Ingushetia hit by suicide attack

suicide attacker has killed at least two police officers in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, in the latest in a series of such bombings.
Shortly after the first attack, a car bomb was detonated in the same place in the town of Karabulak, officials said.
Forty were killed by a twin attack on Moscow's Metro system last week, and another North Caucasus republic, Dagestan, has also been targeted.
The Kremlin blamed Islamists from the North Caucasus for the earlier attacks.
Russian media reports have published images of a woman they say carried out one of the attacks in Moscow, saying she was from Dagestan.

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Pregnancy exercise 'slims babies'

Light exercise during pregnancy may improve the future health of a child by controlling weight in the womb, New Zealand and US researchers say.

Overweight or obese mums are more likely to have larger babies which could be at higher risk of health problems later in life.

A study of 84 first-time mothers found exercise was associated with slightly lighter babies.
UK guidelines recommend regular light exercise for pregnant women.
The rising weight of the UK population over the years has led to a rise in the number of overweight mothers.
There is increasing evidence that the future metabolism of a child may be influenced by its environment in the womb, and that babies who are relatively heavy for their length may be more likely to be obese in future years.

Official guidance in the UK tells doctors to encourage women not to overeat during pregnancy, and to, wherever possible, take light exercise on a regular basis.
The joint study between the University of Auckland and Northern Arizona University recruited pregnant women, half of whom were asked to use exercise bikes for five 40 minute sessions each week.
They were asked to maintain the programme until at least the 36th week of pregnancy.

Extra fat
On average, the exercising women had babies who were no shorter than their non-exercising counterparts, but who were 0.32 lb (143 grams) lighter on average.
This suggested that the regime did not stunt growth in the womb, but reduced the amount of extra fat laid down by the babies.
In addition, the exercise did not appear to interfere with the natural changes in the mother's response to the hormone insulin, a necessary mechanism in pregnancy to make sure the foetus is properly nourished.
The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Dr Paul Hofman, who led the study, said: "Given that large birth size is associated with increased risk of obesity, a modest reduction in birth weight may have long-term health benefits for offspring by lowering this risk later in life."

Dr Anne Dornhorst, who specialises in research into the metabolism of pregnant women, said that it was becoming clear that exercise during pregnancy could aid the health of mother and child.

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Oil price up amid jobs joy in US

Oil prices have risen amid growing optimism that improved US job creation will boost economic recovery and lead to higher demand for crude.

In the first day of trading after the Easter break, US light crude added 0.4% to reach $85.31 a barrel.
London Brent crude also went up 0.4% to $84.37 a barrel.
On Friday, the US Labor Department said employers had created 162,000 new jobs in March, the highest monthly number since March 2007.
However, the country's unemployment rate remained at 9.7% for the third month in a row.
World oil prices have been on an upward trend in recent weeks - partly because of signs of improvement in the US economy, but also because of a weak dollar, which tends to increase the price of commodities priced in that currency.
However, oil prices are still a long way from the record highs above $147 a barrel that they reached in July 2008.

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Buzz social network

Google has said that it will begin to roll out a privacy reset for its controversial social network Buzz.

The search giant will ask all its users to confirm or change their privacy settings, starting on 5 April.
The firm was forced to make a series of changes to Buzz just days after launch, following a backlash from users worried about privacy intrusions.
Last month, US Congress members urged regulators to investigate the service and the private information it exposed.
The latest tweaks will also show every aspect of a user's profile, from public settings to the websites users are connected to, and who they are following or being followed by.
"Shortly after launching Google Buzz, we quickly realised we didn't get everything right and moved as fast as possible to improve the Buzz experience," said Buzz product manager Todd Jackson in a blog post.
"Offering everyone who uses our products transparency and control is very important to us."
'Consumer trust'
Google launched Buzz at the beginning of February and integrated it with the company's e-mail product Gmail, which is said to have over 170m account holders.
The service allows users to post status updates, share content and read and comment on posts in much the same way as those who have signed on to Facebook and Twitter do.

Amid concern over how much personal information was being made public, Google made changes to Buzz to make it more clear how information was being shared as well as simplifying the process for blocking or following other users.
Those early fixes did not go far enough for some critics.
Last month, nearly a dozen members of Congress signed a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate privacy concerns associated with Google's social networking tool.
"We are writing to express our concern over claims that Google Buzz... breaches online consumer privacy and trust," said the signatories, led by Representative John Barrow, a Georgia Democrat.
The service is also the subject of a class action lawsuit, and a leading privacy group has called for action from the FTC.
The Electronic Privacy Information Centre has alleged that Buzz is "deceptive" and breaks consumer protection law.
'Heartening'
The blogosphere has reacted positively to the proposed changes.
"While we can say that this is what we wanted at launch, it is heartening to see it now," said Alex Wilhelm, of TheNextWeb.
Ben Parr, associate editor at social media blog Mashable, said that while the changes could not fix the damage already done, they might "help get Congress off [Google's] back".
"If it can appease critics on the privacy issues, then it can tackle the bigger challenge: making Google Buzz into a competitive threat to Twitter and Facebook."
The Google Buzz team has promised more updates in the future.

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Pakistan: Attack on US consulate in Peshawar,

At least ten people have died after militants attacked the US consulate in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar.

There were several explosions in the area near the consulate and buildings collapsed. A gun battle between police and the attackers followed.
Pakistan's main Taliban faction said it had carried out the raid.
The raid came hours after 43 people died in a suicide attack about 80 km (50 miles) north-east of Peshawar.
The bomber targeted a crowded rally held by a Pashtun nationalist party in Timergara, Lower Dir.
'Great concern'
Investigators suspect it was co-ordinated with the Peshawar attack, in which police said four militants and three security personnel died.
 There were no reported US casualties and it is not clear if the US consulate building suffered any damage.
The White House condemned the attack and expressed "great concern".
Officials said the attack was well organised, but order had been restored.
The militants struck near Shama Square, a major crossroads at the northern end of Peshawar's cantonment area, near the US consulate.
There are also some army barracks and offices of the army's Military Intelligence in the vicinity.
'Miscreants'
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said two of the explosions were just 20m from the consulate, which is in a heavily fortified area.
Pakistani police officer Ghulam Hussain told AFP news agency: "The target was certainly the American consulate but they didn't succeed in getting there.
 "One of the suicide bombers blew himself up close to the gate. Police guarding the US consulate started retaliatory fire.
"More blasts took place. We have recovered unexploded material from four different points," he said.
Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said his group had carried out the raid.
"Americans are our enemies. We carried out the attack on their consulate in Peshawar. We plan more such attacks," he told Reuters news agency.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the bombers as "miscreants trying to spread panic", reports AFP.
TV footage showed army soldiers taking battle positions on the main Khyber Road where the blasts took place.
Witnesses told a news channel,  a couple of armoured vehicles parked outside the consulate caught fire.
"I saw attackers in two vehicles. Some of them carried rocket-propelled grenades," Peshawar resident Siraj Afridi told Reuters.
The news channel in Islamabad says that this attack is the first against a US target in four years.
In 2006, a US diplomat was killed by a suicide car bomber near the US consulate in Karachi, days before a visit to Pakistan by then US President George W Bush.
Peshawar, which is on the edge of Pakistan's tribal areas, has been frequently targeted by Islamist militants.
An official of the ruling ANP party, Hashim Khan Babar, told the media the attacks appeared to be in response to a major security operation launched in the Orakzai tribal region near Peshawar last week

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