From age 16 to age 20, a woman’s body is a temple. From 21 to 45, it’s an amusement park. From 45 on, it’s a terrarium.I know this because every morning I now take a capsule with 4.6 billion strains of supposedly beneficial flora to help establish the equilibrium in my digestive tract. There are only 7 billion people on the planet. Every morning I’m swallowing half my own universe.And I’m not the only one. Every person I meet who is even in the least bit neurotic about his or her ― it’s usually

Mark Twain once remarked, “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”No dose of humor could leave us feeling sunny about a slimy Republican campaign that’s awash in unprecedented cash, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has rendered the process farcical. But Twain rightfully suggests it’s mentally healthy to laugh at life’s idiocies, that humor can tamp down irritations if we vi

Long and variable lags. That’s all I could think of when I read the Federal Reserve statement and learned that economic conditions “are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014.” My first instinct was to mark the date on my household calendar, but I couldn’t find one that goes out that far! What the Fed is saying, in essence, is that as the economy improves, it’s appropriate to provide as much stimulus, or support, as it did in late 2008, w

SHANGHAI (AP) -- China’s environmental authorities were redoubling efforts Monday to prevent a toxic cadmium spill from further tainting water supplies of cities downstream, as seven chemical company officials were reported detained in connection with the accident.Official reports have provided little information about the exact cause of the spill, whose impact was first seen in fish kills in mid-January. The contamination initially was blamed on a mining company, but the official Xinhua News Ag

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- A severe and snowy cold snap across central and eastern Europe has left at least 36 people dead, cut off power to towns, and snarled traffic. Officials are responding with measures ranging from opening shelters to dispensing hot tea, with particular concern for the homeless and elderly.This part of Europe is not unused to cold, but the current freeze, which spread to most of the region last week, came after a period of relatively mild weather. Many were shocked when temp

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Occupy D.C. protesters defied a threatened police clampdown on their tent colony Monday, pitching a massive “tent of dreams” in the park near the White House they took over four months ago.With several hundred cheering supporters looking on, but no police in sight, they hoisted a deep-blue tarpaulin over an equestrian statue of Civil War general James McPherson in the downtown Washington square that bears his name.Under the tarp, and surrounding the granite base of the statue,

CAIRO (AP) ― Three American citizens barred from leaving Egypt have sought refuge at the American Embassy in Cairo amid growing tensions between the two allies over an Egyptian investigation into foreign-funded pro-democracy groups.The White House said Monday it was disappointed with Egypt’s handing of the issue, which U.S. officials have warned could stand in the way of more than $1 billion in badly needed U.S. aid.The growing spat between the two longtime allies reflects the uncertainty as the

BEIJING (AP) ― None of the 29 Chinese workers abducted after an attack in a volatile region of Sudan have been freed, Chinese state media said Tuesday, dismissing reports that some of the workers had been released.The workers were abducted Saturday by militants in a remote region in the country’s south. Sudanese state media reported Monday that 14 of them had been freed, but the official Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper said all 29 were still being held.China has close political and

NEW YORK (AP) ― At the end of the all-Christopher Wheeldon evening at New York City Ballet this weekend, the choreographer came out alone for a curtain call. The crowd stood and cheered. It would have been a rare moment for any choreographer, let alone one who isn’t yet 40.Wheeldon looks even younger than his 38 years, and may always seem like a wunderkind. But he’s already created more than 40 ballets and is steadily burnishing a reputation as one of the world’s very top choreographers.The occa

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korea‘s national museum said Tuesday it has launched an online service where users can view some of the royal books retrieved from France early last year.“We built a digital database of the Oegyujanggak books and made them available on our website to better preserve the original copies and improve users’ accessibility,” the National Museum of Korea said in a statement.The museum said it plans to expand the online service to include the full collection of the returned book

CHICAGO (AFP) ― Camilla Williams, the first black woman to perform with a major US opera company who became both a cultural ambassador and civil rights activist, has died at the age of 92, officials said Monday.“I can confirm that she died at home of complications from cancer,” Alan Barker, a spokesman for Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where Williams taught for 20 years, told AFP.Born in a small town in the segregated southern state of Virginia, Williams began her singing career at