Spain’s most ponderous baby born without Ceasar

Maxime Marin a 40 year British woman yesterday Wednesday gave birth normally to a 6.2 kg giant baby- Maria Lorena. Doctors described the delivery as "uncomplicated" at the Marina Salud Hospital in Denia, Alicante.

Marin stays in Spain with her Colombian spouse and says although she knew the baby girl would be big, she never dreamt of that size. It is interesting that Marin did not need an epidural to assist her deliver the baby.

The hospital authorities said both the mother and the baby were doing well, although the infant remain monitored in the neonatal care unit.

Senior obstetrics and gynaecologist, Dr Javier Rius, said in his 40-year professional career he had never come across or known of any case of a birth of a baby that size born by natural childbirth.

It is not uncommon that larger babies are often delivered by Caesar.

AFP news agency reported that Marin's other three children all weighed at least 4.5kg at birth.

There are other record births known to have been recorded. The Guinness Book of World Record indicates that the world’s most cumbersome baby was born in Canada in 1879. The baby weighed 10.5 kg but died shortly after birth. Both the baby’s parents were giants. In 2005 in Brazil, a woman gave birth to a baby boy weighing 8kg by Caesar. Lastly, in March 2013, George King turned out to be UK's second biggest natural born baby weighing 7kg.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world

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Drinking cocoa daily improves blood flow

Cocoa has been linked to vascular health and researchers have always thought the flavanol are responsible for the effect. In a study to understand the effect of cocoa on dementia in elderly people, 60 aged people with no history of dementia were monitored and it was discovered that taking at least two cups of cocoa a day improved cerebral blood circulation.

60 people aged 73 on average including 17 diagnosed with impaired blood flow to the brain were asked to drink two cups of cocoa every day. The cocoa taking group was subdivided into two; one group was given high flavanol cocoa and another low flavanol type. They were to consume no other chocolate type.

Results from the journal of Neurology indicated that regardless of which type of cocoa taken, 88% of impaired blood flow cases at the start of the study had significant improvements compared to 37% of those who had normal flow at the start of the experiment. Also those participants whose blood flow had improved also had better memory tests at the end of the study.

Some critics have said that since this study lacked a control group for comparison, it is not possible to tell whether the participants had never drunk cocoa at all. The results are thus, not conclusive and more research will be needed before major inferences could be done.

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Obama to snubs Putin meeting over Snowden asylum

Information from white house has said, US President Barack Obama will not meet his Russian counterpart Vladmir Putin following Russian decision to grant asylum to US former intelligence worker Edward Snowden. The statement continued to say that Mr Obama will however, still attend the G20 economic summit in St Petersburg.

The decision to snub the one-one meeting with Mr. Putin was made during Obama’s trip to Los Angeles where he said he was disappointed with Russia’s decision to grant Snowden asylum for one year.  Mr Snowden's asylum is said to have deepened the pre-existing tension between the two counties according to White House Aide.

The former CIA worker admitted revealing the surreptitious US surveillance programme in June to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers. The documents and details released indicated that the US government through NSA programmes gathers data on telephone calls, social media and emails.

After leaking the information, Mr Snowden fled the US, to Hong Kong, and later to Russia. He was kept at Moscow Air port in a transit area as the US asked other countries to deport him. On Thursday 1/08, his lawyer said Mr Snowden had been granted asylum to stay in year for a year.

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Two year old who was best man at parents wedding dies

Logan with mother on day of wedding

Logan Stevenson was born in 2010 and shortly after diagnosed to have leukaemia. Since then he has undergone several operations till this year when doctors declared that he would only live a few days. The doctors’ bad news forced his parents, Christine Swidorsky and Sean Stevenson to move their wedding forward from next July to just last Saturday. The wedding happened when the Pennsylvanian toddler remained with 7-14 weeks to live.

Christine wrote on her Facebook page that Logan had passed away in her arms on Monday. The message said that Sean and Christine had held him all day and he looked comfortable with his medication and then at 8:18 their son took his last breath in Christine’s arms.

on the Wedding day Logan, who looked weak, wore a  suit and orange shirt as his mother carried him down the aisle. He constantly rested his head on the shoulders of his mother. He was later lifted by his grandmother along with his bear.

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Bush undergoes heart operation

George W Bush Junior, former president of the United States of America has been operated following a blockage in the artery. Mr Bush had who was operated on, Tuesday morning, was discovered to have had the blockage as he went on a regular health check-up.

The former leader said to be recovering without any difficulty will be discharged on Wednesday according to his spokesman. A statement from the 67 old said that President Bush is in high spirits, eager to return home tomorrow and resume his normal schedule on Thursday".

After his term of office, Mr Bush has kept a low profile leaving a private life with a few public appearances. He is said to be living in Dallas, Texas with his family.

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Senators McCain and Lindsay to meet military backed government and Morsi camp

Two U.S. Republicans senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham traveled to Egypt on Tuesday morning to play a mediator role between interim government and deposed president Morsi side in a bid to end the 35 days of mayhem. The duo is expected to meet with government officials today and with the Muslim Brotherhood at an unknown time and location.

Country wide protests ensued after the removal of their democratically elected leader and Islamist Mr Morsi was ousted by the country’s military. Morsi becames Egypt’s first democratically elected president in June 2012 after protests which saw the removal of Hosni Mubarak. Just a year after ascendance on the presidency, Mr. Morsi’s support started dwindling as many people accused him of trying to establish an Islamic state and trying to accumulate absolute powers. Country wide demonstrations were fomented leading to thousands of people crowding cities including Cairo. The army engaged Morsi and encouraged him to negotiate with his opponents a suggestion he rejected. After the ultimatum the army seized his palace and arrested him, declared the presidency vacant.

That's when the military intervened, imposing on them an interim president and cabinet, who are to pave way for new elections. Shortly after, morsi’s supporters took to the streets demanding his re-instating. They say the military stole their vote by removing a democratically elected president.

Clashes between the military and pro-Morsi sides began and have left more than 200 killed. Activists group and human rights groups have blame the military of using excessive force on unarmed protesters.

Why the US?

The US have great interest in Egypt given that it is among the only two countries in the middle east made peace deals with Israel. The US has never pronounced the removal of Morsi a coup as that would have implications including cutting the aid they give the country. Egypt gets aid worth $1.3 annually including military help from Washington. The US would not want Egypt to become a failed state and thus would do anything to ensure that sanity prevails.

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50 cent charged with domestic violence and vandalism in Los Angeles court

50 cent with Joy

Singer 50 Cent aka Curtis Jackson was on Monday charged with one count of domestic violence and four others on vandalism on Monday where he entered a not guilty plea to the charges in a Los Angeles County court Monday according to CNN.com.

50 cent is accused by former girlfriend and mother of his son, model actress Daphne Joy of kicking her and turning upside down the bed room during an argument at her home in the neighborhood of Los Angeles on 23, June according to prosecution.   It is also alleged that Jackson Curtis caused a $7,100 damage to property and freed the scene just before police arrived. The candy shop singer is said  to have broken into Joy’s bedroom and kicked her several times after an argument.    

 The 37-year-old artist -- whose real name is Curtis Jackson -- was ordered to return to the Van Nuys, California, courtroom on September 4 for a pretrial hearing for one count of domestic violence and four counts of vandalism, according to a court spokeswoman.

According to prosecution, broken chandeliers and furniture throughout the home were found by police scattered in Joy’s house. The bedroom closet had been ransacked, with clothes littered all over the floor. Also in the sitting room was a broken television and lamp. .

If found guilty of all five counts, the 37 old would face up to five years in jail and paying fines worth $46,000. Our efforts to reach Curtis Jackson were futile as he declined to comment of the matter.

Meanwhile Daphne Joy and Curtis Jackson have been together for a few years in an exclusive relationship according to her lawyer's statement said. "They had a child and now Daphne's No. 1 priority is to ensure both her and the baby's safety during this difficult time. We also hope everyone will respect her and the baby's privacy." The statement added.

Source: CNN.com

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