Yes! She did it again. Hillary Clinton, disappointed as she must have been at her failed presidential campaign despite 18 million votes, came through as a "healer" of a divided Democratic Party.

On the second night of the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado, she pulled no punches as she spoke favourably of her opponent Barack Obama as the man "who must be our president" even as she pummelled the Bush administration for its failings and "more war" if John McCain, the Republican nominee, became president.

Time will tell if she really did heal the rift between her supporters and that of Barack Obama. However, she does deserve full credit for declaring it was time "to unite as a single party with a single purpose" in the quest for "no way, no how, no McCain".

The news that Habib Mian, believed to be the oldest living person, has passed away apparently at the age of 138 after a bout of stomach flu in his hometown Jaipur in India, has saddened all the members of the XPRESS team.

The grand old man is dear to us because he was one of our earliest human interest stories and our condolences extend to all the 140 grandchildren and great grandchildren he has left behind.

No one really knows when he was born. He retired from his job as a clarinet player in the Jaipur State Forces Band in 1938 and his pension book notes his date of birth as May 20, 1878. However, others have claimed that he is actually eight years older and that lack of official proof has kept him out of the Guinness Book of World Records.

What a spectacular opening to the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing on August 8.

The world watched amazed at three and a half hours of pure magic where a fusion of human creativity and technology resulted in an unprecedented show of the visual and performance arts.

The key word here is "show".

The first time I was seriously inducted into nutritional science I was in the fifth grade. My holistic dad sat me on his knee and explained how the stomach and brain were connected and why the food at the family table was right for me and my four older siblings.

"The brain," he said, "is hungrier than the stomach and needs twice the energy to keep you mentally and physically fit".

I had complained that we ate fish, rice, unleavened bread, eggs, green vegetables, lentils and skinless chicken during the week and ate beef or lamb only on Sundays.