Chhattisgarh district loses 6000 girls a year

JASHPUR ( Chhattisgarh): It's a cold, windy morning in Thuthiamba village in the interiors of Jashpur district and Basanti, 20, is clutching her one-year-old son close to her chest for both warmth and comfort. She is ravaged by the thought that the child will grow up never knowing who the father was. Basanti was just 12 when she was taken to New Delhi for domestic work by a woman from a nearby village....

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Experts: Proposed NY gun law might hinder therapy

NEW YORK (AP) — Mental health experts say a new tougher New York state gun control law might interfere with treatment of potentially dangerous people and even discourage them from seeking help.The law would require therapists, doctors, nurses and social workers to tell government authorities if they believe a patient is likely to harm himself or others. That could lead to revoking the patient's gun...

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Secret Revealed: Facebook Announces New Tool

How you search Facebook is about to change. In fact, just the act of searching Facebook is probably about to start.Facebook is trying to give Google a run for its money, with a new product called "Graph Search." It turns some of the personal information people have shared on Facebook into a powerful searchable database.For the social network's 170 million users in the U.S., it's...

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Mali Islamists counter attack, promise France long war

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels launched a counteroffensive in Mali on Monday after four days of French air strikes on their northern strongholds, seizing the central town of Diabaly and promising to drag France into a brutal Afghanistan-style war. France, which has poured hundreds of troops into the capital Bamako in recent days, carried out more air strikes...

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'Very happy' Bush the elder leaves hospital

WASHINGTON: Former US president George H.W. Bush was released from hospital on Monday following more than two months of treatment for bronchitis, a bacterial infection and a persistent cough."Mr Bush has improved to the point that he will not need any special medication when he goes home, but he will continue physical therapy," said physician Amy Mynderse.Bush, at 88 the oldest surviving...

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Nitin Gadkari to stay BJP boss as hunt for success fails

NEW DELHI: BJP chief Nitin Gadkari is all set to get his second three-year term as the party president, with the BJP leadership and RSS brass settling on his name after a long futile search to find a successor. The party is expected to complete the formalities and make an announcement by end-January, in a decision which guarantees RSS upper hand in the saffron party's matters. However, many feel...

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest...

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Lance Armstrong Apologizes to Livestrong Staff

Lance Armstrong apologized today to the Livestrong staff ahead of his interview with Oprah Winfrey, a foundation official said.The disgraced cyclist gathered with about 100 Livestrong Foundation staffers at their Austin, Texas, headquarters for a meeting that included social workers who deal directly with patients as part of the group's mission to support cancer victims.Armstrong's...

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France bombs Islamist stronghold in north Mali

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - French fighter jets pounded an Islamist rebel stronghold deep in northern Mali on Sunday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country's north. The attack on Gao, the largest city in the desert region controlled by the Islamist alliance, marked a decisive intensification...

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France pounds Islamist strongholds in northern Mali

BAMAKO: French jets pounded the Islamist strongholds of Gao and Kidal in northern Mali on Sunday, forcing insurgents to flee on the third day of a game-changing intervention that has been met with relief by the population and spurred the region into action."Stopping the terrorists -- it's done," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. "Today we started taking care of the terrorists'...

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