Week in Review

LIVING LONGER: The average life expectancy rate for Americans rose to 78.1 years in 2006. All gender and racial groups showed record increases, in fact. White women still live the longest, though, at 81 years on average.

TEENS & CANCER: Money may not buy happiness, but it may increase young people's rates of skin cancer. Less-affluent teens aren't excluded, though. They face a higher risk of cervical cancer.

VOLUNTARY RECALLS: Major fast-food restaurant chains and retail grocers have pulled tomatoes from their burgers and shelves in response to the recent salmonella outbreak.

CALCIUM PLAQUES: Men with insufficient levels of vitamin D are twice as likely to have heart attacks as men with sufficient levels, according to a 10-year medical study published this month.

HEART SMART: Controlling blood glucose levels might help reduce diabetics' risk of cardiovascular disease, suggests a new study.

DENTAL DANGER: Consumer advocacy groups are pushing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban mercury used in dental amalgam fillings. Although a ban doesn't look likely, the government may issue restrictions on amalgam fillings by next year.

OPPOSITION ARRESTS: Zimbabwe police arrested Tendai Biti, secretary general of the opposition party when he returned to Zimbabwe yesterday. Biti works for Morgan Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change leader some say won the April presidential election. However, the current administration said neither Tsvangirai or incumbent Robert Mugabe won a majority. The country holds a runoff election June 27.

EU & IRAN: With only seven months left in office, President George W. Bush is in Europe to discuss common interests with his European hosts. In a joint news conference, Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefly touched on issues that have divided and united the two countries during Bush's tenure.

CULTURAL HEALING: The Canadian government made a formal apology to its indigenous people for a residential school program that tore families apart. Many First Nations people hailed the apology as a positive sign for future race relations.

MARTYRDOM DEMANDED: On June 5, a U.S. military commission at Guantanamo arraigned five men suspected of organizing the 9/11 attacks against the United States. During the arraignment, two defendants asked for the death sentence: the self-proclaimed leader of the group, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. In death they hope to become martyrs.

MASS STRANDING: British officials continue to wonder why more than 70 dolphins became trapped in a river in southwest England earlier this week. It was the worst mass stranding in England in nearly 30 years.

ABANDONED TOWN: Chinese troops blasted through the earthen dam holding back water on the Tangjiashan quake lake. Although pressure was relieved, the lake continued to fill faster than it drained and flooded Beichuan.

MISGUIDED STRATEGY: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates fired Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley. Publicly Gates said he dismissed them over nuclear and missile security mistakes. However, their different interpretations of the Air Force's mission may have more to do with the firings.

CLINTON CONCEDES: Hillary Clinton ended her campaign to become the Democratic Party's nomination for president Saturday. During her concession speech, she threw her support behind Barack Obama and asked her own supporters to do the same.