Hairstyles may keep some black women from exercise

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A number of obstacles may stand between a person and exercise, and hairstyles may be one of them for African-American women, according to a new study.Researchers found about two of every five African-American women said they avoid exercise because of concerns about their hair, and researchers say that is concerning given the United States’ obesity epidemic.“As an African-American...

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Comet stores open for final day

18 December 2012 Last updated at 02:45 ETComet stores are to close their doors for the last time on Tuesday, bringing the failed electrical retailer’s 79-year history to an end.Of the 236 stores the firm presided over when it went into administration last month, only 49 are still open.On Monday, administrators Deloitte said unsecured creditors would get back less than 1% of the money owed to them.The...

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Iran media: Son of ex-president released on bail

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media say the son of influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been released on bail.Several papers, including the pro-reform Etemad daily, say Mahdi Hashemi was released late Sunday and immediately went to his father’s home.Authorities arrested the younger Hashemi in late September, a day after he returned to Iran from Britain.He is held on charges of fomenting...

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Hollywood hacker honed his skills for years

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Long before Christopher Chaney made headlines by hacking into the email accounts of such stars as Scarlett Johansson and Christina Aguilera, two other women say he harassed and stalked them online.The women, who both knew Chaney, say their lives have been irreparably damaged by his actions. One has anxiety and panic attacks; the other is depressed and paranoid. Both say Chaney was...

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Keep thimerosal in vaccines: pediatricians

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A mercury-containing preservative should not be banned as an ingredient in vaccines, U.S. pediatricians said Monday, in a move that may be controversial.In its statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) endorsed calls from a World Health Organization (WHO) committee that the preservative, thimerosal, not be considered a hazardous source of mercury that could be...

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Debating Gun Control, Post-Newtown

The Newtown (Conn.) elementary school massacre has reignited the debate about gun control. Firearm skeptics demand new restrictions. Gun proponents insist on respect for Second Amendment rights. Like abortion, guns evoke irreconcilable political and cultural cleavages. We live in a big country. Our conflicting values cannot all be neatly squared.Still, rational discussion could lead to better...

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Facebook unveils new privacy controls

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc began rolling out a variety of new privacy controls on Wednesday, the company’s latest effort to address user concerns about who can see their personal information on the world’s largest social network.New tools introduced on Wednesday will make it easier for Facebook’s members to quickly determine who can view the photos, comments and other information about...

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Robert Zemeckis on taking “Flight” with Denzel Washington – and his socks

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – When director Robert Zemeckis read the script for “Flight,” he knew he was ready to make another live-action movie.The filmmaker’s previous three films – “The Polar Express,” “Beowulf” and “A Christmas Carol” – were shot in the motion-capture technique, in which human actions are recorded, then used to digitally animate computer characters.“When this screenplay came along,...

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Child deaths and bitter cold in Syrian refugee camps

ZAATARI, Jordan (Reuters) – One-year-old Ali Ghazawi, born with a heart defect, faced a battle for survival even before his family fled Syria‘s civil war. It was a struggle he lost two weeks ago in the bitter winter cold of a tented refugee camp in north Jordan.Ali died two days after undergoing a heart operation in Zaatari camp, which houses at least 32,000 refugees who escaped fierce bombardment...

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E-Hailing Comes to New York City

Catching a cab in midtown Manhattan at 4:30 on a weekday afternoon is the closest most New Yorkers will ever get to hunting. You have to know the patterns of your prey: its favorite haunts, its preferred routes, its tendency to vanish when your need is most acute (during rainstorms, for example). You have to outwit all the cab-poachers lurking in the shadows.Yesterday, however, New York City emerged...

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