Girl, 16, gives birth to triplets - for the SECOND time

A teenage girl from Argentina has given birth to female triplets - for the second time.Named only as Pamela, the girl had her first set of female triplets aged just 15, giving birth to the second set a year later.

As she gave birth to a son when she was just 14, that means young Pamela is now a mother seven times over, all before her seventeenth birthday. All seven children were born prematurely but without any kind of fertility treatment.

While doctors say the three newborns and their mother are well, the case has sparked debate across Argentina, the BBC has reported.

In bars, cafes, and newspapers, there has been widespread criticism of Pamela’s alleged promiscuity.

Her family already receives help from the provincial authorities, which donated land and built them a house when the first set of triplets was born.

But some Argentines are arguing that perhaps what Pamela needs is not financial help but more advice on contraception.

Pamela’s mother, who cleans houses to support her daughter, says they will now seek more assistance from the government.

The teenager - who will be 17 on Monday - comes from the remote town of Leones in the central Argentine province of Cordoba

Pioneering midwife touts ‘orgasmic birth’

Some women can experience a sort of birth ecstasy, says Ina May Gaskin

Ina May Gaskin, 69, a midwife who never formally studied nursing, has helped to bring back home birth and lay midwifery from the brink of extinction in America. Here, Gaskin measures the growth of Cayla Whitehead’s abdomen while teaching a class in midwifery at The Farm in Summertown, Tenn.

Mark Humphrey / ASSOCIATED PRESS SUMMERTOWN, Tenn. - Despite living on a commune in rural Tennessee, Ina May Gaskin has had the kind of career success most people only dream about. A midwife who never formally studied nursing, Gaskin has helped to bring home birth and lay midwifery back from the brink of extinction in the U.S. An obstetrical maneuver she learned from the indigenous Mayans of Guatemala has made it into scientific journals and medical textbooks, and her insistence on the rights of a birthing mother empowered a generation of women to demand changes from doctors and hospitals. With a lifetime of accomplishment, the 67-year-old Gaskin has earned the right to slow down. But that is the farthest thing from her mind.

Go! flight report finds no mechanical flaws

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report of its investigation into a go! airlines flight that flew past the Hilo airport on Feb. 13, apparently because the two pilots fell asleep.

A check of the plane after the flight showed no problems with its pressurization system or carbon monoxide in the plane, according to the report. The NTSB also says there were 40 passengers and three crewmembers on the flight, which left Honolulu at 9:16 a.m.

Flight 1002 was at 21,000 feet when air traffic controllers made several attempts to contact the pilots. Controllers contacted the plane at about 10 a.m., but by that time the plane had flown about 15 miles past the airport. It landed safely about 15 minutes later.

The preliminary report draws no conclusions about why the plane overshot the airport.

Mesa Air Group, which owns go!, has suspended the two pilots. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the NTSB and the FAA are conducting separate investigations into whether the captain and first officer fell asleep during the flight.

Flight logs obtained by the Star-Bulletin say both pilots finished their Feb. 12 shift at 2:47 p.m. and returned to duty at 5:40 a.m.

What if you stop smoking?

Antarctic marine life threatened by crab invasion

By Steve Connor, Science Editor in Boston
Saturday, 16 February 2008

An army of shell-crushing crabs is poised to invade parts of the Antarctic Ocean that were off limits to the crustaceans for millions of years because of the intensely cold water.

Scientists believe that, as global warming causes sea temperatures in the region to rise, the unique shallow-water habitat of the Antarctic Peninsula will be transformed by the mass arrival of killer crabs.

Crabs are one of the top predators of the seabed but their enforced absence from the cold waters of the Antarctic has created an unusual community of shelled creatures that could disappear once the crabs invade, scientists said yesterday.

“The crabs are on the doorstep,” said Sven Thatje of the National Oceanography Centre at Southampton University.

“Rapidly rising sea temperatures off the Antarctic Peninsula are creating conditions that favour the return of shell-crushing predators after an absence of tens of millions of years,” Dr Thatje told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Sea-surface temperatures off the western Antarctic Peninsula have risen by 1C over the past 50 years, more than double the global average.

“Crab populations have already become established in deeper, slightly warmer waters. It is only a matter of time before they expand to shallow Antarctic habitats and radically alter community structure,” he said.

Marine life on the Antarctic seabed is a rare combination of giant sea spiders, marine pillbugs and bottom-dwelling fish with antifreeze in their bloodstream to prevent them from freezing solid.

In the absence of crabs and other fast-moving predators, such as sharks and rays, the main seabed predators are slow-moving sea stars and giant, floppy ribbon worms. “Crabs cannot flush magnesium out of their blood, so when they are already moving slowly because of the cold, the magnesium makes them pass out and die,” Dr Thatje said.

Clams, snails and other animals with hard skeletons have evolved into rare forms that are part of an unusual food web.

“Antarctic marine communities look like primeval communities from hundreds of millions of years ago because modern predators such as crabs and fish are missing,” said Rich Aronson of the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory in Alabama. An invasion of crabs could completely change the habitat, and “that would be a tragic loss for biodiversity in one of the last truly wild places on earth”.

Oscar Winners

Javier Bardem
No Country for Old Men

The Golden Compass

Ratatouille

Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)

Peter & the Wolf

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

La Vie en Rose

Tilda Swinton
Michael Clayton

Freeheld

Taxi to the Dark Side

Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Atonement

The Bourne Ultimatum

Once

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Counterfeiters

The Bourne Ultimatum

Daniel Day-Lewis
There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood

Marion Cotillard
La Vie en Rose

No Country for Old Men

Juno

No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men

BRIKENA , zedhenesja “top-modele”

E kemi parë gjithmonë, madje

shumë shpesh kohët e fundit tek

sa del para mediave për të bërë

njoftimin përkatës për shtyp.

Është fjala për zëdhënësen e Ministrisë

së Arsimit Brikena Kollcinaku, së cilës

kamera duket se i shkakton një efekt të

veçantë. Nëse të gjitha zëdhënëset e

tjera mundohen të paraqiten sa më të

rregullta dhe serioze para mediave, në

orarin që u është caktuar për të bërë

një njoftim për shtyp, për Brikenën është

krejt ndryshe. Modele të flokëvë që

asnjë ditë nuk i sheh njësoj, veshje ekstravagante

dhe një ‘buzëqeshje’ që i

jep publikut nëpërmjet shikimit. Të

gjithë arrijnë ta vënë re qëndrimin ndryshe

dhe ndoshta kjo lidhet dhe me pasionin

e vërtetë që zëdhënësja ka: të

bëjë modelen. Dhe në fakt, e ka ushtruar

një gjë të tillë në disa emisione

televizive por edhe në sajë edhe të shkollës

që ka kryer, ‘Akademinë e Arteve

të Bukura’. Ndoshta kjo i pëlqen mjaft

Brikenës, por do të bënte mirë që këto

dhunti të mos i tregonte gjatë përcjelljes

së lajmit të fundit që vjen nga dikasteri

në të cilin është e punësuar.

MUÇ NANO “piktura” levizese e Edi Rames

E vetmja “pikturë” e Edi Ramës që merr

frymë, lëviz e shkruan është Mustafa

Nano. Të na ndjejë për sinonimin që

përdorëm por mënyra sesi vishet Muçi

është tipike me mënyrën që Rama zgjodhi të lyejë

pallatet në Tiranë. Ngjyra të ndezura pa pikë

kombinimi me njëra tjetrën siç mund të jetë lejlaja

me të kaftën, thyer me çorape të verdha e pantallona

të kuqe, të kyccura të gjitha nën një xhup

jeshil të errët dhe një kapucc leshi ngjyrë e zezë

në kokë. Lodhesh të lexosh gjithë këtë fjali e jo

më të shohësh Muç Nanon të veshur me kaq

sqimë.

Man dies in cake-eating contest

An inquest is to be held on a man who died during a contest to see who could eat the most fairy cakes. The man, thought to be from Birmingham, collapsed at a Swansea nightclub during the event at the end of a party to raise funds for an art exhibition.

Police say there are no suspicious circumstances following the incident at the city’s Monkey Cafe and Bar early on Friday.

The coroner has been informed and the family have been told.

It is believed attempts were made by staff and customers at the nightclub to revive the man.

In a statement, club owners Amanda Davey and Paul Dyke said: “We are all devastated by this tragic accident.

“We are all in shock.

“It was a tragic accident and very sad and should serve as a cautionary tale.

“Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family.”

A South Wales Police spokesman said: “There are no suspicious circumstances and a file is being prepared for the coroner.”

Pakistan blocks YouTube website

Turkey and Thailand have in the past also banned access to the site Pakistan has blocked access to the popular YouTube website because of content deemed offensive to Islam.Its telecommunications authority ordered internet service providers to block the site until further notice. Reports said the content included Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that have outraged many. But one report said a trailer for a forthcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, which portrays Islam in a negative light, was behind the ban. “They asked us to ban it immediately… and the order says the ban will continue until further notice,” said Wahaj-us-Siraj, convener of the Association of Pakistan Internet Service Providers. “Users are quite upset. They’re screaming at ISPs which can’t do anything. “The government has valid reason for that, but they have to find a better way of doing it. If we continue blocking popular websites, people will stop using the internet.” Other countries that have temporarily blocked access to YouTube include Turkey and Thailand.