violence news stories on Newser

Violence Can Prematurely Age Children

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:35:05 CDT

It goes without saying that violence has a negative impact on children—but a new study suggests that it can actually age their DNA by as much as seven to 10 years. Researchers examined children's telomeres—DNA sequences found at the ends of chromosomes that keep the chromosomes from unraveling—...

Most Peaceful State: Maine

Polly Davis Doig — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:57:14 CDT

Apparently the moose-on-moose violence is next to nil, because Maine has scored the title of most peaceful state in the union, according to a new survey by the Institute for Economics & Peace. It finds the nation as a whole at its most peaceful point in two decades. Louisiana, meanwhile,...

Rihanna: I'm Not Sorry for Chris Brown Reunion

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:03:00 CDT

Rihanna knows her fans aren't thrilled about the time she's spending with abusive ex-beau Chris Brown —but she doesn't much care. "I'm still going to do what I want to do," she says defiantly in a new interview in Elle . "I respect what other people have to say. The bottom...

New Orleans' Problem: How to Stop All the Murders

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:26:06 CST

Choose nearly any line from a New York Times article on murders in New Orleans, and it will depress you: By late last month, the city had seen 175 homicides in 2011—the same as the total number for all of the previous year—and there have been eight more...

Crime Killing Far More Than War: Study

Kevin Spak — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:24:05 CDT

You’re a lot more likely to be shot by a criminal than by an enemy combatant, according to a new international study. Crime is a drastically larger source of armed violence than war, the 2011 Global Burden of Armed Violence report concludes. Of the 526,000 people killed violently each...

Gay Advocates to Cops: Spot Gay-on-Gay Violence

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:47:03 CDT

A spike in gay domestic violence slayings has alarmed advocates in Massachusetts, who say the justice system is insensitive to warning signs of gay-on-gay abuse. The state has seen seven such killings since 2010, but attempts to educate police have sputtered, the Boston Globe reports. “It was pretty traumatizing,’’...

Cameron Weighs Social Media Ban to Quell Violence

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:18:42 CDT

British Prime Minister David Cameron is calling some unusual characters on the carpet for the violence that rocked England this week: Twitter, Facebook, and Blackberry. In fact, social media played such a key role in the unrest that Cameron is considering blocking users from the systems to prevent violence in...

Facebook Yanks Intifada Page

Mary Papenfuss — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:00:00 CDT

Facebook has yanked an "Intifada" page urging a Palestinian uprising against Israel. The site, the Third Palestinian Intifada, was pulled for promoting violence after Israel complained, said Facebook officials. Some 350,000 people were following the page, which called for an uprising following Muslim prayers on May 15. "Judgment Day...

Brain Links Sex, Violence

Kevin Spak — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:47:26 CST

The same section of the brain may process both sexual and violent urges, a new study suggests. In experiments on mice, scientists discovered a tiny cluster of cells in the hypothalamus that flared to life both while the mice were fighting and while they were having sex, Scientific American explains....