Abortion

The Centers for Disease Control reports that the number of American women who received abortions in 1997 was the lowest in more than 20 years. In 1997, 20 of every 1,000 women of reproductive age (15 to 44 years) had abortions, the same rate as in the previous two years. However, the number of abortions for every 1,000 live births dropped from 314 in 1996 to 305 in 1997, the lowest since 1975. Notwithstanding, Americans still abort about one-third of the babies conceived.

Israel

Israel's leading orthodox rabbis have issued a ruling banning the Internet from Jewish homes, arguing that it is "1,000 times more dangerous than television" and threatens the survival of the country. The ruling, issued by the Council of Torah Sages—which also banned television 30 years ago—attempts to halt the infiltration of "sin and abomination" into the homes of the ultra-orthodox, whose children have been shielded from the temptations of the modern world. The rabbinical group claims the Internet "puts the future generations of Israel in grave danger in a way that no other threat has since Israel became a nation."

Environment

A new study reports that fertilizer levels the Environmental Protection Agency says are safe for human drinking water can kill some species of frogs. Oregon State University researchers found some tadpoles and young frogs raised in water with low levels of nitrates typical of fertilizer runoff ate less, developed physical abnormalities, suffered paralysis and eventually died. Of those in control tanks with normal water, none died. The fertilizer runoff may be encouraging the growth of algae that feeds tiny parasitic flatworms called trematodes, blamed for causing deformities in frogs around the U.S.

Genetics

Japanese scientists have bred the clone of a cloned bull, the first time a large cloned animal has itself been cloned. The calf, born at the Kagoshima Prefectural Cattle Breeding Development Institute in southern Japan, is part of a project to study life expectancy and aging of cloned animals. Now three generations of genetically identical bulls—the original animal and two clones—are being studied at the institute.

Homosexuality

Forced to act by a European Court of Human Rights ruling, Britain says it will lift its ban on gays in the military but will impose a new code of conduct on all personnel, heterosexual or homosexual. Britain's Labor Party government must lift the ban because the court ruled in September in favor of four gays who were dismissed from the military. The judges found that the ban represented a grave interference into a person's private life.

Britain

The Royal Navy has had to withdraw a warship from an international exercise because it cannot afford the fuel, Britain's Ministry of Defense admits. Other navy vessels are staying in port to save the rising cost of putting out to sea. Government figures reveal that the navy's fuel budget was cut from £40 million last year to just under £38 million this year, leaving much of the fleet at anchor in Portsmouth.

Medicine

After confirming that a woman died from a heart valve infection that failed to respond to antibiotics, the U.S. government is warning hospitals that some strains of staph bacteria may be resistant to vancomycin, the antibiotic of last resort for lingering infections. The Illinois woman's death is the first of its kind in the U.S.