A study has claimed that 45 percent of Class 12th students in big cities have already taken to drinking and this has been made possible due to fat pocket money and peer influence.

Industry body Assocham said in a survey conducted over 2,000 boys and girls in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, and Dehradun that as many as 45 per cent of the 12th graders in metropolitan cities consume alcohol excessively, at least five to six times in a month.

From Ndtv.com:

Higher liquor consumption was witnessed among teenagers in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai followed by Chandigarh and Hyderabad.

“Each year, students spend Rs. 3,500-4,500 on alcohol, more than they spend on soft drinks, tea, milk, juice, coffee, movie tickets or books combined,” Assocham said.

About 70 per cent of the teens consume alcohol on occasions like farewell party, New Year, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and birthdays.

While most of the boys start drinking before college, only 40 per cent of the girls take their first drink between the age of 15 to 17.

Usage of alcohol has resulted in high-risk sexual behaviour, HIV infection and liver disease.

The reasons attributed to this starling revelation included easy money, easy availability of imported brands, increased spending power, peer influence, and inadequate parental control.

According to a survey by Gocompare.com, the average women will spend £16,000 on shoes in her entire lifetime.

It was revealed by the research that girls generally buy their first pair of shoes without their mothers at the age of 14 years and then the purchase limit is close to seven pairs a year for the remaining lifetime that sums up to 469 pairs in their whole lifetime.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

Spending 34.99 pounds on an average pair makes ladies splash out 244.93 pounds each year and 16,410 pounds over 67 years.

The survey of 3,000 women concluded that the average woman has nearly about 19 pairs of shoes which includes – three pairs with heels, six pairs of flip-flops, sandals, ballet pumps or wedges, three pairs of boots and four pairs of ‘foxy-style’ shoes for night parties.

Their shoe racks also have two pairs of work shoes and another two or so ‘random’ purchases.

Four in 10 women say they judge another female by the shoes she has on.

More than half find it easy to justify a purchase to themselves but a quarter rarely tell their partner about new ones as “he wouldn’t understand”.

The Daily Express quoted Hayley Parsons, of Gocompare as saying shoes are women’s one major weakness.

Made on the humongous budget of 100 million pounds, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows‘ will be the final version of the Harry Potter series.

The first part of the film will be released in the United Kingdom in November and the second part will make its way out next summer.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

Harry Potter is all set to bid adieu to his fans in the final version of the series-‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows’, which was made on the humongous budget of 100 million pounds.

In the much-awaited penultimate part of the wizard story, fans will get to see the dark tone of all the characters.

In the blockbuster, Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, now 20, and friends Hermione and Ron, played by Emma Watson, 20, and Rupert Grint, 21, are forced to battle like never before against Voldemort.

Based on JK Rowling’s final book in the series of seven, the film has been split into two parts.

Harry Potter fans will get to see the dark tone of all the characters in this penultimate part of the wizard story.

According to a study on a primate cousin of humans, mandrills, smell could be a crucial factor besides good looks in deciding upon a partner. It was found by the study that mandrills could make use of body odor for identifying suitable mates.

The study appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B and the research was led by Dr Leslie Knapp from the University of Cambridge.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

“Our results strongly suggest that smell allows mandrills to transmit information about their own genetic quality and similarity to one another,” the Daily Express quoted Knapp as saying.

“By using smell they can then identify potential partners with the appropriate genes.

“What we can infer for humans is that there are some very old behaviours at play here.

“Our early ancestors may have relied on smell in a similar way, and although we may think choosing a partner has more to do with looks or sound, smell can play an important role in the process,” he added.

The team investigated the “major histocompatibility complex” or “MHC” genes – a diverse cluster of genes that play a key role in the immune system.

It was remarked by Dr Knapp that the finding support the theory that human beings may also be able to “sniff out” a good partner with the appropriate genes.

Dating violence has seen the emergence of a new weapon known as “textual harassment” with mobile phones and unlimited text message plans easily available among the youth.

Kacey Kirkland, a victim services specialist with the Fairfax County Police Department, disclosed to the Washington Post that he has seen textual harassment in many forms such as lies, late-night questions, and threats.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

“It’s gotten astonishingly worse in the last two years,” the Washington Post quoted Jill Murray, who has written several books on dating violence and speaks on the topic nationally, as saying.

“Especially for those who have grown up in digital times, it’s part and parcel of every abusive dating relationship now,” she said.

According to the paper, the harassed often feel compelled to answer the messages, whether they are one-word insults or 3 a.m. demands.

For some, 100 or more texts arrive in a day in class, at the dinner table, or in movie theatres.

“Harassment is just easier now, and it’s even more persistent and constant, with no letting up,” the post quoted Claire Kaplan, director of sexual and domestic violence services at the University of Virginia, as saying.

Cindy Southworth, founder of the Safety Net Project on technology at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said “What technology offers is irrefutable evidence of the abuse,”.