AP - Warning: young children should not keep hedgehogs as pets — or hamsters, baby chicks, lizards and turtles, for that matter — because of risks for disease.

Reuters - Chinese police have detained six people suspected of producing and selling melamine, the chemical at the center of the country's scandal over tainted dairy products, the official Xinhua news agency said.

AP - Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer, breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases.

Reuters - One German and two French scientists won the 2008 Nobel prize for medicine or physiology for their discoveries of two viruses that cause severe human diseases, the prize awarding institute said on Monday.

AFP - Iran has banned imports of Chinese milk products over a contamination scandal which has left thousands of babies ill in China, local media reported on Monday.

Reuters - Reptiles, monkeys, rodents and other exotic pets are growing in popularity but should be discouraged in homes with small children or people with immune system problems, according to a report published on Monday.