5 little-known Alba 'facts'

FACT ONE: Jessica Learned From the Very Best Jessica Alba took her first acting class at the age of twelve, and within a year she had her first movie role in Camp Nowhere. After graduating from high school at 16, she studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company under the Oscar-nominated husband-and-wife team of William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman.
FACT TWO: She's Willing to Lend a Hand (or Shoe) Jessica is currently appearing in a new advertising campaign for the Good Cents Initiative to raise money to provides AIDS medication for children in Africa and India. She also supports Soles4Souls, a relief organization that has collected over two million pairs of shoes for disaster victims across the globe.
FACT THREE: Change Is Coming for Jess and Cash In December Jessica officially announced that she is expecting her first child with fiancé Cash Warren in the late spring/early summer. They met on the set of Fantastic Four, where he was working as the director's assistant. She told OK Magazine that pregnancy has made her more relaxed, but, "I wake up to hiccups every single morning. Never had hiccups before."
FACT FOUR: She's Bringing the "Love" to the NHL Next up for Jessica is The Love Guru, written by and starring Mike Myers. She plays the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team who seeks the help of Pitka, a spiritual self-help guide, to mend the marriage of her star player and his wife. It also stars Ben Kingsley, Meagan Good and Justin Timberlake.
FACT FIVE: All Those in Favor Say "Eye" Following in the footsteps of Naomi Watts and Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jessica plays the lead in a remake of a successful Asian horror movie. She took six months of violin lessons for the role of a blind musician who gains supernatural visions after a corneal transplant. Scroll down to check out the theatrical trailer.

研究：不愛活動加速老化

法新社華盛頓 二十八日電） 今天公佈的研究發現另一個要你離開沙發的理由：比較愛活動的人，看起來不只比較容光煥發，生理狀況似乎也比較年輕。
英國 研究人員觀察兩千四百零一名白種人雙胞胎後，發現生活型態活躍者，生物指標似乎比生活較靜態的雙胞胎手足年輕最多十年。
倫敦 國王學院的研究主要作者琪卡絲寫道：「久坐的生活型態，會提高老化相關疾病與早夭傾向。」
「不愛動可能縮短壽命，不僅因為不愛動者較易罹患（糖尿病 、高血壓與心血管疾病等）年齡相關疾病，也因為不活躍本身就可能影響老化過程。」
琪卡絲與同事請這些雙胞胎填寫身體活動量、吸煙習慣與社會經濟地位的問卷，採集他們的血液樣本，接著從這些人的白血球中抽取DNA，檢查染色體，判定遺傳序列「端粒」的長度。
端粒位於染色體尾端，在細胞分裂上扮演重要角色，其長度會隨年齡縮短，平均每年減少二十一個結構單位，據信也在老化過程中扮演重要角色。
閒暇時間較不愛動的人，端粒長度明顯短的多。
作者寫道：「考量身體質量指數、吸煙、社經地位與工作時的身體活動量之後，白血球端粒長度與身體活動量之間的關聯仍然存在。」

Djokovic fends off Tsonga to win Australian Open title

By JOHN PYE, AP Sports WriterJanuary 27, 2008

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Novak Djokovic took the expected barrage from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first set, then gave back some of his own to make the Australian Open his first Grand Slam title.
No. 3-ranked Djokovic fended off Muhammad Ali lookalike Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the final on Sunday night, ending a sequence of 11 straight majors won by either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal since Marat Safin's triumph here in 2005.
The 20-year-old Djokovic had not lost a set in six matches leading into the final, including his semifinal win over two-time defending champion Federer.
But with unseeded Tsonga coming out swinging like he did in his straight-sets upset over No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals and three other top 14 players, that streak came to a sudden end.
The 20-year-old Djokovic rebounded in the second and third sets and after saving a crucial breakpoint in the fourth, dominated the tiebreaker to clinch his first major at his 13th attempt.
"You feel the expectations and pressure, so I'm very happy with the way I dealt with the pressure," Djokovic said. "Coming on against a player with nothing to lose -- he was going for the shots and he was very dangerous, especially in the first set -- I was pretty nervous."
Djokovic was the youngest player since Stefan Edberg defeated Mats Wilander in 1985 to win the Australian title and the first man from Serbia to win a major.
Tsonga, who had been so aggressive earlier in the tournament, seemed more content to rally from the baseline, especially after getting passed several times.
"He was very dangerous," Djokovic said. "I was aware of that fact, but I was trying to stay with him because I knew sooner or later, with my style of game, I could get in control of the match, which I did in the middle of the second set."
As well as Tsonga, he had to overcome cramps.
Djokovic got treatment on the back of his left thigh while holding for a 3-2 lead in the fourth set, then fended off a break point while serving at 5-5.
Wanting to finish it off quickly, he raced through the tiebreaker -- with some help from Tsonga, who double-faulted to make it 5-1 and then sent a running forehand long to give Djokovic four championship points.
He only needed one as Tsonga hit a forehand wide.
Djokovic fell on his back, then got up to shake hands with Tsonga and put his arm around the Frenchman. He got on his knees and kissed the court, shook hands with his family, then tossed two rackets into the stands before burying his face in a towel.
"First, before I thank everybody in this world, I want to thank everybody in my box, who've supported me all the way through, not just these two weeks, all the way in my life," Djokovic said. "Thank you very much, I love you."
His father, mother and two younger brothers wore white tracksuits and sat in order with letters on the front spelling out Djokovic's nickname, Nola.
"Second of course Jo. Unbelievable tournament and you should be proud of yourself -- if he won tonight it would be absolutely deserved, so well done for his success."
Djokovic, who has had a hot and cold relationship with the Melbourne Park crowd, won them back over again in his post-match speech.
"I know the crowd wanted him to win more," he said of Tsonga. "That's OK, it's all right. I still love you guys, don't worry.
"I'm very, very happy that I won my first Grand Slam here, so hopefully we'll see you here on this stage a lot more often in the future."
Tsonga, ranked 38th coming into his fifth major, will move up to No. 18 after advancing past the fourth round for the first time.
He was aiming to be the first Frenchman in 80 years to win the Australian title and the first to win any of the four Grand Slams since Yannick Noah's win at Roland Garros in 1983.
Rod Laver Arena was packed and awash in red, white and blue, the national colors of both countries, but there was little doubt where the rowdy crowd's loyalties lay -- with underdog Tsonga, who has delighted the Melbourne Park fans with his ebullient personality and go-for-broke style.
A portrait of Ali, a racket sketched in one hand, was taped to a wall, and Tsonga sprinted onto the court for warmups.
Djokovic, who had complained after his semifinal victory over Federer that he had to fight two opponents because of the overwhelming support for the Swiss star, was at it again, frequently turning toward a pocket of chanting Serbian fans to get them fired up.
Both men looked tight at first, dropping their first service games before settling in.
Tsonga suddenly picked up his game when it appeared the first set was headed for a tiebreaker. He blasted three aces to take a 5-4 lead, then came up with two great shots to break Djokovic.
Serving at 30-30, Djokovic had an easy overhead, but didn't do enough with it. Tsonga ripped a forehand crosscourt passing shot for a winner, then raised his racket and roared with the crowd.
Another good forehand winner finished off the set, and Tsonga went down on one knee to pump his fist before dancing over to his chair to a standing ovation.
Djokovic refused to crumble. He never faced a break point in the second and third sets, yielding only 10 points in his nine service games.
Djokovic said he didn't know where he would go next, but planned to spend a couple of weeks enjoying the celebrations.
"It's my first major, but it's just the start of a long season," he said.

Police Question French Bank Trader

The French trader accused of one of the biggest bank frauds ever surfaced Saturday -- in the custody of police, who were questioning him about bad bets that cost France's No. 2 bank billions of euros in a season of jittery markets.
Financial police in Paris were questioning Jerome Kerviel in a probe into Societe Generale's allegation against the 31-year-old trader, judicial officials said. They were speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
Under French law, he can be held up to 48 hours.
Kerviel has kept a low profile since the bank said Thursday that Kerviel's unauthorized trades caused it losses of euro4.9 billion (US$7.14 billion). His picture made the front page of newspapers around the world, and journalists staked out his apartment and those of his family members for days, but they did not catch him on camera -- prompting rumors he had fled the country.
His lawyer maintained he was not on the run and would speak to investigators.
His motives remained a mystery, and the bank said it appeared that he did not gain personally from the unauthorized trades. Acquaintances described Kerviel as reserved and considerate, a young man who once taught kids judo and held the door for elderly neighbors.
The debacle -- which has rattled an already nervous banking sector and appeared to be the biggest-ever trading fraud by one person -- has fueled a debate about risk management, with France's conservative president condemning speculation.
"If we can make profits in a matter of hours, we can also have huge losses," said President Nicolas Sarkozy during a visit to India. "We must stop with this system that has gone haywire and that has lost track of its aim."
"It appears to be time to ... inject a bit of common sense into all these systems," he added.
French officials have said that Kerviel, a relatively inexperienced trader, was dealing with more than euro50 billion ($73.31 billion). That is more than the bank's market capitalization of euro35.9 billion (US$52.6 billion), and is close to the annual GDP of countries such as Slovakia, Qatar or Libya.
Kerviel had been investing the bank's money by hedging on European equity market indices, meaning he bet on how the markets would perform at a future date.
Societe Generale said it discovered the fraud last weekend and unwound the trader's losing bets starting Monday, when world markets tumbled.
Some experts have suggested Societe Generale may have exacerbated the fall and indirectly led to the U.S. Federal Reserve's subsequent decision to cut rates.
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