Free Republic

BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Children with weakened immune systems are not the only targets infected by flu, a new study shows. The study says even a quarter of healthy children have the chance to be killed by this illness. The findings, from researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), emphasize the importance of everyone who is eligible getting vaccinated against flu. "Many people don't recognize that a healthy child could be at risk for these severe complications," Dr. Karen Wong, the study's lead author, said. "Every child may be at risk and every child six...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — University of California President Janet Napolitano said Wednesday she is devoting $5 million to provide special counseling and financial aid for students living in the U.S. illegally, a move aimed at disarming critics who worried she would be hostile to the small but vocal student population. The former Homeland Security Secretary announced the initiative in her first public address since she became head of the 10-campus university system a month ago — an evening appearance in San Francisco organized by the Commonwealth Club. She also pledged $10 million for recruiting and training graduate students and post-doctoral...

Welcome to Britain’s most haunted B&B - where terrified guests have been left so scared they have even jumped out of the windows. The Ancient Ram Inn, in the village of Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, is believed to be riddled with up to 20 spectres who torment the paying punters of the 12th century home. Built on an ancient pagan burial ground - and also believed to be the scene of child sacrifices and devil worship - the Cotswolds cottage is haunted by the likes of a murdered young girl called Rosie, a high priestess, and even a male sex demon, known...

MOSCOW, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia has held snap drills of nuclear strategic forces, anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense systems, navy and strategic aviation, the Kremlin said Wednesday. "The launches of ballistic missiles have been carried out, the anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems have been employed, " Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Space forces and the navy have also participated in the drills, which completed successfully with all training targets hit, he said. The drills were conducted under the direct command of President Vladimir Putin, he added. This year, Putin has introduced a practice of unexpected inspections of the armed...

With high school football playoffs starting around the country, a leading medical body on Wednesday released a 306-page, NFL-funded report that found the sport not only has by far the highest rates of concussions at the interscholastic level, but also that the average high school player is nearly twice as likely to suffer a brain injury as a college player. A panel of medical experts convened by the National Academy of Sciences analyzed a series of academic studies, with the most recent showing that college football players suffer concussions at a rate of 6.3 concussions per 10,000 "athletic exposures" --...

October 31, 2013 Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Rom 8:31b-39 Brothers and sisters:If God is for us, who can be against us?He did not spare his own Sonbut handed him over for us all,how will he not also give us everything else along with him?Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?It is God who acquits us.Who will condemn?It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised,who also is at the right hand of God,who indeed intercedes for us.What will separate us from the love of Christ?Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or...

China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer, announced on Wednesday new gas and oil discoveries in the Bohai Sea. The findings come from the Lvda 5-2 North and Kenli 9-5/9-6 wells, in the Bohai Sea's Liaodong Bay and the Laixi structure, respectively. The production of Lvda 5-2N-2 well was tested at over 1,000 barrels per day, and Kenli 9-6-2 well at around 200, the CNOOC said. The company also revealed total assets in excess of 1 trillion yuan (163 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of September.

Andy Lopez Cruz, age 13. On Oct. 22, Lopez was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy on Moorland Avenue in southwest Santa Rosa. The boy was carrying an airsoft BB gun designed to look like an AK-47 assault rifle, and police investigating the shooting said the deputy mistook the gun for a real weapon. Lopez's parents stood before the altar, next to their son's closed coffin, which was covered in white fabric. For the duration of the service, the boy's mother, Sujey Lopez, lay her arms over the coffin with her head against it. The boy's father, Rodrigo Lopez,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is apologizing to Americans that the website for new health care exchanges wasn't ready to go when it launched on Oct. 1. Biden becomes the highest-level administration official to apologize for the website's failures. .. Biden says he and Obama were under the impression the site was ready. He says he's confident it will work by the end of November ..

Expats are invited to a high-end job fair on Saturday, with more than 7,000 vacancies at companies, schools and hospitals in neighboring Zhejiang Province. The event, organized by the Zhejiang Province Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, features 300 companies and organizations offering 3,000 kinds of jobs in 60 sectors. These include, education, new materials, mechanical engineering, solar energy, electronics, telecommunications, trade, finance, medicine, chemistry, textiles, construction, agriculture and marine resources. College teachers, scientific researchers and management talents in the tertiary education field are most in demand, accounting for nearly half of all the job openings. Education institutes attending include...

A Yorba Linda resident shot and killed an intruder who broke into his home early Sunday, authorities said. The incident happened about 3 a.m. in the 5000 block of Wendover Road, said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock. The wife of the man who shot the intruder called 911 saying he had a man at gunpoint, Hallock said. The men had been arguing, deputies said. There was a baby in the house. Deputies said they were looking into what, if any, charges might be filed against the man who fired the gun, but said it appears to be self defense....

Despite piles of newspapers and magazines on display, Beijing newsstand owner Mr. Xia uses his mobile phone to browse the news online. "If I did not sell drinks and phone cards, I would be at a loss every day," he said. His newsstand, in west Zhongguancun, Haidian district, feels stale. The kiosk is less than 10 square meters, sells cold drinks, cigarettes, chewing gum and so forth, and looks like a mini grocery store. Xia, 32, begins to work at 7 a.m. every day and returns home about 8 p.m., rain or shine. "It's hard to make money selling just...

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas—Shots were fired Tuesday during an attempted armored car robbery outside a Chase bank west of Spring, deputies said. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, it was reported around 9:30 a.m. on Kuykendahl Road at Louetta Road. Deputies said an armored car guard was approached by one of two armed masked suspects as he was walking into the bank. The suspect ordered the guard to get on the ground. Instead, the armored car guard fired at the suspect. "I was in here working on a car and heard like back fire from the car. Kinda like fireworks."...

Masked from public view, two of the U.S. military’s elite special operations commandos have been awarded medals for bravery for a mission that further undercuts the Obama administration’s original story about the Benghazi tragedy. For months, administration officials have claimed no special operations forces were dispatched from outside Libya to Benghazi during the Sept. 11, 2012, al Qaeda terrorist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission and CIA annex because none was within range. The Pentagon, under intense public criticism for not coming to the aid of besieged Americans, published an official timeline in November that carefully danced around the issue....

Hearing the one-year old toddler Binbin mumbling “papa,” Jiang Ning (pseudonym) experienced mixed feelings. Jiang has never told anyone about the birth of his son. Though he and his wife are Binbin's parents, the baby was carried by a surrogate mother -- a white American woman who Jiang paid for the service. Such surrogate mothers have another person's embryo transplanted into their womb and later give birth to the child. Jiang paid around US$300,000 for the service. Surrogacy is illegal in China and the average cost can vary between US$100,000 to US$300,000 in the U.S, which is a considerable burden...

Last month, after being sure to get his caffeine fix at Starbucks, Southern Baptist leader Richard Land went where few evangelicals had dared to go before: the Provo campus of Brigham Young University, the intellectual heart of Mormonism. After lecturing on "family, faith, freedom and America," Land attended a BYU football game with LDS leaders and joined them to hear James Taylor sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Days later, George O. Wood, the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, also visited BYU, followed by the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptists’ flagship seminary. Is there...

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) should be allowed to make mistakes as it carries out experimental policies, said Long Guoqiang, a senior researcher with a Chinese government think tank, on Wednesday. The Shanghai FTZ paves the way for "upgrading China's economy," a concept championed by Premier Li Keqiang, said Long of the State Council's Development Research Center. Long asked for tolerance and patience for the FTZ, a month-old testing bed for reforms. The zone will open up broader space in markets for foreign investors, including in the service and financial sectors, and covers approximately 29 square kilometers...

Sarah is selling Sarah. The former vice presidential candidate and half-term governor of Alaska is a commodity of one and a marketing machine. She has created a new politics of profit. Palin's reanimation on the tea party stage probably means no more than the other intentions she has floated but never executed. She spent almost a year of the last presidential election cycle teasing the far right that she was going to run for president. She never did, but lots of network TV interviews and speculative articles drove up her name recognition and brand identification. And she's not running again....

BEIJING, Oct. 30 -- China on Wednesday issued rules to regulate incumbent and retired officials working in various establishments in order to root out irregularities and prevent corruption. The rules, issued by the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, are based on existing laws and regulations on civil servant management and the Party's integrity rules. Incumbent officials, including those who have not completed retirement procedures, should not hold concurrent posts or work full-time in enterprises, unless the officials' work requires that and the process is subject to strict examination and approvals, the rules say. In...