Gene linked to some cases of Lou Gehrig’s disease found

Researchers announced this week that they’ve found a new gene, ALS6, which is responsible for about 5 percent of hereditary Lou Gehrig’s cases. It’s being called a “momentous discovery” by the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Massachusetts and Kings College in London found the mutation by doing detailed sequencing of the genes in several families with an inherited form of ALS.

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Bangladesh: Body search continues amid retaliation fears

Relief teams dug through rose gardens at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles Sunday, looking for more than 70 army officers still missing — and presumed killed — after a deadly uprising by paramilitary forces last week. By late Saturday night, 72 bodies had been found floating in a river or in three mass graves inside the compound of the Rifles, or BDR, in the capital city, Dhaka, the Home Ministry said. Fifty of the dead were confirmed to be army officers, shot or stabbed to death

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Reports: Bangladeshi death toll rises amid search for mutineers

Army convoys are combing areas around the Bangladeshi border guard headquarters, vowing to punish participants in this week’s bloody mutiny, which killed nearly 100 army officers and civilians, according to The New Nation newspaper.

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Elie Wiesel says he can’t forgive Bernie Madoff

Elie Wiesel, the Nazi concentration camp survivor who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, showed little inclination this week to make peace with accused swindler Bernie Madoff, whom he called "one of the greatest scoundrels, thieves, liars, criminals." “Could I forgive him No,” the 80-year-old told a panel assembled Thursday by Conde Nast’s Portfolio Magazine at New York’s 21 Club to discuss Madoff, whose alleged victims included Wiesel and his foundation, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. “To forgive, first of all, would mean that he would come on his knees and ask for forgiveness,” the Auschwitz survivor said

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Focus on the Family Head Dobson Resigns

— Conservative evangelical leader James Dobson has resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family but will continue to play a prominent role at the organization he founded more than three decades ago, The Associated Press has learned. Dobson notified the board of his decision Wednesday, and the 950 employees of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based ministry were informed Friday morning at a monthly worship service, said Jim Daly, the group’s president and chief executive officer. Dobson, 72, will continue to host Focus on the Family’s flagship radio program, write a monthly newsletter and speak out on moral issues, Daly said

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Young ‘Slumdog’ stars back in Mumbai slums

On Sunday night, Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Ali were in Hollywood, California, getting celebrity treatment as eight Oscars were awarded to the movie they starred in, "Slumdog Millionaire." Thursday night, the two children were sleeping at home in Mumbai, India. Azharuddin sleeps under a plastic sheet in a shantytown beside a railway track, where the smell of urine and cow dung lingers in the air.

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