The world has come to love Swedish massage, Swedish meatballs, even IKEA. The world may love the next big thing coming out of Sweden -- the six hour work day.

The 40 hour work week for a full-time employee has been trimmed to 30 hours at some Swedish firms, and studies have found that the result is more productivity and better morale.

Sepp Blatter has fired back at Coca-Cola: I "will not resign."

The president of FIFA responded Friday to a call from Coca-Cola to step down immediately. McDonald's (MCD), Visa (V) and Anheuser-Busch (BUD) also issued calls for Blatter's resignation shortly after the Coca-Cola statement came out.

"While Coca Cola is a valued sponsor of FIFA, Mr. Blatter respectfully disagrees with its position and believes firmly that his leaving office now would not be in the best interest of FIFA nor would it advance the process of reform and therefore, he will not resign," a spokesperson for Blatter said.

(CNN)A Danish travel company has come up with a novel solution for reversing the country's declining birth rates.

The hot-blooded new ad campaign by Spies Rejser suggests wannabe grandmas buy their adult kids an active sun and sex vacation, then be rewarded nine months later with a grandchild.

"You can't buy love. Or can you?" is the opening gambit of the tongue-in-cheek video, as the camera lingers over a sweat-drenched young woman clearly having the vacation of her life.

(CNN)Gigi Hadid is not here for any body-shaming.

The supermodel posted a long message on her Instagram account Monday aimed at those who say she is too voluptuous.

"No, I don't have the same body type as the other models in the shows," Hadid wrote on her account. "I represent a body image that wasn't accepted in high-fashion before."

CHINA — When Joshua Lambert suggested putting bicycle desks in his math classroom at China Middle School last year, the idea was met with skepticism.

Lambert is on the Regional School Unit 18 wellness committee, which was coming up with ideas for grant proposals to fund health and fitness programs in district schools.

China Middle School eighth-graders Morgan Presby and Colby Marston study and pedal at the two bike desks as math teacher Josh Lambert leads the class Wednesday. David Leaming/Morning Sentinel

 

China Middle School student James Hardy pedals a bike while working on his laptop during math class Wednesday. David Leaming/Morning Sentinel

Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) The average age of Taiwanese women giving birth to their first child has increased by three years over the past decade, but the number of marriages and births in society remains on the rebound, the Ministry of the Interior said Wednesday.

Jair Lan-pin (翟蘭萍), deputy director of the ministry's Department of Household Registration, said women gave birth at the average age of 30.5 years old in 2014, up from 27.4 years old in 2004, demonstrating that women are giving birth later than in the past.

But Taiwan's fertility rate -- the number of children the average woman would have in her lifetime -- has risen in recent years, from 0.9 in 2010 to 1.17 in 2014.

Image copyright AP Image caption Chinese promoters said "unforeseen reasons" were behind the abrupt cancellation

And that's because of a surge in global instability over the past 12 months, from terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia, to ongoing conflicts across the Middle East, Ukraine and Libya.

In any event, it's as you were for the "haves" at the top of list, with Melbourne taking the top spot for a fifth year running, with Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto and Adelaide/Calgary (tied at 5) completing the top five most livable cities in 2015.

According to the EIU, these cities have "relatively few challenges to living standards," and enjoy a good infrastructure, healthcare system and a low murder rate.

The dilemma is sometimes likened to a double-edged sword.

Historical and natural sites of extraordinary beauty often draw large numbers of visitors to the countries that host them, providing a healthy tourism revenue.

However, those same crowds often have a detrimental effect on the places they visit, sometimes leading to significant damage, which has in recent years sparked a debate whether tourist numbers should be capped.

"Sites all over the world are under threat at any given moment. Apart from the monuments and ancient cities in the Middle East, I would say historic districts of major cities in Asia face the highest threat due to the unchecked sprawl and development," says Stefaan Poortman, executive director of the Global Heritage Fund, which aims to protect the most endangered cultural heritage sites in the developing world.

"Tourism is not regulated well enough and the massive influx is putting a strain on sites all over the world. The most well-known sites like Angkor or Machu Picchu are really swamped with tourism. Not only does it affect the sites but at a certain point, if unchecked, tourism can negatively impact the quality of life for local communities as well," he adds.

So why is this suddenly an issue and what could it mean for society?

What's a designer baby?

Well it is like a normal baby, but one that has been modified by altering their DNA - which is the blueprint for building a person.

Lots of us know we are sleep-deprived, but imagine if we could fix it with a fairly simple solution: getting up later. In a speech this week at the British science festival, Dr Paul Kelley, clinical research associate at the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at Oxford University, called for schools to stagger their starting times to work with the natural biological rhythms of their students. It would improve cognitive performance, exam results and students’ health (sleep deprivation has been linked with diabetes, depression, obesity and an impaired immune system).

It follows a paper, published last year, in which he noted that when children are around 10 their biological wake-up time is about 6.30am; at 16 this rises to 8am; and at 18, someone you may think of as a lazy teenager actually has a natural waking hour of 9am. The conventional school starting time works for 10-year-olds, but not 16- and 18-year-olds. For the older teenagers, it might be more sensible to start the school day at 11am or even later. “A 7am alarm call for older adolescents,” Kelley and his colleagues pointed out in the paper, “is the equivalent of a 4.30am start for a teacher in their 50s.”

For traveling foodies, local cuisine is as important as the destination itself when planning a trip.

To highlight the most popular cuisines on the planet right now, we asked CNN readers to vote for their favorite culinary destination in an open Facebook poll.

Clearly, Asian food is on people's minds these days.

That or we have a lot of readers in the region who want to support their homeland's culinary prowess.

With the exception of Italy and Greece, every place on our list is in Asia.

Ready to hop on a plane?

If reaction to the first round of X Factor auditions is anything to go by, you can’t get enough of Philippine girl group 4th Power.

The sisterly quartet – who are already inviting Little Mix comparisons – sailed through to the next round on Saturday night’s show after wowing the judges with their rendition of Bang Bang.

Simon Cowell even went so far as to suggest their performance was one of the best first auditions he had ever seen.

This image of a tiny baby lying lifeless on the shore is, like so many, too heartbreaking to watch. What’s really appalling is that instead of being shocked to take urgent action, our leaders are stuck in a fighting match on whose problem this is. But for the first time ever, there’s a glimmer of hope for a solution.

After massive public calls to welcome refugees, German Chancellor Merkel and the President of the EU Commission are leading efforts to deliver a new, strong European Union plan that would give refuge to people fleeing war and hunger. France is on board, but shamefully the UK, Hungary, and other Eastern European countries have been blocking this emergency action. Whether EU politicians lead the world to a humane 21st century refugee plan, or turn their backs, depends on how much they feel the public demands it. That’s where we come in.

Right now we are at a tipping point. It’s time for us to lead our leaders. EU Ministers are meeting in the next few days to set their positions, so there’s no time to lose. Join the call for a plan to give these terrified families safe haven now -- Avaaz will deliver our proposal to all key decision makers before their summit.

資料來源: Avaaz

The company producing the cards said they would be released on 1 September, backtracking on an earlier statement that the cards would be withdrawn.

The cards are used to pay for journeys on Taipei's metro and bus network.

The image on the card is not pornographic. Ms Hatano said she should be allowed to contribute to society.

"Just because I am an adult video porn star... does it mean that I cannot pay a debt of gratitude to my beloved Taiwan?" she said, in a statement quoted by the Focus Taiwan news website.

Here's the dirty little secret only computer engineers know. The way the Internet was built, it's inherently insecure. Communicating online is like sending paper notes on an automobile highway in a war zone.

To keep your notes private, mathematicians come up with complex algorithms to encrypt communication. It's like putting military armor on your car as it drives down that perilous road.

But in reality, the enemies always find a way to pierce the armor.

(CNN)The Erawan Shrine apparently targeted in Monday's bombing is the best known of the many Hindu shrines in Bangkok.

It's popular among Buddhists, as well as Hindu and Sikh members of Thailand's Indian community who offer flowers and incense bought from local sellers, according to CNN's Saima Mohsin. It's also a tourist hotspot.

Thais and foreign visitors make their ceremonial offerings in the hope that their wishes will be fulfilled, according to one tourist site.

The shrine, built in 1956, houses a golden statue of Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. The shrine is so revered that Thanakorn Pakdeepol, a mentally ill man, was beaten to death in 2006 by two bystanders after they witnessed him vandalizing the statue.

Tourists killed in apparent attack on Bangkok shrine

A pair of typhoon-battered post boxes have become an unlikely local attraction in Taiwan's capital, Taipei.

People have been queuing for up to half an hour to take pictures alongside the lop-sided boxes, which were hit by a falling billboard when Typhoon Soudelor struck the island on Saturday. A couple of postmen have even been deployed to keep the queue in order. "If people want to, we also pose with them in the pictures," one of the men tells Taiwan's Apple Daily.

People have been sharing their photos on a Facebook page set up in the boxes' honour, and the images have gone viral in mainland China, where thousands of social media users are talking about them. "Look at them holding onto each other in the storm!" Sina Weibo Weibo user Jiayun Baihe says. "It's so cute!" But others think it's overshadowing the destruction wrought by the storm, which killed at least 20 people and forced hundreds of thousands to leave their homes. "The news wouldn't be so funny if the sign fell on two people instead of two post boxes, would it?" Taiwanese actress Nita Lei says on her Facebook page.

Taiwan's post office says it will preserve the boxes in their current state to commemorate the storm, but will secure their bases so that they can be kept in service. And for those fans who feel a photograph isn't enough, a line of souvenirs is also in the works.