21 January 2013 Last updated at 05:00 GMT
Childhood asthma 'admissions down' after smoking ban
The two-state solution: one nation decide
As right-wingers gain support, the Israeli election could end hopes for peace talks
Israelis go to the polls tomorrow for an election that could deliver one of the most right-wing governments in the Jewish state's history and deal a heavy blow to moribund peace talks with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's alliance between his Likud party and former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman's right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party is tipped to win. But, for the first time, the coalition government that emerges in the days and weeks after the vote is also likely to include parties openly hostile to the peace process, including the Jewish Home party, led by the hawkish Naftali Bennett.
He has campaigned as the only party leader who does not believe in the two-state solution. His view is today's "imperfect" situation is better than allowing a viable Palestinian state.
The Irish Times - Monday, January 21, 2013
Health inequalities growing in Scotland while poor die younger, report says
MARK HENNESSY, London Editor
Health inequalities in Scotland are not only stark but growing, according to a major new report. It warns that a boy born today in its poorest districts will live for 14 years less than one born in the richest, while poor girls will live for eight years less.
Meanwhile, heart disease claims twice as many victims in Scotland’s deprived areas, while cancer rates are 50 per cent higher, according to research carried out by the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The figures mask some improvements. Between 2000 and 2009 heart disease death rates amongst Scotland’s poorest 15 per cent fell from 150 per 100,000 to 100. The average fell from 90 to 50.
“So the fall was steeper in the more deprived areas, but the rate is now double the average,” said the foundation’s sixth State of the Nation report, published today, which draws on all available national and local official data.
Afghan prisoners still tortured, says UN
January 21, 2013 - 9:04AM
Heidi Vogt, Kabul
THE United Nations says Afghan authorities are still torturing prisoners, such as hanging them by their wrists and beating them with cables, a year after the UN first documented the abuse and the Afghan government promised detention reform.
The report shows little progress in curbing abuse in Afghan prisons despite a year of effort by the UN and international military forces in Afghanistan.
They were beating me for some time like one hour and were frequently telling me that ‘You are with [the] Taliban and this is what you deserve’.
The report also cites instances where Afghan authorities have tried to hide mistreatment from UN monitors.
The slow progress on prison reform has prompted NATO forces to once again stop many transfers of detainees to Afghan authorities out of concern they would be tortured.
Hostage toll to rise after Algeria ends desert siege
Algeria warned the toll from a siege at a gas plant would rise, after its troops staged an assault which killed all the remaining Islamist gunmen.
Britain said at least three of its citizens had been killed in the crisis, ended when Algerian special forces stormed the In Amenas plant on Saturday. Franceacknowledged the death toll would be high but cautioned against criticising Algeria's military response, saying it had faced an intolerable situation.
Algeria's Interior Ministry had reported on Saturday that 23 hostages and 32 militants were killed during assaults launched by Algerian special forces to end the crisis, with 107 foreign hostages and 685 Algerian hostages freed.
However, Minister of Communication Mohamed Said said this would rise when final numbers were issued in the next few hours. "I am afraid unfortunately to say that the death toll will go up," Said was quoted as saying by the official APS news agency.
Brief ceremony begins Obama's second term
In an intimate White House event prompted by a quirk of the calendar, the president is sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
By Kathleen Hennessey and Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — In a swift and simple ceremony at theWhite House, President Obama was sworn in for a second term Sunday and embarked on another four years leading a nation hobbled by a weak economy and gripped by political division.
With his family at his side and his hand on his wife's family Bible, the 44th president began the new term on an understated note, repeating the oath of office in a private ceremony the day before a more lavish, public reenactment.
The intimate event was an adherence to tradition prompted by a quirk of the calendar. Under the Constitution, a president's term ends at noon Jan. 20. When that date falls on a Sunday, presidents have shifted the public ceremony a day and opted for a swearing-in at the White House.
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