Reuters Life!

KARACHI (Reuters Life!) - As Pakistanis face an acute shortage of sugar, some families have found an easily available alternative to sweeten their tea: instead of a spoonful of sugar, they dissolve sweets in their tea.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The launch of Wikipedia, emergence of the iPhone and the election of U.S. President Barack Obama were among the 10 most influential moments on the Internet in the past decade, according to the annual Webby awards.

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - You never consume trans fats, have reduced caffeine, and rarely eat cheese. What's next to banish from the menu? Salt, if consumer trend tracker Mintel is right.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - Concerns over the environment and terrorism have not only affected how people lived in the past decade but also their language, with "global warming" and "9/11" topping a list of the most used words of the 2000s.

TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) - About 60 percent of Taiwan's youth have considered suicide while more than 30 percent lack direction in life, because of a lack of public role models and weakened family support, a magazine survey found this week.

BOSTON (Reuters Life!) - A foam rocket launcher, children's book and Batman and Wolverine action figures are among the most dangerous toys on store shelves, according to a consumer watchdog group.

KOLKATA, India (Reuters Life!) - Fourteen-year-old Ahalya Kumar lives on a single daily meal of starched rice and has never been to the movies, but the girl from a dirt-poor Indian village packed enough power to reject her arranged marriage in June.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Two Argentine men who will soon wed in Latin America's first legal same-sex marriage hope it will pave the way for other homosexual couples in Argentina to marry.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - River Plate, one of the world's greatest soccer clubs, are hoping that the sight of the glories of the past in their new museum will influence the present and spark a recovery from a major slump on the field.

MALVERN (Reuters Life!) - Ken Allcock, 66, had never seen an opera and his wife Eileen hadn't been in about 50 years, but both were enchanted by Handel's "Tolomeo," brought to their hometown of Malvern by English Touring Opera.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - It might not always be easy being associated with one of world's best-known teenagers, Miley Cyrus, but it can have its perks such as a quick path to fame -- as U.S. band Metro Station has found out.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A large, protected harbor and a river route to the north made the tip of Manhattan an attractive spot for a Dutch settlement some 400 years ago.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp was named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" on Wednesday, reclaiming a title he first won in 2003.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The "Holy Grail" of Michael Jackson memorabilia will go on the block on Saturday in an auction of the King of Pop's famous white glove and hundreds of rock-and-roll relics.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Toddlers and obese children suffer far greater blood-vessel damage and other harm from secondhand smoke than other children, which could put them on the path to heart disease later in life, according to a new study.

PARIS (Reuters Life!) - Paris, whose wild nightlife drew generations of party goers from Ernest Hemingway to Jim Morrison, is now more notorious for curfews than carousing.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters Life!) - American actress Susan Sarandon, due in Stockholm to receive an award next week, has no plans to meet journalists but will set aside time to meet one person -- table tennis legend Jan-Ove Waldner.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Former James Bond actor Roger Moore has been named 2009 Person of the Year by the UK branch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) pressure group for his campaign against foie gras.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A one-ton nude sculpture by Colombian Fernando Botero sold for $1.14 million, outstripping its top rival, a delicate portrait of crumpled paper, in a robust sale of Latin American art in New York.

MUMBAI (Reuters Life!) - Trading their Blackberries for scrubbing brushes and their mansions for huts, a group of wealthy youth are gluing Indians to their TV screens in a country struggling to bridge the gap between poverty and prosperity.

MOSCOW (Reuters Life!) - Russia's top health official has proposed that the country's fashion designers create trendy face masks to combat swine flu, his spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - The days of rent-free living in the shadow of the Berlin Wall may be long past, but for those seeking an upscale version of the German capital's once-vibrant squat life, look no further.

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - After writing two emotional books about cancer and a girl who survived horrific accidents, author Sally Collings needed a break, so she asked children for their advice.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Former poet laureate Andrew Motion will chair the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, one of the world's top literary awards, organizers said on Wednesday.

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - New Zealand was on Wednesday named the world's least corrupt nation out of a list of 180 countries, unseating Denmark after a year in which the global recession and ongoing conflicts proved challenging.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Texting people to remind them to wear sunscreen daily actually works, research shows.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Going on a cruise? To cut your risk of getting sick while sailing the high seas, avoid using the ship's public bathrooms.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Three child actors from the British television series "Outnumbered," whose performances are partly improvised, have been nominated for the British Comedy Awards.