London: Before meeting with the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, British finance minister Alistair Darling told that the US and Britain have the same opinion that the monetary system needs more authority.

Darling said, “Hank Paulson and I both agree what's necessary is more discipline is needed in the financial system and far more openness.”

The two men are due to get together later on Monday with the worldwide credit crunch expected to dominate discussion as banking institution battle to obtain credit.

Washington, September 19: A new study on mice by an Emory-led team of scientists has found an important way by which chronic viral infections escape the immune response.

Chronic infections are able to suppress the immune T-cell response over time, whereby it poses one of the biggest challenges to treating infectious diseases and developing preventive vaccines.

Washington, Sept 19: Demi Moore has officially changed her name to Mrs Ashton Kutcher, two years after tying the knot with her actor hubby.

The actress has changed her named on her driving license, credit cards, passport and other documents.

An insider revealed to In Touch magazine that Moore made the switch for her husband’s sake.

"Demi did this for Ashton. She knew that this was something he wanted, so she finally made the switch," Contactmusic quoted the source, as telling the mag.

A new poll of New Hampshire voters has revealed that Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton are still leading their respective parties for the presidential nomination.

According to the survey conducted for Franklin Pierce University and WBZ, Clinton has the backing of 36% of Democratic parties, over Barack Obama with 18% and John Edwards with 12%. Bill Richardson has 10 percent and all other nominees are at 3% or below.

In the Republican race, Romney leads Rudy Giuliani, 30% to 23% and John McCain with 14 percent, and Fred Thompson has 8 percent.

Sept 19: Kerry Katona wants Britney Spears to check herself into rehab once again, and stay there till she sorts herself out.

The former Atomic Kitten band member gives Britney the piece of advice in her OK! magazine column.

"Britney, get your a*** in shape! Get down to rehab, stay in f***ing rehab!" The Sun quotes her, as writing in the column.

Washington, Sept 19: Researchers at Stanford University have developed a method that might help give the results of pre-natal tests within just a few hours instead of two weeks, thus making the early detection of Down syndrome and other birth defects that involve an abnormal number of chromosomes possible.

Scientists in California reported the advancement and the report has been published in Oct. 1, 2007 issue of ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry.

Washington, Sept 19: A new research has found a link between a history of depression in the teenage mothers, a particular style of mothering called “maternal overcontrol”, and increased stress reactivity of their babies.

Teenage pregnancy is considered a major concern, for these young mothers are prone to increased risk for becoming depressed. And the behavioral problem in these young mothers is related to later psychiatric or behavioral problems in some of their offspring.

Washington, Sept 19: Britney Spears will have to undergo periodic random drug tests to convince the family court system that she is fit enough to take care of her kids.

Court documents show that the troubled singer will have to take two tests a week to ensure that she gets to keep joint custody of her young sons – Sean Preston and Jayden James.

Washington, Sept 19:  Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health have found that a lot of misconceptions exist about Alzheimer's among people of different races.

From the "Public opinion about Alzheimer's disease among Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites" survey, the scientists also found that a large percentage of people have no knowledge about the treatments available to reduce the disease’s symptoms.

Kevin Federline was the aim of a possible murder plan earlier this year.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received imprecise, unconfirmed allegations regarding a threat to the 29-year-old backing dancer’s life in June.

Laura Eimiller, FBI representative stated, “The FBI received nonspecific, uncorroborated allegations regarding a threat against Kevin Federline.”

As the case was not a federal issue, the FBI passed on the information to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

New York: The U.S. dollar declined, hitting a new record versus the euro on yesterday, after the Fed Reserve sharply cut interest rates to put off financial market disorder from seeping further into the U.S. financial system.

The Fed cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 4.75%, and also slashes its discount rate at which it lends directly to banking institutions, by 50 basis points to 5.25 per cent.

The dollar fell to a low of $1.3964 as compared to the euro, before trimming its losses to step down 0.5% at $1.3940 by mid-afternoon in New York.

In the meantime, the dollar dangled 0.8% to a new 30-year low of C$1.0190 versus the Canadian dollar and dropped 0.6% to $2.0080 against the pound.

Opera legend Luciano Pavarotti’s three daughters are set to contest his will, after it emerged that he left his entire estimated 21 million dollar American estate to his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani.

The tenor's daughters Lorenza, Cristina, and Giuliana, from his first marriage to Adua Veroni, were shocked to discover their father’s second will, which was released on Sep 18.

Giving water-ski lessons to his seven-year-old son Dylan has actor Michael Douglas reminiscing about his own youth. The Oscar winning actor spent the summer teaching his son water-ski on a lake he owns in Canada.

The Falling Down actor recollected days of teaching water-skiing in Connecticut.

"When I was a young kid in high school I used to teach water-skiing in Connecticut... I was 16," Contactmusic quoted Douglas, as saying.

Douglas, who is also a certified scuba diver, faced a serious skiing accident in 1980.

Washington, Sept 18: Scientists have revealed that exercising right after eating a meal high in fat content may help people keep in shape.

Max Lafontan and his team examined how fat breaks down in both lean and obese individuals who exercised after either fasting or eating a high-fat diet.

They found that when either a lean person or an obese individual exercise after having a meal of high fat content, their fats break down and get oxidized in the skeletal muscle, which makes them healthier.

Washington, Sept 18: A set of Harry Potter books signed by author JK Rowling is set to go under the hammer for charity next Monday on online auction site eBay.

Books Abroad, which is marking its 25th anniversary with a fundraising ball, provides these books to schoolchildren across the world, and estimates that the autographed series will raise at least 20,000 pounds.

"No other complete set of signed Harry Potter books is available in the world at the moment," Contactmusic quoted the charity, as saying.

Washington, Sept 18: A new study has revealed that performing both aerobics and resistance exercise contributes to blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes.

A training session was conducted to determine the effect of aerobic and resistance exercise and included 251 adults, between ages 39 and 70, who were not exercising regularly and had type 2 diabetes.

Washington, Sept 18: If you gorge on food on day, and then eat half as much or fast the next day may, it may help you lose those extra pounds, for a new study has found that doing so shrinks fat cells and boosts mechanisms that break down fats.

The study was conducted by Krista Varady and colleagues, at the University of California.

As a part of the research, the team studied the effects of alternate-day fasting on 24 male mice for four weeks to assess the effects of Alternate-Day Fasting (ADF).

Washington, Sept 18: A new research has revealed that violently shaking a baby can result the brain damage.

Brain damage due to this is one of the serious consequences extracted from the bibliographic review carried out by a group of interns at the Teaching Maternity Unit of the University College of Health Care of the University of Granada (UGR).

Crying is one way in which an infant expresses its feelings and needs, but the researchers noted that if parents cannot discern what their baby needs, they react sharply by shaking the baby.

Washington, Sept 18: He may have failed as a rapper, but Britney Spears’ ex hubby Kevin Federline’s skills as an actor certainly seem to be better, for he has just been signed on as a regular on the TV drama series ‘One Tree Hill’.

K-Fed, as he is popularly know, guest-stars in two episodes of the hit CW show as a self-obsessed wannabe rock star, and has impressed the cast and crew with his acting to such an extent that bosses have decided to have him on again.

Washington, Sept 18: A new study has revealed that abstinence-plus programs (to use condoms) are better than abstinence-only programs when it comes to reducing HIV risk among teenagers.

US government has favoured and sponsored “abstinence-only” program because it thinks that teaching adolescents anything about safer sex might encourage risky activity. However, recent studies have found that abstinence-only programs have failed to reduce HIV risk.