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By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of a newly revived federal privacy oversight board pledged on Wednesday to be "as transparent and public as possible" as the board reviews recently exposed U.S. government secret surveillance programs. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which has been largely dormant since 2008, held its first full-fledged meeting on Wednesday after the Senate confirmed David Medine as its chairman last month. The meeting was behind closed doors to review classified information about the vast and controversial Internet and phone monitoring ...

By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc on Wednesday downplayed concerns that its plans to recycle inactive user IDs could leave users exposed to hackers, saying only 7 percent of those IDs are tied to actual Yahoo email accounts. The Internet company, which announced last week it would release user IDs that have been inactive for more than 12 months so that other people can claim them, was pressed to defend the plan after critics warned that hackers who take control of inactive accounts could also assume the identities of the accounts' previous owners. ...

By Piya Sinha-Roy and Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - James Gandolfini, the burly actor best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a conflicted New Jersey mob boss in the acclaimed HBO cable television series "The Sopranos," died on Wednesday while vacationing in Rome, the network said. Gandolfini, 51, who began his career in theatre in New York, making his Broadway debut in a 1992 revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire," died of a possible heart attack, HBO spokeswoman Mara Mikialian told Reuters. ...

By Hamid Shalizi and Lesley Wroughton KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Revived Afghan peace talks hit their first roadblock on Wednesday, a day after they were announced, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would not join U.S. talks with the Taliban and would halt negotiations with Washington on a post-2014 troop pact. The United States and the Taliban had announced on Tuesday that officials from both sides will meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in coming days, in a step forward for a stuttering peace process after 12 years of bloody and costly war between U.S. ...

By Chikako Mogi TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares tracked the overnight drop in U.S. equities after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed market fears that the Fed would begin reducing its stimulus later this year as the economy improved. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 1.2 percent, with Australian shares easing 0.4 percent and South Korean shares opening down 1.3 percent. ...

By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - Eccentric former software pioneer John McAfee is back in the spotlight - lashing out at the anti-virus software that bears his name in a profanity-laced video. McAfee, an American who helped create the anti-virus software industry, generated a media frenzy at the end of last year when he fled his home on a tropical island in Belize, claiming that police in the Central American nation wanted to frame him for murder. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor James Gandolfini, best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a conflicted New Jersey mob boss in the acclaimed HBO cable television series "The Sopranos," has died while vacationing in Rome, the network said on Wednesday. Gandolfini, who was 51, died of a possible heart attack, HBO spokeswoman Mara Mikialian told Reuters. (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

By Alan Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) - Jenson Button could not wait to get out of his mishandling McLaren after a miserable afternoon in Canada and now, less than two weeks later, he is impatient to step back in. British fans preparing for their annual home Grand Prix pilgrimage to Silverstone next week should not get their hopes up, however. Button, the 2009 world champion with Brawn GP, has never stood on the Formula One podium at his home circuit and does not expect to end the jinx this time either in what has been a shocking season for McLaren. ...

By Simon Evans MIAMI (Reuters) - LeBron James, one win away from a second consecutive NBA title, is refusing to let relentless critics shift him from his goal of earning a place as one of the game's greatest. Despite a remarkable 12 months that has included a maiden NBA title with the Miami Heat, leading the U.S. to a second straight Olympic gold medal and winning a fourth league Most Valuable Player award, James still has his critics. ...

By Julian Linden MIAMI (Reuters) - One of the most turbulent championships in National Basketball Association (NBA) history will reach its climax on Thursday when the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs meet in the decisive seventh game of the Finals. Basketball fans in the United States have been whipped into a frenzy of excitement by what has already been a classic series full of wild fluctuations and escalating drama. ...

By Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - A top North Korean diplomat repeated an offer for international talks on his country's disputed nuclear programme during a meeting in China on Wednesday, saying the denuclearisation of the peninsula was the "dying wish" of North Korea's founder. The Beijing trip by First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan comes just days after North Korea offered talks with the United States to ease tension that spiked this year when the North threatened the United States and South Korea with nuclear war. ...

By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - A proposal by Sony Corp's top investor to partially spin off the Japanese company's lucrative entertainment business will be the elephant in the room at an annual shareholders meeting on Thursday. Daniel Loeb, who heads New York-based hedge fund Third Point, will miss the gathering and those attending will not consider his suggestion, sources familiar with the matter said. They gave no reason why Loeb would not attend. ...

By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Days after Kaoru Shimada and other Japanese mothers rallied in Tokyo this year to press for more public daycare, she was shocked to read a local politician's blog blasting their "shameless" demands and asserting kids should be raised at home. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to take steps, including expanding daycare, to help mobilise women power as part of his "Abenomics" plan to end economic stagnation and engineer growth in a country beset by an ageing, shrinking population. ...

Lima, June 20 (IANS) At least 30 people were killed Wednesday when a passenger bus fell off 100 metres into a ravine in Peru's Chanchamayo province, Xinhua reported.

Baghdad, June 20 (IANS) At least four people were killed and 21 wounded in separate incidents of shooting and bomb attacks in Iraq Wednesday, the police said.

Kabul, June 20 (IANS) US Secretary of State John Kerry called up Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a bid to defuse tensions over opening of a Taliban office in Qatar, an Afghan spokesperson said Wednesday.

Kathmandu, June 20 (IANS) Twelve poachers of the one-horned rhinos have been sentenced to a jail term, ranging between 10 -15 years, and fined in Nepal.

Los Angeles, June 20 (IANS) Actress Liv Tyler will be seen on the small screen with Justin Theroux in an adaptation of the 2011 novel "The Leftovers".

Beijing, June 20 (IANS) The first summit between President Xi Jingping and his US counterpart Barack Obama held earlier this month proved very successful, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday.

London, June 20 (IANS) Pop star Rihanna left her fans upset after she reportedly turned up late by two hours for a gig in Birmingham. Her fans are said to have accused her of drugs.

Cardiff, June 19 (IANS) India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said Wednesday that Sri Lanka were a dangerous side and it was not possible to focus only on their two frontline batsmen " Mahela Jayawardene or a Kumar Sangakkara" during the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy slated for Thursday.

Beijing, June 19 (IANS) A series of blasts ripped through a restaurant in China's Shanxi province Wednesday night, killing one person and injuring over 150 others, officials said.

Ljubljana (Slovenia), June 19 (IANS) In probably the first of its kind incident in Slovenia, a woman employee at a kindergarten was shot dead Wednesday by a man who later committed suicide, media reports said. No children were injured in the incident.

Beijing, June 19 (IANS) China and North Korea Wednesday held a "strategic dialogue" on denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula.

Mumbai, June 19 (IANS) Producer-director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who is all set to release his film, "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", based on the life of former athlete Milkha Singh, said that the film was not based on sports and could have been on anybody in an endeavour to show the human spirit.

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday, sought quick relief for stranded people, a party statement said.