In Shane Acker's visually alluring but hollow animated film 9, the apocalypse has come and gone, leaving a scorched landscape, smoldering ruins and a crew of mechanical beasts in charge. Mankind is no more, and this ought to be troubling, until you consider the usual sort we see saving the world on screen and realize it's a relief not to have to worry about the plight of yet another plucky, attractive human being with a tendency to throw his ...

China has launched an organ donation system that it hopes will eliminate illegal organ trading and encourage people to become donors, according to reports in China's state-run media. Health officials will start promoting the system in 10 provinces and cities, including China's largest city of Shanghai and the prosperous southern region of Guangdong. Donating organs is not a widespread practice in China. Officials said last year, only 36 people donated organs -- out of a population of 1.3 billion. ...

Have economic times gotten so bad that some of the dead are going unburied? Several large counties across the country are experiencing unprecedented increases in the number of unclaimed deceased — not only because the dead people could not be identified, were indigent or were estranged from their family, but also apparently because more people simply cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones. The phenomenon has increased costs for local governments, which have to dispose of the ...

Ketamine has become the drug of choice among young people, as the number of people under 21 taking drugs has surged 57 percent in the last four years in Hong Kong, said Commissioner for Narcotics, Sally Wong.

The number of abortions performed in China each year tops 13 million, with inadequate knowledge of contraception playing a major role in the annual tally, state-run media reported. "Sex education needs to be strengthened, with universities and our society giving more guidance," Li Ying, a professor at Peking University, told China Daily. Research from the National Population and Family Planning Commission's technology research center shows nearly half of the women who had abortions had not used any form of contraception, ...

China, often criticized for its liberal use of the death penalty, will reduce the number of criminal executions it carries out, a top official said. "As it is impossible for the country to abolish capital punishment under current realities and social security conditions, it is an important effort to strictly control the application of the penalty by judicial organs," Zhang Jun, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, said in an interview with Legal Daily, the state-run China Daily reported. ...

There were 100,000 new cases of swine flu in England last week, nearly double the number from the previous seven days, authorities announced Friday. Children 14 or younger were those predominantly affected, with those older than 65 showing much lower rates, the Department of Health said in its weekly swine flu update. Most cases continue to be mild, the department said, but a small minority are severe. The last weekly update showed 55,000 new cases. There is no figure for ...

A UK government minister on Wednesday reopened the dispute over support for troops in Afghanistan by insisting they had insufficient helicopters. Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown, who is resigning from the government later this week, said: "We definitely don't have enough helicopters," adding that "mobility" was vital for operations in southern Afghanistan, where British troops are battling a resurgent Taliban. Malloch-Brown also questioned Prime Minister Gordon Brown's claim that the war was being fought to prevent Afghan terrorists ...

The death of a Canadian soldier in battle-scarred Afghanistan on Thursday brings this month's toll of international military fatalities in the war to 47, the highest monthly tally so far, a CNN count of official statistics shows. The Canadian soldier was killed while he was conducting operations in the Panjwayi District in Kandahar province, the Canadian military said. The previous monthly record was 46, a mark reached twice last year, in June and August. The growing death toll, which only ...

The office of the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair refused to comment Thursday on UK media reports that she has swine flu. A spokeswoman for Cherie Blair told CNN: "This is a private matter and we will not be making a comment." Blair was reported to have contracted the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, on Tuesday, according to the British Press Association and various media reports. PA reported that she has been given a ...