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As climate change and pollution imperil coral reefs, scientists are deep-freezing corals to repopulate future oceans

Current News / News & Features /

Coral reefs are some of the oldest, most diverse ecosystems on Earth, and among the most valuable. They nurture 25% of all ocean life, protect coasts from storms and add billions of dollars yearly to the global economy through their influences on fisheries, new pharmaceuticals, tourism and recreation.

Today, the world’s coral reefs ...Read more

One year ago, Pope Francis disavowed the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ – but Indigenous Catholics’ work for respect and recognition goes back decades

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It has been more than 500 years since Vatican decrees gave European colonizers permission to carve up the “New World” – and just one since Pope Francis disavowed them.

On March 30, 2023, Francis repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery”: a set of ideas the Spanish and Portuguese, in particular, used to justify seizing land they...Read more

69% of US Muslims always give to charities during Ramadan, fulfilling a religious obligation

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Nearly 70% of Muslim Americans say they always give zakat, a yearly donation of 2.5% of one’s wealth that Islam encourages, during Ramadan according to a new study I worked on.

Ramadan is a month-long period of fasting and spiritual growth during which Muslims refrain from all food, beverages and sexual activity from dawn to dusk....Read more

The amazing story of the man who created the latest narco-state in the Americas, and how the United States helped him every step of the way − until now

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When Juan Orlando Hernández was convicted by a federal jury in Manhattan in early March 2024, it marked a spectacular fall from grace: from being courted in the U.S. as a friendly head of state to facing the rest of his life behind bars, convicted of cocaine importation and weapons offenses.

“Juan Orlando Hernández abused his ...Read more

Moscow terror attack showed growing reach of ISIS-K – could the US be next?

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A deadly attack in Moscow on March 22, 2024, exposed the vulnerability of the Russian capital to the threat of the Islamic State group and its affiliate ISIS-K. But it also displayed the reach of the network, leading some terror experts to ponder: Could a U.S. city be next?

There has not been a mass casualty assault in the U.S. ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Deaths are down in NC jails. But in the latest toll, records show a pattern

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Editor’s note: This story contains reporting about suicides, a topic that will be disturbing to some readers.

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When detention officers at the Wilson County jail found Reggie Monroe, he was already cold to the touch.

He had gone unchecked for at least two hours and died from a fentanyl overdose, according to a state investigative report...Read more

NASA/JPL-Caltech/TNS

NASA's attempt to bring home part of Mars is unprecedented. The mission's problems are not

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Massive cost overruns. Key deadlines slipping out of reach. Problems of unprecedented complexity, and a generation's worth of scientific progress contingent upon solving them.

That's the current state of Mars Sample Return, the ambitious yet imperiled NASA mission whose rapidly ballooning budget has cost jobs at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory...Read more

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America/TNS

School voucher proponents spend big to overcome rural resistance

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AUSTIN, Texas — In rural Texas, public schools are the cultural heart of small towns. People pack the high school stadium for Friday night football games, and FFA classes prepare the next generation for the agricultural life. In many places, more people work for the school district than for any other employer.

For years, many rural Texas ...Read more

Phil Galewitz/KFF Health News/TNS

COVID and Medicare payments spark remote patient monitoring boom

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Billy Abbott, a retired Army medic, wakes at 6 every morning, steps on the bathroom scale, and uses a cuff to take his blood pressure.

The devices send those measurements electronically to his doctor in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and a health technology company based in New York, to help him control his high blood pressure.

Nurses with the company,...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Telehealth sites promise cure for 'male menopause' despite FDA ban on off-label ads

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Online stores sprang up during the COVID-19 pandemic’s telehealth boom touting testosterone as a cure-all for men’s age-related illnesses — despite FDA rules issued years ago restricting such “low testosterone” advertising.

In ads on Google, Facebook, and elsewhere, testosterone telemedicine websites may promise a quick fix for ...Read more

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Why was 2023 such a deadly year in Los Angeles County jails? It depends on whom you ask

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LOS ANGELES -- It was well after dark, but Tawana Hunter lingered in the hospital parking lot, watching the minutes tick by on her phone. As midnight drew closer, she ran through all the things she wished had been different.

She wished her father had been in better health. She wished he hadn't gotten arrested. She wished he hadn't spent the ...Read more

National Marine Fisheries Service/TNS/TNS

These Puget Sound orcas could be designated as distinct species

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SEATTLE —For more than a century, killer whales have been understood to be just one worldwide species, Orcinus orca, with many types.

But now, after decades of work, scientists have determined the differences between the two types of killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea are so large, they ought to be designated separate species ...Read more

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Starvation has decimated gray whales off the Pacific Coast. Can the giants ever recover?

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LOS ANGELES — When large numbers of gray whales began washing up along North America’s Pacific Coast nearly six years ago, marine scientists could only speculate at the reason: Was it disease? Ocean pollution? Increasing ship collisions?

Many of the doomed cetaceans looked skinny or emaciated, while others looked torn up by orcas. Some had ...Read more

Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Dubai's glitz dims for Russians on costs, US sanction pressures

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Two years ago, Dubai became a hot favorite with Russians looking to park money or build new lives after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. That allure is now dimming as the cost of living in the glitzy emirate surges and its banks get stricter in enforcing U.S. sanctions.

Russian money flows into the United Arab Emirates...Read more

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images North America/TNS

Punxsutawney Phil and his wife had BABY GROUNDHOGS!

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PHILADELPHIA — We're pleased to bring you very serious and important breaking news regarding cute, furry, baby animals and Pennsylvania lore: Punxsutawney Phil and his wife, Phyllis, have babies.

As first reported by ABC27 News, the iconic groundhog couple has welcomed two baby groundhogs into their family. Although we don't know their names,...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Judge recommends disbarring attorney who aided Trump

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Another defendant in the Georgia election interference case may lose his license to practice law for aiding Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

John Eastman devised questionable legal theories that Trump used to try to persuade state legislators and Vice President Mike Pence to reject Democrat Joe Biden’s ...Read more

Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Sun/TNS

Yellen: Bridge collapse impact on economy being 'tracked very closely'

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ATLANTA — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday during an event in metro Atlanta the federal government is watching closely the economic impact of the Baltimore port closure in the wake of Tuesday’s collapse of Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Yellen, who visited the Suniva solar panel plant in Norcross, was asked about ...Read more

Will doughnut-eating DEA agent's sweet tooth disprove Aryan Brotherhood prosecution? One lawyer thinks it could

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Within some seedy enclaves of Northern California, Brian Nehring is known as a master of disguise for the Drug Enforcement Administration with the uncanny ability to convince seasoned and suspicious drug dealers that he’s not a cop.

But this sly government chameleon may now be trapped by his own apparent sweet tooth. ...Read more

Andre Ribeiro/TheNEWS2/Zuma Press/TNS

Bolsonaro tells Brazil's top court he didn't seek asylum with Hungary

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Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s defense told the Supreme Court that is “illogical” to suspect him of having sought political asylum with Hungary when there is no adequate reason for him to be arrested in his home country.

His lawyers told the court on Wednesday that Bolsonaro has been “highly collaborative” with the ...Read more

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North America/TNS

Baltimore bridge collapse reverberates from cars to coal

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The 1.6-mile-long bridge collapsed in a matter of seconds. The catastrophic consequences are set to stretch out for weeks.

As much as 2.5 million tons of coal, hundreds of cars made by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., and lumber and gypsum are threatened with disruption after the container ship Dali slammed into and brought down ...Read more