Odisha gang-rape rape victim dies

BHUBANESWAR: A minor girl, who was gang-raped in Odisha's Rayagada town about a week ago, died at a private hospital at Visakhapatanam on Tuesday. "The girl passed away at about 3.45pm on Tuesday in a private hospital at Visakhapatanam," Rayagada district collector SS Padhi told over phone. The 16-year-old orphan, unable to bear the ignominy, had tried to immolate herself and had suffered over 80...

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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...

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Armstrong Admits Doping in Tour, Sources Say

Lance Armstrong today admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he used performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, sources told ABC News.A government source tells ABC News that Armstrong is now talking with authorities about paying back some of the US Postal Service money from sponsoring his team. He is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up...

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Decision on immunity for U.S. troops in Afghanistan by year-end: Karzai

KABUL (Reuters) - A decision on immunity for U.S. troops staying in Afghanistan after the 2014 planned withdrawal will be made by the end of the year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Monday. "The issue of immunity is under discussion (and) it is going to take eight to nine months before we reach agreement," Karzai told a news conference in the capital, Kabul, after returning from...

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Brunei to seek South China Sea code of conduct

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei: Brunei will pursue a binding code of conduct among competing South China Sea claimants as a top priority during its ASEAN chairmanship, officials said Monday.The tiny, oil-rich sultanate has assumed the chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for 2013 at a time when tension over sweeping Chinese claims to the sea have rattled the...

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Martyr Hemraj's family calls off fast after UP CM Akhilesh Yadav's visit

KHAIRAIR: Martyred soldier Hemraj's family ended their six-day-old fast on Monday after the visit of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.According to TV reports, the martyr's wife and mother agreed to end the fast after a meeting with Akhilesh.UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav met the family and promised to fulfill their demands. "We have already given Rs 25 lakh... Money is not a big thing...

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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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Gun Control to Crowd Obama's Second Term

Jan 14, 2013 6:00am (Win McNamee/Getty Images)WASHINGTON — President Obama is putting his chips on guns.It wasn’t an issue he campaigned on — actually, it was almost the opposite of that. It did more to grab him than he did to grab it.But a month after the unfathomable tragedy at Sandy Hook, the president has positioned himself to take on a fight with long odds as...

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France bombs Mali rebels, African states ready troops

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - French aircraft pounded Islamist rebels in Mali for a second day on Saturday and neighboring West African states sped up their plans to deploy troops in an international campaign to prevent groups linked to al Qaeda expanding their power base. France, warning that the control of northern Mali by the militants posed a security threat to Europe, intervened dramatically...

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Tens of thousands rally against Ma in Taiwan

TAIPEI: Tens of thousands of slogan-chanting Taiwanese took to Taipei's streets Sunday to protest at the government's economic record in one of the biggest rallies organised by the main opposition in recent years.The march, which stretched for miles, began after Su Tseng-chang, chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, led the crowd in shouting: "People are furious at Ma".Other slogans...

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