London, Apr. 17 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown finally bowed to pressure and said sorry for the "Smear Gate" e-mails sent by one of his closest aides, Damian McBride.

Opposition politicians welcomed Brown's apology, but said it had come late and left questions unanswered.

The Government hoped it would draw a line under the affair, which erupted after emails between McBride, and pro-Labour blogger Derek Draper became public.

London, Apr 17 : Excessive hairiness can be more than just a cosmetic problem, but women shouldn't feel helpless because of it.

British doctors have warned that hirsutism is likely to be a sign of an underlying medical condition. But, worry not, for help is at hand.

The docs said that five to 15 percent of women have excess hair, and a hormone disorder the most likely cause in many cases.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the cause in 70 percent to 80 percent of cases.

Washington, April 17 : Oral contraceptive use impairs muscle gains in young women, and is associated with lower hormone levels, a new study has found.

The study was conducted by Chang-Woock Lee and Steven E. Riechman, Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; and Mark A. Newman, Human Energy Research Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.

For the study, 73 generally healthy women between the ages of 18-31 were assigned to two groups and completed a 10-week whole-body resistance exercise training (RET).

London, April 17 : Strathclycde Police in Scotland, have listed eight officers, who follow Star Wars' Jedi religion as their official faith.

A Jane''s Police Review had been carried out to see how many Brit employees followed the religion created by George Lucas for the series.

And editor Chris Herbert, who requested the information, revealed officers and two civilian staff at Strathclyde were the only ones to confirm their conviction towards Jedi.

London, Apr 17 : Scientists have found that the body comprises a cellular "First Aid" system for brain cells in which certain immune cells in the blood, called regulatory T lymphocytes (Treg), inhibit ischemic stroke-related inflammation.

Dr. Roland Veltkamp, senior physician at the Neurology Clinic of Heidelberg University Hospital, points out that the regulator cytokine interleukin 10 (IL 10) plays an important role in this protection, and that this work offers a new approach to stroke therapy.

London, Apr 17 : In what could be called a miracle, a 38-year-old Brit mum gave birth to healthy twins just minutes after suffering a massive heart failure.

Nina Whear gave birth to twins Evie and Alfie through caesarean section moments after her weeping husband bade her an emotional farewell.

Whear, of Lamas, Norwich, suffered heart failure two weeks before the babies were due on January 6.