Israeli PM: Military must remain in West Bank

Israel's prime minister declared Tuesday that his country must retain a strategic section of the West Bank under any future peace deal - a position unlikely to win Palestinians over to his reported plan to offer them a temporary state.

In a rare visit to the occupied territory, Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that Israel's security depends on maintaining a military presence in the Jordan Valley - a strip of West Bank land along the border with Jordan. Without troops there, Israel fears militants could smuggle weapons into the West Bank.

"The Jordan Valley is Israel's line of defense," Netanyahu said atop a rocky hilltop overlooking the valley. "There is no alternative. It will remain that way in any future situation and any future deal. The military must remain here along the Jordan border."

Netanyahu has made similar comments in the past. But the location and the timing - just as officials say he is working on a new diplomatic initiative - were notable, signaling that any new plan would fall far short of Palestinian demands.

The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, for a future state. Israel captured all three areas in 1967, then withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Hamas militants overran Gaza two years later.

Scientists make new urethras for 5 boys

Doctors have created urethras using patients' own cells for the first time - another example that scientists may be able to grow replacement body parts one day

"It's not so much science fiction anymore to think we can grow replacement organs," said Patrick Warnke, a tissue engineering expert at Bond University in Australia.

American doctors made the urethras for five boys in Mexico, aged 10 to 14, after they were injured in accidents.

The urethra is a thin tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder; cells from both organs are very similar. Tissue grafts are normally used in such cases, but there's a less than 50 percent success rate.

After removing a postage stamp-sized piece from the boys' bladders, scientists put the cells into a special mixture in a laboratory to speed their growth. They then fashioned a tiny mesh tube out of the same material used for dissolvable stitches in surgeries to act as a scaffold.

Could You Have Diabetes And Not Even Know It?

Almost one third of all people with diabetes don't know they have it. The symptoms seem so harmless, like symptoms of just getting older. This article goes into the different types of diabetes and some of the common symptoms of each to help you understand diabetes a little better.

In this article we'll go over the three main types of diabetes. They are Type 1, Type 2, Gestational diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes

This type of diabetes has also been called insulin-dependent and immune-mediated diabetes. It occurs when your body can't produce insulin. The immune system attacks insulin producing cells in the pancreas. This type of diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes.

Review: `The Informationist' is intense thriller

"The Informationist" (Crown), by Taylor Stevens: Vanessa Monroe - known to her clients as "Michael" or "Monroe" - specializes in extracting valuable information for anyone who can pay for it, from wealthy individuals to heads of state. Monroe has a gift for compiling a thorough dossier in any circumstance, any country, under any regime. She speaks 22 languages (not counting dialects), and her knack for picking up local customs allows her to blend in and manipulate almost any situation to her advantage.

She was born to missionaries in central Africa, and by the age of 14 had taken up with a group of gunrunning mercenaries who taught her to fight. She eventually became as feared as her mentor, but a violent, traumatic experience led her to flee the continent.

So when Richard Burbank, a Texas oil tycoon, hires her to find his daughter who disappeared in Africa four years ago, Monroe is at first reluctant to take the case - she doesn't work missing person cases. But the facts in Emily Burbank's disappearance don't add up, and Monroe finds herself back in a place she didn't think she'd ever see again.

"The Informationist," Taylor Stevens' debut novel, starts out a bit slow, but not sluggish. There's a lot of groundwork to put down and a measured, deliberate buildup to the point at which Monroe is attacked, drugged and led out into the ocean on a boat, where she comes to as she's about to be killed by her abductors.

Egypt court rejects Mubarak appeal of fund seizure

An Egyptian court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his family against a top prosecutor's move to seize funds that could total in the billions of dollars.

The decision clears the way for a criminal investigation and a possible trial of Egypt's ousted leader.

Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11 at the end of 18 days of massive protests demanding his ouster after nearly 30 years in power. He, his wife, two sons and their wives have also been banned from travel abroad.

Judicial officials described the decision in closed court to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

There are no official figures on the funds held by Mubarak and his family but many believe they run into the billions, with much of it held overseas.

The officials said presiding judge Makram Awad rejected a defense request for more time to prepare the defense and decided instead to reject the appeal. The opposition that ousted Mubarak has pushed for a criminal investigation and a possible trial for members or all of the family. Prosecutors' actions suggest that they would be willing to pursue that course of action.