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Holding Hands to Reduce Stress The couples were told that the study was about holding hands — and that mild electric shocks would be involved. The wives wore electrodes on their ankles and watched screens that warned them when a shock was coming or assured them that they weren’t due …

WASHINGTON – Researchers are finding that the fibers that form blood clots are tougher and more elastic than they suspected. And doctors say this discovery could lead to better treatments for heart attacks and strokes. The research findings are in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Science. They say the fibers …

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Pluto, beloved by some as a cosmic underdog, but scorned by astronomers who considered it too dinky and distant, was unceremoniously stripped of its status as a planet Thursday. The International Astronomical Union, dramatically reversing course just a week after floating the idea of reaffirming Pluto’s …

NEW YORK – Fred, the Undercover Kitten who gained fame by posing as a would-be patient to help police nab a phony veterinarian, has died, authorities said Friday. The tabby was killed Thursday when he wandered into traffic and was run over by a car, according to the Brooklyn District …

JERUSALEM – Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin said Sunday he believes an Israeli soldier who was captured three weeks ago by militants from the Gaza Strip is alive, an official said. Diskin made the comment during a closed meeting of Cabinet officials in Jerusalem, said one of the officials …

WASHINGTON – Insurance companies can’t promise full coverage for property damage from a terror attack without federal help, industry leaders told a House panel Tuesday. But nearly five years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, lawmakers warned the industry that Congress cannot remain a last-resort insurer for terrorism-related losses. At …

NEW YORK – Samsung Electronics Co. moved Thursday to address image-quality concerns noted by some reviewers of its high-definition Blu-ray disc player, the first on the market, saying it would make production changes. A review in this month’s issue of Sound & Vision magazine noted that movies played back on …

VIENNA, Austria – A senior Iranian envoy abruptly announced Wednesday that last-ditch talks on his country’s disputed nuclear program were postponed, moving Tehran a step closer to U.N. sanctions after it defied a deadline to freeze uranium enrichment. The talks had been tentatively set for Wednesday in Vienna as a …

RALEIGH, N.C. – A high school Spanish teacher has resigned because of an extra-credit assignment he gave that included anti-American phrases and defended the Palestinian group Hamas. Khalid Chahhou resigned from Smithfield-Selma High School last week after students alerted school officials about a word-search puzzle he assigned that contained phrases …

VIENNA, Austria – The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Thursday that his agency’s Syria probe has been hampered because key satellite images of an alleged nuclear reactor bombed by Israel are inexplicably unavailable on the market. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei did not point any fingers in the …