Guinea worm disease has been prevalent in African and Asian populations since antiquity. But according to Jimmy Carter, the disease may be on the verge of being eradicated. The former US president has pioneered a global effort to fight Dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease through his work with the Carter Center, a foundation he and his wife, Rosalind, established for fighting disease and promoting human rights.

Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities turned over four sets of remains believed to be of US soldiers killed decades ago, at a repatriation ceremony Tuesday at Hanoi's international airport.

Dao Xuan Kinh, director of Vietnam's Office for Seeking Missing Persons, said they were believed to be of US pilots shot down over the country between 1965 and
1972.

"We found these four sets of remains in four different provinces in northern Vietnam," Kinh said.

The remains were put on a US Air Force aircraft for transport back to the United States and forensic testing.

The WHO has laid down strict guidelines on industrial chemical melamine. The move is prompted to prevent food contamination scandals similar to the one experienced by China this year. Before the discovery of melamine contamination , the FDA could not determine any safe level for the chemical in formula.

Munich - Bayern Munich Willy Sagnol faces the end of his football career over an Achilles tendon injury, the local tz daily reported on Tuesday.

Sagnol, 31, said that an operation scheduled for this week to ease the pain has been scrapped. Asked whether he has hope of returning to the pitch, he told the tz: "I don't know where to get it from."

The former France defender has not played since May and underwent surgery in August. He had initially hoped that another operation would put an end to his misery and allow him to return to the pitch.

Sagnol came to Munich in 2000 and has a contract until 2010.

Washington, Dec 9 : Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie and Hollywood actor Brad Pitt are keen to settle down in New Orleans, Louisiana, permanently as they think the city''s racial diversity reflects their families’ mixed heritages.

The ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ actress, who has 6 children with Pitt including adopted Maddox, seven, from Cambodia, Pax, four, from Vietnam, and Zahara, three, from Ethiopia and three biological children Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne, firmly says they are learning about various cultures by living in New Orleans.

Paris - A French web surfer who advised a young girl on the internet how to commit suicide has been sentenced to one year in prison, the daily Le Parisien reported on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old resident of the eastern region of Haute-Savoie, identified only as Joel A., was convicted of advising 16-year-old Florence, who lived in western France, how to use morphine to take her own life.

Florence's body was found on September 5, 2005, in a forest near her home in Brittany. Her parents then examined her computer and discovered traces of her chat room exchanges with Joel.