U.N. Rejects Claim for Direct Compensation to Victims of Cholera Epidemic in Haiti

There will be no direct financial compensation from the United Nations for the more than 8,000 Haitians who died and the 646,000 sickened by cholera since the disease struck the earthquake-ravaged country in October 2010, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Haitian president this week. More than 15 months after the United Nations received a legal claim seeking to hold peacekeeping troops...

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Reeva Steenkamp's Father: If Oscar Pistorius Speaks the Truth, 'I Can Perhaps Someday Forgive Him'

By Stephen M. Silverman 02/23/2013 at 09:30 AM EST Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Elite/EMPICS Entertainment/ABACA Having been freed on bail Friday as he awaits trial for the premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius "will have...

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...

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Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large. Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling. Talks on the U.S. budget...

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IHT Rendezvous: Russian Nationalists Say ‘Nyet’ to Foreign Words

LONDON — Nationalist Russian legislators have introduced a bill to hold back a tide of foreign words, specifically English ones, which they claim is swamping the Russian language.A bill submitted by the minority Liberal Democratic Party would impose fines of up to $1,700 on officials, advertisers and journalists who use foreign words rather than their Russian equivalents.Their main gripe appears to...

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Oscar Pistorius to Be Released on Bail

Breaking News By Stephen M. Silverman 02/22/2013 at 09:25 AM EST Oscar Pistorius, Feb. 22, 2013 AP Prosecutors in South Africa were defeated Friday in their effort to deny bail for "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee track star accused of the premeditated...

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Govs to hear Oregon health care plan

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber will brief other state leaders this weekend on his plan to lower Medicaid costs, touting an overhaul that President Barack Obama highlighted in his State of the Union address for its potential to lower the deficit even as health care expenses climb.The Oregon Democrat leaves for Washington, D.C., on Friday to pitch his plan that changes the way doctors...

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Wall Street opens higher on data, HP earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened higher Friday after two days of losses, lifted by better-than-expected earnings from Hewlett-Packard Co and positive economic data from Europe. HP, a Dow component, jumped 7.4 percent to $18.34 in early trading. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 45.85 points, or 0.33 percent, at 13,926.47. The Standard & Poor's 500...

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The Lede: Reporters in Syria See No End in Sight

It has been nearly two years since Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, deployed troops to clear the streets of first peaceful protesters and then armed rebels intent on overthrowing him.The ensuing war, a mix of the sectarian, political and personal, has turned bustling streets, workplaces and homes across the country into rubble-strewn battlegrounds, contested bitterly for the smallest strategic...

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Michelle Williams 'Really Working' on Growing Out Her Hair

Stylewatch Style News Now 02/20/2013 at 06:00 PM ET Lionel Hahn/Abaca; Christopher Peterson/Splash NewAnne Hathaway and Miley Cyrus may be totally committed to their short haircuts, but one famously gamine star is ready to ditch...

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Adults get 11 percent of calories from fast food

ATLANTA (AP) — On an average day, U.S. adults get roughly 11 percent of their calories from fast food, a government study shows.That's down slightly from the 13 percent reported the last time the government tried to pin down how much of the American diet is coming from fast food. Eating fast food too frequently has been seen as a driver of America's obesity problem.For the research, about 11,000 adults...

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Wall Street opens lower after jobless data

TORONTO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Canada's Rebecca Marino, a rising star in women's tennis, stepped away from the sport in search of a normal life on Wednesday, weary of battling depression and cyber-bullies. Ranked number 38 in the world two years ago, the 22-year-old admitted she had long suffered from depression and was no longer willing to make the sacrifices necessary to reach the top. "After thinking...

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The Lede: North Korean Video Shows Obama in Flames

North Korea has released a new propaganda video that shows President Obama and United States troops in flames and credits Washington with leading the impoverished country to become a proud nuclear power.Songs, operas and novels that stoke hatred against the United States and belittle South Korea are daily fare for North Koreans living under a leadership that uses propaganda as a critical tool of governing....

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Downton Abbey Cast Covers One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful'

TV Watch By Maggie Coughlan 02/20/2013 at 09:45 AM EST You don't know you're beautiful, Downton Abbey. But comedian Richard Sandling does! Sandling is the brains behind a video mashup of the Crawley crew performing One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful." Using footage from seasons 1 through 3 (and both Christmas...

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Future science: Using 3D worlds to visualize data

CHICAGO (AP) — Take a walk through a human brain? Fly over the surface of Mars? Computer scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago are pushing science fiction closer to reality with a wraparound virtual world where a researcher wearing 3D glasses can do all that and more.In the system, known as CAVE2, an 8-foot-high screen encircles the viewer 320 degrees. A panorama of images springs from...

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Wall Street set for flat open after data, Fed minutes on tap

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Wednesday after housing and inflation data pointed to a continuation of modest economic improvement and ahead of the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's January meeting later in the session. Groundbreaking to build new U.S. homes fell 8.5 percent in January but new permits for construction rose to a 4 1/2-year high while...

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IHT Rendezvous: As Europe Moves to Cap Bonuses, Britain Hesitates

LONDON — It is hard to imagine any European politician losing votes these days by promising to curb bankers’ pay, which may explain why members of the European Parliament are enthusiastically pushing for the toughest restrictions on bank bonuses since the 2008 financial crisis.Representatives of the Parliament and of the 27 European Union governments were meeting on Tuesday to finalize a deal on banking...

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Michael Jackson's Son Prince Michael Works as TV Reporter

Only on People.com By Jennifer Garcia 02/19/2013 at 09:35 AM EST From left: James Franco, Zach Braff and Prince Michael Jackson Courtesy ET Michael Jackson's son, Prince Michael, stepped into a world his late father knew well, becoming a special correspondent for...

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Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women

CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models...

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Wall Street opens higher on M&A activity

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened slightly higher on Tuesday, putting the S&P 500 on track to extend its seven-week winning streak on increased mergers and acquisitions activity. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 2.69 points, or 0.02 percent, at 13,984.45. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 3.02 points, or 0.20 percent, at 1,522.81. The Nasdaq...

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IHT Rendezvous: Human Rights and Sports Events

Earlier this month, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sacked a senior Russian Olympic Committee official over rising costs and a delay in the construction work for the 2014 Winter Olympics.Page TwoPosts written by the IHT’s Page Two columnists.The cost of the games, to be held in the southern resort of Sochi, is expected to reach the equivalent of $50 billion. Mr. Putin said corruption had pushed...

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Kate, Back from Babymoon, Resumes Royal Duties

By Simon Perry 02/18/2013 at 09:20 AM EST Five months into her pregnancy and just back from a Caribbean "babymoon" in Mustique, the Duchess of Cambridge is stepping up her work as she returns to her royal duties.Kate, 31, is set for a visit to the port of Grimsby, about 180 miles from London in north eastern England, where she will be shown...

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Study: Better TV might improve kids' behavior

SEATTLE (AP) — Teaching parents to switch channels from violent shows to educational TV can improve preschoolers' behavior, even without getting them to watch less, a study found.The results were modest and faded over time, but may hold promise for finding ways to help young children avoid aggressive, violent behavior, the study authors and other doctors said."It's not just about turning off the television....

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Yen resumes fall after G20, earnings worries hit stocks

LONDON (Reuters) - The yen resumed falling on Monday after Japan signaled it would push ahead with expansionist monetary policies having escaped criticism from the world's 20 biggest economies at the weekend. European shares and industrial metals dropped on lingering worries about the economic outlook, especially for the euro zone. The risk of an inconclusive outcome in Italian elections...

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IHT Rendezvous: Should Common Plastics Be Labeled Toxic?

THE HAGUE — Hoping to reduce one of the most ubiquitous forms of waste, a global group of scientists is proposing that certain types of plastic be labeled hazardous.The group, led by two California scientists, wrote in this week’s issue of the scientific journal Nature:We believe that if countries classified the most harmful plastics as hazardous, their environmental agencies would have the power...

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Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan's Disney Vacation

TV Watch People Exclusive By Rennie Dyball 02/17/2013 at 10:00 AM EST Kelly Ripa with Joaquin (front), Michael and Lola in Disney World Todd Anderson/Disney Call it an on-location family vacation.Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan are taping four episodes of Live in...

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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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Florida hit by "tsunami" of tax identity fraud

MIAMI (Reuters) - Bruce Parton was only a few weeks from retirement after 30 years as a mail carrier in sunny Florida. He never lived to fulfill his retirement plan of moving back to a quiet life in the Catskill mountains of New York, not far from where he grew up on Long Island. Instead, he was gunned down on his daily mail route in December 2010 by members of an identity...

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