Impressive efforts have been made by the UK tax authority to collect outstanding tax but more could have been done without job cuts, MPs say.

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Tax effort ‘stunted by job cuts’

A key Senate panel voted Tuesday to extend a contested 2008 provision of foreign intelligence surveillance law that is set to expire at year’s end. The vote is the first step toward what the Obama administration hopes will be a speedy renewal of an expanded authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor the U.S. e-mails and phone calls of overseas targets in an effort to prevent international terrorist attacks on the country. Read full article > >

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Senate panel votes to extend government’s broader surveillance authority

Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas swears in a new cabinet in the West Bank, a move Hamas describes as a “big error”.

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New Palestinian cabinet sworn in

President Obama plans to issue an executive order Wednesday giving the Treasury Department authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of anyone who “obstructs” implementation of the administration-backed political transition in Yemen. Read full article > >

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Obama executive order will give Treasury authority to freeze U.S.-based assets in Yemen

Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa L. King, recently reinstated as head of an elite drill sergeant school, says her male supervisors tried to undermine her authority because she is a woman.

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A Pioneering Army Sergeant Fights to Keep Her Job

An expert is to look into the Scottish Police Service Authority’s handling of forensic evidence during the Kevin “Gerbil” murder trial.

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‘Gerbil’ trial forensics probed

Polls open across Wales as voters elect councillors in all but one local authority.

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Polls open for local elections

The United States has begun launching drone strikes against suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen under new authority approved by President Obama that allows the CIA and the military to fire even when the identity of those who could be killed is not known, U.S. officials said. Read full article > >

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White House approves broader Yemen drone campaign

Senate Democrats are making plans to force a floor vote on legislation that would invalidate Arizona’s controversial immigration statute if the Supreme Court upholds the law this summer. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) will announce the fallback legislation at a hearing on the Arizona law Tuesday, a day before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a suit to determine whether Arizona had the authority to enact the 2010 state crackdown. Read full article > >

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Democrats plan to force vote on Arizona immigration law if it’s upheld by court

The CIA is seeking authority to expand its covert drone campaign in Yemen by launching strikes against terrorism suspects even when it does not know the identities of those who could be killed, U.S. officials said. Read full article > >

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CIA seeks new authority to expand Yemen drone campaign

Local authority pension schemes are still a “ticking time bomb”, the Taxpayers’ Alliance warns, despite their financial health improving over the past year.

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New warning over council pensions

A Marine Corps board has recommended that a politically active Marine sergeant who questioned President Barack Obama's authority be dismissed from service with an “other than honorable” discharge.

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Anti-Obama Marine may be dismissed

Fuel from Israel arrives in the Gaza Strip as a result of a deal between the territory’s Hamas-led government and the rival Palestinian Authority.

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Fuel arrives in Gaza after deal

Charles D. Snelling, who recently stepped down as chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority , took his own life and that of his ailing wife Thursday at their home in Fogelsville, Pa., airport officials confirmed. Read full article > >

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Former D.C. area airports authority chairman kills himself and sick wife

AMERICANS WHO CHOSE to listen to, or read the transcripts of, three days of oral argument at the Supreme Court this week were treated to a challenging civics lesson on federalism, liberty and the limits and potential of government authority. Three points in particular struck us. Read full article > >

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Editorial Board: Civics lessons from the Supreme Court