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to have only heightened now that ISIL has strengthened. But Obama's request to Congress appeared to indicate that tackling the crumbling security situation in Syria and Iraq trumped those concerns.
• White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the military assistance "marks another step toward helping the Syrian people defend themselves against regime attacks, push back against the growing number of extremists like ISIL who find safe haven in the chaos, and take their future into their own hands by enhancing security and stability at local levels."
• ___

• BRUSSELS (AP) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday signed up to a trade and economic pact with the European Union, saying it may be the "most important day" for his country since it became independent from the Soviet Union.
• It was the decision of his pro-Moscow predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, to back out of the same EU association agreement in November that touched off massive protests in Ukraine that eventually led to Yanukovych's flight abroad, Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
• Later Friday, EU heads of state and government were expected to consider whether to ramp up sanctions against Russia over its conduct toward Ukraine.
• Before the signing ceremony, Poroshenko brandished a commemorative pen inscribed with the date of EU's Vilnius summit where Yanukovych balked at approving the agreement.
• "Historic events are unavoidable," he said.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Before a unanimous Supreme Court weighed in, the White House had brushed off claims that President Barack Obama was exceeding his executive authority as just so much grousing from frustrated partisans.
• Then, in a 9-0 decision Thursday, the high court ruled that at least in one case Obama had gone too far.
• For Republicans, the court's decision that Obama violated the Constitution in 2012 when he appointed members to the National Labor Relations Board without

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