| O2 BARS SET FRENCH OFFICIALS SNIFFING
PARIS, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) - As oxygen bars begin to pop up across France, health authorities are beginning to question the merits or otherwise of sniffing O2.
Supposed to improve health and well-being, oxygen bars date back to the late 1990s, spreading from Canada to California and to Britain and Japan, in nightclubs, health clubs, airports or even trade fairs.
But Paris' first oxygen bar opened only last week.
Flagged as "a revolutionary anti-fatigue, anti-stress and anti-depression concept", the city's maiden O2 bar is housed in an up-market beauty institute owned by no less than the wife of top French publicist and political "kingmaker" Jacques Seguela.
Seguela has been very much in the news recently for bringing together President Nicolas Sarkozy and his new wife Carla Bruni around a dinner table, a coup that comes almost three decades after helping propel leftwing leader Francois Mitterrand to the country's highest public office.
Kids like booze and sex. So what?
Truly, as the Home Secretary declaimed, society has reached some kind of "tipping point". Jacqui Smith was actually referring to a terrifying new statistic in her war against underage boozing: more 13-year-olds have drunk alcohol than have not. As with the many sweeping and horrifying pronouncements on the young, there was scant clarification and no historical perspective. So I rang the Home Office and discovered that this means that 54 per cent of kids aged 13 have tasted alcohol in their lifetimes. Well, sign up my two mini-winos for The Pledge! My sons have sipped champagne, swigged my beer - provoking sour-lemon-faced disbelief - been encouraged to taste wine at dinner. I thought that is how we're supposed to initiate them into a Francophile, middle-class Waitrose world: less likely to create binge drinkers than locking booze in a tantalising box marked "adult fun".
Children starve as Zimbabwe's grain goes to make luxury dog food
In a chilling threat last week, war veterans, who spearheaded the invasion of white-owned farms, said they were launching an "onslaught" to ensure his ruling Zanu-PF party wins. The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association said its members were "on a mission to defend our motherland".The MDC says it will boycott the polls unless Mr Mugabe agrees to adopt a new constitution ahead of the vote.Changes to Zimbabwe's media, security and electoral laws were rushed through parliament at the end of 2007. They became law on 11 January.Sources say the media amendments will be put to the test in coming weeks as foreign journalists seek visas and state media accreditation to visit Zimbabwe for the elections. In the recent past, foreign journalists have routinely been denied access. .
Antioxidant Pills Don't Cut Cancer Risk
Jan. 24, 2008 -- With one possible exception, many antioxidants in pill form do not appear to protect against cancer, according to pooled data from some of the most rigorous studies ever to examine the issue. There was some evidence linking the mineral selenium to a reduced risk of cancer in men, but not in women. But the findings are not yet conclusive enough to recommend that men take selenium supplements, says Mayo Clinic physician Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH. Bardia and colleagues combined 12 clinical trials including more than 100,000 participants for their systematic analysis, which appears in the January issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Among their other major conclusions: As previously reported, beta-carotene supplementation was found to be associated with an increased risk of cancer in smokers and a trend toward increased death rate from cancer.
Butler County 2008 budget stands, but belts will tighten
Although Butler County commissioners agreed last week to let stand a 2.5-mill property tax increase for 2008, the board directed all county departments and row offices to make small but immediate spending cuts. Additionally, commissioners said they will ask representatives of about two dozen local nonprofit groups to justify why they should receive allocations this year totaling about $95,000. Meetings with those representatives will be followed by a commissioners' decision within three months as to whether the groups will receive any funding in 2008. Also, the long-time practice of paying medical benefits for the dozen or so solicitors who work for county row offices will be evaluated, as well as the practice of employing outside solicitors. The moves are among a series of short- and long-term recommendations from a volunteer budget review committee that was asked last month by the county commissioners to go over the $185 million spending plan with a fine-toothed comb.
Buyout offer draws less response than initially estimated
It looks like the Fayetteville School District will be waiting until after Jan. 25 to see if participation in its voluntary buyout program for experienced teachers matches expectations. Educators Preferred Corp., the Michigan-based firm administering the program, had predicted about 70 employees would participate. With eight days left until the deadline to register, the number of employees who have submitted paperwork to participate is less than 25 percent of that amount. "So far we have had 17 that have actually submitted the paperwork," said Greg Mones, human resources director for the district. Mones said he anticipates there are some employees who will participate that are currently undecided or haven't yet turned in their paperwork. He said assumes most of the early submittals were from employees who knew early on they wanted to participate.
More US exhibitors sign up for Bahrain's first international holistic lifestyle expo
Following the positive press coverage in the United States of the visit of US President George W. Bush to the Kingdom of Bahrain in January 2008, more American retailers, manufacturers and leaders in the natural, organic and healthy products industries, have been encouraged to participate in the First Bahrain International Natural Health Products and Green Expo (BINHPGE). .
NHF: 'Work or lose home' scheme would be unfair and impossible to ...
The National Housing Federation, which represents England's housing associations, says that a 'work or lose your home' policy for social housing tenants would be unfair and impossible to enforce. Chief executive of the National Housing Federation David Orr said: "Efforts to help social housing tenants into work are very welcome. But threatening tenants with the loss of their home is absolutely the wrong way to go about it. "Such a policy would be unfair and impossible to enforce. Many of the jobs open to people, especially at the lower skills end, are insecure or temporary. Also, people with health problems, such as mental health issues may find there are periods when they cannot keep up their job. "Instead of taking a punitive approach, the Government should build upon the successful employment schemes already being run by housing associations around the country.
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