Free Republic

MINNEAPOLIS - Schools that run bake sales and let teachers reward students with candy risk having more overweight pupils, a study in Minneapolis suggests. That offers some vindication to the schools across the country that have cracked down on cupcakes and cookies on campus. Lead author Martha Kubik, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, acknowledged her research doesn't prove that such food practices contribute to adolescent obesity, but there does seem to be a connection. "I think we all have to step back and look at what we're doing to contribute to practices that might not support children...

LONDON, June 30 (UPI) -- Only 1 percent of overweight women in a British survey said they are happy with their shape, blaming the celebrity culture for their attitude. Of the 4,000 overweight women questioned by the National Slimming Survey, 83 percent said they suffered from deep "self-loathing". Some 91 percent felt depressed and 79 percent said they felt "utter despair." Two-thirds of overweight women said they have felt like "life is not worth living," Sky News reported. The survey also said 74 percent admitted to hiding food in their bedroom, car, garage or garden. About half of respondents removed...

United States military officials have said it is increasingly believed in the Pentagon that the Syrian regime is assisting insurgents on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The Pentagon has not gone public with this assumption for lack of conclusive evidence. However, leaks suggest they believe there are mounting signs that Syria is offering logistical support to armed men on the border, facilitating their passage into Iraq, supplying them with arms and allowing them to return for fresh supplies. The U.S. Army has been involved in bloody clashes with terrorists on the Syrian border in northwestern Iraq since last week. The fighting started...