Most Emailed - Top Stories

For all of the wonderful things life in the Internet age provides us, there are some notable drawbacks. One of them is that email and popular social media tools like Twitter and Facebook provide powerful launching pads for unchecked rumors and popular myths. Often these rumors and myths are proven false by websites like Snopes.com and FactCheck.org, but not this time. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - People who drink at least two sugary sodas a week have an increased risk of developing cancer of the pancreas, and researchers suspect the culprit is sugar, a new study shows. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Religious people may have taken comfort from a number of studies over the past two decades showing those adhering to a faith tend to be healthier but a new study casts some doubt on this belief. Full Story »

TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co said it would recall another 440,000 cars around the world for faulty airbags as rival Toyota Motor Corp faced further probes over its largest-ever safety crisis. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The second major snowstorm in less than a week slammed the East Coast from Washington to New York on Tuesday, forcing the United Nations to close and Congress to curtail legislative action. Full Story »

New Orleans - Nearly 24 hours have passed since the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, but the party is far from over. Everywhere you go, people are talking about “the boys” — Drew Brees and Co. In a city that’s known far too much sorrow over the past few years, finally there is a reason to smile again. Full Story »

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A tourist who got lost on a New Zealand mountain was rescued after sending text messages to his family in Greece, newspapers and websites reported on Monday. Full Story »

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian performance artist set a new Guinness World Record on Monday by simultaneously swallowing 18 swords, each nearly as long as two and a half rulers. Full Story »

Amid high unemployment and sliding home prices, a growing number of struggling consumers are doing what was once considered unthinkable: paying their credit card bills instead of their mortgages. A recent study developed by TransUnion found the percentage of Americans who were current on their credit cards but behind on their mortgage increased to 6.6 percent in the third quarter of 2009, up from 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, the share of consumers making mortgage payments on time but behind on their credit cards moved in the opposite direction, sliding from 4. ... Full Story »

Kids can be incredibly cruel to one another, but parents can help minimize the pain. That's the reassuring message from Carl Pickhardt, a clinical psychologist in Austin who recently wrote Why Good Kids Act Cruel: The Hidden Truth About the Pre-Teen Years (Sourcebooks, $14.99). Though Pickhardt's book is aimed at tweeners, I found his book helpful as the mom of a first grader already faced with "I'm not inviting you to my birthday party." Full Story »

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan has effectively dropped a request for U.S. submarines to help shore up the balance of power with political rival China, a military source said on Tuesday, dissolving what could be a new rift in tense Sino-U.S. ties. Full Story »

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Haiti's interior minister on Monday toured a Colombian town rebuilt after a huge 1999 tremor as his own country considered plans to reconstruct its wrecked capital city after last month's devastating earthquake. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - You know smoking is bad for you. You know inhaling someone else's smoke is bad for you. Now a US study says third-hand smoke -- tobacco residue clinging to surfaces -- is also bad for you. Full Story »

The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news stories that occurred overnight. Look for updates throughout the day on Yahoo! News and in the news box on Yahoo.com. Full Story »

BOSTON (Reuters) - All workers at the Connecticut power plant construction site rocked by a massive explosion on Sunday have been accounted for, leaving the death toll at five, the town's mayor said on Monday. Full Story »

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Being an older mother significantly increases the risk of having a child with autism, but being an older father only increases the risk when the mother is under the age of 30, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Full Story »

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - Google Inc is tapping its huge network of Gmail users and Web surfers to create a Buzz that it hopes will help it catch up with online social networking leaders Facebook and Twitter. Full Story »

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Singapore has warned a Christian pastor that his online videos are offensive to Buddhists and Taoists, underlining the city-state's concerns that religion is a potential faultline for its multicultural society. Full Story »