BOSTON (UPI) -- Overweight and obese U.S. teens gain less weight when they consume fewer sugary drinks, researchers say.Cara Ebbeling and Dr. David Ludwig of Boston Children‘s Hospital and colleagues said their study involved 224 overweight or obese ninth- and 10th-graders who regularly drank 1.7 sugary beverages a day.The year-long study intervention was designed to reduce consumption of these be

NEW ORLEANS (UPI) -- Chronic stress during pregnancy prevents brain benefits of motherhood in rats, a finding that suggests a link to postpartum depression, U.S. researchers say.Lead author Benedetta Leuner of Ohio State University in Columbus said the study showed an increase of dendritic spines in new mothers‘ brains was associated with improved cognitive function on a task that requires behavio

The World Bank said Monday that it will open its office in South Korea next year in order to deepen joint efforts between the two sides in finding development solutions for emerging countries.The Seoul government also agreed to launch a $90 million fund with the global lender to step up cooperation in supporting emerging countries for their development, according to heads of the two sides.The "Kor

NEW YORK -- Vitamin C may protect against osteoporosis -- a disease in which the bones of the elderly become brittle and can fracture, U.S. researchers say.  Dr. Mone Zaidi, director of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Bone Program, and colleagues removed the ovaries of mice, a procedure -- ovariectomies -- known to reduce bone density, and compared them with control mice that had “sham” operati

SYDNEY (AFP) -- A sumptuous new French restaurant in Sydney said Wednesday it would remove two urinals designed to resemble a woman‘s lipsticked mouth, apologising for any offence they have caused.The Ananas Bar and Brasserie said the bright red-lipped urinals shaped like an open mouth were “a commonly used European design piece from female Dutch artist Meike van Schijndel.”“We sincerely apologise

South Korea's central bank cut the key interest rate on Thursday following the second straight month of the freeze as the local economy loses steam on weaker exports and sluggish domestic demand.Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his six fellow policymakers lowered the benchmark 7-day repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.75 percent for October, the second rate cut this year.The October

Pop singer Kim Jang-hoon and “Gangnam Style” sensation Psy made up after alleged conflicts over Psy’s copying of Kim’s stage techniques.  Psy (left) and Kim Jang-hoon. (YouTube)At a show “Night of the Stars 2012” held at a hotel in Seoul, Kim unexpectedly appeared onstage with Psy and publicly said he felt sorry for causing the trouble.“I apologize for making it hard for Jae-sang (Psy’s real name)

RICHLANDS, Australia (UPI) -- An Australian teenager faces an attempted murder charge after she allegedly gave two brothers brownies doused with household cleaners.The mother of the two boys, ages 12 and 13, said one of them realized immediately after biting into a brownie that something was wrong with it, The Courier-Mail of Brisbane reported. Neither suffered any ill effects. The 14-year-old gir

(123rf)WELLINGTON, New Zealand (UPI) -- A New Zealand woman mistakenly taken for being pregnant by an airline attendant got an apology from the airline -- and $100 off her next flight. Kelsey Hughes, 21, was boarding a flight from Wellington to Christchurch in New Zealand when a Jetstar flight attendant asked to see a doctor‘s note saying she was approved to fly while pregnant.Hughes said she was

(MCT)LUND, Sweden (UPI) -- Intensive learning of a new language can make certain areas of the brain increase in size, Swedish researchers say.Scientists studied young recruits at the Swedish Armed Forces Interpreter Academy who learned a new language at a very fast pace, going from having no knowledge of a language such as Arabic, Russian or Dari to speaking it fluently in the space of 13 months.M

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (UPI) -- A 32-year-old Florida man ate dozens of cockroaches and worms to win a contest and then he died, authorities said.Edward Archbold of West Palm Beach went outside after winning the contest at the Ben Siegal Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach Friday and collapsed. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, The Miami Herald reported.An autopsy was to be perf

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., (UPI) -- One-in-4 U.S. moms say young children tasting alcohol may discourage teen drinking, while 40 percent say banning alcohol may make it appealing, a study found. In addition to those who favored letting kids taste alcohol so it is no longer a “forbidden fruit,” and those who said banning alcohol only makes if more desirable, 22 percent of the 1,050 mothers inter

NEW YORK (UPI) -- Rapper Jay-Z took the subway to his final performance at New York City’s Barclays Center, where his wife, Beyonce, joined him on stage. Rapper Jay-Z performs the inaugural concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Friday in New York. (AP-Yonhap News)The Brooklyn-native took the R train from Canal Street in Manhattan to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Saturday night for the last o

PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. (UPI) -- A Florida mother who shot and killed her four children and then herself had twice the legal limit of alcohol in her blood, autopsy results showed.Tonya Thomas, 33, of Port St. John, Fla., had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent. Toxicology experts said that level of intoxication would have impaired her judgment and could have played a role in the tragedy, Florida T

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged "maximum restraint" Thursday after Syria and Turkey traded artillery fire across their shared border in a deadly exchange that sent regional tensions soaring.Turkey demanded strong UN Security Council action after the Syrian fire killed five Turkish women and children Wednesday, but Russian objections stalled action on a resolution condemning Dama

BEIJING (AP) -- A landslide in southwestern China has toppled an elementary school building and buried 18 students and another person.The Chinese government said the landslide struck a village in Yiliang county in Yunnan province on Thursday morning.A statement on the Yiliang government website says the landslide caused a school to collapse and that 18 students were believed to have been in the bu

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (UPI) -- A randomized controlled trial of people who received a large dose of vitamin D did not have fewer incidence or severity of colds, New Zealand researchers say.Dr. David R. Murdoch of the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on incidence and severity of upper

MUNICH, Germany (UPI) -- Ten years of images from the Hubble space telescope have been combined for the best, deepest-ever view of the universe, U.S. and European astronomers say.The photo, assembled by combining a decade of NASA/European Space Agency Hubble observations of a patch of sky within the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field, has been dubbed eXtreme Deep Field or XDF, the Hubble European Sp

SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- Parents can make a big difference by helping to instill healthy behaviors in their children, a U.S. health and wellness company says. Dr. Mary Jane Osmick, vice president and medical director of health services for American Specialty Health -- which provides fitness and exercise programs for health plans, insurance carriers and employer groups -- said obesity now affects 17 perc

SEATTLE (UPI) -- Microbial life may have migrated from Earth’s oceans to land by 2.75 billion years ago, producing oxygen earlier than previously thought, U.S. scientists say.Research reported from the University of Washington suggests the land-based microbes were producing oxygen well in advance of what geologists refer to as the “Great Oxidation Event” about 2.4 billion years ago that initiated