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West African leaders agreed on Friday to take stronger measures to try to bring the worst outbreak of Ebola under control and prevent it spreading outside the region, including steps to isolate rural communities ravaged by the disease. The World Health Organization and medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres said on Friday the outbreak, which has killed 729 people in four West African countries, was out of control and more resources were urgently needed to deal with it. WHO chief Margaret Chan told a meeting of the presidents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - the countries worst affected - that the epidemic was outpacing efforts to contain it and warned of catastrophic consequences in lost lives and economic disruption if the situation were allowed to deteriorate. "The presidents recognize the serious nature of the Ebola outbreak in their countries," Chan said after the meeting. "They are determined to take extraordinary measures to stop Ebola in their countrie

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Friday to crack down on Central American migrants, including unaccompanied children, who are flooding to the U.S. border with Mexico, as lawmakers passed a $694 million border security bill. The 223-189 vote came one day after conservative Republicans balked at an earlier version of the measure, exposing a deep rift between Tea Party activists and more mainstream Republicans. In passing the retooled bill, the Republican-led House ignored a veto threat from the White House. But with the Senate already on a five-week summer recess, this measure will advance no further at least until September. "We couldn't go home (for recess) and not have a decision," said Representative Kay Granger of Texas, who helped draft the original bill. Granger said the measure would serve as a marker for negotiations in September to resolve the humanitarian crisis that has seen nearly 60,000 children from El Salvador, Honduras and Gua

China suffered its worst industrial accident in a year on Saturday when an explosion killed at least 69 people and injured more than 120 at a factory that makes wheels for U.S. carmakers, including General Motors. The blast in the wealthy eastern province of Jiangsu occurred around 7:30 a.m. in Kunshan city, about an hour's drive from Shanghai, after an explosion ripped through a workshop that polishes wheel hubs. A preliminary investigation suggested the blast at Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Co Ltd. was triggered when a flame was lit in a dust-filled room, the local government said at a news conference, describing the incident as a serious safety breach. State news agency Xinhua said two company representatives had been taken into police custody and that the death toll had risen to 69 by late Saturday. Xinhua quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as demanding a full inquiry into the blast and saying those found responsible must be punished. Survivors with charred skin wer

Israel will go on fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip even after the army completes its core mission of destroying the cross-border tunnels used by Palestinian militants to attack its territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. As Israeli television showed live footage of some tanks withdrawing from Gaza in an apparent winding down of the 25-day campaign, Netanyahu said Hamas would pay an "intolerable price" if it continued to attack Israel. Israel began its air and naval offensive against Gaza on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other guerrillas, later escalating into ground incursions. Shelling exchanges continued earlier on Saturday, pushing the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials up to 1,675, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 63 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian shelling has also killed three civilians in Israel. Netanyahu's comments came as Israel signaled it was taking

Government forces tightened the noose around the main stronghold of pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine on Saturday and, with diplomacy stalled, Moscow and the West stepped up their war of words. The seizure of Krasnogorovka and Staromikhailovka, towns just outside Donetsk, brought the army to the edge of one of the last cities still in rebel hands following its advances in the past month. The other is Luhansk, near the border with Russia. Shelling near the area where a Malaysian airliner was downed last month forced international experts to stop their search for victims at one part of the crash site, but a local ceasefire enabled them to work unhindered at the main part. Working with sniffer dogs, they recovered more human remains and personal belongings for examination, officials said. Diplomatic efforts to end the wider conflict, the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War ended in 1991, show no sign of progress. British Prime Minister David Cameron said

President Barack Obama said on Friday the CIA "tortured some folks" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that the White House had handed over to Congress a report about an investigation into "enhanced interrogation techniques." "We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values," Obama told a White House news conference. Obama's comment was a reaffirmation of his decision to ban the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding shortly after he took office in January 2009. The administration of President George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor, authorized the use of harsh questioning techniques of militant detainees in the wake of the 9/11 attacks after deciding they did not amount to torture. Obama told reporters the techniques were used because the United States was afraid more attacks were imminent. "It's important for us not to feel too sanctimon

Those ubiquitous Angry Birds flew from the mobile screen to the toy store, hooked up with Hollywood, and are headed back to the digital world thanks to the telepod. That is toymaker Hasbro Inc's answer to merging the physical and digital worlds of children's play in what the industry calls "toys-to-life." And like another leading toy company, Walt Disney Co, they are finding fans among the fervent audiences for action and superhero films. Hasbro's Angry Bird telepods were a big attraction last weekend at San Diego's Comic-Con, an annual gathering of 130,000 comic and entertainment enthusiasts, with fans lining up to preview new Transformers-themed bird figurines containing miniscule codes that can be read by tablets. The Angry Birds Transformers telepods, featuring "Autobirds" and "Deceptihogs," is due out on October 15, spinning off the success of Paramount Pictures' June box office hit, "Transformers: Age of Extinction."

Commuter shuttles run by Google Inc, Facebook Inc and other Silicon Valley companies began paying on Friday to make stops at San Francisco bus stations after protests blamed them for gentrification. The private buses, which for years have taken tech workers from San Francisco to their offices in Silicon Valley, have in recent months drawn criticism from groups who say that by catering to well-paid professionals, the buses lead to higher rents in diverse, low-income neighborhoods. Protesters also have said the vehicles get in the way of municipal buses. Under an 18-month pilot program that launched on Friday, the shuttle services will be allowed to use bus stops at over 100 locations throughout the city and in exchange they will pay at least $3.55 each time they pick up or drop off passengers, officials said. The program has not completely quieted protests. A group of about two dozen demonstrators gathered in the Mission District on Friday to express continuing anger at the buses,

Microsoft Corp sued Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Friday, claiming the South Korean smartphone maker refused to make a royalty payment last fall on patent licenses after Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Nokia's handset business. The Microsoft lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, seeks monetary recovery from Samsung but does not publicly disclose the amount in dispute. In a blog post on Friday, Microsoft deputy general counsel David Howard wrote that Microsoft "values and respects our partnership" with Samsung, but differs with Samsung over how to interpret the licensing agreement. "Unfortunately, even partners sometimes disagree," Howard wrote. In a statement, Samsung said it will review the complaint "in detail" and determine an appropriate response. Microsoft is trying to compete in the mobile market with products that run on Google Inc's Android operating system. As part of that landscape, Microsoft has tried to raise th

Microsoft Corp ( id="symbol_MSFT.O_0"> MSFT.O ) sued Samsung Electronics Co Ltd ( id="symbol_005930.KS 005930.KS ) on Friday, claiming the South Korean smartphone maker refused to make a royalty payment last fall on patent licenses after Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Nokia's ( id="symbol_NOK1V.HE NOK1V.HE ) handset business. _1"> The Microsoft lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, seeks monetary recovery from Samsung but does not publicly disclose the amount in dispute. _2"> In a blog post on Friday, Microsoft deputy general counsel David Howard wrote that Microsoft "values and respects our partnership" with Samsung, but differs with Samsung over how to interpret the licensing agreement. "Unfortunately, even partners sometimes disagree," Howard wrote. In a statement, Samsung said it will review the complaint "in detail" and determine an appropriate response. Microsoft is trying to compe

Supporters and opponents of the federal ban on marijuana took to the pages of The New York Times this weekend with full-page color advertisements that highlight the fast-evolving debate in the United States about medical and recreational drug use. The advertisements followed The New York Times' decision last month in a series of editorials to call for repealing the ban, the biggest U.S. newspaper to do so. Opinion polls show a majority of Americans now back the legalization of pot. The ads are also designed to undercut pot's decades-old association with the counterculture and drop-outs by featuring people dressed in everyday working attire. In an ad in Sunday's edition of the paper, Seattle-based Privateer Holdings features its medical marijuana website Leafly.com, which helps users to find pot dispensaries and to choose strains. The ad depicts a woman jogger in Spandex gliding past a brownstone building as a crisply dressed professional man stands atop its steps with

Republicans on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee will soon release a minority report asserting that the CIA's use of harsh interrogation techniques helped bring down Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, the panel's top Republican said Sunday. "Information gleaned from these interrogations was in fact used to interrupt and disrupt terrorist plots, including some information that took down bin Laden," Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss said on CBS's "Face the Nation." The Senate Intelligence Committee reports will come five years after it authorized a probe into the use of possible torture by the Central Intelligence Agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Democrats' majority report is expected to allege that the CIA's use of techniques, such as waterboarding, did not help yield valuable intelligence and was not necessary. It is unclear when the report will be released because committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein has said she may chal

"Guardians of the Galaxy," Walt Disney Co's offbeat space adventure featuring extraterrestrial misfits and a talking raccoon, made $94 million in ticket sales this weekend, setting a record for an August film opening. The film's strong beginning, however, isn't likely to jumpstart a lackluster summer box office season. The 3D movie, which stars lesser-known characters in Disney's Marvel comic book universe, added $66.4 million from international markets, for a global debut of $160.4 million, Disney said on Sunday. "Guardians" outgunned last weekend's leader, the science-fiction thriller "Lucy" that collected another $18.3 million in sales at domestic theaters, according to estimates from Rentrak. "Lucy" stars Scarlett Johansson as a woman with a super-powered brain. "Get On Up," a biography of the soul singer James Brown, was third with $14 million in its first weekend in theaters. "Guardians" stars

French telecoms firm Iliad will be hard-pressed to meet its goal of generating $2 billion in additional annual operating profit at T-Mobile US Inc by cutting costs and slashing prices if its takeover bid is accepted, analysts said. Iliad, which in recent years has shaken up the French mobile market with cheap subscriber plans, bid $15 billion last week for a 56.6 percent stake in T-Mobile, the No. 4 U.S. mobile operator. The Paris-based company, majority owned by billionaire founder Xavier Niel, said a merger would result in $10 billion in synergies and an additional $2 billion in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). It would hit those targets by running T-Mobile, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, in an "Iliad-like" way, sources familiar with the takeover bid told Reuters. Even if successful in its takeover bid, Iliad faces significant obstacles in reaching those cost savings and negotiating better deals with U.S. cellul

French telecoms firm Iliad will be hard-pressed to meet its goal of generating $2 billion in additional annual operating profit at T-Mobile US Inc by cutting costs and slashing prices if its takeover bid is accepted, analysts said. Iliad, which in recent years has shaken up the French mobile market with cheap subscriber plans, bid $15 billion last week for a 56.6 percent stake in T-Mobile, the No. 4 U.S. mobile operator. The Paris-based company, majority owned by billionaire founder Xavier Niel, said a merger would result in $10 billion in synergies and an additional $2 billion in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). It would hit those targets by running T-Mobile, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, in an "Iliad-like" way, sources familiar with the takeover bid told Reuters. Even if successful in its takeover bid, Iliad faces significant obstacles in reaching those cost savings and negotiating better deals with U.S. cellula

The gloves that boxing legend Muhammad Ali wore in his legendary 1971 fight against Joe Frazier in what became known as the Fight of the Century will come up for auction on Thursday and are expected to fetch more than $300,000. The auction is being run by Texas-based Heritage Auctions at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland. Heritage previously auctioned a set of gloves Ali wore to claim his first World Championship in 1964 for $836,500. The Fight of the Century, in New York's Madison Square Garden, was the first of three fights between Ali and Frazier during the 1970s. In 1971, Frazier officially held the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World. Ali had been stripped of the title he had held since the 1964 bout against Sonny Liston because of his refusal to participate in the Vietnam War-era draft. The March 8 fight against Frazier was Ali's second after returning to the ring following a 3-1/2 year absence. Ali's conviction had just been overturn

Mountain bikers tempted by the $1 million in prize money up for grabs in a new South African endurance race are given a warning before they sign up: "This could change your life, or end it". Teams of two will have to come up with a $10,000 entrance fee to race on Dec. 3 in The Munga - a grueling unassisted 1,000-km (620-mile) ride across South Africa's semi-arid Karoo desert region at the height of summer. But the pair that crosses the finish line first in the southern Cape wine-country hills of Stellenbosch will collect $750,000, dwarfing the sum shared by the winning Tour de France team. The challenge of mountain biking almost non-stop across the desert with barely any food or sleep ranks The Munga among the world's most punishing endurance events. But it is the cash that makes the race stand out. "I've observed in me and guys around me digging deep in extreme races and they were doing that for nothing more than intrinsic motivation and war stories,&

When luxury living quarter The Garden opens next year only a metal strip across the courtyard retracing the Berlin Wall will remind its affluent inhabitants that 25 years ago this was the "death strip" on no man's land separating east and west. Instead of barbed wire and sentries, residents will be greeted by a 24/7 doorman and concierge service - and perhaps eventually, a growing, city-wide pushback against gentrification. On the anniversary of the fall of the Wall in 1989, Berlin is belatedly attracting the kind of wealth normally associated with the capital of a major economic power. A fluke of history means the city has a supply of vacant lots in coveted central locations along the Wall built by East Germany's communists to keep capitalism at bay, though some developers are wary of being too brazenly commercial about this. "Clients, international and German alike, value living on historical ground," said Michael Ries of the property developer Pante

A Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity, then detained after her conviction was quashed, arrived in the United States on Thursday. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim was scheduled on Thursday evening to arrive in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she has relatives, her brother-in-law Gabriel Wani said in a phone interview. "I'm very happy," Wani said as he waited for Ibrahim to arrive at Manchester airport. "I have been waiting for this for a long time." Since leaving Sudan after her sentence and detention triggered international outrage, Ibrahim has been in Rome, where she met with Pope Francis along with her husband and two children. She first touched down in the United States at Philadelphia International Airport, where she briefly met with that city's mayor, Michael Nutter. "It's very clear she is a tremendously strong woman," Nutter told reporters after greeting Ibrahim and giving her family a toy vers

A Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity, then detained after her conviction was quashed, arrived in the United States on Thursday. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim arrived in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she has relatives and where she was greeted by a crowd of people from the local Sudanese immigrant community who sang and handed her bunches of flowers. "I can't describe the feeling," said her husband, Daniel Wani, who had traveled with Ibrahim and their two children from Rome, where the couple had been recovering after Ibrahim's release by the Sudanese government. "We are so tired," Wani told reporters at Manchester airport. "The ordeal is over." Ibrahim smiled and waved to the crowd of about three dozen supporters, but she did not speak publicly. Since leaving Sudan after her sentence and detention triggered international outrage, Ibrahim had been in Rome, where she met with Pope Francis along with he

The gloves that boxing great Muhammad Ali wore in his legendary 1971 fight against Joe Frazier in what became known as the Fight of the Century sold at auction on Thursday for almost $400,000. An anonymous bidder bought the gloves for $388,375 at the auction run by Texas-based Heritage Auctions at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland. Heritage previously auctioned a set of gloves Ali wore to claim his first World Championship in 1964 for $836,500. The Fight of the Century, in New York's Madison Square Garden, was the first of three fights between Ali and Frazier during the 1970s. In 1971, Frazier officially held the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World. Ali had been stripped of the title he had held since the 1964 bout against Sonny Liston because of his refusal to participate in the Vietnam War-era draft. The March 8 fight against Frazier was Ali's second after returning to the ring following a 3-1/2 year absence. Ali's conviction had just bee

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for two monasteries and a church that were demolished during Soviet times to be rebuilt in the Kremlin, the largest overhaul of the site's architectural landscape in nearly a century. Putin has cultivated strong ties with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, adopting more conservative policies and prompting some critics to suggest the line separating state and church has become blurred. At a meeting on Thursday with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and top administrators of the Kremlin site, Putin said his plan would involve tearing down a building used for administrative purposes to restore the site's "historic appearance". Putin gave no indication of the costs of construction. Russia's economy is teetering on the brink of recession and faces reduced access to foreign capital after the West imposed sanctions over Moscow's policies in Ukraine. The Kremlin, a fortified landmark sprawling across

Thousands of women displaced by fighting in Pakistan are struggling to get food and other aid because they lack identity cards and conservative Muslim elders have forbidden them from going to distribution centers. The women are among nearly a million people who registered for aid after the army began an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan, a mountainous region on the Afghan border. The army ordered most civilians to leave before the offensive began in June. Many ended up in Bannu, a small city on the main road out of the semi-autonomous tribal region. No census has been conducted in North Waziristan for years, so no one knows the true scale of the problem. Government figures, however, show almost three-quarters of those seeking aid are women and children. There's plenty of food to go around, with the World Food Program handing out nearly 5,000 tonnes and many other aid groups active. But women face two problems: the lack of identity cards and an edict

Michael Rossato-Bennett initially thought it was the worst job he had ever taken. The filmmaker was flabbergasted when he entered a nursing home on a commission to film a few clips for a website. "I walked into these hallways with hundreds of residents in wheelchairs just sitting on the side of the hallway, and I had felt like I'd entered into Dante's 'Inferno,'" he said. That visit, though, eventually sparked "Alive Inside," an award-winning independent documentary on musical therapy for those suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other neurological ailments. When Rossato-Bennett started filming three years ago he met Henry. The 94-year-old man was crumpled in his wheelchair with his head down, eyes closed and hands clasped. He had been in a nursing home for a decade and couldn't recognize his daughter. But when a nurse put headphones over Henry's ears and played his favorite music, he began to shuffle his feet, move his arms and

Austrian law student Max Schrems appealed to a billion Facebook users around the world on Friday to join a class-action lawsuit against Facebook's alleged violations of its users' privacy, stepping up a years-long data-protection campaign. Schrems, a thorn in Facebook's side who has a case involving the social network pending at the European Court of Justice, has filed a claim at Vienna's commercial court and invited others to join the action at www.fbclaim.com using their Facebook login. Under Austrian law, a group of people may transfer their financial claims to a single person - in this case, Schrems. Legal proceedings are then effectively run as a class action. Schrems is claiming damages of 500 euros ($670) per user for alleged data violations, including aiding the U.S. National Security Agency in running its Prism program, which mined the personal data of users of Facebook and other web services. The 26-year-old is also seeking injunctions under EU data-prot

India's Supreme Court has granted a jailed business tycoon an office, a phone, Internet connection and three secretaries in the Delhi prison that has been his home for five months so he can sell two of his company's iconic hotels to help pay bail. Subrata Roy, head of the Sahara conglomerate, was jailed on March 4 for failing to appear in court in a legal battle with India's capital market's watchdog. He needs to raise 100 billion rupees ($1.6 billion) to have a chance of release. The Supreme Court gave him 10 working days from Monday to accomplish the sale of the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and the Plaza Hotel in New York. So he can negotiate with potential bidders, Roy will get a conference room inside the jail complex, a mobile phone, laptop and desktop computers, Internet access and video conferencing facilities, as long as he pays for them. Three of his company's secretaries will be allowed to join him to assist with the sale, the court said. "T

A hospital in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand is to open a wine bar where terminally ill patients will be able to enjoy a "medically-supervised" glass or two with their families. _0"> "Why should we refuse the charms of the soil to those at the end of their lives? Nothing justifies such an prohibition," the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital Center said in statement. The center's head, Dr. Virginie Guastella, said terminally ill patients had the right to "enjoy themselves". The bar will be the first in France to offer such a facility for patients and their families. Staff will be specially trained before it opens in the hospital's palliative care center in September. "Medically supervised tastings will help brighten what is often a difficult daily life," the hospital said. Although some researchers have long held that an antioxidant found in red wine is good for the heart, some recent research has determined that wine

Large flesh-eating dinosaurs evolved into small flying birds, but it did not happen overnight. An international team of scientists on Thursday described an extraordinary evolutionary process that unfolded over a period of 50 million years in which a lineage of carnivorous dinosaurs shrank steadily and acquired numerous traits that led to the first appearance of birds. The researchers, using techniques developed by molecular biologists to reconstruct virus evolution, examined 1,500 anatomical traits in 120 different dinosaurs from the theropod group. These bipedal meat-eaters included giants like Tyrannosaurus rex and Giganotosaurus as well as the lineage that produced birds. "Our study measured the rate of evolution of different groups of theropod dinosaurs," said lead researcher Michael Lee, a paleontologist at the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum. "The fastest-evolving group also happened to be ancestral to birds. So, ultimately, the most ad

A museum celebrating 10 days in 1927 that helped introduce the mountain music of Appalachia to mainstream America opened in Virginia on Friday. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum tells the story of record producer Ralph Peer, who offered $50 to "hillbilly" musicians willing to come to a makeshift studio in Bristol, Tennessee, and play into his modern microphone.   The result, which launched the careers of such luminaries as Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, was dubbed by music historian Nolan Porterfield as "the Big Bang of country music" and hailed by Johnny Cash as the genre's most important moment. The session featured 19 acts recording 76 songs for the first time, including Rodgers' "Sleep Baby Sleep" and the Carters' "Single Girl, Married Girl." The museum's exhibits trace the origins of hillbilly music through the fields, the train tracks and the churches of the Appalachian Mountains. Most of the story is to

Summer jobs: The very mention brings up memories of low pay, long hours and sweaty, clueless teenagers who don't really know what they're doing. Memories like that are still vivid for some of the nation's greatest achievers. Since last August, Reuters has been gathering the first-job stories of successful Americans, including sports legends, business titans and media superstars. This month, to coincide with the nation's monthly jobs report, we spoke to a few of them about those memorable summer jobs that got them started. JASON MRAZ, SINGER AND SONGWRITER First summer job: Fence builder "My dad was a fence contractor in Mechanicsville, Virginia, so my first paying gig was building fences. It involved a lot of digging holes, cleaning up construction sites and distributing lumber. It was for $5 an hour, which, at the time, was more than minimum wage." "It was hard manual labor, and I certainly would rather have been at the pool with my friends r