China tries to end sex-selective abortions

The Chinese government says it will be cracking down on sex-selective abortions for non-medical purposes.

The family planning policy, announced by the Chinese government in a release Monday, is an attempt to put an end to illegal sex-selective abortions and balance the sex ratio in the country where many people highly value male children to preserve bloodlines, Xinhua reported.

The Outline for the Development of Chinese Children (2011-2020) says efforts to "eliminate discrimination against girls" and continue promoting gender balance should be made.

"Using ultrasonic techniques to conduct non-medical sex determination" should be strictly prohibited, it says.

Family planning policies have been implemented in China for about three decades to control the population. Previously, couples in urban areas were only allowed to have one child.

Nowadays, polices have been loosened. Couples in some parts of the country can have two children if both parents are from one-child homes.

Jay-Z calls West his brother

U.S. rapper Jay-Z confirmed rumors claiming he and Kanye West don't always get along, but he insisted he still regards the recording artist as his brother.

Although the pair recently collaborated on the CD "Watch the Throne" and are planning a concert tour to support it, some media reports have said there is tension between the two because of differing visions for their joint project.

The Hollywood Reporter said Jay-Z addressed the buzz during an interview this week with radio station Hot 97 in New York.

"Kanye's my brother," Jay-Z said. "Yes, we get on each other's nerves. That's part of pushing each other. ... People don't like to be pushed. It's annoying. ... So, of course, there are times when we're in the studio, we're yelling, but that's about it."

Missing prosecutor declared dead

A Pennsylvania district attorney who vanished six years ago has been declared legally dead.

The ruling last week on Ray Gricar allows the missing man's daughter to settle his estate but does not end speculation about what happened in April 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday. Gricar, who was 59 at the time, was planning his retirement after 20 years as the elected district attorney in Centre County, a rural region that is home to Penn State.

A few hours after Centre County District Judge David Crine issued his ruling July 25, online speculation began about a man arrested for trespassing in Utah who had refused to identify himself. He has since been determined not to be Gricar.

Gricar told his girlfriend, who shared his home in Bellefonte, he was on a trip in search of antiques in Lewisburg, 50 miles away. His car turned up in a Lewisburg parking lot and his laptop computer was found in the Susquehanna River.

Investigators are split between suicide, homicide and a voluntary disappearance. One defense lawyer suggested to the Inquirer that Gricar is in the federal witness protection program.

Amos Goodall, who represents Gricar's only child, Lara, believes the district attorney is dead.

"I can't believe that he would have spent the last six years causing his family to be in the real purgatory that they have been in," he said. "If he were alive, he would've contacted his family."