Month: February 2013

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Malians in the country's vast desert north are scared and in desperate need of aid, traumatized at the hands of Islamist extremists and fearful of ethnic reprisals by government troops, a senior U.N. humanitarian official said on Tuesday. John Ging, director of operations for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said a U.N. appeal for $373 million to fund aid operations in the West African state had so far only received $17 million. …

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Gun control supporter Robin Kelly won the Democratic primary for a Chicago area U.S. House seat on Tuesday, propelled by more than $2 million in television ads highlighting the guns issue bankrolled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Kelly, a former Illinois state representative, said in her victory speech that the vote was a setback for the powerful gun rights lobby, the National Rifle Association. "The voters sent a message that tells the NRA that their days of holding our country hostage are coming to an end. …

CHICAGO (AP) — Advanced breast cancer has increased slightly among young women, a 34-year analysis suggests. The disease is still uncommon among women younger than 40, and the small change has experts scratching their heads about possible reasons.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip. The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. …

(Reuters) – Deep U.S. budget cuts are due to kick in Friday unless Congress acts to stop them, which is unlikely. The $85 billion in across-the-board cuts, mandated by a 2011 deficit reduction law, apply in equal measure to defense and non-defense spending. The do not apply to about 70 percent of the money spent by the U.S. government, which includes Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on government debt. …

(Reuters) – The case of the deeply bronzed New Jersey woman known as "Tan Mom" appears destined to fade away. A grand jury declined to indict her on child endangerment charges, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. Patricia Krentcil was arrested in April 2012 after her then 5-year-old daughter showed up at school with a sunburn and officials accused her of taking the child into a tanning booth. At the time, the blonde mother's chocolate-brown hue testified to many hours spent under the intense ultraviolet light of a tanning bed or out in the sun soaking up rays. …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said alcohol and prescription drug abuse forced him into rehab last year after sessions when he would black out and have no memory of what he had done. "I couldn't predict where I was going to end up at the end of the night," Armstrong, 41, the lead vocalist and songwriter for the California punk rock band told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview. "I'd wake up in a strange house on a couch. I wouldn't remember how. It was a complete blackout," he said, opening up about years of addiction to drink and prescription drugs. …

LITTLE ROCK, AR (Reuters) – Democratic Governor Mike Beebe on Tuesday vetoed a bill to ban most abortions in Arkansas at 20 weeks into pregnancy, though state lawmakers can override his decision with a simple majority vote. The measure, which had been approved by an 80 to 10 vote in the state House and by a 25 to 7 vote in the state Senate, would provide exceptions only in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother’s life. It is one of several bills introduced by Republicans this year seeking to restrict abortion. …