South Korea's central bank cut the key interest rate on Thursday following the second straight month of the freeze as the local economy loses steam on weaker exports and sluggish domestic demand.Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his six fellow policymakers lowered the benchmark 7-day repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.75 percent for October, the second rate cut this year.The October

Oct. 11, 2012

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., (UPI) -- One-in-4 U.S. moms say young children tasting alcohol may discourage teen drinking, while 40 percent say banning alcohol may make it appealing, a study found. In addition to those who favored letting kids taste alcohol so it is no longer a “forbidden fruit,” and those who said banning alcohol only makes if more desirable, 22 percent of the 1,050 mothers inter

Technology Oct. 8, 2012

PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. (UPI) -- A Florida mother who shot and killed her four children and then herself had twice the legal limit of alcohol in her blood, autopsy results showed.Tonya Thomas, 33, of Port St. John, Fla., had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent. Toxicology experts said that level of intoxication would have impaired her judgment and could have played a role in the tragedy, Florida T

World News Oct. 8, 2012

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged "maximum restraint" Thursday after Syria and Turkey traded artillery fire across their shared border in a deadly exchange that sent regional tensions soaring.Turkey demanded strong UN Security Council action after the Syrian fire killed five Turkish women and children Wednesday, but Russian objections stalled action on a resolution condemning Dama

World News Oct. 5, 2012

BEIJING (AP) -- A landslide in southwestern China has toppled an elementary school building and buried 18 students and another person.The Chinese government said the landslide struck a village in Yiliang county in Yunnan province on Thursday morning.A statement on the Yiliang government website says the landslide caused a school to collapse and that 18 students were believed to have been in the bu

World News Oct. 4, 2012

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (UPI) -- A randomized controlled trial of people who received a large dose of vitamin D did not have fewer incidence or severity of colds, New Zealand researchers say.Dr. David R. Murdoch of the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on incidence and severity of upper

Technology Oct. 4, 2012

SAN DIEGO (UPI) -- Parents can make a big difference by helping to instill healthy behaviors in their children, a U.S. health and wellness company says. Dr. Mary Jane Osmick, vice president and medical director of health services for American Specialty Health -- which provides fitness and exercise programs for health plans, insurance carriers and employer groups -- said obesity now affects 17 perc

Technology Sept. 26, 2012

SEATTLE (UPI) -- Microbial life may have migrated from Earth’s oceans to land by 2.75 billion years ago, producing oxygen earlier than previously thought, U.S. scientists say.Research reported from the University of Washington suggests the land-based microbes were producing oxygen well in advance of what geologists refer to as the “Great Oxidation Event” about 2.4 billion years ago that initiated

Technology Sept. 25, 2012