The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Tokyo - A Japanese woman believed to be the oldest person in the world turned 116 on Tuesday. Born in 1887, when Japan was still in the throes of its conversion from samurai rule to modern democracy, Kamato Hongo was recognized as the world's oldest living person by the Guinness Book of World Records after an American woman - Maude Farris-Luse - died last March at the age of 115. Hongo, whose husband died when she was 77, is known throughout Japan for her habit of sleeping for two days and then staying awake for two days. She has seven children - three of whom have died - 27 grandchildren, 57 great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren. An Internet page lists her favourite snack as unrefined brown sugar and also reveals her secret to long life. "Not moping around," it says. Moscow - World Bank experts warned Tuesday that certain regions of Eastern Europe and Central Asia face an explosive AIDS epidemic that endangers the economic progress of the region. "The Eastern Europe and Central Asia region is experiencing the world's fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemic," the World Bank said in a report. "Among the more severely effected parts are the Baltic states, the Russian federation, Moldova and Belarus." The World Bank says 1.2 million people are living with HIV or AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
