Nation, world briefs 12/10/15

Attempt to block refugees is nixed

AUSTIN, Texas -- A federal judge Wednesday knocked Texas for offering "largely speculative hearsay" about extremists possibly infiltrating Syrian refugees seeking to resettle in the state, rejecting another attempt by Republican leaders to keep out families fleeing the war-torn country. U.S. District Judge David Godbey's ruling cleared the way for the last of 21 Syrian refugees, many of whom are children under the age of 15, to resettle in Houston today. The first dozen arrived earlier this week despite Texas mounting the most aggressive campaign of nearly 30 states that have vowed to ban Syrian refugees after the Paris attacks.

Woman killed by uprooted tree

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Torrential rains pummeled parts of the Pacific Northwest for another night, leaving an Oregon woman dead after a tree fell onto her house. A large Douglas fir tree crashed into a Portland home early Wednesday, killing a 60-year-old woman who was in bed. The tree, about 30 inches in diameter, was uprooted and sliced through the front corner of the house from the back about 3:30 a.m., pinning the woman underneath. Lt. Rich Tyler of the Portland Fire Bureau said the woman's brother and husband escaped without injury. Neighbor Sam Choumxay, whose bedroom window faces the woman's home, said he was awakened by the storm. He said he watched in horror as the tree fell onto his neighbor's house with a thud.

Mexico OKs first dengue vaccine

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican health authorities approved the first vaccine to gain official acceptance for use against the dengue virus, which sickens about 100 million people every year, mostly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The federal medical safety agency said Wednesday the vaccine has undergone testing on over 29,000 patients worldwide. It said the vaccine's manufacturer had proven its safety and effectiveness but did not name the drug. In a separate statement, the Lyon, France-based Sanofi Pasteur identified the vaccine as Dengvaxia. Mexico said the vaccine is aimed at people ages 9 to 45.

Grumpiness doesn't affect lifespan

LONDON -- There's good news for grumpy women: Being happy apparently has no effect on how long you might live. That's the conclusion of the latest attempt to find out whether happy people live longer. Previous studies linked happiness to longevity, but researchers now say there's no such scientific connection. While being sick makes you unhappy, just being grouchy isn't enough to make you ill or shorten your life. The results are based on questionnaires from more than 715,000 British women aged 50 to 69 enrolled in a national breast-cancer screening program in the late 1990s. The women were asked things such as how often they felt happy and how healthy they were. Nearly 40 percent of the women said they were happy most of the time, while 17 percent said they were unhappy. Scientists found the death rate among unhappy women was the same as those who were happy. The study was published Wednesday in the medical journal Lancet.

-- From wire reports