosing instead to talk legal strategies or point the finger at the opposition. Asked whether President Trump supports the Alabama law, Judd Deere, a spokesman for the White House, offered a statement that didn't reference the law. "Unlike radical Democrats who have cheered legislation allowing a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments from birth, President Trump is protecting our most innocent and vulnerable, defending the dignity of life, and called on Congress to prohibit late-term abortions," the statement read.The politics of abortion rights can be tricky, but public polling on laws like Alabama's is remarkably clear. A July 2018 Quinnipiac poll found that two-thirds of Americans believed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Over three-quarters of Americans, meanwhile, believe abortion should be legal if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, a 2015 Quinnipiac poll found.Faced with these data points, Republicans have sought to restrict abortion with somewhat more legislative precision than in Alabama, where the only exceptions to the bans are for the life of the woman and for instances in which the fetus has a fatal anomaly. In Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Mississippi, state lawmakers have passed so-called "heartbeat" legislation that would keep the rape and incest exceptions but dramatically curtail abortion rights by limiting the ability of a women to get the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy. Heartbeat Abortion Bills Were Once a Fringe Idea. Could They Overturn Roe v. Wade?Those efforts, too, have been made with an eye on the Supreme Court, where a legal challenge to these laws appears to be headed. Conservatives believe that the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the court last year places Roe on tenuous ground. And at least one other Alabama Republican on Capitol Hill sounded was optimistic than Rogers that the state's law would be the vehicle to get the court to flip. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL) said "it's going to set up a very interesting decision by the United States Supreme Court.""Well, we certainly have to have some test," he told The Daily Beast, "and that's as good as any."But Byrne was an anomaly on Wednesday. Other Republicans either denounced the law as having gone too far (as Sen. Susan Collins, an abortion rights supporter, did) or, more often, avoided discussing it altogether. Sen. Richard Shelby, the most senior Alabama lawmaker in Washington, told reporters that he supports the exceptions on abortion restrictions in the cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother, which are codified in the Hyde Amendment that prohibits federal funding for abortion. But he declined to say whether he supported his own state's law in substance or as a way to force a Roe challenge.The Trump 2020 campaign, meanwhile, referred The Daily Beast directly to the White House for a response to the bill. But it did issue a statement concerning the president's anti-abortion positions generally."The American people support life, and they have a President who fights for life as Democrats promote the inhumane extermination of life and trample on the 'life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness' all Americans are entitled to—even the most vulnerable among us," said Kayleigh McEnany, Trump's national press secretary.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Pilots pushed Boeing to act after Lion Air crash: reports Posted: 14 May 2019 08:40 PM PDT  After a deadly crash in Indonesia, American Airlines pilots called a meeting to press Boeing executives for safety changes to the 737 MAX aircraft, US media reported Tuesday. The call for changes, which could have required the best-selling aircraft model to be temporarily grounded, were reported by The New York Times and CBS News after they obtained an audio recording of the November 27 meeting between the American Airlines pilots union and officials from the aircraft manufacturer. The 737 MAX 8 is currently grounded worldwide after the March crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 that killed all 157 people onboard and drew scrutiny to the new Boeing model's anti-stall system, which investigators believe may have brought the jet down.
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| Guatemalan migrant toddler dies weeks after U.S. detention Posted: 15 May 2019 10:04 PM PDT ![Guatemalan migrant toddler dies weeks after U.S. detention]( "Guatemalan migrant toddler dies weeks after U.S. detention") The death comes after three Guatemalan minors died in U.S. custody since December, during the biggest surge of migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border in a decade. The deaths have spurred greater criticism of the Trump administration's hardline stance on illegal immigration, as well as closer scrutiny of why some migrants from Central America travel with children on the long, dangerous road north. Tekandi Paniagua, Guatemala's consul in El Paso, Texas, said the boy had been detained by U.S. migration officials after entering the United States in early April with his mother near the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, opposite El Paso.
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| Democrat Warren targets Pentagon contractors, calls industry corrupt Posted: 16 May 2019 08:03 AM PDT  Warren wants to limit the ability of former Pentagon officials to work for contractors or foreign governments and to make public the documents of private companies working with the Defense Department, she outlined on Thursday in a post on Medium. Warren is one of more than 20 Democrats vying for her party's nomination to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election. Warren has distinguished herself in the field as the candidate with the most prolific series of policy proposals on a myriad of topics.
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| Asked if U.S. is going to war with Iran, President Donald Trump responds: 'I hope not' Posted: 16 May 2019 11:26 AM PDT  Donald Trump had a pithy response to what has become a pressing question: Is the United States going to war with Iran? "I hope not," Trump said.
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| How the U.S. Air Force Makes Sure the F-22 Raptor Dominates the Skies Posted: 15 May 2019 11:00 PM PDT  As the Air Force and Lockheed Martin move forward with weapons envelope expansions and enhancements for the F-22, there is of course a commensurate need to upgrade software and its on-board sensors to adjust to emerging future threats, industry developers explained. Ultimately, this effort will lead the Air Force to draft up requirements for new F-22 sensors, Lockheed developers said.(Washington, D.C.) The US Air Force is now integrating new weapons onto 143 F-22s to massively expand their target envelope, air-to-air attack range and lock-on-launch precision -- to preserve the widely held belief that the stealth fighter is the most advanced and dominant air-to-air fighter ever to exist.F-22s will be able to track and destroy enemy targets flying behind them, hit air targets with much greater force, precision and destructive power and include new GPS jam-resistant technologies, developers explain.Actual integration of the new, upgraded weapons -- which include the AIM-9X and AIM-120D missiles -- begins this May, according to the 2018 Air Force Annual Acquisition Report. The weapons expansion is part on an ongoing, multi-year upgrade called 3.2B during which the weapons improvements were prototyped, tested, demonstrated and validated. Now, the Air Force Report says - they are operational and ready for war.
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| Take a Good Look at the Ford Focus ST Wagon, Because You Won't Be Able to Buy One Posted: 16 May 2019 08:14 AM PDT  Of all the versions of the Focus that us Americans don't get, this one stings the worst.
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| How One Father Learned to Live Again After the Death of His 2-Year-Old Daughter Posted: 16 May 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Jayson Greene tells the story of his 2-year-old daughter's death and the aftermath in an affecting new memoir, 'Once More We Saw Stars.'
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| Today’s best deals: $10 Philips Hue bulbs, $20 off AirPods 2, $7 Alexa smart plugs, $39 Roku Stick, more Posted: 15 May 2019 07:33 AM PDT  We're going to warn you right off the bat that you might not be able to control yourself when you see all the ridiculously good deals we've dug up on Wednesday. Highlights include the first big AirPods 2 sale (they're out of stock but you can still order and they should ship within a few weeks), Philips Hue white LED smart bulbs at an all-time low of $10 each when you buy a 4-pack of renewed bulbs, true wireless earbuds with killer sound for just $27.19 when you use the coupon code HA92G3PR at checkout, Alexa and Google enabled smart plugs for only $7.22 a piece when you buy a 4-pack and use the coupon code 273MOVFC, 6th-gen iPads at Black Friday prices, the Roku Streaming Stick for only $39 or the Roku Streaming Stick+ for $49, $20 off Bose's best-selling Bluetooth earbuds, Fire TV Sticks for $25 and Fire TV Stick 4K devices for $35 if you're an Amazon Prime member, Echo Dots at the lowest price ever, a massive SanDisk 400GB microSD card for only $57, and much more. See all of today's top deals below.
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| Hungary will have to buy Russian natural gas if Exxon waits on offshore project -minister Posted: 15 May 2019 03:57 PM PDT ![Hungary will have to buy Russian natural gas if Exxon waits on offshore project -minister]( "Hungary will have to buy Russian natural gas if Exxon waits on offshore project -minister") Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday his country would again turn to Russia for natural gas supplies if Exxon Mobil Corp has not decided by September whether to invest in a massive Black Sea offshore project. Romania's Black Sea reserves pose a potential challenge to Russian Gazprom's dominant role supplying Central and Eastern Europe, according to consultancy Deloitte. "Exxon Mobil can be the game changer in the energy supply of Europe.
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| The Latest: Kamala Harris open to reforming Supreme Court Posted: 15 May 2019 08:28 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Democratic presidential candidates and abortion (all times local):
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| White House Rejects Democrats’ Requests for Documents, Testimony Posted: 15 May 2019 12:22 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The White House said it won't turn over documents or allow testimony sought by the House Judiciary Committee in its probe of President Donald Trump's election, arguing the congressional demands are too broad and violate principles of executive privilege.
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| Iran will defeat U.S.-Israeli alliance, says defense minister Posted: 15 May 2019 12:16 PM PDT  Iran's military commanders said on Wednesday the Islamic Republic was on the verge of an all-out confrontation with its enemies and was ready to counter any threat. "Iran has the highest level of defense-military preparedness to confront any type of threat and excessive demands," Defence Minister Amir Hatami was quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The United States has sent further military forces to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and Patriot missiles, in a show of force against what U.S. officials say are Iranian threats to its troops and interests in the region.
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| Teen charged in Colorado shooting in court Posted: 15 May 2019 10:28 AM PDT  One of two teens charged in the deadly attack on a suburban Denver school has appeared in court after being charged with multiple counts of murder, theft and arson in the attack. (May 15)
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| Samsung insider teases breakthrough phone design coming in the second half of 2019 Posted: 15 May 2019 04:37 PM PDT  A Samsung insider who is perhaps best known for sharing details about brand new phones well ahead of their official announcements is back teasing that some sort of breakthrough smartphone design is coming in the second half of the year. It's unclear at this time whether he's talking about a Samsung phone or not, but the leaker did say recently that Samsung will be among the companies to deliver this brand new design.Ice Universe is the leaker in question, a constant presence in smartphone news. He posted the following Galaxy Note 7 images on Twitter teasing that a "better-designed phone" is coming later this year.https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1128263015348953088The Galaxy Note 7 represents Samsung's biggest disaster to date. The phone was very well received, but then Samsung had to deal with a plethora of battery incidents, from explosions to fires. The phone was recalled and ultimately canceled, and Samsung had to deal with all the blowback. The Note 7 recall actually forced Samsung to delay the launch of the Galaxy S8 in early 2017, as it was still investigating the Note 7 and putting additional safety measures in place to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.No matter how great the Galaxy Note 7 design may have been, it's still a 2016 phone, and smartphone design has come a long way since. The Galaxy S8 was Samsung's first phone with an Infinity display. That screen morphed into the Infinity-O screen of this year's Galaxy S10, which is what we expect to see on the Note 10 come August.Samsung (and everyone else in the business) has tried to continuously increase the size of the screen at the expense of the bezels. Some did with it notches, pop-up selfie cams or slider phones. Others put two screens on the phone. And Samsung created hole-punch displays. The first foldable phones were also unveiled earlier this year, with one of them stealing the show back at the Mobile World Congress in 2019. So we already have smartphone designs better that are miles better than the Galaxy Note 7.How could Samsung or anyone else further perfect the smartphone design? The only thing nobody has done is to sell a phone with a selfie camera placed under the screen. That would be the perfect all-screen phone design, and something we expect to see in stores in the not-too-distant future. But is it ready for 2019?Ice Universe seems to know something we don't, and he's not sharing more details about it. However, since he's teasing it with the help of Note 7 pics, it's easy to assume Samsung is behind this new handset design, and that the Galaxy Note 10 could be the device he's referring to.
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| US stealth fighter suffers millions in damage from bird strike Posted: 16 May 2019 02:37 AM PDT  A US F-35 stealth bomber suffered millions of dollars in damage after being hit by a bird during take-off from an air base in Japan, the US Marine Corps said in a statement Wednesday. "On May 7, 2019 an F-35B with Marine Aircraft Group 12, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing aborted take-off due to a bird strike at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and safely taxied off the runway," the statement said.
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| Alabama senate passes toughest abortion ban bill in US Posted: 14 May 2019 11:22 PM PDT  The Alabama senate on Tuesday passed the most restrictive abortion bill in the United States, which places a near-total ban on the termination of pregnancy -- even in cases of rape and incest -- and could punish doctors who perform the procedure with life in prison. The text passed by the Republican-led senate has been sent to Governor Kay Ivey's desk for signature into law and, if approved is expected to trigger a legal battle which could reach the Supreme Court. Under the bill, performing an abortion is a crime that could land doctors who perform it in prison for 10 to 99 years.
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| One-pan cilantro lime pork chops are quick and easy to make Posted: 16 May 2019 09:15 AM PDT  Welcome to Best Bites, a twice-weekly video series that aims to satisfy yournever-ending craving for food content through quick, beautiful videos for theat-home foodie
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| GOP senators question immigration plan presented by Kushner Posted: 14 May 2019 07:10 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — An attempt by presidential senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner to win support for a White House immigration plan produced uncertain results Tuesday as Republican senators raised questions.
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| Britain says shares same assessment of Iran as the United States Posted: 16 May 2019 07:53 AM PDT  Britain agrees with the United States that Iran poses a heightened threat and will work closely with its ally, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday. Hunt said he had discussed Iran with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week in London, and again in Brussels on Monday. "We share the same assessment of the heightened threat posed by Iran," Hunt said on Twitter.
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| Alabama Senate approves near-total ban on abortion; sends bill to the governor Posted: 16 May 2019 11:29 AM PDT  The measure includes the most sweeping restrictions on abortion in the United States, almost certainly guaranteeing a legal challenge.
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| Sen. Lindsey Graham reveals new immigration bill as Feds arrest dozens over alleged immigration scam Posted: 15 May 2019 02:29 AM PDT  Scam offered fake marriages for $70K; Border Patrol Foundation president Ronald Colburn weighs in.
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| The Latest: Trump and de Blasio already trading insults Posted: 16 May 2019 06:07 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joining the Democratic presidential race (all times local):
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| Kremlin says concerned over escalating Iran tensions despite Pompeo claims Posted: 15 May 2019 04:54 AM PDT  The Kremlin Wednesday expressed concern that tensions over Iran keep escalating despite assurances from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Russia that Washington was not seeking war. "So far we notice the continued escalation of tensions around this subject," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, a day after Pompeo met with President Vladimir Putin.
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