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Mental Health
5:27 pm
Sat May 18, 2013

Alzheimer's Cases Rise, But Hope Remains

Credit Sarah Brodzinski
Amy Goyer moved back to Phoenix to look after her father, Robert, when he began to show signs of Alzheimer's. He is just one of 5 million Americans living with the disease.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 7:26 pm

More than 5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, and the National Institute on Aging estimates that that number is going to triple by 2050 — in part due to aging baby boomers.

The cost of coping with the disease — currently estimated at $215 billion — is projected to rise to half a trillion dollars by 2050. That amount will likely tax our overburdened health care system, the economy and the families of those affected.

Amy Goyer realized her 84-year-old father Robert's health was deteriorating one night while watching a movie with him.

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The Two-Way
5:09 pm
Sat May 18, 2013

Prominent Pakistani Politician Shot, Killed On Re-Election Eve

On the eve of a re-vote, a prominent Pakistani politician was shot and killed on Saturday.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports that Zahra Shahid Hussain, who was the senior vice-president of Pakistan's Movement for Justice (PTI), was shot in the head during "an attempted robbery incident."

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Around the Nation
4:42 pm
Sat May 18, 2013

Impossible Choice Faces America's First 'Climate Refugees'

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 6:14 pm

Climate change is a stark reality in America's northernmost state. Nearly 90 percent of native Alaskan villages are on the coast, where dramatic erosion and floods have become a part of daily life.

Perched on the Ninglick River on the west coast of the state, the tiny town of Newtok may be the state's most vulnerable village. About 350 people live there, nearly all of them Yupik Eskimos. But the Ninglick is rapidly rising due to ice melt, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the highest point in the town — a school — could be underwater by 2017.

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Business
4:41 pm
Sat May 18, 2013

Internships: Low-Paid, Unpaid Or Just Plain Illegal?

Credit Seth Perlman / AP
Students fill out applications during a job fair at the University of Illinois Springfield in February. Fed up with working for free, some interns are suing their employers.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 6:14 pm

Summer is almost here, and with it comes the army of interns marching into countless American workplaces. Yet what was once an opportunity for the inexperienced is becoming a front-line labor issue.

More and more, unpaid and low-paid interns are feeling their labor is being exploited. Some are even willing to push back — with lawsuits.

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Parallels
4:20 pm
Sat May 18, 2013

Spaniard's Song Brings YouTube Fame ... And Maybe A Job

Credit mrenzovic/youtube.com
Enzo Vizcaíno, a 24-year-old unemployed Spaniard, isn't singing for his supper. He just wants a job.
The Two-Way
3:19 pm
Sat May 18, 2013

Bashar Assad: A Political Solution In Syria is 'Unreal'

Credit Louai Beshara / AFP/Getty Images
Syrian President Bashar Assad made it clear in an interview with the Argentine newspaper El Clarin that he was not resigning.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 3:22 pm

Syrian President Bashar Assad essentially dismissed attempts by the United States and Russia to bring the civil war in the country to a political solution.

"Believing that a political conference will stop terrorism on the ground is unreal," Assad said in an exclusive interview with the Argentine newspaper El Clarin. Assad also took the usual stance on a wide range of issues.

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The Two-Way
12:58 pm
Sat May 18, 2013

Afghan Parliament Halts Debate On Women's Rights Bill

Credit Nicolas Asfouri / AFP/Getty Images
A boy holds the burqa of his mother as they walk down a street in the old city of Kabul on November 1, 2009.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 10:58 pm

After protests from some MPs and after only about 15 minutes, the Afghan parliament halted debate Saturday on a bill aimed at curbing violence against women.

As the BBC reports, the bill would have solidified a law passed by presidential decree in 2009, which banned "violence against women, child marriages and forced marriages."

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The Two-Way
10:43 am
Sat May 18, 2013

WATCH: NASA Spots Brightest Lunar Explosion Ever Recorded

Credit NASA
NASA's lunar monitoring program has detected hundreds of meteoroid impacts. The brightest, detected on March 17, 2013, in Mare Imbrium, is marked by the red square.
The Two-Way
9:31 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Russian Official Names CIA Station Chief In Moscow

Credit Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA /Landov
In Moscow's Red Square, people still line up to visit Lenin's tomb. Though the Cold War is over, Russia and the U.S. keep watchful eyes on each other. Tuesday, Russian officials claimed to have uncovered a CIA spy.

Breaching protocol, a Russian official let a name slip during an interview with Interfax, the state news agency.

The interview was with a representative of the FSB, the Russian security agency, and the name he made public was of the person Russia believes is the CIA station chief in Moscow.

The Guardian explains:

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Shots - Health News
8:38 am
Sat May 18, 2013

The Unsafe Sex: Should The World Invest More In Men's Health?

Credit Noah Seelam / AFP/Getty Images
A man smokes a cigarette as he takes a break at a fruit market in Hyderabad, India. Smoking tobacco is eight times more prevalent among Indian men than women.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 1:37 pm

On average, men aren't as healthy as women.

Men don't live as long, and they're more likely to engage in risky behaviors, like smoking and drinking.

But in the past decade, global health funding has focused heavily on women.

Programs and policies for men have been "notably absent," says Sarah Hawkes from the University of London's Institute of Global Health.

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