Getting Set
Tennis was the last thing on former champion Maria Sharapova’s mind just five days before Wimbledon as she posed in the window of a luxury department store recently. Wearing a white v-necked jumpsuit and a pair of brown high heels at the central London store, the 22-year-old was on hand to lend her support to a young fashion student. Sharapova, who has won three Grand Slam titles, returned to singles play last month after a nine-month lay off with a shoulder injury. She participated at the Warsaw Open before reaching the Roland Garros quarter finals.“Why not,” Sharapova said in a television interview earlier this month of her prospects for wining another Wimbledon title.
On Thin Ice
In addition to everything that’s already gone wrong for the country, Iceland has now been toppled from the head of the world’s safest nations. The 2009 Global Peace Index reported that Iceland had fallen to fourth place in the international ranking, which saw New Zealand ranked as the safest place in the world. The pacific country performed so well due to a number of assorted criteria – including a lack of foreign conflict, low crime rates and a well-behaved arms trade. Iraq and Afghanistan remain rooted to the bottom of the table, while the UAE climbed two places since 2008, to a respectable 40th position.
Tobacco Kills 100,000 People Every Year In Pakistan
Pakistan should implement already existing anti-tobacco laws to protect people from the tobacco epidemic, especially as the country has signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - requiring signatories to post “health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use” on cigarette packets and recommending that pictures form part of the warnings. This is what experts recommended at a seminar recently organised to commemorate World No Tobacco Day and its 2009 Theme “Tobacco Health Warnings.”
Back To Jail… Please!
A jobless Taiwanese man released from prison two years ago asked the police to send him back so he could get a proper meal. This is a grim sign of hard economic times on the island. Taiwan is in recession, with a slump in exports leading a record economic contraction in the fourth quarter of last year. Economists see more weakness through most of 2009, given falling demand for Taiwan's electronics goods in overseas markets.
Michelle Or A Gorilla?
After jokingly comparing America's first lady Michelle Obama to an escaped gorilla on a networking site, a prominent South Carolina Republican was forced to kill his page, and apologise. Commenting on a report posted on the site about a gorilla escape at a zoo in Columbia, longtime GOP activist Rusty DePass wrote: "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless."
Did You Know?
Eating too much red meat can increase the risk of going blind, according to a new study. It was found that people who munch more than ten portions of beef or lamb a week are 50 per cent more likely to lose their sight than those who don’t. Yet, eating chicken three times a week can cut the risk by half. The findings are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
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