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Youthful Matildas provide spark in friendly win over South Korea
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De Bruyne says he will leave Man City at end of season
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UK spy agency MI5 reveals fruity secrets in new show
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Leverkusen's Wirtz to return 'next week', says Alonso
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England bowler Stone to miss most of India Test series
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Taiwan earmarks $2.7 bn to help industries hit by US tariffs
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Rat earns world record for sniffing landmines in Cambodia
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Elton John says new album 'freshest' since 1970s
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EU announces 'new era' in relations with Central Asia
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Greece nixes Acropolis shoot for 'Poor Things' director
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'Historic moment': South Koreans react to Yoon's dismissal
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Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon strike
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Trump unveils first $5 million 'gold card' visa
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India and Bangladesh leaders meet for first time since revolution
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Israel expands ground offensive in Gaza
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Families of Duterte drug war victims demand probe into online threats
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Kolkata's Iyer more bothered about impact than price tag
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BP chairman to step down after energy strategy reset
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Indian patriotic movie 'icon' Manoj Kumar dies aged 87
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China floats battle barges in Taiwan invasion plans
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McLaren's Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japanese GP practice
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South Korea seize two tons of cocaine in largest-ever drug bust
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Pacific nations perplexed, worried by Trump tariffs
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The race to save the Amazon's bushy-bearded monkeys
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Trump tariffs to test resiliency of US consumers
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Clamping down on 'forever chemicals'
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Prominent US academic facing royal insult charge in Thailand
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Yana, a 130,000-year-old baby mammoth, goes under the scalpel
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'Don't want to die': Lesotho HIV patients look to traditional medicine
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Curry scores 37 as Warriors outgun LeBron's Lakers
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Crops under threat as surprise March heatwave hits Central Asia: study
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Japan PM says Trump tariffs a 'national crisis'
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Security 'breakdown' allows armed men into Melbourne's MCG
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Norris fastest in Japan GP first practice, Tsunoda sixth on Red Bull debut
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Albon says Thailand taking bid for F1 race 'very seriously'
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'It's gone': conservation science in Thailand's burning forest
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Protest as quake-hit Myanmar junta chief joins Bangkok summit
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EU leaders push for influence at Central Asia summit
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Asian stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
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Lewandowski, Mbappe duel fuelling tight La Liga title race
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Liverpool march towards title as Man City face Man Utd
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Finland's colossal bomb shelters a model for jittery Europe
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Athletes frustrated as France mulls Muslim headscarf ban in sport
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Korda downs Kupcho to stay alive at LPGA Match Play
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German industry grapples with AI at trade fair
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Irish school trains thatchers to save iconic roofs
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'Frightening': US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash
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Cuba looks to sun to solve its energy crisis
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Experts warn 'AI-written' paper is latest spin on climate change denial
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PSG eye becoming France's first 'Invincibles'

Trump's cabinet picks come under US Senate spotlight
Donald Trump's cabinet nominees go under the microscope in a frenzied week on Capitol Hill starting Tuesday, as US senators hold confirmation hearings that could make or break their political careers.
Thirteen nominees will be grilled before 11 committees, and while many will sail through, others face controversies ranging from alleged sexual assault and heavy drinking to their relationships with dictators and vaccine skepticism.
The Trump picks have been in stringent preparations, taking part in mock hearings and coaching on how to negotiate tough questions while still maintaining unswerving loyalty to the president-elect.
"This time, people view the nominees as an extension of Donald Trump and his agenda," Sean Spicer, Trump's first White House spokesman, told CNN.
"They're not there to defend their own views. They're there to defend Trump's policies."
Senate Republicans are keen for Trump's national security nominees to be confirmed quickly and Democrats may agree to fast-track some. But they are determined to throw up roadblocks in front of candidates they see as unfit.
One of the first on the docket will be one of the most controversial -- Pete Hegseth, the former Army National Guard officer and ex-Fox News host nominated for secretary of defense.
Hegseth, whose hearing is on Tuesday morning, has faced allegations of sexual assault, financial misconduct and excessive drinking, and lingering questions over his views on women in the military. He also has no comparable management experience.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Armed Services Committee, described Hegseth as "a guy with a track record of being so drunk at work events that he needed to be carried out on multiple occasions."
"Can we really count on calling Hegseth at 2AM to make life and death national security decisions? Nope," she said on X.
Hegseth can only afford three Republican rejections and still be confirmed, should every Democrat and independent vote against him.
- Fiery hearings -
But he has maintained Trump's support while the excoriating headlines have multiplied and Senate Republicans appear open to hearing him out.
Former Democratic congresswoman turned Trumpist Tulsi Gabbard is another candidate whose lack of qualifications and experience have raised alarm bells, as well as her attitudes toward US adversaries.
Gabbard met then Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and declared him "not the enemy." She has also voiced sympathy for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Opposition appears to be softening however after she flipped her stance to support a controversial government intelligence-gathering program that she tried to repeal in 2020.
Some pressure on the nominees is expected from both sides of the aisle, especially for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominee for secretary of health and human services and an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.
But former Florida senator and foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio, Trump's pick for secretary of state, is a sure bet with bipartisan support, and will likely be confirmed before Trump takes office on January 20.
Rubio gets his hearing Wednesday, along with homeland security secretary nominee Kristi Noem, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi and CIA pick John Ratcliffe, who has been confirmed by the Senate before, as director of national intelligence.
Bondi was Trump's second choice after his initial pick, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration after facing sexual misconduct and drug-taking allegations.
Some of the most potentially fiery hearings are yet to be scheduled, including for Kennedy and Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to run the FBI.
Patel -- a conspiracy theorist who vowed in a podcast that Trump would "come after" journalists, lawyers and judges he believes haven't treated him fairly -- is not expected to get his confirmation hearing until February.
P.Cavaco--PC