Blog Posts by REUTERS

Dharun Ravi with lead defense attorney Steven Altman. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
(Reuters) - A jury convicted Dharun Ravi of hate crimes on Friday after he used a computer webcam to view his Rutgers University roommate kissing another man in a case that sparked a national outcry over gay bullying.

Ravi, 20, faces 10 years in prison on the most serious charges of bias intimidation against Tyler Clementi, 18, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge days after learning that his gay encounter was seen by webcam. Ravi, who invited others to watch the feed from the camera mounted on top of his computer, was not charged with causing Clementi's death.

Ravi, an Indian citizen who has lived most of his life in the United States, will be sentenced on May 21 and continues to be free on $25,000 bail after surrendering his passport.

After 12 hours of deliberations over three days, the jury convicted Ravi on all 15 counts. Ravi covered his mouth with his hand and his eyes widenened as the verdict was read in a courtroom in Middlesex County, New Jersey.

(Reuters/Jorge Silva)By Genevra Pittman

(Reuters Health) - Fewer kids are hurting themselves on the stairs than were a decade ago, according to a new report -- but a U.S. child still goes to the emergency department with a stair-related injury every six minutes, on average.

One of the study's authors said it's important for parents to supervise little kids when they're on the stairs and discourage them from using stairs for games. But he added that changes in how staircases are designed might be needed in order to make a significant dent in injury rates.

It is the exception to the rule that a home won't have a young child living in it or visiting" at some point, said Dr. Gary Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

We should build environments where we know children will live or visit so that they're safe for children," he told Reuters Health.

That includes built-in gates at the top and bottom of stairs, as well

Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Olivia applies lipstick prior to the Ravens NFL football game in Baltimore, Maryland.By Mitch Lipka

(Reuters) - If you're going to be on either end of a kiss this Valentine's Day, you might want to consider smooching bare-lipped. Most lipstick contains lead.

Lead has been banned in paint since 1978 because of its toxicity at low levels, but it still shows up in small amounts in some of the best-selling lipstick brands.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which did an analysis of a study of lead in lipstick conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, wants consumers to know that most of the 400 different lipsticks tested were positive for the substance (link.reuters.com/caz56s).

"Recognizing that there is no safe level of lead exposure, we need to be protecting women and children from all levels of exposure," said Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the campaign -- a non-profit coalition of environmental- and cancer-prevention groups.

Malkan's group wants the FDA to set a limit for how much lead lipstick can contain and to study whether there are any

Tian Tian, chosen by the BBC as the 2011 female face.LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC has ignited its second sexism spat in the space of a month by choosing a panda as one of its 12 female faces of the year.

Last week, it was criticised for choosing its annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year from an entirely male shortlist.

The decision to include the face of Tian Tian (Sweetie), a female panda whose arrival at Edinburgh Zoo on loan from China generated huge publicity earlier this month, has provoked a storm of angry tweets, including one from former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

"So the BBC couldn't find a woman for Sports Personality of the Year, but they could find a panda for a female face of 2011," he wrote.

Labour MP Stella Creasy also tweeted: "No offence to Sweetie -- sure a lovely panda and best in the class etc -- but clue is in the title 'women' not 'female of the species' of the year."

The corporation has also been criticised because a quarter of the female faces this year were chosen for their

Reebok EasyTone. Reebok International Ltd has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it made unsupported claims that its By Diane Bartz in Washington and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Reebok International Ltd has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it made unsupported claims that its "toning shoes" provide extra muscle strength, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

The money will go toward consumer refunds.

Reebok advertisements said the shoes strengthened hamstrings and calves by up to 11 percent more than regular sneakers, and toned the buttocks by up to 28 percent more, the FTC said.

"To its credit, Reebok pulled these ads sometime in the middle of our investigation," David Vladeck, head of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau.

More on the truth about toning shoes and other fitness gear that doesn't work

Toning shoes are designed to be slightly unstable. Makers of such shoes often say the instability requires the wearer to work harder, thus strengthening muscles.

"We did get consumer complaints. We watch