Washington  - The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved tougher anti-smoking controls in the United States, for the first time granting a government agency the power to regulate tobacco products.

The House voted 298-112 to hand the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) control over advertising and even the contents of cigarettes, though it does not allow the agency to ban tobacco outright.

Belgrade  - The Serbian government on Thursday said it has paid 900,000 dollars in compensation to the family of a US student who was beaten by a Serb basketball player in the United States last year.

Serbian state secretary Slobodan Homen confirmed the payment to the family of Bryan Steinhauer. Up until now, the government had labeled the case against Miladin Kovacevic, the alleged assailant, as a "state secret," keeping all information tightly sealed.

New York, Apr 2 : China''s President Hu Jintao has given no indication that his country would block UN Security Council action if the United States files a resolution against North Korea, which has notified the international community that it will launch a rocket between April 4 and April 8.

Fox News. com quoted a U. S. official on Wednesday as saying, "The Chinese are concerned about the prospect of a launch... They have not said that they would block action."

The internet companies – Google, Microsoft and Yahoo – are being pressed by a group of US legislators to resist to pressure from communist government of Vietnam. The group of a dozen of US lawmakers is urging these internet giants to resist strongly to the “communist Vietnam's "aggravating" drives to curb online freedom of political expression”.

The group of twelve US lawmakers is comprised of eight Democratic Representatives including Loretta Sanchez, James Moran, Michael Honda, Madeleine Bordallo, Maurice Hinchey, Hank Johnson, Neil Abercrombie, and Niki Tsongas, and four Republican Representatives including Joseph "Anh" Cao, the first Vietnamese American to serve in the House, Daniel Lungren, Ed Royce, and Thaddeus McCotter.

Washington, Apr 2 : American fashion model Angie Harmon has defended Bristol Palin's decision to have a child out of wedlock in an interview.

Harmon, 36, who had recently been in the news for venting out her frustration at being called a "racist", also praised the Republicans for being more understanding.

"I think one of the greatest things about the Republican Party is the understanding, we don't point fingers and we have class," Fox News quoted her as saying.

Washington, April 2 : An international team of scientists has devised a mathematical algorithm to address the problem of population relocation.

The team comprised of decision scientist Sajjad Zahir at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, and colleagues Ruhul Sarker of the University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia and Ziaul Al-Mahmud of Lethbridge Community Network.