Skip Navigation - Search the MetOnline

Metonline Logo
Powered by Google

Volume 27, Issue 2, August 19, 2004

National & World News

 

Target stores to open clinics
Target shoppers in Maryland will now be able to go to the doctor without ever having to leave the store. Eight Baltimore-area Target stores will open MinuteClinics, small clinics where patients can be treated for ailments such as strep throat, pink eye, bronchitis, flu and seasonal allergies. A test for strep throat costs $48 and treatment of earaches, bronchitis and pink eye costs $44. The clinics will also start offering flu shots starting Oct. 1.
Visits are designed to be fast and will take no more than 15 minutes.

Maine hospital redesigns gowns out of respect
Old drafty and revealing hospital gowns are being pushed aside by not so embarrassing gowns that cover patients better. In Portland, Maine, many Muslim women felt ashamed due to outdated revealing gowns. For some Muslim women, the inability for old hospital gowns to cover them was unbearable. Around three out of ten Muslim women were canceling appointments at Maine Medical Center due to drafty gowns. The new gowns have longer arms and bottoms with more fabric in the back. Some hospitals are also using more Velcro and buttons.

Archaeologists find religious artifacts in Israeli cave
John the Baptist may have baptized many of his followers in a cave recently discovered by archaeologists in Kibbutz Tzuba, Israel. The archaeologists found thousands of shards from ritual jugs, as well as carvings telling the story of John the Baptist.

Some scholars have said the archaeologists’ finds aren’t enough to support the theory that the cave they found is where the biblical leader once preached.

According to the Bible, John was a distant relative of Jesus who preached repentance and had an extensive following. The cave is just 2.5 miles away from John’s hometown of Ein Kerem, now known as Jerusalem and is reported to have been used as a ritual immersion pool starting in the Iron Age.

Populations of developed nations to decrease by 2050
While the world’s population will increase to nine billion people by 2050, Russia, Germany, Italy and Japan will see a decrease in population, with Japan’s decreasing by 20 percent, according to a recent study.

The United States, one of the top industrialized nations in the world, however is expected to see a population increase of 43 percent from the current 293 million to 420 million people at mid-century. China, the world’s most populous nation, will see a population increase of 10 percent by 2050, but will peak in 2025. India’s population is expected to rise almost 50 percent to 1.6 billion
The annual study by the Population Reference Bureau determined the rates by looking at the number of birth rates, economic conditions and immigration growth.

-Info courtesy of USA Today

Compiled by Clayton Woullard and Dillon Bohlender.