The World Health Organization warned Monday that the battle against the age-old scourge of leprosy is not yet over, with more than 5,000 new cases reported yearly in the Western Pacific, where the disease was declared eliminated in 1991.
WHO regional director Shin Young-soo said the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Kiribati are three of 37 countries in the region that have failed to meet the target of lowering cases to less than one per 10,000 people — the health body's definition of leprosy elimination.

It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.
"It" is that pop, strain or suddenly swollen joint that reminds active older adults they aren't as young as they'd like to think.

Winners in selected major categories at Sunday's 54th Annual Grammy Awards:
Album of the Year: "21," Adele

China refused Monday to say if it backs an Arab League call for the U.N. Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria, the latest bid to end the violence that has killed thousands there.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin refused to directly answer repeated questions on whether it would support the league's call. He said China backs the Arab League's "political mediation efforts."

Pope Benedict XVI has called on the Syrian leadership to respond urgently to the "legitimate" demands of its people who have been facing an increasingly bloody crackdown by President Bashar Assad's regime.
Benedict called for all sides, but especially Syria's political leaders, to enter into talks to end the uprising.

Japanese Emperor Akihito will have heart bypass surgery later this month, his palace said Sunday after the 78-year-old monarch was hospitalized for tests over the weekend.
Akihito returned to the palace on Sunday after the tests and has scheduled the surgery for Feb. 18, the Imperial Household Agency said.

The Maldives' new president expanded his Cabinet on Sunday to strengthen the coalition government that has ruled the Indian Ocean nation since the former leader's resignation last week sparked a political crisis.
Six members from four political parties were sworn in as ministers in the government led by President Mohammed Waheed Hassan.

Netflix pressed the rewind button on its fourth-quarter earnings after settling allegations that the video subscription service violated a consumer-privacy law.
Accounting for the $9 million settlement resulted in a 14 percent decrease in the fourth-quarter net income that Netflix Inc. reported Jan. 25.

A request for an injunction to stop Twitter users from alerting drivers to police roadblocks, radar traps and drunk-driving checkpoints could make Brazil the first country to take Twitter up on its plan to censor content at governments' requests.
Twitter unveiled plans last month that would allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.

Tommy Hilfiger told the story of a young cadet's military and sport lifestyle in his fall men's collection that debuted Friday during New York Fashion Week.
"It is an academy look that is sophisticated, modern, a touch rebellious but buttoned up," he said. The show's notes called the line "a personalized take on military precision."
