CONSUMER ADVICE PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Since the mid-1990s, there has been a noticeable improvement in Greece's public transportation systems, including the ferry networks serving the islands. Bus and trolley routes are now served by new fleets, while a new mass transit system in Athens - the metro - has helped relieve congestion in the capital's centre.

The 2004 Olympics provided the impetus for improvements in public transport, which include the reintroduction of the tram as a link between the southern coastal suburbs and downtown Athens.

Tram

The tram has three lines: from Neos Kosmos (metro station) to Hellenic Olympic Complex (Agios Kosmas) and from Glyfada to the Peace and Friendship Stadium (alongside the Faliro Sports Complex). The third line runs from Syntagma to Glyfada.

Genetic tests' promise can be outweighed by a dark toll

Victoria Grove wanted to find out if she was destined to develop the form of emphysema that ran in her family, but she did not want to ask her doctor for the DNA test that would tell her.

She worried that she might not be able to get health insurance, or even a job, if a genetic predisposition showed up in her medical records, especially since treatment for the condition, Alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency, could cost more than $100,000 a year.

Instead, Grove sought out a service that sent a test kit to her home and returned the results directly to her.

Nor did she tell her doctor when the test revealed that she was virtually certain to get it. Knowing that she could sustain permanent lung damage without immediate treatment for her bouts of pneumonia, she made sure to visit her clinic at the first sign of infection.

Humana posts 4th-quarter gain

Membership gains in Humana's Medicare managed-care plans helped the Louisville health insurer to a fourth-quarter profit of $243.2 million, up 57 percent from a year earlier.

Ryan Heads Back to Rangers

Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan smiles as he heads out to the bullpen to work with pitchers on the first day of the Nolan Ryan Elite Pitching Camp in Houston, in this Jan. 28, 2008 file photo. The Texas Rangers are hiring Nolan Ryan as their new club president, team officials confirmed on Wednesday Feb. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (Pat Sullivan - AP) .

Unstoppable Obama

I'll vote for centrist Obama because he's not Hillary or McCain. But most of his "unstoppable"-ness can be attributed to the fact that his campaign has already spent over $100 million in the primaries. That's far more than any U.S. presidential campaign has ever spent in the primaries. When Bush did that, the left said he was trying to buy his way into the office. America needs adequate campaign spending limits, now!