India gang rape victim dies in Singapore hospital

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian woman whose gang rape in New Delhi triggered violent protests died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, bringing a security lockdown in Delhi and recognition from India's prime minister that social change is needed. The Indian capital braced for a new wave of protests, closing metro stations and banning vehicles from the city centre...

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Japan's PM seeks security ties with Australia, India

TOKYO: Japan's hawkish new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to expand the Japan-US security partnership to Australia and India as it faces a bitter territorial row with China, a newspaper reported Saturday."The Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone," Abe, sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday, said in an interview with the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun."It's good to expand it to...

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Family hopes girl's death will make India safer for women

SINGAPORE: The distraught family of the young gang-rape victim hopes her death will contribute to making India a safer place for woman, an Indian diplomat said on Saturday. Indian high commissioner TCA Raghavan said the family was "deeply affected" by the death of the woman who was brutally raped and tortured in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16 and left to die by a roadside. But the family was...

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Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...

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Gen. 'Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf Dead at 78

H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the retired general credited with leading U.S.-allied forces to a victory in the first Gulf War, died today at age 78.The man who Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today called "one of the great military giants of the 20th century" died in Tampa, Fla., where he lived in retirement, the Associated Press reported."The men and women of the Department of Defense...

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CAR appeals for French help against rebels, Paris balks

BANGUI (Reuters) - The president of the Central African Republic appealed on Thursday for France and the United States to help push back rebels threatening his government and the capital, but Paris said its troops were only ready to protect French nationals. The exchanges came as regional African leaders tried to broker a ceasefire deal and as rebels said they had temporarily halted their...

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Indian gang-rape victim fighting for her life

SINGAPORE: The condition of the Indian gang-rape victim continues to remain in an extremely critical condition.Dr Kelvin Loh, chief executive officer of Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said the patient is still receiving treatment in the intensive care unit.Dr Loh said the medical team's investigations on Thursday showed that in addition to her prior cardiac arrest, the patient had infection...

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Delhi gang-rape case: PM, Sonia say guilty will be punished

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have reiterated that the government is committed to punish the accused in the Delhi gang rape case at the earliest.Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi wished speedy recovery to the 23-year-old girl, who is battling for life in a hospital in Singapore."Our wish is that she recovers and comes back to us... and no time is lost...

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including...

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Okla. Senator Could Prevent Gun Control Changes

If there's one person most likely to keep new gun-control measures from passing Congress swiftly, it's Sen. Tom Coburn.Conservatives revere the Oklahoma Republican for his fiscal hawkishness and regular reports on government waste. But he's also a staunch gun-rights advocate, and he's shown a willingness to obstruct even popular legislation, something in the Senate that a single...

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