Cuban dissident blogger prepares “victory” tour

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba‘s best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, says she plans to make good use of “my victory” when she leaves on an 80-day-tour of more than a dozen countries on Sunday.Sanchez, under Cuba’s sweeping migration reform that went into effect this year, was given her passport two weeks ago, after being denied permission to travel more than 20 times over the past five years.Sanchez,...

Read More..

Katy Perry Gets a Heart-Shaped Ring from John Mayer

02/17/2013 at 11:45 AM EST Katy Perry and John Mayer on Feb. 14 with her ring (inset) David Tonnessen/Pacific Coast News John Mayer put a ring on Katy Perry's finger – just not the kind you might expect.After the couple was photographed leaving Vincenti, an Italian...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Karzai to Forbid His Forces From Requesting Foreign Airstrikes

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he would issue a decree barring Afghan security forces from asking international troops to carry out airstrikes under “any circumstances.” The announcement came amid anger over a joint Afghan-NATO operation last week that Afghan officials said killed 10 civilians, including women and children, in northeast Kunar Province....

Read More..

Blue Ivy Looks Just Like Dad Jay-Z in New Photo

02/16/2013 at 11:30 AM EST Daddy's little girl, indeed!A new photo of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's 1-year-old daughter Blue Ivy – apparently leaked from the songstress's upcoming HBO documentary – shows the proud mama holding up her little girl, who bears a striking resemblance to her famous papa. "When I wake up in...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Wall Street edges up on data, S&P up for seventh week

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose slightly Friday with the S&P 500 gaining for a seventh week in the wake of upbeat consumer sentiment data, though thin trading and the modest rise showed a continuing trend of a consolidating market after strong recent gains. The S&P 500, up nearly 7 percent so far this year, is facing strong technical resistance near the 1,525 level. But investors,...

Read More..

The Lede: Spectacular Video of Meteor Over Siberia

Video posted on YouTube Friday appeared to catch an explosion caused by a meteor streaking over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.Last Updated, 12:07 p.m. As our colleagues Ellen Barry and Andrew Kramer report, Russians recorded video of bright objects, apparently debris from a meteor, “streaking through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across...

Read More..

Facebook wins German court fight on fake names ban

BERLIN (AP) — Facebook has won a court battle against a German privacy watchdog that challenged the social networking site‘s policy requiring users to register with their real names.Schleswig-Holstein state’s data protection body said Friday it will appeal the court decision. It argues the ban on fake names breaches German privacy laws and European rules designed to protect free speech online.The...

Read More..