Washington, Apr 25 : Indian police has dropped the investigation against Slumdog Millionaire star Rubina Ali's father over allegations he attempted to sell his daughter.

The authorities insist that they have failed to find any evidence to back claims that he offered to auction off the nine-year-old for 200,000 pounds.

Rafiq Qureshi was arrested and quizzed by police in Mumbai earlier this week (20Apr09) after British newspaper News of the World broke the news.

Washington  - A pilot flying a small plane violated the tight airspace regulations around Washington, prompting orders to briefly evacuate Congress and parts of the White House, media reports said.

The US Senate adjourned into a quick recess but returned to session minutes later after the all-clear signal was given. MSNBC television reported that the pilot complied with demands to alter course.

Washington, Apr 24: A subset of immune cells could make malaria patients vulnerable towards contracting the severe form of the disease and suffer worse symptoms, according to a new study.

Researchers, led by Monash University immunologist Professor Magdalena Plebanski, found that patients with the severe form of malaria have a specific type of cell in their body, which is absent in people with uncomplicated disease.

This type of cell turns off the immune system and can allow the parasite to grow uncontrollably.

Washington, Apr 24: By using a computer-aided detection (CAD) method, radiologists could identify cancerous lung nodules at an early stage, a new study has claimed.

Performed at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, the study could boost the chances of survival among cancer patients.

“In our study we identified 88 nodules that were not detected at the time of interpretation but visible in retrospect and were subsequently determined to be lung cancers,” said Joseph Jen-Sho Chen, MD, lead author of the study.

Washington, Apr 24: Turning all ear-related theories on their head, scientists have found that the ion channels responsible for hearing aren''t located where scientists previously thought.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have claimed that the age-old model to explain how the inner ear translates vibrations in the air into sounds heard by the brain is wrong.

The discovery by Anthony Ricci, PhD, associate professor of otolaryngology, and colleagues, could have major implications for the prevention and treatment of hearing loss.