New Delhi, April 17: Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, who turns 35 today, has had an early celebration with her celebrity pals including Eva Longoria, Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Richie and Kate Beckinsale.

The wife of soccer ace David Beckham enjoyed an intimate birthday meal with the ladies at Los Angeles restaurant Cecconi''''s, reports the China Daily.

Washington, April 17: Immigrant mothers are less likely to take folic acid supplements before pregnancy to prevent birth defects, a new study has found.

The study, led by a St. Michael''s Hospital physician in collaboration with Statistics Canada, Health Canada and the University of Toronto, is important because such women may be at higher risk of having babies with birth defects.

This study is the first to provide national estimates of pre-pregnancy folic acid use in Canada.

Washington, April 17: A team of geochemists has come across evidence that Earth''s atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago was oxygen-rich, as pointed out by the origin of sulfur in rocks.

Sedimentary rocks created more than 2.4 billion years ago sometimes have an unusual sulfur isotope composition thought to be caused by the action of ultra violet light on volcanically produced sulfur dioxide in an oxygen poor atmosphere.

London, Apr 17: Just two days after entering the White House, the First Dog, Bo, has been given a book deal.

A deal has already been done to publish "Bo America''''s Commander In Leash", a children''''s book. It is due to be released next week.

The book's publisher is Mascot Books, reports The Telegraph.

It will follow "Bo on an exciting adventure as he learns all about the White House and experiences the traditions that make it such a special place."

Washington, Apr. 17 : The Taliban's expanding writ in Pakistan with every passing day may ultimately see the whole country falling into the hands of the insurgents, and being turned into a fiefdom controlled by Islamists warlords, a report in the McClatchy newspaper said.

According to the report, intelligence officials and experts having a long experience in Pakistan viewed the current precarious condition of the country as a making of a disaster.

"It''s a disaster in the making on the scale of the Iranian revolution," an intelligence official said.

Experts believe that the insurgent groups not only pose a danger to the US, but the whole region is facing the threat.

Washington, April 17 : Scientists have studied alligators to analyze what life may have been like for dinosaurs at low oxygen levels of 12 percent during pre-historic times.

The scientists chose the alligator as a test subject for the study because they are believed to be the modern relatives of the dinosaurs.

"We knew testing the effects of different oxygen levels would work with alligators because crocodilians have survived in their basic shape and form for 220 million years. They must be doing something right to have survived the oxygen fluctuations," said scientist Tomasz Owerkowicz.