Luis Suarez apologized Sunday for refusing to shake hands with Patrice Evra while Liverpool criticized its player for the first time in this protracted racism dispute that has tarnished the reputation of one of England's storied clubs.

Suarez, a national player for Uruguay, snubbed Evra before Saturday's Premier League game at Old Trafford. This was the players' first meeting since Suarez was banned for eight matches for racially abusing the Manchester United defender in October.

The Taliban's former defense minister died in a Pakistani jail in 2010, a spokesman for the insurgent group said Monday.

Little had been heard of Obaidullah Akhund since he was arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2007.

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.