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France and Germany Warn Vladimir Putin About Ukraine Separatist Elections
BERLIN--The leaders of France and Germany told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that rebel-run elections conducted in the separatist-controlled regions of Ukraine would endanger the so-called Minsk peace process for the country, a German government spokesman said.

Ukraine is obliged to hold local elections by the end of this year in the east under the cease-fire deal agreed between Kiev, Moscow, Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in Minsk, Belarus, on Feb. 12. The country will hold local elections on...
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Leaders of France and Germany told Russian President Vladimir Putin that rebel-run elections conducted in the separatist-controlled regions of Ukraine would endanger the so-called Minsk peace process.


There’s at least one deadly sin we do less as we age
If you weren’t in the so-called popular crowd in high school, you may remember glancing longingly at their table in the cafeteria wishing you could be so cool and confident, instead of so awkward and unsure.

When we’re young, we often measure ourselves against our peers. Our internal monologue is a running stream of wishing we were as attractive, as skinny, as smart, as athletic, as well-liked as others. Our self-worth can hinge on how we perceive we stack up.

The envy we feel doesn’t completely extinguish with age, but a new study released this week shows that the older we get, the less we experience it. And the breadth of what we envy narrows.

“One possibility is that as you get older you come to accept your status, what you do or do not have,” said co-author of the study, Christine Harris, a psychology professor at the University of California, San Diego.

[Related: How to use envy to achieve your dreams]

Other research has backed up theories that our emotional well-being improves with time and perspective — that with age comes a better control over negative feelings.

Harris’ latest findings, published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Social Psychology, reinforces that. Envy is considered an unhealthy and destructive emotion, so much so that it is one of the seven deadly sins. But as author Joseph Epstein writes in his 2003 book, Envy, it’s the one sin that is no fun. And coveting neighbors’ things, a sister emotion to envy, rounds out the 10 Commandments.

Participants were asked if they’d felt envious at any point in the last year. Among the youngest cohort, 18 to 29-year-olds, 80 percent reported feeling envy. It dropped slightly with each decade: 79 percent of those in their 30s, 73 percent in their 40s and 69 percent in their 50s or older.

It was little surprise that the study also found that people most often envy those of their same gender and age. Envy is often born out of making direct comparisons with similar others. “It tells us what might be possible for us and what we can best,” Harris said. But what we specifically envy in others changes significantly with age.

Twenty-somethings envy their peers across a wide spectrum. They envy others’ successes in romance, academics, social status, attractiveness, wealth and jobs. By the 30s and 40s, concern with others’ appearance, friendships and education drops off the list of reasons to be envious. In their 50s and beyond, when people do envy, it’s aimed at others’ occupational and financial success.

In all the age groups, at least one in five described feeling envious of someone else’s luck, which isn’t defined, so it could relate to anything from winning the lottery to finding a soulmate.

What surprised Harris most is that only the youngest group envied others’ social lives. But it makes sense. While 20-somethings are probably more social – going to parties, happy hours and on dates – when people get older they narrow their friend circle and form steady relationships that provide more reliable companionship and support.

Even though older people envy less, it’s still a common human reaction to others’ good fortune. Harris suggests two ways to control it based on the situation.

If you’re envious about an occupational achievement, channel that emotion and figure out specific changes you can make to improve your own situation. Try to emulate the things the other person does to be so successful at work.

If what you are envious of isn’t readily changeable, like your attractiveness, Harris suggests reappraising the weight you give that one thing. Zero in on the things you are good at and the traits you have that others might envy. Realize even the person you’re envying is not perfect — because there’s no such thing.

Want more inspiring news and ideas to improve your life? Sign up for the Saturday Inspired Life newsletter.

If you liked this story on Inspired Life, you may also enjoy:

How prisoners of war used their dreams to help them survive

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Radio host about lonely 95-year-old caller: ‘We’ve all got a Bill in our lives.’

Mind over meal: Study reveals a weight loss strategy you may never have considered.

The surprising effect of yoga on inmates with children

Colby Itkowitz is the lead anchor of the Inspired Life blog. She previously covered the quirks of national politics and the federal government.
Please write a summary below.
The things we are envious of when we're young don't seem so important as we age.


We know the 'mega-Earth' is out there - and it's massive
The newly discovered "mega-Earth" Kepler-10c as seen by an artist. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

Age: Maybe nearing its 11 billionth birthday.

Appearance: It's a planet, so it's round. And rocky, we know that. Although with the telescopes and imaging technology currently available it's hard to be utterly precise about these things.

No one's actually seen it, have they? Not "seen it" as such. But scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have just announced that they know it's there.

How exactly? Because Kepler-10c blocks some of its sun's light when it moves past it. Nasa's Kepler space telescope, from which the planet gets its name, is good at noticing these things. It has already found hundreds of other distant planets.

We all have our talents. I can almost bake bread. Good for you. Although Kepler-10c is about 560 lightyears from Earth, and that's about 3,293 trillion miles, so I think spotting that's more impressive. It's also MASSIVE.

Oh yes? How big is it? A little more than twice the width of Earth.

Not bad. Although if I'm honest I was kind of hoping for more than that. Ah, but size isn't the point here. I said it's "massive" – about 17 times the mass of Earth. Those scientists reckon the gravity of all that mass has squashed it together, making it very dense indeed – around 7.5g/cc. That's a bit like being made of solid iron.

Cool! Exactly. The scientists announced its discovery on Tuesday, and have declared a new class of planet for it – the mega-Earth. Until now, no one knew that rocky planets could get so massive. "This is the Godzilla of Earths!" said Professor Dimitar Sasselov. "But unlike the movie monster, Kepler-10c has positive implications for life."

I love it when scientists do jokes. We all do. Although Sasselov was making another point about 10c's coolness. It means that there are more rocky planets out there than was thought, which means there are more places where aliens might live. Indeed if 10c has clouds it might even be cool enough to sustain life itself.

So there could be mega-Earthlings! Let's not go nuts.

Do say: "I want to go there!"

Don't say: "Even the fastest spacecraft that mankind has ever built would take more than 10,000 years to travel to Kepler-10c so, at best, it could perhaps deliver your corpse."
Please write a summary below.


assistant: There are more rocky planets than we thought, which means there are more places where aliens might live – but it would take 10,000 years to get to Kepler-10c, so don't get too excited