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The government should ban high-sugar cereals such as Coco Pops and other foods that are contributing to an obesity epidemic among British children, the shadow health secretary has urged. Regulations limiting the amount of sugar, salt and fat in processed foods should be considered if the food industry does not take action itself, according to Labour’s Andy Burnham, who has begun a consultation on how to tackle obesity. Burnham highlighted the case of breakfast cereals, saying many aimed at children are more than one-third sugar by weight. …

"It's in their genes" is a common refrain from scientists when asked about factors that allow centenarians to reach age 100 and beyond. Up until now, research has focused on genetic variations that offer a physiological advantage such as high levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol. But researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University have found that personality traits like being outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and enjoying laughter as well as staying engaged in activities may also be part of the longevity genes mix. The findings, published online May 21 in the journal...

An 86-year-old Dunmore man who had oral sex with a teenage runaway boy was sentenced Tuesday to six to 23 months in prison by Lackawanna County judge Vito Geroulo. Joseph "Pops" Gyuriska, who was a school crossing guard in Dunmore for 20 years, will be eligible for house arrest after three months, said Assistant District Attorney Mariclare L. Hayes. Mr. Gyuriska pleaded guilty to one count of corruption of minors in August and prosecutors dropped endangering the welfare of children and related counts. At a preliminary hearing in April, the teen said Mr. Gyuriska took him shopping and bought him...

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi insinuated that Israel was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Speaking Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly, Gadhafi implied that Israel may have plotted to kill Kennedy in 1963 because he allegedly wanted to launch a probe into its clandestine nuclear program. “Jack Ruby, an Israeli, killed Lee Harvey Oswald,” the Libyan leader was quoted by the translator as saying. “Why did this Israeli kill Harvey? Ruby later died mysteriously. The whole world should know that Kennedy wanted to investigate the actions of the Israeli nuclear reactor in Dimona.”

Two local men forced a runaway teenager to have sex on film in exchange for gifts or money, law enforcement officials say. County detectives began investigating when a 16-year-old boy appeared at a juvenile court hearing March 24 with Joseph G. Burns, 28, of Throop, with whom the teen had been living for a few weeks. At the hearing, Mr. Burns lied under oath about his age, investigators say. After he was charged with perjury, Detective Michelle Mancuso interviewed him. “I had an idea there was something going on,” the detective said. “What is he doing hanging around with a...

Investing: old vinyl's top of the pops Last Updated: 2:52am GMT 09/02/2008 Vintage records are shooting up the investment charts – if you know which ones to buy. Toby Walne reports Vinyl can provide record returns for investors willing to take a musical spin with their money. The Holy Grail is That'll be the Day, a seven-inch single recorded exactly 50 years ago by the Quarrymen – the group that later became the Beatles. On paper it is worth £100,000, but experts believe it might fetch more than double this at auction, if the only known disc could be wrestled...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Feb. 7, 2008 – In a room lit only by sunlight streaming in, a soldier bites through the plastic wrapper of a package of pencils. With children waiting excitedly in the adjoining rooms, there is not time to waste pulling out a knife. Army Sgt. Jeff Wilkerson, an M1-A2 Abrams tank gunner with Multinational Division Baghdad, “high-fives” a child outside a school in Bayrk, Iraq, Feb. 2, 2008. Wilkerson and fellow soldiers delivered backpacks, pencils and stuffed animals to the school children. Photo by Pfc. April Campbell, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The morning’s...

Y'all know the rules. No spittin', kickin', gougin', cussin', listin', or disobeying the grand poobah of the neeners, the Lord High Protector, yada, yada, rights and privileges apertaining thereunto. Special dispensations, indulgences, awards granted solely at the whim of the Lord High Protector. Absolutely NO lists!

BOSTON (Reuters) - A fistfight in the balcony stopped the music on opening night at the Boston Pops, drawing gasps from hundreds of well-heeled guests at one of the country's oldest and best-known city orchestras. Famous for light classical music and family pop tunes from decades past, the orchestra briefly halted its performance on Wednesday evening as two men wrestled in the side balcony of the 107-year-old Symphony Hall. Concert-goers looked up after a woman's scream interrupted a rendition of the Hollywood musical "Gigi" about 20 minutes into the performance. Shortly afterward, conductor Keith Lockhart stopped the orchestra with a...

Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Boston) will file a bill banning the sale of two types of guns in Massachusetts: a "cop killer" handgun and a rifle capable of disabling aircrafts. Barrios, who chairs the Joint Committee on Public Safety, said the .50 caliber rifle - a weapon capable of firing a five and a half inch round into a target outside the George Sherman Union from Danielsen Hall - opens the door to potential terrorist attacks on "easy targets" around Massachusetts, such as Logan International Airport and the Liquid Natural Gas Tankers in the Mystic River. Barrios and others said the...

U.S. VOTE AT TREATY MEETINGS THREATENED Legislation to make U.S. a partner in persistent organic pollutant pact mired in legal debate CHERYL HOGUE At first glance, the issue seems relatively simple. Republicans, Democrats, industry, environmental groups, and the Bush Administration all agree that the U.S. should become a partner in three international treaties controlling chemicals. For this to happen, Congress must pass legislation making minor changes to the federal laws governing commercial chemicals and pesticides. Some squabbling over the particulars is to be expected in the development of any bill, even one on an issue that enjoys widespread support. But...

HAPPY FATHERS DAY To all those great Dads out there HAPPY FATHERS DAY thanks for being there when we needed you and leaving us alone when we needed it too! Thanks for those memorys that we will always cherrish for the shoulder to cry on and the hand up when were down ! Thank Heaven above papa that you were there and bless you for your loving care !

Iron Age pops out of KZN sewer September 06 2002 at 11:42AM Iron Age artefacts between 50,000 and 100,000 years old were unearthed while workers were digging to lay a new sewerage pipe near Amanzimtoti on Thursday. Pieces of iron smelting furnaces, slag and iron ore, arrowheads and bits of human bone had so far been found, said Gavin Anderson of the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg. Once the area had been fully excavated, the artefacts would be displayed in the museum, he said. - Sapa

HE LET HIS BEERS DO THE TALKING The best brewers in America are more accomplished than they are famous. Gordon Knight was one of those. Knight, 52, died on Tuesday after his helicopter crashed while he was fighting a fire near Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. He was trying to drop water on hot spots in a 4,400-acre blaze. Knight, flying a 32-year-old French helicopter, radioed in about 6:30 p.m. and calmly reported, "I'm going down," a Forest Service spokeswoman, Ellen Hodges, said. Unless you drank beer along Colorado's Front Range in the 1990s you probably never tasted one...

Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day." She thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Sonora wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. After Sonora became an adult she realized the selflessness her fatherhad shown in raising his children as...