Washington, Oct 17 : The mere sight of a chocolate bar is more than enough to make you forget about the weeklong diet program and run towards it. However, in order to make the weight loss bid a success, a new labelling law is about to come into practice.

In a move to curb obesity, Mars Inc. has decided to put new nutritional labels on products like M&M''s and Skittles, which may otherwise give you love handles with their large calorie contents.

"You see the calories, the total fat, the saturated fat, the sugars, and sodium content of the product," CBS News quoted Ralph Jerome, vice president of Mars, as saying.

Washington, Oct. 17: The third and final presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama Wednesday night did not draw a landmark viewing audience. An adequate audience is more likely, reports the Washington Times.

Overnight ratings in the nation''s top 56 local television markets was 38.3 rating points, according to Nielsen Media Research.

One rating point equals 1 percent of the total TV audience in a given market - essentially, 38 percent of the viewers in those areas were tuned in.

Washington, Oct 17 : ‘Junk’ DNA, or repetitive DNA segments previously thought to have no function, have now been found to create exons, which could play an important role in gene regulation, according to a new study.

It’s long been known that certain "junk" DNA could evolve into exons, which are the building blocks for protein-coding genes in higher organisms like animals and plants.

But, the new study at University of Iowa has now found evidence that the exons created from junk DNA is linked with gene regulation—the finding that may increase understanding of how humans differ from other animals, including non-human primates,

Washington, October 17: German researchers have found that a majority of the genes that can cause diseases in humans were already in existence at the origin of the first cells.

Tomislav Domazet-Loso and Diethard Tautz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plon systematically analysed the time of emergence for a large number of disease genes uncovered by the Human Genome Project using a novel statistical method called "phylostratigraphy".

The researchers said that their analysis allowed them to determine the point of origin for the genes by tracing the last common ancestor in which they gene existed.

They found that the vast majority of the genes traced back to the origin of the first cell.

Washington, Oct 17 : The Taliban’s strength has increased by up to 20-30 percent over the past year, and they were better armed and organized doing complex activities.

“I’m telling you that the enemy did increase from 20 to 30 percent this last year….I’ll tell you that they are doing more complex activities which concerns me greatly,” says Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schlosser, a top general in-charge of US ground troops in Afghanistan.

In a TV interview to be telecast this Sunday, he said keeping in mind the increased strength of the “enemy”, he had sought reinforcements to fight them out.

London, Oct 17 : In the wake of prevailing deep financial crunch and slowdown in the overall Pakistani economy, a deep rift has opened up within political parties, including some of the allies, over the Government’s present anti-terror policy.