Cheers! Brits toast new shatterproof pint glasses Financial turmoil noticed up north as G-7 officials gather

IQALUIT, Nuvavut (AP) - A bout of turmoil in global markets has provided sobering reminder to global financial leaders that the aftershocks from the worst recession in seven decades are far from over.

Finance ministers and central bank presidents from the world's seven major industrial countries - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - were scheduled to arrive today for discussions in this small snow-swept Canadian town about 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

The talks are expected to be dominated by the question of how much longer extraordinary government stimulus should be provided to lift economic growth.

The risks still facing the global economy were highlighted dramatically after bad economic news sent markets plunging around the world on Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 268 points or 2.6 percent, its biggest one-day loss in seven months.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke were meeting with their counterparts from the other G-7 countries.

Geithner is expected to urge other G-7 nations to keep providing stimulus through the rest of this year, arguing that without continued government support the fledgling recoveries could falter, plunging the world back into recession.

LONDON - Soon Britons will be able to get smashed at the pub while their pint glasses won't.

The shatterproof pint glass was proudly unveiled by the government Thursday. Officials swore the country would save billions in health care costs by coming up with a glass that doesn't double as a lethal weapon.

But noticeably, no officials were talking about reforming the British binge drinking culture at the root of the problem.

There are about 87,000 alcohol-related glass attacks each year, with many resulting in hospital visits, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said as he introduced the two prototype shatterproof pint glasses.

"Glassing causes horrific injuries and has a lasting and devastating impact on victims and their families," Johnson said. "I hope these designs will help bring an end to such attacks."

Two types of shatterproof technologies are in the works: one has a thin bio-resin coating on the inside that strengthens it, and the other bonds two thin layers of glass together in the same way as car windshields. Both are difficult to break and keep the shards together if they do fracture, rendering them useless as weapons.

The government is touting the prototypes as the first significant improvement in bar glassware in decades. The plan is to introduce the new glasses for use on a voluntary basis in pubs if tests show they are durable, cost-effective and safe.

Alcohol Concern, a charity working to lessen alcohol abuse in Britain, praised the new designs.

"We're very much in favor," chief executive Don Shenker said. "There has been good local research showing this could reduce the use of glass in violent incidents."

Half of all violent assaults in Britain are alcohol-related and it has become common for drinkers to smash glasses and use them as weapons, he added.

"You are five times more likely to be involved in a violent incident if you are in or around a licensed bar," he said. "There is a clear correlation."

The government estimates that for alcohol-related problems cost the National Health Service roughly 2.7 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) per year.

In the North London neighborhood of Camden, where heavy drinking bouts are commonplace, bartender Mirjam Linzie said the staff at the Elephants Head pub would welcome safer glasses.

"One time there was a big fight and 50 pints were smashed in one minute," she said. "One man smashed a glass over another one's head. One person's eye was popping out. It was a bloodbath. There was glass raining. People were hiding behind the counter."

Of course, a shatterproof pint could still be used like a club in fight - but at least it wouldn't produce lethal shards of glass with the cutting power of a sharp knife.

Bartenders at other establishments said glass-related violence was rare but safer glasses would be welcome because so many break and shatter even in normal use.