Etc...

And they're off!

Seven days after sprint champion Asafa Powell of Jamaica set a world record in the 100-meter dash, with a time of 9.77 seconds, Kozo Haraguchi did, too - covering the distance in 22.04 seconds. No, that's not a misprint . Nor is it the first time the Japanese has held the world mark. It's true that if they were racing side-by-side, Haraguchi would be only a few steps down the track as Powell crossed the finish line. But then Powell, at 22, is one of the world's premier runners, whereas Haraguchi is 95. He broke the mark for his age group by almost two seconds last weekend at a track meet for seniors in Miyazaki, south of Tokyo. Five years ago, he was clocked in 18.08 seconds, a record at the time for the 90-94 bracket. Asked for comment, he said: "Everyone was cheering me on, so I kept thinking I mustn't fall."

It's expensive to live in densely populated Japan, a fact underscored by the return of Tokyo atop the latest list of world's priciest major metropolitan areas. Right behind in second place: Osaka. The annual ranking, conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, looks at the comparative costs of more than 200 basic needs and consumer items, among them housing, food, clothing, and public transportation in 144 cities. New York is used as the baseline and automatically is awarded a ranking of 100. Tokyo? It scores 135. The cheapest major city: Asuncion, Paraguay. New York placed 13th - the highest of all US cities in the survey. The 10 most expensive metropolitan areas and where each ranked last year (in parentheses):

1. Tokyo (1)
2. Osaka, Japan (4)
3. London (2)
4. Moscow (3)
5. Seoul, South Korea (7)
6. Geneva (6)
7. Zurich, Switzerland (9)
8. Copenhagen, Denmark (8)
9. Hong Kong (5)
10. Oslo (15)
- Associated Press