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Shots - Health Blog
3:08 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Gaps In Health Coverage Can Disrupt Preventive Care

Credit iStockphoto.com
Interruptions in insurance coverage can be enough to deter people from getting preventive care.

People without health insurance don't get enough preventive care — simple but important things like vaccinations and blood tests.

But surely having insurance every now and then is better than none at all, because people can get caught up on their tests when they are covered, right?

That's a widely held view, and one that would be good news to the millions of people who go on and off health insurance each year. Some of them are losing or changing jobs. Others slide on and off Medicaid as they take on temporary work, marry or divorce.

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Asia
3:00 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

In China, Curious Case Of Fraud Grows Stranger Still

The Da Vinci furniture company showroom in Shanghai looks like a salon in Versailles. The price tag on a gilt-covered, Italian-made grandfather clock: more than $40,000.

So it was big news last summer when China Central Television — the government's flagship network known as CCTV — reported that some of Da Vinci's ornate furniture didn't come from Italy, but from a common factory in South China.

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The Two-Way
2:58 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Judge Robert Carter, An 'Architect Of Desegregation,' Has Died

Robert Carter, who was a key member of the legal team that convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to outlaw segregated public schools in 1954's landmark Brown v. the Board of Education decision, died Tuesday. He was 94.

According to The New York Times, "the cause was complications of a stroke, said his son John W. Carter, a justice of the New York Supreme Court in the Bronx."

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Middle East
2:43 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers

In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged in recent clashes between protesters and security forces: children placing themselves on the front lines.

Activists say several have been killed or wounded in recent months by gunfire and tear gas. Plus, one out of every four protesters thrown in jail following clashes in December was a child.

Their advocates say most, if not all, of these kids live on Cairo's streets, and that they see the revolution as a way to escape their isolation from society.

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The Two-Way
2:40 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Pro-Piracy Group Says It's Now A Recognized Religion In Sweden

Credit Kopimi
A screengrab of a Kopimi symbol, used by the Missionary Church of Kopimism to signify a site's willingness to be copied.

The Missionary Church of Kopimism has one central belief: that it's okay to copy information, in any form.

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Asia
2:29 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Indonesian Economy Booms, Its Infrastructure Groans

Indonesia has one of the world's fastest growing economies and it's already the largest in Southeast Asia. This growth and stability recently earned it a major credit upgrade at a time when Western countries are fearful of downgrades.

Yet this vibrant economy has an Achilles' heel: its crumbling, overwhelmed infrastructure.

The problem becomes painfully apparent this time every year, when the rainy season fills commuters with dread in the capital Jakarta and many other cities.

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The Two-Way
1:20 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Gordon Hirabayashi Has Died; He Refused To Go To WWII Internment Camp

"This order for the mass evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent denies them the right to live," Seattle native Gordon Hirabayashi wrote in 1942. "I consider it my duty to maintain the democratic standards for which this nation lives. Therefore, I must refuse this order of evacuation."

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The Two-Way
12:53 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

U.S. Carmakers, VW, Report Big Gains In Auto Sales For 2011

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
A Jeep Wrangler is seen at a dealership in Chicago. Powered by a newly designed fleet of vehicles, the brand saw a sharp rise in sales in 2011.

America's big three automakers all experienced double-digit sales growth in 2011, helping the U.S. market continue its rebound from a dismal 2009. With annual reports out today, Chrysler says its sales were up 26 percent, while General Motors and Ford Motor Co. reporting gains of 13 and 11 percent, respectively.

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It's All Politics
12:50 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

McCain Endorses Romney

Saying he's there "to make sure we make Mitt Romney the next president of the United States of America," 2008 Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain just returned to New Hampshire to endorse the White House bid of his one-time rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

McCain and Romney fought a hard battle for the GOP nomination n 2008, after which Romney endorsed the Arizona senator.

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Shots - Health Blog
12:38 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Number Of Twins Soars As Older Moms Turn To Fertility Treatments

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The number of twins born each year in the United States has more than doubled since 1980, federal health officials reported Wednesday.

For most of the last century the rate at which American women gave birth to twins remained steady at about 2 percent of all births.

But the rate increased steadily between 1980 and 2009, according to the latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics. And by 2009, more than 3 percent of all births produced twins.

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