| How Trump’s announcement of a withdrawal reverberated across Syria Posted: 24 Dec 2018 11:13 AM PST ![How Trump's announcement of a withdrawal reverberated across Syria]( "How Trump's announcement of a withdrawal reverberated across Syria") When President Trump turned to Twitter to announce the imminent withdrawal of American troops from Syria, he triggered the resignation of two top United States defense officials and surprised foreign allies and adversaries alike. For many Syrian opposition fighters who had allied themselves with the US forces on the ground, the reaction was both swift, and emotional. "People are petrified," says one Syrian Arab rebel, who has been fighting with the Americans against the Islamic State (ISIS) near al-Tanf, a strategic crossroads in southeastern Syria.
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| America’s Christmas tree: The hunt for the iconic Rockefeller tree Posted: 24 Dec 2018 09:11 AM PST ![America's Christmas tree: The hunt for the iconic Rockefeller tree]( "America's Christmas tree: The hunt for the iconic Rockefeller tree") Heather Gianfriddo and her mother Jane D'Alessandro are standing in the middle of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, waiting to fulfill a lifelong dream. For the past 30 years or so, since Heather was a 4-year-old girl, they've been watching the lighting of the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree every year on TV – a long-standing holiday tradition that also marked the evening they trimmed their own tree at home in Toronto, Canada.
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| Christmas shutdown: Why Washington let the government close Posted: 24 Dec 2018 09:10 AM PST ![Christmas shutdown: Why Washington let the government close]( "Christmas shutdown: Why Washington let the government close") The government partially shut down at midnight Friday after Congress and the White House failed to agree on a spending package, the third shutdown this year. WHY DID THE GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN? In many Republican leaders' eyes, Friday was the GOP's last chance to take the lead on budget negotiations before the start of the new session under a Democratic House.
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| When Christmas bells ring Posted: 24 Dec 2018 08:40 AM PST ![When Christmas bells ring]( "When Christmas bells ring") He had a lot to weigh him down. His wife had died in a tragic fire just three years earlier. The Civil War had been raging for more than two years with no end in sight. Against his wishes, his oldest son, Charles, just 17 years of age, had left their Cambridge, Mass., home in March to enlist in the Union army. In November, Charles had been severely wounded in a battle. Now the boy was back living with his father, attempting to recover.
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