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Why do women live longer than men?

Women generally live about six years longer than men. Evidence suggests that boys are the weaker sex at birth, which means that more die in infancy. Men also have a greater risk of heart disease than women, and they have heart attacks earlier in life. Men smoke and drink more than women, and their behavior is generally more aggressive, particularly when driving, so they are more likely to die in accidents.

Also, men are more often in dangerous occupations, such as construction works.

Historically, women died in childbirth and men in wars. So nuns and philosophers often lived to great ages. Now childbearing is less risky and there are fewer wars. The country with the highest life expectancy is Japan-84 years for women and 77 for men.

Smoking is a major problem among youth in Kazakhstan. Schooling is the major activity of most children between the ages of 7 and 17 years and school is the place where most of them socialize outside their home environment for the first time. A school is the place where much knowledge is obtained, attitudes are formed and sometimes habits are chosen. Studies have demonstrated that the secondary school age is a critical period in the formation of the smoking habit. Experimenting with cigarettes often begins during childhood or early adolescence and there is usually a period of about 1.5 to 2 years between initiation of smoking and establishment of the smoking habit. Public health officials of Kazakhstan have concluded that secondhand smoke from cigarettes causes serious diseases in non-smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease.

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Good Luck Bad Luck!

There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"

Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck?

Who knows?

Everything that seems on the surface to be an evil may be a good in disguise. And everything that seems good on the surface may really be an evil. So we are wise when we leave it to God to decide what good fortune is and what misfortune, and thank him that all things turn out for good with those who love him.

Author Unknown

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To explore Mars

"Russia already has its Luna-Glob and Luna-Resurs missions, which are already being implemented, but we're considering other opportunities for this in other areas."

The planned agreement calls for Russia to provide the Proton rockets to send the two ExoMars missions on their way. Russia would also get instrument space on the 2016 satellite and the 2018 rover. In addition, its researchers would join the science teams that exploit the missions' data. One key contribution would be the landing system that places the rover on the surface of the Red Planet. With the exception of some key components, this would be built by Russian industry. ExoMars was formally initiated in Europe by ministers in 2005, and Esa has so far spent in excess of 400m euros on technology development. The final budget on the European side is projected to be about 1.2bn euros for the two missions. So far, 850m of that total has been committed. But officials remain confident of closing the gap. The 2016 orbiter will try to track down the sources of methane that have been observed at Mars. Its presence in the atmosphere is intriguing and could conceivably indicate biological activity on the planet. A key role for the satellite also will be to provide the communications relay for the 2018 rover.

The six-wheeled vehicle would look for signs of past or present life. It would have the ability to drill 2m into the ground.

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Early death 'more likely in solo artists'

Successful solo artists are twice as likely to die early compared to those in bands, the journal BMJ Open reports. The study looked at the careers of 1,400 European and North American rock and pop stars who were famous between 1956 and 2006. The chances of a European solo artist dying young was one in 10 - and twice as likely for those in North America. Experts suggest that peer support from band mates may be protective. The cut-off point of the study was 20 February 2012 - at which point 137 performers had died prematurely. These included solo artists like Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, rapper 2Pac, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston. And band members like Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, Sid Vicious from the punk group Sex Pistols and Stuart Cable from Stereo phonics. The stars' achievements were determined from international polls and top 40 chart successes, while details of their personal lives and childhoods were drawn from a range of music and official websites, published biographies and anthologies. The average age of death was 39 years for European stars, with those from North America being six years older on average. Solo performers were about twice as likely to die prematurely compared to those in a band, irrespective of whether they were European or Northern American. Moreover, while the chances of a European solo artist dying young was one in 10 - it was double that for American solo artists at one in five. The authors speculate this may be due to longer tours in North America plus variations in access to health care and exposure to drugs.

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Jobless 'face increased heart attack risk'

Being unemployed in your 50s and early 60s may raise heart-attack risk by a similar magnitude as smoking, findings suggest. The study of more than 13,000 people in the US indicated heart-attack risk went up by a quarter in the first year after job loss and increased incrementally with further sackings or redundancies. The same was not seen in people who gave up work voluntarily, Archives of Internal Medicine reports. Experts suspect stress may be to blame. They say more research is needed to explore this.

This confirms other work that shows life stressors can increase your risk of a heart attack”. Past work has suggested that doing a stressful job may similarly increase your risk of having a heart attack. The British Heart Foundation advises that stress in itself is not a direct cause of heart disease, although it may contribute to your risk level.

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Stress link

In the latest study, which spanned nearly 20 years, there were more than 1,000 heart attacks among the 13,451 participants. When the researchers looked specifically at to whom these events had happened, they found a number of trends. Men and women in the study who smoked, were overweight and did little or no exercise were more likely to have a heart attack. So too were those who were older and those who had high blood pressure or diabetes. After accounting for these more well-established heart-risk factors, the researchers found job loss was also independently linked with heart attack risk. Heart attacks were significantly (27%) more common among people who were recently unemployed, regardless of occupation type. And the effect was cumulative - the chances of having a heart attack went up by two-thirds (63%) for people who had lost four or more jobs.

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North Korea rocket 'has 10,000km range'

North Korea's recent rocket launch shows it has the ability to fire a rocket more than 10,000km (6,200 miles), South Korean officials say. The estimate, which would potentially put the Western US in range, was based on an analysis of rocket debris. However, there was no confirmation that the North had the re-entry technology needed to deliver a missile. Experts believe North Korea is also years away from gaining the ability to mount a nuclear bomb on a missile. North Korea launched the Unha-3 rocket on 12 December, in defiance of sanctions and international warnings. It was the first time the North had made successful use of a three-stage rocket to put a satellite into orbit, and observers said it appeared to mark a step towards fielding an intercontinental range ballistic missile. «As a result of analyzing the material of Unha-3 (North Korea's rocket), we judged North Korea had secured a range of more than 10,000km in case the warhead is 500-600kg," a South Korean defence ministry official told journalists.

The South Koreans - and others - have long alleged that the North Koreans are trying to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the US. The South Korean defence ministry says its analysis of the remains of the first stage of the rocket fired on 12 December backs up that view - that North Korea has dual use technology that could potentially propel a missile onto the US mainland.

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Bali’s south coast

Bali’s south coast is the most popular and most built-up region, including the beach towns centered around the capital Denpasar. “Seminyak has proved incredibly popular in the last couple of years,” explained James Cook, a marketing director with Savills Singapore, an international real estate agency. “It is full of lively beach bars, restaurants, boutiques and shops. It’s chaotic and great fun.” Owners here pay a premium to be near the clubs and restaurants, and to have close access to the airport and beaches. Across town, centrally located Sanur, Bali’s oldest beach resort area, is having a resurgence, with many new hotels under construction. “Sanur was forgotten as the focus moved to the resort areas of Jimbaran and Nusa Dua, but it has a gentle elegance of its own,” Cook said.

Up the coast from Seminyak is the quieter area of Canggu, not far from the Tanah Lot Temple, one of the most sacred sites in Bali. It is popular with ex-pats, many of whom own villas near the black-sand beaches. “Some of the old Bali hands and expatriates, as well as the well-heeled have moved farther north up the coast,” Cook said. “There are some beautiful villas with magnificent views of the sea and the rice paddy fields.” Some prospective residents are drawn to villas in Ubud, for the town’s more cultural and artsy vibe. “It all depends on personal choice and what you are looking for in your ideal home in Bali,” Cook added.

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Living in: Bali

The island of Bali has long been a must-see for tourists and travellers because of its spiritual and sacred spaces, its almost mystical landscapes and its unique Hindu culture in the largely Muslim country of Indonesia. While development threatens to swamp some of the island’s built-up places, the magical and the mundane manage to flourish side-by-side, drawing new visitors to the enchanted isle year after year.

Bali’s statues, shrines and simple pleasures have been attracting travellers since the Dutch opened the island to tourism in 1914. First it was wealthy Westerners who could afford the time and passage to this remote spot in the Indian Ocean. Then in the 1960s and ‘70s, surfers, mainly from Australia, came to ride the classic waves. Now luxury hotels and golf courses have colonized the south shore, and it can take two hours to get from one end of Kuta, the major beach resort area near the capital Denpasar, to the other, a distance of only about 7km. But what has not changed is the special quality of the Balinese culture. “The Balinese people are, in general, really wonderful,” said Corey O’Malley, an Australian who has lived in the remote central highlands for about six years. “The rich, vibrant and ever-present culture of the Balinese and the lushness of the island beyond the traffic zones are an aesthetic feast.”

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North Korea rocket

The official said the type of oxidiser container that was found from the first stage of the rocket launch would rarely be used by countries with advanced space technology. «Welding was crude, done manually," the official said. South Korea would not be able to tell whether the North had the technology to achieve re-entry until debris from the second and third stages of the rocket launch was analysed, the defence ministry said. «As the additional pieces are salvaged, we will be able to look deeper into the function and structure of North Korea's long-range rocket," an official was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.Experts believe many more rocket and nuclear tests will be necessary before North Korea can boast a credible delivery system. North Korea insists the rocket it launched is part of a civilian space programme. But BBC Asia analyst Charles Scanlon says the North clearly wants its threat to be taken seriously, believing this to be the best way of deterring potential aggression, boosting the prestige of its leader, and being granted equal diplomatic status. The North has been happy declare itself a nuclear power, he adds, and it frequently threatens neighbouring countries, and the US, with massive retaliation for perceived slights. The UN Security Council condemned this month's rocket launch. It said it violated two UN resolutions banning Pyongyang from missile tests, passed after it conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.The rocket was celebrated extravagantly in North Korea, with a mass rally held in the capital, Pyongyang. The North's leader, Kim Jong-un, called for the development and launching of "a variety of more working satellites" and "carrier rockets of bigger capacity" at a banquet to mark the launch on Friday, North Korean state media reported.

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