The human foetus feels no pain before 24 weeks, according to a major review of scientific evidence published today. The connections in the foetal brain are not fully formed in that time, nor is the foetus conscious, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The findings of two reports commissioned by the Department of Health strike a blow to those seeking to reduce the upper time limit for having an abortion, currently at 24 weeks.
Human foetus feels no pain before 24 weeks, study says
German court legalises euthanasia with patient consent
A top German court has ruled that it is not a criminal offence to cut off the life support of a dying person if that person has given their consent. The Federal Court of Justice acquitted a lawyer who had advised the daughter of a comatose woman to cut off her feeding tube.
Earlier the patient had expressed her wish not to be kept alive artificially.
“The Official 9/11 Story...Accept Without Question”
In the United States today, true investigational journalism is rare. Much of the news circulated by mainstream media is only a presentation of information handed down from the government. Major media functions as a gatekeeper of information, creating consensus among Americans on an array of topics including the popularly held beliefs about September 11, 2001. An atmosphere has been created where questioning the official explanation or asking for a reinvestigation is seen as blasphemy. Individuals who do so are labeled anarchist, conspiracy theorist, domestic terrorist, and antigovernment. Politicians and other public figures who have voiced concerns about the 9/11 Commission Report have been invited on national news programs only to be pressured to renounce previous statements about 9/11 and publicly reject any affiliation to the group 9/11 Truth. While a critical analysis of the 9/11 Commission Report is absent from mainstream media, a number of questions go unanswered and unrecognized by most Americans.
Documents: Tanks leaked fuel near Camp Lejeune well
Federal scientists studying the history of water contamination at Camp Lejeune, N.C., have learned of another source of leaking fuel — this one less than a football field away from a drinking well that once served thousands of Marines and their families. The well was closed in December 1984 after benzene was found in the water.
CIA hires Xe, formerly Blackwater, to guard facilities in Afghanistan, elsewhere
The CIA has hired Xe Services, the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere, according to an industry source.
The previously undisclosed CIA contract is worth about $100 million, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deal, which is classified.
"It's for protective services . . . guard services, in multiple regions," the source said.
Fearing expulsion, Palestinians stay home
The Helou family is so worried about getting expelled to Gaza by Israeli authorities that they're all but trapped in this West Bank town. They couldn't even leave to get their disabled son the best possible surgery to let him walk.
Some 20,000 Palestinians in the West Bank live under the same fear, because they hold residency papers from the Gaza Strip and Israeli authorities refuse to allow their papers to be updated - though they have lived in the West Bank for years.
Supreme Court: States can publicly ID petition signers
People who sign petitions calling for public votes on controversial subjects don't have an automatic right to hide their names, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday as it sided against Washington state voters worried about harassment because of their desire to repeal that state's gay rights law.
The high court ruled against Protect Marriage Washington, which organized a petition drive for a public vote to repeal the state's "everything-but-marriage" gay rights law.
Belgian Catholic offices raided in sex abuse probe
Belgian authorities have raided the offices of the country's most senior Catholic prelate as they investigate child sex abuse claims. A spokesman for the Brussels prosecutors' office confirmed that the palace of the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels had been sealed off.
Officials were searching for evidence concerning abuse allegations, he said. Belgium is one of several countries in which a stream of abuse claims have shaken the Roman Catholic Church.
U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study
Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The report looks at five measures of healthcare -- quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives.
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