Facing health rumors, Putin says life is 'boring without gossip'

STRELNA, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on suggestions that he had been forced to lie low because of ill health, said that life without rumors would be boring. "It would be boring without gossip," Putin said in his first public appearance since March 5. (Reporting by Denis Dyomkin; Writing by Lidia Kelly, editing by Elizabeth Piper)