CALIFORNIA

Green tea, taken in a capsule or drunk in a cup, may shave a few points off bad cholesterol readings, according to a U.S. study involving more than a thousand people.

Police have discovered a major cross-border drug tunnel running to California from Mexico, and seized more than 17 tons (12,700 kilograms) of marijuana, U.S. and Mexican authorities said on Wednesday.

Initial jobless claims fell 5,000 to 388,000 for the week ended Nov. 12, a seven-month low, the U.S. Labor Department announced. If the downtrend continues, it would be, arguably, the best news the U.S. economy has registered this year.

The drum beat to limit medical care for the elderly grows louder. President Barack Obama's health law reduces future funding for Medicare by over $500 billion in the next decade and shifts most of those resources to fund a vast expansion of Medicaid. It's like robbing grandma to spread the wealth. To bamboozle the public, advocates for limiting health care spending on the elderly are distorting science to make their case.