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S.Sudan oil production pollution threatens thousands: monitors

Dangerous heavy metals used in oil production in war-torn South Sudan have leaked into drinking water sources used by 180,000 people with life-threatening health risks, a rights group said Friday. Toxicological tests carried out on hair samples from 96 volunteers living around the Thar Jath oil processing plant in South Sudan's northern Unity region revealed they were “highly intoxicated with pollutants such as lead and barium,” said Klaus Stieglitz, from the German-based Sign of Hope organisation. “The total toxic stress — as found in the hair samples — of the human population of the area is life-threatening,” said Klaus-Dietrich Runow, from Germany's Institute for Functional Medicine and Environmental Health, one of two separate independent toxicologists who assessed the samples.

South African authorities deny issuing arrest warrant for Pistorius

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African authorities on Friday denied issuing a warrant of arrest for Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted on appeal of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, rejecting an earlier report by a local television station. “It is not the case,” Luvuyo Mfaku told Reuters. “No such warrant has been issued.” The Supreme Court on Thursday upgraded the 29-year-old athlete's sentence to murder from “culpable homicide”, South Africa's equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence. …

Obama prods world on climate change, faces pushback at home

PARIS (AP) — Facing pushback at home, President Barack Obama said Sunday that American leadership was helping make gains in the global fight against climate change as he tried to reassure world leaders assembling for a historic conference in Paris that the U.S. can deliver on its own commitments.

4 Lessons from Luis Lang’s Lost Eyesight

Recently, on the “Dr. America” show, I reported on the now-viral story of Luis Lang, a 49-year-old man from South Carolina who initially opposed Obamacare, and is now facing financial ruin as he suffers some dire health problems, including possible blindness. I made a small donation on his GoFundMe online fundraiser, as did many progressives…