World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

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World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk


Healthcare bill hangs in balance as Republicans agonise over Trump's vote gamble

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 09:01 PM PDT

Late-night meetings prove inconclusive as president forges ahead with Friday vote on flagship promise despite fears bill may fail

After weeks of legislative bets and bluffs, Donald Trump decided on Thursday night that it was time for everyone to show their hand on healthcare reform.

As Republican legislators gathered for emotional late-night meetings on Capitol Hill, Trump sent over his most trusted advisers – Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Reince Priebus and budget director Mick Mulvaney – to try to help craft majority support for legislation to replace Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.

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Have Germany’s Social Democrats found a winner in Martin Schulz?

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Party hopes 'Sankt Martin' will bring them victory, first in Saarland on Sunday then in Germany's federal elections in September

Nelson Radames-Strube is a little overwhelmed by all the attention. The 14-year-old is the youngest of new recruits to the Berlin branch of the Social Democrats (SPD) and has been called on to the stage at a welcome party for the newcomers.

He had watched the party's new leader, Martin Schulz, giving a speech on television after Angela Merkel and decided to join. "I found him more convincing than her, so that's why I'm here," he said. "I think he can bring order to the party and to Germany".

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South Korea's Sewol ferry emerges amid hopes last passengers will be found

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 09:49 PM PDT

Relatives of nine passengers still missing watched as 6,800-ton ferry was brought to surface, ready to taken to port and be searched

South Korean efforts to bring a sunken, 6,800-ton ferry back to land cleared an obstacle on Friday after divers cut off a dangling vehicle ramp.

Removing the ramp allowed workers to raise the ferry to a height where it can be loaded onto a semi-submersible transport vessel and taken to a port.

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Eurovision wants barred Russian singer to compete via satellite in Ukraine

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 09:59 AM PDT

Yulia Samoilova handed lifeline after host nation Ukraine barred her from country for illegally entering Crimea

A Russian singer who was barred from entering Ukraine has been given permission to take part in the Eurovision song contest in Kiev via satellite.

On Wednesday Ukraine's security service imposed a three-year entry ban on Russia's participant, Yulia Samoilova, for illegally entering Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia, to perform in a 2015 gala concert.

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Denis Voronenkov: ex-Russian MP who fled to Ukraine killed in Kiev

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 11:20 AM PDT

Vladimir Putin's spokesman dismisses claims that Moscow is linked to the killing of Kremlin critic who left Russia last year and renounced citizenship

A former Russian MP who had fled to Ukraine was shot dead on a busy street in central Kiev on Thursday.

Denis Voronenkov, who had spoken out against Vladimir Putin and Kremlin policies, was shot three times outside the upmarket Premier Palace hotel.

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Israeli teenager arrested over bomb threats to US Jewish targets

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 10:26 AM PDT

Israeli Jewish man, 19, is suspected of being behind dozens of anonymous calls and communications

A 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man has been arrested in Israel on suspicion of making multiple bomb threats to Jewish organisations and an airline in the US and elsewhere.

The unnamed individual – who lives in Israel, reportedly in the southern city of Ashkelon, but has joint US-Israeli citizenship – was arrested at the request of the FBI, which has been examining a wave of threats against Jewish centres.

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Indian MP beats flight attendant with slipper in 'business class dispute'

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:34 PM PDT

Ravindra Gaikwad says he hit Air India employee 25 times, reportedly in argument over being given an economy seat

An Indian politician has admitted on Thursday that he hit a steward on an Air India flight 25 times with his slipper during a row over a seat.

Ravindra Gaikwad, an MP in India's lower house for the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party, claimed the attendant had insulted him first on the Pune to New Delhi flight.

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Hong Kong faces 'selection not election' of China's favoured candidate

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:08 PM PDT

On Sunday, 1,194 people will choose a new chief executive on behalf of Hong Kong's nearly 4 million voters but Beijing's anointed one is far from popular

Every newly elected leader of Hong Kong takes the oath of office in front of China's president, below a giant red national flag of China, and the slightly smaller banner of the city.

It is a tightly scripted event designed to shield Chinese officials from the embarrassment of dissenting voices.

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Let there be light: Germans switch on 'largest artificial sun'

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 05:19 AM PDT

Scientists hope experiment, which can generate temperatures of around 3,500C, will help to develop carbon-neutral fuel

German scientists are switching on "the world's largest artificial sun" in the hope that intense light sources can be used to generate climate-friendly fuel.

The Synlight experiment in Jülich, about 19 miles west of Cologne, consists 149 souped-up film projector spotlights and produces light about 10,000 times the intensity of natural sunlight on Earth.

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Hungary threatens to ban Heineken's red star as 'communist'

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 05:14 PM PDT

Viktor Orban's government proposes tit-for-tat measure after Dutch beer maker won trademark case against similarly named brand favoured by Hungarians

The famous red star logo of Dutch beer Heineken could be banned in Hungary under a government proposal seeking to prohibit the commercial use of "totalitarian" symbols.

The draft law was introduced this week by the ruling Fidesz party of hardline rightwing prime minister Viktor Orban, ostensibly to outlaw merchandise featuring symbols like the Nazi swastika or the communist five-pointed red star.

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What's behind the Russian hacking allegations? – tech podcast

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 01:57 AM PDT

Are we facing a new cyber cold war, or is there more behind allegations of Russian hacking in the US?

The troubling allegation that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election raises important questions. Are we facing some kind of new cyber cold war? Or is there more to the story?

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Brexit is a failure and a tragedy, says EC chief Juncker

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 12:35 AM PDT

European commission president confirms Britain will get a bill for leaving, but said this did not represent a 'punishment'

Brexit is "a failure and a tragedy", the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said.

The EU's most senior civil servant promised that Brussels would approach the negotiation of Britain's withdrawal in a "friendly" and fair way, but warned that European institutions were not "naive" about the process.

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Three Wives, One Husband review: it’s pretty much one long OMG WTF

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 12:20 AM PDT

This softly softly approach of this Channel 4 documentary doesn't make it any less extraordinary, with Enoch the polygamist's multiple wives and massive wheelies

Key moment in Three Wives, One Husband (Channel 4): Enoch Foster, a fundamentalist Mormon, has gathered his two wives – Catrina and Lillian – and 17 children for a meeting in one of their houses blasted out of a rock in the Utah desert. For the past months he has been courting a potential third wife, the nanny Lydia Rose, and he wants to propose. It's a family decision though (he says); he's putting it to the vote first. Yay, they all say, everyone puts their hand up … Oh, except for one little boy.

"Joseph, do you want Lydia to be your mom?" asks his dad, in a way that strongly suggests the correct answer is yes.

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Politics, not providence, caused Ethiopia’s deadly rubbish dump landslide | William Davison

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Fadila Bargicho believes divine intervention saved the life of one of his two sons when a landfill site collapsed near Addis Ababa. The reality is more prosaic

It was only a misplaced shoe that prevented Fadila Bargicho from losing a second child when an avalanche of rubbish crushed makeshift houses, killing at least 113 people in Addis Ababa earlier this month.

An impatient Ayider Habesha, nine, had left his older brother searching for his footwear. He headed to religious lessons in a hut next to the towering dump. Ayider was buried alive with his six classmates and teacher when a chunk of the open landfill gave way on the evening of 11 March. His body was recovered two days later.

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How to survive tyranny: 10 pieces of advice from Turkey

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

Spread facts, be careful, and don't assume democracy is safe, say people who know what life is like under a strongman leader

The rise of autocracy can be insidious, and doesn't come with an instruction manual on how to survive, said one of hundreds of people who got in touch to tell us what life is like in Turkey.

Over the past few years the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has slowly tightened his grip on power, imprisoning journalists who criticise him and intimidating citizens who may not agree with him.

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Turkey is heading for dictatorship, but voters can still turn the tide | Can Dündar

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PDT

A referendum on vast new powers for the president hangs in the balance despite his comprehensive crackdown on dissent

Can you imagine a pre-dawn raid on the homes of every senior figure in the Guardian? The editor-in-chief being arrested, the CEO, four columnists, three solicitors, a reporter and a cartoonist?

That is precisely what happened to my newspaper last October.

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Westminster attack survivor: it's wonderful to be alive – video

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 02:00 AM PDT

Francisco Lopes, 26, was left with serious leg injuries after being hit by the attacker's car on Wednesday in Westminster. Speaking to ITV News in a video posted on Friday, Lopes says he has 'been given a new life' and has been 'born again'

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A river of rubbish: the ugly secret threatening China's most beautiful city

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PDT

An 'international tourism destination of peerless beauty' say the slogans hanging in the streets of Guilin, but one of the scenic city's rivers has recently been home to sewage and garbage. In a country where environmentalists are charged with anti-government espionage, will the authorities intervene?

When Jianjun Xu woke up one morning in May 2015, the ground floor of his house in Gongcheng, Guilin, was flooded. After heavy rainstorms, the nearby Cha River swelled, sweeping away hundreds of homes. "The water was up to my knees," he says. "It smelled awful and there was garbage floating in my living room."

Xu didn't understand how the floodwater had reached his street. Anti-flood barriers had been under construction since December 2012. Given the speed of Chinese infrastructure work, he thought the project had been completed. But instead of a construction site, he found a green river, its banks decorated with garbage.

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Iraqi refugee is too weak from hunger strike to be deported, say activists

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 11:28 PM PDT

'Saeed', who was denied asylum, was allegedly denied contact with his lawyer in transfer to Sydney detention centre

Activists are trying to prevent the deportation of an Iraqi refugee, saying he is weak from a recent hunger state and faces persecution.

Protesters from the Refugee Action Coalition have gathered outside the Villawood detention centre in Sydney in an attempt to stop the deportation of "Saeed".

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Riots break out in Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby

Posted: 24 Mar 2017 01:58 AM PDT

The local head of the Salvation Army says businesses were burnt to the ground amid 'great devastation'

Riots have that swept through the main streets of the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby causing "great devastation".

Salvation Army territorial commander Colonel Kelvin Alley said community services such as a supermarket, medical centre, dentist and chemist were burnt to the ground in the disturbances on Friday.

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Friday briefing: The other crimes of Khalid Masood

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 11:45 PM PDT

British-born Westminster attacker had long history with police … crunch vote on Trump's Obamacare repeal … and Amy Schumer quits Barbie movie

Good morning, Warren Murray bringing you the Briefing this morning.

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Australian chilled beef exporters to get better access to China

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 10:57 PM PDT

The deal is one of a number of bilateral measures agreed between China's premier Li Keqiang and Malcolm Turnbull

Australian chilled beef exporters have gained better access to the lucrative Chinese market as part of undertakings agreed during a visit to Canberra by the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang.

The beef deal, which expands chilled meat market access from eleven exporters to all eligible Australian exporters, was one of a number of bilateral measures agreed between Li and the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, after talks between the two leaders in Parliament House on Thursday.

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Enabling Act passed in Germany - archive, 24 March 1933

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 10:00 PM PDT

24 March 1933: Full powers given to the Hitler government. The President's functions will be limited, laws promulgated by decree, the electoral system may be altered by decree, and the budget settled by decree

The Enabling Bill, which gives absolute powers to the German Government for four years, was passed by the Reichstag yesterday, all parties except the Socialists voting for it. The President's functions will be limited, laws promulgated by decree, the electoral system may be altered by decree, and the Budget settled by decree, thus preventing public knowledge and criticism of military and naval expenditure.

In view of the threats made by the Nazis on Wednesday to the non-Government parties, the passing of the bill is not surprising.

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Detained on Nauru: 'This is the most painful part of my story – when you realise no one cares'

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 05:08 PM PDT

In this excerpt from the book They Cannot Take the Sky, Benjamin talks about his years detained on Nauru, and his undying hopes for the future

Benjamin was taken to Nauru in 2013 with his family. He told the first part of this story on Christmas Day 2014. He is still on Nauru.

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Leeds woman held in Rwanda for allegedly revealing state secrets

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 05:03 PM PDT

Violette Uwamahoro, wife of opposition activist Faustin Rukundo, disappeared in Kigali on 14 February

A pregnant mother-of-two from Leeds, West Yorkshire, has appeared in court in Rwanda after being charged with revealing state secrets and other offences.

British national Violette Uwamahoro, the wife of political opposition activist Faustin Rukundo, disappeared on 14 February in the capital Kigali.

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Afghan Taliban seize key district where UK lost 104 soldiers

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 08:32 AM PDT

Military urged to move quickly to retake Sangin – once considered deadliest battlefield for British and US troops

The Taliban has captured a key district in Helmand province once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan.

The fall of Sangin on Thursday came amid the insurgents' year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland.

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Rendition: government evidence to be heard in secret in UK for first time

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:51 AM PDT

Lawyers for MoD and FCO in case brought by two Pakistani men can present evidence behind closed doors, high court judge rules

Government evidence in a rendition case will be heard in secret for the first time following a high court ruling.

Lawyers for the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office in a case brought by two Pakistani men will be allowed to present evidence behind closed doors under rarely used provisions of the Justice and Security Act.

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Belgian police arrest man who tried to drive into crowd in Antwerp

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:41 AM PDT

Prosecutors say French national arrested following chase in city centre after car was driven at high speed through shopping area

Belgian police have arrested a man after he tried to drive into a crowd at high speed in a shopping area of Antwerp, the city's police chief said.

At 11am a car drove at pedestrians walking along the Meir, Antwerp's largest shopping street, and "people had to jump to the side" to avoid the vehicle, said Serge Muyters, the Antwerp police chief.

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US agents have obtained documents on Paul Manafort in eastern Europe inquiry

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:15 AM PDT

Treasury department agents received information about the former Trump campaign chairman's offshore transactions, a source tells the AP

US treasury department agents have recently obtained information about offshore financial transactions involving Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, as part of a federal anti-corruption investigation into his work in eastern Europe, the Associated Press has learned.

Related: Paul Manafort reportedly offered to help Putin advance Moscow's interests

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EU to discuss UK and US laptop bans on Middle East flights

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 06:27 AM PDT

European commission wants to know more about intelligence behind UK ban, which followed similar move by the US

European security experts will meet in Brussels next week to assess the restrictions on laptop bans imposed by the UK and US on flights from some Middle Eastern and north African countries with the European commission calling for more information on the intelligence behind the British ban.

Related: UK bans laptops and tablets on flights from six Middle East countries

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Isolated Poland threatens to spoil party at EU summit over two-speed Europe

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 04:12 AM PDT

Poland and Hungary expected to bridle at plans to empower core group of member states as bloc marks 60-year anniversary

The role of leader of Europe's awkward squad, played with aplomb by the UK for the past 45 years, will be handed to Poland and Hungary at the weekend when European Union leaders meet in Rome to celebrate 60 years of the EU's existence and map out a new future after Brexit.

With Theresa May absent, leaders from Warsaw and Budapest will puncture any mood of self-congratulation. They are also expected to bridle at any plans to empower groups of member states to choose to integrate more deeply, in effect creating a two-speed Europe.

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垃圾之河:水污染威胁中国最美城市

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 11:55 PM PDT

"桂林山水甲天下"的标语在桂林市的街道上随处可见。但最近,这个风景秀丽的城市却饱受河流污染的困扰。在环保人士被指控为反政府人员的大环境之下,相关机构会出面介入污染问题吗?

徐建军(音译)家住桂林市恭城县。2015年5月的一个早晨,他醒来发现自家的一楼被水淹了。由于连日暴雨,附近的岔河泛滥,数百户人家都被淹了。"水漫到膝盖,"他说,"闻着特别臭,我家客厅里都漂着垃圾。"

徐建军不明白洪水怎么会漫到他们那条街。防洪屏障2012年12月就开始修了,中国基础设施建设向来很快,他以为早该完工了。没想到施工现场没见着,就看见河都绿了,两岸堆满了垃圾。

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欢迎来到义乌:中国的多元文化试验田

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 04:11 AM PDT

不同于广州的非洲社区所遭到的偏见与敌意,义乌的外国居民享受着"超乎寻常的信仰自由",当地政府还会在城市商业发展问题上咨询国际贸易商的意见。

夜幕下的义乌"中东街",三个也门男孩一起走到一个卖烤羊肉和烤馕的木炭大烤炉边,用娴熟的普通话点了菜,然后继续用阿拉伯语闲聊起来。

旁边的埃尔比勒饭店里,两个约旦男子正在一起吃饭,桌上是满满一盘的烤肉和蔬菜。街边转角处,两个男子坐在一起吸着水烟。泽勤(Zekeen)超市里可以买到方便面和清真肉食,一个头戴希贾布头巾的非洲妇女采购了大包小包的物品。对面一家既卖运动鞋又卖性用品的商店里,匆匆走出两个俄罗斯的年轻女子。

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Trump's proposed cut to school meals scheme branded 'cruel and shameful'

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:36 AM PDT

US lawmakers united in condemnation of plan to discontinue 'life-changing' aid programme that has provided food for 40 million children in poor countries

Donald Trump's plan to cut a school meals programme that has reached 40 million children worldwide has been branded "cruel and shameful" by US lawmakers.

A $182m (£145m) bipartisan US aid enterprise, known as the McGovern-Dole food for education programme, has been described as life-changing by Republican and Democratic senators and members of Congress alike. The scheme, which was established by the late George McGovern and former senator Bob Dole, has helped to promote political, economic and social stability in poor countries.

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Why is east Africa facing a hunger crisis and what can be done? – podcast

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 06:12 AM PDT

As hunger spreads in east Africa, famine threatens to take hold beyond South Sudan. Lucy Lamble explores the background and response to the crisis

Subscribe and review: iTunes, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Audioboom & Acast and join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter

A combination of drought and conflict has left the lives of more than 20 million people in east Africa in the balance. As the danger grows that other countries will follow South Sudan into famine, Lucy Lamble examines how the biggest crisis since 1945 has evolved and what can be done to tackle the situation.

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Democrats will seek to tie Gorsuch to Trump as a judge soft on big business

Posted: 20 Mar 2017 02:00 AM PDT

Opposition tactics in the Senate over president's supreme court nominee are likely to focus on anti-worker bias rather than touchstone social issues

Senate Democrats will seek to tar Neil Gorsuch with the same brush as Donald Trump when his supreme court confirmation hearing begins on Monday, branding him a pro-big business judge who favours special interests over ordinary workers.

The minority party has chosen to focus on this line of attack rather than where the conservative Gorsuch stands on touchtone issues such abortion, gay rights and gun ownership. Analysts say this is an indication that they will use the hearing to hammer Trump – and are ultimately resigned to his nominee's confirmation.

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'I love trucks': Trump involved in some big rigging – video

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 07:51 PM PDT

Wearing a pin saying 'I love trucks', the US president jumps into a prime mover parked at the White House, then gleefully pumps his fists and gives the air-horn a few blasts. Truckers and industry CEOs were at the White House for a listening session on health care and what Trump portrayed as Obamacare's negative impact on their industry and livelihood

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Truck yeah: Trump climbs behind the wheel of a big rig – in pictures

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 04:00 PM PDT

Before meeting with truck drivers and trucking CEOs at the White House about healthcare – and in the midst of a battle over a healthcare bill he wanted passed – the president of the United States found time to play with a big, fancy toy

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Sean Spicer says there's 'no plan B' for healthcare bill before vote delay – video

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 01:10 PM PDT

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he believed the House of Representatives was on track to hold a vote on Thursday night on healthcare legislation backed by Donald Trump. Shortly after his daily press briefing, Republicans delayed the House vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act

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Lawmakers debate healthcare bill hours ahead of vote – video

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 11:40 AM PDT

Lawmakers debated the Trump administration's American Health Care Act on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday ahead of the expected vote later in the day. The bill, touted by Republicans as an Obamacare replacement, faced an uphill battle to gain the amount of votes needed to move the legislation on to the Senate for passage

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The tiny houses where homeless people seek shelter – in pictures

Posted: 23 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PDT

Wooden cabins are increasingly viewed as a quick and cheap solution to homelessness and, with minimal public debate, are mushrooming across the US

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