Fructose May Raise Blood Pressure

Drinking more than two sweetened sodas a day boosts risk of hypertension, study finds.

Here's a new reason to put down that sugary soft drink: Research suggests that a diet high in fructose, a common sweetener, boosts the risk of high blood pressure.

High-fructose corn syrup is found in many processed foods and beverages. Americans consume 30 percent more fructose now than 20 years ago, and researchers have linked higher fructose consumption to the growing obesity epidemic. But scientists weren't sure if a connection existed between fructose consumption and high blood pressure.

In a new study, Dr. Diana Jalal, of the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center, and colleagues studied 4,528 adults without a history of high blood pressure. They examined their fructose intake and found that those who consumed more than 74 grams of fructose per day -- that's the equivalent of the amount in 2.5 sweetened soft drinks -- boosted their risk of high blood pressure by 28 percent to 87 percent, depending on the level of hypertension.

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More signs of war in Ivory Coast

A UN report accuses both the rebel-held north and the government-controlled south of stocking up on weapons, a month before elections.

The report also said neighbouring Burkina Faso is systematically transferring weapons and ammunition to the rebels.

"Despite the arms embargo northern and southern Ivorian parties are rearming or re-equipping with related material," the report by a UN panel of experts said.

"We cannot exclude a situation in which armed violence may escalate rapidly, particularly in the north," the report added.

The UN Security Council is due to renew its arms ban against the country this week, but the report raised the possibility of renewed serious conflict if the political situation deteriorates.

According to the BBC, the authors of the report urged Burkina Faso to investigate the transfer of weapons to rebels in the north.

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Woman charged with murder over stabbing

A 53-year-old woman has been charged with murder after a man died from stab wounds yesterday.

Karen Black, 53, from Corio, a suburb of Geelong, has been charged with one count of murder and was remanded in custody to appear before the Geelong Magistrates Court on Monday.

Ms Black handed herself in to police after 53-year-old Wayne Clarke, also of Corio, died from stab wounds in hospital in Geelong.

Mr Clarke was found by a passer-by in a car in Gheringhup St in Geelong about 4.50pm (AEDT) yesterday after being driven there and abandoned following the stabbing. He had been stabbed in nearby Beretta St in Corio, a police spokeswoman said.

It is the second murder in the area in a week, with Beretta St located only a few hundred metres away from Cloverdale Drive in Corio, where 26-year-old Brock Nightingale was shot dead on Saturday, October 24.

Two men, Matthew Grotheer, 29, from Batesford and Jayden Bishop, 21, from Herne Hill, have been charged with murder and remanded in custody.

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Two dead after car-van crash

Two people are dead after a head-on crash between a car and a van on State Highway 50 on the Napier Hastings motorway.

Shortly before 2am on Saturday, a van and a car collided on a bridge about 1km south of the intersection of State Highway 50 and Meeanee Road, Inspector Paul Jermy, of Central Communications, said today.

"It appears the car involved in the crash contained two occupants, whilst the van contained at least seven people.

"Three of the van occupants were thrown over the bridge and into a river about 15 metres below."

Two of those thrown over the bridge died at the scene, while a third made it to shore and was taken to hospital, Jermy said.

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Kovalainen quickest in Abu Dhabi practice

Heikki Kovalainen prevented practice for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from being an all-British affair as he topped the timesheets after the second session.

With three minutes of the session remaining, and with Lewis Hamilton poised to edge out Jenson Button at the top of the standings, Kovalainen ensured it would be a McLaren one-two rather than a British one-two that led the way ahead of Sunday's race.

Conditions for the second 90-minute period were markedly different to those in the first as outgoing world champion Hamilton pipped new title-holder Button by just 0.096 seconds.

Earlier, as the drivers acclimatised themselves to the new Yas Marina circuit, they basked in temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius.

It was still 31 degrees when the second session began at 5pm local time, but on this event the following 90 minutes would be played out under a setting sun for the first time in F1 history, and ultimately floodlights as day shifted into night.

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Actor Dennis Hopper diagnosed with prostate cancer

Actor and filmmaker Dennis Hopper has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his manager Sam Maydew said Friday.

Hopper is being treated in a special program at the University of Southern California, according to CNN news affiliate KTLA.

He was expected to appear at an exhibition of his photography at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne but has cancelled in order to focus on treatment.

"We're hoping for the best," Maydew said. No other details were immediately available.

On September 30, Hopper was hospitalized in New York for flu-like symptoms and stomach pains. He was released the next day feeling "much better," according to KTLA.

The 73-year-old Academy Award winner is known for his roles in "Rebel Without a Cause," "Hoosiers," "Apocalypse Now" and "Easy Rider" , the latter of which he also directed , among scores of other films.

Hopper recently finished shooting the second season of the Starz drama "Crash," based on the 2006 Oscar-winning film.

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Defriending can bruise your 'digital ego'

If you harbor a bit of angst over Facebook friend requests gone unanswered, a surprise "defriending" or being deserted by your Twitter followers, you're not alone.

Elaine Fogel has amassed more than 500 connections on LinkedIn, a professional networking Web site, by extending invites to those who appear to fit her wide array of career interests.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, people just say yes," she said.

But then came "this one woman" who Fogel encountered on one of the 40-plus conversation groups she belongs to on LinkedIn. The woman offered interesting opinions, so Fogel sent her an invite to join her network.

"She sent an e-mail saying, 'I only connect with people I know, and hopefully our paths will cross one day,' " said Fogel, of Phoenix, Arizona, her voice still carrying notes of disbelief. "I read that, and I said, 'Oh, my God, I've been rejected.' "

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Taliban leader discards U.S. attempts to lure away fighters with money

A top Taliban political leader delivered a message Friday to President Obama, calling his effort to lure away Taliban fighters with money "an old weapon that has failed already."

"The Mujahedeen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan are not mercenaries and employed gunmen like the armed men of the invaders and their surrogates," Mullah Brader Akhund said in the statement. "This war will come to an end when all invaders leave our country and an Islamic government based on the aspirations of our people is formed in the country."

Akhund is the deputy emir of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which is the political arm of the Taliban.

He was referring to the Taliban reintegration provision, part of the $680 billion defense appropriation bill that Obama signed Wednesday to pay for military operations in the 2010 economic year.

The provision would separate local Taliban from their leaders, paying the fighters to quit the organization, replicating a program used to neutralize the insurgency against Americans in Iraq, according to the Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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Lisbon Treaty in sight for EU after Czechs agree

The European Union was days away Friday from ratification of the Lisbon Treaty after the president of the Czech Republic - the remaining holdout in negotiations - agreed to approve it.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus agreed to sign the document after winning an exception Thursday night ensuring the Lisbon Treaty does not allow ethnic Germans forced out of the country after World War II to reclaim their former land.

Only one more hurdle remains: The Czech Constitutional Court is considering a legal challenge from Czech senators to the treaty, but it was widely expected that the court would reject it.

"If they decide that this is not in conflict with the Czech constitution, Klaus has said he will sign the treaty - and if he does that in the month of November, it will come into force on the first of December," said Minna Fryden Bonnier, a spokeswoman for the Swedish presidency of the EU.

Poland and Britain have also won their own exemptions to Lisbon. In Poland's case, it recently won an opt-out over social issues including gay marriage; Britain won assurances that EU law would not prevail over its own legal system.

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Obama, Joint Chiefs to talk about Afghanistan plans

President Obama will host the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House on Friday as he reassesses his administration's military plan in Afghanistan.

The meeting will give each branch of the U.S. armed services a direct chance to tell Obama the effect on the military if a large number of additional forces are sent to Afghanistan, two military sources told CNN's Barbara Starr.

"The president wants to get input from different services," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said this week. "It's a chance to consult with uniformed military leadership as a part of his [Afghanistan-Pakistan] review."

A proposed expansion of U.S. forces in Afghanistan comes with some misgivings from the military chiefs. The Army and Marine Corps have expressed concerns that it could make it tougher to give troops promised time at home with their families between overseas tours.

The president met with his national security team on Monday to talk about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the White House said. The meeting was the sixth in a series of high-level discussions being held in part to forge a new consensus on how best to confront Taliban and al Qaeda militants threatening the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Tai Chi May Help Ward Off Knee Pain in Seniors

Two hours per week can improve osteoarthritis symptoms in older patients, study finds.

Want to improve that osteoarthritis in your knee? New research suggests that regular Tai Chi exercise can reduce pain and help your knee function better.

"Tai Chi is a mind-body approach that appears to be an applicable treatment for older adults with knee osteoarthritis," Dr. Chenchen Wang, co-author of a study published in the November issue of Arthritis Care & Research, said in a news release from the journal's publisher.

In the United States, an estimated 4.3 million adults over 60 suffer from this form of arthritis. As many as half of American adults may develop symptoms by age 85, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently.

Wang and colleagues from Tufts University School of Medicine recruited 40 patients, with an average age of 65, who had been diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis.

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Yemen arrest five Somalis

The security forces found a laptop and a stamp of al-Manhal Charitable Society based in Mogadishu, Somalia when they searched the suspects, Yemen News Agency reported.

Last September, seven Somalis were arrested while fighting the army in support for the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, the Yemen media said. Somali refugees fled to Yemen for good living and education.

Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

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Instigator of Northland theft admits charge

The instigator of roadside theft of three Chinese tourists at remote Te Paki in the Far North in August has admitted a charge of aggravated robbery.

Jovi Rai Samson, 20, of Kaitaia, pleaded guilty to robbing Chinese nationals Liu Yang, Zheng Haiou and Lu Xiaoling when he appeared in Kaitaia District Court on Thursday.

Three other co-accused have also been charged with aggravated robbery in connection with the August 21 incident near 90 Mile Beach.

Following his guilty plea, Samson was remanded in custody by Judge Duncan Harvey to join another accomplice, Jared Sullivan Ngawhika, 25, in Kaikohe District Court on December 22 when both defendants will appear for a disputed facts hearing.

Samson's lawyer Doug Blaikie says he pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery and that although he instigated the robbery and punched two victims, he denied cutting the handbag from a victim.

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Two men charged with murder over death of George Town man

Two men have been charged with murder after a man's body was discovered in a creek in Tasmania's north.

The unnamed 42-year-old George Town man's naked body was found in a creek at Harford, northwest of Launceston, on Wednesday.

Launceston CIB detectives yesterday charged two men with one count each of murder.

They will appear in the Launceston Court of Petty Sessions today.

The victim's next of kin have not yet been notified. Investigations in progress.

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Rosberg confirms Williams exit for 2010

German driver Nico Rosberg has revealed that he is looking for a new Formula One team for next season, and that this weekend's race in Abu Dhabi will be his last for Williams.

The 24-year-old is widely expected to join world champions Brawn as new teammate for Jenson Button, who wrapped up the drivers' title at the Brazilian Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello has been tipped to replace him at Williams, which is also based in Britain.

"This is my last race for Williams," Rosberg told reporters. "It's a bit strange because for four years it has been the only team I've worked with, so it's been a long time.

"I get on really well with everybody; a lot of respect has built up with all the mechanics, so it is going to be quite strange to leave.

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Jon Gosselin is emotionally abusive, girlfriend says

Jon Gosselin has more relationship drama on his hands.

Hailey Glassman said her reality star boyfriend is emotionally rude , and she's sick of it.

"He'll call me and take his anger out on me," Glassman, 22, said in a two-part interview scheduled to air on "The Insider" beginning Thursday. "He has 'mantrums.' I shouldn't have to put up with being emotionally abused. I cry and say, 'Why are you so mean to me?

But she may not get a straight answer. "Sometimes he has trouble with the truth," she said, "and he will dance and dance around his lies. He's like Jekyll and Hyde. But I still love him."

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Web pioneer recalls 'birth of the Internet'

It was 1969 and a busy year for making history: Woodstock, the Miracle Mets, men on the moon, and something less celebrated but arguably more important, the birth of the Internet.

On October 29 of that year, for perhaps the first time, a message was sent over a computer network. Leonard Kleinrock, a professor of computer science at the University of California-Los Angeles, connected the school's host computer to one at Stanford Research Institute, a former arm of Stanford University.

Forty years ago today, the Internet may have uttered its first word.

Twenty years later, Kleinrock chaired a group whose report on building a national computer network influenced Congress in helping develop the modern Internet. Kleinrock holds more than a dozen patents and was awarded the National Medal of Science last year by President Bush.

In an interview with CNN, the 75-year-old looks back on his achievement and peers into the exciting and sometimes terrifying future of the Web he helped create.

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Chinese officials try to find parents of 60 lost children

In some of the photos, the young children are wearing bibs and slight smiles can be seen on their chubby faces.

But these are not your usual baby pictures.

The Chinese government is trying to find the parents of these 60 homeless children, some of them so young that they had not yet developed the strength to hold their own heads up.

This week the Chinese Ministry of Public Security posted pictures of these rescued children on its Web site.

Many of them had similar stories. They were kidnapped, stolen or sold and somehow had been rescued by authorities.

Police tried to find their parents but could not find them through the national DNA database, state-run China Daily reported.

And for the first time, the Ministry of Public Security posted their pictures.

"Even if I can't find my boy's photo on the Web site today, it's a blessing for desperate parents like us who have almost lost hope," Tang Weihua, a mother who lost her 5-year-old son in 1999, told China Daily this week.

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'We're being held hostage by pirates'

A British man being held by Somali pirates has spoken to a British television news broadcaster from aboard a container ship where they are being held hostage, according to the Press Association.

Paul Chandler, 59, from the county of Kent in south-east England, told ITV News the attack happened on Friday as he slept.

Chandler said: "I was off watch. I was asleep and men with guns came aboard. It was on Friday last week at 0230," PA reported.

Chandler's brother-in-law, Stephen Collett, has confirmed that it was his voice which was heard during the call.
Chandler said the couple was forced to sail towards Somalia after their boat was captured. He and wife Rachel were now being held "hostage" on a container ship called the Kota Wajah, he said.

His captors have not asked for a ransom, he said: "Not officially , they kept asking for money and took everything of value on the boat," PA reported.

Earlier, the British Ministry of Defence announced that the British Royal Navy had found the couple's empty yacht in the Indian Ocean.

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Economy finally back in gear

The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter, ending a string of declines over four quarters that resulted in the harshest slide since the Great Depression. But some economists raised doubts about how long such strong growth can last.

The increase in GDP, reported by the government Thursday morning, was slightly better than expectations. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast 3.2% growth in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity. The economy shrank at a 0.7% rate in the second quarter.

The positive GDP report is one more sign that the economy has likely pulled out of the deep depression that started in December 2007.

The reading by itself doesn't mark an end to the recession; the economy actually grew in the second quarter of 2008. (The National Bureau of Economic Research, which officially dates the beginning and end of recessions, is not expected to declare that the current recession has ended until sometime in 2010.)

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Even Light Smoking Affects Young Adults' Arteries

Smoking just one cigarette stiffens the arteries of young adults by 25 percent, says a new study.

The stiffer a person's arteries, the greater their risk for heart disease or stroke, noted researcher Dr. Stella Daskalopoulou, an internal medicine and vascular medicine specialist at McGill University Health Center in Montreal.

She measured arterial stiffness in smokers and non-smokers, ages 18 to 30, at rest and after exercise. To establish a baseline measurement, the smokers, who smoked five to six cigarettes a day, were asked to refrain from having a cigarette for 12 hours before their first exercise test. Before the second exercise test, smokers were allowed to have one cigarette. Before the final test, they were asked to chew a piece of nicotine gum.

After exercise, arterial stiffness in non-smokers decreased 3.6 percent. But the smokers' arterial stiffness increased 2.2 percent after exercise. In smokers, arterial stiffness increased 12.6 percent after they chewed nicotine gum and 24.5 percent after they had one cigarette.

There was no difference in arterial stiffness between smokers and non-smokers at rest.

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19 killed in boat destroyed

The passengers were traders at the Guere Market.

AfricaNews reporter said the incident took place when the waves suddenly became violent and the apparently inexperienced young paddlers could not control their vessel amidst yells from the panic-stricken occupants onboard.

Rescue teams are reported to have been immediately mobilized after news of the accident got to Bosgoy - their final destination. However, intervention was hampered by the water currents and the hippopotamus in the lake scared the rescuers.

Six persons were rescued and 18 bodies retrieved from the lake, AfricaNews reporter said. The last body was recuperated only two days later.

Our reporter said the cause of the accident is not yet know however it could be linked to bad weather and overloading. State authorities have ordered an immediate inquiry into the case.

Meanwhile, President Paul Biya has sent a message of condolence to the governor of the Extreme North area following the accident. He expressed sympathy to the bereaved families and dispatched the Minister at the Presidency in charge of the Gendarmerie, Jean Baptist Bokam to visit the families of the victims.

The inhabitants have appealed to the government to develop more secure means of transportation. They argued that, apart from violent storms that frequently wreck canoes in Lake Guerre, at least one person dies each month in the lake as a result of hippopotamus attack.

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Two men in custody over Corio shooting

Two men have been charged with murder over the death of a man in a shooting in the Geelong suburb of Corio.

Police went to a house on Cloverdale Drive in Corio about 5.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday after reports that a man had been shot.

Paramedics tried to revive the 26-year-old victim, but he died at the scene.

A short time after the shooting a 30-year-old man went to the Geelong Hospital with what appeared to be two gunshot injuries to his hip.

The 30-year-old Newtown man underwent surgery yesterday.

Police have not confirmed if the two shootings were linked, or if the injured man's wounds were from gunshots.

Two men, Matthew Grotheer of the Geelong suburb of Batesford, 29, and 21-year-old Jayden Bishop of Herne Hill, were arrested late yesterday.

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NZ child poverty increase 'shocking'

The Child Poverty Action Group says that despite the positive spin in the Ministry of Social Development's 2009 Social Report, all is far from rosy.

"The increase in child poverty is shocking and should raise all kinds of questions about our policies for families," said group spokeswoman Susan St John.

The report uses a poverty line based on the CPI adjusted 1998 median household income, she said.

It showed that although the proportion of children in low-income households fell from 29% in 2001 to 16% in 2007, it climbed back up to 20% in 2008.

"In a time of income growth, one expects poverty to decrease on this fixed measure, not increase," St John said.

Using a relative poverty line, the child poverty rate was 22% in 2007 and 28% in 2008.

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Men jailed over aviary attack

Two South Canterbury men have been jailed for killing more than 30 birds at a Temuka birdhouse earlier this year.

Jonathan Ramon Douglas Fleming, 22, and Simiona Paul John, 27, who had earlier pleaded guilty to breaking into the Temuka Aviary and wilfully ill-treating the birds, were sentenced in Timaru District Court on Wednesday.

Fleming was sentenced to 26 months in jail, with John receiving a 12 month sentence, the Timaru Herald reported.

The August attack left 32 exotic birds, including cockatoos, parrots, canaries and rainbow lorikeets, with heads and feathers ripped off.

Just after the attack Timaru Bird Club vice-president Pat Rule estimated the slaughtered birds to be worth around $4000.

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Agassi admits using crystal meth

American tennis legend Andre Agassi has admitted using crystal methamphetamine a year before he won the French Open in 1998, and that he lied to the sport's governing bodies in the same period about a positive drugs test to avoid a ban.

The 39-year-old, who is only one of six men in history to have finished a career grand slam of winning titles at all four majors, confessed in his autobiography that he took the highly addictive narcotic in 1997 while suffering poor form and to quell worries about his upcoming marriage to actress Brooke Shields.

The eight-time grand slam champion revealed in his book how he felt when he first took the substance , possession of which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence in the United States.

"Slim [Agassi's assistant] dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table. He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I've just crossed.

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'This Is It' a Jackson triumph

Yes, you probably want to see this.

Kenny Ortega's record of Michael Jackson in rehearsal in the days and weeks before his untimely death in June has been a red-hot advance ticket all over the world, even while fans worried about what the film would reveal about the singer's fitness on the verge of the planned 50-date engagement at London's O2 arena.

He's as thin as a rail, so thin that his trilby looks a size too big for him. But any pessimistic speculation that the King of Pop headed for the exit to save himself the embarrassment of a flop that he wasn't just past his prime but incapable of living up to his own legend just won't fly.

From the evidence Ortega shows us, "This Is It: the concert" would have been as exciting and spectacular as his audience hoped it would be. Jackson may have been broke, but this would have been a no-expense-spared extravaganza. More important, creatively, it's obvious he was far from a spent force.

Admittedly, there is no way to tell from the movie whether "MJ," as his collaborators call him, would have mustered the stamina for the demanding schedule he had signed up for.

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5 gadgets from the near future

A radio without any knobs. A bathroom where a clear display wirelessly streams vital statistics on your health. And a user interface that takes brain waves and translates them into commands for a computer.

These are some of the products in development by Cambridge Consultants, a product design and development company. It showed off some of its latest inventions at a daylong event last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Check out these sweet ideas, many of which are set to hit retail shelves in the next few weeks

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U.N. staff killed in Taliban attack in Kabul

Taliban militants attacked a private guesthouse in central Kabul on Wednesday morning, killing at least six United Nations staff members and wounding nine more, according to a U.N. spokesman.

At least one American was among the dead, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said.

There was a very good chance that the casualty toll would rise as the United Nations tried to account for its staff, said spokesman Adrian Edwards. Twenty U.N. staff members were registered to stay at the guesthouse, according to Edwards. It was unknown how many were there at the time of the assault.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying on an insurgent Web site that three militants killed 50 foreigners, who were election organizers. The claim did not include specific details and could not be independently confirmed.

The violence comes 10 days ahead of a presidential runoff election on November 7. Taliban militants have threatened to disturb the polling.

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Tele2 in a hole over 'meteor' publicity stunt

An elaborate publicity stunt by a Swedish mobile phone company involving a faked meteorite strike in a Latvian meadow has provided a new case study on how a marketing campaign can miscarry.

Tele2 on Tuesday promised to reimburse the Baltic nation for the cost of sending military units and scientists to examine a 10 metre-wide crater that appeared near the Estonian border after locals reported seeing a streak of light cross the sky on Sunday.

The Stockholm-based company admitted it had dug the hole and burned chemicals at its base to create the impression of a smouldering meteorite crater.

News of the apparent strike attracted worldwide media attention on Monday as Latvian security forces cordoned off the area to conduct radiation tests.

A spokesman for Tele2's Latvian unit said the stunt had been intended to divert attention from the country's economic crisis and give people something "creative and exciting" to talk about.

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8 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan

The U.S. military suffered another day of heavy losses in Afghanistan on Tuesday as roadside bombs killed eight soldiers, two military officials told CNN.

An Afghan civilian working with NATO groups also was killed in the attacks in southern Afghanistan, the military said. The officials said that, according to early reports, one blast took place just outside Kandahar and the other was in neighboring Zabul province.

Seven of the soldiers who died were traveling together in one vehicle, said Sgt. Jerome Baysmore with the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command.

The military gave no further details about the bombings, which it said also injured several other service members. The official said one service member was killed in one attack, while the other seven were killed in the other attack.

The U.S. military described the bombings as "multiple complex IED attacks," which means they were followed by small arms fire, the official said. That has been the typical Taliban operational method for attacking U.S. forces in recent months, the official said.

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Poison Make Halloween Face Paints Scary

If your little goblin or vampire is set to paint his or her face this Halloween to look all the more realistic, you may want to think twice, according to a new report released just in time for the holiday.

The report, issued by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, is titled: Pretty Scary: Could Halloween Face Paint Cause Lifelong Health Problems? Researchers tested 10 face paint products, the types widely available via the Internet or in craft or Halloween stores.

"All 10 face paint products tested contained lead, and six out of 10 had known skin allergens, including nickel, cobalt or chromium, at levels above recommendations of industry studies," said Stacy Malkan, the campaign's co-founder and a co-author of the report. Malkan is also the author of Not Just a Pretty Face, a 2007 book detailing what she sees as the potentially hazardous ingredients in cosmetics.

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Meeting in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, the ministers pledged to renew and intensify efforts to mobilize necessary resources, improve national strategies and improve institutional and human resources so as to accelerate the achievement of the goals of the ICPD PoA and MDGs between now and 2014.

They recognized the achievements made at the national, regional and continental levels so far, but expressed concern at the slow progress in the areas of scarcity reduction, maternal and child health, gender equity and equality, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and youth employment.

The UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Abdoulie Janneh, expressed satisfaction at the progress made by African countries to formulate national policies and legal frameworks to make sure the implementation of the ICPD PoA.

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Workers push for security standards

Thousands of workers are expected to protest in Sydney in a push for stronger security standards to curb the number of workplace injuries and deaths.

The campaign calls for improvements to the federal government's draft national occupational health and safety laws, which unions say will favour big business over workers and undermine safety.

"The Government promised national workplace safety laws would not undermine existing standards," Unions NSW secretary Mark Lennon said. "Yet workers in NSW will clearly have weaker protections.

"It's now incumbent on the Federal Government to explain why workers in NSW should be left worse off."

Protesters plan to gather at Martin Place in the CBD at 12.30pm (AEDT) today for the Rally for First Rate Safety.

They will also call on the State Government to push to make sure NSW unions retain the right to take court action when safety standards were breached, Mr Lennon said.

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Police inquires man about sex attacks

South Auckland police are to reveal more details about a man they took into custody following a series of sex attacks in the Mangere area.

The man was taken into custody on Tuesday afternoon after approaching a young girl in the same walkway where there have been three sexual attacks in the past month and a half.

Police say the man was picked up near Cape Road and Mascot Avenue, the same area where an eight-year-old girl was attacked last Monday.

The area is popular with children with a school, playcentre and swimming pool all near the walkway.

Police are not commenting at this stage whether the man in custody is connected to the earlier assaults but are expected to give an update on Wednesday morning.

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Ferguson admits improper conduct; Scot questioned fitness of ref

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has admitted an English Football Association (FA) charge of improper conduct after he publicly questioned the fitness of referee Alan Wiley.

Ferguson made the remarks after his side's 2-2 home draw against Sunder land in the English Premier League on October 3, claiming 49-year-old Wiley could not keep up the pace of the game.

He also compared him unfavorably with referees in other top European leagues who the Scot claimed were as "fit as butcher's dogs."

Official match statistics appeared to refute Ferguson's claim and he later apologized to the referee, but it was not enough to prevent the FA taking action.

"I apologize to Mr Wiley for any personal embarrassment my comments may have caused and to the FA for going public with my views.

"In retrospect I accept that they could be deemed as expressing those views in an inappropriate form. It was never my intention to bring the focus of intense media interest on Mr Wiley."

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Dead celebrities, big bucks

This year, it's hip to be dead.

The deaths of so many celebrities in recent months have highlighted the continued public attraction with stars - even beyond the grave - and the booming industry surrounding dead celebs.

"It's been a crazy year," said Scott Michaels, who runs findadeath.com, a site dedicated to tales of dead celebrities, as well as the "Dearly Departed Tour" in Los Angeles, California, where enthusiasts can visit sites of some of the city's most infamous deaths.

"It's weird because even [stars], who are already dead, like Anna Nicole Smith, are back in the news. Death has become trendy."

It's also a gold mine.

Mark Roesler, chief executive officer and chairman of CMG Worldwide - which markets and manages several deceased celebrities (some more easily managed dead than alive) - said fans often feel connected to stars long after they are gone.

"I think that with celebrities, we feel like we own a piece of them," he said. "It's almost like being part of the family."

That family expanded during what some have dubbed the "summer of death."

From May to September, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine, Wa lter Cronkite and Patrick Swayze all died. The attraction with such celebrities can mean big bucks for their estates.

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The genius brothers behind Google Wave

Lars and Jens Rasmussen were broke and jobless - with only $16 between them - when they made it big in the Web world by selling their idea for Google Maps.

Years later, after finding cushy employment at Google Inc., the Rasmussen brothers flew in May from Sydney, Australia, to California where they would debut their sophomore product, a Web application called Google Wave, which they say, fairly audaciously, will kill e-mail and forever change online communication.

But their lives didn't depend on its success - not like before.

Strange as it may seem, that worried them.

With Google Wave, the Danish brothers are trying to reconstruct the kind of near-ruin stress they experienced when they came up with the product that made them wildly successful.

In doing so, they're trying to prove that novelty, a somewhat magical and ethereal happening, can be engineered just like software.

But, as they prepared to take the stage to unveil Google Wave at a Web developers' conference in San Francisco, their faith in that hypothesis started to slip.

Was Wave too determined? Would the glitches come back? Was it too soon?

Were they under enough pressure?

And, worst of all: Would they become one-hit wonders?

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Senior officer escapes assassination bid in Pakistan

The second assassination effort in a week on a senior Pakistani military officer ended Tuesday in the nation's capital with a narrow escape by the officer.

Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the officer's vehicle in broad daylight as he drove with his mother to the bank from his house, Pakistani police said.

"The passenger was a brigadier," said a senior Pakistani police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He was in his (civilian clothes) and he was on leave. ... fortunately, everybody is secure."

The attack was another sign of the escalating conflict between the Pakistani government and the Taliban. Militants have launched a wave of suicide bombings, assassinations and raids on Pakistani cities this month, as the army presses its offensive against the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, in mountains along the Afghan border.

Last Thursday, gunmen on motorbikes launched a similar attack, which succeeded in killing Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed and another Pakistani soldier just blocks from the officer's house. Ahmed was commander of the Pakistani peacekeeping contingent in Sudan, at home on leave.

Tuesday's assassins used tactics identical to those in last Thursday's shooting, police said.

"It was the same thing. It was the same attack," the senior Pakistani police officer said.

The gunmen escaped after the shooting, which took place just outside the targeted officer's house, police said. A manhunt was under way in nearby neighborhoods.

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Bosnian war's 'Iron Lady' freed from jail

Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic was released from prison in Sweden Tuesday, after serving two thirds of an 11-year sentence for crimes against humanity.

Plavsic, 79, who was once dubbed the "Iron Lady" of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, left the country after her release, Sweden's jail service said.

Plavsic's early release last week prompted angry protests in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which spent nearly four years besieged by Bosnian Serb forces.

It also comes as the trial of her precursor, Radovan Karadzic, gets underway in The Hague, Netherlands. Karadzic was arrested last year after more than a decade on the run.

Plavsic succeeded Karadzic as the Bosnian Serb leader when he was removed from power in 1995. Both were charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 2001, along with former Bosnian Serb parliamentary speaker Momcilo Krajisnik.

The following year, she pleaded guilty to one count of crimes against humanity in exchange for prosecutors dropping seven other war crimes charges, including two counts of genocide.

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Americans killed in Afghan collide 'doing this nation proud'

Fourteen Americans died in two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan on Monday, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said: 10 in one incident and four in the other.

Three Drug Enforcement Administration special agents were among the dead, according to the DEA, which did not identify them.

The agents were first DEA agents to be killed in Afghanistan.

"Like all those who give their lives in service to America, they were doing their duty, and they were doing this nation proud," President Obama said at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.

"Now, it is our duty, as a nation, to keep their memory alive in our hearts and to carry on their work, to take care of their families, to keep our country safe," Obama said.

It was the largest number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in a single day in more than four years, according to CNN records.

The NATO force ruled out enemy fire in the collide that killed four Americans and said enemy action was not thought to be the cause of the other.

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The abortionist and his No. 1 foe

When you cross The Line of Death onto clinic property, the protesters stare at you. They get on walkie talkies and relay information: Your car. What you look like. Any identifying detail.

"Take a look around you, sir," one woman shouts. "The place is a dump."

The parking lot at Dr. LeRoy Carhart's clinic in Bellevue, Nebraska, is crumbled. A giant sign reads "Abortion & Contraception Clinic of Nebraska." Paint peels off the sides of the building, once a motorcycle shop, a car dealership showroom and an electronics store.

Wooden stairs lead to the front door, where visitors must pass through a metal detector. The office is clean and efficient, a complete contrast to its exterior. The waiting room is lined with leather chairs. A vending machine offers M&Ms, Hershey's and condoms.

Carhart one of about 12 doctors who perform late-term abortions in the nation, sits at a desk piled with paperwork. Decked out in gray cowboy boots, a salmon-colored shirt and khakis, the 67-year-old stares across his windowless office at an unframed poster propped against a wall.

"George Tiller, August 8, 1941 - May 31, 2009," it says.

The poster is a reminder that this isn't an ordinary office. Abortions are performed here, a job that can endanger Carhart. "I'm willing to put my life on the line," he says.

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