What do Liu Wen, Aki Hoshino, Eunice Olsen, Aishwarya Rai, Shin Min Ah, Nadine Ann Thomas, Sonia Sui, Jessica Cambensy, Dominique Agisca Diyose, Aung San Suu Kyi and Cherman Ploy Boonyasak have in common?

They are all listed in Esquire magazine’s “atlas” of sexiest women alive 2010.

US actress Minka Kelly is at the top of the heap as the Sexiest Woman Alive, and was made Esquire’s cover girl for its November 2010 issue.

Minka Kelly on the cover of Esquire Magazine November 2010

A total of 195 women were singled out by editors of Esquire’s 17 international editions. They were picked for representing “something different, something beautiful, something that reveals a little bit more about who we are.”

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The 2010 FIFA World Cup is all set to kick off tomorrow in South Africa. This will be the 19^th FIFA World Cup and this is the first time that the tournament will be hosted by an African nation, after South Africa defeated Morocco and Egypt in an all-African bidding process. The tournament is scheduled to take place between June 11 and July 11.

2010 FIFA World Cup

This is the first World Cup that does not include any teams that are qualifying for the first time, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. Slovakia was previously part of Czechoslovakia, and Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro. In both cases FIFA considers these teams to have retained the earlier nations� records.

The 32 qualifiers are South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England, Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Honduras, Mexico, United States, New Zealand, Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d�Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

The tournament will be held at the following 10 venues in South Africa.

Cape Town Stadium, Capetown

Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg

Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria

Mbombela Stadium, Nelsprint

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth

Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg

Soccer City, Johannesburg

Zakumi, an anthropomorphized leopard with green hair, is the official mascot of the tournament. �Za� is the international abbreviation for South Africa and �kumi� is an African word that means �ten�. So Zakumi stands for South Africa 2010.

Zakumi...official mascot of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

The official song for 2010 FIFA World Cup is �Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)�, in English, and �Waka Waka (Esto es Africa)� in Spanish. Waka means do it. It will be performed by Shakira and South African group Freshlyground at the closing ceremony before the World Cup final on Juy 11 in Johannesburg Soccer City Stadium.

Shakira

Who will win the coveted World Cup? Being a fan of English Premier League, I would be ecstatic if England wins it. But I seriously doubt England can pull it off as England always seems to falter at World Cup tournaments. I am putting my money on Brazil and Spain.

Let the world cup begin��Waka Waka!

I was taking a break from listing my stamps on eBay when I saw the breaking news on CNN� about the homecoming of Laura Ling and Euna Lee after about 5 months’ detention by the North Korean government. Lee bowed as she walked down the steps of the plane into a private hangar, and Ling raised her fists into the air.

Ling raising her fists into the air as she emerged from the plane.

Oh, it was such a touching moment watching the reunion of Laura and Euna with their families who were waiting at the bottom of the stairs.� Indeed it brought tears to my eyes especially after watching the reunion of Euna Lee with her husband and her 4-year old daughter Hannah. Hannah has not seen her mum since March and you can see how overjoyed Lee was as she tearfully held Hannah tightly to her.

Euna Lee holding tightly to Hannah as her husband held her in his embrace and Laura Ling being kissed and hugged by her husband.

Euna Lee & family in a tight embrace and Laura Ling being hugged by her mum with her husband and sister looking on.

Laura addressed the media with a speech that touched heartstrings and brought tears to many around the world.� She spoke about going to a meeting and when they were taken to the meeting, they saw before them former US President Bill Clinton. They were shocked but at the same time, they knew instantly in their hearts that their nightmare was finally coming to an end.

Laura Ling addressing the media with a tearful speech.

Laura addressing the media with Euna by her side and Al Gore and Laura's father Doug Ling behind them.

This piece of news really made my day. God is great!