Northern California Quake No Way to Know When Next One Will Hit

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocked northern California's Napa Valley on Sunday. Roads twisted and water mains burst. It was the wine country's most severe quake in 15 years, and while hospitals treated many people, no one was killed. This was the scene on Sunday in northern California's Napa Valley. A magnitude 6 earthquake. "The magnitude of the earthquake reflects how much of the earth's crust ruptured. It's ...

WHO Shuts Ebola Lab in Sierra Leone

The World Health Organization has shut one of its Ebola testing labs in Sierra Leone after a staff member there was infected by the virus. The WHO said Tuesday it has withdrawn its staff from the lab in Kailahun - one of only two in Sierra Leone - after a Senegalese epidemiologist was infected with the deadly virus. The move could adversely affect efforts to contain the worst ever outbreak of the disease. Ebola has ...

WHO Calls for Restrictions on Electronic Cigarettes

The World Health Organization is recommending restrictions on the new electronic cigarettes, whose manufacturers tout them as a safer alternative to traditional tobacco smokes. A new WHO report calls the e-cigarettes part of an "evolving frontier filled with promise," but says the new product comes with its own health concerns. It recommends against promoting them to non-smokers and young people, and banning friut and ...

Social Anthropologist Get Tough Measures Wont Work for Ebola

DAKAR- As countries affected by the Ebola outbreak announce tougher measures to check the spread of the disease - including possible jail time for those accused of hiding Ebola patients - public health experts say the "get tough" approach will not work and may just alienate affected communities even more. Senegalese social anthropologist Cheikh Ibrahima Niang said the days he spent in the village of Njala have stuck ...

Old Emmy Favorites Breaking Bad Modern Family Top Newcomers

LOS ANGELES- AMC's gritty drug drama "Breaking Bad" was honored at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday as the top drama series on U.S. television for the second consecutive year, and picked up three top acting awards. The series about schoolteacher Walter White, who begins making and selling methamphetamines to care for his family after a terminal cancer diagnosis, concluded last year after five seasons. "Holy cow!" ...

Israeli Airstrikes Hit 2 High-Rise Buildings

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least two people in a wave of attacks that also included bombing two Gaza City high-rise buildings. One airstrike early Tuesday collapsed a 15-story office and apartment tower. Another severely damaged a second tower containing shops and offices, wounding at least 25 people, Palestinian health officials told the Associated Press. Israel had warned people to ...

WHO Urges Stiff Regulatory Curbs on E-cigarettes

GENEVA- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday called for regulation of electronic cigarettes as well as bans on indoor use, advertising and sales to minors. In a long-awaited report that will be debated by member states at a meeting in October in Moscow, the United Nations health agency also voiced concern at the concentration of the $3 billion market in the hands of transnational tobacco companies.

The ...

As Obesity Rises in Vietnam Millions Still Underweight

HO CHI MINH CITY- Vietnam has a nutrition problem that sounds like a contradiction: too many of its children are underweight, but at the same time, more and more children are becoming overweight every year. This could seem like two separate public health issues, but they are actually connected, because both are the result of poor diets. Historical fears of undernutrition may have pushed Vietnamese to overcompensate in ...

Liberian Doctor Who Received Ebola Drug Dies

A Liberian doctor who was one of three Africans to be treated with an experimental Ebola drug has died. Liberian officials on Monday confirmed the death of Dr. Abraham Borbor, who was deputy chief medical doctor at the country's largest hospital. Borbor was one of three Liberia-based doctors to receive the drug Zmapp, which has yet to undergo clinical trials. There was no update on the other two doctors. Two U.S. aid ...

UN health agency calls for regulation of e-cigarettes curbs on advertising sales to minors

26 August 2014 - Electronic cigarettes, known as e-cigarettes, represent an "evolving frontier filled with promise and threat for tobacco control," a new United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) report said today, urging regulations to impede their promotion to non-smokers and young people. "Evidence shows that while they are likely to be less toxic than conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes use poses ...

Flight restrictions hamper ability to battle Ebola UN cautions

25 August 2014 - The United Nations today cautioned against flight restrictions into and out of Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, saying such limitations were preventing the transport of critically-needed health workers and supplies, as well as contributing to economic and diplomatic isolation of the region. "The current limitations on flights into and out of these countries, and the restrictions placed on ...

HIV infections on rise among young gay men other at-risk groups in Thailand

25 August 2014 - An estimated 70 per cent of new sexually transmitted infections cases are occurring among young people, especially among men who have sex with men, those involved in sex work and those who inject drugs in Thailand, where "social media, online dating websites and mobile application make it much easier for young people to meet others in order to engage in casual sex," says a new United Nations ...

Firing range instructor shot by 9-year-old girl dies

WHITE HILLS, Ariz. -- A firing range instructor is dead after being accidentally shot in the head by a 9-year-old girl Monday. Charles Vacca, 39, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona worked at Burgers and Bullets, a firing range located about 60 miles southeast of Las Vegas in White Hills, Arizona that caters to tourists, offering guests the opportunity to fire fully automatic weapons and eat big bacon cheeseburgers. On ...

Fewer prescription pill overdoses in medical marijuana states

PHILADELPHIA -- Residents of states where medical marijuana is legalized suffer fewer overdoses from prescription pain medication than elsewhere, says a new study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. Opioid analgesics are a class of pain medications that include popular pills like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin. Though effective at suppressing moderate to severe pain, opioid analgesics are addictive and ...

Man from New Jersey missing in Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli police are searching for 23-year-old American Aaron Sofer from Lakewood, New Jersey, who disappeared while on a hike in the Jerusalem Forest. Sofer was reported missing on Friday after his friend and hiking companion "lost contact" with Sofer in the forest outside Jerusalem. Israeli Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN that the search for Sofer has intensified, noting, "We are looking ...

Poll 26 percent of Americans believe they will get Ebola

BOSTON -- A new poll from Harvard University shows Americans know little about the Ebola virus and a significant number fear a large outbreak in the United States. Ebola has remained in West Africa, but Americans are fearing it will hit closer to home. Thirty-nine percent of Americans fear there will be a large outbreak in the United States and 26 percent are concerned they or an immediate family member will contract ...

Brazilian man wakes up in body bag after being declared dead credits miracle

SALVADOR, Brazil -- A Brazilian man thought to have died awoke the following morning in a body bag in a local morgue. Family members of 54-year-old Valdelucio Goncalves had been informed their loved one had died from "respiratory and multiple organ failure" following a pair of heart attacks, and the body could be identified at the morgue of Menandro de Farias General Hospital in Salvador, Brazil. "Workers at the ...

WHO calls for partial e-cigarette ban

UNITED NATIONS -- The World Health Organization called for a ban on indoor use of e-cigarettes in a report released Tuesday. The United Nations organization also suggested banning flavoring in e-cigarettes offering aromas like strawberry and licorice, that could appeal to children. According to WHO, the devices, which replicate cigarette smoking by converting liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor, are a risk to ...

Sarah Silverman brings liquid pot to the Emmy Awards

LOS ANGELES -- Giuliana Rancic was not expecting to find a container of liquid marijuana when she asked Sarah Silverman to show her what was inside her clutch at the 66th Annual Emmy Awards Monday night -- but she did. Both Rancin and Silverman where rummaging through the comedian's tiny gold clutch when they ran into Silverman's vaporizing pen -- which is legal in the state of California granted that she has a ...

Former FBI director Louis Freeh injured in car accident

BARNARD, Vt. -- Former FBI director Louis Freeh was hospitalized Monday following a car crash in Vermont. Vermont State Police rushed to the scene of the single-vehicle accident around noon near Barnard, where Freeh has a vacation home. Emergency responders said Freeh was driving his 2010 GMC Yukon when they believe he drove off the road and struck a mailbox and a row of shrubs before coming to a stop against a tree. ...