Reuters World News Highlights at 1400 GMT, Feb 15

TOP STORIES

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CHELYABINSK, Russia - More than 500 people were injured when a meteorite shot across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to Earth, shattering windows and damaging buildings.

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PRETORIA - South African 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius broke down in tears on Friday after he was charged in court with shooting dead his girlfriend in his Pretoria house.

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CASTELNAUDARY - The president of French meat processor Spanghero promised on Friday to disprove allegations that his firm knowingly sold horsemeat labelled as beef, and accused the government of being too quick to point the finger.

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PARIS - Airbus has dropped lithium-ion batteries of the type that forced the grounding of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and will use traditional nickel-cadmium batteries in its crucially important next passenger jet, the A350.

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BEIJING - North Korea has told its key ally, China, that it is prepared to stage one or even two more nuclear tests this year in an effort to force the United States into diplomatic talks with Pyongyang, said a source with direct knowledge of the message.

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AMMAN - Syria's opposition coalition is ready to negotiate President Bashar al-Assad's exit with any member of his government who has not participated in his military crackdown on the uprising, coalition members said on Friday.

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MOSCOW - G20 officials struggled to find a common form of words on currency manipulation ahead of a summit on Friday at which divisions within the group over growth versus austerity looked set to flare back into life.

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MOBILE, Ala. - Thousands of relieved passengers poured ashore from a stinking cruise ship on Friday after five days adrift in the Gulf of Mexico with overflowing toilets and stench filled cabins.

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SARAJEVO/BELGRADE - Mirsad Tokaca calls it the "crowning achievement" of 10 years of painstaking research - thousands of grey pages bearing the names of 95,940 victims of the Bosnian war, where they died and when.

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NAIROBI - Kenya's High Court on Friday cleared the way for Uhuru Kenyatta to run in next month's presidential election, dismissing arguments that his looming trial on charges of crimes against humanity made him ineligible.

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WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers succeeded on Thursday in delaying a Senate vote on confirming President Barack Obama's choice of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, but another vote was planned for later in the month and Obama said he expected his nominee to be approved.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130215/reuters-world-news-highlights-at-1400-gmt-feb-15