Alanyaistime

Help for a 'hidden population' of caregiving kids

Boca Raton, Florida (CNN) -- At 13 years old, Nickolaus Dent is his mother's primary caregiver.

He's responsible for the grocery shopping and cooking. He cleans the house. He does all the laundry.

His mother, Janine Helms, has been battling HIV for as long as Nickolaus can recall, and her health has deteriorated in the last couple of years. Nickolaus makes sure she takes her medication. He often helps her get dressed, and at times, he has helped her bathe.

Nickolaus' father died two years ago...

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Does Spain deserve its financial battering?

Madrid -- The events of the past few weeks have made increasingly probable what was once considered impossible: Greece may exit the euro.

The country, which is in its fifth year of recession, has recently proved ungovernable and has a debt it can probably never repay despite bailouts, may find itself forced to default and reissue its own currency. The question now tormenting markets is -- will Spain follow the same path?

No one would argue that Spain is in good shape. Entering its second yea...

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UN: ‘observers alone cannot solve Syrian conflict’

The leader of the UN observer team in Syria says the mission will fail without genuine talks between the two sides involved in the conflict.

Events are hard to verify but amateur video shows continuing violence despite the presence of around 260 UN personnel on the ground.

Major General Robert Mood said: “No volume of observers can achieve a progressive drop and a permanent end to the violence, if the commitment to give a dialogue a chance is not genuine from all the internal and external actors.”...

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Tadic ahead in polls to win Serbian presidential runoff

Latest polls suggest outgoing Serbian President Boris Tadic is poised to win the presidential runoff on Sunday. Thursday marked the last day of official campaigning.

Opposition candidate Tomislav Nikolic’s party narrowly won the parliamentary elections on May 6th which meant they could have been in a position of power. However, Tadic’s party announced the formation of a governing coalition with the third-placed Socialists. Serbian Political Analyst, Vladimir Todoric, explains how this will freeze...

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Facebook shares lacklustre in early trading

Shares in the social networking website Facebook made their debut on Friday and did not get the expected bounce.

They floated after founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell for the Nasdaq exchange remotely from the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.

It is the third-largest initial public offering of shares in US history behind General Motors and Visa.

Valued at over 100 billion dollars – more than 80 billion euros – Facebook is worth more than Deutsche Bank, BMW and Ad...

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Experts: Circumstances of Florida family slayings 'really unusual'

The early-morning slaughter of four Florida siblings at the hands of what authorities say was their mother is an "almost unheard of" case, crime experts said Wednesday.

Investigators are still trying to determine what happened at the Port St. John home of 33-year-old Tonya Thomas early Tuesday morning. But Patricia Pearson, author of "When She was Bad: How and Why Women Get Away with Murder," said mass killings with women as a perpetrator are rare -- and when they do happen, they typically ...

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Human rights abuses to be probed in Brazil

Brazil’s President has sworn-in members of a Truth Commission, who will investigate human rights abuses committed during the country’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship.

However, the inquiry falls short of calls for abusers to face justice. An amnesty law means there will be no prosecutions.

“Brazil deserves the truth, the new generations deserve the truth and, above all, those who lost friends and relatives deserve the truth and the facts,” said President Dilma Rousseff, herself a former political ...

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Picture of the day

Cinema goers watch a Pashto film at Cinema goers watch a Pashto film at Pamir Cinema in Kabul. Once a treasured luxury for the elite, Afghan cinemas reflect an industry on the brink of collapse from conflict and financial neglect. Kabul’s cinemas show Pakistani films in Pashto, American action films and cinema goers watch a Pashto film at Pamir Cinema in Kabul. Once a treasured luxury for the elite, Afghan cinemas reflect an industry on the brink of collapse from conflict and financial neglect. K...

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Portugal: Air traffic strike disrupts flights

Fresh strike action by air traffic controllers has seriously disrupted flights in Portugal, with delays and cancellations causing misery for passengers.

It is thought some 200 flights would have been affected by the end of the day.

Thursday’s walkouts are part of an ongoing protest at government spending cuts and restructuring in the sector. Further stoppages are planned on Friday and in a week’s time.

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Mladic war crimes trial adjourned over ‘irregularities’

The trial of the former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic has been adjourned in The Hague until further notice.

The court said the prosecution had failed to transfer documents to the defence, which has argued it’s not ready and needs another six months to prepare.

A judge said a new date would be announced as soon as possible.

Earlier, prosecutors were able to outline their
evidence of the commander’s alleged involvement in the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.

A video was played to the court w...

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Cannes Film Festival in sexism row

Cannes is no stranger to drama – both on screen and off. And while the 65th edition of the film festival opens later, celebrations have been marred by a row over sexism as all 22 movies in competition have been directed by men.

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UN observers’ car hit by blast in Syria

A car belonging to UN monitors in Syria has been damaged by an explosion in the central town of Khan Sheikhoun.

None of the observer team was hurt, according to one of the members. But activists say Syrian security forces opened fire on a crowd during the visit, killing at least 21 people.

The monitors were investigating a shooting when the blast happened.

The team are said to have lost their vehicles but were apparently safe with rebels from the Free Syria Army.

Internet footage showed damage to a ...

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Algeria elections: final results confirm ruling party win

Final results confirm that Algeria’s ruling party, the National Liberation Front, came out on top in last week’s parliamentary elections.

Its partner in government, the National Democratic Rally, finished second – taking the overall majority for the two parties to 291 seats.

Dozens of political groups took part in the poll, after Algeria’s president gave the all clear for new ones to be formed.

A year on after Arab Spring protests elsewhere, an alliance of Islamist parties failed to win over many v...

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Facebook boosts IPO size

Facebook on Wednesday increased the size of its initial public offering of shares by 25 percent.

The additional shares will be sold by early investors including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Accel Partners’ James Breyer, investment manager Tiger Global Management and Goldman Sachs, the company said in a filing.

The company itself has not increased the number of shares it will sell.

That came after Facebook put up the target price range of the shares in what could be the third biggest US IPO ever, af...

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France awaits a new cabinet

Government changes continue afoot in France. Outgoing Prime Minister François Fillon left Matignon, the premier’s official residence making way for Jean-Marc Ayrault.

The 62-year-old former German teacher and long time ally of President François Hollande will head a cabinet, the names of whom are expected to be announced on Wednesday afternoon.

It has been reported the cabinet will not include Socialist Party boss Martine Aubry, a veteran who oversaw France’s shift to a 35-hour working week despit...

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Hollande and Merkel pledge joint eurozone proposals

The new French President Francois Hollande and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel have vowed to put forward joint proposals to next month’s EU summit on tackling the eurozone crisis .

They held their first meeting and news conference in Berlin, on the day Hollande officially took office.

Another informal summit is to be held next week.

The two leaders also said they wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone. President Hollande said he wanted the Greek people to know that Europe was ready to help them ...

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Florida A&M trustees: Band suspension will remain in place

The Florida A&M University marching band will remain suspended through the 2012-2013 academic year while the school works to set new rules following the fatal hazing of a band member, university President James Ammons said in a conference call Monday with trustees.

"I was heavily influenced by the need to be respectful to Robert Champion's family as well as the other victims," Ammons said. " A young man lost his life and others suffered serious injuries."

Authorities say Champion, 26, wa...

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