Monday, January 23, 2012

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

10 cops charged in gang rape of teenaged boy

Posted:

Ten police officers were arrested Friday in the southern Argentine province of Chubut on charges of raping a 16-year-old boy, authorities said.

The arrests of the officers followed an extensive investigation spurred by a complaint from the mother of the victim.

The purported rape occurred Wednesday, when the teen was held for several hours after a street altercation with a female.

"It is an aberrant event that is being investigated by prosecutor Maria Tolomei," provincial Attorney General Jorge Miquelarena told the official Telam news agency.

Captain's dinner guest first passenger to get to life boat

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A ballerina seen dining with the captain of the doomed Costa Concordia was the first person to reach a lifeboat, it was claimed yesterday.

While most passengers and crew fled with nothing, dancer Domnica Cemortan was on a lifeboat with a packed bag 30 minutes before the cruise liner finally ran aground off the Italian coast.


Hope floats: Coast Guard divers conduct a search and rescue operation
that led to the discovery of the body of a woman inside Costa Concordia

Her quick escape has prompted claims she was given early warning the vessel was going down before the order was give to abandon ship.

The death toll rose to 12 yesterday when divers found the body of a woman, wearing a life-jacket, on the fourth deck of the ship.

Twenty people are still missing. Cemortan has denied being any more than a dining partner of Captain Francesco Schettino, who is facing homicide charges over the disaster.

She was employed by Costa Cruises for five years as a dancer and translator for Russian passengers and was reportedly seen enjoying dinner with Schettino. She was spotted on the bridge alongside the captain as the ship hit rocks near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast.


Domnica Cemortan was seen having wine with the captain half an hour
before the Costa Concordia disaster.
pics/afp, getty images

Alexander Banescu, a fitness instructor on the Costa Concordia, said: "I heard she was on the bridge when it happened. I think she was on the first boat off. "The crew all left the ship with nothing. She was wearing warm clothes and had her bag packed. She had everything - documents, money. How could she have known?"

The dancer, who has since returned to her native Moldova, has denied she was romantically involved with the captain.

She said, "I am not the captain's lover. You know why? He was always showing me photos of his daughter when she was little. "A man who wants a lover does not behave like that."

Meanwhile, the captain, under house arrest and facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship, has admitted that he "messed up."

What rescuers found on ship
Divers also recuperated the captain's strongbox and personal belongings, as well as the video cameras of command quarters, which may reveal further details on the tragedy in ongoing investigations.

1 Indian among 180 killed in deadly Nigerian attacks

Posted:

A Indian was killed in a terror attack in the Nigerian city of Kano that left about 180 people dead, said authorities. Another six Indians, including two children, were injured in the attack.

The High Commission of India in Abuja said 23-year-old Kevalkumar Kalidas Rajput has died.

Coordinated bomb attacks targeted security forces and gun battles broke out on Friday in Nigeria's second-largest city of Kano.

Rajput, who hailed from Gujarat, was working for Kano-based company M/s Relchem since March 2011.

He and two of his co-employees Hari Prasad Bhusal and Raj Singh -- both Nepali nationals -- lost their lives when their car apparently entered a zone of hostilities, said a press release.

Six Indians, including two children, belonging to two families have received injuries from falling shrapnel and debris. They are being treated in Kano hospitals.

Officials said that about 150 people lost their lives in Friday's terrorist attacks which rocked the state capital of Kano.

The attacks are believed to be the work of members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

Hundreds of Nigerian troops have been deployed at major streets in northern Kano to enhance security following the multiple explosions in the city. Police say 11 people have been killed in an attack in Nigeria's north state of Bauchi. Bauchi state commissioner of police Ikechukwu Aduba said that the attack happened overnight.

Boko Haram has been seeking to impose Sharia law across Nigeria.

The group has been blamed for many terror attacks in recent months.
"


Born at 270 g, baby finally heads home

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Having made medical history, Melinda Star Guido, believed to be the third smallest birth-weight infant ever to survive, left the hospital amid fanfare

One of the world's smallest surviving babies, Melinda Star Guido was so tiny when she was born at 24 weeks that she could fit in the palm of her mother's hand.

Melinda Star Guido was born last August, 16 weeks early, weighing only 9.5 ounces (270 grams) -- less than a can of soda or the same as two iPhones -- and has spent nearly five months in a neo-natal intensive care unit.
Now weighing 4.5 pounds, (2.01 kg) doctors have given her 22-year-old mother Haydee Ibarra the all clear to take her 'miracle baby' home for the first time.


Homeward bound: Melinda with her mom and dad leaving the hospital
after she was kept under intensive neo-natal care.

"I am so excited to finally have my baby come home," said her mother Haydee Ibarra. "We have waited almost five months for this moment. It is so wonderful and we are ready to bring Melinda home."

Melinda has been growing steadily and gaining weight since she was born in August, almost four months before she was due, at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

She is the world's third smallest baby and the second smallest in the US.

It's too early to know how she will fare developmentally and physically, but doctors planned to monitor her for the next six years.


Melinda has beaten all odd making steady progress since she was born
at 24 weeks. pics/afp

Dr Rangasamy Ramanathan, neonatology chief at the LA County-USC Medical Center, said he wasn't initially sure if Melinda was going to survive beyond a few days.

"This doesn't happen every day. In my 30 years here ... this is the first time it ever happened that we were able to discharge a baby who weighed less than 400 grams, or 300 grams," he said.

"We have reached a milestone by being able to see Melinda go home," he added .

260 g
The weight (9.2 ounces) of the smallest surviving baby born. The baby is now a 7-year-old


The end for Heidi-Seal?

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Supermodel Heidi Klum is preparing to divorce singer Seal after six years of marriage.

Klum is expected to lodge divorce papers any day, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split.
A message was posted on Seal's Twitter page, seeming to confirm the divorce rumours. It simply read: The End.


Sealed with a kiss: Parents of four children Heidi and Seal are going
to call it quits on their six-year marriage. Sources say that Heidi will cite
irreconcilable differences for the divorce.
File pic/Getty Images

News of the impending break-up is particularly shocking as the couple, who have renewed their wedding vows every year since they first wed, have been widely considered to be one of the most rock-solid unions in Hollywood.

Klum uncharacteristically attended the Golden Globes alone last week.

Klum met the 48-year-old singer when she was seven-months pregnant with her first daughter Leni. Seal adopted the little girl, now seven, and the couple had three more children of their own -- Henry, Johan and Lou.


After 5 years, couple reveal child's gender

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A British couple who raised their child as 'gender neutral' for five years so infant's 'real personality' could shine through have finally said that he is a boy

They referred to the baby as "the infant", allowed the child to play with only gender-neutral toys and alternated between girls' and boys' outfits for their offspring.

This left friends, playmates and relatives of British couple Beck Laxton and Kieran Cooper guessing as to the child's gender. For five years, the child was raised as "gender neutral" so the infant's "real personality" could shine through.


Boy, that's strange: Sasha with his mother Beck Laxton. The parents of
the child insist that Sasha wear a ruched sleeved shirt from the girl's
uniform list to school

But Beck and Kieran have finally revealed his masculinity to the world after it became harder to conceal when Sasha started primary school.

Yesterday Beck, a web editor, said, "I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping. Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes? It's like horoscopes: what could be more stupid than thinking there are 12 types of personality that depend on when you were born? It's so idiotic."

Beck added, "Gender affects what children wear and what they can play with, and that shapes the kind of person they become. I start to get cross with it if it skews their potential. It's not just a harmless bit of silliness, like horoscopes, it's actually harmful. My mother's very sporty and my dad was very emotional."

Beck and Kieran were so desperate not to prejudice Sasha's life with gender they didn't ask midwives his sex until 30 minutes after he was born.

Only a handful of immediate family members were told of the baby's gender.

Over the last five years the couple have become skilled at evading the gender question at the school gates and walking down the street.

But Sasha's gender was almost revealed when he took to running around their garden naked, but Beck was resolute and encouraged him to play with dolls to hide his masculinity.

Sasha wears a ruched-sleeved and scalloped-collared shirt to school from the girl's uniform list, and has been banned from sporting combat trousers.

The youngster is also encouraged to wear flowery tops at weekends.

Beck said her son would think nothing of being given flowers -- a gift which would embarrass many men.
She said, "He wouldn't say anything about flowers, because nobody has ever told him that flowers are for girls. And I don't see why they should be."

She added, "I just want him to fulfil his potential, and I wouldn't push him in any direction. As long as he has good relationships and good friends, then nothing else matters does it? All I want to do is make people think a bit."


Pippa gives tips for Valentine's Day

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Pippa Middleton, Kate Middleton's sister, has published a guide on how to 'share the love' on Valentine's Day.

Faced with spending Valentine's Day alone, after reportedly splitting up with her long-term boyfriend, Alex Loudon, Pippa has come up with a seductive plan to "spread the love".



The Duchess of Cambridge's sister has used the website that she edits to suggest ways in which Valentine's Day can be transformed from a day for couples into a festival for groups of pals.

"Throw a Valentine-themed party for a few friends," says one of the tips for a perfect night.

"Hang some heart decorations around the room for extra kitsch-factor and drink sparkling wine or specially mixed Valentine's cocktails from hot pink glasses."

Pippa courted Loudon, a former England cricket hopeful, for 18 months, but the couple were said to have split up last November after a series of rows.

"How about dipping marshmallows and fruit skewers of banana, grapes and strawberries into a molten chocolate fountain," adds the website. "Everyone can join in -- just make sure you have napkins at the ready as things may get messy." Who could resist?


Posted by Harshad at 7:14 AM

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