BEIJING (AFP) ― Thousands of delegates from across China meet this week to seal a power transfer to new leaders who have raised expectations with a deluge of propaganda during their first months running the Communist Party.Xi Jinping is due to replace Hu Jintao as China’s president at the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, a rubber-stamp parliament which meets on Tuesday. Li Keqiang will become premier, replacing Wen Jiabao. It is the final step in a generational handover, four

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Huge spending cuts will start to hit the U.S. military and a vast array of other government programs Saturday after President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans failed to find a compromise that would have blocked the $85 billion budget reduction, a move designed to whittle away at the country's enormous debt but one that could threaten the still-weak economy.Both Obama and the Republican leaders in the House and Senate declared themselves still deadlocked after a last-

 A British man who bought a pair of fresh oysters to treat his hangover said he discovered a pearl inside one of the mollusks.James Humphries, 34, of Newquay, England, said he bought the oysters -- which he described as "the perfect hangover cure" -- from E Rawle & Co. fishmongers Saturday morning after a night of drinking, and discovered a pearl while eating his breakfast, The Mirror reported Tuesday.“It was only when I spat it out that I discovered it was a pearl," he said. "It's small, but I

Neuroscientists should work with video game designers to develop compelling digital games that boost brain function and improve well-being, two researchers say.Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester and Richard J. Davidson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison are urging game creators and brain scientists to work together to develop games that train the brain and produce positive effects on behavior, such as decreasing anxiety, sharpening attention and improving empathy.Video games have