A school in Hertfordshire has banned pupils from bringing in sweets and even birthday cakes, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Wood End Primary School in Harpenden had previously told pupils not to play football in the playground for fear that children might get injured. But the latest pronouncement from Diane John, the school’s headteacher, sparked an angry response from parents.
“We gained healthy eating status in 2006 and as such we ask you NOT to send in sweets or …

The UK’s only polar bear, Mercedes, got a new home in the Scottish Highlands – four wild acres dotted with rocks, trees, hills and pools.
The 27-year-old animal today greeted the first visitors to her home in the Highland Wildlife Park, Kingussie, having spent a short period settling in to her bespoke surroundings. The land represent a shift to country living after 25 years of urban existence in Edinburgh Zoo, where she had found refuge from …

North Korea has suspended a propaganda campaign to promote the youngest son of leader Kim Jong-il as his eventual successor and instead the communist state is calling for solidarity around the current leader, AFP reports.
Succession speculation began in earnest after Kim, now 67, suffered a stroke around August 2008. Widespread reports since then said he had chosen his third and youngest son Jong-un to inherit power. Beginning late last year, state media stepped up propaganda to justify …

Insurance company Zurich lost the personal details of more than 50,000 customers, but it took them a year to alert the clients of the identity fraud risk, the Daily Telegraph reports.
A tape containing the data was lost in August last year, but letters are only now being sent out to the general insurance customers warning them of precautions to take.
The group explained they had only “recently” found out that the tape had gone missing and …

Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7 proved to be incredibly popular – Amazon said that pre-order sales have topped the latest Harry Potter book, and according to DSGi, Win7 has already outsold Vista’s first year sales.
Windows 7 officially went on sale today, but the pre-orders already topped the first year sales of copies of Microsoft’s previous operating system, the ill-fated Vista, DSGi’s category director Jeremy Fennell said, according to IT Pro. He credited this with the …

Rapist Roman Polanski might be willing to return to the United States to resolve his sexual assault case if it could be done quickly, the Los Angeles Times reports.
One of Polanski’s lawyers, Georges Kiejman, said that 76-year-old Polanski is not in the best health and wants to bring the case to a swift conclusion.
Polanski was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland, and faces extradition to Los Angeles to face sentencing for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl three …

Facebook and Google are expected to start offering music to their users, the New York Times reports.
Google plan to announce a music initiative at an event it will hold at the Capitol Records building in Hollywood next Wednesday. The service will give users a more efficient way to find, learn about and sample music after they search for information about bands, albums or songs.
Google will not host any music, nor have they forged any new relationships …

According to Rasmussen Reports’ daily presidential tracking poll, only 26% of the American voters strongly approve the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as the President – that is the lowest level of strong approval yet measured for Obama.
39% of the voters strongly disapprove, giving Obama a presidential approval index rating of -13. For the first time during Obama’s time in office, the approval index has been in negative double digits for seven straight …

The postal workers’ union will announce a new three-day strike from next Thursday, Sky News reports.
A two-day national postal strike is already under way after last-ditch talks between the Royal Mail and union bosses broke down without agreement. “My understanding is that later on today the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will formally notify Royal Mail of its intention to take another round of strike action,” Sky’s business correspondent Joel Hills said.
Mail deliveries across Britain are being …

One of the first communist terrorists and the architect of the evil empire of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin (Ulyanov really) died from syphilis, caught from a Parisian prostitute, and not from a stroke, as it has been believed, a new research says.
Helen Rappaport, an acclaimed historian and author, said that books, papers and journals charting Lenin’s last years show that he contracted the sexually transmitted disease and that it ultimately claimed his life, the …

Northern Ireland will next year cut the legal drink-driving limit, following the proposal by Ireland’s Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to lower the legal limit from present 80mg per 100ml of blood to 50mg/100ml.
Northern Ireland’s Environment Minister Edwin Poots said that the limit in Northern Ireland could be even lower than in the Republic of Ireland, the BBC reports. “The consultation would indicate that there is widespread support in Northern Ireland for reducing the drink-drive limit,” he …

Formula One teams Red Bull and Williams may use Cosworth engines next year, and McLaren are rumoured to switch from Mercedes to BMW power.
Williams announced a couple of weeks ago that they were terminating their deal with Toyota early due to dissatisfaction with the performance of the Japanese engine package. While the independent British team had reportedly been negotiating with Renault, inside information now indicates that Williams will take advantage of the new Cosworth package …

88-year-old Charles Zentai, accused by Hungary of Nazi war crimes during World War II, surrendered to Australian police today after exhausting his appeals against extradition, the AP reports.
Australian citizen Zentai is accused by the Hungarian Government of being one of three men who tortured and killed a Jewish teenager in 1944 for failing to wear a star identifying him as a Jew. Zentai, who emigrated to Australia in 1950, claims he is innocent and was not …

When the rest of the world is still in deep recession, despite claims by many that it has already ended or is about to end, communist China claims that their economy grew a mighty 8.9 per cent in the third quarter this year, and 7.7 per cent in the first nine months.
China’s state-controlled newspaper China People’s Daily reports that China’s GDP totalled 21.78 trillion yuan (£1.92 trillion) in the first nine months.
The growth rates for …

Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said that Israel’s current opposition leader, then-Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the Arab leadership in Judea and Samaria not to accept the peace offering by then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who had offered Arab leader Mahmoud Abbas 95-98% of the territories for a “Palestinian” state.
Indyk said that “the Prime Minister was about to have an indictment filed against him and the Foreign Minister herself specifically told both the Americans …

Afghanistan tops the agenda of NATO foreign ministers as they meet today and tomorrow in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava; the United States is pushing its NATO allies to change tactics in Afghanistan, a move supported by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Deutsche Welle reports.
US General Stanley McChrystal, the supreme commander of the NATO-lead International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), wants to increase the focus on protecting civilians and supporting Afghanistan’s security personnel. McChrystal has also …