Social Policy
Pro-Assad cleric among 42 killed in Damascus bombing
Mar 21, 2013 23:10 EDT
A suicide bomb attack on a central Damascus mosque has killed 42 people, including Syria's most prominent pro-regime Sunni cleric, wounding dozens of others, the health ministry said.
Key US senator: immigration deal 'very close'
Mar 21, 2013 16:15 EDT
Eight US senators crafting an overhaul of immigration policy are on the verge of finalizing a deal that could bring 11 million undocumented migrants out of the shadows, one of the lawmakers said Thursday.
Tuberculosis in US hits record low
Mar 21, 2013 12:36 EDT
Cases of tuberculosis reached an all-time low in the United States last year, but the disease continued to affect minorities at much higher rates than whites, health authorities said Thursday.
Trouble on the US farm: crops rot, growers seek workers
Mar 21, 2013 02:22 EDT
Here's a mess with no easy fix: American crops going unpicked -- it's backbreaking work Americans won't touch -- and poor migrants in need of work shying from it for fear of being abused.
US immigration deal gains steam on Capitol Hill
Mar 20, 2013 17:04 EDT
Lawmakers from both sides of the US political divide expressed optimism this week about striking a deal on immigration reform in 2013, but a potential pathway to citizenship remains a hurdle.
UN writes to Aquino over Philippines tobacco fair
Mar 19, 2013 12:13 EDT
The United Nations has expressed concern that the Philippines could encourage smoking by hosting one of the world's biggest tobacco trade shows, a health official said Tuesday.
Fake Tahitian prince gets 14 years for Australia fraud
Mar 19, 2013 01:49 EDT
A man who led a playboy lifestyle while claiming to be a Tahitian prince was jailed Tuesday for 14 years for stealing Aus$16 million (US$16.6 million) from an Australian health department.
Spanish healthcare workers protest over cost-control efforts
Mar 17, 2013 10:33 EDT
Hundreds of Spanish doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, many wearing white lab coats, marched in Madrid on Sunday against budget cuts and plans to partly privatise medical services.
China performed 330 mn abortions since 1971: data
Mar 16, 2013 13:35 EDT
Nearly 330 million abortions have been performed in China in the 40 years since it first implemented measures to limit population growth in the world's most populous nation, official data showed.
US organ transplant patient dies of rabies
Mar 15, 2013 10:59 EDT
A person in the northeastern state of Maryland who recently died of rabies was found to have contracted the illness from an organ transplant done over a year ago, US health officials said Friday.
Singapore unlikely source of Gulbis malaria
Mar 15, 2013 09:29 EDT
Singapore health officials said Friday it was "very unlikely" that professional golfer Natalie Gulbis had contracted malaria while in the city-state.
Over quarter of S.African schoolgirls 'HIV positive'
Mar 14, 2013 07:53 EDT
As many as 28 percent of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive, according to figures from the country's health minister reported by local media on Thursday.
Gov't bans NHS gagging contracts
Mar 14, 2013 02:38 EDT
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has banned the insertion of "gagging clauses" in severance contracts for NHS staff, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.
India to hand plots of land to rural poor
Mar 14, 2013 02:29 EDT
India's government is drawing up a major new welfare reform that would hand small plots of land to millions of homeless poor in the countryside, reports said on Thursday.
Homemade alcohol kills 60 in Libya: ministry
Mar 12, 2013 13:36 EDT
Sixty people have died in Libya from drinking homemade alcohol and hundreds more been poisoned, the government said on Monday as authorities in the Muslim state vowed a crackdown on booze trafficking.
Lawmakers to unveil rival budgets amid Obama charm bid
Mar 12, 2013 09:01 EDT
President Barack Obama's Democrats will unveil their first budget in four years this week in the US Senate as House Republicans put forward their own blueprint, but the two are unlikely to be reconciled.
Homemade alcohol kills 51 in Libya: health ministry
Mar 11, 2013 15:44 EDT
More than 50 people have died in Libya since Saturday after drinking cheap homemade alcohol and hundreds were poisoned, the health ministry said on Monday, as the authorities in the Muslim country vowed a crackdown on booze trafficking.
US Democrats to unveil first budget in four years
Mar 11, 2013 14:29 EDT
President Barack Obama's Democrats will unveil their first budget in four years this week in the US Senate, while House Republicans will put forward their own blueprint. But the two are unlikely to be reconciled.
Homemade alcohol kills 38 in Libya
Mar 11, 2013 11:51 EDT
Thirty-eight people have died in Tripoli since Saturday after drinking homemade alcohol, with another 378 suffering from alcohol poisoning, the Libyan health ministry said on Monday.
Homemade alcohol kills 38 in Libya: health ministry
Mar 11, 2013 11:22 EDT
Thirty-eight people have died in Tripoli since Saturday after drinking homemade alcohol, with another 378 suffering from alcohol poisoning, the Libyan health ministry said on Monday.
