OFFBEAT MAIL

Whether we like it or not, some countries in Asia will have to deal with their ageing populations. And the negative impacts are seen to blow serious consequences on the developed economies, where most of the ageing populations are observed to have been growing at a fast rate than they can produce children. Aware of this problem, the Asian Development Bank's Institute said that critical reforms are needed soon before the impacts of ageing population take its toll in developing countries in Asia. In a recent seminar, ADB's Institute Dean, Masahiro Kawai, said: “For far too long we have tended to focus on high-income economies in the region like Japan, and the newly-industrialized economies --- Republic of Korea; Hong Kong, China; Taipei,China; and Singapore --- that are far advanced in the ageing curve." “But many of the middle-income developing countries and a few low-income developing countries in the region are on the same demographic path," he added. According to h...

Only a select few of celebrities get out of their comfort zone to extend help to others, especially the hungry who are desperately in need of food to survive. But not famous actress Drew Barrymore, 32, and one of the world's recognized film stars. Recently, the World Food Programme has named her as its Ambassador Against Hunger. WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran has announced that the actress already returned from a second trip in Kenya where she visited the WFP-supported school feeding projects there. She even joined world marathon record-holder Paul Tergat of Kenya, to drum support for their advocacy programs on hunger prevention. "I can't think of any issue that is more important than working to see that no schoolchild in this world goes hungry," the actress was said in a CNN interview. According to her, "I am honored and humbled to accept this challenging and rewarding assignment...Feeding a child at school is such a simple thing--but it works miracles,...

In this world, there are no permanent friends, but only permanent interests. That is how other people treat the art of friendship. Of course, friendship is such an important topic to discuss about because without it the world will be in a chaos. Although, there are those who say that you can select a few friends and keep them. Besides, it is hard to leave alone. As the saying goes, "No man is an island." Yes, that is true. There is a lot of things that come into your mind when nobody cares for you anymore. Perhaps, you think that nobody loves you anymore. But come to think about it first. Or have you tried investigating yourself and your ways why other people, even you relatives, stay away from you. Of course, there are reasons to every problem. For every cause, there is an effect and vice versa. This goes the same way to each individual's behavior. Sometimes, it is sad to note that some people make friends because they see opportunities in you. While others delves into t...

Marriage is a matter of choice. There are those who prefer to forge the knot either in civil or religious manner. It really depends on the couple's preference. After all, either you pick one doesn't matter at all. The choice is yours. But as gleaned from observations, it showed that there are couples who made it to golden anniversary without the blessings of the Church. Worse is that others succeeded in marriage even without going through both civil and religious marriage. Others believed it is just a piece of paper. But the problem is that when you both agreed to this relationship, you are getting into a contract that entails a lot of complications later on. This makes it more expensive and tedious because when relationship gets sour, it is not that easy to part ways. Getting a divorce in the West is partly okay. What about those in other countries where divorce is not possible? And the only best option is legal separation. At best, others just go away and never heard of again...