Month: December 2013

By Noah Browning AQQABA, West Bank (Reuters) – A silvery green olive grove set in the red soil of a Palestinian village is a crime scene – testament to a practice so sensitive that it is spoken of only in whispers. One night in late November, Rasha Abu Ara, a 32-year-old mother of five, was beaten to death and strung from a gnarled tree branch as a gruesome badge of "family honor" restored. The rise has led Palestinians to question hidebound laws they say are lax on killers, as well as a reluctance to name and shame in the media and society, which may contribute to a feeling of impunity among perpetrators. "But, it's standard." A week after the crime, Aqqaba mayor Jamal Abu Ara, who is a member of the victim's extended family, and his brothers sat in their village home, smoking cigarettes and choosing their words carefully.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani doctor won a $1 million grant on Tuesday to fight early child mortality in a small fishing village in southern Pakistan in a contest financed by an American entrepreneur to find innovative ways to save lives, The Caplow Children's Prize said.

Eastern Massachusetts voters elected a Democratic state senator as their newest representative in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday in a special election to fill the seat formerly held by now-Senator Edward Markey, according to local media reports. Democrat Katherine Clark, who campaigned on issues including improving women’s healthcare and the rising cost of college, easily won a four-way race to represent a district that includes Boston’s near western suburbs but not the city itself, according to the reports, including by the Boston Globe. She defeated Republican Frank Addivinola, Independent James Aulenti and James Hall of the Justice Peace Security party in an election to succeed Markey, who in June was elected to fill the Senate seat that became vacant when John Kerry was named secretary of state. Addivinola, a lawyer, had sought to tie Clark to President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law at a time the program has been plagued by technical problems.

The modest $85 billion U.S. budget deal reached in Congress on Tuesday gives both Democrats and Republicans something to brag about. Democrats can say they found relief from forced spending cuts on education and other domestic spending programs, while avoiding major changes to Medicare and Social Security benefits for the elderly. But airline travelers, newly hired federal employees and some military retirees would lose out in the agreement to be presented to Congress for approval in the next two weeks. The deal sets federal spending levels for two years and its proponents argue that it will help Congress end its budget warfare through at least October 1, 2015.

By Malena Castaldi and Felipe Llambias MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Uruguay became the first country to legalize the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana on Tuesday, a pioneering social experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization. A government-sponsored bill approved by 16-13 votes in the Senate provides for regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the business from criminals in the small South American nation. Backers of the law, some smoking joints, gathered near Congress holding green balloons, Jamaican flags in homage to Bob Marley and a sign saying: "Cultivating freedom, Uruguay grows." Cannabis consumers will be able to buy a maximum of 40 grams (1.4 ounces) each month from licensed pharmacies as long as they are Uruguayan residents over the age of 18 and registered on a government database that will monitor their monthly purchases. When the law is implemented in 120 days, Uruguayans will be able to grow six marijuana plants in their homes a year, or as much as 480 grams (about 17 ounces), and form smoking clubs of 15 to 45 members that can grow up to 99 plants per year.