Taro Aso, Japanese Finance Minister and former Prime Minister, bemoaning the financial burden that caring for the elderly in their final years places on the country’s budget. Over a quarter of Japan’s 128 million people are above the age of 60—including Aso, who is 72.
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Valletta, Malta Traffickers drown refugees: As many as 500 people, including scores of children, drowned off the coast of Malta when human traffickers rammed one of their boats. The traffickers had taken the group—which included Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians, and Sudanese—by boat from Egypt and passed them to increasingly smaller boats during the journey. When the exhausted refugees refused to board […]
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If you’re worried about infertility, don’t try to Google the term with a computer on your lap, says the London Telegraph. A new experiment suggests that radiation from a single Wi-Fi-enabled laptop may be strong enough to cause cell damage in sperm. Argentine researchers took samples of ejaculated semen and left them directly under a computer—simulating holding a laptop directly […]
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Drinking three or more alcoholic beverages per day increases the likelihood of developing liver cancer, but research now suggests that drinking coffee may help offset that risk. In an ongoing analysis of cancer rates, scientists from the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) looked at data from 34 previous studies involving 8 million adults, including 24,600 diagnosed with liver cancer. They […]
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“This is the worst shelter she had ever seen,” Clare Forndran, media director for Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary. More than 250 dogs were squeezed into a space designed for about 70. “Dogs were literally fighting over a loaf of bread,” Forndran said. “There were more rats than dogs.” Eden couldn’t choose which dogs would have a chance at new […]
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Yanshi, China Dead dogs, pigs: Another sudden mass animal die-off has left many Chinese worried about their own health. Scores of pigs and dogs dropped dead overnight in Dongtun village, apparently from poisonous gas emitted from a chemical plant. “All the dogs in the village had basically died off,” one resident said. “Those that hadn’t died were in their last […]
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Paris Leftist murdered: Thousands turned out to protest the killing of an anti-fascism activist by skinheads in Paris last week. Clement Meric, 19, was out shopping with friends when he exchanged words with the skinheads, who beat him to death with brass knuckles. Five suspects under investigation were linked to a far-right movement called the Third Way; the government said […]
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A British fisherman was arrested after stealing a sea bass from an aquarium to win a fishing competition. Matthew Clark, 29, won a trophy and $1,300 in prize money for the 13-pound fish. But rival anglers quickly recognized the bass’s distinctive markings from a local aquarium and reported him to police. Clark confessed and said he sold the prizewinner to […]
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■ O.J. Simpson was caught red-handed trying to steal more than a dozen cookies from a Nevada prison cafeteria, says the National Enquirer. The former gridiron great who is serving 33 years for armed robbery, was walking to his cell after lunch when a guard noticed a bulge in his jumpsuit. “Everyone thought he had smuggled in a cellphone” said […]
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“I am about to do what old people have done throughout history,” said Joel Stein in Time: “Call those younger than me lazy, entitled, selfish, and shallow.” But this time, I have factual proof. The Millennial generation—the 80 million Americans born between 1980 and 2000—is the most self-absorbed one yet, having been shaped by digital technology, overprotective baby boomer parents, […]
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