Weight loss v fat loss

Germany is bracing itself for the loss of 5 million workers over the next 15 years as it becomes Europe's first and biggest test of the problems caused by an ageing and declining population. Having used generous job subsidies to steer the labour market through the country's worst downturn since the 1930s, labour and social affairs minister Ralf Brauksiepe told the Guardian on Thursday that a longer working life and an influx of skilled workers from overseas were the answer to the demographic time bomb. "We see the problems of an ageing and diminishing population," he said, adding that the 41m workforce would shrink rapidly by the mid-2020s on current trends. Immigration was seen as only a partial solution to the problem, Brauksiepe said. Restrictions on labour mobility from EU member states in eastern Europe will finally be lifted this spring, but Berlin expects this to lead only to an extra 100,000 workers over the coming years. A domestic solution has been the controversial … [Read more...] about Germany faces up to problem of ageing workforce

A deal to boost global trade has been approved by the 159 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the first time in nearly two decades, keeping alive the possibility that a broader agreement can be reached in the future. WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo shed tears during the summit's closing ceremony on Saturday as he thanked the host nation Indonesia, and his wife. "For the first time in history, the WTO has finally delivered" on large scale negotiations, he said. Trade ministers had come to the four-day meeting on the island of Bali with little hope that an agreement would be reached. The talks were threatened at the 11th hour when Cuba objected to removal of a reference to the decades-long US trade embargo that Cuba wants lifted. India had also been an obstacle because of its vociferous objections to provisions that might endanger grain subsidies aimed at ensuring its poor get enough to eat. WTO members gave developing nations a temporary dispensation from subsidy … [Read more...] about World Trade Organisation confirms long-awaited deal

The Australian car manufacturing industry is no more. Holden on Friday rolled its last Commodore off the assembly line, ending almost 70 years of vehicle production in Australia and more than 50 at its Elizabeth facilities in Adelaide's north. Its demise as a car maker follows similar shutdowns by Mitsubishi in 2008, Ford last year and Toyota earlier this month, with the local industry succumbing to changing market conditions and global economic pressures. Hundreds of workers were on hand to mark the occasion, amid feelings of both sadness and pride. Dozens of Holden tragics gathered outside, paying tribute to the brand they loved. Holden on Friday rolled its last Commodore (pictured) off the assembly line, ending almost 70 years of vehicle production in Australia and more than 50 at its Elizabeth facilities in Adelaide's north Hundreds of workers (pictured) were on hand to mark the occasion, amid feelings of both sadness and pride. Dozens of Holden tragics gathered outside, paying … [Read more...] about The end of the road: Incredible scenes as hundreds of workers gather around as the last car ever made in Australia rolls off the production line in Adelaide while thousands of emotional employees cheer

'Pretend that you're squeezing something between your legs," yelled the instructor over Sinitta's So Macho. "Neutral bottom, you need a neutral bottom. And … plié." The coarse, hacking sound of fabric tearing was audible, even above the music. Then the laughter started. Less than three minutes into my dancing career, I was already a laughing stock. The instructor glided serenely across the floor. "Do you want a minute to grab a new pair of shorts?" he asked, failing to mask his amusement. Before today, ballet was no more than a teenage chore to me. On Tuesdays, I'd collect my sisters from their lesson on my way home from school. Then I found it by turns funny (pink tutus and semaphore elbows) and mind-numbingly boring (a middle-aged woman playing piano and parroting "good toes, naughty toes"). Two decades later, here I was on a French dancefloor with a gaping hole in my shorts and an alice band in my hair. How had it come to this? It had come via a programme … [Read more...] about Dance yourself happy: ballet and fitness holiday in southern France

With the current vogue for ageing action heroes – Liam Neeson, the Expendables, more recently Kevin Costner – it's easy to forget that Denzel Washington has been doing this for ever. Or a decade or so anyway, ever since his ex-CIA officer John Creasy tore up half of Mexico in Tony Scott's Man on Fire. Here he reunites with another former collaborator, Antoine Fuqua (with whom he won an Oscar for Training Day), to play former black-ops commando Robert McCall. And this time the nation that needs to watch out is Russia. The Equalizer is a remake of the 80s TV series that starred Edward Woodward as a sort of refined Charles Bronson, taking out street scum with a Walther PPK and a stiff upper lip. This film begins in similar territory with Washington's McCall volunteering to assist a young prostitute called Lena (Chloë Grace Moretz) who's been bloodily assaulted by her pimp. McCall has come to know Lena as part of his meticulous daily routine. He has a smoothie in the … [Read more...] about The Equalizer review – Denzel Washington: ordinary guy, cool killer