It isn't just China or developing nations that struggle to maintain air quality; on the wrong day, with the wrong weather conditions, dank air can settle upon even the most advanced cities on Earth. Almost unbelievably, what you see here is a picture taken from the end of London Bridge in March 2012.
A perfect storm of negatives happened to create this haze; dirty, polluted air was blown in from the north by a strong wind, heavy traffic jams meant traffic pollution peaked and mingled with the dirty air, and then a sudden drop in the wind that had meshed the two together left it hanging and stagnant over England's capital city. For most of the world, this is how the air is the majority of the time; the WHO estimated that 92% of the world population is continually breathing in dirty air, and that it caused three million deaths globally in the year this picture was taken.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.