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FACT OF THE DAY: Malaria, which is caused by the parasitic protozoa plasmodium, is the deadliest disease of all time. No disease, including the plague or smallpox, has killed more people. It has also killed more people than all wars, famines, and natural disasters combined.

The universe is looking younger every day, it seems. New calculations suggest the universe could be a couple billion years younger than scientists now estimate, and even younger than suggested by two other calculations published this year that trimmed hundreds of millions of years from the age of the cosmos. The huge swings in scientists' estimates — even this new calculation could be off by billions of years — reflect different approaches to the tricky problem of figuring the universe's real age.

A New York Times political editor has a years-long history of antisemitic and racist comments on his Twitter page, a Breitbart News investigation has found. Tom Wright-Piersanti, who has been a Senior Staff Editor at the New York Times for more than five years according to his LinkedIn page and according to his Twitter page oversees the newspaper’s political coverage, has made a series of antisemitic and racist tweets over the years. Many of them are still public on his Twitter page as of the publication of this article, but some have since been deleted.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Wednesday a bill making California the first state to ban workplace and school discrimination against black people for wearing hairstyles such as braids, twists and locks. The law by Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, a black woman who wears her hair in locks, makes California the first state to explicitly say that those hairstyles are associated with race and therefore protected against discrimination in the workplace and in schools. “We are changing the course of history, hopefully, across this country by acknowledging that what has been defined as...

Former Vice President Joe Biden has reportedly pocketed millions in income since exiting the Obama administration, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Biden, who often remarks from the 2020 presidential campaign trail that he was once the poorest member of the U.S. Senate, has reportedly taken in millions of dollars since leaving the vice presidency, largely from book deals and speaking fees. The Post reported that public documents revealed Biden's speaking fees sometimes cost as much as $200,000.

Ten Cent Beer NightTen Cent Beer Night was a promotion held by Major League Baseball during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Stadium on Tuesday, June 4, 1974. The idea behind the promotion was to attract more fans to the game by offering 12 U.S. fl oz (354.9 ml) cups of 3.2% beer for just 10 cents each (regular price was 65 cents) with a limit of six per purchase. During the game, fans became heavily intoxicated, culminating in a riot in the ninth inning which caused the game to be forfeited due to the crowd's uncontrollable rowdiness and because the game...

The prospect of Donald Trump's impeachment is looking unlikely with Democrats divided over the issue, but the president may end up nudging them closer with the words "I don't do coverups." Trump abruptly walked out on a meeting about infrastructure with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday, refusing to negotiate on policy until Democrats stop investigating him. His statement drew immediate comparisons to Richard Nixon's infamous "I am not a crook" denial, which came months before Congress initiated formal proceedings to level charges against him over the Watergate scandal. "Obviously, any time the...

Up to one million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft UN report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends.

Longtime Colombo under-boss John “Sonny” Franzese is the living embodiment of the ultimate mob rule — bragging in an interview about refusing to rat despite it making him the oldest federal prisoner at the age of 100. Wheelchair-bound Franzese, now 102 and living in a nursing home, told Newsday about his life of crime — and how he stuck to the “Goodfellas” adage of “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut” despite facing 50 years behind bars.

Not long ago, if a U.S. presidential hopeful from either party was mounting a serious bid for the Oval Office, the candidate would seek a spot on the main stage at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, the largest U.S. gathering of the pro-Israel lobby. This year, it seems, not so much. While the 2019 speakers list was stacked with officials from President Donald Trump's administration and Republican Party grandees, most major Democratic presidential candidates for 2020 were missing from the conference altogether.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke told supporters Sunday that he’s never taken LSD and there’s “nothing” he hasn’t already revealed about his past that could come back to hurt his run for office. The former Texas congressman — who has become known for his propensity for using the “f-word” — also promised again to clean up his language, despite breaking such past vows.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is setting a high bar for impeachment of President Donald Trump, saying he is “just not worth it” even as some on her left flank clamor to start proceedings. Pelosi said in an interview with The Washington Post that “I’m not for impeachment” of Trump. “Unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country,” she said. While she has made similar comments before, Pelosi is making clear to her caucus and to voters that Democrats will not move forward...

Staffers at ABC’s Good Morning America are defending host Robin Roberts for the “bad optics” of her interview last week with Jussie Smollett in which the Empire star, who was arrested and charged Wednesday with filing a false police report, vehemently maintained he was telling the truth about last month’s purported assault in Chicago.

William F. Weld, the former two-term governor of Massachusetts, said Friday he is launching a presidential exploratory committee, taking a formal step to become the first Republican to directly challenge President Trump in the 2020 GOP primary.

1998: U.S. President Bill Clinton is impeached by the House of Representatives. He is later acquitted by the Senate.

A Vice Media reporter will have to hand over records of his conversations with an alleged ISIS member to police following a Supreme Court of Canada decision. In the unanimous decision released Friday, the top court upheld a lower court's ruling regarding the work of reporter Ben Makuch.

Book by wife of ex-U.S. president details ups and downs of marriage, political life

"Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how," the Beach Boys have been telling us in song since 1962. And if you haven't started listening by now — and you live in California — perhaps it's time you did.On Monday surfing became the official sport of California.So grab a board, catch a wave and again as the Beach Boys like to say, find yourself, "sittin' on top of the world.""I am stoked that surfing is now California's official sport," declared Al Muratsuchi, state assemblyman and a dedicated surfer dude himself, after Gov. Jerry Brown put his signature to the new law...

The 2008 U.S. financial bailout cost more than the Marshall Plan, Louisiana Purchase, Race to the Moon, S&L bailout, Korean War, New Deal, Iraq War, Vietnam War, and NASA�s lifetime budget-combined. The bailout total was $4.62 trillion.

Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer and academic, has revealed he has been "shunned" by former friends on Martha's Vineyard because of his defence of President Donald Trump. The 73-year-old former Harvard Law professor claims liberal elites have closed ranks to exclude him from their social circles on the wealthy Massachusetts island because of his defence of the president's civil liberties. Mr Dershowitz, who famously defended OJ Simpson, has been a vocal critic of the decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate the US president for possible Russian collusion in the 2016 election.