| Strong demand helps steel giant
The world's largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal, has reported a net profit of $10.36bn (5.3bn) for 2007. The results - in line with analysts' expectations - are the first full-year figures since the merger of Arcelor and Mittal Steel in June 2006. The firm had predicted robust global steel markets would boost its results. Chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said the company was "focused on leading the transformation of our industry towards a sustainable future". Late last year Arcelor Mittal agreed a deal with controlling shareholders in China Oriental to allow it to eventually raise its stake in the Chinese firm to 73.13%. Arcelor Mittal is eager to increase its exposure to China, the world's biggest producer and consumer of steel. Mittal bought Arcelor in 2006, creating a firm with 10% of the world's steel market.
Don’t mess with Texas: NBA Southwest betting preview
The Warriors didn't expose any type of blueprint to beat Dallas. All they did was play their game – something the Mavericks didn't do. The books have the Mavs as a 4-to-1 favorite to win the championship and list their season win total at 57 ½ – the highest on the board. Sixty-seven wins probably won't be duplicated but 60-to-63 seems like a good bet. I'll cautiously take the over. Houston Rockets
52-30 SU, 38-43-1 ATS, 42-40 O/U The Jeff Van Gundy era is over in Houston and it's about time. I never understood the logic of having a defensive coach with offensive personnel. It'd be like making Chuck Daily the coach of the Phoenix Suns. The big wigs in Houston must have figured this out because Van Gundy's replacement is a man with a plan.
The 'blue ribbon' workout
You deserve the best, so here it is: some of the all-time best exercises ever invented. And not just 'cause I say so, either. We're talking about what science and the American Council on Exercise consider tops, so you can believe it. The bicycle maneuver and the ball crunch rated Nos. 1 and 3, respectively, in a study by the Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University of the 13 most common ab exercises. The researchers found that exercises that require constant abdominal stabilization and body rotation generated the most muscle activity in the obliques. (Hello, six-pack!) Buttwise, an ACE study at the La Crosse Exercise and Health Program used electromyographic analysis to compare the muscle recruitment patterns of eight common gluteal exercises. No clear winner here, so I picked the quadruped hip extension, which I like best because it doesn't involve squatting, which I like least.
Hip-Hop Rumors: Lil' Wayne Engaged? Ashanti Talks Nelly/Irv! Ghostface ...
I hope somebody started this gaudy rumor just to get to me. After being seen at a basketball game, bossip is suggesting strongly that Wayne and Lauren London are engaged! No way do I believe this! There is also talk of a huge rock on her ring finger. That may be factual, since she is a star, but that doesn't mean Lil Wayne copped it. I'm gonna keep the faith like Biggie!
I ain't gonna lie…my heart is hurting a lil' bit here. I'm going to throw this stuff up and get back to the rumors in a few. Lauren, why? Why!
RODNEY KING IS HARD!
Rodney King gets shot in the face and rides his bike. What! Anyway, check out a summary of what Rodney King must contend with over a decade after LAPD tore him down.
Yick Fung Co., a Chinatown institution, will close its doors this week
Jimmy Mar, a 93-year-old with a keen memory, opened the green wooden door to the Yick Fung Co. in Seattle's Chinatown for one of the last times Sunday. His relatives walked past the store's English and Chinese name that appears in chipped-yellow paint on the front windows. Inside, they hugged one another, looked at the store's vintage items one last time as a family and stood under a large wooden sign in Chinese that means "togetherness." .
This weekend's EDF Energy Cup games
Ben Daly starts at hooker, Andy Hall and Peter Sidoli come into the second row and the captain, Colin Charvis, moves to openside, with Michael Owen at No 8. Ospreys v London Irish Tomorrow, 4.10pm, Liberty Stadium All Blacks back-rower Marty Holah has been named on the Ospreys' bench. London Irish have an international front row, with the New Zealand prop Clarke Dermody making his debut alongside the former Springboks hooker Danie Coetzee and the Tongan prop Tonga Lea'aetoa. The Ireland flanker Aidan McCullen, centre Bryan Rennie and the locks James Hudson and Gary Johnson make their first starts of the season. Saracens v Bristol Tomorrow, 3pm, Vicarage Road Saracens welcome back three players from World Cup duty - Andy Farrell, who has shaken off his calf injury, and the Fiji captain Moses Rauluni and his compatriot Kameli Ratuvou.
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