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Banning circumcision will become a ballot measure in San Francisco’s November elections. If the bill passes, parents who circumcise their children could face one year in jail or a $1,000 fine. Proponents of the proposed bill liken male circumcision to female genital mutilation. They claim the practice is dangerous and extremely painful—despite a lack of...
In a study of more than 4,500 Mormons in Utah, researchers examined behaviors that were associated with lower risk of coronary artery disease—heart disease. After accounting for other factors (smoking, alcohol use, coffee, and tea ingestion), researchers discovered that those who fasted routinely (without food or drink) were at lower risk for heart disease than...
According to an Oxfam spokesperson, “All the signs are that the number of people going hungry [worldwide] is going up… By 2050 demand for food will rise 70 percent yet our capacity to increase food production is declining.”
April witnessed tornados wreaking havoc in Alabama and the Carolinas. On Sunday night, May 22, a major tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri. The 200-mile-per-hour winds destroyed an estimated 2,000 buildings. More than 125 people lost their lives and more than 230 people are still reported missing (Wall Street Journal Online, May 26, 2011). The Joplin...
The EU’s high court has ruled that homosexuals living in “civil partnerships” must experience the same pension rights as those living in heterosexual marriages (euobserver.com, May 10, 2011). When the French Secretary of State for Health commented that homosexuals are a “high risk group” for HIV/AIDS, her statistically accurate comments resulted in calls for...
Queen Elizabeth II recently made the first visit to Ireland by a reigning British monarch in 100 years. Also, and in a highly unusual move, the Queen was accompanied by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron.
On May 10, 2011, the 2.3 million member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to allow the ordination of practicing homosexual ministers, removing the requirement that they live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” (CNN.com, “Presbyterian Church U.S.A. to allow gay and lesbian clergy,” May 10, 2011).
A recent article in The Times (of London) read: “The bailouts don’t work but they do allow the EU to build up centralized power at the expense of nation states.” The author continued, “The political motivation for tightening the debt yoke on Greece, Ireland and Portugal is even clearer. By turning these countries into permanent debtors to the ECB [European...
The last couple of weeks have been filled with anticipation and action across Europe. The Finnish parliament voted for a new prime minister, EU finance ministers approved a bailout package, EU leaders discussed the Greek debt situation—Greece is expected to need another bailout in the future—and the International Monetary Fund’s former head—until recently, a...
The UN predicts that by the year 2050, the number of people living in cities will double. However, a recent study warns of an increasing risk for disease outbreaks in cities, “Cities become incubators where all the conditions are met for outbreaks to occur.”