Americans are spending more on gasoline because they are getting fatter, according to a new study.

Former Pakistani President Ghulam Ishaq Khan passed away after long illness on Friday, his son-in-law said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that a total of 56,632 cases of cholera, including 2, 314 deaths, have been reported in 16 out of the 18 provinces in Angola, since the beginning of the outbreak on Feb. 13, 2006.

Although no Beijing resident has contracted rabies from a pet dog so far this year, nine patients who caught rabies in other parts of the country died in Beijing hospitals where they had been brought for treatment of the fatal disease.

The two "snail patients" who were rehospitalized in Beijing have not had a relapse but are suffering from "recalcitrant symptoms", said the the Municipal Health Bureau at its Thursday press conference.

Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has reported 13 rabies cases this year, more than the total number of cases in the past five years, said the municipal disease prevention and control center on Thursday.

Chinese tourists will set out for the South Pole early next year on a 21-day expedition, setting foot on the white wastes of the Antarctic Peninsula that is usually reserved for scientists.

More healthy and useful content should be developed and put on the internet to foster a healthy growth environment for youngsters, said senior Chinese leader Li Changchun here on Thursday.

China's first grand military band festival began on Thursday in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, capturing attention both at home and abroad.

Chinese scientists recently reported that they found H5N1 bird flu virus in sparrows two years ago, the first time the virus has been detected in the common, non-migratory bird on the Chinese mainland.