National News

Taxpayers have until 11:59 p.m. Monday to get their federal returns filed. If necessary, procrastinators can file for an extension that pushes the filing deadline back to Oct. 15. Read tips on last-minute filing.

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In the coming weeks, the Obama administration will ply host to the leaders of several Middle Eastern nations. They are coming, in part, to register their concerns about the ongoing violence in Syria and to nudge the Obama administration to do more to tip the balance in favor of the rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

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Tension in the Pennsylvania city continues between new Spanish-speaking immigrants and longtime residents. Longtime residents still struggle with their new neighbors' presence, while others are helping the families become part of the community.

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Forty-five states have adopted the Common Core State Standards. Proponents say these new guidelines will significantly improve what is taught and how students are prepared for college and work. Skeptics say it's a misguided effort to create the first-ever national curriculum and tests.

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At Alice Terry Elementary School in Colorado, a music teacher decided the students should occasionally have a "silent" lunch break. No talking, just listening to live music. Ami Hall says hearing new sounds makes children curious, which then carries over into other subjects.

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"The top priority is diagnosis — the capability to be able to pick up this virus, should it emerge outside of China," says virologist John McCauley. Flu researchers are getting started on creating a vaccine, but there are still many unknowns.

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Big Data is considered a tool for finding correlations amid vast amounts of information. But without the ability to unearth causation, Big Data can only reveal so much.

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Salam Fayyad's exit ends a power struggle with President Mahmoud Abbas that rose to new heights in recent months. Fayyad had reportedly tried to quit his job earlier this week; Abbas initially refused it, but he finally accepted the resignation Saturday.

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A Cairo courtroom burst into chants of "The people want the execution of the president" on Saturday after the judge overseeing former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's retrial withdrew from the case on opening day.

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More than 100 passengers survived a crash into the sea, after the Boeing 737 they were traveling on from West Java to Bali, Indonesia, missed the runway at Denpasar International Airport. The plane came to rest in shallow waters, simplifying rescue efforts. Photographs showed the Lion Air jet in the water, its fuselage broken just behind its wings.

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Secretary of State John Kerry is asking China's government to help ease tensions on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea has issued threats of war as it tests its weapons systems. The top U.S. diplomat met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing two days before a North Korea-promised missile test.

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Tornadoes, snow, rain and wind. That is the forecast for the Midwest and South this weekend, kind of similar to what those parts of the country went through this past week.

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Tiger Woods has been given a two-stroke penalty at the Masters, a tournament he's won four times, after a review found that he performed an illegal drop on the 15th hole of his second round Friday. Woods faced a possible disqualification for the foul.

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In a rare departure from tradition, Saturday's presidential address was delivered not by President Obama but by Francine Wheeler, whose son Ben, 6, died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Wheeler urged the Senate to pass gun control legislation it has scheduled for debate.

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Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who died last month, is supporting Nicolas Maduro in Sunday's presidential election. How do we know? Maduro says Chavez came to him, as a bird, in a dream. For some Venezuelans, that's enough: Maduro leads the race by a considerable margin.

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Countless movies were filmed there, including Tarzan and Creature From the Black Lagoon. With its wildlife and freshwater springs, Silver Springs in Central Florida was one of the state's most popular tourist destinations. Those waters have receded now as the delicate ecosystem suffers from problems that threaten the entire state.

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Both President Obama and Republican lawmakers say they're willing to close loopholes in the individual tax code. The argument is over what should be done with the money after that.

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The United Farm Workers seemed to be all over Washington this week — lobbying members of Congress and gathering for a big immigration rally outside the Capitol. The union has gotten "a huge injection of leverage" from its role in the immigration debate, one analyst says.

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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement union is concerned the bipartisan group working on immigration legislation is putting a path to citizenship ahead of border security. Florida Republican Marco Rubio is seen as key for garnering conservative support.

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Guan made the cut despite receiving a rare penalty for playing too slow. The Chinese 8th-grader will get to finish the tournament this weekend.

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