Chinese appear not to have warmed to a “free hugs “ campaign aimed at cheering up strangers by hugging them on the street, with some huggers even being hauled away by police for questioning.

A drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it.

The latest figures, from 2001-03, show that 854 million people were undernourished. Most, some 820 million were in developing countries.
The World Food Summit, held in Rome in 1996, set the ambitious target of halving world hunger by 2015 relative to 1990-92.

In a speech to diplomatic envoys from some 20 Muslim countries plus the leaders of Italy’s own Muslim community at his summer residence south of Rome, the Pope said both Christians and Muslims had to reject violence.
He said Christians and Muslims must learn to work together… in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence.

The Holy See told a U.N. committee that religion is a vital force for peace and understanding among peoples in an age of globalization.
The Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, made that point when he addressed a committee of the General assembly recently.

According to a recent U.S. study, drinking juice or vegetable juice often could help protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
The study showed that the risk of developing Alzheimer’s—a degenerative brain disease that affects a person’s memory, thinking and mood—was cut by 76 percent among those who drank fruit or vegetable juice more than three times a week.

Andre Agassi is not the best tennis player who ever lived. He is not even the best of his generation. That would be Pete Sampras.
And yet, 23,700 fans remained on their feet for more than 4 minutes
recently at the US Open, clapping so hard their palms turned red,
crying so hard their eyes turned red, showering the 36-year-old icon with
a send-off rarely seen in sports.

The number of residents in the historic center of Venice has nearly halved over the past 40 years, from 121,000 at the time of the great flood of 1966 to just over 62,000 now.
Media warned, at this rate, Venice could turn into a sort of Disneyland—teeming with holidymakers, but deserted by inhabitants.

As a survey, forget the chips and chocolates, American are drinking themselves into obesity and taxing sugary soft-drinks is key to slowing the trend.
Expert said Americans are drinking more sugar-laden beverages than ever before, consuming hundreds of excess calorie a day.

World-famous Australian “crocodile hunter” and television environmentalist Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray blow to the chest lately while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.
Irwin’s rallying cry of “crikey” when faced with a crocodile, snake or ferocious-looking spider, made him an Australian icon across the world.