Chicago

It was the kind of breakthrough scientists had dreamed of for decades and its promise to help cure disease appears to be fast on the way to being realised. Researchers in November announced they were able to turn the clock back on skin cells and transform them into stem cells, the mutable building blocks of organs and tissues.

A winter storm raging over the Midwestern United States on Tuesday reportedly left two dozen people dead and hundreds of thousands without power, as ice toppled trees and power lines and sent cars skidding off slick roads. Most of the fatalities were reported in Oklahoma, where authorities also said more than 600 000 people were without power.

A United States soldier convicted by a military court in the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Saturday. Private Jesse Spielman (22) was found guilty of four counts of murder, rape, conspiracy to commit rape and housebreaking with the intent to commit rape.

Michael Phelps grabbed the spotlight at the United States swimming nationals on Wednesday, scooping a pair of titles while narrowly missing out on a world record in the 200m backstroke in Indianapolis. Phelps, who set himself an ambitious 10-event programme, got the meet off to a quiet start on Tuesday failing to qualify for the final of the 200m breaststroke.

Fallen media tycoon Conrad Black was convicted on Friday of mail fraud and concealing documents from an official proceeding, but a jury acquitted him of wire fraud, racketeering and several other counts. Black had been accused of swindling shareholders out of millions of dollars.

Countries that take the lead in directing domestic efforts against HIV and Aids seem to have the greatest success. ”We get the best results in countries where the host government assumes the leadership for the response,” said Dr Tom Kenyon, chief deputy coordinator of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.

The flip of a switch could become all it takes to get a good night’s sleep, according to a study released on Monday. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found a way to stimulate the slow waves typical of deep sleep by sending a harmless magnetic signal through the skulls of sleeping volunteers.

A Chicago woman is suing her dance partner, claiming he dropped her on her head after flipping her into the air at an office party. Lacey Hindman (22) was a victim of ”negligent dancing”, says her lawyer, David M Baum. ”I fell hard enough you could hear the impact of me hitting the floor over the sound from the jukebox,” Hindman said.

A sword-wielding Wisconsin man who rushed to the aid of a woman he thought was being raped in the apartment upstairs was carted off to jail after police discovered his neighbour was just watching porn. The cries for help pouring through the floorboards sounded far too real to James van Iveren.

An outbreak of a contagious rash called herpes gladiatorum among Minnesota high school wrestlers led the state to suspend matches and halt contact practices, authorities said on Wednesday. The Minnesota State High School League acted after 24 wrestlers from 10 schools contracted the rash.

Our ability to daydream about our future is closely related to our ability to recall our past, and may even depend on it, according to a study released on Monday which may explain a little-known quirk of the amnesiac’s condition. Researchers compared the brain activity of volunteers as they reminisced about past personal events such as a birthday, and then conjured up images of similar scenarios in the future.

It would be ”awesome” if ”TomKat” and other combined nicknames for celebrity couples ”went missing” in the New Year, a Michigan university said on Sunday in its annual list of clichés deserving banishment. The university’s public relations staff culled its list of 16 cliches from 4 500 submissions, many of which demanded that something be done to stop the onslaught of the word ”awesome”.

A Missouri millionaire and one-time secret Santa has spread holiday cheer and crisp bills to residents of Chicago’s south-west side. The businessman made headlines earlier this month when he revealed he is the man who has been anonymously handing out cash to strangers during the holidays for nearly 26 years.

A fresh wave of atheistic books has hit the market this autumn, some climbing onto best-seller lists in what proponents see as a backlash against the way religion is entwined in politics. ”Religion is fragmenting the human community,” said Sam Harris, author of Letter to a Christian Nation, number 11 on the New York Times non-fiction list on October 15.

A car dealership in Ohio has decided not to run a advertisement proclaiming a ”jihad” on the United States car market, a Muslim activist group said on Monday. The Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a letter from the dealership offering an apology and saying the radio ad, which had never been aired, was a misguided attempt at humour.

Another United States sprinter coached by Trevor Graham has tested positive for use of a performance-boosting drug, according to the Chicago Tribune in its edition on Friday. LaTasha Jenkins, silver medallist at the 2001 indoor world championships, was tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone in July, the report said.

American John Daly was troubled by a rumour that spread around the Medinah Country Club on Tuesday claiming he had died from a heart attack. ”Just a sick individual starting a bad rumour,” said Daly. ”I was leaving the course and my agent is calling me, terrified. And my wife was terrified.”