26. januar 2006

Obesity conquers France Americans are fat and obsessed about fat-free foods*, while the French love their creamy dressing and yet stay slim. Well, that is the popular impression. Unfortunately, it is no longer true. The French are getting fatter, and Jan. 7 was National Weighing Day for the country's children. A voluntary army of hundreds of pediatricians fanned out to more than 80 cities to weigh, measure, interrogate and enlighten. Roubaix is an economically depressed industrial town in northern France, the fattest region in the country. Fifty-one percent of the population here is overweight or obese, compared with the national average of 42 percent, according to the most recent national figures in 2003. The trend line is most significant among children. While adult obesity is rising about 6 percent annually, among children the national rate of growth is 17 percent. At that rate, the French could be - quelle horreur - as fat as Americans by 2020. (More than 65 percent of the population in the United States is considered overweight or obese.) The famous mediterranean lifestyle appears to be dying. *) I do remember from US malls that even foods obviously without fat, like tomato sauce, was marked as "fat free." It didn't seem to help. 6:30:32 PM    comment []  trackback []

Exit polls indicate small Fatah victory (update: Hamas wins) Exit polls from Palestine suggests, as did the opinion polls earlier, that Fatah barely manages to beat Hamas. Exit polls suggest that the ruling Fatah party has won a narrow victory in the first Palestinian parliamentary elections for a decade. The first official exit poll suggests Fatah took more than 46%, compared to 39.5% for Islamic militant group Hamas. The official results may not be announced for several more days.  I have a problem working up any enthusiasm for the lying, corrupt thugs beating the homicidal fanatics. Update: Of course Hamas claims they have won: "Hamas has won more than 70 seats in Gaza and the West Bank, which gives it more than 50% of the vote," Ismail Haniya, a leading Hamas candidate, said, according to the Reuters news agency.  If the results are what the exit polls indicate, no party will win a parliamentary majority, forcing Fatah into a coalition, quite possibly including Hamas. Update 2: For what it's worth, Norwegian NRK radio says that Hamas has won, and it is even possible the extremists won an absolute majority. NRK refers to an anonymous Fatah spokesman admitting defeat. AP concurs: The Islamic militant group Hamas said Thursday it won control of the Palestinian parliament and officials from the ruling Fatah Party confirmed the estimate — though Palestinian election officials delayed the release of preliminary official results. Interesting development. Will it be a disaster, or draw Hamas in a democratic direction? If Hamas is already calling the shots in the areas, they can just as well get control of the 'democratic' institutions there. Update 3: The Hamas win is now semi-official: Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei has announced his resignation, saying Hamas must form the next government following the parliamentary elections.  The final results, and thus the composition of the parliament, will apparently be announced tonight. 4:06:19 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2006 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.02.2006; 17:46:18.