The New Seven Wonders of the World

[12/8/06] GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- A global competition to name the new seven wonders of the world is attracting widespread interest, with more than 20 million people voting so far, organizers say.

The Egyptian pyramids are the only surviving structures from the original list of seven architectural marvels. Long gone are the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria. Those seven were deemed wonders in ancient times by observers of the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Candidates for the new list have been narrowed down to 21, including the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal and Peru's Machu Picchu. The public can vote until July 6, 2007, by Internet or phone. The seven winners will be announced July 7 in Lisbon, Portugal.

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[7/21/07] July 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Great Wall of China, Rome's Colosseum and the Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico were selected among the new seven wonders of the world in a poll that drew more than 90 million votes.

Machu Picchu in Peru, Jordan's ancient city of Petra, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Taj Mahal in India were the other winners, according to the New7Wonders Foundation, which organized the poll.

Sites that didn't make the new seven wonders include the Acropolis in Greece, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Easter Island statues, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Alhambra in Spain, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Kiyomizu Temple in Japan, the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, the Statue of Liberty, Stonehenge in the U.K., the Sydney Opera House and Timbuktu in Mali.

The six other ancient wonders of the world were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The six were located around the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, reflecting the origins of civilization.

The Asian women of Bergen County

Asian women of Bergen County can expect to live until the age of 91, the highest life expectancy of any group in the nation, a federally funded study has found. The average person in New Jersey, meanwhile, can expect to live until age 77.

News of this Asian longevity has researchers looking for reasons. Is it diet? Exercise? Close family ties? Attitude? Good medical care?

The Harvard Initiative for Global Health conducted the recent study and is now following up by looking at eight major factors: blood sugar, blood pressure, tobacco use, cholesterol levels, obesity, physical inactivity, diet and alcohol.

Secret Santa revealed

For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he's anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It's been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?

But now, weak from chemotherapy and armed with a desire to pass on his belief in random kindness, Secret Santa has decided it's time to reveal his identity.

Global Rich List

The Global Rich List tells you just where you rank among the 6 billion people on earth, in terms of wealth. For example, if you're a public school teacher earning, say, $50,000 per year, you'll learn that "You are the 59,029,289th richest person in the world!" It also tells you that you're in the top 0.98% of people, by wealth.