No matter what you do, there will always be someone opposing it. Until recently, the American public blamed its obesity epidemic on companies selling fast food. Now that the sale of sweetened drinks of more than 16 ounces might get banned in New York City restaurants, cinemas, etc, people are turning against the mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
Fizzy drinks make you fat, can contribute to the onset of diabetes and increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Which, in turn, increases your risk of an early death. All right, so they taste nice. That's not saying much in defence of something that positively screams out to you in curly lettering, "Wash down your cholesterol-laden crisps with me if you would: a) like to pack on the pounds and b) help up the mortality rate of the country."
New Yorkers whinge on about how their mayor doesn't need to outline their drink portions for them and mollycoddle them like a motherly hen. I have a sweet tooth, but I don't see the harm in Bloomberg's idea. If you really feel like a Coke extravaganza, you can always buy two.
Teenagers are a furiously independent race, and therefore indignant about the proposed law. In New York, the fizzy drink ban could have the greatest effect on teenagers out to see a movie. It injures our pride to be told what to do, or worse, being seen by our peers to comply with what we are being told to do.
Perhaps that's why you see so many teenagers having a cigarette in mall parking lots or shisha bars. Of course teenagers know smoking can cause lung cancer and so on; schools have been showing us gory images of tar-damaged organs ever since we were little. Teenagers do it because we shouldn't be doing it, and doing what we shouldn't be doing is cool. We are also extremely resourceful: we'll find a way to get around whatever laws you impose on us.
A new fad, especially in the UK, is the electronic cigarette, which is not covered in the smoking ban. These are rechargeable devices resembling your run-of-the-mill cigarettes and they work by heating up propylene glycol solution into an aerosol mist. They come in different enticing flavours - including blueberry pancake - and supposedly contain no tobacco or carcinogens. What's more, the act of inhaling the vapour from these sleek wonders is called, somewhat unimaginatively, "vaping". "I'm just nipping out for a vape" sounds much more current, and impressive, than "going for a quick smoke". What's not to love? The fact that their principal ingredient is nicotine.
In cigarettes, nicotine is what gives you a rush - and gets you addicted. The e-cigarette industry is targeting vulnerable teenagers who are lulled into a false sense of security with the "no-tobacco" claim. The makers say nicotine is harmless. Tosh. The effects of nicotine are well known - it can lead to brain malfunction and pancreas damage and play havoc with diabetics' systems.
It's time someone took a leaf out of Bloomberg's book and a stand on what appears to be a dodgy practice of luring teenagers into yet another quagmire.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
If you go...
Etihad flies daily from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, with fares starting from Dh2,807 return. Frequent high speed trains between Zurich and Vienna make stops at St. Anton.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mountain%20Boy
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
