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Pentagon warns poppy seeds might cause troops to fail drug tests The Defense Department is advising U.S. military personnel to be mindful of a substance that could derail their careers: poppy seeds. In a memo published Tuesday, Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr., the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, warned service members that eating poppy […]

In South Korea, free subway rides for the elderly become a political headache Every day, 71-year-old Park Gyung-sun delivers flowers, documents and other packages around Seoul – a job popular among senior citizens who are entitled to ride the city’s subways for free. The work, dubbed “silver delivery” in South Korea, earns Park, a former […]

In aging China, a call for ‘bold’ steps to cut cost of having babies. A Chinese health official has urged local governments to take “bold” steps to lower the cost of having babies and raising children to reduce the burden on families and boost fertility, a state-backed publication reported on Friday. China’s population fell last […]

Borgs are taking over college parties, and TikTok. What exactly are they? The borg — “blackout rage gallon” — has become the drink of choice on college campuses across the country.   Made with half water, half vodka, a caffeinated flavor enhancer and a dash of powdered electrolytes, the drink has been hailed by many […]

If You See a Yellow Cap on Coca-Cola, This Is What It Means Coca-Cola has been around for what seems like forever. The famous soda pop brand was first introduced in the late 1800s and is still going strong today. It’s synonymous with crisp and refreshing, and the bright red logo is easily recognized the […]

As the week-long Lunar New Year holidays in China draw near with promises of feasts and red envelopes stuffed with cash, children have another thing to look forward to –- one extra hour of online games each day. Only one hour. For years, Chinese authorities have sought to control how much time kids can spend […]

Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday that it was pulling the plug on a late-stage global trial of an HIV vaccine after the shot was found ineffective at preventing infections. The trial’s failure marks yet another setback in the search for a vaccine against a virus known to mutate rapidly and find unique ways to […]

China’s population shrank last year for the first time since the immediate aftermath of a devastating famine in the Mao era, in a clear sign that the country is facing a looming demographic crisis worsened by decades of coercive policy that limited most families to a single child.   The National Bureau of Statistics on […]

New COVID variant XBB.1.5 rapidly spreading in US, CDC data shows Happy New Year! A new Omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the US just in time to ring in 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The strain, known XBB.1.5, accounts for about 41% of confirmed COVID cases across […]

The U.S. announced new COVID-19 testing requirements Wednesday for all travelers from China, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections. The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation’s strict anti-virus controls. China’s “zero COVID” policies had kept the country’s infection rate low but fueled public frustration and […]