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Sources

NFL And Referees Reach Deal, End Lockout

NFL.COM, AP, REUTERS (USA)

Worldcrunch

After two days of marathon negotiations, the National Football League (NFL) has reached an agreement to end a labor dispute with its regular game referees, ending three weeks of questionable calls that had threatened the integrity of the sport, Reuters reports.

Welcome back regular refs; it's been too long: yhoo.it/PqxvF7 @mikesilver

— Yahoo! Sports NFL (@YahooSports_NFL) September 27, 2012

The agreement hinged on working out pension and retirement benefits for the officials, who are part-time employees of the league.

Replacement referees worked the first three weeks of the 2012 season, triggering a wave of outrage that threatened to disrupt the rest of the season.

Now that the NFL Official's strike is over, the replacement refs can back to their regular jobs in Congress.

— Don Nichols (@TheDairylandDon) September 27, 2012

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told NFL.com that the refs will be back on the field starting Thursday night, for the game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.

After a missed call cost the Green Bay Packers a win on a chaotic final play at Seattle on Monday night, it became clear that a tentative agreement had to be reached to end the lockout that began in June, AP reports.

Thank you, Packers, for being the lambs sacrified to get both sides serious about getting the deal done and then reaching the agreement.

— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) September 27, 2012

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Society

Sleep Divorce: The Benefits For Couples In Having Separate Beds

Sleeping separately is often thought to be the beginning of the end for a loving couple. But studies show that having permanently separate beds — if you have the space and means — can actually reinforce the bonds of a relationship.

Image of a woman sleeping in a bed.

A woman sleeping in her bed.

BUENOS AIRES — Couples, it is assumed, sleep together — and sleeping apart is easily taken as a sign of a relationship gone cold. But several recent studies are suggesting, people sleep better alone and "sleep divorce," as the habit is being termed, can benefit both a couple's health and intimacy.

That is, if you have the space for it...

While sleeping in separate beds is seen as unaffectionate and the end of sex, psychologist María Gabriela Simone told Clarín this "is not a fashion, but to do with being able to feel free, and to respect yourself and your partner."

She says the marriage bed originated "in the matrimonial duty of sharing a bed with the aim of having sex to procreate." That, she adds, gradually settled the idea that people "who love each other sleep together."

Is it an imposition then, or an overwhelming preference? Simone says intimacy is one thing, sleeping another.

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