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Imams, Priests Play Football Match in Bosnia

A football match between Muslim imams and Catholic priests has helped raise funds for a new kindergarten in Bosnia.

More than 4,000 people paid 1 euro ($1.30) to watch the game in the central town of Zenica on Wednesday night, cheering "Bosnia, Bosnia" and celebrating whoever scored.

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Study Finds Mammograms Lead to Unneeded Treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.

Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.

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SpongeBob Christmas Special Goes Stop-Motion

How does "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" squeeze even more fun out of our porous little hero and the Bikini Bottom gang? By turning the animated characters three-dimensional for their holiday special.

In a tribute to classic fare such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," the "SpongeBob SquarePants" crew has been re-imagined as puppets and put through their comedy paces for stop-motion photography.

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Asada, Takahashi Look to Make GP Final on Home Ice

Japanese skaters Mao Asada and Daisuke Takahashi will be aiming to secure berths in the Grand Prix final at this weekend's NHK Trophy, the sixth and final event of the International Skating Union's GP series.

Asada, who won the Cup of China two weeks ago, can wrap up a place in the GP final in Sochi next month with a podium finish here.

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Swim Chief Executive Resigns after Poor Olympics

Swimming Australia says it has accepted the resignation of chief executive Kevin Neil, a move which follows the national team's poor performance at the London Olympics.

Neil was due to appear next week at a government inquiry into the sport after Australia failed to win an individual gold medal in the pool for the first time since 1976.

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Madrid, AC Milan into Last 16 of Champions League

Real Madrid and AC Milan, with 16 Champions League titles between them, advanced to the knockout stage on Wednesday, along with Borussia Dortmund and Schalke to make it three out of three teams from Germany.

Nine-time champion Madrid held on for 1-1 at Manchester City with 10 men, eliminating the English Premier League champion in the process. Also in Group D, Dortmund beat Ajax 4-1 to go through as the top team.

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Chelsea Hires Benitez as Interim Manager

Chelsea surprisingly brought Rafael Benitez out of the coaching wilderness on Wednesday, hiring the Spaniard in an interim role after mercilessly firing the man who guided the club to its first Champions League title just six months ago.

Benitez agreed to a contract with the European champions until the end of the season, nearly two years after being fired by Inter Milan in his last coaching position. He filled the vacancy created by Roberto Di Matteo's sudden departure earlier in the day following the team's dip in form over the past month.

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Lohan Says Return to Red Carpet 'Feels Great'

Lindsay Lohan arrived an hour late to the red carpet to celebrate the premiere of "Liz & Dick" but basked in the media frenzy — saying it felt good to have the focus on her work as an actress.

"It feels great to be on a red carpet for working hard," Lohan said.

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Iran's Leader Stops Lawmakers Grilling President

Iran's supreme leader has stopped the country's parliament from grilling the president over the nation's plummeting currency and economic crisis, the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei demanded that the parliament drop its plan to grill President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying such a session would benefit Iran's enemies.

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Rights Group: Bahrain Fails on Reform Pledge

Bahrain's leaders pushed back against criticism by a leading rights group Wednesday that the Gulf state has failed to follow through with promised political and security reforms in the wake of the kingdom's anti-government uprising.

Authorities cited a series of measures taken since an independent report on the crisis came out last November, including giving more oversight to parliament.

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