Fitness freak

Cape Town, July 5 (Reuters): 100-year-old Philip Rabinowitz says faltering technology will not stop him proving he is the fastest centenarian on two legs.

The South African shattered the world 100m record for centenarians by more than seven seconds yesterday, but a faulty electronic timer will keep the feat out of the record books, at least for now. “It was wonderful, I didn’t get tired at all,” he said the day after his feat. “We will try again in September. Maybe I can do even better next time.”

Locals watched Rabinowitz, who tries to walk at least six km a day, slash 7.3 seconds off Austrian Erwin Jaskulski’s mark of 36.19 at a stadium in Cape Town. It was only after finishing that Rabinowitz, who works as a book keeper for a pet food company, learned the timer had failed and that the hand-held stopwatch did not meet world record criteria.

Model claim

Jerusalem (AFP): Lawyers for an Israeli model have filed a request with tax authorities asking them to make the cost of plastic surgery tax deductible, Yedioth Aharonot newspaper reported. The model’s lawyers claim their client’s career depended on her maintaining her looks, arguing a precedent had been set by entitlement of tax deductions for the cost of suits for businessmen. The model was not named but former beauty queen Tali Lowenthal praised the move. “If models have a nose job to look better for work purposes that ought to be a tax deductible expense just like any other business expense, because a model’s looks and body are part of the business,” she told the paper.