Having a baby in some Alabama hospitals can mean getting tested for drugs without a woman’s consent—and winding up in jail for a positive result. Alabama’s chemical endangerment law, in effect for nine years, spurred an investigation by ProPublica and AL.com into hospital drug-testing policies due to the law’s strict penalties. A woman who tests positive for drugs in a […]
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A black hole when found in the center of the Milky Way would appear to be 10 times brighter than our full moon. Scientists estimate that its light would have formed about 12 billion years ago and would have measured about as big as 20 billion suns. The energy that comes from a black hole is mostly ultraviolet light. Astronomers […]
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A new World Health Organization report shows that 3.3 million people die each year from alcohol use. Here’s a look at annual alcohol intake around the world in liters per person over age 14:
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Britain treats its kids like pests, said Jenny McCarthy. We see them as frequently annoying and sometimes frightening. A recent survey found that nearly half of respondents agreed that children today were “feral” and “like animals.” How many times have we all seen a small child trying to ask her mother a question only to be told to “shut up” […]
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Researchers have found that deep in the Amazon Rain Forest there lived over a million people in an area of 7% of the basin before the Europeans arrived. Satellite images show that undiscovered glyphs are across the Upper Tapajos Basin in Brazil. The Amazon Settlements are between 500 and 750 years old and were previously thought to be pristine wilderness. […]
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Arjona, Colombia Killed at bullfight: Spectators were gored to death and dozens injured at a bullfight in northern Colombia. One man was gored through the heart, while another was tossed on a bull’s horns and then dragged around the ring. It is not uncommon for participants or spectators to be gored to death at bullfights. Unlike Spanish bullfights, in which […]
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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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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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Porn star murder suspect nabbed: The Canadian porn actor suspected of murdering his boyfriend in Montreal, then mailing his severed body parts to Canada’s political parties, was arrested in Germany this week. Luka Magnotta, 29, a gay prostitute, was Googling articles about himself in a Berlin cybercafe when the owner recognized him and called police. Authorities allege that Magnotta filmed […]
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