Marriage has long been known to hold substantial health benefits for men, and now a new scientific study suggests the same is true for women.

The study, conducted on middle-aged women over a 13-year period by researchers from the Universities of Pittsburgh and San Diego State, found that married women were less likely to develop conditions that lead to heart disease than unmarried women provided the marriage is a ‘happy’ one.

They also were less likely to experience depression, anxiety or stress than women who were single, divorced, widowed or unhappily married. Really bad news for spinsters!

Everything is fair in love and war. However, in recent times it has been extended to elections too. All of a sudden, sections of the Congress in Kerala had grown unduly fond of TV. And the party high command was worried. Party stalwarts and former Chief Minister K Karunakaran had been going around Ernakuklam, which was to have Lok Sabha by-election on September 23, telling everyone: "TV is good for the people. Everyone should watch it. Our leader Indira Gandhi had ushered in the TV revolution…"

The message was clearly against Congress candidate M.O. John. For TV happened to be poll symbol of Viswanath Menon, a former CPM member of the Lok Sabha, contesting as an Independent. Well when one considers elections as war then there is nothing to get surprised.

Jennifer Lopez is dull. Hard to believe but true according to a poll by the New York Post on the most boring and rude celebrities of Hollywood. Lopez has been termed "dull, boring. She doesn’t read, she doesn’t watch TV or movies—nothing".

If you are suffering from a serious ailment but have no money for treatment, commit a crime and go to jail. The Union Territory of Chandigarh administrations bear the cost of their treatment, no matter how high the bill. Suspicious? Confirm it with the officials at Model Jail, Burail.

Bhatinda resident Sukhdev Kaushal, under trial in a cheating case, underwent bypass surgery; cost: Rs.1.25 lakh. This is one of the many examples of prisoners and under-trials undergoing treatment free of cost by Section 455 of the Jail Manual that makes the State Government responsible for ensuring free treatment of prisoners and under trials. Is it a relief to the poor people needing expensive medical treatment or wasting huge amount of public money for the dreaded criminals?

Women who drink moderate quantities of wine become pregnant more easily than their teetotaller beer-sipping sisters, a Danish medical review reported recently.

A study of 30,000 women showed that those who chose a glass of wine over beer or spirits were most likely to conceive. The least likely to be pregnant were the teetotallers. The research was carried out by a team headed by Mette Juhl of the state serology institute, Statens Serum Institure.

Now what will happen to ladies who protest for selling wine, will they re-consider their decision?

Some people try too hard to conceal some of their personality traits. They mould their way of living to achieve the goal. But alas! to their regret their sleeping postures reveal the truth they try to hide, according to a British sleep expert Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service and a visiting professor at the University of Surrey in Southern England. He has identified six common sleep positions and what they mean. For example, people who assume the soldier position, flat on their back with arms at their sides, are quiet and reserved. So be careful in sleep too!

Sixteen years after a waiter at a Nirula’s snack bar in Connaught Place spilt hot curry on an advocate, Jitender Mohan Gupta, a Delhil court has held the restaurant guilty of deficiency in service and ordered it pay the victim damage of one rupee.

Additional sessions judge Narottam Kaushal held that the waiter and the restaurant were jointly liable to pay damages of Re.1 to the lawyer "towards deficiency in service, subsequent defiant attitude and for injuries suffered by the complainant".

The complainant had alleged that on the evening of June 9, 1987, the waiter had spilt a bowl of curry on his legs, when he and his family were there for a meal.

A simple surgery has done the job, unaccomplished by our charismatic Vajpayee and his years of effort. The successful heart surgery of Noor Fatima of Pakistan in Bangalore has changed a terrorist called MD. Ashraf of the Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HUJI) facing charges under POTA.