Author: Reporter

A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco, sending people racing from their beds into the darkened streets and toppling buildings in mountainous villages and ancient cities not built to withstand such force. More than 1,000 people were killed, and the toll was expected to rise as rescuers struggled on September 9 to get through boulder-strewn roads to the remote areas hit hardest. The magnitude-6.8 quake, the biggest to hit the North African country in 120 years, sent people fleeing their homes in terror and disbelief on September 8. One man said dishes and wall hangings began raining down, and people...

Food manufacturers who deliberately add sesame to products and include the ingredient on labels are not violating a new federal food allergy law, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in late July. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food safety advocacy group, had petitioned the FDA to halt an unintended consequence of the January law — more companies adding sesame to foods that did not have it before. But the agency denied the advocacy group’s request. More than 1.6 million people in the U.S. are allergic to sesame, food allergy experts say. Food allergies can...

More than 100,000 people in the U.S. have become allergic to red meat since 2010 because of a weird syndrome triggered by tick bites, according to a government report released in late July. But health officials believe many more have the problem and do not know it. A second report estimated that as many as 450,000 Americans have developed the allergy. That would make it the 10th most common food allergy in the U.S., said Dr. Scott Commins, a University of North Carolina researcher who co-authored both papers published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials...

The dogs bark and stare as Kim Jong-kil approaches the rusty cages housing the large animals he sells for their meat. Kim opens a door and pets one dog’s neck and chest. Kim says he is proud of the dog meat farm that has supported his family for 27 years, but is upset over growing attempts by politicians and activists to outlaw the business, which he is turning over to his children. “It’s more than just feeling bad. I absolutely oppose these moves, and we’ll mobilize all our means to resist it,” Kim, 57, said in an interview at...

Scientists are wondering if global warming and El Nino have an accomplice in fueling this summer’s record-shattering heat. The European climate agency Copernicus reported that July was six-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit hotter than the old record. That was a bump in heat that is so recent and so big, especially in the oceans and even more so in the North Atlantic, that scientists are split on whether something else could be at work. Scientists agree that by far the biggest cause of the recent extreme warming is climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas...