Mid Day International News |
- Pak Acid attack Victim takes wounds to her grave
- VISTA telescope captures 2 lakh galaxies in 1 photo
- 36-hour face transplant most extensive ever
- Medvedev's cat lost and found
| Pak Acid attack Victim takes wounds to her grave Posted: Former dancing girl commits suicide 12 years after horrific acid attack which left her looking 'not human' Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living.  Life-changing: Fakhra Younus, before the horrific acid attack in May 2000, was left heavily facially disfigured after having acid thrown in her face The 33-year-old former dancing girl -- who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-parliamentarian and son of a political powerhouse -- jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment. Her March 17 suicide and the return of her body to Pakistan reignited furore over the case, which received significant international attention at the time of the attack. Younus' story not only drives home the woeful plight of many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, it is also a reminder of how the country's rich and powerful operate with impunity. Younus' ex-husband, Bilal Khar, was eventually acquitted, but many believe he used his connections to escape the law's grip. "The saddest part is that she realised that the system in Pakistan was never going to provide her with relief or remedy," Nayyar Shabana Kiyani, an activist at The Aurat Foundation, said of Younus. "She was totally disappointed that there was no justice available to her." Younus was a teenage dancing girl working in the red light district of Karachi when she met her future husband, the son of Ghulam Mustafa Khar, a former governor of Punjab. The unusual pairing was the younger Khar's third marriage. He was in his mid-30s at the time. The couple was married for three years, but Younus left him because he physically and verbally abused her. She claimed that he came to her mother's house while she was sleeping in May 2000 and poured acid all over her in the presence of her five-year-old son. Tehmina Durrani, Ghulam Mustafa Khar's ex-wife became an advocate for Younus after the attack, drawing international attention to the case. She said that Younus' injuries were the worst she had ever seen on an acid attack victim. "So many times we thought she would die in the night because her nose was melted and she couldn't breathe," said Durrani. "We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left because the rest was all melted together." "Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed," Durrani wrote in a column after Younus' suicide. Pakistan's Saving Face Saving Face is a 2011 documentary film about acid attacks on women in Pakistan. The film was directed by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Daniel Junge. The film was awarded the 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), making its director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Pakistan's first Oscar winner.  The film follows London-based Pakistani plastic surgeon, Dr. Mohammad Jawad as he journeys to Pakistan to perform reconstructive surgery on survivors. Saving Face also broaches the subject of the under-reporting of acid violence due to cultural and structural inequalities towards women from Pakistani Muslim men. The film also features two women attacked by acid and their struggle for justice and healing.
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| VISTA telescope captures 2 lakh galaxies in 1 photo Posted: More than 2,00,000 galaxies take centrestage in a staggering photo snapped by a European telescope, an image that scientists say is the deepest view of the sky ever recorded at this size in infrared light.  Starry, starry night: Researchers combined data from more than 6,000 separate images -- totaling 55 hours of exposure time -- to create the image. Pic/AFP/UltraVista The European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope in Chile captured the galactic treasure trove tucked inside what astronomers thought was an unremarkable patch of the sky. It was discovered by the observatory's UltraVISTA survey, a project that studies distant galaxies in the early universe and star formation by repeatedly scanning a section of the sky to obtained unprecedented image depth. In total more than 6,000 separate exposures with a total effective exposure time of 55 hours, taken through five different filters, have been combined to create this picture.
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| 36-hour face transplant most extensive ever Posted: A US man who lost his lips, nose and teeth in a 1997 gun accident has received the most extensive face transplant to date, according to doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Richard Lee Norris had undergone several life-saving and reconstructive surgeries after the accident but had limited use of his mouth and, before the surgery, appeared as though his lower face and nose had been mashed in. In a 36-hour operation on March 19-20, doctors at the US medical center carried out "the most extensive full face transplant completed to date, including both jaws, teeth, and tongue," the center said. "The transplant included all facial soft tissue from the scalp to the neck, including the underlying muscles to enable facial expression, and sensory and motor nerves to restore feeling and function," said chief plastic surgeon Eduardo Rodriguez. Norris had spent the past 15 years living as a recluse, wearing a surgical mask and only shopping at night.
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| Posted: Russian President denied reports that his pet feline had gone missing, contradicting reports of a wide-reaching police search for the pet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reassured Russians yesterday that his cat Dorofey was safe after reports that it had run away made him an object of satire on Twitter. "About the cat. A source close to #Dorofey says he has not got lost anywhere. Thank you all for your concern!", Medvedev tweeted from a trip to Asia.  By then a newly created Twitter account in the cat's name had almost 400 followers and attracted many remarks making fun of Medvedev's subordinate relationship to President-elect Vladimir Putin. "It's simple. I ran away from Medvedev because he promised to hand me over to Vladimir Putin. Help me hide!," @KotDorofey tweeted in a play on words after Medvedev said this week he would pass on a message from US President Barack Obama to Putin after talks in Seoul.  Reports that Dorofey had been lost spread after a tabloid newspaper, Sobesednik, said he was missing and that appeals to find him had been posted on telephone poles in the elite Moscow suburb near Medvedev's official residence. "Police are already nervous and searching for the cat under every shrub," it wrote beside pictures of the fluffy, blue-eyed cat, described as a rare Nevsky Masquerade acquired by his wife for about $1,000 (Rs 50,790) in 2003. Some Twitter users were sympathetic but many joked the cat showed good sense to make a break for it. '"It's now or never, Dorofey thought," Anatoly Srakarny tweeted. "Run, #Dorofey, Run!" was another popular tag line. Alexander Gorbunov joked: "Dorofey's owner should learn from his example. The cat has character and doesn't need to agree his actions with anyone!" Presidential pets >> The Obamas debuted their newest addition to their family, a Portuguese water dog named Bo in 2009. Michelle calls him the son of the family. >> In 2011, British PM welcomed a new guest to 10 Downing Street a cat named Larry. >> Former president of US John Quincy Adams, kept an alligator and is said to have enjoyed watching it slither down the White House steps and chase visiting dignitaries. >> Humphrey was adopted in 1989 after wandering into No 10 as a stray while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
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