Washington, Oct 31: Kids who avoid peanut in infancy and early childhood are 10 times as likely to develop peanut allergy as those who are exposed to the groundnut, according to a new study.

The study has been published in the November issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

To reach the conclusion, researchers measured the incidence of peanut allergy in 8,600 Jewish school-age children in the United Kingdom and Israel.

They compared these results with data on peanut consumption collected from mothers of infants age 4 to 24 months.

New Delhi - Indian equities soared over 5 per cent on Friday tailing positive cues from global markets after rate cuts in the United States and Japan.

The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange was trading at 9,651.12 around noon, about 6.71 per cent above its previous close.

The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also showed strong positive signals, trading 5.35 per cent up at 2,841.30.

Indian share markets opened Friday after being closed the previous day for a festival holiday.

Bangkok - Embattled Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has tentative plans to visit Laos, Vietnam, India and Peru next month, Foreign Affairs Ministry sources said Friday as he faces demonstrations at home that are seeking his ouster.

Somchai, who has been premier since September 25, is to visit Vientiane, Laos, for a day-trip that is to begin Monday, said deputy ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi.

London, Oct 31: Two bones and a driver's license with Steve Fossett''s name have been found near the crash site of missing adventurer Steve Fossett's plane in California's rugged Sierra Nevada mountains.

The team also found the aviator's tennis shoes as well as credit cards, authorities have confirmed.

The finding was made on October 29 about half a mile east of the crash site, near the town of Mammoth Lakes.

The remains have been sent for tests to a Department of Justice laboratory.

The shoes and driver's licence had animal bite marks on them, said Madera Country Sheriff John Anderson.

"This reinforces our theory that animals dragged him away," Times Online quoted him, as saying.

U. S. health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the rate of new diabetes cases in the country increased by
90 % in the last decade as a result of increasing obesity and sedentary lifestyles. The numbers may be underestimated as these are from self reported surveys conducted by the CDC and about a third of people with diabetes don't yet know they have the disease.

New York, Oct 31: Singer Gwen Stefani has introduced her 3-month-old son Zuma to the world by posting her photo on her website.

The photo shows seemingly naked Stefani holding her son with a caption "We wanted to share with you the first photo of Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale. Gwen, Gavin, Kingston and Zuma are all doing well and enjoying being a party of four," reports the New York Daily News.

The photo came after paparazzi photos of the tiny tot began to surface.