Mid Day International News |
- Chinese family sheds clothes for child's hospital bills
- Family dog, stolen five years ago, returns home on bus!
- Jobless man fathers 15 children, with two more on their way!
- Pig's heart valve saves life of vegetarian
- Apple phone glows red, emits smoke on flight
- Unemployed Briton has 15 kids, two more to come
- US shoppers spend record $52.4 bn on Thanksgiving weekend
- Russia praises Prince William over sea rescue
- PeTA puts its stamp on holidays with celebs
- Man finds rotten tooth in yoghurt
| Chinese family sheds clothes for child's hospital bills Posted: A debt-ridden family in a Chinese province opted to move out on streets without any clothes on to seek public help in paying off their baby's hospital bill. The incident occurred in Guandong province's Dianbai county, the Global Times reported Tuesday, citing Nanfang Rural News. According to the local public security bureau, the couple, who gave their surname as Zhang, came from Henan province to work at a salvage station in Dianbai county three months ago. A few weeks ago, the couple admitted their two-month-old baby to the Dianbai Maternal and Child Health Hospital. But the couple learned last Sunday that they owed the hospital 1,500 yuan (about $240) when their baby was discharged. Unable to pay off the bills, the couple decided to walk naked along with their two little children in the hope that they would draw pedestrians to help them in their miserable condition. The hospital, later, remitted the treatment fees and discharged their baby following police's mediation into the matter.
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| Family dog, stolen five years ago, returns home on bus! Posted: Every dog has its day. And, it proved true for this 12-year-old bull terrier which reportedly returned home on a bus, nearly five years after he was stolen from a family in the UK. Pat Oates, 48, took a call saying that her red Staffordshire bull terrier, T-Bone, was found safe and well riding the Birmingham City Centre to Solihull route bus. In fact, she and her three children had all but given up any hope of ever seeing, after he was taken from their drive in September 2006 during a power cut. They feared he had been stolen to order by gangs looking to use the good-natured dog as a weapon. But, after the dog was dumped after he developed a cyst, he got onto the No 37 bus undetected, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported. It was only when the bus driver spotted him in his rear view mirror that he was taken to a bus depot, before being checked over by a local vet. After his micro-chip was scanned, staff were able to reunite T-Bone with his owners. Oates, a mother-of-three, from Solihull, West Midlands, said she wasn't surprised that T-Bone was found on a bus as he loves to travel. "He always loved going on car journeys and would come along with us on long journeys all the time. He could sit gazing out of the window all day long," she said. The family now have to pay expensive veterinary bills after T-Bone was badly neglected by the thieves who stole him. He has developed a large, painful cyst on his leg as well as severe hearing problems. Leigh Fisher, from 608 Vets where T-Bone was first taken, said" "This case highlights the importance of getting your dog micro-chipped."
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| Jobless man fathers 15 children, with two more on their way! Posted: A jobless Briton who fathered 15 children from 13 different women has turned out to be an embarrassment for his mother as she finds him leading his life quite irresponsibly Jamie Cumming, branded as "Britain's most feckless dad" for fathering 14 children has had another child and two more are on the way, the Daily Mail reported Sunday. The 34-year-old Cumming, from Scotland's Dundee city, who lives off benefits is even unable to pay maintenance for any of them. Cumming's 19-year-old ex-girlfriend gave birth to his latest child, a son, two weeks ago. His current girlfriend, also 19, was due to give birth to another boy Friday night. And, a girl of 17 is understood to be expecting his 17th child in the New Year! Cumming's mother, Lorraine, said: "He needs to take some responsibility. He's an embarrassment and I'm having nothing to do with him." He first told his mother and his father Harry he was going to become a dad, aged just 17. His girlfriend Kelly Dulley gave birth to a little girl in February 1995 and everyone believed the couple would go on to get married. But Cumming began a relationship with Kelly's cousin. Their relationship lasted 10 years but the couple struggled to have a baby despite receiving IVF treatment through the NHS. While they were trying for a baby, Cumming fathered another child with a woman who had given birth to his first son in 1997. Around the same time, he got another girl pregnant - Kelly's cousin's friend. In November 1998, he fathered another child after a one-night stand with a neighbour's daughter and less than three years later in July 2001 he became a father again. Fourteen months later, his sixth child, a boy was born. Occasionally Cumming gives some money to this boy's mother but does not contribute towards his other children. A few months later, he fathered his seventh son and shortly after that in 2002 another h woman gave birth to his eighth child. In 2004, Cumming was in new a relationship which led to birth of three children from it. By December 2007 Cumming's 10th child had arrived and five months later his 11th son was born. Cumming also fathered a child with an Australian woman. Cumming's relatives have pleaded with him to stop fathering children but they believe he is addicted.
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| Pig's heart valve saves life of vegetarian Posted: A vegetarian in Scotland was saved from a serious heart ailment after being fitted with a pig's heart valve, in a life or death surgery Robyn Carnie, then 18, had a difficult decision to make when she had to be fitted with a pig's valve after being diagnosed with a rare heart disease aortic stenosis and regurgitation. Her body's largest artery had narrowed, allowing blood to flow back into the heart - a condition that affects just two per cent of the population. She was told that, as a matter of life and death, she needed a complex surgery to replace her own failing heart valve with an animal valve. Surgeons fitted Carnie with a pig valve, which should last around 20 years, in an operation at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank in 2009. "It was a shock when I had the diagnosis - and a bigger shock when I was told I needed to have a valve removed and replaced with a valve from a pig," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. "I'm a vegetarian so it was a difficult choice, but it was a life or death one," she said. Carnie also admits that after the surgery she is now fitter and stronger than ever, and can continue to pursue her dreams of becoming a sports therapist. "It was a struggle at first but it gradually improved and now I am now faster, fitter, and stronger than I've ever been," she said.
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| Apple phone glows red, emits smoke on flight Posted: An Apple iPhone belonging to a passenger travelling on an Australian flight reportedly self-combusted emitting a "significant amount" of dense smoke, prompting authorities to launch an investigation. No one was injured in the incident, which occurred when a Regional Express flight, on its way from Lismore, landed in Sydney on Friday, The Age reported. Regional Express said a flight attendant carried out "recovery actions" immediately and that the red glow of the phone was extinguished successfully. The matter was brought to the notice of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). ATSB was going to thoroughly investigate the phone model -- an Apple iPhone 4 -- "and try and understand what happened," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said. The phone is reported to have glowed red, self-combusted and emitted a "significant amount" of dense smoke. The iPhone 4 was no longer operational, he said, adding that he had never heard of a similar incident occurring during or after a flight. Apple Australia spokeswoman Fiona Martin was quoted as saying that the company was looking "forward to working with officials" investigating the incident. An anonymous reader had claimed a similar experience with a different model, the iPhone 3GS, on November 3, the newspaper said. "My iPhone was expanding in size in terms of its width," the anonymous reader was quoted. "(It) continued to grow in size. Before long the phone refused to even turn on and ... just expanded to what it looks like now." The reader said that - like others - their battery life "was rapidly shrinking after updating to the iOS5 .... so much so that it would go completely flat once I got to 30 per cent." Apple acknowledged battery life issues remained after another update. The reader suspected there was a clear link between their upgrade to the iOS5 software and their battery "exploding".
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| Unemployed Briton has 15 kids, two more to come Posted: An unemployed man in Britain has fathered 15 children from 14 different women, and is expected to see the birth of his 16th and 17th offspring in a matter of weeks. His mother has dubbed him a "sexual predator". Most of the children are, however, being brought up on government benefits, says the Daily Mail. Jamie Cumming, 34, from Dundee, has already fathered 15 children. His current lover is 19-year-old Chelsea, while another 19-year-old woman gave birth to Cumming's 15th baby two weeks ago, and a third teenaged girl is expected to give birth to his 17th in January 2012. Cumming is unable to financially support his children and most of the mothers are also on government benefits. His mother Lorraine, who does not speak to her son, said she was ashamed of him. "He's been unemployed for years and shows no sign of wanting to work. We don't speak to each other, and, even though I love him as my child, I am bitterly disappointed with how he lives his life," she said. Lorraine Cumming was also unhappy about her son's liberal choice of partners. "It's sad he doesn't see his eldest, Samantha, who I have looked after since she was born. The girls he is running around with just now are not much older than her -- he just loves teenagers," she said. "I would say he is a sexual predator." Cumming was 17 when Samantha was born in 1995, but once the baby arrived he moved his affections to her mothers Kelly Dulley's cousin. Samantha, now 16, has seen her own mother only twice. The only woman Cumming has had more than one child with is Alison -- they have three children together.
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| US shoppers spend record $52.4 bn on Thanksgiving weekend Posted: US shoppers spent a record sum of $52.4 billion over the long Thanksgiving weekend on purchases in stores and on the Internet, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. An unprecedented total of 226 million shoppers visited stores and web sites, compared with 212 million in 2010, according to a poll taken by the BIGresearch company for the NRF. The figures include Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Saturday, plus estimated spending for Sunday. The average outlay was $398.62 per person, compared with $365.34 last year. "(M)ore consumers than ever turned out for retailers' Black Friday promotions, a promising sign for the economic recovery," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. While 51.4 percent of consumers bought clothing and accessories, nearly four in 10 went for electronic products, according to the study taken Nov 24-26 with 3,826 shopper interviews and with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6 percent. Meanwhile 35.2 percent visited retailers' web sites, compared with 33.6 percent in 2010, seen as a good omen for Cyber Monday, a day for finding the best bargains on the Internet. NRF launched Cyber Monday in 2005 and last year it added sales of around $1 billion, according to the ComScore firm, which tracks online buying.
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| Russia praises Prince William over sea rescue Posted: Prince William has been praised by the Russian ambassador for braving a ferocious storm to rescue the crew of a sinking ship.
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| PeTA puts its stamp on holidays with celebs Posted: The 20 most famous vegetarians of all-time will appear on a series of postage stamps -- and the folks at PeTA are hoping it's a good way to lick animal abuse. In time for the holiday-card rush, the stamps featuring such meatless celebs as Paul McCartney, Ellen DeGeneres, and Morrissey will be released today. "These are very influential people, and not everyone knows that these folks are vegetarian," said Lisa Lange, vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The stamps will also feature hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, actors Woody Harrelson and Natalie Portman and Leona Lewis. The postage stamps will also bear the faces of historic figures like Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, Albert Schweitzer, and Pythagoras. Other stamp honorees like Pamela Anderson are expected to be on hand to help launch the commemorative edition at a Hollywood event. "It's just another way to be able to talk about what animals go through in slaughterhouses," Lange said. "Eating for me is how you proclaim your beliefs three times a day," said Portman. "The whole point is to show how many cultural icons around the world have been shunning meat for centuries," Mathews said.
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| Man finds rotten tooth in yoghurt Posted: British Army veteran David Casey was appalled when he tucked into his flavoured yoghurt only to find a rotten molar A 43-year-old man was thoroughly enjoying the yoghurt he'd bought from his local supermarket as he watched TV. But David Casey, the Army veteran was surprised to come across an unexpected crunch.  Disgusting: David Casey says that Tesco agreed to refund him for the tooth and also was ready to give him a voucher but he was insulted at their insensitivity. He spat the object into his hand, and was appalled to discover that it was a human tooth, a large yellow molar, complete with a filling. Scabby molar Casey, from Bedworth in Warwickshire, said, "I bit down on what I thought was a piece of fudge. Straight away when I saw it, it looked like a tooth -- it even had fillings as well." He added, "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten in my life." Father-of-one Casey, says he put the tooth in a sandwich bag and drove to the Tesco store where he had bought it to complain. But they only offered to refund what he paid for the yoghurt. Casey said, "Tesco refunded me the money for the yoghurt and said they would send it back for further analysis. They've said sorry for the inconvenience but it's not inconvenient -- it's disgusting." "It could have someone's scabby tooth in my stomach right now and that would not have been nice." Added insult Tesco twice sent Casey a �15 (Rs 1,215 ) voucher as an apology but he refused to accept it, branding it 'an insult'. The lorry driver, who served as a corporal in the Royal Infantry in Kosovo, says he picked up the yoghurt from a Coventry branch of the supermarket on September 24. He had also just completed a gruelling course of chemotherapy for a stomach tumour. "I've had to stay overnight in hospital when they thought I was coming down with something because my immune system is down," he said. "To have someone else's tooth in me right now would be the worst thing in the world to have going on. If the tooth had been infected I could have gone down with something life-threatening. Tesco doesn't seem to care about it at all. They've offered me vouchers but I wouldn't shop there again if you paid me." Tesco yesterday confirmed they were investigating the incident. A spokesman said, "We take matters of this kind very seriously and we are looking into it."
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