China has decided to end its 35-year-old policy of restricting couples to one child. Because of China’s aging populace, the ruling Communist Party will now allow families to have two children, expanding upon a limited birth-rate set in 1979 in reaction to booming population growth. The law has been controversial largely for its punishment of couples who violated it, from monetary fines to forced abortions.
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Temperatures in the Middle East may become too hot for human beings by the end of the century, according to a study published yesterday. The results indicate that global warming could cause temperatures so hot, with such high humidity, that even healthy people could not sustain being outside for more than a few hours. It specifically focused on coastal cities from Dubai to Iran.
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu defended the installation of video cameras at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, now home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying that it could help show that Israel is not in fact trying to increase its Jewish presence there. Yet Palestinians have claimed that the video surveillance could be used to spy on Muslims and potentially arrest them. The deal to install them was brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
The number of American adults who say they use marijuana more than doubled over the past 12 years, rising to 9.5 percent in 2013 from 4.1 percent in 2001. The increase occurred just as the general populace began to view marijuana in a more favorable light, and as several states began to legalize possession of small amounts of the drug. Further, more states have begun examining the benefits of medicinal marijuana at a minimum. Many groups and individuals, however, remain steadfast in opposing any efforts to make the gateway drug more accessible to Americans.
Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party put an end to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s nine-year reign in Canada, in a rout led by the 43-year-old son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. According to Canadian Broadcasting Corp. figures, the Liberals won 184 of 338 seats in the House of Commons—a turnaround from the 2011 election, when the party held just 36. “Sunny ways, my friends, sunny ways, this is what positive politics can do,” Trudeau told supporters, following an election season that included ugly anti-Muslim and immigration rhetoric. The former schoolteacher has promised to raise taxes on the rich as well as run deficits for three years to boost government spending.
A federal judge has ruled that immigrant mothers in Texas cannot substitute forms of identification when seeking birth certificates for their U.S.-born children. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman declined late last week to give a preliminary injunction to a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of six children and their immigrant parents, alleging the children were denied birth certificates because their parents could not provide proof of citizenship. The non-profit groups representing the children, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid and the Texas Civil Rights Project, asked the judge to issue an injunction to force the state to accept two forms of identification that mothers could easily provide to obtain birth certificates for their children in the meantime that the lawsuit is decided.
The Justice Department and FBI are investigating the structure of fantasy sports to determine if the business model violates federal law. The move comes after recent controversies involving fantasy sports sites FanDuel and DraftKings, which were accused of rigging their systems to help employees earn big winnings. FBI agents have begun talking to DraftKings customers to ask them about their experiences with the company. The probe is only in its early stages but is part of a larger conversation in the Justice Department about the legality of the sites in general.
A study published yesterday has revealed that American cities including Miami and New Orleans will sink below rising seas regardless of efforts to curb global warming. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that though some cities were beyond helping, extreme carbon cuts and moving to renewable energy could save millions of people who reside in at-risk regions in U.S. coastal areas. According to the authors, Florida has the most number of big cities at risk of sea-level rise while California, Louisiana, New York, and Texas are the next most affected states. New York City is also at risk of becoming unliveable by 2085, the study found.
A New York Times investigation found that 158 families have donated $176 million to the presidential election so far, much of it to Republicans, by giving more than $250,000 each. They, along with about 200 other families who donated more than $100,000, made up more than half of all campaign contributions. The vast majority of these influential donors have self-made fortunes, many of them made through hedge funds. The Times further reports that the neighborhoods these families live in are concentrated, small, and homogenous: practically none of the ultra-wealthy donors' relatives are black.
A Florida school district agreed to pay $600,000 to the families of three high school students who died after being hypnotized by a former principal. The Sarasota County School District board voted to accept the settlement, which brings an end to a years-long case that began after former North Port High School Principal George Kenney admitted he hypnotized a 16-year-old a day before the teen committed suicide in 2011. An investigation uncovered Kenny hypnotized as many as 75 students, staff members, and others from 2006 until the teen’s death. Another 17-year-old committed suicide in 2011 after she was hypnotized, and a 16-year-old died in a car accident after reportedly self-hypnotizing, which was a technique Kenny taught him.
ESPN announced earlier today that it would no longer air sponsored content for DraftKings and FanDuel, two fantasy-sports websites embroiled in an insider trading controversy but would still run ads for the companies. The New York Times reported Monday that a DraftKings employee confessed to inadvertently releasing data before the the third week of National Football League games, a move considered similar to insider trading in the stock market. The midlevel employee managed to win $350,000 at rival site FanDuel that same week. The company said it conducted a thorough investigation and allege that the employee did not have an unfair advantage.
Doctors Without Borders has withdrawn from the northern city of Kunduz in Afghanistan after 19 people at a medical charity clinic were killed yesterday in a U.S. airstrike. The U.S. military has acknowledged that the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) clinic may have been hit while the U.S. was carrying out air strikes. “The strike may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility,” Col. Brian Tribus said in a statement. “This incident is under investigation.” Of the 37 people wounded, 19 were clinic staff. MSF says the clinic was hit a number of times during “sustained bombing” that lasted 30 minutes and was “very badly damaged.” MSF says it has given both sides in the conflict the precise location of the hospital several times over the past few months, including in the past week.
A U.S. senior defense official reported that a U.S.-manned AC-130 gunship “was called in to return fire against a Taliban position that were firing on U.S. Special Forces advising Afghan Special Forces” when the attack began somewhere near the hospital. But the official could not say how close that fighting position was to the hospital or when the United States indeed knew the hospital coordinates beforehand, as MSF said in its statement. Defense officials also could not say how long the attack was. The U.S. military is sending a one-star general to Kunduz to investigate, the official said.
Fearing a run by Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is asking the party's donors and undecided delegates to sign a letter pledging allegiance to her campaign. The letter, which the New York Times obtained earlier this week, asks Democrats to "pledge to support Hillary Rodham Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention with my unpledged delegate vote." Efforts to mobilize Democrats behind Clinton have grown on increasing concerns of Biden's candidacy and in the wake of the controversy surrounding her use of private email while at the State Department. According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, Biden would outperform Clinton in the general election in hypothetical match-ups with top Republican presidential hopefuls.