Afghanistan says Pakistan will help in peace talks

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A top Afghan peace mediator hailed Pakistan's recent decision to free nine members of the Taliban who favor negotiations, saying Saturday it was a sign Islamabad is willing to help bring the militant group to the table and end Afghanistan's 11-year-old war.The cooperation of Pakistan, which has longstanding ties to the Taliban, is seen as key to jumpstarting the stalled Afghan...

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Lady Gaga tweets some racy images before concert

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lady Gaga's tweets were getting a lot of attention ahead of her Buenos Aires concert Friday night.The Grammy-winning entertainer has more than 30 million followers on Twitter and that's where she shared a link this week to a short video showing her doing a striptease and fooling around in a bathtub with two other women.She told her followers that it's a "surprise for...

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.Meningitis mainly affects infants...

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Israel hits Hamas government buildings, reservists mobilized

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza on Saturday, including the prime minister's office, after Israel's cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists in preparation for a possible ground invasion. Palestinian militants in Gaza kept up cross-border salvoes, firing a rocket at Israel's biggest city Tel Aviv for the third...

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Pakistan releases son of Afghan militant leader

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The son of a legendary Afghan mujahedeen leader was among a group of Taliban prisoners released by Pakistan to help jumpstart peace negotiations with the militant group, the man's cousin and a family friend said Friday.The decision to release the prisoners is seen as a signal to neighboring Afghanistan that Pakistan might be willing to take concrete steps to revive efforts...

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How Obama’s Tech Team Helped Win the Election

The Obama campaign‘s technologists were tense and tired. It was game day and everything was going wrong.Josh Thayer, the lead engineer of Narwhal, had just been informed that they’d lost another one of the services powering their software. That was bad: Narwhal was the code name for the data platform that underpinned the campaign and let it track voters...

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Jason Mraz to make historic appearance in Myanmar

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jason Mraz will make history next month when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking.Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert on Dec. 16 at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda.The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is believed to be the first international artist to perform an open-air concert in the country. The show includes...

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.Meningitis mainly affects infants...

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Petraeus testifies on Benghazi attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers during private hearings Friday that he believed all along that the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a terrorist strike, even though that wasn't how the Obama administration initially described it publicly.The retired four-star general addressed the House and Senate intelligence committees as questions continue to persist...

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Xi takes China's helm with many tough challenges

BEIJING (AP) — Long-anointed successor Xi Jinping assumed the leadership of China on Thursday as the ruling Communist Party confronts slower economic growth, a public clamor to end corruption and demands for change that threaten its hold on power.The country's political elite named Xi to the top party post and unexpectedly put him in charge of the military too, after a weeklong party congress and...

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Springsteen, McCartney, Kanye set for Sandy show

NEW YORK (AP) — Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band and Kanye West will hit the stage at a Superstorm Sandy benefit concert next month at Madison Square Garden.MSG announced Thursday that Billy Joel, The Who, Alicia Keys and Jon Bon Jovi will also perform at the Dec. 12 show, dubbed "12-12-12." More performers will be announced at a later date.Proceeds from the concert will go...

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Diabetes rates rocket in Oklahoma, South

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's diabetes problem is getting worse, and health officials say the biggest changes have been in Oklahoma and a number of Southern states.The diabetes rate in Oklahoma more than tripled over 15 years, and also boomed in Southern states like Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama.Most cases are the kind of diabetes linked to obesity. Health officials believe extra weight explains the...

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A father's anguish in Gaza

Jihad Misharawi carries his son’s body at a Gaza hospital. (AP)Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic correspondent who lives in Gaza, tragically became part of the story he's been covering on Wednesday, when an Israeli airstrike killed his 11-month-old son.A chilling photo showing Misharawi carrying his son's body through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City was published by the Associated Press and printed on...

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Report: Sri Lankan war was grave failure for UN

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A draft United Nations report obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday said inadequate efforts by the world body to protect civilians during the bloody final months of Sri Lanka's civil war marked a "grave failure" that led to suffering for hundreds of thousands of people.The report accused U.N. staff in Colombo of not perceiving that preventing civilian deaths was their...

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When Facebook insiders, employees can sell stock

On Wednesday, additional Facebook stock became eligible for sale for the first time. It follows the expiration of similar lock-up periods in August and October. Other shares will become eligible for sale in the coming months.Up to 1.56 billion more shares could flood the stock market — nearly four times the 421 million shares that had been trading since...

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Bon Jovi daughter recovering after heroin OD in NY

HAMILTON, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say Jon Bon Jovi's 19-year-old daughter is hospitalized after overdosing on heroin in a dorm at her upstate New York college.Town of Kirkland police say an ambulance was sent to Hamilton College early Wednesday morning after a report that a female had apparently overdosed on heroin.Investigator Peter Cania (KAYN'-yah) says Stephanie Bongiovi, of Red Bank, N.J., is...

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Ireland probes death of ill abortion-seeker

DUBLIN (AP) — The debate over legalizing abortion in Ireland flared Wednesday after the government confirmed that a miscarrying woman suffering from blood poisoning was refused a quick termination of her pregnancy and died in an Irish hospital.Prime Minister Enda Kenny said he was awaiting findings from three investigations into the death of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian who was 17 weeks...

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