Booze calories nearly equal soda's for US adults

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study found.Soda and other sweetened drinks — the focus of obesity-fighting public health campaigns — are the source of about 6 percent of the calories adults consume, on average. Alcoholic beverages account for about...

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Sources: BP to pay record fine for Gulf Coast disaster

HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - BP Plc is expected to pay a record U.S. criminal penalty and plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster through a plea deal reached with the Department of Justice (DoJ) that may be announced as soon as Thursday, according to sources familiar with discussions. Three sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said...

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China's Hu clears way for Xi to take party helm

BEIJING (AP) — President Hu Jintao stepped aside as ruling party leader Wednesday to clear the way for Vice President Xi Jinping to take China's helm as part of only the second orderly transfer of power in 63 years of Communist rule.In a possible break from tradition, Hu may also be giving up his post as head of the commission that oversees the military, which would give Xi greater leeway to consolidate...

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Software pioneer McAfee says framed for murder in Belize

BELIZE CITY (Reuters) – Computer security industry pioneer John McAfee says he has gone into hiding in Belize because he believes authorities there are trying to frame him for the murder of a neighbor, a crime he says he did not commit, according to Wired magazine.Belize police are searching for McAfee as “a person of interest” in a murder investigation. “You...

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'Gangnam Style' star joins Madonna onstage at MSG

NEW YORK (AP) — Madonna has gone "Gangnam Style."Korean pop star PSY joined the pop icon Tuesday night during her second show this week at Madison Square Garden. They danced to his pop culture anthem "Gangnam Style" and to her jam "Music" in front of nearly 20,000.Madonna said PSY flew "all the way from Frankfurt, Germany this morning." She also said she was a big fan of the rapper and loved his suit,...

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'Warrior monk' at center of growing scandal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Marine Corps General John Allen, the soberly formal, spit-and-polish head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, is not a military leader whose image immediately conjures up the word "flirtatious." The four-star general, who succeeded General David Petraeus last year as head of the International Security Assistance Force, is known for his ability to work with...

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Panetta: Admin deciding on post-2014 troop levels

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT OVER THE PACIFIC (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday the Obama administration is nearing a decision in the next few weeks on how many U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan — and for what purposes — after the U.S.-led combat mission ends in 2014.Panetta told reporters aboard his plane en route from Hawaii to Australia that Gen. John Allen, the top U.S....

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Head of Microsoft’s Windows unit steps down

(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp said the head of its flagship Windows division and the driving force behind Windows 8, Steven Sinofsky, will be leaving the company with immediate effect, days after the software giant launched the Surface tablet.Sinofsky, who presented at the launch of the Windows 8 operating system in New York City last month, will be succeeded...

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Storm volunteers mingle with stars at Glamour fest

NEW YORK (AP) — Sandra Kyong Bradbury was star struck. She had just spied Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg a few feet away."How can you top that?" asked Bradbury, a New York City neonatal nurse who had helped evacuate infants from a hospital that lost power during the height of Superstorm Sandy. She was amazed that she was being honored at the same event as a Supreme Court justice — the annual...

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British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for...

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