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Centenarian Kills Self in New Evacuation Area Fukushima, April 14 (Jiji Press)--A 102-year-old man has killed himself in the Fukushima Prefecture village of Iitate, which will become an evacuation area due to radioactive materials leaking from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, it was learned Thursday. Before the suicide, the oldest resident of the community discussed evacuation plans with his family, municipal officials said, adding that they suspect the man was depressed at the idea that he would have to leave his place. The man was confirmed dead on Tuesday, the day after the central government announced a plan to...

Sex felon haunts jail at age 100 Here's proof that only the good die young. Meet Theodore Sypnier, the oldest inmate in New York. The geriatric jailbird celebrated his 100th birthday in upstate Groveland Correctional Facility in May and has spent most of his 90s in prison after pleading guilty to attempted sodomy of a child. Sypnier said he is treated no differently than the spring chickens behind bars with him. He catches Z's in a standard prison bed, wears a two-piece forest-green uniform and chows down on regular mess-hall slop. "It's probably just as bad as being the youngest...

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A 114-year-old Los Angeles woman has become the oldest person in the world, hospital sources said on Saturday. Gertrude Baines, a resident of a nursing home, assumed that title when a 115-year-old woman in Portugal died Friday. Baines was born in 1894 when Grover Cleveland was U.S. president. Her parents were both slaves as children. She cast a ballot for Barack Obama in November's presidential election, according to the local media report. The previous holder of the title, a 115-year-old woman in Portugal named Maria de Jesus, died quietly after breakfast Friday. Hospital officials...

CHINA / Odd News Bad habits key to man's longevity (China Daily) Updated: 2007-05-21 14:52 Zhang Shuqing, a centenarian in Pixian, Sichuan, has his own secret for long life - smoking every day and drinking liquor after every meal. Zhang, whose daughter died eight years ago, turned 100 on May 7. He lives with his nephew Zhang Chenggui. Zhang senior said he started smoking and drinking strong liquor when he was in his early 20s. Since then, he has smoked every day and taken a drink with every meal. According to his grandson Xu, Zhang has consumed 15 tons of...

Woman celebrates her 100th birthday with motorcycle ride (Published Tuesday, July 5, 2005 09:58:58 AM CDT) Associated Press STOUGHTON, Wis. - Ruth Stewart celebrated her 100th birthday with a motorcycle ride. Richard Ireland, 62, of Deerfield gave the retired music teacher a three-mile ride Monday through downtown Stoughton after being contacted by Stewart's nieces and nephews, who wanted their aunt to realize her years-long dream of riding a Harley-Davidson. "If I were 20 years younger, I would buy one," Stewart said. "I think they're just beautiful, but I never could afford it." Her top speed Monday on the back of...

Leta Marshall was pulling for the Grand Old Party in the November elections. Which isn't remarkable until you consider she was born three years before one of the best-known Republicans of the 20th century - Theodore Roosevelt - even took office. "She said, 'I don't know what we're going to do if the Democrats get elected,'æ" said Karen Pritchard, a granddaughter who lives in Sycamore. "So I got her a Bush/Cheney yard sign." Marshall, a lifelong St. Charles resident, died Wednesday at the age of 106. Marshall, who was born on a St. Charles farm, lived in her own home...

Ancel Keys, the University of Minnesota public health scientist whose nutrition and diet research ultimately fed thousands of soldiers and saved countless people from heart disease, died Saturday. He was 100. Perhaps best known as the creator of the K ration, the ready-to-eat meal U.S. troops carried in World War II, Keys had a knack for taking on some of the largest public health issues of the 20th century at just the right time. He led a landmark study on starvation that helped guide relief efforts in postwar Europe. Major studies on coronary disease helped put him on the cover...

Centenarian Breaks 100M Sprint Record July 10, 2004 01:09 PM EDT CAPE TOWN, South Africa - It took him two tries, but South African Philip Rabinowitz made it into the Guinness Book of World Records Saturday as the fastest 100-year-old to run 100 meters. Rabinowitz made his run at the Green Point stadium in 30.86 seconds, beating the previous record of 36.1 seconds. Last week Rabinowitz also broke the record, clocking 28.7 seconds at the Mandela Park Athletics stadium in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. But a power outage stopped the official electronic clock, so the time was not recorded or...

Korea's Oldest Couple Celebrate 84th Anniversary Korea's oldest couple celebrated their 100th birthdays this year and reaffirmed their marriage vows after spending more than 84 years together. The couple lives in a remote farming village in the central South Chungcheong Province. Song Byung-ho and Sung Won-geum, who both became centenarians this year were seldom apart from each other over the past 84 years of marriage. Having married in 1920 when they were both 15-years-old, the years they've spent together goes beyond the 50th golden wedding anniversary and the 25th silver wedding anniversary all put together. The two have 47 offspring...

CARDINAL BAFILE CELEBRATES HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY TODAY VATICAN CITY, JUL 4, 2003 (VIS) - At noon in the Clementine Hall, the Pope received in a special audience Cardinal Corrado Bafile, who turns 100 today, and members of his family. The cardinal was born in Aquila in the Abruzzi region of Italy. In a letter for the occasion, dated June 19 and made public today, the Holy Father writes to the cardinal referring to his hundred years of life: "It is a truly significant milestone which Providence has allowed you to reach." "I think especially about how you, having embraced the...