The number of obese and overweight people in the developing world nearly quadrupled to almost a billion between 1980 and 2008, a think-tank report said Friday.

There are now far more obese or overweight adults in the developing world than in richer countries, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) said.

Cheerios will be made without any genetically modified ingredients in the United States, producer General Mills announced, answering growing consumer concerns about the issue.

The popular breakfast cereal is already made in Europe without GMO (genetically modified organism) content, and the company said late Thursday that Original Cheerios had only contained a small bit of cornstarch from GMO corn.

Chinese health authorities say vaccines did not cause nine children to die shortly after they were inoculated.

The official Xinhua News Agency in a Friday report cited the director of disease control at the national health agency as saying 17 children were reported dead after receiving shots for the liver disease hepatitis B between Dec. 13 and Tuesday.

A newborn had one of her fingertips cut off at a Guam hospital while being treated for a high fever.

Pacific Daily News reported Thursday (http://bit.ly/1drBxe5 ) that the baby's mother, Johanna Borja of Tamuning, says the cut was discovered as nurses were changing bandages securing an intravenous line. But Borja says the nurses didn't give her a clear explanation of what happened.

Marijuana enthusiasts are counting on more U.S. states to follow Colorado in legalizing the drug, but opponents said Thursday the fight over pot is far from over.

The Rocky Mountain state made drug history on New Year's Day with the inauguration of retail sales of marijuana for recreational use.

A naturally occurring hormone acts as spontaneous defense in the brain against the high caused by marijuana and could be useful in preventing addiction, researchers said Thursday.

French researchers studied lab rats and found that the steroid hormone pregnenolone reduced the activity of a particular brain molecule called the type-1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1).

Global retail giant Wal-Mart Stores has recalled a donkey meat product from some Chinese stores after tests found traces of other animals' DNA, the company said Thursday, after authorities said it contained fox meat.

The world's largest retailer will reimburse customers who bought the "Five Spice Donkey Meat" 50 yuan ($8.25), a spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

Marijuana users celebrated Wednesday as Colorado became the first U.S. state to allow retail cannabis sales, putting it in the vanguard of efforts across the country to legalize the drug.

The western state famous for its ski resorts and breathtaking mountain vistas has issued 348 retail licenses -- including for small pot shops -- that can sell up to 28 grams of pot to people aged 21 or older.

Taiwanese authorities are monitoring hundreds of people who may have had contact with a mainland Chinese tourist infected with the H7N9 strain of bird flu, officials said Wednesday.

The 86-year-old man from the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu is in stable condition in hospital in Taiwan, where he was on an eight-day tour, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said in a statement.

A U.S. Supreme Court justice has blocked a stipulation in the new health care reform law that requires some religion-affiliated organizations to provide insurance that includes birth control.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor acted late Tuesday just hours before the Affordable Care Act law was to take effect, in response to an order of nuns in Colorado, U.S. media reported.