By: Jill Sheffield
Ā Ā Ā Reading the news is usually an ordeal of watching the world fall apart at an accelerating pace, so when four United Nations agencies offer a new count of mothersā deaths worldwide in pregnancy and childbirth, one braces for another depressing and insoluble problem. The numbers over the past 20 years, after all, have been stubbornly high: one death per minute on average.
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<p> Have we become so cynical as to believe that Arizona elected officials make claims solely for political gain? Are we to believe that politicians promote fear in order to advance their own agenda? Selling down your state by discouraging tourists and visitors is unthinkable, unconscionable and a reckless disregard for the welfare of the state already reeling in economic red ink</p>
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<p> Imagine my surprise Tuesday morning (14 September) when I walked into the lobby of the finest hotel in the civilized world, Las Vegasā Belaggio Hotel, and heard the sound of trumpets. There stood eight Mexican musicians, seven men and one woman dressed in immaculate white mariachi costumes playing their hearts out.</p>