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  Last update: 01:02 13.12.2019

  01:02 13.12.2019

  Asia & Pacific

  New Zealand Officials Confirm Six Bodies Recovered Amid White Island Mission

  New Zealand police have confirmed that at least six bodies have been recovered from the White Island's still-active stratovolcano and airlifted to the HMNZS Wellington following the recent eruption.

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  Last update: 02:02 13.12.2019

  02:02 13.12.2019

  Opinion

  'Doesn't Make Us Safer': Massive Pentagon Budget Has 'No Checks' on Fund Usage

  Congress has passed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, a $738 billion Pentagon budget that includes provisions for the Space Force and US-Mexico border wall, but few restrictions on the money’s use. The bloated budget doesn’t make us safer, peace activist Medea Benjamin told Sputnik, and the money could be put to much better use at home.

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  Last update: 01:56 13.12.2019

  01:56 13.12.2019

  US

  Hunter Biden Expected to Disclose Burisma Earnings in Child Support Trial

  A child support lawsuit leveled against Hunter Biden by the mother of his alleged love child may result in the formal release of income he received while employed by Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, according to documents recently filed in an Arkansas court.

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  Last update: 02:28 13.12.2019

  02:28 13.12.2019

  US

  Recently Found Fossil Proves Mysterious ‘Sailing Stones’ Existed 200 Million Years Ago

  Large and heavy rocks known as 'sailing stones' regularly cruise across the dry lake of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, leaving long tracks behind them – and now scientists have found these tracks in a fossil dating back 200 million years, right across some dinosaur footprints.

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  Last update: 02:06 13.12.2019

  02:06 13.12.2019

  Society

  ‘Blasphemous’ Netflix Film Depicting Jesus in Same-Gender Relationship Draws Ire in Brazil

  A Brazilian Christmas satire film that began streaming on December 3 on Netflix has drawn backlash in Brazil over its depiction of Jesus in a same-gender relationship.

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  Last update: 00:36 13.12.2019

  00:36 13.12.2019

  Society

  ‘Damage Was Done’: Colombia Threatens to Sue Walmart Over Coked-Out Santa Christmas Sweater

  A Colombian government agency threatened to sue Walmart this week for featuring a Christmas sweater with a wide-eyed Santa Claus sitting at a table with lines of cocaine on the company’s Canadian website.

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  Last update: 22:18 12.12.2019

  22:18 12.12.2019

  World

  Russian Military Says Terrorists Plotting Staged Chemical Attacks in Idlib Truce Zone

  MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Terrorists are preparing to stage chemical attacks and the destruction of infrastructure in the south of the Idlib de-escalation zone, Maj. Gen. Yuri Borenkov, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's Center for Reconciliation in Syria, said on Thursday.

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  Last update: 23:07 12.12.2019

  23:07 12.12.2019

  Europe

  Missing Klimt Portrait Valued at $66 Million Reportedly Found by Gallery's Gardener

  After more than two decades, symbolist painter Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of a Lady” is believed to have been located within the walls of the gallery it was reportedly stolen from - raising new questions concerning the artwork’s original disappearance.