Karzai to Forbid His Forces to Request Foreign Airstrikes

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he would issue a decree forbidding his military forces from turning to NATO or American forces to conduct airstrikes, and he condemned the use of torture on detainees by his security forces. He made his comments in a speech at the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul. It was the first time he had dwelt at such length and...

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Make Sheila G. Main's Truffles

02/16/2013 at 06:30 PM EST Andrew Purcell; Inset: Courtesy Sheila G. Main Oscar night is just around the corner so start prepping your viewing party menu now! Take inspiration from any of the films nominated or replicate what Sheila G. Main, the creator of the Original Brownie Brittle snack,...

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.Edwards...

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G20 steps back from currency brink, heat off Japan

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Group of 20 nations declared on Saturday there would be no currency war and deferred plans to set new debt-cutting targets, underlining broad concern about the fragile state of the world economy. Japan's expansive policies, which have driven down the yen, escaped direct criticism in a statement thrashed out in Moscow by policymakers from the G20, which spans developed...

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Meteor Fragments Rain Down on Siberia; Hundreds of Injuries Reported

MOSCOW — Gym class came to a halt inside the Chelyabinsk Railway Institute, and students gathered around the window, gazing at the fat white contrail that arced its way across the morning sky. A missile? A comet? A few quiet moments passed. And then, with incredible force, the windows blew in. The scenes from Chelyabinsk, rocked by an intense shock wave when a meteor hit the Earth’s atmosphere...

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Alec Baldwin Is Ready to Tackle Full Time Daddy Duty

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/15/2013 at 09:00 AM ET Mark Davis/WireImageDad-to-be Alec Baldwin certainly sympathizes with his expectant wife Hilaria — he’s experiencing all the aches and pregnancy pains too!“My boobs hurt. My boobs are killing me, so sore,” the actor, 54, jokes with Extra....

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States' choices set up national health experiment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is unfolding as a national experiment with American consumers as the guinea pigs: Who will do a better job getting uninsured people covered, the states or the feds?The nation is about evenly split between states that decided by Friday's deadline they want a say in running new insurance markets and states that are defaulting to federal...

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After decent rally, perhaps time for a pause

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks could struggle to extend their seven-week winning streak as the quarterly earnings period draws to a close and the market bumps into strong technical resistance. Many analysts say the market could spend the next few weeks consolidating gains that have lifted the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 <.spx> by 6.6 percent since the start of the year. ...

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Benedict Says He Will Be ‘Hidden to the World’ in Retirement

VATICAN CITY — Saying he would soon be “hidden to the world,” Pope Benedict XVI took his leave of parish priests and clergy of the Diocese of Rome on Thursday as he offered personal, and incisive, recollections of the Second Vatican Council, the gathering of bishops 50 years ago that set the Roman Catholic Church’s course for the future. Benedict, who announced his resignation on Monday in...

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It's a Girl for Bryan Adams

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/14/2013 at 06:00 PM ET Courtesy Bryan AdamsBryan Adams is in heaven — again!“Bryan Adams and Alicia Grimaldi welcomed their second baby girl in London earlier this week,” Adam’s rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.The rocker and Grimaldi, who cofounded his charitable...

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Study: Fish in drug-tainted water suffer reaction

BOSTON (AP) — What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.The findings, published online Thursday in...

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Wall Street ends slightly higher, helped by acquisitions

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 eked out a small gain for a third straight session on Thursday, helped by a flurry of merger activity, though investors see no catalysts to lift the market further with major averages near multi-year highs. The market's slowed advance took the S&P 500 to its highest intraday level since November 2007 on Wednesday. While the index notched its third...

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IHT Special: Tunisia Sinks Back Into Turmoil

TUNIS — Following the murder of a leading opposition politician, Tunisians are asking whether the Arab Spring, which began in their country, has accomplished much of anything. They are disenchanted with the fits and starts of the transition from dictatorship to something else. “Nobody likes the situation and this government has to change,” said Rabbeh Souly, 28, who sped up her steps on the...

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Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals Her 'Craziest' Diet Ever

By Janine Rayford 02/13/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Jada Pinkett Smith Ouzounova/Splash News Online Jada Pinkett Smith knows a thing or two about diet and exercise.The 41-year-old mom to Jaden, 14, and Willow, 12, who recently showed off an extremely toned beach body,...

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Clues to why most survived China melamine scandal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists wondering why some children and not others survived one of China's worst food safety scandals have uncovered a suspect: germs that live in the gut.In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 became sick after being fed infant formula that had been deliberately and illegally tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. There were some lingering puzzles: How did it cause...

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Wall Street pauses after rally to five-year high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks drifted in light volume on Wednesday, ending little changed, as investors remained cautious after the S&P 500 index briefly hit its highest intraday level since November 2007. The S&P 500 was buoyed by General Electric after cable company Comcast Corp said it will buy from GE the the part of NBCUniversal it didn't already own for $16.7 billion. ...

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The Lede: Latest Updates on the Pope’s Resignation

The Lede is providing updates on Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement on Monday that he intends to resign on Feb. 28, less than eight years after he took office, the first pope to do so in six centuries. (Turn off auto-refresh to watch videos.)4:17 P.M. |Subtitled Video of Pope’s Resignation StatementThe Telegraph has added English subtitles to video of the pope’s resignation statement, made in Latin...

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