VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.

Robertson says Alzheimer’s justifiable cause for divorce

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his “700 Club” viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is justifiable because the disease is “a kind of death.”

During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.

“I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her,” Robertson said.

Terry Meeuwsen, Robertson’s co-host, asked him about couples’ marriage vows to take care of each other “for better or for worse” and “in sickness and in health.”

“If you respect that vow, you say ’til death do us part,”‘ Robertson said during the Tuesday broadcast. “This is a kind of death.”

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

Judge blocks law preventing doctors’ queries about guns

In a first-of-its-kind battle over gun rights, a federal judge in Miami has temporarily blocked Florida from enforcing a controversial new law that aimed to prevent doctors from asking patients whether they have firearms in their homes.

The temporary injunction issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke says the law runs afoul of the Constitution’s right to free speech.

The law, nicknamed “Docs vs. Glocks,” was signed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott in June and was strongly backed by the National Rifle Association. It would require that doctors, emergency medical personnel and other health-care providers refrain from asking about gun ownership unless they “in good faith (believe) that this information is relevant to the patient’s medical care or safety, or the safety of others.”

In addition, they could not enter the response into a database.

LAGOS, Nigeria

Pirates capture oil tanker, kidnap 23 sailors aboard

Armed pirates raided a tanker off the West African coast and kidnapped 23 sailors Wednesday, taking off with the vessel in waters that are increasingly at risk of piracy, an international monitoring group said.

The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy worldwide, said pirates boarded the tanker as it idled about 62 nautical miles from Benin’s capital of Cotonou. Pirates struck as the Cyprus-flagged vessel tried to transfer its cargo of crude oil to a Norwegian-registered ship.

The pirates then sailed off with the crew to an unknown location.

 

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