■ UNITED KINGDOM
Archbishop posts message
The Archbishop of Canterbury has followed the Queen's lead in posting his annual message on YouTube, where his green theme for the New Year is "God doesn't do waste." Rowan Williams criticizes society's willingness to create waste in its ceaseless search for the latest and best. "Despite constant talk about recycling and thinking `green,' we're still a society that produces fantastic quantities of waste," he says. "Look at the number of plastic bags flapping around by the roadside, in town and country alike and you see what I mean," he said.
■ VENEZUELA
Chavez issues pardons
President Hugo Chavez said on Monday that he would pardon opponents accused of participating in a coup that ousted him briefly five years ago, a conciliatory move after a stinging electoral defeat this month. Chavez said he would publish the law in a day or so to show the government did not persecute its political rivals. "We want the path of peace. We want heated ideological and political debate but in peace," he said on state TV. It was not clear how may people would benefit from the amnesty, which also affects people involved in a shutdown of the nation's oil industry and attacks on the government.
■ CANADA
A good year, for some
Most Canadians believe this year will be a good year for their country, but are less optimistic about the rest of the world, said an Ipsos Reid institute opinion poll published on Monday. Ninety-two percent of the people surveyed said they were optimistic about how the country would fare in the new year, up 4 percent from an institute poll taken a year ago. However, only 58 percent were equally optimistic about the rest of the world. "They think it's a troubled world out there, but Canada is a cocoon," Ipsos Reid pollster Jim Wright told the Ottawa Citizen daily, adding that the booming economy underpinned the positive feelings.
■ UNITED STATES
Baby's remains a mystery
An infant's skeleton found in a dead woman's suitcase was born at 35 weeks gestation, but authorities do not know its sex or how long it had been there. There was no sign of trauma to the fetus, whose remains were found on Saturday in Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County chief deputy coroner Paul Cycak said. The cause and manner of death will likely be ruled undetermined, he said. The remains will also be examined by a forensic anthropologist at Mercyhurst College, state police said. It remains unclear when that examination will take place. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
■ UNITED STATES
Poet's home vandalized
A former home of poet Robert Frost has been vandalized, with intruders destroying dozens of items and setting fire to furniture in what police say was an underage drinking party. Homer Noble Farm, Vermont, was ransacked late on Friday night during a party attended by as many as 50 people, Sergeant Lee Hodsden said on Monday. The intruders broke a window to get into the two-story wood frame building -- a furnished residence open in the summer -- before destroying tables and chairs, pictures, windows, light fixtures and dishes. Wicker furniture and dressers were smashed and thrown into a fireplace and burned.
■ UNITED STATES
New finding on diabetes
Researchers reported that disrupting sleep damages the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels, potentially raising the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Millions of people have diabetes and the most common form is type 2, in which the body either becomes resistant to insulin or doesn't produce enough of it to regulate sugar in the bloodstream. In a small experiment, researchers led by Esra Tasali, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center, found that disrupting the deepest sleep periods of volunteers rapidly resulted in reduction in their ability to regulate blood-sugar levels.
RSS