While some Louisiana residents continue to rebuild homes or live in government-funded trailers, nearly 5 percent of the state's population has fled since Hurricane Katrina, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today.
If smoking 40 cigarettes a day is bad, you might think that smoking 20 would be half as bad. But reducing tobacco use doesn't reduce cancer risk by the same amount, and researchers have provided a clue as to why: Smokers who cut back compensate for the drop in nicotine by inhaling more smoke from each cigarette.
AP - Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Christmas Midnight Mass in the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica early Monday with an appeal for abused children around the world, including child soldiers, beggars and others deprived of sustenance and love.
AP - A gunman fatally shot a man in a fight at a crowded mall on Sunday, then sent hundreds of Christmas shoppers running for cover as he fired at police chasing him, authorities said.
AP - Some 12,000 Iraqi policemen have been killed since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the country's interior minister said Sunday, as clashes, a suicide bomber and weekend explosions killed more than a dozen Iraqi officers and six American soldiers.
Schoolgirls as young as 12 will be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease linked to cervical cancer, under plans being drawn up by the Department of Health.