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2 Million More Americans Without Health Insurance
2019-09-10 19:07:40 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The share of Americans without health insurance rose for the first time in a decade last year and U.S. household income barely rose, according to a government report on Tuesday that laid bare issues that could become central to the U.S. presidential election next year. About 27.5 million residents, or 8.5% of people, did not have health insurance in 2018, an almost 2 million increase from the year before when 7.9% of people lacked coverage, the Census bureau said. It was the first year-to-year increase in the percentage of uninsured people since the Great Recession. The Trump administration has taken a series o...
Hurricane Dorian Shows We Are Losing the Fight Against Global Warming
2019-09-01 22:29:33 UTC
As Hurricane Dorian churns its way through the Atlantic, we need to recognize that climate change can make any hurricane more intense and Category 5 hurricanes more likely. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, release carbon dioxide and methane into Earth’s atmosphere. These gases trap heat, which means that globally, both air temperatures as well as water temperatures have increased and are continuing to increase. Warmer air leads to more evaporation, which in turn leads to more precipitation. Then the warmer water provides more fuel for the hurricanes. Water has very high heat capacity, which means it’s ...
Scientists Find Micro Plastic in Arctic Ice
2019-08-14 23:33:28 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - Tiny pieces of plastic have been found in ice cores drilled in the Arctic by a U.S.-led team of scientists, underscoring the threat the growing form of pollution poses to marine life in even the remotest waters on the planet. The researchers used a helicopter to land on ice floes and retrieve the samples during an 18-day icebreaker expedition through the Northwest Passage, the hazardous route linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. “We had spent weeks looking out at what looks so much like pristine white sea ice floating out on the ocean,” said Jacob Strock, a graduate student researcher at the University of Rhode...
Ebola Virus: WHO Vaccinates Over 1,300 People in Goma
2019-08-11 16:00:28 UTC
GOMA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said it has vaccinated over 1,300 people who potentially came into contact with the Ebola virus in the Congolese city of Goma, helping contain what many feared would be a rapid spread in an urban center. A year-long Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 1,800, the second biggest toll ever, and efforts to contain the virus have been hobbled by militia violence and some local resistance to outside interference. Goma, a lakeside city of nearly 2 million people on the Rwandan border, has been on high alert over the past week after a gold miner with a larg...
Never-Ending War
2019-07-05 03:58:47 UTC
Jalalabad, Afghanistan (AFP) -- Of all the sad, wrenching things I have seen as a journalist in Afghanistan, Niaz Bibi's house was probably one of the saddest. At the age of 70, Bibi has found herself as the main parent of some 40 kids -- the children of her three sons and three grandsons who had been killed by the Islamic State. Bibi does the best she can, but she is so poor that they all live in conditions not much better than a jail. "Have you seen my father?" some of the children asked me when I came to the house. They didn't know their fathers were dead. They thought they were just away somewhere. They looked at their photos and...
Drowned Man’s Mother Feels a Hole That “Nobody Can Fill”
2019-06-26 18:04:49 UTC
SAN MARTIN, El Salvador (AP) — The mother of a man who drowned alongside his 23-month-old daughter while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas says she feels a hole that “nobody can fill.” Rosa Ramírez says she begged Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez not to leave, and if he had to, to leave young Valeria with her. The two were swept away by the current Sunday near Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas. A photo of the discovery of their bodies shows the girl tucked into Martínez’s shirt for protection and her arm draped over his neck. Ramirez told AP on Wednesday that the image is “tough” and “shocking.” But at the same time ...
Shocking Images of Drowned Father-Daughter Highlights Migrants’ Deadly Journey
2019-06-25 23:57:20 UTC
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The man and his 23-month-old daughter lay face down in shallow water along the bank of the Rio Grande, his black shirt hiked up to his chest with the girl tucked inside. Her arm was draped around his neck suggesting she clung to him in her final moments. The searing photograph of the sad discovery of their bodies on Monday, captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, highlights the perils faced by mostly Central American migrants fleeing violence and poverty and hoping for asylum in the United States. According to Le Duc’s reporting for La Jornada, Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramír...
Japan Eats Whale Despite Environmental Concerns
2019-06-24 04:59:19 UTC
MINAMIBOSO, Japan (Reuters) - Whale cutlets, sliced raw whale, deep-fried whale nuggets, whale bacon and whale jerky feature on the menu at the restaurant Yoko Ichihara runs - and that's just a small sample of the ways Japan eats whale. Though Japan's government maintains that eating whale is a cherished part of its food culture, nationwide consumption didn't really take off until after World War Two and peaked in the early 1960s before falling as other protein sources became cheaply available. A 1986 global whaling moratorium made whale a pricey food that rarely appears on family tables or in ordinary supermarkets, with vendors rely...
California Governor Calls Treatment of Native Americans Genocide
2019-06-19 05:57:07 UTC
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday apologized to Native Americans for violence and other wrongdoings they suffered during the state’s history and called their mistreatment genocide. The Democratic governor, in an executive order, called for the creation of a Truth and Healing Council to produce a report before the end of 2024 on the historical relationship between the state and Native Americans. Newsom delivered the apology during an appearance with tribal leaders at the California Indian Heritage Center near Sacramento, the state capital. “It’s called a genocide, that’s what it was, a genocide,” N...
US Ranks Last in the world for Maternity Leave
2019-06-13 18:25:15 UTC
NEW YORK, 13 June 2019 — Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia and Portugal offer the best family-friendly policies among 31 rich countries with available data, according to a new UNICEF repot. Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, United Kingdom and Ireland rank the lowest. The United States is the only country included in the analysis with no national paid leave policy for mothers or fathers, ranking it the worst for maternity leave. Produced by UNICEF’s Office of Research – The <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/sweden-norway-iceland-and-estonia-rank-highest-family-friendly-policies-oecd-and-eu">report</a> ranks co...
Hunt for Shoppers: Luxury Brands Raising Stakes on Instagram
2019-06-07 16:10:35 UTC
PARIS (Reuters) - Big-spending luxury brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior are splashing out on everything from dance-fuelled fashion shows to teams of advisers as they target social media platforms in the hunt for young shoppers. Without the entry barriers of magazine advertising - where a one page glossy ad can cost tens of thousands of dollars - sites like Instagram, a fashionista favorite, have allowed unknown labels to find an audience with canny or eye-catching campaigns. But big bucks are changing the game as cash rich luxury goods groups like LVMH and Kering hike their social media budgets, giving them vast mea...
US Senators Seek to Block Trump Saudi Arms Sales
2019-06-05 21:52:21 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic U.S. senators said on Wednesday they would introduce legislation to block President Donald Trump’s plan for $8 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without congressional review. Backers said the introduction of the 22 “resolutions of disapproval,” one for each of the 22 arms deals cleared by the Trump administration, was intended to “protect and reaffirm Congress’ role of approving arms sales to foreign governments.” The announcement followed furious rejection in Congress late last month of the administration’s declaration that a growing threat from Ir...
Restaurant Dishes Labeled Gluten-Free Often Are Not
2019-04-02 22:07:57 UTC
For people with celiac disease, even tiny amounts of gluten in foods can cause trouble, and restaurants may be the hardest places to avoid the hidden protein, a U.S. study suggests. More than half of gluten-free pizza and pasta dishes tested in restaurants were positive for the presence of gluten, and overall, about one third of supposedly gluten-free foods had some gluten, researchers report in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. “The long-suspected problem of gluten contamination in restaurant foods that has been reported by patients likely has some truth behind it,” said senior study author Dr. Benjamin Lebwohl, director of ...
Mozambique's Cyclone Survivors Face Cholera
2019-03-27 17:36:23 UTC
BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) - Dozens of fragile patients poured into a clinic in the wrecked Mozambican port city of Beira on Wednesday, as the government said it had confirmed the first five cases of cholera in the wake of deadly Cyclone Idai. Thousands of people were trapped for more than a week in submerged villages without access to clean water after the cyclone smashed into Mozambique on March 14, causing catastrophic flooding. Relief efforts have increasingly focused on containing outbreaks of waterborne and infectious diseases. In Munhava in central Beira, doctors and nurses at a newly set up treatment center said they are tre...
The segregation-era road-trip drama “Green Book” wins best picture at Oscars
2019-02-25 04:57:11 UTC
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The segregation-era road-trip drama “Green Book” was crowned best picture at the Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s top award to a film seen as a feel-good throwback to some but ridiculed as an outdated inversion of “Driving Miss Daisy” by others. In a year where Hollywood could have made history by bestowing best-picture on Netflix (“Roma”) or Marvel (“Black Panther”) for the first time, the motion picture academy instead threw its fullest support behind a traditional interracial buddy tale that proved as popular as it was divisive. But Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” weathered criticism that it was retrograde and ina...
Oscars winners 2019: The full list of winners
2019-02-25 04:32:29 UTC
Los Angeles — Sunday night’s Oscars marked a record-breaking year for recognizing the achievement of black artists. Shattering a record set in 2017, the 91st Academy Awards bestowed trophies to seven black winners in six categories. The following is a list of nominees and the winners: <h3>BEST PICTURE</h3>"Black Panther""BlacKkKlansman""Bohemian Rhapsody""The Favourite""Green Book" *WINNER"Roma""A Star Is Born""Vice"<h3> </h3><h3>ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE</h3>Amy Adams...
Pope Francis declares “all-out battle” against sexual abuse
2019-02-24 16:59:12 UTC
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis ended his conference on the sexual abuse of children by clergy on Sunday by calling for an “all-out battle” against a crime that should be “erased from the face of the earth”. In his closing address to the almost 200 Church leaders he had summoned to Rome, Francis said national guidelines on preventing and punishing abuse would be strengthened and the Church’s definition of minors in cases of possession by clergy of pornography would be raised from the current age of 14. At least two Vatican officials have been convicted in recent years of possessing child pornography. Shortly after the confer...
Golden Globes 2019: The Complete List Of Winners
2019-01-07 07:29:25 UTC
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Complete list of winners at the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards, presented Sunday in Beverly Hills, California, by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association:FILMDrama: “Bohemian Rhapsody”Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, “The Wife”Actor, Drama: Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”Comedy or Musical: “Green Book”Actor, Comedy or Musical: Christian Bale, “Vice”Actress, Comedy or Musical: Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”Actress-Supporting Role: Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk&rdq...
China's Chang'e-4 Probe Touched Down on Far Side of Moon
2019-01-06 05:35:05 UTC
China's Chang'e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday morning. The successful "soft landing" marks a groundbreaking development in space exploration, being the first time that a spacecraft has landed on the side of the moon that faces away from Earth. Chang'e-4, which is named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, entered its planned orbit to allow the landing on Sunday. It landed in the Von Karman crater, which is in the lunar South Pole's Aitken Basin, at about 0226 UTC. Lunar surface explorer Chang'e-4 is set to release a rover to map contours and surface...
China’s Population to Reach 1.442 Billion in 2029
2019-01-06 05:03:07 UTC
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s population is set to reach a peak of 1.442 billion in 2029 and start a long period of “unstoppable” decline in 2030, government scholars said in a research report published on Friday. The world’s most populous country must now draw up policies to try to cope with a declining labor force and a rapidly ageing population, according to the summary of the latest edition of the “Green Book of Population and Labor” published by the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Growth in the working population had now stagnated, the report said, and the rising number of elderly people will have a far-reaching impact o...
Catastrophic Effects of Climate Change
2018-11-25 02:46:14 UTC
(Reuters) - Climate change will cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, hitting everything from health to infrastructure, according to a government report issued on Friday that the White House called inaccurate. The congressionally mandated report, written with the help of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies and departments, outlined the projected impact of global warming on every corner of American society in a dire warning that is at odds with the Trump administration’s pro-fossil-fuels agenda. “With continued growth in emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some economic secto...
Parkinson's may get its start not in brain but in appendix
2018-10-31 21:29:40 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have found a new clue that Parkinson’s disease may get its start not in the brain but in the gut — maybe in the appendix. People who had their appendix removed early in life had a lower risk of getting the tremor-inducing brain disease decades later, researchers reported Wednesday. Why? A peek at surgically removed appendix tissue shows this tiny organ, often considered useless, seems to be a storage depot for an abnormal protein — one that, if it somehow makes its way into the brain, becomes a hallmark of Parkinson’s. The big surprise, according to studies published in the journal Science Translationa...
Hate Crimes in Trump Era
2018-10-29 01:42:06 UTC
The 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, the suspected mad bomber who sent possible explosive devices to Democrat leaders attended repeated campaign rallies for Donald Trump and embraced a range of virulent right-wing fringe causes. He’s a true believer in Trump, according to his social media pages. In another crime, the suspect in the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue expressed hatred of Jews during the rampage and told officers afterward that Jews were committing genocide and that he wanted them all to die, according to charging documents. Trump delivered these lines after the attack: "There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in Amer...
Joachim Ronneberg who thwarted Nazi nuclear plan dies
2018-10-26 00:51:05 UTC
<h2>WWII resistance fighter who thwarted Nazi nuclear plan dies</h2>Joachim Ronneberg who led a daring raid to sabotage Nazi Germany's nuclear weapon ambitions has died at the age of 99. The story of the World War II operation has been retold in books, TV series and a Hollywood film.     <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/wwii-resistance-fighter-who-thwarted-nazi-nuclear-plan-dies/a-45978377#" rel="nofollow"><img itemprop="image" src="https://www.dw.com/im...
European lawmakers vote to ban single-use plastics
2018-10-25 19:15:10 UTC
European lawmakers have approved measures to reduce plastics polluting seas and oceans. A proposed ban targets the top 10 single-use plastic products that litter Europe's beaches. The European Parliament on Wednesday approved measures that could lead to a ban on single-use plastic items, including straws, cotton swabs and disposable plastic plates and cutlery, by 2021. The parliament backed the proposals with a 571-53 majority. <blockquote> In May, the European Commission proposed EU-wide rules to target the top 10 single-use plastic items that litter Europe's beaches or are found in its seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gea...