US country singer Mindy McCready has killed herself, US media is reporting.
The troubled singer had attempted to take her own life before and was known to have problems with prescription drugs and alcohol.
Her death comes weeks after that of her boyfriend, record producer David Wilson, whose death is still being investigated.
The singer, who had two children, recorded five studio albums.
Fizzy drinks should be heavily taxed and junk food adverts banished until after the watershed, doctors have said, in a call for action over obesity.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which represents nearly every doctor in the UK, said ballooning waistlines already constituted a "huge crisis".
Its report said current measures were failing and called for unhealthy foods to be treated more like cigarettes.
Industry leaders said the report added little to the debate on obesity.
The UK is one of the most obese nations in the world with about a quarter of adults classed as obese. That figure is predicted to double by 2050 - a third of primary school leavers are already overweight.
Doctors fear that a rising tide of obesity will pose dire health consequences for the nation.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges is a "united front" of the medical profession from surgeons to GPs and psychiatrists to paediatricians. It says its doctors are seeing the consequences of unhealthy diets every day and that it has never come together on such an issue before.
Its recommendations include:
Prof Terence Stephenson, the chair of the Academy, evoked parallels with the campaign against smoking.
He told the BBC: "That required things like a ban on advertising and a reduction in marketing and the association of smoking with sporting activities - that helped people move away from smoking."
He said there was no "silver-bullet" for tackling obesity, instead the entire culture around eating needed to change to make it easier to make healthy decisions.
"I choose what I eat or whether I smoke, what people have told us is they want help to swim with the tide rather than against the current to make the healthy choice the easy one," he said.
While the report makes a raft of recommendations, Prof Stephenson attacked sugary drinks for being "just water and sugar" and lambasted a culture where it was deemed acceptable to drink a litre of fizzy drink at the cinema.
A tax was needed to help "encourage people to drink more healthy drinks," he said.
"Doctors are often accused of playing the nanny state, we didn't hear from a single person who said they liked being overweight, everybody we met wanted help from the state and society.
"If we didn't have things like this we wouldn't have speed limits that save lives, we wouldn't have drink-driving limits that save lives, there's a host of things that society and state does to help us live long, healthy fulfilling lives and we're just suggesting something similar."
But Terry Jones, of industry body the Food and Drink Federation, said the report "seems to be a damp squib and to add little to an important debate".
"The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has presented as its recommendations, a collection of unbalanced ideas apparently heavily influenced by single issue pressure groups," he said.
"FDF had hoped that today's report would have looked seriously at how the food industry and the medical profession would have worked together to tackle obesity, and genuinely brought new insights to bear on how to empower healthier choices and change behaviour to deliver better long-term public health outcomes. This report fails to do that."
The British Soft Drinks Association rejected the idea that a tax on soft drinks, which it said contributed "just 2%" of the total calories in the average diet, would address a problem "which is about overall diet and levels of activity".
TemptationDr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist who helped draw up the report, has noticed more and more of his patients are overweight and suffering from obesity related illnesses.
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He told the BBC: "The root cause is the food environment, it's like telling children going into a sweet shop not to eat sweets.
"There's nothing wrong with the occasional treat, but those treats have insinuated themselves into the daily diets of most people.
"There's an oversupply of cheap sugary foods, clearly regulation is needed."
The Department of Health in England has a set up voluntary agreements with the food industry as part of its responsibility deal.
Health minister Lord Howe welcomed the report and said he wanted to see "businesses intensifying their efforts as well".
He said: "To tackle the rising tide of obesity the industry, healthcare professionals, government and individuals all need to continue working together to get results, which is why our Call to Action sets out how important this is.
"Government is already helping people make healthier choices by working with industry to reduce fat, salt and sugar in foods and by giving children and families advice on how to eat well, get active, and live longer through Change4Life."
The environment secretary is set to meet food retailers and trade bodies later to establish what is being done to restore consumer confidence.
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons are among those set to attend the meeting with Owen Paterson.
Meanwhile, some 24% of 2,257 UK adults surveyed by Consumer Intelligence have said they will buy less processed meat.
And 21% said they buy less meat in general, and 62% were more likely to buy their meat from independent shops.
The Drink Federation, and the Institute of Grocery Distribution are among other groups set to take part in talks with Mr Paterson in Westminster on Monday afternoon.
A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokeswoman said the meeting would allow Mr Paterson to get an update on testing results and find out more about what businesses are doing to restore consumer confidence.
Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker says he would not eat "value" branded meat from supermarkets.
On Sunday, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Walker said the "problem really lies" with councils buying food from the poorly supplied catering industry.
Retailers should not be blamed for the horsemeat crisis, Mr Walker added.
His comments followed a call on Sunday from the boss of Waitrose for tighter meat testing controls.
'Cheap food'Iceland was among UK retailers, including Tesco, Asda, Lidl and Aldi, which withdrew products found to test positive for horse DNA.
After Iceland removed a line of quarter-pounder beefburgers last month, the north Wales-based firm said it "would be working closely with its suppliers" to ensure its products met "high standards of quality and integrity".
Mr Walker told the BBC supermarkets were already extremely transparent about food quality and testing.
"If we're going to blame somebody let's start with local authorities, because there's a whole side to this industry which is invisible - that's the catering industry. Schools, hospitals - it's massive business for cheap food and local authorities award contracts based purely on one thing - price," he said.
He added: "Iceland has never sold economy products - we do not sell cheap food... we know where all our food comes from, we follow the supply chain right the way through and it's very short."
Supermarkets were not the real culprits in "driving down food quality", he said.
"Dodgy cutting houses and backstreet manufacturers have been supplying products to the catering industry and a lot of that is bought by local authorities for schools and hospitals - that's where the problem really lies," he added.
Merrick Cockell, chairman of the LGA, rejected Mr Walker's claims
Merrick Cockell, chairman of the LGA, said the relationship between a council and a caterer was the same as that between a retailer and a consumer.
"We have a contract with that retailer to provide us with what it says on the wrapper and that is exactly the same with local government providing contracts for school meals or, indeed, the NHS with hospitals.
"Clearly in some cases, relatively few cases, that has not been happening and actually for the boss of Iceland to appear and make that suggestion... well I hope he knows more about what's actually going on in retailing than he clearly does in contracting and local government."
A Local Authorities Caterers Association spokeswoman said it was "disappointed" with Mr Walker's remarks.
"Local authorities across the country have been totally supportive of driving food standards up in schools over the last few years," she told BBC News.
More than half of train companies have a customer satisfaction score of 50% or lower, a survey by the consumer group Which? has found.
Only 22% of the 7,500 rail users in the survey felt their service was improving - despite big fare rises last month.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said this was disappointing as most travellers could not "shop around".
However, last month a larger survey suggested the number of satisfied rail passengers was at a record high of 85%.
The National Passenger Survey by Passenger Focus asked 31,626 travellers, while the Which? survey was compiled from responses from 7,500 regular rail users.
The most popular rail company, according to the Which? survey, was Virgin Trains (67% satisfaction) which almost lost its West Coast main line franchise in October.
Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: "While taxpayers continue to fund the rail industry to the tune of £3.5bn every year, rail companies must do better and the government needs to hold them to account on behalf of passengers and taxpayers."
'Basket cases'Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "It is about time these basket case private train companies were booted off Britain's railways for good and their franchises returned to public ownership."
But a spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "The independent watchdog Passenger Focus surveys up to eight times as many people a year and last month reported 85% of passengers are satisfied with their service - a record high."
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "With 1.5 billion train journeys made every year and eight of the 17 UK rail franchises up for grabs in the next two years, customer service should be top of the agenda for every train operating company.
"Passengers tell us they are fed up with trains that are delayed, overcrowded and dirty. This is especially disappointing as many commuters can't shop around or change the company they travel with," he added.
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports on what David Cameron's visit could achieve in India
David Cameron hopes the UK can forge one of "the great partnerships of the 21st century" with India as he heads there on a three-day visit.
With business the main focus, he leads the largest trade delegation taken on an overseas trip by a prime minister.
Ahead of the trip, Mr Cameron appeared to indicate in an interview that the UK's visa process could be made easier for Indian businesses.
He also talked of his fondness for "pretty hot curries".
And he told the Hindustan Times how he was looking forward to discovering some Bollywood movies on the flight.
'Great partnerships'During the visit - Mr Cameron's second to India as prime minister - he is due to meet prime minister Manmohan Singh and president Pranab Mukherjee.
Travelling with him are representatives of companies including Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and BP as well as those of small businesses, universities, football's English Premier League, London's Underground and nine parliamentarians.
Asked in the interview about how he judged current relations between the UK and India, Mr Cameron said: "Britain and India can be one of the great partnerships of the 21st Century. We obviously have strong ties of history, language and culture but what's really exciting is the still untapped potential of our relationship.
"I'm in no doubt that India is going to be one of the great success stories of this century - a rising power in the world. And I want Britain to be one of your partners as you grow and succeed."
One of the main messages the trip is designed to send is that, despite tough talking on illegal immigration, a "warm welcome" remained for those who wanted to make a "positive contribution".
But the prime minister said he was hoping to "put an even more attractive offer on the table" when it came to visa services to Indian business travellers.
Voters in Ecuador are going to the polls in an election that is expected to see incumbent President Rafael Correa returned to office.
Opinion polls suggest Mr Correa has a comfortable lead ahead of his nearest rival, banker Guillermo Lasso.
First elected in 2007, the socialist leader is widely credited with bringing political stability to a nation that suffered decades of protests and coups.
But critics accuse him of being a dictator in the making.
The 49-year-old US-trained economist has been accused of implementing policies that have served to strengthen his hold on power and erode the influence of political opponents and private media.
But his so-called "citizens' revolution" has made him popular with many ordinary Ecuadoreans and has won him friends with other Latin American left-wing leaders.
'Sun King'During his six years in power, Mr Correa has expanded access to healthcare and education and improved thousands of miles of highways, creating many jobs in the process. Poverty rates have dropped significantly.
"For years, this country went from government to government," Lorena Morocho, a 33-year-old civil servant, told the BBC. "I don't like certain things [Correa] does, but he is a great leader. I am voting for a project of hope."
But critics say that, since coming to office, he has filled the courts and government positions with allies and stifled free speech by taking on the media.
They also complain he has restricted free enterprise with heavy taxation and regulatory changes and taken government spending to an unsustainable level.
Mr Correa is close to Venezuela and Cuba and has sought to establish ties with Iran and China. Last year, he upset the US, Britain and Sweden by granting asylum to wanted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
"I don't recognise the current Correa. He is a different person. He is not the friend I used to have, that I used to love like a brother," Alberto Acosta, one of the co-founders of the Alianza Pais governing party and now an opposition candidate, told the BBC.
"He controls everything. He is a sort of Sun King of the 21st Century," he said referring to France's King Louis XIV.
Since 2007, Mr Correa has re-written the country's constitution: a move that allowed him to run for, and win, a new term in 2009.
According to most pollsters, he is on course to win re-election in the first round of voting, with more than 50% of the vote.
He faces seven opponents but opinion polls suggest his nearest rival, Mr Lasso, only has some 20% support.
