Women who work more than 40 hours a week or routinely lift heavy loads may take longer to get pregnant than women who don’t, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers followed 1,739 nurses who were trying to get pregnant and estimated 16 percent of them failed to achieve this goal within 12 months, and 5 percent still hadn’t conceived after two years. MORE

A wildfire that forced some California residents to flee their home for a second time in recent weeks is rapidly growing, prompting authorities to order more evacuations.Several fires are raging in other parts of the parched West 63 PHOTOS

Nine people reportedly died of heatstroke over the past three days in the hospital of Wadi Halfa, Sudan, owing to a heat wave that is sweeping the country.

Mohamed Hassan Shanan, medical director of the Wadi Halfa hospital told reporters on Wednesday, that the authorities have increased electricity supplies to the hospital in order to cover the growing number of patients because of the heatwave.”Nevertheless nine of them died.” MORE

A federal judge’s order that a county clerk must violate her Christian faith and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples to meet the constitutional right to homosexual unions newly created by the U.S. Supreme Court now is under challenge at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The notice of appeal was filed by attorneys with Liberty Counsel immediately after U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Rowan, Kentucky, County Clerk Kim Davis to violate her deeply held religious beliefs, protected by the First Amendment, and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The judge’s ruling appeared to advance President Obama’s ongoing campaign to replace “freedom of religion” with “freedom of worship.” MORE

Cayce, SC (WLTX)- Wednesday is the first day of teacher orientation for Brookland-Cayce High School. Among the new teachers is one the school hopes will help with an increase in immigrant students.  MORE

Japanese robotics professor Masahiro Mori devised the concept of the ‘uncanny valley’ in 1970. It’s the point at which a robot is made to appear so human-like — if not quite human enough — that it inspires feelings of uneasiness and revulsion in we mere mortals. In other words, humanoid robots really give us the creeps. (Remember the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back?) MORE

Dramatic satellite images from this morning show the gigantic thunderstorm that is in the process of smashing its way across Britain.

The apocalyptic-looking weather front has come across from France – and is sparking fears that up to 50mm of rain will fall over the next two days. MORE

No death penalty, no justice.

HARTFORD — After a sweeping two-year review, the state Supreme Court outlawed capital punishment in Connecticut, saying Thursday that the state’s death penalty no longer comports with evolved societal values and serves no valid purpose as punishment. MORE

Washington – Donald Trump said Tuesday that Jesus Christ was a ‘socialist loser’ because he used to feed the poor and heal the sick.

Then Trump – the Republican presidential contender who has captured the hearts and minds of at least 20% of the nation’s Republicans – vowed:

“Believe me, Trump would never help the poor.” MORE

Last September, Jacqueline Straub wrote a letter to the pope. (First off: People still write letters?) But Straub wasn’t fishing for a papal pen pal. While some might argue she was using pen and paper to beat her head against a wall, Straub, a 24-year-old theology student, would likely counter that she was taking a step toward career change. Using quotes from St. Augustine as backup, she urged Pope Francis to “recognize the signs of the time.” Sassy! And quite possibly delusional. Straub, you see, wants to shatter one of the Catholic church’s most fundamental traditions and become a priest. MORE

For as hard as Donald Trump is running for president, you could be forgiven for thinking he was running against Ford.

Throughout his insurgent campaign, Trump has repeatedly attacked the idea of automakers exporting jobs to Mexico while importing cars, specifically Ford. That line drew applause when he deployed it in Michigan on Tuesday, saying he’d be the only president who would would stop Ford from building a new factory in Mexico: MORE

A mostly uncontrolled wildfire in Lake and Napa counties continued its push to the northeast Tuesday, nearly merging with the massive blaze that has burned in the region for two weeks and attracting hundreds of additional firefighters in a bid to shield rural ranches and communities in the fire’s path. MORE

ZURICH (Reuters) – Neutral Switzerland will officially lift on Thursday sanctions against Iran that had been suspended since January 2014, the government announced on Wednesday, citing a deal last month between Tehran and six big powers to curb Iran’s nuclear program. MORE

Hundreds of customers remained without power Tuesday afternoon after an enormous wall of dust — called a haboob — pushed into the Phoenix area, turning the sky an eerie shade of red.

More than 10,000 customers lost power in the region Tuesday morning, electric utilities said, and several inbound flights were diverted at Sky Harbor International Airport. MORE