Top 25 Countries To Retire To

Oliver Wheaton | MetroUK
However the few hopeful souls who might one day be able to pack in their job and run off to the sunset have rated Ecuador as the best country in the world to retire to.

International Living drew up a list of the top 25 countries people would like to retire to, and nearly all of them a sunny exotic locations.

Although Ecuador ranks 65th on The Economist’s quality-of-life scale, the country’s lush climate and affordable health-care have put it at the top of the list.

Four out of the top five countries on the list were in Latin America.
Interestingly, none of the world’s top five richest countries by 2014 GDP (China, USA, India, Japan and Germany) featured on the list – and no, neither did Britain.

The full list, in order, is:
1. Ecuador
2. Panama
3. Mexico
4. Malaysia
5. Costa Rica

Six Relationship Rules Every Couple Should Break In 2015

Be a happy couple this year (REX)

We’re suckers when it comes to rules, especially any that apply to our relationships.

Rules appear to offer a one-size-fits-all magic formula. Follow them and everything will be OK.

Why suffer the guilt and pressure of personal decision-taking when it comes to enhancing your love life when you can open up the rule book and put a few well-tried adages into practise instead?

But are our relationships really so simple and straightforward that a few corny old sayings will sort out every dilemma?

Surely rules are made to be broken? Here are a few famous clichés just begging to be smashed in the New Year...

1.    NEVER GO TO SLEEP ON AN ARGUMENT
Yes, why spoil the fun of a row by taking time out to nap? Surely the only point of always making up before bedtime is in case the love of your life croaks in the night before you got a chance to say ‘sorry’ for bitching about his/her habit of leaving toenail cuttings on the bread board?

Toronto beer professor shares holiday secrets

Mike Donachie MetroIt’s time to take another look at beer, Toronto’s professor of beer has said, and there’s never been a better time to do it.

Roger Mittag, who really is a professor of beer at Humber College, said the credibility of the drink deserves more attention, especially during the holidays when people are thinking about what to take to parties.

“The big thing for me is to help people to understand and appreciate it,” said Mittag, founder of beer education company Thirst for Knowledge.

“That means to slow down and look at the beer, and smell the beer, and taste the beer. Get it out of the can and get it into a glass so you can appreciate everything the brewer has put into it.

“Think about having it with food.”

There’s been a resurgence of respect for the humble beer, Mittag said, after 15 to 20 years of what he sees as a focus on wine.

Michelle Obamas' Whitehouse garden harvests sweet potatoes for the first time

For people who don't know, some American presidents have had the opportunity to have their own gardens within the White House though some didn't grow gardens, but Eleanor Roosevelt, Clinton and now, the Obama's have their gardens in the White House.

Michelle Obama started her own garden, which is the biggest White House kitchen garden so far, when her daughters Malia and Sasha were not receiving nutritious meals. They had been eating out a lot and the family's pediatrician recommended a diet change. This was revealed in Michelle Obama's book entitled "American Grown: The story of the White House Kitchen Garden". 

New Research Shows Ontario cities have most expensive daycare costs in Canada

Research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows Brampton, Toronto, Mississauga and London to have the least affordable daycare in the country. Torstar News Service

For Eitan Grinspun, daycare debt is the new student loan.

“It’s just the most important thing I can give my child” says the father of 3-year old twins.

“It’s not about the college fund. It’s about giving them the right start.”

But for the Toronto-based dad and his partner, the right start for their kids costs $3,000 a month. That reality has recently forced the couple to take out a loan to cover the expense, in a city where spaces are scarce and waitlists long.

“I see parents all the time when we go outside to play in the playground. And you (can) see the desperation – like, how did you get there, what did you do?” says Grinspun.

Sky-high day care costs are no secret to GTA parents, but a new study reveals for the first time how their fees fare in comparison to other Canadian cities.

Canada Slips One Spot To 5th on World's Most Prosperous Countries

CP

 Daniel Tencer  Canada has fallen one spot on a ranking of the world’s most prosperous countries, but is still doing better than it was just a few years ago.

The 2014 edition of the Legatum Prosperity Index names Norway the world’s most prosperous country.

Canada ranks fifth, down from fourth in 2013 but still up from eighth place in 2012.

Canada ranked particularly well on education, coming in second among 142 countries surveyed, and its worst ranking was in entrepreneurship and opportunity, where the country ranked 17th.

Besides education and entrepreneurship, the index looks at six other broad elements of prosperity, including economy, governance, health, safety & security, personal freedom and social capital.

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Beverage Giants To Cut Calories To Reduce Risk of Obesity

U.S. soft-drinks giants promised to work to reduce the country’s beverage calorie consumption by 20 percent by 2025 in a campaign to counter obesity trends.

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper Snapple pledged to provide smaller-sized bottles, and more water and other low- or no-calorie beverages, to the market to help bring down per-person consumption of their high-sugar drinks.

They also agreed to better publicize calorie counts on vending machines, retail coolers and all drink-vending equipment controlled by the companies.

Appearing at an event organized by the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, representatives from each signed a voluntary initiative to employ marketing and consumer outreach to prod consumers to drink fewer sugary drinks and promote calorie awareness.

The goal is to cut calories from drinks by 20 percent per person within a decade.

The initiative comes as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and others struggle with flagging sales in their home market. Coca-Cola reported flat sales in North America in the most recent quarter.

Regulators in New York City, California and other venues have proposed measures to cut drink size or enhance labeling requirements.

The companies also said they would intensify awareness campaigns and promotion of healthier beverages in communities where there have been fewer options to often sugar-laden soft drinks.

They will retain an independent evaluator to track progress, in conjunction with an advocacy group set up by the Clinton Foundation, founded by former president Bill Clinton, and the American Heart Association.

Public health advocates said the measures did not go far enough.

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Canada Have A New Drug Problem And Is Not Weed Or Coke,

 

A new study shows prescriptions for high-dose formulations of opioids like oxycodone and morphine jumped by 23 per cent in Canada between 2006 and 2011, despite guidelines advising doctors against giving most patients such elevated doses.

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences found the rates of high-dose opioid dispensing across Canada increased from 781 units per 1,000 people in 2006 to 961 units in 2011.

Put another way, that's almost one high-dose opioid pill or patch for every person across Canada.

Dispensing rates remained relatively stable over the six-year period in Alberta and British Columbia, while rates in Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan rose dramatically.

Ontario had the highest dispensing rate at 1,382 units per 1,000 people, while Quebec had the lowest rate at 368 units per 1,000 people.

Provinces also differed in which opioids were most often prescribed. In Alberta and Ontario, oxycodone was the top choice, while B.C. doctors most often prescribed morphine.

Rutgers Study |The Key to a Happy Marriage?

A husband's happiness is significantly related to how his wife feels about the union, according to researchers at Rutgers University and the University of Michigan, who say the happier the wife is with the marriage, the more content her husband will be with life in general.

"I think it comes down to the fact that when a wife is satisfied with the marriage she tends to do a lot more for her husband, which has a positive effect on his life," noted Deborah Carr, a professor in the Department of Sociology, School of Arts and Science at RU.

"Men tend to be less vocal about their relationships and their level of marital unhappiness might not be translated to their wives."

The team analyzed data from 394 couples involved in a larger-scale study on health and income who had been married 39 years on average, in which at least one of the spouses was over 60 years of age.
They were asked questions about their interaction as a couple: How much they argued, how much they understood each other and whether they felt appreciated by their spouse.

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Can Happiness Be Bought?

First the cathedral and then the cafe? Experiences like travel bring greater satisfaction than material goods, researchers say.

You Can Buy Happiness, If It's An Experience. We humans spend a lot of time waiting in lines: People queue up for days in order to get their hands on the latest iPhone, or what feels like eons for a table at that hip new brunch place.

You may be better off spending time and money on the latter. A growing body of research has shown that experiences tend to make people happier than material possessions.

And even anticipating an experience like a concert, a ski trip or what better be a really great brunch makes us happier than purchasing the latest gadgets, according to a study published Tuesday in Psychological Science.

The study, cleverly titled Waiting for Merlot: Anticipatory Consumption of Experiential and Material Purchases, tracked how about 100 college students and over 2,200 randomly selected adults felt about material goods and experiences.

People got excited about both things and events. But they tended to feel more positive about experiential purchases, and their feelings about material purchases were more likely to be tinged with feelings of impatience.