France to stay in Mali until stability restored

BAMAKO/DUBAI (Reuters) - France will end its intervention in Mali only once stability has returned to the West African country, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, raising the prospects of a costly, drawn-out operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels. Paris has poured hundreds of soldiers into Mali and carried out air raids since Friday in the northern half of the country,...

Read More..

Thousands commemorate Kurds slain in France

VILLIERS-LE-BEL: Thousands of mourners gathered in the French capital on Tuesday to pay an emotional final tribute to three female Kurdish activists who were shot dead there last week.Coffins containing the bodies of the three women and draped in the Kurdish flag were carried by female pall-bearers into a community centre in the Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel.They were then placed on...

Read More..

Asaram says media twisted his words

ALLAHABAD: Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, in the eye of a storm over his remarks on the Delhi gang-rape victim, on Tuesday said he was quoted out of context and announced a reward of 50 lakh to anyone who could prove that he blamed the victim for the horrific crime. "I have been quoted out of context. The poor girl was young enough to be my own granddaughter," he said. "How can I ever be so insensitive...

Read More..

Risk to all ages: 100 kids die of flu each year

NEW YORK (AP) — Twenty flu-related deaths have been reported in children so far this winter — one of the worst tolls this early in the year since health officials began keeping track.Still, experts say that doesn't mean this year will turn out to be unusually deadly. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, and it's not clear that will happen this year.The deaths have included a 6-year-old...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Lance Armstrong apologises in person to Livestrong staff

AUSTIN: Fallen cycling hero Lance Armstrong personally apologised Monday to staff members of the Livestrong cancer charity ahead of his much anticipated interview with talk show diva Oprah Winfrey."Lance came to the Livestrong Foundation's headquarters today for a private conversation with our staff and offered a sincere and heartfelt apology for the stress they've endured because of him,"...

Read More..

Sangam of 82 lakh devotees for holy dip

SANGAM (Allahabad): Mist envelopes a stretch of sand-bed cordoned off to create an expanse the size of five football fields. Down below, the waters of Sangam appear black under a 4.30am sky. Drenched under sodium vapour lights, the vast area is fenced off for tens of thousands of people with barricades of horizontal wooden beams. The faithful wait breathlessly for the day's royalty, an army of sadhus...

Read More..

Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots

CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal."Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban...

Read More..

Thousands Protest in Moscow Against Adoption Ban

Jan 13, 2013 10:37am KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty ImagesMOSCOW — Thousands of Russians took to the streets on Sunday to protest Russia’s new ban on adoptions to the United States.In what organizers called the “March Against Scoundrels” they paraded down a tree-lined boulevard in central Moscow chanting “Hands off our children” and “Russia will be free.” They also...

Read More..