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By Katherine Gammon | LiveScience.com: Loneliness can send a person down a path toward bad health, and even more intense loneliness, studies have shown. But while some have assumed the culprit was a dearth of others to remind a person to take care of himself or herself, new research suggests there's... Sign in to see full entry.

By Alex Dobuzinskis: (Reuters) - Efforts to legalize marijuana for recreational use are gaining momentum in Washington state and Colorado, despite fierce opposition from the federal government and a decades-long cultural battle over America's most commonly used illicit drug. Officials in Washington... Sign in to see full entry.

By Kate McClare: STOCKHOLM -- Idiots in the office are just as hazardous to your health as cigarettes, caffeine or greasy food, an eye-opening new study reveals. In fact, those dopes can kill you! Stress is one of the top causes of heart attacks -- and working with stupid people on a daily basis is... Sign in to see full entry.

By JOHN ROGERS: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some of the most prominent purveyors of porn say they'll start packing up their sex toys and abandoning the nation's porn capital if authorities carry through with a nascent effort to police adult film sets and order that every actor be outfitted with a condom.... Sign in to see full entry.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope has accepted the early resignation of a Los Angeles bishop who recently acknowledged being the father of two teenagers. Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala, 60, resigned Wednesday under the code of canon law that lets bishops step down earlier than the normal... Sign in to see full entry.

By Daniel Wallis | Reuters: CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentina's Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease. It was a... Sign in to see full entry.

By Liz Goodwin | The Lookout: For the first time in decades, fewer than 100 people were sentenced to death in America this year. Seventy-eight people were handed the death sentence in courts in 2011--the lowest number since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1978, according to the... Sign in to see full entry.

Israel 's disgraced former president Moshe Katsav on Wednesday began a seven-year jail sentence after being convicted on two counts of rape and other sexual offences. The former head of state, who turned 66 on Monday, entered Ma'asiyahu prison near Tel Aviv shortly after 10.00 am (0800 GMT), an AFP... Sign in to see full entry.

Heading into the fourth decade of AIDS, we are finally in a position to end the epidemic. The progress we have made so far is proof that we can realize our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. The number of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 20... Sign in to see full entry.

Edgar Batte and Bamuturaki Musinguzi: In Diary of an African Fanatic, author Ismail Dramundru Ali shares the routine challenges of a passionate African. He also analyses the challenges facing Africa and concludes that Africans have been slow to solving their problems because of over reliance on... Sign in to see full entry.