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London, England (CNN) — The Cabinet minister who admitted using taxpayers’ money to rent rooms from his male partner has resigned over the allegations, a spokeswoman for his party confirmed Saturday.

David Laws, the chief secretary to the Treasury and one of five Liberal Democrat lawmakers appointed to the Conservative-dominated Cabinet, issued a statement to the British media late Friday saying he was motivated by a desire to keep his relationship with the man private and not to reveal his own sexuality.

He vowed to immediately repay the £40,000 ($57,800) the British Press Association says he claimed for rooms in two London properties owned by his partner between 2006 and 2009.

The spokeswoman for the Liberal Dems told CNN Saturday that Laws stepped down from the Treasury post because he felt he couldn’t responsibly perform his duties while facing an investigation into the allegations. He will continue in his role as a member of parliament for the party, she said.

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Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — A precision air strike has killed one of the two most senior Taliban leaders in Kandahar province and several of his fighters, the U.S. military said Monday.

Officials had been tracking Taliban commander Haji Amir and his fighters for several days and ordered the air strike when the leader stopped at a small mud hut in a rural area Sunday morning, according to a military statement.

Amir escaped from prison in June 2008 and recently was in Pakistan planning Taliban attacks, the statement said.

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Tulburarile circulatiei sanguine si modificarile atmosferice duc de multe ori la umflarea de la genunchi pana la glezne si senzatia de oboseala a picioarelor. Specialistii sustin ca un bun remediu pentru asa-zisul "sindrom al picioarelor obosite" este masajul.

Aliatul tau numarul unu in lupta pentru picioare frumoase si sanatoase este masajul cu otet de mere si miere de albine. Frectioneaza zilnic picioarele, dimineata si seara, de la glezne in sus, iar dupa un minut sau doua de masaj inveleste-le in prosoape de bumbac imbibate in otetul de mere. Tine picioarele intinse si putin ridicate o jumatate de ora. Masajul iti va stimula circulatia sanguina, eliminand senzatia de oboseala a picioarelor si varicele.

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VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran outlined to the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Monday a deal to give up some of its enriched uranium, calling it major progress towards defusing international tensions over its atomic aspirations.

But Western powers see the deal, reflecting one Iran backed out of six months ago, as overtaken by events including escalating enrichment by Tehran. Along with Russia and China, they have drafted broader sanctions against the Islamic state.

Tehran has threatened to ditch the plan if it is hit with a fourth U.N. sanctions resolution, envisaged for adoption next month.

Some diplomats say prospects for the deal look bleak unless Iran stops enriching uranium to higher levels, a process it started in February stoking Western fears it ultimately aims to produce bomb-grade material. Iran says its higher enrichment is to produce fuel for the reactor at the centre of the swap deal.

The proposal to swap low-enriched uranium (LEU) for fuel to run an Iranian medical research reactor, aimed at allaying fears Iran is trying to amass fissile material for nuclear weapons, was agreed last week by Tehran with Turkey and Brazil.

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed for greater commercial access for American businesses in China on Sunday, urging Beijing for a "level playing field."

Clinton spoke to American and Chinese business executives in Shanghai, where she had finished touring the World Expo. She was headed to Beijing for two days of talks that will touch on a wide range of issues of shared interest to the United States and China.

"For trade to work in any economy, for it to produce the benefits we know it can, there must be a level playing field where domestic and international companies can compete freely and openly," Clinton said.

"For example, transparency in rule making and standard setting, nondiscrimination, fair access to sales to private sector and government purchasers alike — and the strong enforcement of intellectual property rights — are all vitally important in the 21st-century global economy."

She added: "American companies want to compete in China. They want to sell goods made by American workers to Chinese consumers with rising incomes and increasing demand. This is a win-win for our two countries."

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London, England (CNN) — Britain’s Prince Andrew has denied knowing anything about his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson’s alleged offer to an undercover tabloid newspaper reporter to sell access to Queen Elizabeth’s second son for £500,000 ($723,000).

His comments came after News of the World posted a video on its Web site Sunday that appears to show Ferguson accepting money from an undercover reporter in exchange for an introduction to Prince Andrew.

Ferguson is also filmed on hidden camera telling the reporter — who was posing as a wealthy businessman — that a payment of £500,000 "opens doors" to Andrew.

She then shakes hands with the reporter after he accepts the deal.

On Monday the royal family moved quickly to distance itself from Ferguson, who has never been far from the headlines since she married Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, in 1986. The couple separated in 1992 and divorced four years later.

"The Duke of York categorically denies any knowledge of any meeting or conversation between the Duchess of York and the News of the World journalist," Buckingham Palace said.

Prince Andrew has carried out his role as a British trade envoy since 2001 "with complete and absolute propriety and integrity," the palace said.

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CLIMATE scientists have warned that 2010 could turn out to be the warmest year in recorded history [since 1880].

They have collated global surface temperature measurements showing that the world has experienced near-record highs between January and April.

Researchers working independently at the Met Office and Nasa are soon to publish data that reveal the trend is likely to continue for the rest of the year. [Hmm, that's odd, given that El Niño is fading fast, we're heading towards La Niña conditions, and sea surface temperatures are heading south rapidly, but if the models say that then it must be true, surely?]

James Hansen [round of applause please], director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss), a world centre for climate monitoring, said: “Global temperatures, averaged over the past 12 months, were the warmest for 130 years. [Big freaking deal]

“December to February was also the second-warmest of any such period [since 1880].”

Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office, said: “It was a cold winter in Europe but, globally, January to March was one of the seven warmest starts to the year on record [since 1880].

“This year has more than a 50% chance of being the warmest on record [since 1880].”

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Manila, Philippines – Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao flew home to a hero’s welcome on Monday after defending his world title and immediately began a political fight he said was aimed at helping the nation’s poor.
Wearing a jacket and tie and accompanied by his wife Jinkee, Pacquiao was met at Manila airport by a throng of press photographers and a group of politicians wanting to share the limelight with boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighter.
"I am very happy that I have returned to the Philippines to be with my children. I thank everyone who supported and prayed for me in my last fight," he said.

Pacquiao defeated Ghana’s Joshua Clottey in Texas last week to retain his World Boxing Organization welterweight title.
Opposition senator Manuel Villar, a millionaire property developer who is one of the leading candidates for the presidency in the May 10 national elections, was among those who met Pacquiao at the airport.
Pacquiao, 31, is running under Villar’s Nacionalista Party for a House of Representatives seat in the southern Philippine province of Sarangani.

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Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.

The documents emerge as Pope Benedict is facing other accusations that he and direct subordinates often did not alert civilian authorities or discipline priests involved in sexual abuse when he served as an archbishop in Germany and as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer. 

The Wisconsin case involved an American priest, the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at a renowned school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974. But it is only one of thousands of cases forwarded over decades by bishops to the Vatican office called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led from 1981 to 2005 by Cardinal Ratzinger.

It is still the office that decides whether accused priests should be given full canonical trials and defrocked.

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(CNN) – Former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will appear in a new eight-part documentary series on the TLC network, parent company Discovery Communications said Thursday.

The show, "Sarah Palin’s Alaska," will be "about the remarkable Governor Palin and her home state of Alaska," the Discovery statement said. Its executive producer will be Mark Burnett, who previously was executive producer for "Survivor" and "the Apprentice."

"Discovery Communications is so excited to help Sarah Palin tell the story of Alaska, and to have a great documentary filmmaker in Mark Burnett helping to reveal Alaska’s powerful beauty as it has never been filmed, and as told by one of the state’s proudest daughters," Peter Liguori, chief operating officer of Discovery Communications, said in the statement.

"We are confident ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’ will be another compelling television event," said Eileen O’Neill, TLC president and general manager, in the statement.

Discovery Communications did not specify a date for the series premiere.

Mark Burnett Productions previously co-produced "Eco-Challenge" for Discovery Channel from 1996 through 1999, according to the statement. Burnett was quoted in the statement as saying Palin has "a dynamic personality that has captivated millions … I can’t think of anyone more compelling than Sarah Palin to tell the story of Alaska."

Variety reported on Tuesday the former Republican vice presidential nominee will likely nab $1 million an episode for the program.

Filed under: television

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