WAVERLY, Ohio – Three people have been accused of letting rats bite a 6-week-old girl and chew off her toes at their cluttered Ohio mobile home.
Pike County prosecutor Rob Junk says the baby's toes on one foot were gone when sheriff's deputies went to the home Sunday after receiving an anonymous tip.
The baby is in fair condition at a Columbus hospital.
A married couple and the 18-year-old boyfriend of the baby's mother are charged with felony child endangering. They were in court for an initial hearing Tuesday. They're jailed pending a plea hearing in two weeks.
The prosecutor says they all lived in the mobile home west of Piketon, a village noted for its old uranium enrichment plant.
He says the baby's mother is a juvenile. He won't identify her or say if she'll be charged.

MANILA (AFP) –
Genetic modification may be the only viable way to produce sufficient quantities of rice in the future as drought, climate change and dwindling acreage impact yields, experts said in a new report.

Rice is the staple food of around three billion people and the main challenge facing producers is how to raise yields of the water-dependent crop as 70 percent of the world's food-growing areas turn increasingly parched, said the International Rice Research Institute in its latest quarterly magazine.

Biotechnology, the process of modifying the genes of an organism to produce new products, is becoming an increasingly important tool for the Philippines-based institute as it tackles the impact of climate change, IRRI said in its "Rice Today" publication.

The institute, based in the university town of Los Banos south of Manila, developed many of the high-yielding varieties of rice during the so-called Green Revolution of agricultural breakthroughs in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Former IRRI director-general Nyle Brady said the institute must use biotechnology to "develop rice lines that efficiently utilise plant nutrients, that tolerate adverse conditions such as drought, and that are resistant to insects and diseases" to reduce the need for pesticides.

Brady said he recognised "the political reasons why this is difficult because some countries don't want biotechnology to be used for this purpose.

"But the developing countries need the improved crops much more than we do in the United States," Brady added.

Gurdev Khush, a University of California professor who was a former senior IRRI scientist, agrees "the environment for accepting genetically modified crops is not as good as it should be."

The institute estimates between 15-20 million hectares (about 37-49 million acres) of irrigated rice would be hit by "some degree of water scarcity" by 2025.

Areas growing genetically modified crops rose 9.4 percent from a year earlier to more than 120 million hectares across 25 countries last year, it said.

The concept of health insurance was proposed in 1694 by Hugh the Elder Chamberlen from the Peter Chamberlen family. In the late 19th century, "accident insurance" began to be available, which operated much like modern disability insurance..This payment model continued until the start of the 20th century in some jurisdictions (like California), where all laws regulating health insurance actually referred to disability insurance.

Insurance companies use the term "adverse selection" to describe the tendency for only those who will benefit from insurance to buy it. Specifically when talking about health insurance, unhealthy people are more likely to purchase health insurance because they anticipate large medical bills. On the other side, people who consider themselves to be reasonably healthy may decide that medical insurance is an unnecessary expense; if they see the doctor once a year and it costs $250, that's much better than making monthly insurance payments of $40. (example figures).

Affordable Health Insurance

TAREGNA, India – A total solar eclipse has become visible in some parts of India, bringing near darkness soon after dawn.
But other areas of the country remain under thick cloud cover Wednesday to the disappointment of millions who have gathered outside to watch the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century.
Live television pictures showed the sun completely blotted by the moon in Taregna, a village in eastern India, at 6.24 a.m. (0054 GMT). Scientists say it is the best place to watch the eclipse.
It will move north and east to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China. The total eclipse will last 6 minutes and 39 seconds at its peak. It was visible only in Asia.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
TAREGNA, India (AP) — Scientists, students and nature enthusiasts gathered in open spaces in parts of India Wednesday to watch the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, although heavy cloud cover and overnight rains threatened to spoil the party.
The eclipse began at about 5.30 a.m. (0000gmt) and was seen first in the eastern city of Gauhati, where the moon covered a slice of the sun to start the hour-long phenomenon that will culminate in the total eclipse.
The eclipse — visible only in Asia — will reach its peak in India at about 6:20 a.m. local time (0050 GMT).
It will then move north and east to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China.
The eclipse will be seen for 3 minutes and 48 seconds in the Indian village of Taregna, where scientists say residents will have the clearest view. Thousands of scientists, nature enthusiasts and students gathered in Taregna but when dawn broke the sun was not visible because of thick clouds.
Television networks reported clouds in most parts of India where the eclipse was supposed to be visible.
At its peak it will last 6 minutes and 39 seconds in other parts of Asia. It is the longest such eclipse since July 11, 1991, when a total eclipse lasting 6 minutes, 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America. There will not be a longer eclipse than Wednesday's until 2132.
"The excitement and uniqueness of a total eclipse has inspired us to visit this place. NASA had declared that this place would the best place to watch the celestial event," said Michel Vancaster, an amateur astronomer who traveled from Belgium to witness the eclipse in Taregna.
Public announcements informed the thousands gathered outside in Taregna that the first contact between moon and sun had taken place; they could not see for themselves because clouds obscured the sun after moderate rains hit the village overnight.
Still thousands of people gathered on rooftops and in open spaces. People from surrounding villages began walking toward Taregna as early as 4.00 a.m. (2230 GMT).
Television pictures showed thousands of people gathering in the northern city of Kurukshetra to take a dip in the river there during the eclipse, which devout Hindus believe will cleanse them of their sins.
Scientists set up telescopes and other equipment in Taregna a day in advance to make the most of the window of opportunity provided by the eclipse.
"We are hoping to make some valuable observations on the formation of asteroids around the sun," Pankaj Bhama, a scientist with India's Science Popularization Association of Communicators and Educators, said Tuesday.

A 10-member team of scientists from the premier Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore and the Indian air force plan to fly and film the eclipse, an air force press release said.

But millions across India were shunning the sight and planned to stay indoors, gripped by fearful myths.

Even in regions where the eclipse was not visible, pregnant women were advised to stay indoors in curtained rooms over a belief that the sun's invisible rays would harm the fetus and the baby would be born with disfigurations, birthmarks or a congenital defect.

Krati Jain, a software professional in New Delhi, said she planned to take a day off from work Wednesday to avoid what she called "any ill effects of the eclipse on my baby."

"My mother and aunts have called and told me stay in a darkened room with the curtains closed, lie in bed and chant prayers," said Jain, 24, who is expecting her first child.

In the northern Indian state of Punjab, authorities ordered schools to begin an hour late to prevent children from venturing out and gazing at the sun.

Others saw a business opportunity: one travel agency in India scheduled a charter flight to watch the eclipse by air, with seats facing the sun selling at a premium.

Additional police and paramilitary troops were posted around Patna and Taregna after Maoist rebels called for a strike Wednesday to protest increases in the price of gas and other essentials.

The rebels, who say they are inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, often target police and government workers.

"Adequate numbers of forces have been deployed at Taregna where top scientists and researchers are gathering to view the celestial wonder," said R. Mallar Vizhi, a senior superintendent of police in Patna.

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On the Net:

Eclipses Online: http://www.eclipse.org.uk/

Mr. Eclipse: http://mreclipse.com/