.25m babies die in first month of their birth in Nigeria

.25m babies die in first month, says minister Dr. Khaliru Alhassan .25m babies die in first month, says minister About 250,000 babies die within the first month of their birth,the Coordinating Minister of Health, Alhaji Khaliru Alhassan, has said. The minister noted that the deaths, which accounted for about 32 per cent of under-five child mortality in the country, were preventable. Alhassan spoke yesterday in Abuja at the maiden edition of the National Newborn Conference. The minister said the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) had maintained vital workable interventions but the progress was discouraging. He said the interventions focused more on in-house capacity but recorded “low progress”. According to him, there are vital policies that support the fight against newborn. Alhassan said: “It is a clarion call to make sure every newborn lives. Reports showed that we have the highest number of new born deat,h with 250,000 babies dying in their first month from conditions that are preventable.”

See the ex- Ondo Council boss abducted by kidnappers

Ex-council boss abducted Posted by: Damisi Ojo,Akure A former Chairman of Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nicholas Akinbiola, has been abducted. Akinbiola was kidnapped at his filling station on the Benin/Ore Road. The kidnappers were said to have been trailing the former council chairman two days before his abduction. Sources said the kidnappers were demanding N20 million. Police spokesman Wole Egodo said they were working to rescue the politician. He said: “We are hopeful that the victim will be liberated soon. We are working to rescue him. We may not tell you our strategies for security reasons but I can assure you that very soon the man will be freed and his abductors apprehended.”

Mother beheads infant, eats part of his brain

Mother beheads infant, eats part of his brain Charged with murder and is being held on $1 million bail By AP San Antonio police say a woman accused of beheading her 3-week-old infant son used a knife and two swords in the attack and ate some of the child's body parts. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters Monday that Otty Sanchez's attack on her son, Scott Wesley Buchholtz-Sanchez, was "too heinous" to fully discuss. But he says Sanchez ate part of the newborn's brain and bit off three of his toes before stabbing herself twice. Police say the 33-year-old Sanchez told officers who were called to her house early Sunday that she killed her son at the devil's request. Sanchez is charged with capital murder and is being held on $1 million bail. She is recovering from her wounds at a hospital

Man jumps from 15th floor in Sharjah

Man jumps from 15th floor in Sharjah By Staff Published Wednesday, October 22, 2014 A 33-year-old Indian man jumped to death from the 15th floor in a building in Sharjah and police are investigating the case, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The semi-official Arabic language daily Al Ittihad quoted police as saying the incident took place in Buhaira neighborhood around 8am on Tuesday and that the man died on impact after hitting the ground. “We are investigating the incident to determine the man’s motives to commit a suicide and where criminal act is involved,” a police source said.

After sleeping with them two men strangle a lady to death !

Two strangle woman after sleeping with her Defendants in Abu Dhabi say they strangled the woman after she tried to blackmail them Two Asian men in Abu Dhabi smashed a bottle on the head of a Filipina girl before strangling her to death after she asked them to pay her for sleeping with them. The two confessed to murdering the girl after she asked for their money and mobile phones in return for sleeping with them at their apartment. “They told court that they decided to get rid of her after she threatened to tell the police if they do not pay her,” Al Bayan daily said. It said court hearings were adjourned to Nov 17 for more witnesses and to hear statements by the victim’s relatives on whether they would accept blood money.

British travellers to fly from London to USA for less than £100 for first time

Icelandic airline introduces lowest ever price on new routes from London to Boston and Washington – but passengers must travel via Reykjavik Brits will be able to fly from London to the USA for less than £100 next year for the first time – providing they don’t mind a layover in Iceland. Wow Air, the Icelandic low-cost carrier, has begun offering tickets from London Gatwick to Boston Logan International and Baltimore Washington International airports from £99 one-way. The flights, which include a layover in Reykjavik, take about three hours longer than flying direct to Boston and five and a half hours longer on the return journey. For Washington, the outbound and return journeys take about two hours and four hours longer than direct ones respectively. The price, which will only be available on a limited number of seats, includes taxes and charges but only 5kg of hand luggage and no checked bags. Those wanting something to eat or drink during the transatlantic crossing will be charged £1.50 for a coffee and £4.50 for a sandwich, while upgrading from the standard 30 inches of legroom to 35 inches costs £14. The offer comes after Norwegian, another budget Scandinavian airline, began offering direct flights from London to New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale for as little as £150. Ryanair and easyJet have both previously considered opening budget transatlantic routes. US airlines and unions fiercely opposed the opening of the Norwegian route, claiming its subsidiary, Norwegian Air International, had based itself in Dublin to avoid Norwegian employment laws and cut costs. Norwegian denied the allegations, claiming the decision was to help it secure future traffic rights within the EU. Wow Air will fly to Boston five times per week from March 27 and Washington four times per week from June 4 next year, and said the announcement marks “just the beginning” of its transatlantic plans. The number of seats available for £99 will depend on demand, the airline said, and will become available to book on Thursday. The flights will use Airbus A320 aircraft on the existing route from Gatwick to Reykjavik, before passengers transfer onto Airbus A321 Extended Range aircraft for the second leg. The cheapest flights to Boston and Washington with British Airways currently cost £520 and £598 respectively for a return journey, but come with substantially more frills. Passengers wanting to carry more than 5kg of hand luggage on the Wow Air will have to pay £22 for an extra 7kg, while one checked bag weighing up to 20kg costs £39. In contrast BA flights include all taxes, fees and charges, complimentary meals and a 23kg checked luggage allowance, while customers can also take two cabin sized bags on board. Skúli Mogensen, CEO of WOW air, said: “Not only are we providing flights to the USA for less than a standard London to Edinburgh train ticket, we’re opening the market to a whole new market of travellers who might previously not have been able to afford transatlantic travel. “The low-cost airline market is scrambling to offer cheap flights to North America and I’m happy that we‘ll be amongst the first to do so and at a price point that will no doubt cause our rivals to re-evaluate their plans.” A spokesman for British Airways said its 285 flights to the US start at £400 return and offer customers more choice of destinations and flexibility. “Our high frequency flight schedule means that if for any reason a flight is delayed or cancelled, customers can be rebooked onto a flight later the same day and arrive at their destination soon after their original arrival time,” she said.

Do you want to be pregnant ? Read this

Can a beer a day help you get pregnant? And should you stay away from coffee? Oct 22, 2014 18:35 By Ian Hughes Massachusetts General Hospital studied more than 100 men whose partners were undergoing IVF treatment between 2007 and 2013 GettyDrinking: Is there a link between beer and pregnancy? If you're a man and you're trying to conceive, you should start drinking according to a study published in the US. The research claims a few beers a day increases chances of having a baby - but drinking a few cups of coffee is bad for reproduction. After studying more than 100 men whose partners were undergoing IVF between 2007 and 2013, Massachusetts General Hospital found those who downed at least a pint-and-a-half each day were more than twice as likely to have children. Coffee had the opposite effect - more than two cups a day cut chances of becoming a father to just 1 in 5. Dr Anatte Karmon said she can not be sure that caffeine and alcohol have the same effect on natural pregnancies. Coffee generic (Pic:Getty Images)Danger? Coffee could cut chances of conceiving The obstetrician at Massachusetts General Hospital said: “High male caffeine consumption appears to reduce couples’ chance of achieving a clinical pregnancy, while male alcohol consumption appears to enhance their chances. “Anything that is good for your heart health is also good for your fertility. "So do physical exercise and eat a well-balanced diet.” She added: "If you can improve IVF success rates so you take home a baby on your first cycle, you are going to save a lot of emotional, financial and physical distress.’ The American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual conference in Honolulu heard that the results could not be explained away by factors such as the men’s age or weight.

Read about The 'smart suitcase' that locks, weighs and tracks itself

A new high-tech suitcase will help travellers avoid various luggage-related problems, its designers claim The world’s first ‘smart suitcase’ that locks, weighs and tracks itself Bluesmart can be unlocked from your phone and automatically locks itself when its built-in proximity sensors detect it is no longer near you Photo: Indiegogo.com By Soo Kim5:08PM BST 21 Oct Bluesmart is a hand luggage suitcase synced to an app on your smartphone, allowing you to control it from your mobile. It features a built-in scale indicating its weight and whether it meets your airline’s baggage requirements on your phone screen when you pull on the handle of the suitcase. The four-wheeled suitcase, priced at $235, measures 21.5in x 14in x 9in (54.6cm x 35.6cm x 22.9cm), the Mail reports, and meets the hand luggage size requirements for Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Jet2, Monarch and easyJet, but not for Ryanair. The suitcase can be unlocked from your phone and automatically locks itself when its built-in proximity sensors detect it is no longer near you. The app will also alert you when someone attempts to open it. Its lock has been approved by Travel Sentry, a global standard for travel security, which allows it to be opened and relocked by security officials after inspection during airport screenings in the US, Canada and many other international airports, according to the its website. If you do lose your luggage or it is re-routed to a new destination, it can be tracked by a proximity heat map on your phone telling you where it is within the Bluesmart Network, which will eventually “cover the whole planet” as the network grows after further development of the location software. The app can also tell you the last recorded location of the suitcase. Other features include a powerful battery charger that can charge your phone six times over and charge up to two devices simultaneously, as well as a compartment at the front of the suitcase designed especially to protect and allow easy access to your laptop and tablet as needed. Bluesmart could be linked to your calendar to remind you about when and even what to pack for any upcoming trips. The app also provides various bits of information, including real-time reports on miles travelled, airports visited and more. The app is currently available for iPhone and Android users. Apps for smart watches are also being developed. Bluesmart was created by a team of New York-based industrial designers, engineers and entrepreneurs who put the idea on the website Indiegogo yesterday to raise funds for its production. It is the latest in a series of unusual suitcase designs that have been proposed in recent months.

How to get over a broken heart:

How to get over a broken heart: take two aspirin and stop talking Psychology Professor Water Mischel, of Columbia University, believes that talking about break-ups with friends only makes the situation worse and suggests painkillers and less brooding Sarah Knapton By Sarah Knapton, It was once thought that only time could mend a broken heart, but now scientists think popping a couple of aspirin might be the best way to get over a break-up. Psychology Professor Water Mischel, of Columbia University, believes that the psychological pain of ending a relationship is similar to physical pain, and should be treated like any other injury. He also believes that discussing feelings with friends will only increase depression and advises keeping brooding to a minimum. “When we speak about rejection experiences in terms of physical pain, it is not just a metaphor – the broken heart and emotional pain really do hurt in a physical way," he said. “When you look at a picture of the one who broke your heart, you experience a pain in a similar area of the brain which is activated when you burn your arm. "‘Take two aspirins and call me in the morning’ would be a cold-hearted response to a friend’s late-night report of fresh heartbreak, but it has a solid basis in the research.” Previous studies have shown that people experience feelings of romantic rejection in the same way that they experience physical pain. Research subjects given a simple non-prescription painkiller, like aspirin or ibuprofen, were shown to handle feelings of rejection better than those given a placebo. And while most people recount break-ups and other painful experiences by recalling events and speaking to friends, Prof Mischel believes that it is important to view heartbreak from a distance. “Common wisdom suggests that if we thoroughly revisit our negative experiences to try to understand why they happened, we’ll eventually be able to move on,” he said. “However, new research is showing that some people only get worse by continuing to brood and ruminate. “Each time they recount the experience to themselves, their friends or their therapist, they only become more depressed. Self-distancing, in contrast, allows them to get a more objective view, without reactivating their pain, and helps them get past the experience.” The ‘self-distancing’ technique has been show to lower blood pressure caused by emotional distress. Prof Mischel developed the ‘Stanford Marshmallow Test’ which predicts whether children will succeed in later life by inviting them to eat one marshmallow right away, or wait 15 minutes and eat two. The original studies were carried out in the 1960s and 1970s, and follow up research has showed that those children who delayed gratification were far more likely to do better in exams and have lower BMI. Prof Mischel has collated his research in a new book, The Marshmallow Test; Unverstanding Self-Control and How to Master It.

Woman spends a week in KFC to get over her break up

Woman spends a week in KFC to get over her break up A Chinese woman has spent a week in a branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken as a way of getting over the end of her relationship T 22 Oct 2014 A 26-year-old woman from Chengdu, in China's southwest Sichuan Province, has taken an unusual approach to mending her broken heart: spending a week inside Kentucky Fried Chicken, gorging on the food. Tan Shen said that she was "walking around feeling miserable" when she passed the KFC restaurant in the city's train station. She told local media: "I hadn’t planned on staying there long, I just wanted some chicken wings. But once I got in there and started eating I decided I needed time to think. "I didn’t want to go back to my apartment because it was full of memories of him. So I stayed." She telephoned her employers to say that she was sick, and was unable to go to work. And so she settled in. After a few days employees at the chicken shop noticed that the same woman was still there. "We work in shifts here and the restaurant is open 24 hours a day, so we get a lot of people coming through. At first no one really noticed her," said Jiang Li Lung, 22. "But after a few days I began thinking she looked really familiar. Then I realised we had been serving her for the past three days and that she hadn’t actually left. "When we asked her if she was OK, she said she was and just needed time to think. And then asked for another box of chicken wings with extra large fries." Miss Tan decided that it was time to leave the restaurant when, after a week, local media begun to write about her. So she telephoned her employer, said that she had decided to leave her job, and took a train to her parents home in Quingdao city in east China’s Shandong Province. "And I was getting sick of the taste of chicken so there was no point in staying there anymore," she said. Jiang Li Lung, who worked at KFC, said the staff now miss her. "It certainly made work more interesting."