JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court on Friday struck down a state law requiring parental notification for girls under age 18 seeking abortions, agreeing with pro-abortion rights advocates that the mandate approved by voters in 2010 was unconstitutional.
Former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, whose record-setting boxing career, unprecedented flair for showmanship, and controversial stands made him one of the best-known figures of the 20th century, died on Friday aged 74. Ali's death was confirmed in a statement issued by family spokesman Bob Gunnell late Friday evening, a day after he was admitted to a Phoenix-area hospital with a respiratory ailment. “A part of me slipped away, the greatest piece,” George Foreman, a former heavyweight boxer who fought Ali, said on Twitter after the news of Ali's death.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian authorities were investigating possible negligence after 18 hospital patients died when rainwaters from massive floods in southern Tamil Nadu state knocked out generators and switched off ventilators.
(Reuters) – Merck & Co said an independent data monitoring committee recommended that the drugmaker continue a study of its experimental cholesterol drug, anacetrapib. The recommendation comes a month after Eli Lilly & Co stopped testing a similar cholesterol drug, belonging to a class of drugs called CETP inhibitors. Merck said on Friday that the committee reviewed safety and efficacy data from the large study, including a futility analysis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Large food recalls have forced consumers to throw away hummus and ice cream that may be contaminated with the same potentially deadly bacteria — listeria.
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone's 6 million people were told to stay home for three days beginning Friday, except for religious services, as the West African nation attempted a final push to rid itself of Ebola.
DALLAS (AP) — The deaths of three people who developed a foodborne illness linked to some Blue Bell ice cream products have prompted the Texas icon's first product recall in its 108-year history.
By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) – The push to legalize medical marijuana in Florida continues with a two-pronged campaign, supporters said on Friday, sharing plans to mount another ballot drive in 2016 as a way to pressure state lawmakers to consider legislation permitting prescription pot. A constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana in Florida last year fell just short of the 60 percent approval needed to pass in the state. …