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The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that monkeypox is to be renamed "mpox" in English. "Following a series of consultations with global experts, WHO will begin using a new preferred term 'mpox' as a synonym for monkeypox. Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while 'monkeypox' is phased out," the UN health agency said in a statement. The monkeypox virus was originally identified in monkeys in 1958, but can infect a number of other animals, and is more frequently found in rodents. Although global infection numbers have been declining since August, the virus remains a problem...

The World Health Organization announced on Monday that it is renaming monkeypox as mpox due to concerns that the original name could be perceived as racist or stigmatizing. Driving the news: Both the monkeypox and mpox names will be used by WHO over the next year as the term "monkeypox" is gradually phased out, WHO said in a press release. "When the outbreak of monkeypox expanded earlier this year, racist and stigmatizing language online, in other settings and in some communities was observed and reported to WHO," the press release stated. WHO began consulting with experts about potentially renaming the...

World champion soccer player and trailblazing activist Megan Rapinoe hosts a fearless conversation with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, and acclaimed television host Hasan Minhaj. Watch these change-makers come together to talk about the challenges we face as a nation. Known for both her talent on the field and her dedication to activism, Rapinoe has become one of the United States’ most recognizable and admired advocates for change.

Should western governments describe “honor killings” or female genital mutilation as “barbaric”? The son of the late Canadian colossus Pierre Trudeau thinks such terms have unfortunate pejorative overtones: Liberal MP Justin Trudeau said the government should not call honour killings “barbaric” in a study guide for would-be Canadian citizens… “There’s nothing that the word ‘barbaric’ achieves that the words ’absolutely unacceptable’ would not have achieved,” Trudeau, the Liberal immigration critic, said. “We accept that these acts are absolutely unacceptable. That’s not the debate. In casual conversation, I’d even use the word barbaric to describe female circumcision, for example, but in...

I FEEL YOUR PAIN. NOT THEIRS. YOURS.May 27, 2009 God save us from liberal "empathy." After President Barack Obama announced his empathetic Supreme Court nominee this week, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, we found out that some people are more deserving of empathy than others. For example, Judge Sotomayor apparently "empathized" more with New Haven, Conn., government officials than with white and Hispanic firefighters who were denied promotions by the city on the basis of their race. Let's hope she's as empathetic to New Haven residents who die in fires fought by inferior firefighters as a result of her decision. In the...

The $124 billion supplemental appropriation is a good bill to oppose. I am pleased that many of my colleagues will join me in voting against this measure. If one is unhappy with our progress in Iraq after four years of war, voting to de-fund the war makes sense. If one is unhappy with the manner in which we went to war, without a constitutional declaration, voting no makes equally good sense. Voting no also makes the legitimate point that the Constitution does not authorize Congress to direct the management of any military operation-- the president clearly enjoys this authority as...

The rate of decline in the US housing market is continuing to surprise the pundits. The number of housing starts - that is, new home construction - fell 6% in August, down almost 20% on last year, the worst annual decline in four years, and a much worse fall than expected. That came hot on the heels of news from the National Association of Home Builders that house builders’ confidence is at its lowest since 1991. “This implies an increasingly negative outlook for the consumer sector given the importance of equity withdrawal and the positive wealth effects housing has provided...

I just got such a kick out of this that I just HAD to share...... I passed around an e-mail that pointed out the various flaws of the local and state govt plans in LA during Katrina, and a friend that I immensely enjoy "tweeking" replied back to me. I have been doubled over laughing ever since. God, where do I start with a response back to him? Or should I even bother????? Anyone who can write this stuff with a straight face (and under a fifth of whiskey) is a lost cause....... "I have tried to ignore the spew...

THE government’s first attempt to tell schools how they should teach religious education will spark controversy by recommending that children should be taught atheism as well as Christianity. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which regulates what is taught in schools, is drawing up new guidelines on the teaching of religious education. It intends to recommend a wider curriculum, including the teaching of agnosticism, humanism and atheism alongside Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. “It is very much the intention that young people in the context of religious education should be studying non- religious beliefs,” a spokesman for the QCA said. “There...

Why would anyone feel more sympathy for Kobe Bryant at this point than for his alleged victim? Why would anyone allege a superstar's innocence simply by intoning hated doctrine from the liberal left? "Hosed by the N.O.W. GANG" in one subject heading implies a scenario where Kobe Bryant becomes a victim of N.O.W, rather than the young woman as the alleged victim of Kobe Bryant. Is there anyone willing to take one small step further which would paint Kobe Bryant as a victim now cramped into Hillary Clinton's crowded "vast right wing conspiracy" corner? After more than a week of...