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  • Afghan leader alleges US, Taliban are colluding

    Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday accused the Taliban and the U.S. of working in concert to convince Afghans that violence will worsen if most foreign troops leave as planned by the end of next year.

    Karzai said two suicide bombings that killed 19 people on Saturday — one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province — show the insurgent group is conducting attacks to help show that international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after their current combat mission ends in 2014.

    "The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed that they are at the service of America and at the service of this phrase: 2014. They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents," he said during a nationally televised speech about the state of Afghan women.

    There was no immediate response from the U.S.-led military coalition, which is gradually handing over responsibility for securing the country to Afghan forces.

    Karzai is known for making incendiary comments in his public speeches, a move that is often attributed to him trying to appeal to those who sympathize with the Taliban or as a way to gain leverage when he feels his international allies are ignoring his country's sovereignty. In previous speeches he has threatened to join the Taliban and called his NATO allies occupiers who want to plunder Afghanistan's resources.

    His latest remarks come as his government is negotiating a pact with the U.S. for the long-term presence of American forces in Afghanistan and just days after an agreement to transfer the U.S. prison outside of Kabul to Afghan authority fell through. His comments also came while U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is making his first visit to Afghanistan since becoming the Pentagon chief.

    Karzai said in his speech that any foreign powers that want to keep troops in Afghanistan need to do so under conditions set forward by Afghanistan.

    "We will tell them where we need them, and under which conditions. They must respect our laws. They must respect the national sovereignty of our country and must respect all our customs," Karzai said.

    Karzai offered no proof of coordination, but said the Taliban and the United States were in "daily negotiations" in various foreign countries and noted that the United States has said that it no longer considers the insurgent group its enemy. The U.S. continues to fight against the Taliban and other militant groups, but has expressed its backing for formal peace talks with the Taliban to find a political resolution to the war.

    Watch Tiger Woods’ golf ball get stuck in a palm tree at the WGC-Cadillac Championship

    It didn't seem there was a single golfer in the field at the WGC-Cadillac Championship that was going to stop Tiger Woods, but a tree? Sure, that could do it.

    On the 17th hole in the third round at Doral, Woods pushed his tee shot right of the fairway, and it looked like it would be fine until the ball never landed on grass. Sure enough the ball got stuck in the top of a palm tree, and lucky for Woods he was able to identify it was his ball, taking a drop by the tree instead of having to go back to the tee to hit his third shot.

    Woods would make bogey, follow it up with a clutch birdie on the 18th hole to keep his four-shot lead over Graeme McDowell. Tiger's record isn't too shabby when leading by three shots or more on the PGA Tour; he's never lost. Take that, palm tree.

    Update: Kurt Stelzer was the man to climb the infamous "Tiger Tree" and snag the golf ball after everyone finished on Saturday.

    Sexist Men Like Big Boobs? Male Attitudes May Predict Breast Size Preference, Says Study

    It seems cliche, but it just might be true. The more sexist a man is, the more likely he is to be into big boobs.

    A recent study from the University of Westminster, published in February in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, showed that men's attitudes toward women influence their attitudes about ideal breast size. The researchers interviewed 361 white, heterosexual men, ranging in age from 18 to 68. (Since ethnicity has been previously shown to impact how individuals perceive breast size, the researchers decided to pull participants from just one self-identified racial category.) Each man was shown five different 3-D models of women, each with a different breast size, and then asked to record which "woman" he found most physically attractive.

    Afterward, the participants were given surveys which measured each man's level of hostility toward women, his attitudes about relationships between men and women, benevolent sexism and how much he objectified women.

    The researchers found that the largest percentage of participants (32.7 percent) rated medium-sized breasts as "most attractive," followed by large (24.4 percent), very large (19.1 percent), small (15.5 percent) and very small (8.3 percent). However, a preference for large and very large breasts was significantly correlated with overt sexism, benevolent sexism, female objectification and hostile attitudes toward women. This connection was strongest when it came to benevolent sexism. In other words, men who tend to idealize "traditional" femininity and perceive women as meek and weak, are also the most likely to prefer big boobs. "It is arguable that benevolently sexist men perceived larger female breasts as attractive because larger breast size on a woman is associated with perceived femininity," wrote the researchers.

    Danielle Fishel 'Maxim' Cover Story: 'Boy Meets World' Actress Shares Bob Saget Coke Story

    Danielle Fishel is the "Maxim" cover girl for April 2013 (check out the full cover and more images below) and the "Boy Meets World" alumna is sharing some strange '90s TV secrets.

    The actress, who likely last appeared on the glossy page of "Teen Beat", talked about her early years as Topanga, a role she'll reprise in Disney's "Girl Meets World" spinoff, and a time the entire T.G.I.F. gang ("Full House" and "Family Matters" folks included) flew together.

    "One time we were all on a private jet going to Disney World, and my mom, dad, and brother were also with me. We had these four seats facing each other with curtains," Fishel explained to Maxim. "We were trying to take a nap, and all of a sudden ['Full House's' Danny Tanner] Bob Saget walks down the aisle, rips open our curtain, and shouts, 'Do you guys have any coke?!' Then he looks my dad in the eye, laughs, and closes the curtain."

    Though Fishel may not be hanging out with Saget on private jets these days, she has been getting together with her "Boy Meets World" co-star Ben Savage, who will also reprise Cory Matthews for "Girl Meets World." "Ben and I call each other hubby and wife," Fishel told EW in February. "Eighteen years of my life I’ve known Ben, and for all of those years he’s been lumped together with me as being my partner in crime, my husband. The same for Ben, he doesn’t go anywhere without people asking about Topanga and I don’t go anywhere without people asking about Cory ... You know we’re very close. We talk very openly. I think we share a lot of similar characteristics to a couple that’s been together for a long time. We know each other so incredibly well and we love each other and it’s just the best."

    Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan Duplicate Admit Card

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    FBI to investigate hate crime reports at Oberlin College

    The FBI has opened an investigation into possible civil rights violations after reports of hate speech at Oberlin College in Ohio, one of the first U.S. schools to integrate black and white students, a school spokesman said on Friday.

    The investigation by the FBI's Cleveland office follows Oberlin's decision to suspend classes and activities for the day on Monday and hold campus-wide discussions after a report that a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan costume was seen near its Afrikan Heritage House residence hall.

    "Based on the college's ongoing conversations with them and the evolution of our investigation, the FBI is initiating an investigation of the bias incidents that have occurred on the campus," Oberlin spokesman Scott Wargo said in an email.

    A school-wide Peace Week had just begun when Oberlin canceled classes for the day.

    School officials said in a letter to parents on Monday that they were investigating incidents of hate speech on campus over the last several weeks, "including racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic defacing of posters that were advertising events and programming."

    The letter to parents also said offensive postings had appeared via untraceable accounts on popular social media sites.

    Wargo said Oberlin was "cooperating closely with the FBI in its investigation."

    FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson said she could not confirm or deny any ongoing investigations because of the agency's policy.

    Man gets back class ring 40 years after losing it

    MyFoxAtlanta.com reports that Richard Hale lost his prized ring in 1972, when he was a recent high school graduate. Hale initially gave the ring to his then-girlfriend and now-wife Betty Ann to wear. "I was scared I was going to lose it," she told MyFoxAtlanta.com. "So I gave it back to him, and he loses it."

    Hale said he accidentally tossed the ring from his car in 1972 and hadn't seen it since. Until now. His brother apparently saw the ring on Facebook and passed on the information to Hale.

    Ellen Ramey had found it all those years ago. She told MyFoxAtlanta.com that she had always hoped to get the ring back to its owner. "My mother had a class ring," Ramey said. "I wore it to school and lost it, and it just stayed in my mind that it was important that these people get their ring back."

    Ramey and Hale connected on Facebook, and now the ring is back with Hale, who puts it on at night when he gets home from work.

    'Ignition (Remix)' White House Petition Demands Obama Change National Anthem To R. Kelly Hit

    R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)" turned 10 recently, and a group of intrepid fans have found quite the way to celebrate the occasion: Change the national anthem of the United States to the timeless party tune.

    That's the notion behind a White House petition filed on the administration's website. Full text and a screenshot of the petition is available below, but essentially the "undersigned" are asking Obama to "recognize the need for a new national anthem, one that even a decade after its creation, is still hot and fresh out the kitchen."

    "Ignition (Remix)" was released on Jan. 22, 2003 and begins with Kels telling the listener that he "doesn't normally do this" before memorably noticing that "it's the freaking weekend" and accordingly "having [him] some fun."

    At the time of this writing, the petition had nearly 2,000 of the 100,000 signatures it needs to reach by its April 2 deadline. If it reaches that number, the White House is semi-technically obligated to respond, though the administration has been known to ignore some that seem to be making a mockery of the system.

    On Monday, a White House official responded to a petition that asked for cell phone unlocking to be legal. The official expressed his support for the idea.

    Previous petitions have included a government-commissioned Death Star and other off-the-wall requests. The administration did respond to the Death Star request, citing fiscal impracticality as among the reasons a Death Star will not be made.

    No Pants For A Year: One Woman Tells Her Pantsless Story

    We all have our own sense of style, which changes and evolves as we get older. One woman told us her tale of the year in which she wore tights as pants.

    Most of my clothes came from thrift stores in high school. I went through a massive growth spurt and felt like a praying mantis and to compensate for all the changes happening to my body, I tried to hide under layers of baggy clothes. As I became more comfortable with my changing shape, and felt more and more inspired by the hard-core rock bands that I was listening to (think T-Rex and The Locust), I started to wear tighter pants.

    At the same time I became more and more aware of my mother's very distinct style and tried to distance myself from what I knew would one day be my sartorial destiny. She wore outfits that included gold lamé jackets and baggy leather pants, and the woman was not afraid of shoulder pads. I knew I would one day dress just like her, but for as long as I could avoid it, I would do so by dressing the exact opposite.

    My style became even more extreme when I went to college at McGill University in Canada. I felt liberated and accepted and very much inspired by the people surrounding me. My neighbors were a DJ and a MAC makeup artist, and their influence rubbed off on me. Eventually, through alcohol and confidence, I stopped wearing pants.

    At first it started with transparent crinoline skirts that looked like '80s prom castoffs. The grunge aesthetic was still alive and Courtney Love was an inspiration. Then I stopped wearing the skirts and was only wearing tights, paired with a skeleton shirt. I was the epitome of the gothic punk aesthetic.

    In some way, not wearing pants allowed me to push the boundaries of what was sexual. My style was sexualized but in a way that was on my terms. There are so many ways in which our culture directs us to be sexy or sexual, and this was a way that I could own it and feel very comfortable with it. I was never the bubble-gum cheerleader girl, but this was sexy to me. This was not a look that would appeal to the typical audience, but that was never who my style was aimed at.

    Kate Middleton Baby Girl? Pregnant Royal Reportedly Hints At Sex Of Child

    Kate Middleton may have let the sex of her unborn child slip today as she greeted well-wishers in Grimsby, England. As the Telegraph reports, the duchess was chit-chatting with fans when one woman handed her a teddy bear. Kate reportedly replied, "Thank you, I’ll take that for my d..." then stopped herself.

    According to Us Weekly, another bystander asked her if she had meant to say "daughter," to which the royal replied, "We're not telling." Not telling or don't know? Because another bystander heard her say, "No, we don't know." The plot thickens...

    Either way, this is exciting because we can finally start envisioning how amazing it would be if Kate and Will had a girl. No offense to baby boys, but think of the fashion potential!

    In addition to inheriting a great sense of style, Catherine's baby girl would also inherit the throne. This year, the British parliament moved forward with legislation to end the principle of male primogeniture, so that Kate and William's first child regardless of gender. Yes, Kate's first born might one day become queen.

    But we probably won't know the baby's sex for a while. The British royal family's longstanding tradition is to not announce the sex of the baby until after the birth. Instead, a note is put on the gates of Buckingham Palace that announced the child's arrival, thus revealing the details to the world.

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