Following a study of 10,000 patients, European regulatory authorities said Thursday, Abbott Laboratories (ABT) sibutramine weight-loss products should be suspended from the market, as study findings suggest they put them at greater risk of suffering a stroke or heart attack.

Sold under the brand-names Reductil, Reduxade, Zelium, Sibutral, Raductil and Ectiva in Europe and Meridia in the USA, the risk for heart disease is higher from taking these medicines than any benefits they offer.

The news caused Abbott shares close at $55.56 Thursday, down 68 cents or 1.2%.

A total of 96-scientists from 63-centres in Europe and Australia have been able to find 5-genetic variants linked to the health of the human lung, helping throw new light on the molecular basis of lung diseases.

Their findings are of great significance, as it is hoped they will help provide better treatment for lung diseases like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma.

A session of the Serbian parliament was interrupted Thursday when a member of the opposition Radical Party threw her shoes at the chairman of the parliamentary session, Belgrade media reported. The shoes missed their target but the session was interrupted for a short time.

Gordana Pop-Lazic from the ultranationalist Radical Party threw her shoes at Gordana Comic, from the ruling Democratic Party, because she was unhappy with Comic's decision not to allow another representative of the Radical Party to speak to the parliament.

Luxembourg - The European Union should be able to break its deadlock on how to fund the fight against climate change at a summit later this week, EU foreign ministers said Monday. The bloc wants to agree on how it should pay poor countries to fight climate change before crucial United Nations talks in Copenhagen in December, but a bitter fight between Eastern and Western member states has deadlocked talks.

The global economic crisis is far from over for many developing countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where millions could yet be pushed back into poverty, the World Bank said Saturday.

Though growth is beginning to pick up, families and governments are being forced further into debt, while capital inflows from outside the region are unlikely to return to the kinds of levels seen before the crisis.

"The crisis is not even close to being over in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," said Indermit Gill, the World Bank's chief economist for the region.

Offering hope of a breakthrough treatment for people with type 1 diabetes, scientists have discovered a way to make pancreas cells into insulin producing ones.

The research in collaboration with institutions across Europe and the US cured mice with chemically-induced diabetes, just by manipulating a single gene (Pax4).

Despite the European Central Bank's (ECB) massive injections of money into credit markets, data released Monday showed banks in the 16-member eurozone still reluctant to lend.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported Tuesday it was concerned by the recent success of parties with anti- immigration platforms in the elections for European parliament.

It stated the gains made by such party were raising questions about the 27-nation bloc's policy on protection for asylum seekers.