Mid Day International News

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• PETA planning raunchy 'porn' website to highlight 'plight of animals'
• Chinese couple sell foster daughter for 'afterworld marriage'
• Briton dies after drinking 20 pints of water in just 1 day
• Indian law student on hunger strike in London

PETA planning raunchy 'porn' website to highlight 'plight of animals' Posted: The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is all set to draw the attention of millions of Internet surfers when they launch their own 'porn website'. According to the Herald Sun, the animal rights group will use some obvious changes to Internet domain names in order to register themselves to operate the website. "We are preparing to launch our own peta.xxx site, but instead of just showing people our iconic ads we then show them how animals suffer for entertainment," News.com.au quoted spokeswoman Ashley Byrne as saying. "Our racier actions are sometimes a way to get people to sit up and pay attention to the plight of animals," she said. Initially, the watchers will be shown the animal rights groups too hot for TV ads and campaigns. However, the sexy side PETA displayed in galleries and videos will quickly give way to the menacing world of animal mistreatment revealed by the group's hidden camera investigations in a very different kind of graphic content.

Chinese couple sell foster daughter for 'afterworld marriage' Posted: A Chinese couple has reportedly sold their sick foster daughter to a family which wants to conduct an afterworld marriage for their dead son According to the iqilu.com website, the foster parents were rumoured to have conspired to kill their daughter if she did not die in the next three or four days and did not send the sick girl for medical treatment. A check conducted by the website''''s reporter revealed that the girl was staying with her uncle in a village. The uncle denied the rumours and said the girl was undergoing treatment in a hospital. However, a hospital worker said she had been discharged few days ago, the Star reports. The worker said that a family had 'booked' the girl and once she died, the family would claim her body and conduct an afterworld marriage with their deceased son. According to the villagers, the afterworld marriage practice is prevalent in China, as they believe that the spirit of people who died before marriage would linger and cause trouble to the family. The deceased's family tries to find them a partner and bury them together.

Briton dies after drinking 20 pints of water in just 1 day Posted: A British man who suffered devastating brain injuries after drinking 20 pints of water in just one day has died after struggling for life for months Matthew Ellis, 29, survived in intensive care for more than seven months before succumbing to a chest infection. His family believe he may have had a drink spiked with an ecstasy tablet during a night out. The drug could have caused him to crave water and the excess liquid he drank meant salt levels in his body plummeted, bringing on a brain condition called extrapontine myelinolysis. Matthew's mother Maureen, 62, from Sheffield last night warned others about the catastrophic dangers of drinking too much water. "There is no health warning. Water is good if you have a certain amount. But we want to make people more aware not to drink that much," the Daily Express quoted her as saying. "Matthew went through hell - it's such a waste of a young life," she stated. Maureen, a technical support officer at Sheffield Council, said Matthew had been working in Wales before Christmas and had taken time off over the holiday ahead of starting a job at Doncaster Prison in January. He went out with friends on Boxing Day before returning to the home of his father Ken, 66. "The following day he felt poorly and started drinking water. He drank at least 20 pints. He just couldn't stop - that's what killed him," said Maureen, "He was a strong, fit and healthy man. We are told drinking lots of water is good for you but what has happened to Matthew should be a warning, it's an appalling waste of a young life," she added.

Indian law student on hunger strike in London Posted: Like Anna Hazare, 28-year-old Avinash Dadhich is also from a small village in India. And like Anna, he too is frustrated by corruption in India. "Enough is enough," he said. As Anna continues his 15-day hunger strike at Ramlila Maidan, supporting him nearly 5,000 miles away, Avinash sits on his hunger strike outside the Indian High Commission in Aldwych, central London. I am with anna: 28-year-old Avinash Dadhich has been sitting outside the Indian High Commission in Aldwych, central London on a hunger strike since August 16 While thousands have gathered to support Anna in Delhi, Avinash started his hunger strike all alone on August 16. Every day for the past four days, he arrives at the High Commission at 10 am and sits outside with his placard showing support for Anna. He dresses simply in his kurta and wears a scarf that resembles the Indian flag. He's not a Gandhian; for him that term is "too fancy". He's a PhD student of Law at Bangor University in Wales, where he is studying on a scholarship. For Avinash watching thousands of his countrymen take to the streets was an inspiration to start his own hunger strike. "They (government) are not listening to us, we are helpless," he said. Avinash comes from Araksar, a village in Rajasthan, where he says they seldom have electricity and Doordarshan is the only TV channel. He feels that rural India faces higher level of corruption because there is less accountability. "My father had to pay bribe to get electricity connection for our agricultural land. If you don't pay then you have to wait 10 years. People are the victims of corruption," he said. Although Anna might have inspired his cause, for Avinash his father Mool Chand Sharma, will always be his hero. "My father was the first person to graduate from my village. He came from a very poor family and he always fought for many causes like untouchability and education," he added with pride. For Avinash, this is his cause. "This is a special movement in India, a protest where people are telling the government that we are superior to you. It's not only for one bill. We are trying to change people's mentality." Asked how long he plans to continue, he simply said, "When my body can't take anymore, I will stop." "My mother called me and emotionally blackmailed me to stop. I had to make a decision, which is superior mother or motherland," he said with a smile.

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