WASHINGTON, CMC – A new World Bank report states that with the exception of young men, most people in the Caribbean and Latin America are living much longer than they did 40 years ago.
The report, “The Global Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy,” released here on Wednesday by the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), also says the mortality rate in the region has dropped by at least 80 percent for children 4 years old or younger and by more than 50 percent for women between the ages of 20 and 44.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s efforts to persuade the US Congress to back his plan to attack Syria met with skepticism yesterday from lawmakers in his own Democratic Party who expressed concern the United States would be dragged into a new Middle East conflict.
“There is a lot of skepticism,” said Representative Jim Moran after taking part in a 70-minute phone briefing for Democratic lawmakers by Obama’s top national security aides about the response to a chemical weapons attack that US officials say killed 1,429 people on the outskirts of Damascus.

MIAMI, CMC – Crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Kodiak Island have repatriated 23 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, in the latest repatriation efforts. In a release on Friday, the US Coast Guard said the repatriation was a result of three migrant interdiction cases. It said Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Key West, Florida, said two weeks ago, they received a report from the Coast Guard Cutter Margaret Norvell of a raft south of Marquesas Key, Florida,the cutter Margaret Norvell boatcrew launched their smallboat and safely embarked two Cuban migrants.

LONDON/BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Britain will not join any military action against Syria after a stunning parliamentary defeat yesterday of a government motion on the issue, dealing a setback to U.S.-led efforts to punish Damascus over the use of chemical weapons against civilians. Following a 285-272 vote against a motion by British Prime Minister David Cameron to authorise a military response in principle, British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed Britain would not be involved in any action against Syria.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Scientists said yesterday they have achieved the first human-to-human mind meld, with one researcher sending a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motion of a colleague sitting across the Seattle campus of the University of Washington.