Nation, world briefs 2/4/16

Syria talks take 'temporary pause'

GENEVA -- The peace talks in the Syrian civil war are taking a break. The fighting is not. U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced Wednesday there would be a "temporary pause" in the indirect peace talks between the government and opposition, saying the process will resume Feb. 25. In a statement later in the day, de Mistura's office said talks would take a "recess" by the end of Friday and would resume "no later than 25 February, and possibly much earlier." The delay reflects the rocky start of the talks Monday in which neither the government nor the opposition even acknowledged the negotiations had officially begun. The conflict that began in March 2011 has killed at least 250,000 people, displaced 11 million and given an opening for the Islamic State group to seize large parts of the country.

Texas birth control fell after clinic cuts

AUSTIN, Texas -- A new study finds Texas saw a drop in women obtaining long-acting birth control after Republican leaders booted Planned Parenthood from a state women's health program in 2013, which researchers said may explain an increase in births among poor families. The research examined the effects of Texas severing taxpayer ties with the largest abortion provider in the U.S. The same year Texas barred Planned Parenthood, then-Gov. Rick Perry signed tough abortion restrictions that closed clinics statewide. Researchers said their findings suggest a likely policy link between the exclusion of Planned Parenthood and women obtaining long-acting birth control.

Report: Ethical to test 3 people's embryos

WASHINGTON -- It's ethical to test a new fertility technique that would prevent mothers from passing on rare but devastating diseases by creating embryos from the DNA of three people -- dad, mom and an egg donor -- advisers to the government said Wednesday. But don't expect studies to begin soon. It's not clear such research can overcome political hurdles. At issue is a kind of DNA children can inherit only from their mother: genes that are inside the mitochondria, the energy factories in cells. Britain last year became the first country to approve creation of embryos that swap a mother's defective mitochondrial DNA with healthy genetic material from a donor egg. The Food and Drug Administration has been considering whether to allow that replacement technique to be tested in the U.S.

-- From wire reports