| The unsung heroes of 2017 Posted: 22 Dec 2017 03:52 AM PST  Rescue workers and volunteers help residents make their way out of a flooded Houston neighborhood following Hurricane Harvey on Aug. 29. The catastrophic flooding in Houston in the wake of Hurricane Harvey was the backdrop for plenty of dramatic boat rescues in August. Both groups used Facebook to organize and coordinate their street-by-street searches.
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| Democrats Are Attacking The GOP For Its Hypocrisy On Deficits. That Might Be A Mistake. Posted: 23 Dec 2017 05:01 AM PST  WASHINGTON ― Republicans ran against the rising national debt in the 2010 midterm elections, and it worked.
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| Baby Hospitalized After Being Attacked by Raccoon in Her Home, Family Says Posted: 22 Dec 2017 01:26 PM PST  Little Journi Black was asleep on her parent's bed in their Philadelphia apartment when a raccoon apparently dragged her onto the floor and attacked her Wednesday, her uncle Kenneth McDuffie said.
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| Myanmar to grant families access to two Reuters journalists after remand period expires: media Posted: 23 Dec 2017 05:24 AM PST ![Myanmar to grant families access to two Reuters journalists after remand period expires: media]( "Myanmar to grant families access to two Reuters journalists after remand period expires: media") Two Reuters journalists detained in Myanmar will be allowed to meet their families once their first 14-day period of remand expires, according to local media reports. Reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been in detention for 11 days in an undisclosed location and have had no access to their families, lawyers or colleagues. The authorities are investigating whether they violated the country's colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which has a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
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| Climate Change Could Trigger More Volcanic Eruptions, Study Finds Posted: 22 Dec 2017 01:42 PM PST  WASHINGTON — Climate change fueled by human activity could boost the frequency and severity of volcanic eruptions, a recent scientific study has found.
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| 5 ways Donald Trump has failed to 'drain the swamp' Posted: 22 Dec 2017 02:00 AM PST  One year into his first term, however, Trump's pledge to root out Washington corruption has not exactly yielded the quick and easy results his slogan promised. Perhaps as a result, a new poll finds a sharp jump over the past 12 months in the number (44 percent) of Americans who think that most or all of the officials in the current administration are corrupt. A man holds up a "Drain the Swamp in Washington DC" sign as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign event at the airport in Kinston, N.C., Oct. 26, 2016.
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| Senate Paid Out $1.45 Million In Discrimination Settlements Since 1997, Data Shows Posted: 21 Dec 2017 07:24 PM PST  The Senate paid nearly $1.45 million in taxpayer-funded discrimination settlements over the last two decades, according to data released on Thursday obtained by several news outlets.
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| Philippines storm leaves 182 dead and tens of thousands displaced Posted: 23 Dec 2017 11:52 AM PST  Tens of thousands have been forced from their homes by a tropical storm that battered the southern Philippines leaving at least 182 dead, police and aid agencies said Sunday. Tropical Storm Tembin, which triggered flash floods and mudslides as it lashed the nation's second-largest island of Mindanao, has displaced more than 70,000 people, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). "People left everything behind when they fled for their lives," the IFRC's Philippines operations and programmes manager Patrick Elliott said in a statement.
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| Mosul's morgue men endured worst of Islamic State butchery Posted: 23 Dec 2017 11:00 AM PST  MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — The young man ended up on the morgue's examining table in two parts.
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| Amtrak engineer remarked on train speed 6 seconds before crash: NTSB Posted: 22 Dec 2017 02:52 PM PST ![Amtrak engineer remarked on train speed 6 seconds before crash: NTSB]( "Amtrak engineer remarked on train speed 6 seconds before crash: NTSB") (Reuters) - Six seconds before an Amtrak train derailed off a bridge and onto a highway near Seattle, the engineer remarked that the train was speeding, U.S. investigators said on Friday. The engineer then applied the brakes but apparently not the emergency brake, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a statement after retrieving and reviewing data from the data recorder and inward- and outward-facing cameras. Monday's crash south of Seattle killed three people and sent about 100 others to hospitals.
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| The Christmas Cats Of Instagram Are Bringing The Holiday Cheer Posted: 22 Dec 2017 02:19 AM PST  Cute cats are wishing everyone a meow-y Christmas.
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| London Zoo Staff Are Still Searching for 4 Meerkats After a Fire Broke Out Posted: 23 Dec 2017 08:12 AM PST  Zoo officials say a fire left one aardvark dead and four meerkats missing.
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| Parents Give Teachers Gift Suggesting Son Drives Them To Drink Posted: 22 Dec 2017 12:06 PM PST  Instead of whining about their son's teachers, Ohio parents Mary and Paul Sommers decided to wine them for Christmas instead.
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| 2018: Living with a nuclear North Korea Posted: 22 Dec 2017 02:00 AM PST  A year of erratic U.S. rhetoric and steadily escalating diplomatic and economic pressure has failed to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, leaving the frustrated Trump administration to reconsider its options going into 2018 as the world wonders whether it's on the edge of war. Watch Yahoo News Chief Washington Correspondent Olivier Knox discuss the possible paths forward to preventing or learning to live with a nuclear North Korea.
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| Family Wants Justice for 6-Year-Old Killed During Police Chase Posted: 23 Dec 2017 01:11 PM PST  He was shot while in his mobile home.
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| Arab alliance: Yemen one million cholera cases report exaggerated Posted: 22 Dec 2017 10:02 AM PST ![Arab alliance: Yemen one million cholera cases report exaggerated]( "Arab alliance: Yemen one million cholera cases report exaggerated") The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Friday an announcement by the International Committee of the Red Cross that cholera cases in the country had reached one million suspected cases was exaggerated. "It is nearly impossible to accurately determine whether the suspected cases are cholera or simple diarrhea," a statement by the spokesperson for the coalition said. Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, is embroiled in a proxy war between the Houthi armed movement, aligned with Iran, and a U.S.-backed military coalition headed by Saudi Arabia.
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| L.A. Goes Bonkers Over Breathtaking 'UFO' Lighting Up The Sky Posted: 22 Dec 2017 07:20 PM PST  unexpected #spacexlaunch sighting A post shared by stephanie clary (@sclary) on Dec 22, 2017 at 5:43pm PST Angelenos thought the end was finally here when they looked up Friday evening to see something that appeared to be an iridescent alien ship exploding across the sky.
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| The Curve Where an Amtrak Train Derailed Wasn't Supposed to Exist – But It Cost Too Much to Fix Posted: 22 Dec 2017 03:36 PM PST  Initial railroad plans did not include the sharp curve where an Amtrak train derailed on Monday, but officials left it in to save money
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| The Last Known Dancing Bears Of Nepal Have Been Rescued Posted: 23 Dec 2017 08:29 AM PST  The last two known bears forced to dance for spectators in Nepal have been rescued.
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| Japan company says to close two large ageing nuclear reactors Posted: 21 Dec 2017 08:17 PM PST  A Japanese company said Friday it would decommission two ageing nuclear reactors due to difficulty in ensuring safety, as the public remains wary about atomic energy after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Kansai Electric Power's reactors No.1 and No.2 of the Oi plant in central Japan will be decommissioned, the largest reactors to be closed down aside from those at Tokyo Electric's Fukushima Daiichi plant, the company said in a statement.
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| Rights groups call on Egypt to free Al-Jazeera journalist Posted: 22 Dec 2017 08:13 AM PST ![Rights groups call on Egypt to free Al-Jazeera journalist]( "Rights groups call on Egypt to free Al-Jazeera journalist") CAIRO (AP) — Rights groups and a press freedom organization renewed calls on Egyptian authorities Friday to release an Al-Jazeera journalist whose detention passed the one-year mark. Egypt accuses the Qatar-based news network of bias toward Islamist groups including its own outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
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| The World’s Largest Lottery Has Just Drawn Its Winners Posted: 22 Dec 2017 03:33 PM PST  The lucky winners of Spain's Christmas lottery celebrated on Friday as they eagerly awaited receiving their share of the 2.4 billion euro, or $2.8 billion, prize.
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| Divers Find Sunken WWI Submarine, 100 Years After It Disappeared Posted: 22 Dec 2017 09:51 AM PST  One of Australia's oldest naval mysteries has been solved.
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| California manhunt under way after random shootings target 10 drivers Posted: 21 Dec 2017 06:59 PM PST ![California manhunt under way after random shootings target 10 drivers]( "California manhunt under way after random shootings target 10 drivers") Police in California's Central Valley have launched a manhunt for at least one suspect after a series of 10 random shootings on vehicles left one woman wounded this holiday season, officials said on Thursday. Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims has warned the shooting attacks, which have occurred in her jurisdiction and neighboring Madera County, could turn deadly. "If this keeps going, it's going to be a matter of time before we have a murder investigation," Mims said at a news conference.
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| Thank you, Bruce McCandless, for this iconic space photo Posted: 22 Dec 2017 05:58 PM PST  An astronaut floats alone with the blackness of space behind him and the bright blue limb of the Earth below. He's untethered with nothing but a NASA-made jetpack to protect him. NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless — who died at the age of 80 on Thursday — is that untethered astronaut in one of the most iconic space photos of all time. SEE ALSO: Jupiter has the blues, just like the rest of us "My wife [Bernice] was at mission control, and there was quite a bit of apprehension," McCandless said in 2015 of the 1984 spacewalk that led to the photo. A wide shot of McCandless.Image: nasa"I wanted to say something similar to Neil [Armstrong] when he landed on the moon, so I said, 'It may have been a small step for Neil, but it's a heck of a big leap for me.' That loosened the tension a bit." McCandless's spacewalk marked the first untethered walk in space by a U.S. astronaut. He was also the first person on Earth to speak to Armstrong from the surface of the moon, according to space historian Robert Pearlman. Bruce McCandless flying free.Image: nasa"His call, 'Neil, this is Houston. We're copying,' were the first ever words spoken to a human standing on the moon," Pearlman wrote on collectSPACE.com. McCandless flew to space twice over the course of his career at NASA, spending 312 hours in space. But perhaps McCandless's most significant spaceflight moment — the one that defines his career — is his untethered spacewalk and the photos from it. That stark image of McCandless flying free in space is evocative of so many of the things that capture the imagination about spaceflight. From that glorious view of Earth to simply being alone out there in the vastness of space, photos of McCandless during his flight with nothing but a special jetpack show not just the beauty but also the fear inspired by human spaceflight. And thanks to these photos, McCandless brought all of that back home to the rest of us. WATCH: NASA created a new chainmail tire that can transform its shape
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| Trump tweets 'thank you' to head of group accused of illegal political activity, racial bias Posted: 22 Dec 2017 09:20 AM PST  Trump's commendation of Charlie Kirk comes on the heels of the New Yorker report which suggests that the nonprofit Turning Points may have violated campaign finance laws with its involvement in political activity during the 2016 presidential election and has been accused of creating a racially biased work environment.
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| John Schnatter Is Out as Papa John's CEO. Here's What We Know About His Money Posted: 22 Dec 2017 11:07 AM PST  Papa John's founder John Schnatter will step down as chief executive on January 1. This comes after his controversial comments about the NFL protestors.
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| Major powers seek to hold Syria peace congress in late January Posted: 22 Dec 2017 08:17 AM PST  Major powerbrokers agreed Friday to hold a peace congress for Syria in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi in late January after previous attempts to hold the conference collapsed. Sochi will host the "Congress of National Dialogue" on Syria on January 29 and 30, said a joint statement released after two days of talks spearheaded by Russia and Iran, both key backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, and rebel-aligned Turkey.
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| Coptic diocese says hundreds attack church in Egypt Posted: 23 Dec 2017 10:20 AM PST ![Coptic diocese says hundreds attack church in Egypt]( "Coptic diocese says hundreds attack church in Egypt") CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators attacked an unlicensed church south of Cairo wounding three people, an Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese said on Saturday, in the latest assault on members of the country's Christian minority.
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| 'Beds Are Just Wireless Chargers For Humans' Posted: 22 Dec 2017 06:15 AM PST  Separated from their cellphones, standing under running water often allows people's minds to run free.
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| Ex-food worker smashes up cars at Green Bay's Lambeau Field Posted: 22 Dec 2017 02:26 PM PST ![Ex-food worker smashes up cars at Green Bay's Lambeau Field]( "Ex-food worker smashes up cars at Green Bay's Lambeau Field") The 20-year-old man, whose name was not released, was taken into custody a few minutes after the incident began and left no tread marks on the field dubbed the "Frozen Tundra," for its fabled football games in wintry conditions. The Packers said the incident would not affect its game planned for Saturday against the Minnesota Vikings.
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| Melbourne car attack man on 18 attempted murder charges Posted: 22 Dec 2017 10:36 PM PST  An Afghan refugee accused of ploughing his car into pedestrians in Melbourne was charged with 18 counts of attempted murder Saturday, as police vowed a boosted presence over the Christmas period. Saeed Noori, who has a history of drug abuse and mental problems, allegedly drove his car through a busy downtown intersection on Thursday, careering into tourists and shoppers. "A 32-year-old man has been charged with 18 counts of attempted murder and one count of conduct endangering life," Victoria state police said in a statement, citing Thursday's attack.
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| Trump Bemoans War Costs As Pence Promises Afghanistan To 'See This Through' Posted: 22 Dec 2017 06:02 AM PST  President Donald Trump on Friday lamented the cost of U.S. military action in the Middle East and vowed to spend more on domestic infrastructure, undercutting a promise his vice president made to Afghan leaders a day earlier.
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| Report: In 2018, Global Defense Spending Will Reach Highest Level Since Cold War Posted: 23 Dec 2017 05:03 AM PST  Global defense spending in 2018 is expected to reach the highest levels recorded since the end of the Cold War. The $1.67 trillion would be a 3.3 percent increase over 2017 levels, the highest year-on-year growth in over a decade. In revealing IHS Jane's forecasts, Fenella McGerty, a principal analyst at the company, said: "The increase in defense spending reflects improving economic conditions around the world, coupled with a response to continuing instability in a number of key regions." That a growing global economy is the primary force behind increased military spending is substantiated by McGerty's observation that "defense spending remains lower in relation to GDP than at any time in the last 10 years." In fact, over the last decade global defense spending has dipped to an average of 2.2 percent of GDP, down from 2.7 percent.
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| How Does Santa Claus Deliver All the Presents on Christmas Eve? Watch Our Santa Tracker to Find Out Posted: 22 Dec 2017 06:00 AM PST  We calculated the best route for Santa to take through the U.S. See when he'll arrive at your house
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| Pressed by lawmakers, US mulls more sanctions on Myanmar Posted: 22 Dec 2017 11:41 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Friday the U.S. is considering further actions against those responsible for "ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya Muslims, after a Myanmar general was blacklisted and Democratic lawmakers called for more military officers to face sanctions.
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