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Maid Files Civil Suit Against Frenchman

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (UPI) — The New York hotel cleaning woman who accuses the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund of sexual assault is suing him, her lawyer says. The lawsuit, filed Monday by Nafissatou Diallo, a Sofitel hotel housekeeper originally of Guinea, in state Supreme Court in the Bronx, comes at […]

Canadian Town Assesses Tornado Damage

SAINTE-ELISABETH-DE-PROULX, Quebec, Aug. 8 (UPI) — People in Sainte-Elisabeth-de-Proulx, Quebec, spent Monday cleaning up and beginning repairs after a weekend tornado hammered the area, officials said. The F1 storm damaged buildings and blew down trees Saturday night, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. “It was incredible; it wasn’t one tree after another; it was three, four, […]

Early Morning Smokers At Higher Risk

HERSHEY, Pa., Aug. 8 (UPI) — People who often smoke their first cigarette of the day shortly after waking may increase their risk of lung, head and neck cancers, U.S. researchers say. Joshua Muscat of the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine in Hershey, and colleagues conducted a lung cancer analysis that included 4,775 lung cancer […]

Convicted Killer Enters Penalty Phase

CLEVELAND, Aug. 8 (UPI) — Convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell said in an apology read Monday in the penalty phase of his Cleveland trial that his crimes were “not typical” of him. Sowell, 51, was convicted in July of aggravated murder, abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence in the deaths of 11 women whose […]

Our Brains Struggle With 'How High Is Up?'

LONDON, Aug. 8 (UPI) — Our brains, so good at telling us where our bodies are on the solid Earth, don’t do so well when it comes to altitude, British researchers say. In terms of how high up we are, the brain’s internal “map” of space is surprisingly flat, scientists at University College London found. […]

Our Brains Struggle With ‘How High Is Up?’

LONDON, Aug. 8 (UPI) — Our brains, so good at telling us where our bodies are on the solid Earth, don’t do so well when it comes to altitude, British researchers say. In terms of how high up we are, the brain’s internal “map” of space is surprisingly flat, scientists at University College London found. […]

Tapes Heard In Jeffs Trial Penalty Phase

SAN ANGELO, Texas, Aug. 8 (UPI) — Prosecutors presented more audio evidence to jurors Monday in the penalty phase of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs’ child sex assault trial in Texas. Jeffs was convicted in a San Angelo court Thursday of sexual assault of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. Monday was […]

Study: Some Are Born With Math Ability

BALTIMORE, Aug. 8 (UPI) — People can be born with good math skills, just as some are born with a talent for music, art or athletics, a U.S. study suggests. Research conducted by Johns Hopkins University psychologists indicates math ability in preschool children is strongly linked to their inborn and primitive “number sense,” called an […]

Effect Of Japan Tsunami Felt In Antarctica

GREENBELT, Md., Aug. 8 (UPI) — The tsunami from the March earthquake in Japan had impacts across the world, causing the calving of icebergs a hemisphere away in Antarctica, researchers say. The finding is the first direct observation of such a connection between tsunamis and icebergs, a NASA release said Monday. Using multiple satellite images, […]

House To End Page Program

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) — The two most ideologically opposite but powerful House leaders jointly announced the end of the congressional page program that goes back more than 200 years. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi D-Calif., said Monday the House page program, which can be traced back to the First […]