Kirthana Dewi

By : Kirthana Dewi  With a little more than 1,000 days to go until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics begin, preparation - even at this stage - is key. Such is the case with American swimmer Dana Vollmer, who claimed her seventh Olympic medal in Rio last year. But she has had to adapt her preparation for Tokyo to cater for, in her words, the "bowling ball" in her stomach. In her first race since Rio on Thursday, Vollmer was six months pregnant. The first obstacle was finding a swimming costume that worked for her - up from the size 26 she wore in Rio to a size 32 at Thursday's race in Mesa, Arizona. "It kind of holds everything in," she said, in an interview on the Team USA website. "We had to go up a few sizes to hold the belly." Vollmer raced with her doctor's permission, and has amended her training programme while pregnant by doing more strength training. In an interview before the race  with ESPN , she said training was a welcome distr

Pope Francis delivered the traditional Easter Sunday Mass sermon in Rome on Sunday with a call for an end to the "horror and death" in Syria and prayed for Jesus to help world leaders end the arms trade. "In the complex and often dramatic situations of today's world, may the Risen Lord guide the steps of all those who work for justice and peace," he told a crowd of around 60,000 people gathered in a flower-filled St. Peter's Square. "May he grant the leaders of nations the courage they need to prevent the spread of conflicts and to put a halt to the arms trade." The "Urbi et Orbi" message "to the city and the world" was delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica amid tight security with people trying to enter the square having to pass through several checkpoints. Addressing the civil war in Syria, the Pope said a prayer for humanitarian workers there. "Especially in these days, m

Research by Public Health England and the Department of Health, commissioned the University of Sheffield, was carried out to estimate the number of children living with adults who are seriously dependent on alcohol. The data also suggests there are 600,000 dependent drinkers who would benefit from treatment, yet only just over 100,000 are currently receiving help. Overall, around 1.5 million adults in England and Wales are thought to have some form of alcohol dependence, and there are 2.5 million children living with an adult drinking at what is considered 'risky' levels. A separate report from the Department for Work and Pensions says it will increase grants and introduce mentors for people in alcohol recovery to help them get back into work. Liver specialist Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said: "We welcome the Government's recognition that cheap alcohol is damaging some of the most vulnerable groups in societ

We are probably well aware of the controversy surrounding the Pepsi ad starring Kendall Jenner that was released on Tuesday (March 4). In it, Kendall plays a model, presumably herself, who joins a protest happening in the street near her photo shoot, then gives a police officer a can of Pepsi and apparently creates peace and unity between the police and the crowd. The ad, called “Jump In,” drew criticism for being tone-deaf and tasteless, especially given the current political climate. Pepsi quickly pulled it and released a statement saying, “Clearly, we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue." They  also  apologized to Kendall, but we can’t be so quick as to think Kendall wasn’t aware of the ad’s plotline and its possible ramifications. How do we know? She had talked to WWD about the ad prior to its release. At the time, she noted that she “had never been to Bangkok,” where the clip was filmed, “so it was interesti