While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Feb 17 edition

US President Donald Trump gives a press conference on Feb 16, 2017, at the White House.

Donald Trump says 'I inherited a mess,' and blasts media, detractors at combative news conference

President Donald Trump aired his grievances against the news media, the intelligence community and his detractors generally in a sprawling, stream-of-consciousness news conference that alternated between claims that he had "inherited a mess" and the assertion that his fledgling administration "is running like a fine-tuned machine."

"To be honest, I inherited a mess," Trump said, in news conference that lasted more than an hour and was at times rambling, combative and pointed. "It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country."

Yet moments later, the President seemed to acknowledge the widespread reports of turbulence and upheaval emanating out of his West Wing, only to claim that his White House - which so far has been marred by staff infighting, a controversial travel ban, false statements and myriad leaks - was operating seamlessly.

"I turn on the TV, open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos - chaos," he said. "Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can't get my Cabinet approved."

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Suicide attack on Pakistani shrine claimed by ISIS kills 72

A suicide bomber attacked a crowded Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan, killing at least 72 people and wounding dozens more in the deadliest of a wave of bombings across the South Asian nation this week.

A spokesman for medical charity Edhi said the attacker appeared to have targeted the women's wing of the shrine, and around 30 children accompanying their mothers were dead.

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Middle East-based militant group which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's affiliated news agency Amaq reported.

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Huge Baghdad car bomb kills at least 52

A powerful car bomb ripped through a used car market in the south of Iraq's capital, killing more than 50 people in the deadliest such attack this year, officials said.

The Amaq propaganda agency linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militant group, which has claimed nearly all such attacks recently, reported the blast and described it as targeting "a gathering of Shi'ites".

The worst car bomb attack to hit Baghdad in more than six months drew condemnation from the United States and the United Nations, while Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called an urgent meeting of his security chiefs.

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Dutch say Ukraine will renew search at MH17 crash site

Ukraine is expected to renew this spring its search for human remains at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, Dutch Security and Justice Minister Stef Blok said on Thursday.

The passenger jet was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine in mid-2014 on a routine flight between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, the majority of them Dutch citizens.

"Contacts in the region have indicated they will renew the search for human remains and personal belongings in the spring, once the snow has disappeared," Blok said in a letter to parliament. His letter comes after a journalist discovered in January a bone fragment belonging to one of the victims in Ukraine's volatile Donbass region.

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Football: Spurs go down to defeat in Belgium

Tottenham Hotspur have work to do in their Europa League round of 32 tie against Gent after losing 1-0 in the first leg in Belgium.

The only goal of the game came just before the hour mark when French striker Jeremy Perbet scored at the second attempt from a Danijel Milicevic cutback, as Gent coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck celebrated his 53rd birthday with a win.

Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris pushed a Milicevic shot onto the post while Harry Kane had earlier struck an upright at the other end.

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