Four years ago, during a similarly sultry Tehran summer, I had an argument with Shirin Ebadi about whether Iranians should vote in their country's presidential elections. The human-rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate believed that Iranians should boycott the vote. She argued coolly that people's participation lent legitimacy to an undemocratic regime's flawed electoral process. At the time, I found her view frustratingly staid, the stance of someone who had lost touch with young people's immediate concerns. I ...

Expecting moms can determine whether they're carrying a boy or a girl as early as 10 weeks after conception, according to an over-the-counter gender prediction test by a Plano, Texas, company. IntelliGender, the creator of the "Boy or Girl Gender Prediction Test," say scientists isolated certain hormones that when combined with a "proprietary mix of chemicals" react differently if a women is carrying a boy or a girl. It claims that within 10 minutes of taking the urine test, a ...

At least 20 people are feared dead after a bus plunged into a river Sunday in Indian-administered Kashmir's hilly Doda district. Author and pop culture columnist Maki Fukasawa coined the term in 2006 in a series of articles on marketing to a younger generation of Japanese men. She used it to describe some men who she said were changing the country's ideas about just what is -- and isn't -- masculine. "In Japan, sex is translated as 'relationship in flesh,'" ...

The woman who stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death will be considered for parole from prison a month after the 40th anniversary of the killings that cast a shadow of fear over southern California. Susan Atkins, 61, has been denied parole in 17 previous hearings, but the former "Manson Family" member now is terminally ill with brain cancer and is paralyzed. Charles Manson used his hypnotic powers to direct Atkins and other "family" members to kill seven people, including ...

Baldwin, Paul •release from prison of after serving one-year term for stealing a can of beer is quickly followed by another arrest of — the 153rd — for assault Baron Cohen, Sacha •Eminem's face is landed on by bare butt of during MTV Movie Awards, leading to days of babble about whether or not the stunt had in fact been planned, which — DUH! — it had Berlin, Alan David •firing of from position as aide to Pennsylvania state senator famous for ...

Any pregnant woman who has ever cracked open a medicine cabinet is familiar with the warnings against using nearly every kind of medication, including those sold over the counter, from the moment of conception onward. Yet each year in the U.S., some 500,000 pregnant women battle psychiatric illness, cancer, autoimmune disease, influenza and other conditions that require treatment. Leaving aside for a moment the issue of whether the benefits of certain drugs outweigh the risks to the baby, what ...

The Institute of Medicine , the nation's most influential medical advisory group, has updated its guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy for the first time since 1990. The revised recommendations, released May 28, which also include the first advice regarding exercise during pregnancy, reflect new data on prenatal health as well as several recent shifts in the obstetric landscape — pregnant women in the U.S. are now older, more likely to deliver multiple births and ethnically more diverse than ...

Some of the worst fighting to hit Somalia's capital city in recent months uprooted nearly 34,000 people in less than a week, according to a United Nations report released Monday. Relief workers said the fighting between the Somali government and rebels over Islamic law has left Somali civilians with the choice of facing bloody battles or fleeing to squalid camps. The displaced people have found shelter in already overcrowded camps in and around Mogadishu, while others have fled into neighboring ...

The nation is becoming even more diverse: More than one third of its population belongs to a minority group, and Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that the minority population reached an estimated 104.6 million -- or 34 percent of the nation's total population -- on July 1, 2008, compared to 31 percent when the Census was taken in 2000. Nearly one in six residents, or 46.9 million people, are Hispanic, the agency reported. Even ...

A pregnant British woman jailed in Laos has met with a British lawyer for the first time ahead of her impending trial, a U.K. legal aid charity said Wednesday. Samantha Orobator, 20, has been in a Lao prison since August. She had no legal representation until last week, when the Lao government appointed her a local lawyer. Her trial is expected to happen sometime this week. Legal charity Reprieve sent a lawyer to Laos to offer independent legal advice to ...