|
Thursday, February 14 2008 @ 05:26 AM Central Standard Time
|
Eight million Americans admit they send themselves Valentine's Day gifts -- they may feel lonely and unloved but at least they will get something nice.
British lovers ought to steer clear of Paris as a Valentine destination -- one in three picked the French capital as the city most likely to cause them to argue on a romantic break.
It's the time of year again when love is in the air -- or at least the pressure is on to show you really, really care on February 14. Surveys abound on what makes the perfect gift -- usually commissioned by a company trying to sell its Valentine wares -- but the way the big day for lovers is celebrated around the world could not be more different.
Saudi Arabia has banned red roses ahead of Valentine's Day, forcing couples in the conservative Muslim nation to think of new ways to show their love. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items coloured scarlet which is widely seen as symbolising love, newspapers reported.
It all used to be so simple -- buy your lover chocolates, roses or, if you are feeling very generous, diamonds. But what if the diamonds financed wars, the cocoa beans were harvested by children and the roses grown in a pesticide mist?
"Most roses in the U.S. are grown in Latin America. And they are grown in a way that uses a lot of chemicals," said Rene Ebersole at the environmental Audobon Magazine.
Ivory Coast, which grows 40 percent of the world's cocoa, has a persistent child labour problem, a U.S. State Department human rights report said.
Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://www.turks.us
|
|
