| Former Virginia governor remembers troopers who died in Charlottesville Posted: 10 Aug 2018 03:00 AM PDT  "It was very painful. I cannot tell you how close we were. These folks live with you all day, 24/7. It was like losing a family member."
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| Venezuelan migrants throng Ecuador-Colombia border high up in Andes Posted: 09 Aug 2018 01:23 PM PDT  Impoverished Venezuelans are fleeing food shortages, hyperinflation, and violent crime in their homeland, often taking days-long bus rides across South America because they cannot afford flights. Ecuador's government on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in three provinces due to a jump in Venezuelans who arrived through Colombia. Authorities said up to 4,500 Venezuelans had crossed daily since the weekend, up from around 500 to 1,000 people previously.
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| Joe Arpaio Gives Wild Explanation For Trainwreck Sacha Baron Cohen Interview Posted: 10 Aug 2018 01:16 PM PDT  Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, said Thursday
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| Amateur fossil hunter finds rare teeth from ancient mega-shark on Australian beach Posted: 09 Aug 2018 05:48 AM PDT  A rare set of teeth from a giant prehistoric mega-shark twice the size of the great white have been found on an Australian beach by a keen-eyed amateur enthusiast, scientists said on Thursday. Philip Mullaly was strolling along an area known as a fossil hotspot at Jan Juc, on the country's famous Great Ocean Road some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Melbourne, when he made the find. "I was walking along the beach looking for fossils, turned and saw this shining glint in a boulder and saw a quarter of the tooth exposed," he said. "I was immediately excited, it was just perfect and I knew it was an important find that needed to be shared with people." He told Museums Victoria, and Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology, confirmed the seven centimetre-long (2.7 inch) teeth were from an extinct species of predator known as the great jagged narrow-toothed shark (Carcharocles angustidens). The shark, which stalked Australia's oceans around 25 million years ago, feasting on small whales and penguins, could grow more than nine metres long, almost twice the length of today's great white shark. Fossil enthusiast Philip Mullaly holds a giant shark tooth Credit: WILLIAM WEST/AFP "These teeth are of international significance, as they represent one of just three associated groupings of Carcharocles angustidens teeth in the world, and the very first set to ever be discovered in Australia," Mr Fitzgerald said. He explained that almost all fossils of sharks worldwide were just single teeth, and it was extremely rare to find multiple associated teeth from the same shark. This is because sharks, who have the ability to regrow teeth, lose up to a tooth a day and cartilage, the material a shark skeleton is made of, does not readily fossilise. Mr Fitzgerald suspected they came from one individual shark and there might be more entombed in the rock. So he led a team of palaeontologists, volunteers, and Mr Mullaly on two expeditions earlier this year to excavate the site, collecting more than 40 teeth in total. Most came from the mega-shark, but several smaller teeth were also found from the sixgill shark (Hexanchus), which still exists today. Museums Victoria palaeontologist Tim Ziegler said the sixgill teeth were from several different individuals and would have become dislodged as they scavenged on the carcass of the Carcharocles angustidens after it died. "The stench of blood and decaying flesh would have drawn scavengers from far around," he said. "Sixgill sharks still exist off the Victorian coast today, where they live off the remains of whales and other animals. This find suggests they have performed that lifestyle here for tens of millions of years."
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| Gates, star witness against Manafort, concludes testimony Posted: 08 Aug 2018 07:29 PM PDT  ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Paul Manafort's protégé wrapped up his testimony Wednesday after implicating the former Trump campaign chairman and himself in financial crimes while also enduring stinging attacks on his character and credibility.
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| U.S. Marines Name First-Ever Female Infantry Platoon Commander Posted: 10 Aug 2018 12:11 PM PDT  First Lt. Marina A. Hierl is one of four platoon commanders in Echo Company, a group of 175 Marines and Navy sailors.
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| Running against Bernie in 2020: It's easier than you think Posted: 09 Aug 2018 02:00 AM PDT  Right now, at a time when Democrats are frantically searching for the anti-Trump, Bernie is starting to look strangely like a reverse image of the president, instead.
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| Steph Curry Helps Raise More Than $21,000 For Nia Wilson's Family Posted: 09 Aug 2018 08:08 AM PDT  NBA star Steph Curry helped raise more than $21,000 for the family of Nia
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| Death toll rises to 259 from Sunday's quake in Indonesia's Lombok island Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:59 AM PDT  The number of confirmed deaths from a strong earthquake that hit the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday has risen to 259 and would rise as more victims are found in the rubble, the disaster mitigation agency said. This number will continue increasing as rescue teams continue to find victims under collapsed buildings," the agency said in a statement on Thursday.
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| Court Orders EPA To Ban Chlorpyrifos, A Pesticide Linked To Brain Damage In Kids Posted: 09 Aug 2018 10:20 AM PDT  A federal court on Thursday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to ban
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| Alex Jones' 'Free Speech' Shouldn't Be Your Primary Concern Posted: 09 Aug 2018 09:23 AM PDT  After Apple, YouTube, Facebook and other companies removed or banned some of
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| Mother Orca Spotted Carrying Dead Calf For 17th Day Posted: 09 Aug 2018 09:53 PM PDT  A grieving orca whose calf died last month just minutes after it was born was
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| Man at compound accused of training kids for school attacks Posted: 08 Aug 2018 06:04 PM PDT  TAOS, N.M. (AP) — A father arrested at a ramshackle New Mexico compound where 11 hungry children were found living in filth was training youngsters to commit school shootings, prosecutors said in court documents obtained Wednesday.
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| White House announces Space Force, but don't try to enlist just yet Posted: 09 Aug 2018 02:02 PM PDT  The Space Force debate has hinged on whether the existing Air Force Space Command can protect American satellites in orbit and handle other military challenges in space.
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| Florida Tourist Dies After Being Punched by Man He Apparently Mistook for Uber Driver Posted: 09 Aug 2018 07:59 AM PDT  The driver fled and remains at large.
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| Former Bush Aide: Trump’s ‘Loopy Ways’ Put Him At Massive Risk In A Mueller Sit-Down Posted: 08 Aug 2018 08:53 PM PDT  Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday that an
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| On Istanbul streets, defiant Turks see U.S. hand behind lira crisis Posted: 10 Aug 2018 08:13 AM PDT  "This crisis is created by America," she said. The lira has lost more than 35 percent against the dollar this year and hit a fresh low on Friday, its biggest one day fall since Turkey's 2001 financial crisis. Food, rents and fuel prices in Turkey have all surged.
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| Kris Kobach Says He'll Remove Himself From Overseeing Kansas Primary Vote Count Posted: 09 Aug 2018 08:40 PM PDT  Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Friday that he would recuse himself
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| Air Force releases footage of soldier's final fight Posted: 10 Aug 2018 03:40 AM PDT  Footage of Sgt. John Chapman's final moments.
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| Could Ford and Volkswagen Co-Develop a Pickup Truck? That Rumor Explained Posted: 09 Aug 2018 10:22 AM PDT  It's entirely possible that the next-generation Ranger and Amarok could merge.
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| The Latest: School district defends its response to massacre Posted: 09 Aug 2018 01:54 PM PDT  SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the investigation of February's mass shooting at a Florida high school (all times local):
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| Afghans return home in record numbers as Iran currency plunges Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:19 AM PDT  Migrant workers squeezed into battered taxis pull into the Four Seasons of Freedom hotel in western Afghanistan, part of a wave of Afghans forced to leave Iran after a currency implosion wiped out their earnings. A record 442,344 Afghans have voluntarily returned or been deported from Iran this year as looming US sanctions -- which began to be reimposed this week -- fuelled a run on the rial and spurred inflation. Iran's currency has lost around half of its value against the dollar since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May, triggering a reimposition of tough penalties on the Islamic republic.
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| The Funniest Tweets From Parents This Week (August 4-10) Posted: 10 Aug 2018 06:01 AM PDT  Kids may say the darndest things, but parents tweet about them in the funniest
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| Melania Trump's Parents Likely Became U.S. Citizens Through 'Chain Migration' Donald Trump Blasts Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:13 PM PDT  President Donald Trump should have been moved this week when our nation of
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| Tourists could be made to file past Rome's Trevi Fountain on one-way route in bid to control overcrowding Posted: 09 Aug 2018 06:53 AM PDT  Tourists could be made to file past the Trevi Fountain on a designated pathway rather than linger at their leisure as officials in Rome warn that overcrowding at the monument has got out of hand. The Baroque monument was catapulted to fame by the 1960 film La Dolce Vita but the days when visitors could admire it in relative solitude – let alone wade into waist-deep it as Anita Ekberg did in the Federico Fellini classic – are long gone. Nowadays the fountain, and the piazza in which it is located, is packed with tourists night and day. Visitors clamber over the flanks of the imposing monument, drop melting ice cream on its travertine stone and dangle their feet in the water to cool off during the summer months. The tourist hordes attract a small army of itinerant vendors peddling selfie sticks, postcards and fridge magnets, as well as street artists dressed as Roman centurions and legionaries. "We're looking at the idea of having a route which would allow tourists to see the Trevi Fountain but without stopping," Andrea Coia, a city councilor, told La Repubblica newspaper. The aim would be to replace the current free-for-all with controlled access to the fountain Credit: Maremagnum The aim would be to replace the current free-for-all with controlled access to the fountain, "because the situation has become unlivable", said Mr Coia, a member of the populist Five Star Movement. A similar proposal was trialed last July but dropped a couple of months later. If revived on a permanent basis, the city would deploy police officers to make sure visitors stick to the route and walk in the same direction. There might just be time to toss a coin into the water over the left shoulder – a popular ritual that supposedly guarantees you will return to the Eternal City one day. A woman tosses a coin into the Trevi fountain in Rome. Legend has it that tossing a coin over one's shoulder into the fountain ensures a return visit Credit: Gregorio Borgia/AP Sabrina Alfonsi, a municipal representative, cautiously welcomed the idea but said the piazza needed to remain accessible to local residents. "It needs to be a piazza that belongs to the whole city, a living place," she said. Celebrated as one of Rome's must-see attractions, the Trevi Fountain also proves irresistible to drunks, exhibitionists and sweaty tourists longing for a refreshing dip during the torrid heat of the summer. Two years ago, a British woman named Delilah Jay waded into the fountain in an evening dress, in imitation of Ms Ekberg's scene with Italian heartthrob Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita. She blew kisses to crowds of tourists but was then apprehended by police officers and fined €450. A police officer tells tourists not to eat or sit on the rim of the fountain Credit: EPA In March, two Scottish rugby fans were each fined €450 after celebrating Scotland's victory over Italy in the Six Nations tournament by plunging into the fountain. The men, one of whom was wearing a kilt as he performed a leisurely breast-stroke through the frigid water, were also hauled out by police. Consisting of a grand central arch, marble pillars and allegorical figures surrounded by gushing water, the Trevi Fountain was completed in 1762 after 30 years of work. Standing at the centre of the whole tableau is a statue of the god Oceanus commanding a chariot pulled by horses.
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| The US government said 64 people died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria – the total could be over 1,400 Posted: 09 Aug 2018 09:40 AM PDT  Flanked by Puerto Rican officials at a conference nearly two weeks after disaster struck the island, Donald Trump told locals to be "thankful" for Hurricane Maria's death count. The US government has quietly walked back the president's statements since then, adding onto an ever-increasing number of deaths related to the catastrophic hurricane. The report acknowledges 1,427 people were killed after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, while detailing a $139bn reconstruction plan for the island that has yet to fully recover.
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| The Only iPhone Cable You'll Ever Need Is 62% Off Posted: 09 Aug 2018 11:45 AM PDT  The 10-foot Aduro lightning cable is the best and last iPhone charger you'll ever buy.
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| 'Talking Dead' Staffers Protest Chris Hardwick's Return To AMC By Quitting Posted: 10 Aug 2018 03:40 PM PDT  The staff of the AMC "Walking Dead" wrap-up show, "Talking Dead," will be a little smaller when it airs Sunday night.
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| Facebook fight between 'keyboard gangsters' ends in shooting Posted: 10 Aug 2018 08:31 AM PDT  TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — It started on Facebook, as many political arguments do these days.
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| Iran test-fired anti-ship missile during drills last week: U.S. source Posted: 10 Aug 2018 02:45 PM PDT  Iran test-fired a short-range anti-ship missile in the Strait of Hormuz during naval drills last week that Washington believes were aimed at sending a message as the United States reimposes sanctions on Tehran, a U.S. official said on Friday. The official, however, did not suggest that such a missile test was unusual during naval exercises or that it was carried out unsafely, noting it occurred in what could be described as Iranian territorial waters in the Strait. Iran's Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Sunday it had held war games in the Gulf over the past several days, saying they were aimed at "confronting possible threats" by enemies.
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| Wildfire smoke from California has reached New York City, 3,000 miles away Posted: 09 Aug 2018 10:04 AM PDT  Anthony Wexler, the director of the Air Quality Research Center at the University of California, Davis, packed his bags and drove his family out to the coast. They're escaping the smoke. Davis, California, sits amid a layer of wildfire smoke in Northern California. To the northwest, the largest fire in state history, the Mendocino Complex Fire, continues to burn. To the southeast, the Ferguson Fire has closed down smoke-choked Yosemite National Park indefinitely. And to the North, the Carr Fire, infamous for its towering fire tornado, still burns. SEE ALSO: California just had its hottest month on record, and that means more wildfires The air quality in the region around the fires — whose spread has been enhanced by extreme heat parching the land — is some of the worst in the world. "I decided to go out to the coast for a couple days because it was so ridiculous," Wexler said. On Wednesday, the National Weather Service illustrated how winds have lifted bounties of smoke across the entire U.S., bringing pollution even beyond the East Coast. Smoke from the western fires is making it all the way to the East Coast and beyond (at least aloft—mostly above a mile above the surface). Here's the vertically integrated smoke (HRRR model from last night). Another map showed some smoke near the surface even in New England. pic.twitter.com/0Jl6WDAFjg — NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) August 8, 2018 That said, it's not as if these smoke particles are harmful to those on the East Coast. By the time that smoke arrives in Boston and New York, the particles have been diluted with fresh air, and certainly can't be seen, nor are concentrations unhealthy. It's normal for pollution to waft from west to east across the country, just like pollution from China is regularly transported over the Pacific Ocean into the U.S. That's how air generally moves over the Northern Hemisphere, said Wexler. But it's much rarer for even low concentrations of smoke to find their way across the nation. "It doesn't happen every day," Gabriele Pfister, deputy director of the National Center of Atmospheric Research's atmospheric chemistry lab, said in an interview. "But, it can happen." "Normally, the pollution isn't so great that it's noticeable when it gets east," added Wexler. This isn't stratus this morning looking west from the @LickObservatory, it's smoke. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/dcAMDwShCG — NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) August 7, 2018 But just how bad is the air pollution in large regions of the West? "It's been like a reasonably decent day in Beijing," said Wexler. "That's really telling. It's really awful there." "It's unbelievable," said Pfister. She noted that planes flying over the area, as part of a National Science Foundation-funded wildfire study, have picked up some alarming pollution numbers. It's expected that particulate matter — tiny fragments of pollution 30 times thinner than a human hair — would be bad. But the flights even picked up abnormally high concentrations of carbon monoxide, an odorless gas that can be dangerous to human health in enclosed spaces, and at worse, lethal. However, some of the measured values around the fires are about 5 parts per million, or ppm, which are not considered nearly dangerous — but it's still telling. The amount of smoke over the West tonight is nothing short of astounding. pic.twitter.com/Mya0rZauMl — Dan Satterfield (@wildweatherdan) August 8, 2018 "These are values you don't typically find near the surface in the U.S.," said Pfister. "Maybe you'll find that if you stick your head into the exhaust of a car." It's not carbon monoxide, however, that people in burning regions need to be concerned about. One of the main factors that's figured into air quality ratings is particulate matter. Both U.S. government and university researchers have repeatedly shown that breathing this stuff is bad for your heart, as it accelerates plaque build-up in blood vessels. In some areas of Oregon, the Air Quality Index currently registers as "Hazardous." In Redding, California, where a fire tornado spun for 80 minutes last week, the air quality is rated as "Unhealthy." But out near the windswept coast, like in San Francisco, the air quality is "Good." Here is what the #smoke looked like over the Central Valley and affecting #AirQuality today. Deep smoke up to 10,000 feet AGL with multiple layers of smoke caused by transport of different #wildfire plumes. Thanks to @MBrewerWX @weather_jack #MendocinoComplexFire #CarrFire pic.twitter.com/aOlNqLLJNV — SJSU FireWeatherLab (@FireWeatherLab) August 9, 2018 It's likely that the West will be intermittently blanketed in unhealthy to hazardous air for months ahead, as the fire season is not nearly over. Rains aren't expected for months, and more temperature and fire records might be broken. Many Westerners aren't near the fires themselves. But it's harder to outrun the smoke. "In my experience, it's never been this bad," said Wexler. WATCH: A tick is spreading and making people allergic to beef
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| Ohio Finds Nearly 600 Uncounted Votes In Too-Close-To-Call Special Election Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:47 AM PDT  Ohio officials have discovered 588 uncounted votes in this week's special
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| Baby Survives After Ohio Mom Gives Birth at Burger King While Allegedly Overdosing on Heroin: Report Posted: 10 Aug 2018 09:27 AM PDT  The mom was allegedly overdosing on heroin at the time.
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| Sex scandal at American 'megachurch' causes leaders to quit after ten women accuse founder Posted: 09 Aug 2018 09:45 AM PDT  One of America's largest "megachurches" has been rocked by a sex scandal which has seen its entire senior leadership team quit. Willow Creek Church's founder, Bill Hybels, was accused of sexual misconduct several years ago but was privately cleared of wrongdoing by the church elders. He was forced to step down earlier this year when the historical allegations became public. Mr Hybels has denied any wrongdoing but said he had become a distraction from the church. Since then, more women have come forward to claim they were harassed by the church founder. The new revelations over the weekend led the church's leaders to admit they had failed to handle the claims appropriately. In a statement, the church elders announced they would all be standing down, saying a "new start" was needed. "We trusted Bill, and this clouded our judgment," one elder, Missy Rasmussen, told the congregation. Church leaders did not move quickly enough to secure Mr Hybels' electronic devices, she said. Ms Rasmussen said the church elders had "no reason not to believe" the ten women who have accused the church founder of sexual misconduct. A pastor can be seen projected on several televisions in one 7,000-seat Willow Creek Community church in Illinois Credit: Reuters Willow Creek is thought to be the fifth largest "megachurch" in the US with more than 25,000 members and locations across Chicago. "Megachurches" are defined as congregations with at least 2,000 people in regular weekly attendance. The allegations against Mr Hybels by a string of women date back to the 1990s but only became public when The Chicago Tribune and Christianity Today broke the story earlier this year. The papers detailed claims of unwanted advances and suggestive comments to church members. The church's leaders were reportedly told four years ago that Mr Hybels was having an affair with one woman and was accused of harassment by others. An internal investigation cleared him of wrongdoing. But in April, after the allegations came to light, Mr Hybels announced he would step down months ahead of his planned retirement in October. His announcement brought gasps from his congregation. New allegations emerged in recent days, with Mr Hybels' former assistant alleging he groped her repeatedly. The church's entire leadership have now quit over the church's handling of the misconduct allegations. In their statement, church elders said investigations had been "flawed" and that their trust in Willow Creek's founder had "clouded our judgement". "We, as a board, know Willow needs and deserves a fresh start, and the entire board will step down to create room for a new board," it said. The church's lead pastor, Heather Larson. who also stepped down, said trust in the church's leadership had been broken and urgently needed to "move in a better direction". The megachurch had been due to host a summit of hundreds of churches, but dozens have pulled out since the announcement on Wednesday. Willow Creek's new lead pastor, Steve Gillen, has pledged to commission an independent review of the church's leadership.
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| Alt-Right Site Gab Says Microsoft Threatening Shutdown Over Anti-Semitic Posts Posted: 09 Aug 2018 11:06 AM PDT  The accusation follows a series of actions against conservative conspiracy site InfoWars.
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| Thailand Grants Citizenship to Stateless Boys and Their Coach Rescued From a Cave Posted: 08 Aug 2018 06:44 PM PDT  Three soccer players and their coach, who were rescued with teammates after three weeks in a flooded cave, were granted Thai citizenship
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| The 83 Most Delish S'mores Ideas Posted: 09 Aug 2018 04:28 PM PDT |
| Yemen's Shiite rebels welcome UN call for Saudi strike probe Posted: 10 Aug 2018 12:06 PM PDT  SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's Shiite rebels on Friday backed a U.N. call for a probe into a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in the country's north that killed dozens of people the previous day, including many children, in an attack that drew wide international criticism.
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| Manafort trial - live updates: Robert Mueller's team ask Rick Gates discussion to be kept secret to protect Russia investigation Posted: 09 Aug 2018 02:36 PM PDT  After three days of dramatic testimony in the trial of Paul Manafort,, prosecutors returned on Thursday to the nuts and bolts of their case against Donald Trump's former campaign chairman as they sought to show he obtained millions of dollars in bank loans under false pretenses. Attorneys for special counsel Robert Mueller also got a rare — and narrow — acknowledgement from Judge TS Ellis III that he likely erred when he angrily confronted them a day earlier over whether he had allowed a witness to watch the trial. The judge's comments and detailed testimony about Mr Manafort's loans opened the eighth day of his trial as prosecutors began presenting the bulk of their bank fraud case against him after spending days largely on tax-evasion allegations.
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| Don Lemon Taunts Donald Trump Over Broken 'Hiring The Best People' Vow Posted: 09 Aug 2018 03:44 AM PDT  President Donald Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail to build his
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| Mollie Tibbetts latest: Frustration builds as police stay mum on missing Iowa woman Posted: 09 Aug 2018 08:25 AM PDT  Investigators said they will continue to withhold basic details about the disappearance of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts because they believe it gives them the best chance to solve the case.
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| Father, Son Charged With Killing Mother Bear And 'Shrieking' Cubs In Their Den Posted: 10 Aug 2018 01:41 AM PDT  A father and son have been charged with several crimes after they allegedly
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