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ment delays and preventable deaths at VA hospitals and clinics, the agency said Friday.
• More than 300 VA executives were paid a total of $2.7 million in bonuses last year, said Gina Farrisee, assistant VA secretary for human resources and administration. That amount is down from about $3.4 million in bonuses paid in 2012, Farrisee said.
• The totals do not include tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded to doctors, dentists and other medical providers throughout the VA's nearly 900 hospitals and clinics.
• Workers at the Phoenix VA Health Care System -- where officials have confirmed dozens of patients died while awaiting treatment -- received about $3.9 million in bonuses last year, newly released records show. The merit-based bonuses were doled out to about 650 employees, including doctors, nurses, administrators, secretaries and cleaning staff.
• There was confusion Friday about the number of senior executives who received bonuses. During a hearing Friday of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, both lawmakers and Farrisee had indicated that nearly 80 percent of senior executives had received bonuses. Later, however, the committee provided documents showing that 304 of 470 senior executives, or 64.7 percent, had received bonuses. The committee and a VA spokesman said the 80 percent figure referred to the number of senior executives who received very high ratings, not those who received bonuses.
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• RECIFE, Brazil (AP) -- Some wanted to play soccer barefoot on the beach with Brazilians, experiencing for themselves those romanticized images they'd seen on TV. Others dreamed of attending meaningful games in the homeland of Pele, soaking up the passion for the game permeating not just the stadiums, but every corner of every neighborhood.
• If they could do that, maybe tip back a few caipirinhas, munch on coxinhas, take a dip in the south Atlantic, and cheer on the U.S. national team, what a trip it would be.
• Brazil turned out to be the perfect place for the traveling American fan base to come into its own at the World Cup -- to gather festively before games on foreign soil and take over arenas during matches.

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