Monitor: Miscellaneous

Stories from around the world

Times Of India

WITH LARGER numbers of products and buyers, and the explosion in information, it is but natural that creativity in advertising should also take many forms. Take the women who model textiles and accessories. In place of the inviting smile, what does come across, loud and clear, is the grim and sullen look. The sullen look could well be an indication of the changing times and moods. Maybe it is a conscious effort to convey that the smile is no longer beautiful. Poets have indeed gone into raptures over the embellishing effects of tragedy and sadness upon a woman's beauty. The sultry sirens in today's glossies, with their serious expressions, represent the veiled, aggressive sales tactics in today's advertising world.

The Straits Times

Singapore

SINGAPOREANS WORK more hours each year than people in the United States and Europe, but are not as productive. Workers here put in an average of 2,028 hours a year, about 5 to 15 per cent more than those in the US and Europe. When it comes to productivity, each Singaporean worker contributes about US$26 (S$42) per hour to the country's Gross Domestic Product, while his counterpart produces US$32 in the US, US$26 in Britain and US$35 in Germany.

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Gulf Daily News

Bahrain

THE BAHRAIN Marathon Relay is dying a slow death. It is nothing to do with the declining number of expatriates or that running is out of fashion. The reason is because the Marathon Relay has a tired formula and the people are tired of it. All this apathy is because the original Marathon Relay spirit has been lost. The race has become predictable and fiercely competitive, with the top teams resorting to ludicrous measures to secure victory. There are those who think that despite the collapse in the number of participants, the Marathon Relay will never die. To those, I would ask, where now is The Great Muharraq Raft race, The Soap Box Derby, The Charity Chariot Race...