STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Teenage goalkeeper John Gibson recorded a shutout as the United States beat Germany 3-0 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the ice hockey world championships in Helsinki on Sunday.

Germany outshot the United States 30-29 but, with Gibson in fine form in front of the net, Bobby Butler, Paul Stastny and Stephen Gionta netted the goals that helped the Americans progress. They now have the chance of an outright group victory in their final game against Slovakia on Tuesday.

In the late game in Helsinki, Alexander Radulov had a goal and an assist as Russia returned to winning ways, beating Slovakia 3-1 after consecutive losses to France and Finland.

The United States lead the Helsinki group on 15 points, with Finland a point further back and Russia third on 12.

Slovakia and Germany are both on seven points and battling for the last quarter-final place, with the Slovaks currently holding the upper hand on goal difference.

In Stockholm, Switzerland maintained their perfect record, making it six wins out of six with a 3-1 victory over Norway. The Swiss racked up 37 shots on the Norwegian goal, with Simon Moser, Roman Josi and Patrick von Gunten all netting.

A Jeff Skinner goal for Canada in the early game in the Swedish capital gave his side a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic, leaving the latter in fifth place in their group and perilously close to missing the quarter-finals.

With the top four from each group going through to the quarter-finals, the Czechs must now beat Norway in their final group game on Tuesday to qualify.

Switzerland top the group on 17 points, ahead of Canada (14) and co-hosts Sweden (12). Norway are fourth on nine, one point ahead of the Czech Republic.

(Editing by John Mehaffey)

LONDON (Reuters) - The cast of "Fast & Furious" sped into London for the world premiere of their sixth film that is set in the British capital, vowing to keep racing despite the exit of director Justin Lin.

Surrounded by souped-up cars and dancers in mini-shorts, the "Fast & Furious 6" stars packed a blue carpet in Leicester Square on Tuesday to promote the latest film in the street-racing franchise that has grossed $1.6 billion since 2001.

The film is the fourth directed by Taiwan-born Lin who is credited for resurrecting a franchise that was almost written off before becoming one of Hollywood's most lucrative movies and ranked the 22nd biggest franchise globally.

Lin said he was delighted the franchise had evolved to be so successful and that he was bowing out after filming the latest fast-paced adventure in central London with British singer Rita Ora counting down a race through the streets.

"It is only the third film in history to shoot in Piccadilly Circus. That meant everything to us," Lin told Reuters television.

Lin's debut in the franchise, "Tokyo Drift", grossed $158 million worldwide while ticket sales for his 2011 film "Fast Five" jumped to about $628 million globally.

"Fast 6", one of the most anticipated films of the summer season critical to Hollywood studios, again features Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, a now retired professional criminal.

He reunites his crew to help Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson, track down a mercenary organization led by Owen Shaw (Luke Evans).

Hobbs offers to clear the group's criminal records so they can return to live in the United States if they help him catch Shaw whose assistant is Toretto's presumed-dead lover Letty Ortiz, played by Michelle Rodriguez who rejoins the cast.

The film, which opens in Britain on May 17 and the United States on May 24, delivers back-to-back car racing stunts with one scene featuring Diesel smashing his car through the nose of a flaming Soviet-era cargo aircraft during takeoff.

Another car chase scene featuring a tank crushing dozens of cars along a Spanish highway ends with a breathtaking stunt that had the audience laughing in disbelief.

Diesel described the movie as tantamount to a love story after reuniting his character with his childhood sweetheart and bringing the gang back together as a family.

"It is an action film that refuses to sacrifice heart and family," he told reporters.

Diesel and the rest of the cast, including Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, and Jordana Brewster, are expected to feature in the seventh "Fast & Furious" film which is due out next year.

Lin, 42, however, is backing out, wanting a break from the fast pace set by the film's maker, Universal Pictures, which is owned by Comcast through its subsidiary NBCUniversal.

Filming is due to start later this year.

"I can't wait (to see it) as a fan," said Lin.

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

The Argentine World Player of the Year asked to be taken off with 20 minutes remaining at the Calderon, leaving his side with 10 men after coach Tito Vilanova had made all his substitutions.

The newly crowned champions came back from a goal down to win in his absence.

"He left the pitch because he was bothered in the same area that has affected him recently. He felt a strange sensation," Vilanova told the post-match news conference.

"We will find out tomorrow whether he will be out for days or weeks."

Messi damaged his hamstring against Paris St Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals last month and has failed to make a full recovery since then making mainly substitute appearances, if at all.

"Although it might seem difficult to understand how we are managing Lionel's injury, it isn't easy," Vilanova added.

"He has never felt completely recovered and we have gone with how he feels. He was fine before the game and trained normally during the week. He didn't feel anything while playing until he felt a pain again."

The 25-year-old has scored 46 league goals this season and is just four short of matching last season's record-breaking tally.

Barca still have the chance to match Real's record-breaking total of 100 points for a season set by Jose Mourinho's side last year.

The Catalans have 91 points with three games left to play at home to Real Valladolid and Malaga, and away to city rivals Espanyol.

(Reporting by Mark Elkington; Editing by John Mehaffey)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Shrinking the size of kids' plates and bowls and encouraging them to eat more frequently throughout the day might help them eat less and keep off extra weight, new research suggests.

In one study, researchers found first graders served themselves smaller portions when using miniaturized dishware - and ate less food when they had less on their plate.

Another review of past research found kids and teens who ate most often during the day were 22 percent less likely to be overweight than those who ate the fewest meals and snacks.

Jennifer Fisher, who worked on the dish-size study, said it was preliminary but could still inform parent choices.

"For now, certainly it seems like something parents can easily incorporate into their daily lives without a lot of work and effort," Fisher, from Temple University in Philadelphia, told Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues studied 42 elementary school kids who were given the chance to serve themselves lunch. On four days the kids used child-sized plates and bowls; on another four they used adult-sized dishware, which was twice as large.

First graders served themselves an average of 300 to 500 calories worth of the lunch entre - pasta or chicken nuggets - each day.

When they used adult dishware, the kids took an average of 90 more calories of food, the researchers found. And kids who ended up with more food on their plates also tended to eat more, Fisher's team wrote Monday in Pediatrics.

"It doesn't appear that simply because you might have large dishware at home, your child is going to overeat," said Fisher - because it depends on who's doing the serving and how much is served.

But, she added, "If more food appears on the plate, they're going to eat more."

"The results are very interesting and confirm our expectations that the impact of plate size on adults in the laboratory also apply to children," Dr. Thomas Robinson, a childhood obesity researcher at Stanford University in California, told Reuters Health in an email.

"This study provides very important preliminary evidence that using smaller dishware may help reduce children's energy intakes."

For their own analysis, researchers from Harokopio University in Athens, Greece, looked at 11 studies, mostly conducted in the Mediterranean, that compared eating frequency and weight in close to 19,000 kids and teens.

The overall pattern showed that youth who ate most often - typically at least four or five times per day - were least likely to be overweight or obese. However when they looked closer, the researchers found that link only held up in boys.

Robinson, who was not involved in the new research, said it's hard to tell which came first in those studies: eating frequency or extra weight.

The results "do not look very convincing one way or another," he said. "It is also hard to come up with a convincing reason why boys and girls would be different."

The researchers said their findings don't prove that a given child will lose weight by eating more often. But schools, for example, may be able to make a difference by integrating smaller, more frequent meals into the day.

"Instead of providing three big meals per day, it would be better (for parents) to have their children eating smaller meals and more snacks throughout the day," co-author Mary Yannakoulia told Reuters Health in an email.

However, she added, parents still need to pay attention to the quality of those snacks.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 percent of kids and teens in the U.S. are obese - a proportion that has almost tripled since 1980.

"We know that it's so complex that there's absolutely not one cause or solution," Fisher said.

A third study also published this week in Pediatrics found teens who spent more time focused on the TV were heavier than their peers. However, time spent playing video games or on the computer was not tied to weight.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/jsoh2P Pediatrics, online April 8, 2013.

USA Today ran this news , and the report received write-ups in every. There's only one problem: That landmark may have been passed four years ago. Or maybe not at all.

The uncertainty stems from the fact that the data the census used to create this report has what several experts consider a major hole in it: Data on whether people voted is collected every other November in a supplement to the Current Population Survey, a regular government survey of about 60,000 households. If respondents decline to say whether or not they voted, or if the interviewer does not ask, it is assumed that they did not vote.

According toreleased yesterday, 61.8 percent of those surveyed said they voted, 25.4 percent said they did not, and 12.8 percent did not respond. The census figures combine the second two categories.

As a result, the data appears, at first glance, to generally agree with other methods of measuring voter turnout. The Federal Election Commission reports thatfor president in the last election, while the census estimates that 132.9 million people votedthe sort of modest 3 percent difference that one might expect from a survey. (There are, of course, reasons to suspect that the FEC figure is also not perfectly accurate.)

It is only by assuming that all people who did not answer the survey did not vote, however, that the census is able to produce estimates in line with ballot totals. Were it to omit nonresponses, as most surveys do, it would end up with figures that were drastically higher than what the FEC reports.

"They are literally cheating to make it look more accurate," says Jon Krosnick, awho has worked with the Census Bureau. "They have been doing it for a long time."

It's not surprising that the census would otherwise find its data indicated inflated voter participation rates. Surveys of voting behavior, in which people are directly asked whether or not they went to the polls, consistently report significantly higher turnout rates than the actual number of ballots cast would suggest.

There are competing explanations for why this occurs. A study that Krosnick and others , an academic survey of civic involvement, suggests that there is a bias in who choses to participate in these studies. As the researchers put it: "[P]eople who vote in elections (and thereby choose to express their political preferences) also appear to be unusually likely to participate in political surveys (and thereby choose to express their political preferences)."

Another, more insidious explanation is that people who are directly asked if they voted are tempted to lie and say they did. Academics know this as the "social desirability bias"even when responding anonymously, people who did not vote may be tempted to say they did since voting is generally considered a good thing.

"This is a very common problem that post-election surveys have a large amount of over-report bias," says Michael McDonald, a professor at George Mason University who .

While McDonald is not as bluntly critical of the CPS survey as Krosnick is, he too is skeptical of how it conflates those who said they did not vote with those who didn't respond. When he recalculated the recent census figures for white and black turnout while simply omitting those who did not respond, he found that black voters surpassed white voters in turnout four years ago, by a rate of 78.9 to 75.5. As McDonald :

These adjusted numbers may help resolve another incongruity in the CPS survey data. The Census Bureau reports that the overall number of voters increased from 131.1 million in 2008 to 132.9 million. This can't possibly be correct sinceshow the overall turnout declined from 132.7 million to 130.7 million.

McDonald's corrected figures may produce results more proportional to actual voting records, but the raw numbers are absurdly high.

The Census Bureau is well aware of these mitigating factors. At the end of yesterday's report, the author, Thom File, acknowledges that, "In previous years, the disparity in the estimates in presidential elections has varied between 3 percent and 12 percent of the total number of votes shown as cast in the official tallies." The report also notes that "the respondent's willingness and ability to provide correct and accurate answers" is a potential source of error.

"Our strategy is to be as transparent as we can," File said in an interview today. In the bureau's defense, several of the spreadsheets of data that accompanied yesterday's report included raw data on the number of people who did not complete the survey, allowing for the sort of analysis that McDonald conducts. File defended the observations in his report in spite of these issues.

Information on who turns out to vote in an election is critically important to both parties as they . The past election very well may have been the first one in which African-American voters turned out in higher proportions than white voters, but yesterday's figures are largely incapable of answering that question.

The woman, 52, had been hiking with two friends when she fell about 1,000 feet (300 meters) down the side of a steep mountain. Police believed she died from injuries sustained during the fall, thereports. (Vultures are known to be able to sniff out themore than a mile away.)

"When we first went out in the helicopter looking for the body, we saw numerous vultures, without realizing what they were doing," said Maj. Didier Pericou, of the local police, as quoted in the Daily Mail.

But by the time the police reached the body, there was little left to recover.

"There were only bones, clothes and shoes left on the ground," Pericou said. "They took 40 to 50 minutes to eat the body."

The Griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) that consumed the body have been under considerable stress, as their primary source of food the carcasses of cattle or other livestock are no longer available throughout much of Europe.

Due to concerns about the spread of "mad cow disease" (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE), animals carcasses are now burned per European Union regulations.

As a result, the scavengers are reportedly becoming increasingly aggressive, and some farmers claim vultures are now attacking live animals.

Worldwide,are under increasing stress. In parts of Asia, vultures have largely disappeared because farmers often use the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac on their livestock: The drug is fatal to vultures.

After many years of population declines, however, somehave started to rebound as diclofenac has been banned.

Farmers in France, however, have renewed requests to shoot the protected Griffon vultures, claiming they are a threat to their livestock.

But conservationists claim the real threat is to the vultures. "We are seeing three-figure vulture flocks over Belgium and Holland. These birds are fanning out across Europe in search of food," Grahame Madge, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, as quoted in the Daily Mail.

Follow Marc Lallanilla onand . Follow us ,& . Original article on .

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of senior Republican and Democratic senators proposed a new law on Tuesday to combat computer espionage and the theft of valuable commercial data from U.S. companies.

The four powerful senators - Democrats Carl Levin and Jay Rockefeller and Republicans John McCain and Tom Coburn - joined together to launch the Deter Cyber Theft Act.

The proposed law aims to combat the theft of intellectual property from U.S. companies, which spend billions in research and development only to be targeted by foreign firms and countries that illegally access their data and use it to compete against them.

General Keith Alexander, head of the U.S. National Security Agency and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, has called the growing problem the "greatest transfer of wealth in history."

China is accused of being the biggest culprit in theft attempts against U.S. companies. American lawmakers have said U.S. companies suffered estimated losses in 2012 of more than $300 billion due to trade-secret theft, much of it due to Chinese cyber espionage.

Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the new law would help protect American businesses and innovation.

"We need to call out those who are responsible for cyber theft and empower the president to hit the thieves where it hurts most - in their wallets, by blocking imports of products or from companies that benefit from this theft," Levin said in a statement.

McCain, a powerful voice in the Senate on armed services and foreign affairs issues, said the bill would give President Barack Obama authority to target those who try to benefit from cyber crime.

A divided U.S. Congress has not approved much legislation in recent years, given a string of partisan fiscal battles.

But with lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle acknowledging that cyber security is a rising concern, this bipartisan measure - sponsored by leading senators - will likely draw plenty of interest.

A senior Democratic aide described cyber security as a "huge priority," for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The proposed act would require the Director of National Intelligence to compile an annual report that includes a list of nations that engage in economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace against U.S. firms or individuals. It would include a priority watch list of the worst offenders.

The report would also include a list of U.S. technologies targeted by the espionage, details of what had been stolen and a list of items produced using the stolen information.

The DNI's report would also list countries that had benefited from the theft and the action taken by the U.S. government to combat cyber espionage.

Under the proposed law, the president would be required to block imports of products containing stolen U.S. technology or products made by state-owned enterprises of nations on the DNI's priority watch list that are similar to items identified as being made using stolen technology.

(Reporting by Deborah Charles; Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

And then it all fell apart for the Washington Nationals' right-hander after a teammate's error. The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2009 and NL All-Star in 2012 wound up dropping his fifth consecutive decision of 2013, slumping his shoulders and bowing his head while laboring through a 42-pitch fifth inning during an 8-2 loss to the Cubs.

"I tried to tell him ... 'You have to keep your head up, every time. You never can put your head down,'" Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos said. "Because every time, when he puts the head down, he loses focus."

Strasburg (1-5) hasn't won since opening day, April 1, against the lowly Miami Marlins.

"It's hard to explain. He was throwing good, good stuff. Hitting his spots," manager Davey Johnson said. "And then it seemed where we needed him to pick us up, the air went out."

The first of Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman's pair of errors came with two outs in the fifth of a scoreless game, an off-target throw (he made a fielding error in the seventh).

Strasburg followed with his first walk, to No. 8 hitter Darwin Barney, he of the .160 batting average. Then up came opposing pitcher Edwin Jackson, who delivered a full-count double to right-center that made it 2-0. That accounted for Jackson's first hit and RBIs of the season; he'd been 0 for 10.

"If Strasburg punches him out there," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said, "it's a whole different ballgame."

Unraveling, Strasburg walked another batter and gave up Starlin Castro's single to load the bases. Anthony Rizzo grounded a single up the middle, the ball bounding into center to score two more runs. Instead of backing up home plate on the play, Strasburg ambled around on the infield grass and looked into the dugout.

All four runs were unearned, and Strasburg's ERA actually dipped to 3.10.

"I feel like I'm going out there and pitching well. Just not happening on the days I pitch right now," Strasburg said. "It's all going to change. It's still early, and all I can do is just go out there and give everything I have every fifth day. Whatever happens, happens."

Jackson (1-5), meanwhile, retired 12 of Washington's first 13 batters and allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings. He earned his first victory under a $52 million, four-year contract he signed after leaving Washington as a free agent, and in doing so, ended the Nationals' five-game winning streak.

"It was definitely nice to get that monkey off my back. ... It felt about the same size as me," Jackson said.

"When things are going bad, you can fold and collapse," he added, "or you can continue to work hard and climb your way out of the hole."

Sounds like advice Strasburg might want to heed.

He entered Saturday with a 3.45 ERA and was averaging 6 1-3 innings per start; his five-inning stint against Chicago was his shortest outing of the season. And, to think, he actually got some defensive help right before the problems arrived.

With one out in the fifth, Luis Valbuena laced a shot into the right-field corner for what should have been a stand-up double. Valbuena tried to stretch it into a triple and was thrown out at third, injuring the pinky on his right (throwing) hand in the process.

Strasburg, backing up third base on the play, pumped his right fist to celebrate.

Moments later, he was in a vastly different mood.

"He's too good a pitcher to let adversity behind him let him down," Johnson said. "He's certainly capable of picking us up. It's a team effort. And errors are a part of the game."

Shortstop Ian Desmond was asked whether he noticed Strasburg's demeanor change.

"It's hard to see emotion and things like that on the field, because I'm trying to watch the hitter, watch the pitch sequence, stuff like that. I would say (the media), the fans, things like that, probably have a little better visual of that than I do. But," Desmond said, pausing before adding, "it clearly wasn't the same."

NOTES: Desmond drove in both of Washington's runs. He had three hits a homer, double and single for the second game in a row. ... In the eighth, Cubs 1B Rizzo made a juggling catch of Zimmerman's popup to shallow right, tumbling head-over-heels and barely avoiding a collision with a teammate. ... Cubs 3B Valbuena was replaced in the bottom of the fifth because of the hurt finger, but Sveum said X-rays showed it wasn't broken. Sveum listed Valbuena as day-to-day. ... In Sunday's series finale, Nationals LHP Gio Gonzalez (3-2, 4.97 ERA) faces Cubs RHP Scott Feldman (3-3, 2.70).

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

The bank, formed with 3 billion pounds ($4.65 billion) of UK government funding, is designed to spur private sector investment in clean energy projects to help meet Britain's emissions reduction and renewable energy targets.

It said it will sign an agreement with Masdar on Wednesday during a state visit of the President of the United Arab Emirates to London.

Under the agreement, the two parties will consider potential green infrastructure projects in which to invest. Joint investments will be made and managed independently, the bank added.

Masdar has already invested over 500 million pounds in the London Array, the world's largest offshore wind farm.

Late last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron approached Emirati state energy investors, including Masdar, to persuade them to invest in Britain's energy sector.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by David Cowell)

SAO PAULO (AP) -- FIFA again expressed its concern with Brazil's preparations for the 2014 World Cup after local organizers said Tuesday they are facing challenges to meet the deadline for the stadium that will host the tournament's opening game in Sao Paulo.

A day after one of the engineers in charge of the stadium's construction said the venue is not expected to be fully ready by December as FIFA wants, local organizers said they are "looking for solutions" to speed up construction and finish the work on time.

FIFA has stated clearly that it will not tolerate delays with any of the 12 World Cup stadiums. Only two of the six Confederations Cup venues were completed on time. The home of the June 15 opener in Brasilia is yet to be completed.

"The technical teams of FIFA and the local organizing committee have reinforced the tight monitoring on all remaining six FIFA World Cup stadiums not only limited to Sao Paulo," football's governing body said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Tuesday. "FIFA is for sure concerned as it is vital that the firm deadline of December 2013 will be kept."

The main concern in Sao Paulo is the temporary seats which will have to be added to increase the stadium's capacity for the opener in 2014. Twenty thousand seats will be added after the stadium's main structure is ready, improving the capacity to nearly 70,000. The stadium will host six World Cup matches, including the opener and one of the semifinals.

The construction company building the stadium, Odebrecht, has told the AP that it will finish the main structure with 48,000 seats by the December deadline, but chief engineer Frederico Barbosa told the UOL website on Monday that it will likely take more time to add the temporary structures, which could be ready only by February or March.

"The host cities, the federal government and stadium owners have committed to this delivery date and acknowledged that for the FIFA World Cup no comprises can be made on this not to jeopardize the successful staging of football's flagship event," FIFA said. "Something which is not only crucial for FIFA, but for the entire host nation."

Sao Paulo officials are the ones responsible for the addition of the temporary seats.

"The local organizing committee knows of the challenges that the host city of Sao Paulo is facing to install the temporary seats in the stadium," the committee said in a statement. "However, the committee has been informed that the city is looking for solutions to accelerate the timetable for the installation so it can deliver the stadium and all the temporary structures by December this year, which is the deadline agreed upon in contract by all six host cities of the Confederations Cup in 2007."

FIFA wants stadiums ready at least six months before tournaments such as the World Cup and the Confederations Cup. This time it had to make an exception ahead of the warm-up tournament because of the series of delays in Brazil.

Only the venues in Fortaleza and Belo Horizonte were ready last December, and two others also missed the April 15 extension deadline that local organizers had set. The stadium of the Confederations Cup opener in Brasilia will only be delivered on May 18.

FIFA and the local organizing committee said last month that "delays like the ones observed will not be tolerated for the stadiums that will host" World Cup matches. It said "the flexibility observed in the deadlines for the FIFA Confederations Cup will not be the same for the FIFA World Cup, when no exception will be made."

Football's governing body said Tuesday that more than 588,000 tickets have already been sold for the Confederations Cup, including nearly 58,000 for the opener between Brazil and Japan on June 15.

The most sought-after match so far match is Mexico vs. Italy in Rio de Janeiro, with more than 63,000 tickets sold. Almost 61,000 tickets have been bought for the final at the new Maracana Stadium on June 30. Only about 10,000 have been sold for the match between newcomer Tahiti and African Cup champion Nigeria in Belo Horizonte.

The Confederations Cup is played among continental champions plus the host nation and the World Cup champion.

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Follow Tales Azzoni at http://twitter.com/tazzoni