Bomb Blast Kills at Least 15 Women in Somalia
Posted on August 4, 2008
Filed Under International, Women | Comments Off on Bomb Blast Kills at Least 15 Women in Somalia
More than 15 women cleaning the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, were killed Sunday by a large bomb buried in a pile of garbage, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Mogadishu, the country’s bullet-pocked capital, has seen more than its share of carnage lately as Islamist insurgents wage an intense urban battle against government and Ethiopian forces. But witnesses described an especially grisly and panicked scene on Sunday after a street sweeper accidentally tripped a large roadside bomb.
The women were part of a United Nations-sponsored food-for-work program, which paid them in sacks of sorghum to clean up Mogadishu’s gritty streets. The road where they were working is a main route for Somali and Ethiopian troops, who are backing up Somalia’s weak transitional government.
Peace still looks far away. A cease-fire agreement signed in June between the government and an Islamist faction has not diminished the fighting, which seems to kill mostly civilians.
NYT
photo: Mustafa Abdi-Getty Images
Female Olympian Athletes Suspended For Doping
Posted on July 31, 2008
Filed Under olympics, Sports, Women | Comments Off on Female Olympian Athletes Suspended For Doping
The Russian track team suffered a huge embarrassment and a potentially severe blow to its Olympic medal hopes Thursday when seven female athletes were suspended for doping violations with the Beijing Games set to open in eight days.
The seven women included Yelena Soboleva, the world’s top performer this year at 800 and 1,500 meters, and Tatyana Tomashova, who won a silver medal in the 1,500 at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Russian women were suspended by track and field’s world governing body and were accused of fraudulently using substitute urine in an attempt to pass doping tests.
Five of the athletes were on the Russian team’s roster for the Beijing Olympics: Soboleva; Tomashova; Gulfiya Khanafeyeva (hammer throw); Darya Pishchalnikova (discus); and Yulia Fomenko (1,500-meters).
The governing body, known by its initials as the I.A.A.F., said it had been investigating the Russian women for more than a year. The athletes were caught when urine samples they had previously given, which had been stored, were compared with other samples, presumably provided at recent meets. [via NYT]
One Hour A Day Can Help You Lose Weight
Posted on July 30, 2008
Filed Under Fitness, Health, Women | Comments Off on One Hour A Day Can Help You Lose Weight
Losing weight and keeping it off sometimes seems impossible but in fact, a recent study found that it only takes one hour of exercise a day to maintain a steady weight loss and keep those unwanted extra pounds off. So, all you need it to try and see how it works.
According to a recent study, overweight women who wanted to lose weight needed to exercise for an hour a day, five days a week. The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, was headed by John M. Jakicic, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Health and Physical Activity at the University of Pittsburgh. The researchers found that women who exercised for an hour a day, five days a week along with a healthy diet managed a 10% weight loss over a two year span as compared with others who managed only 5%.
“It doesn’t really matter which form of exercise you do, just pick one that burns calories, and it should be one that you enjoy, so you’ll stick with it” says Dr. Jakicic. “If you can’t do 275 minutes a week, do what you can do. Everyone needs to find ways to become more active. And if you can’t do more exercise, then you may just have to be a little more diligent about what you are eating. Exercise is very important, but diet, or healthy eating behavior, still needs to be on your radar screen,” he said.
Ok! I’m off to the gym. Be back in an hour!
« go back — keep looking »
