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Doctors say public purse and public health at risk because of government cuts

OTTAWA - Public health and the public purse are in danger because of cuts to refugee health funding, doctors and refugee advocates said Monday as they protested the cuts across the country. The federal government overhauled the health care coverage it provides to refugees and refugee claimants one year ago as part of a cost-cutting measure it also said was designed to make Canada less vulnerable to fake asylum claims by curbing access to free health care.

UN concerned by 'mean-spirited' Australia asylum debate

The United Nations refugee agency Monday said it was concerned by the at times "mean-spirited" debate about asylum-seekers in Australia, along with the country's increasingly restrictive policies for those arriving by boat. Australia has faced a record influx of asylum-seekers making the sea journey to its shores, with authorities unable to intercept all vessels and hundreds drowning en route in recent years.

World population to hit 10.9 billion by 2100

The world's population will hit 7.2 billion next month and is projected to reach 10.9 billion by 2100, powered by births in poor countries, the United Nations said Thursday. But, with the number of future global dwellers linked to fertility, the number at the end of the century could be as high 16.6 billion or even fall to 6.8 billion,, the UN said in its "World Population Prospects." Focusing on a conservative projection between these two, population growth is expected to be especially dramatic in the poorest parts of the world.

Early, forced marriages haunt Jordan's Syrian refugees

With no end in sight to Syria's conflict, some refugees in Jordan are offering their daughters for early marriage in the hope of securing them protection as they face growing economic pressure. Syrian refugee Abu Mohammad says he reluctantly opted to marry off his teenage daughter to a rich 40-year-old Saudi man, hoping to give her a better life and ease his family's financial hardships.

World's oldest person dies at 116 in Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) - The world's oldest person, 116-year-old Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura, died on Wednesday, Japanese media said. Kimura, who lived in Kyotango near Kyoto in western Japan, had been hospitalized for pneumonia since last month. He became the world's oldest person on December 17, 2012, after the former title holder, a 115-year-old woman from Iowa died, according to Guinness World Records.

African states say more work needed to reduce maternal deaths

Pregnancy and childbirth-related death rates remain high in African countries and more efforts are needed to spread family planning and girls' education, African leaders and a United Nations organization said Saturday. Speaking at an event in Yokohama, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said current progress toward reducing the rates "is just simply inadequate" to meet the U.N. target of reducing the maternal death ratio by three quarters globally between 1990 and 2015.

At Cannes, pain and loss of migration come to the fore

They set off with dreams of a new life only to find that peril, exploitation, loneliness and an aching rootlessness often await them. Migration, one of the great issues of globalisation but one that until now has been poorly explored at the movies, has emerged as a major theme at the Cannes Film Festival. A frontrunner for the coveted Palme d'Or on Sunday is "Tian Zhu Ding", a brutal portrayal of peasants who head to the cities for work in the capitalist-communist China of today.

Nations are failing to protect migrants and refugees: Amnesty

Governments across the world are failing to protect the rights of refugees and migrants and are creating a "global underclass," Amnesty International said Thursday as it launched an annual assessment of human rights. Nations are showing more interest in protecting their national borders than the rights of those seeking refuge or opportunities within those borders, it said.

Report finds Gen Xers lost almost half their wealth in recession, questions retirement savings

NEW YORK, N.Y. - A research report by the Pew Charitable Trusts says younger baby boomers and Generation Xers face an uncertain retirement because of reduced savings, high levels of debt, and losses during the Great Recession.

New fitness centers cater to aging baby boomers

By Dorene Internicola NEW YORK (Reuters) - Baby boomers, the generation that vowed to stay forever young, are getting older, designing senior-friendly gyms and becoming their own personal trainers. In exercise havens for the over-50 set, the cardio machines are typically low impact, the resistance training is mainly air-powered and some group fitness classes are taken sitting down. At Welcyon gyms, founded by husband-and-wife boomers Suzy and Tom Boerboom, the average age of members is 62.
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