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duce the outlines of a deal. After a lengthy meeting with Karzai, the two announced that an agreement had been reached in principle on the major elements of the pact.
• A sweeping document, the pact incorporates the usual Status of Forces Protection Agreement, which the United States signs with every country where its troops are stationed. The document covers everything from customs duties on goods the U.S. imports for its troops and development projects to a promise not to prosecute a U.S. service member for criminal offences in an Afghanistan.
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For Philippine typhoon survivors, search for missing loved ones is a hellish daily routine
• TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) -- John Lajara peers under a slab of crumbled concrete, lifts a sodden white teddy bear then drops it back into the filth. He reaches again into the rubble and pulls out a boot, a treasured find in this typhoon-flattened village. But he's searching for something far more precious -- the body of his brother, Winston.
• For those still looking for loved ones missing since last week's storm, their already torn-apart lives are shot through with a difficult question -- How do you move on when there is no body to bury?
• The search for the missing -- 1,179 by official count -- has become a hellish daily activity for some. In Lajara's seaside village residents estimate that about 50 of the 400 people who lived there were killed. About half of the dead are still missing: mothers, fathers, children and friends.
• "Somehow, part of me is gone," Lajara said as another fruitless expedition in the rubble ended Saturday.
• Lajara has carried out the routine since both he and his brother were swept from their house by Typhoon Haiyan on Nov. 8. And every day has ended so far with no answers on Winston's fate.
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Water a pressing concern for Philippines typhoon survivors, but help on the way
• TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) -- Since the typhoon hit, Danny Estember has been hiking three hours round-trip into the mountains each day to obtain what he can only hope is clean water for his five daughters and two sons.
• The exhausting journey is necessary because safe water is desperately scarce in (Continued on page 24)
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