Washington, Oct 24 : Just 12 days before the US presidential election, Republican White House nominee John McCain continues to keep “Joe the Plumber,” as well as his concerns about how rival Barack Obama’s tax policies would affect him, at the center of the campaign.

The economy is hands-down the top issue for voters, and the candidates are escalating their battle over whose tax plans would do the most for cash-strapped Americans.

Joe Wurzelbacher, the Ohio plumber who caused waves on the campaign trail after Obama told him he wants to “spread the wealth around,” is more than a talking point.

McCain is making “Joe the Plumber” his battering ram, FOX News reported.

Washington, Oct 24 : A new poll shows that Democratic White House candidate Barack Obama enjoys overwhelming support in western Europe.

It’s hardly a secret that Obama is Europe’s favorite US presidential candidate, FOX News reported.

But a new poll shows that in France, just one percent of people think Obama’s rival John McCain should win the White House.

By contrast, 78 percent back Obama, while 5 percent don’t want either to win.

The poll found the five largest Europeans countries were unanimously behind Obama in the US race.

In Germany, McCain’s support isn’t much stronger. Five percent of those polled supported the Republican nominee, compared with 72 percent for Obama.

Washington, Oct 24 : A Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine study has found a possible mechanism by which alcohol weakens bones and decreases bone mass.

The U.S. Government panel has urged that cancer should be the top priority as it is the “terrorist within”. More funds for cancer research should be sanctioned by the government.

With the cancer cases on the rise and the funding on the decline with the inflation on the rise, it becomes a priority for the government to consider this aspect.

Dr. LaSalle Leffall of Howard University in Washington said that less funding means decline in the basic research and clinical trials.

"We have become complacent about this fearsome disease and have lacked the will to change aspects of our cancer-fighting enterprise that are preventing significant and rapid reductions in cancer illness and death," Leffall said in a statement.

A fear that 50 students might be exposed to HIV, led health officials to test students at Normandy High School, in St Louis, Missouri. The scare began when the St. Louis County Health Department said last week that a positive HIV infected person told health officials that as many as 50 students might be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

According to a new study published in Human Reproduction, women who were severely depressed during early pregnancy were twice as likely to have a preterm delivery. The worse the depression the greater was the risk of giving birth prematurely, the leading cause of infant mortality.