Fossils of at least five species of vegetarian birdlike dinosaurs known as caenagnathids have been found from West Texas to Canada with wide variation in their beak shapes and body size, giving scientists clues about how the small creatures could coexist by carving out different dietary niches.

Charlesby natural selection was famously inspired by the diversity ofon the Galapagos Islands, which he took as a sign that the birds had somehow adapted to the specific environments where they lived. More recent research has shown that Darwin's finches can evolve quite quickly. For instance, one speciesto better compete with another bird for small seeds in a mere two decades. []

Millions of years ago, different species of caenagnathids may have similarly adjusted their beak size across western North America.

"Each species has a different beak structure. You could have a lot of different species in one environment, because they ate different kinds of foods, which is how different species of Darwin's finches coexist," Nicholas R. Longrich, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University, said in a statement. "So, in a way, the evolution of modern dinosaurs birds provides insight into ancient, extinct dinosaurs."

Fossil collectors in Texas recently found a new species of the turkey-sized dinosaur, dubbed Leptorhynchos gaddisi, in the Aguja Formation near Big Bend National Park. The 75-million-year-old remains of this species suggest it had a more rounded chin and a less upturned beak than its Canadian relative, Leptorhynchos elegans. The short deep mandible of the new species also suggests it ate tougher, more fibrous plants than its neighbors known as Chirostenotes and Caenagnathus, researchers say.

"These are subtle differences, but they mean we're dealing with different species," Longrich said. "If you look at modern birds, one of the things that distinguishes a crow from a raven, or two types of albatrosses from each other, is the beak proportions. We can do the same thing with dinosaurs that we do with modern birds, and identify them using beak shapes."

Considering that small dinosaurs have a poor fossil record in North America, having at least five known specialized species of caenagnathids some of them living side-by-side suggests the group had relatively high diversity, the researchers say.

The findings were detailed April 26 in the Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

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Nawaz Sharif has held the job twice before, but the last time didn't end so well. The 63-year-old was toppled in a coup by the country's army chief in 1999 and sent into exile in Saudi Arabia. He spent years in the steamy Gulf before brokering his return in 2007.

After serving as the country's main opposition leader, Sharif came roaring back in Saturday's elections, in which his Pakistan Muslim League-N party scored a resounding victory.

Sharif's supporters believe his pro-business background and years of experience in government make him the right person to tackle the country's many economic woes, like growing power cuts, painful inflation and widespread unemployment. He is also a main proponent of improving ties with Pakistan's archenemy and neighbor India, a step that would likely boost his country's economy.

Critics worry that Sharif, who is known to be personally very religious, is soft on Islamic extremism and won't crack down on militants that pose a serious threat to Pakistan and other countries chief among them the Taliban and al-Qaida-linked groups.

The United States will be watching Sharif closely, since Washington relies on help from Islamabad to fight Islamic militants in Pakistan and to negotiate an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.

The son of a wealthy industrialist from central Punjab province, Sharif entered politics as a protege of Gen. Zia ul-Haq, who seized power in a military coup in 1977. Sharif was prime minister from 1990-93 and again from 1997-99.

Sharif's second stint in power was cut short when he was toppled in a military coup and sent into exile by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was then serving as army chief. The coup followed an attempt by Sharif to fire Musharraf by preventing his plane from landing when he returned from a trip abroad.

In an ironic twist, Musharraf is currently under house arrest in Pakistan after returning from self-imposed exile, and it will be up to Sharif's government to decide whether to bring treason charges against the former military strongman.

Following the 1999 coup, Sharif spent seven years in exile before Musharraf grudgingly allowed him to return in November 2007, apparently under pressure from Saudi Arabia's king, an important ally of Pakistan.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto also returned from exile around the same time to run for parliament, but she was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack at the end of 2007, before the election.

Sharif also intended to run in the 2008 election, but he was disqualified by a court because of a conviction on terrorism and hijacking charges, stemming from Musharraf's coup. Sharif insisted the conviction was politically motivated, and it was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2009.

Sharif's party came in second in the 2008 parliamentary election, behind Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. The two parties originally formed a government together, but after two months, Sharif's party became the main opposition, accusing Bhutto's widower, President Asif Ali Zardari, of reneging on a vow to restore judges fired by Musharraf.

Sharif put steady pressure on the government, but wary of army interference, never enough to threaten its hold on power. This attitude helped enable the national assembly to complete its five-year term and transfer power in democratic elections on Saturday for the first time since the country was founded in 1947.

Sharif draws much of his political support from the middle class in urban areas of Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, because of his pro-business policies. But he has also played the populist. May of the battered yellow taxis rattling around Pakistani cities date from a microfinance plan he set up to help create jobs for the poor. He also set a minimum wage.

But he is perhaps best known for testing nuclear weapons in response to India's nuclear test in 1998.

It was an immensely popular decision in Pakistan millions celebrated in the streets but one that was made in defiance of U.S. appeals for restraint. President Bill Clinton even intervened personally, reportedly offering millions of dollars in aid and a state dinner if Sharif held off.

Sharif's party, which controlled the Punjab government for the last five years, is more closely aligned with hard-line Islamist parties than the outgoing Pakistan People's Party. The Pakistan Muslim League-N has been criticized for not going after militant outfits in Punjab, a stance analysts said was driven by its reliance on banned militant groups to deliver key votes.

During Sharif's tenure as prime minister in the 1990s, he not only supported the Taliban regime in Afghanistan but also tried to vastly increase the powers of his office while pushing aside Pakistan's penal code in favor of an Islamic justice system. Many saw these ill-fated moves as an attempt to "Talibanize" Pakistan, and they eroded his popularity.

After returning from exile, Sharif admitted that the pro-Afghan Taliban policy he pursued when he was prime minister in the 1990s was a failure and said Pakistan should stop trying to influence affairs in Afghanistan. That is the same message the U.S. sent to Pakistani leaders as American troops fought the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Pakistan and the U.S. have had a tense relationship in recent years, especially following the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani army town in 2011.

Sharif has criticized unpopular U.S. drone attacks targeting al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan, and has called the Afghan conflict "America's war." The Punjab government, controlled by Sharif's party, turned down over $100 million in American aid in 2011 to protest the bin Laden raid.

Now, many analysts believe Sharif will take a pragmatic view toward relations with the U.S. and won't want to see ties deteriorate.

His influence on the course of the relationship, as well as other foreign policy issues, will be tempered by Pakistan's powerful army, which often plays a dominant role in national security decisions.

Many observers are watching closely to see how Sharif deals with the military in his first months as prime minister.

For example, later this year the term of Pakistan's chief of army staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani the most powerful military officer in the country is slated to end. The appointment of a new chief could create friction between Sharif and the army's leadership.

Matt Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing were no exception, getting hit with one of the largest penalties in NASCAR history Wednesday after the engine from Kenseth's race-winning car at Kansas failed a post-race inspection. The team had nothing to do with the error, and manufacturer Toyota immediately accepted responsibility for one of eight connecting rods failing to meet the minimum weight requirement by 3 grams less than an empty envelope.

"We take full responsibility for this issue with the engine. JGR is not involved in the process of selecting parts or assembling the Cup Series engines," Toyota Racing Development President Lee White said.

It's been a busy season for NASCAR discipline. In February, Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements was suspended after an apparently insensitive remark to an MTV blogger and Denny Hamlin was fined $25,000 for criticizing the new Gen-6 race car.

But in the past week, NASCAR has levied more than $450,000 in fines, suspended nearly a dozen crew members for upcoming points races as it punishes teams for rules violations involving the cars themselves.

Kenseth was stripped of everything but the trophy from Sunday's win at Kansas.

"Anything to do with the engine, the fuel or the tires is going to be bad," said rival driver Kevin Harvick, who appeared with Clint Bowyer and Elliott Sadler on Wednesday in a softball game between Dover International Speedway and Pocono Raceway.

"It's always been that way. It's kind of one of those pet peeves of NASCAR."

Kenseth was docked 50 driver points in the standings he earned only 48 points for the victory and NASCAR also erased the three bonus points he earned for the win that would have been applied in seeding for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. In addition, the victory will not be credited toward his eligibility for a wild card berth in the Chase.

So, although Kenseth has two wins on the year, the Kansas win does not count in any form toward Chase eligibility.He lost his pole award, too, which could hurt eligibility for next year's Sprint Unlimited exhibition race.

The penalty to Kenseth, who held off Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports to earn his second win of the season, dropped him from eighth to 14th in the standings.

NASCAR also suspended crew chief Jason Ratcliff for six races and fined him $200,000. And in a rare move, car owner Joe Gibbs had his owner's license suspended for the next six races and he won't earn car owner points during that time. He also was docked 50 car owner points while Toyota, which supplies the JGR engines through Costa Mesa, Calif.-based TRD, lost five points in the manufacturer standings.

JGR said it would appeal.

"It is our understanding that one of the eight connecting rods on the engine was ruled too light," the statement said. "We are working with our partners at TRD on this issue."

White said Kenseth gained no advantage from the light rod.

"It was a simple oversight on TRD's part and there was no intent to deceive, or to gain any type of competitive advantage," White said. "Toyota is a company that was built on integrity, and that remains one of the guiding principles of the company. The goal of TRD has always been and will continue to be to build high-performance engines that are reliable, durable and powerful, and within the guidelines established by NASCAR."

Elliott Sadler, in his first season driving for JGR's Nationwide Series team, felt for teammate Kenseth.

"It's tough if you're Matt because you don't have anything to do with the motor. That's a TRD deal. It's not a Gibbs deal," Sadler said. "At Gibbs, we don't even touch the motor. TRD brings the motor in and puts it in. We don't even get to touch it. That's a rule. A Gibbs employee doesn't even touch that."

It's the second severe penalty against a Sprint Cup team levied by NASCAR in as many weeks.

It was Penske Racing and defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski who were punished last week after NASCAR said it found unapproved parts in the rear suspension of Keselowski and Joey Logano's cars at Texas. NASCAR docked 25 points each the drivers, fined the crew chiefs $100,000 each and suspended seven Penske employees for six races. Penske Racing's appeal is scheduled for May 1.

Those penalties were for alterations to the body of the car, particularly in an area NASCAR has been working the last year to police after teams found a way to manipulate the skew of the cars last season. Team owner Roger Penske has maintained the team was not cheating, but "working in a gray area" of the rule book.

It's not clear if that argument will fly before the three-member appeal board, and the 2013 rule book was specifically tightened this season to add language specific to the rear suspension systems.

In the case of JGR and the engine, illegal is illegal and there is no gray area.

NASCAR has proven that through penalties before. The last violator, Carl Long, was severely punished when he was found to have an illegal engine at the 2009 All-Star Race. Long was docked 200 points which would be about 50 points under the current points system fined $200,000 and suspended for 12 races.

His suspension was reduced to eight races on appeal, but Long has said he is unable to pay the fine and can't work in Sprint Cup until he settles the debt.

"We've always known the engine and tires are sacred ground. You don't mess with the engine or the tires," said former crew chief and current Fox analyst Larry McReynolds, who added that all eight connecting rods would have been light if TRD was trying to cheat.

"This was pure human error," McReynolds said. "But in NASCAR's defense, they can't completely determine intent or non-intent. They absolutely should appeal. I'd primarily appeal Ratcliff's suspension. He was an innocent bystander in this. The engine is a different deal than the rest of the car. If I was Joe Gibbs, I'd be pretty ticked off about losing my crew chief under these circumstances. This was an error but an enormously costly one."

JGR has the means to pay the fine and the personnel to recover from this setback. The appeal would likely be to reduce the penalties on the argument it was TRD that erred and the team had no control or access to assembly of the engine.

Clint Bowyer, a Toyota driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, said it's unfortunate so many employees are punished by NASCAR for one infraction.

"For the governing body, that's a difficult situation knowing that a lot of guys that you're penalizing don't necessarily have anything to do with what's inside those frame rails," Bowyer said. "It's tough. It's unfortunate for Matt. Obviously it was a shock to all of us."

Kenseth is unlikely to get back his bonus points. NASCAR stripped Carl Edwards of his 10 bonus points under an older scoring system for not having a cover on his oil tank after a 2008 win at Las Vegas. The victory stood, but Edwards was not able to carry the 10 bonus points into the Chase. His crew chief was also suspended six races.

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AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.

Netflix will be the exclusive subscription video home in the United States for two of the shows, "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" from Disney Junior and "Tron: Uprising" from Disney XD. The two shows are available starting Thursday, a statement from the companies said.

Three other shows, "Handy Manny," "Special Agent Oso" and "JoJo's Circus," will appear on the Netflix streaming service in the United States later this month.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

At the conclusion of a two-day meeting of leading financial representatives from the G-7 countries the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the U.K. host British Treasury chief George Osborne said there was a formal acknowledgement that each member needed to secure their own countries' growth by balancing austerity measures with growth-enhancing policies.The officials also agreed on the importance of finding measures to deal with failing banks and working collectively to stop companies and individuals from dodging their tax bills.

The global recovery from recession over the past few years has been patchy. While the U.S. economy, the world's largest, appears to be gaining traction, many European countries are in recession as they try to get a grip on their public finances through deep spending cuts and tax increases.

"The will is still there to reduce the deficits but there is certainly a change of tone," said Pierre Moscovici, France's finance minister at the conclusion of the two-day summit at a country house around 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of London.

Japan, the world's number 3 economy has been in focus in recent months. The new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised aggressive steps to restart the country's postwar boom, which effectively ground to a halt in the early 1990s. As part of that effort, the Bank of Japan plans to double the amount of cash circulating in the Japanese economy and held as bank reserves.

One of the offshoots of the policies has been a dramatic fall in the value of the yen. On Thursday, the dollar rose above 100 yen for the first time in over four years. The yen has weakened by more than 20 percent against the dollar since October, when it was trading at around 78 yen.

As well as potentially boosting economic growth by making its exports more competitive, the flipside of a lower yen is that it can also stoke inflation by increasing the price of imports. For a country that's seen prices fall for much of the past 15 years, that's important.

The rapid slide in the value of the yen has sparked fears of a "currency war" where countries use their exchange rates as an economic weapon. If other countries respond to the falling yen by debasing their currencies, Japan will be back at square one and the world economy could suffer. Sharp fluctuations in the value of currencies can hurt business confidence and investment.

So far, the argument presented by Japanese officials that it has been targeting monetary stimulus and not its exchange rate has been accepted by Japan's G-7 partners.

Osborne, who hosted the two days of informal discussions, said the G-7 countries agreed to make sure that "policies are oriented towards domestic objectives."

In a rare development, the G-7 didn't actually issue a communique at the conclusion of its deliberations. However, Osborne said the previous communique "was a successful statement and one that has been held to" a clear reference to Japan.

In February, when markets were particularly roiled by developments in Japan, the G-7 said their respective fiscal and monetary policies were oriented toward meeting domestic requirements and that exchange rates were not a target of policy.

A senior U.S. Treasury official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a good discussion about what's going on in Japan and that Japanese officials went into some detail about how the new policy was helping to boost domestic demand.

The official reaffirmed the importance that Japan continues to meet previous commitments, a point made a day earlier by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew who said he was monitoring developments.

Analysts said it's difficult for the G-7 to make any concerns over Japan public because other countries, such as the U.S. and Britain, have been accused of debasing their respective currencies over the past few years through their monetary stimulus programs.

"It's a bit like the pot calling the kettle black," said Simon Derrick, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon.

All participants at the meeting said boosting economic growth was a priority now that financial markets appear to have calmed down, especially with regard to the debt crisis that has gripped the 17-country Eurozone.

Bad banking practices around many parts of the world were behind the financial explosion in 2008, which sent the world economy skidding to its deepest recession since World War II. Britain's Osborne said it was important to swiftly complete work to make sure that no bank is too big to fail.

"We must put regimes in place ... to deal with failing banks and to protect taxpayers and to do so in a globally consistent manner," he said.

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, said the bank was working out what it can do to make sure banks lend more. Though banks have managed to reduce their debt and bolster their capital reserves and have benefited from liquidity offers from the ECB, lending remains stuck at relatively low levels particularly to smaller and medium sized enterprises.

"There wasn't any call to do more really," Draghi said, a day after Britain's Osborne indicated there would be discussions on the role of the world's central banks in shoring up global growth.

Osborne also said it was important to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, and said some of the U.K.'s offshore dependencies are working to make sure they follow the spirit of new international standards.

"Today, we all agree on the importance of collective action to tackle tax avoidance and evasion," he said. "We are absolutely determined to make progress this year .... It is vital that both developed and developing countries collect the tax that is due to them."

Lambesis was taken into custody on Tuesday in Oceanside, California, after he solicited help in the scheme from the undercover detective, said San Diego County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell.

Police had previously learned Lambesis was seeking someone who could commit the slaying, Caldwell said.

"The information came to us late last week. We acted quickly on it. I believe that we averted a great tragedy," she said.

Caldwell said the ongoing investigation prevented her from disclosing any details about why Lambesis might have wanted to have his estranged wife killed or how police first learned about what they described as his murder plan.

A representative for the As I Lay Dying's record label, Metal Blade, could not immediately be reached for comment. It was unclear if Lambesis had an attorney.

The band's 2007 album "An Ocean Between Us" debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200 list, and ranks as one of their top-selling releases. Last year, As I Lay Dying put out its sixth album "Awakened."

Lambesis is a founding member of the band, which was formed in San Diego.

As I Lay Dying has at times been described in the media as a Christian group, but Lambesis said this year in an interview with heavy metal website Noisecreep that group members wanted "to be judged on the music" rather than their "personal beliefs."

Lambesis is expected to appear in court for an arraignment on Wednesday or Thursday. A spokesman for the San Diego District Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Marty Graham in San Diego, Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Philip Barbara)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Clorox said Wednesday that its fiscal third-quarter net income climbed slightly as price hikes helped amid bad weather conditions that hindered sales of its Kingsford brand charcoal.

The consumer products company's performance missed Wall Street estimates. It also lowered the high end of its full-year revenue forecast, due to the lower charcoal sales and other issues.

Shares slipped in morning trading.

Clorox earned $133 million, or $1 per share, for the three months ended March 31. That compares with $132 million, or $1.01 per share, in the first three months of 2012.

Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of $1.05 per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue edged up 1 percent to $1.41 billion from $1.4 billion. Wall Street expected $1.43 billion in revenue.

Charcoal sales fell by more than 20 percent in March because of unusually cold weather across most of the U.S. Elsewhere in the household segment, cat litter shipments fell as prior price increases continued to hurt volume. Prices hikes benefited the unit which also includes Glad bags, wraps and containers but were somewhat offset by unfavorable mix and increased promotional spending.

In the lifestyle division, which includes Hidden Valley Ranch brand dressings and sauces, Brita water filtration and Burt's Bees natural personal care, sales rose 2 percent, mostly because of price hikes.

Overseas sales climbed 2 percent primarily on price increases and lower promotional spending. This was somewhat offset by unfavorable currency exchange rates.

Clorox Co. now expects fiscal 2013 revenue will rise 3 percent to 4 percent, but believes its results will likely be toward the lower end of the range. Its prior guidance was for 3 percent to 5 percent growth. Based on 2012's $5.47 billion in sales, the revised guidance implies revenue of about $5.64 billion to $5.69 billion.

The Oakland, Calif. company still anticipates earnings in a range of $4.25 to $4.35 per share.

Analysts predict full-year earnings of $4.34 per share on revenue of $5.69 billion.

For fiscal 2014, Clorox foresees earnings between $4.55 and $4.70 per share. Revenue is expected to climb 2 percent to 4 percent.

Wall Street expects earnings of $4.69 per share.

Clorox's stock shed 51 cents to $85.74 in morning trading. The shares have traded between $66.72 and $90.10 in the past 52 weeks.

Gen. Constantine Chiwenga dismissed calls for him and other top security officials to meet with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to discuss demands for reforms in the armed forces ahead of crucial elections this year, reported the Sunday Mail, , which is a mouthpiece of President Robert Mugabe's party.

Chiwenga denied claims by Tsvangirai's party, which is in a shaky coalition with Mugabe, that military chiefs have welcomed approaches on reforms. He called the claims "hallucinations" and said the military chiefs will not meet with politicians who did not fight in the guerrilla war that ended colonial rule in 1980.

"We have no time to meet sellouts. Clearly Tsvangirai is a psychiatric patient who needs a competent psychiatrist .he seems to be suffering from hallucinations," said Chiwenga. "We are different. Just like oil and water, we cannot mix."

Zimbabwe's police and military are accused of state-orchestrated violence surrounding the last disputed polls in 2008.

Similar remarks against Tsvangirai were made by Mugabe's loyalist police commissioner general on April 27.

The army commander was "fired up" when speaking Saturday after the funeral of his brother outside Harare, said The Sunday Mail.

"Who the hell does Tsvangirai think he is?No-one can make us turn our back on the liberation struggle. It is unimaginable for us to spit on the struggle by meeting sellouts," Chiwenga said, the according to the paper.

Tsvangirai, 60, was a trade union leader when the independence war ended with a British-negotiated truce in 1979, leading to the first democratic elections that swept Mugabe to power.

Several service commanders have refused to salute Tsvangirai at state ceremonial events.

Tsvangirai's party insists it wants to meet with powerful pro-Mugabe generals to discuss their future role after new elections expected later this year, possibly in September. Tsvangirai's supporters have demanded that the security chiefs be fired, charging that in their loyalty to Mugabe the military heads have been partisan and unprofessional.

The two similar statements by Mugabe's two top security chiefs within a week of each other signal a hardening of their stance and point to continuing bias of the police and military against Tsvangirai's party ahead of upcoming polls, say analysts.

The coalition agreement brokered by regional leaders that made Tsvangirai the Zimbabwe prime minister in 2009 demands significant democratic and security reforms, the scrapping of sweeping media curbs and an end to hate speech dominating the state media controlled by Mugabe loyalists before new elections.

The international media freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Friday described Mugabe, 89, as "a predator of freedom of information."

Mugabe remained inflexible, refused to cooperate with the former opposition in the power-sharing government and blocked media reforms necessary for a free and fair election, said the group in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day.

Mugabe and his senior officers and officials still exercised strict control over the state media and curtailed the activities of independent media organizations through threats and surveillance, said the press watchdog.

That included an oppressive George Orwell-style "Big Brother is Watching You" law that lets Zimbabwe security authorities intercept communications without asking the courts, said Reporters Without Borders.

"Every little bit makes a difference" and the intensity doesn't matter just getting a minimum amount of exercise does, said Dr. Mathew Sorensen of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

He led the study, which was to be discussed Friday at an American Urological Association conference in San Diego.

About 9 percent of people will get a kidney stone sometime in their life. The problem is a little more common in men, but incidence has risen 70 percent over the last 15 years, most rapidly among women.

Obesity raises the risk as do calcium supplements, which many women take after menopause. A government task force recently advised against supplements for healthy older women, saying that relatively low-dose calcium pills don't do much to keep bones strong but make kidney stones more likely.

The new research involved nearly 85,000 women 50 and older in the government-funded Women's Health Initiative study. All had an exam to measure weight and height so doctors could figure out their body mass index, a gauge of obesity. They also filled out annual surveys on what they ate, so researchers could take into account things known to lower the risk of kidney stones, such as drinking a lot of fluids and eating less salt or meat.

Participants said how much exercise they usually got and that was translated into "METs" a measure of how much effort an activity takes. For example, 10 METs per week is about 2 1/2 hours of walking at a moderate pace, four hours of light gardening or one hour of jogging.

After about eight years, 3 percent of the women had developed a kidney stone. Compared to women who got no leisure-time exercise, those who got up to 5 METs per week had a 16 percent lower risk for stones. The risk was 22 percent lower with 5 to 10 METs per week and 31 percent lower for 10 METs or more. Exercise beyond 10 METs added no additional benefit for kidney stone prevention. Exercise intensity didn't matter just how much women got each week.

"We're not asking people to run marathons. This is just a very mild to moderate additional amount of activity," Sorensen said.

Why might exercise help? It changes the way the body handles nutrients and fluids that affect stone formation. Exercisers sweat out salt and tend to retain calcium in their bones, rather than having these go into the kidneys and urine where stones form. They also tend to drink water and fluids afterwards, another plus for preventing stones.

"There's something about exercise itself that probably produces things in your urine that prevent stone formation," said one expert not involved in the work, Dr. Kevin McVary. He is chairman of urology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Ill., and a spokesman for the urology group. "It's not just being skinny or not being fat, it's something about the exercise that protects you."

Exercise is known to cut the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions that raise the risk of kidney stones. Next, researchers want to study men and younger women to see if exercise helps prevent kidney stones in them, too .

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Derick Brassard and Nash both scored power-play goals, with help from Callahan in the first, and Mats Zuccarello found the net for the second straight game to give the playoff-hopeful Rangers their sixth win in nine games (6-2-1).

Zuccarello scored in the second period and then added his second of the night with 4:49 left in the game when he tipped the puck in after Brad Richards raced it up ice and fed in front. Brassard made it 5-1 just 1:24 later with his second of the game, with an assist from Nash, and Richards pushed the lead to five goals with 1:24 remaining.

New York had a lackluster 4-2 loss at Philadelphia on Tuesday that allowed Winnipeg to get even in points in the tight Eastern race. The Rangers (22-17-4) have five games left.

Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves for his 20th win of the season. Even in this lockout-shortened, 48-game season, Lundqvist reached 20 wins for the eighth straight time.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the second period for Florida (13-24-6), which has an NHL-low 32 points. Scott Clemmensen stopped 24 shots, but the Panthers lost their fourth in a row and for the fifth time in six games.

The Rangers found their offense by taking advantage of the NHL's worst penalty-killing unit in the first period. New York had been 0-for-14 with the advantage in its previous four games, but connected on its first two tries to grab an early 2-0 lead.

Brassard got it started at 3:05 after Callahan had a shot blocked by Clemmensen. Nash got the puck behind the net and found Brassard in front with a pass, leading to a goal from the doorstep. It was Brassard's ninth goal of the season and second in eight games since he came to the Rangers on the day of the trade deadline from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Nash, a former Blue Jackets star now in his first season with New York, netted his 18th goal at 9:10 with a blistering wrist shot from the right circle off the rush after Callahan passed the puck across to him during another power play.

It is the fourth time this season the Rangers scored more than one goal on their power play that came in ranked 20th in the NHL and produced only 20 goals in the previous 42 games.

On the flip side, the Panthers came in having killed only 73.5 of their short-handed situations this season. Florida improved in the second period, turning aside both New York advantages.

However, with the teams at even strength, Zuccarello pushed the Rangers' lead to 3-1 at 16:34 with a backhanded shot from right in front after Ryan Clowe skated back and forth behind the net before getting the puck to him.

Huberdeau had gotten the Panthers within 2-1 with 4:43 left in the first when he used a brilliant skating move to get around Zuccarello in the Rangers end and beat Lundqvist with a shot for his 14th of the season.

NOTES: The Rangers were without C Brian Boyle, who injured his right leg on Tuesday. He is expected to miss games at Buffalo on Saturday and home against New Jersey on Sunday, too. ... Callahan, who played in his 400th NHL game, received the team's Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award for the fourth time in five years. He and Adam Graves (five) are the only four-time winners. ... The Rangers agreed to terms with undrafted free agent forward Michael Kantor. ... Florida recalled D Alex Petrovic from San Antonio of the AHL and he made his NHL debut. ... The Panthers have used 37 players this season. ... The Rangers are 24-6-3 in their last 33 games against Southeast Division opponents, including an 9-3-1 this season. ... New York has earned at least one point in 89 consecutive games when leading after the second period, dating to the 2009-10 season. The Rangers are 83-0-6 in that span, including 13-0 this season