International News

India-- The Holy Parasitic Twin

Lakshmi, the 2-year old 8-limbed conjoined twin that stopped developing while in the mother's womb is joined at the pelvis (ischiopagus). She was named after the 8-limbed goddess of wealth and good fortune often depicted with 4 arms. This goddess who rose from the churning of the milky ocean, is often shown seated on a lotus with a blossom in her hand, to become wife of Vishnu, the main form of God for Hindus. Lakshmi is a popular goddess worshipped by Hindus with offerings such as food flowers and incense in the home and on regular festival days. Everybody in her village considers her a reincarnated Goddess. Others sought to make money from her after a circus apparently tried to buy the girl. Last November, 36 doctors conducted a marathon operation Sparch Hospital in Bangalore which lasted more than 24 hours to remove the extra limbs. The incidence of similar conditions is less than 1 in a million live births.   

Global - Love Story

Ms. Courtney Small's 6-months-old Chihuahua, Gucci Baby, is a lucky dog who leans for some mommy love, wears a different outfit every week, and enjoys red pedicure. This year PetSmart opened a new chain of pet hotels - with TVs in the rooms. A person can buy your pet body building formula for a beefier bod, or obesity meds to slim down. Pet insurance helps with hefty pet bills. You can dress your pet in diamonds, cashmere, or a bridal gown. Dogs' paws are offered pedicures. Is this behaviour insane or deeply narcissistic? Prof. Patricia McConnell said, "in industrialised societies, we have lost a connection to nature, which is profoundly disruptive. In short, it is lonely being humans, and dogs help us fill that existential void. Certainly, Gucci offers Ms. Small happiness. Some people put their dogs in doggy hotels, while some people are living under bridges! Anthropologist, Elizabeth Marshall, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs, feels that what is lost by humanising our pets is nothing less than a whole culture. Owners project onto dogs their own wishes.

Germany - Mein Fuhrer's comedy on Hitler's life

German star, Ulrich Muehe, died of stomach cancer at the age of 54 last July. His film, The Lives of Others, scored his greatest success among Oscar-winning movies in 2007, and was named Best Foreign Film by Hollywood, receiving many German and European awards. Since the Oscar success of that film, Mr. Muehe enjoyed a major supporting role in Mein Fuhrer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler, a comedy which received mixed reactions from German critics. In the photo, he is seen here with Helge Schneider, who acted the role of Hitler, during the shooting of that film.

India - The Laughter King of Delhi

Dr. Umesh Sahgel, a dentist who is better known as the "Laughter King of Delhi", learned his techniques five years ago, while visiting a relative in Mumbai. Since then he has set up more than 20 clubs in the Indian capital. Laughter Yoga began in 1995, the brain child of Dr. Madan Kataira, a Mumbai physician called Hasya Yoga (Hasya means laughter in Sanskrit). Dr. Sahgal mentioned that Laughter Yoga is a real stress-breaker. If you practice everyday, you will go away with a real positive feeling: "the people come here and forget who they are". Some people mentioned its ability to strengthen the immune system, improve circulation and lower blood pressure. The practice of yoga is at least 5,000 years old, and began as intensely mental and spiritual discipline. In Dr. Sahgal's group, many participants are elderly with health problems such as diabetes; others are stressed-out business executives. They report positive responses. Dr. Kataira travels regularly to hold symposiums abroad, as thousands of laughter clubs exist in dozens of countries, including Canada and the United States. Now there is a World Laughter Day, held on the first Sunday of May every year. Today there are a number of yoga fusions. Among them are power chi yoga, sport yoga, feet camp fusion, weight loss yoga, disco yoga, and laughter yoga!

Norway - Testicular cancer will not end fertility?

In her recently published research in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Marianne Brydoy, showed that 3 out of every 4 men who attempted to father a child after treatment for testicular cancer are able to do so, and the ability to conceive and the time it takes to conception are strongly related to the types and intensity of treatment. The study mentions that patients who undergo low-dose chemotherapy have a much better chance of conceiving, and men who have radiation therapy had a slightly lower rate of conception. She also mentioned that the majority of men are able to conceive children naturally, after the removal of a cancerous testicle and following drug or radiation treatments. The study 1,433 Norwegian men diagnosed with testicular cancer diagnosed between 1980-1994.

USA - Maladies of President Lincoln

Dr. Ronald Fishman, a retired physician from the Craniofacial Centre, University of Illinois, Chicago and Dr. Da Silveira who works at the Dell Children's Craniofacial Centre, Austin, Texas published an article in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology about the face of the 16th American president, Abraham Lincoln. Laser scans of two life masks, made from plaster casts of Lincoln's face, reveal an unusual degree of facial asymmetry. The left side was much smaller than the right side. When Lincoln was a boy, we was kicked to the head by a horse. Laser scans cannot settle whether the kick or developmental defect or neither, contributed to his lop-sides face.

Yemen - A Gifted Novelist from Bakil Tribe

Mrs. Aziza Abdullah, the wife of H.E. Mr. Mohsen Al-Aini, the former Yemeni prime minister, and sister of Sheikh Sanan Abu Luhoom, is the first woman novelist from Bakil, which is the second largest tribal federation in Yemen. Her five novels were published in Beirut by Dar el-Nahar. One of them entitled, Ors el-Walid (Wedding of the Dad), published in 1999, showed her feelings about her father's marriage to a younger wife, who would live in the same house as her mother. This Yemeni novelist, succeeded in her work, to portray the tribal Yemeni culture using an artistic and intriguing manner. Interestingly, Hanul Academy in South Korea, produced a 15-volume research series in 2005, which included one entitled, "Women’s Literature in Arabian Peninsula and Iran". In this volume, Neung-Woo Kim wrote a chapter on Mrs. Abdullah's work, entitled, "Aziza Abdullah’s Ahlam... Nabila and Contemporary Women’s Literature in Yemen."

Canada - Siberian tiger with kidney failure

The 16-hectare zoo in south-eastern New Brunswick is planning a rare winter opening so people can say their final goodbyes to the much-loved ailing Siberian tiger, Tomar, who arrived at the zoo as a 5-months old cub 20 years ago. The wild cat was born in 1988 in Winnipeg Zoo from a captive breeding population. Tomar won countless fans with his gentle ways and soft noises when he sees someone he knows. "He is just like a big beautiful pussycat," exclaimed his keeper. Tomar lost his mate Pasha in 2004, after she was fed donated meat that came from a euthanized animal. The barbiturates in the carcass killed Pasha and left Tomar widowed, suffering from kidney failure. The lifespan of tigers in captivity is 15-20 years.

Global - Oldest Masters' graduate

Ms. Phyllis Turner, 94, is a great-great grandmother, who is believed to be the oldest Masters' graduate. She received her Masters' degree in medical science last August from an Australian University. In the photo, she is being handed the certificate, after being supervised in her studies by Prof. Maciej Henneberg. He said he had urged her to continue her studies by pursuing her doctorate, but so far has declined his offer. Ms. Turner quit school at the age of 12, to help her mother look after her siblings following their abandonment by their father. After raising her own 7 children and 2 step-children, she completed her school education. At 70, she enrolled at the University of Adelaide, then she earned her bachelor degree in anthropology from Australia's National University. Her family now includes 23 great grand children, and nine great great grandchildren. The oldest person recorded as being awarded a PhD is Edgar Dowse, from London School of Theology at the age of 93 and 268 days in June 2004. Also Mozelle Richardson earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism at the age of 90 years and 103 days from the University of Oklahoma in May 2004.

Italy - King Tut's Wheat: Kamut

"They call it King Tut's wheat because of its Egyptian pedigree and the husks wispy goat-hair-like pharaoh's beard. Now Kamut, the heirloom wheat, with bountiful nutritional qualities, is the hottest carbohydrate in food-obsessed Italy. Kamut pasta is going strong and is growing everyday. The Italians import Kamut from Saskatchewan, where most of the world's supply is grown. Italian factories are now the producers of 1,100 of the world's 1,400 commercial Kamut products, up from 0 in 1999. Kamut demonstrates nutritional superiority, which is an Ancient Egyptian word for "wheat", pulled of a hieroglyphic dictionary. Production in Saskatchewan and Alberta will reach 12,000 hectares this year, and sales are growing at 15% a year.

Kenya - Dreams of Senator Barak Obama

His unlimited dreams helped him to scale the ladder from minor politician to Senator to presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, and to compete with Senator Hillary Clinton, who is looking to become the first American queen! Barak Obama was born and raised in the U.S. by his American mother. He visited his ancestral village in western Kogelo, Kenya  in 1987, five years after his father's death in a road accident. In this 2006 photo, he is with his grandmother Sarah, who said, "in the past, he used to walk into his village and very few people took notice of him. This time everything was arranged for the runner for the U.S. presidency. A secondary school is named, "Senator Obama" in his grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama's village. There is also a local Kenyan beer named "Obama"!

UK - Shakespeare's Portrait Passes Authenticity Test

The so-called, "Sanders Portrait", painted in oils on wood, has been in the possession of Lloyd Sullivan, a retired Ottawa engineer, since it was given to him by his mother in 1972. He has spent 15 years and $750,000 on scientific tests and genealogical studies to firm up his family's long-held belief, that the 400-years-old heirloom is truly the only extant lifetime portrait of the creator of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. Last October Joseph Barabe. a forensic analyst with Chicago-based McCrone Associates, world experts in microscopy and materials' characterization said that, "the formula of the ink used for the small handwritten label, on the back of the Sander's portrait, certainly fits with the manufacturing methods and materials available in the first 50 or so years of the 17th century England.

Japan - Smallest Humanoid Robot

I-SBOT is the newest and smallest humanoid robot for adults. The 16.5-cm tall robot is able to make some 200 physical movements, including summersaults and other complex acrobatics, speaks about 180 words and responds to verbal commands. Tomy Co. Ltd., said that the target audience is men in their 40s and above. It costs about $260 and the company hopes to sell 50,000 units in Japan and 300,000 worldwide. The robot will be the first product sold with Sanyo Electric Co. Japan has one of the world's oldest populations, as more seniors live longer.

Australia - Avoid online love connection

The Australian wheat and sheep farmer, Des Gregor, 56-years-old, travelled to the West African nation of Mali to meet his supposed bride, and collect a dowry of gold bars worth at least $85,000. He was met at the airport in Mali by a well-dressed man and was led into a room and held hostage by a gang of men carrying machetes and pistols. They stole his cash and credit cards and sought a ransom. The scam was stopped when Australian and Malian police, alerted by his family in Australia, tricked the kidnapers into taking him to the Canadian Embassy in order to collect the ransom money. He urges others to be careful when seeking romance on the Internet - "be careful when looking for love online".
 

Nottingham, UK - Robin Hood's famed Sherwood Forest

Folklore mentioned that Robin Hood, who stole from the rich to give to the poor, escaped the Sheriff of Nottingham with his many band of thieves in Sherwood Forest. The forest is the home to one of the greatest collections of ancient Oak trees, where Robin Hood would have galloped past, to escape the Sheriff. Unfortunately, it has been in a slow decline for a couple of hundred years. Trees have been removed in the 16-century for building ships, and by the 18-century, entire areas were cleared permanently for agricultural use. The coal industry followed, digging away at heath lands and meadows, all once considered part of the larger Sherwood Forest. Today it is also used as a royal hunting ground.

Global - VW "Veggie Van"

In the photo Chantal Doyle refuels her modified VW "veggie" car in a Toronto back alley, where restaurants store barrels of used cooking oil into plastic containers. She was one of a small, but growing number of environmentalists, running their vehicles on vegetable oil scavenged from the grease traps of restaurants. Any diesel car can be converted to run on veggie oil. Used grease is just one of many alternative fuels attracting attention recently. Veggie-oil vehicles are carbon-neutral - they release less carbon dioxide into the air - making them eco-friendly cars.
 

UK - Maladies of Karl Marx

Prof. Shuster published a paper in the British Journal of Dermatology mentioning that Karl Marx, the father of Communist, who died in 1883, suffered from a chronic and debilitating skin disease that is known to have profound psychological effects. He first became interested in the issue when he read, Karl Marx: A Life, by Francis Wheen in 1999. He read through Marx's extensive correspondence, and came to his diagnosis of Hidradenitis suppurativa from his letters. Marx often told friends about his health and described his skin legions as a curse. The disease affects the apocrine sweat glands - found mainly in the armpits and groin - which become blocked and inflamed. Infected fluid is released under the skin and onto the skin surface, causing lumps and abscesses. The article says that other health complaints of Marx could be the result of this disease, including joint pain; legions on his body, scalp and face; and a painful eye condition that often stopped him from working.

Forbes re-claimed that Elvis Presley, who died in 1977, is the Number 1 on the list of Top Earning Dead Celebrities. He earned an estimated $49 million in the past 12 months. He was followed by former Beatle John Lennon with $49 million, Charles Scholz with $35 million, George Harrison with $22 million, Albert Einstein with $18 million, artist Andy Warhol with $15 million, Theodor Geisel with  $13 million, rap singer Tupac Shakur with $9 million, actress Marilyn Monroe with $7 million, Steve McQueen with $6 million, and soul singer James Brown with $5 million, reggae singer Bob Marley with $4 million, and actor James Dean with $3.5 million. Elvis' Estate continues to generate millions from music royalties, DVDs, licensing deals and tourism at Graceland--the rocker's mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
 

Mr. Les Chater is a 94-years-old sportsman from Hamilton, Ontario, who has been a YMCA member for more than 80 years and a volunteer for several decades. He was a former chief engineer of Stelco, and author of Behind Defence: Life as POW in Japan, 1941-1945, which details his performance as a prisoner of war (POW) in Japan during the Second World War. He was an active swimmer and played basketball, cricket, golf and water polo. In his 90s, he concentrated on swimming and weight training, going to the pool for at least 30-minutes five times a week . He has campaigned to raise money for the YMCA in Hamilton, and gave a personal gift of $1 million to the establishment. Les found his second calling late in life with a chance to spread the word about the importance of fitness, community service, and character. He is an inspiration to everyone he meets, and is a shining example of YMCA's values in action. In appreciation of his outstanding contributions to the YMCA, he was appointed an Officer of the Fellowship of Honour in 2005 and the new YMCA in Hamilton was named the Les Chater Family YMCA.

Newly-crowned Miss Earth 2007 who hails from Vancouver, Canada, is working on a PhD at McGill University and plans to use her title to encourage environmental education. Jessica Trisko, is of Philippino and Russian ancestry. Her mixed background might explain why she often has her feet in different worlds. She was crowned in an auditorium in the Philippines, as the new green queen, earning the title and a $20,000 prize. Among other Miss Earth contestants was Miss India who was accepted to medical school and Miss Venezuela, a dental student.
 

The late Leona Helmsley left to her fluffy white Maltese dog, Trouble, $12 million. The remainder was split as follows: $10 million to her brother Alvin Rosenthal, $0.5 million to her two grand children David and Walter Banzirer, $3 million to her mausoleum upkeep, and $100,000 to her chauffer Nicholas Celea. She gave nothing to her grandson Craig Banzirer and his sister Meghan. She ordered that cash from sales of the Helmsley's residences and belongings, reported to be worth billions, be sold and that the money be given to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. She became known as a symbol of 1980s greed and earned the nickname "the Queen of Mean" after her 1988 indictment and subsequent conviction for tax evasion. One employee had quoted her as snarling, "Only the little people pay taxes."

According to the United Nations' 2007 World Drug Report released last July, Canadians lead the industrialized world in marijuana smoking. They are four times more likely to have smoked pot in the past year than residents of nearly every other country (16.8% of Canadians aged 15-64 use marijuana, compared to a global average of 3.8%). In the US only 12.6%, Jamaica 10.7%, England 8.7%, Netherlands 6.1% and Mexico 3.1% are reported to smoke marijuana. In 2001, Canada legalized medical marijuana, and 55% of Canadians believe that marijuana should be legal according to Angus Reid poll conducted last June. Canadians are more likely to smoke pot than people in the Netherlands, where cannabis is legal; yet only 6% of Dutch people have used it in the past year. The only countries more likely to spark up are Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Ghana and Zambia. Aside from marijuana, Canadian alcohol use is 30% higher than the global average, ranking fourth after Spain, England and the US for cocaine use.

The toy which is marketed under the name Bindeez in Australia, contains dozens of little beads that fuse when wet. The beads contain a chemical that the body converts into gammahydroxybutyrate (GHB), often referred to as "date rape" drug. GHB can cause drowsiness, seizures and in extreme cases could be fatal. As one of the world's most popular toys for 2007, it was pulled off the shelves everywhere. Spin Master Toys, the Toronto-based manufacturer of the Chinese-made toy called "Aqua-Dots", asked North American retailers to remove the product from their shelves. Though Canada's regulations are among the world's best, they failed to anticipate the effects and speed of globalization. A new government website, healthycanadians.gc.ca, contains information on recalled products.

The annual rating, done by London-based Times Higher QS World University Rankings, put Montreal's McGill University in 12th spot, the highest rank to be reached by a Canadian institution. McGill moved up from its 21st placement last year.  Ten other Canadian universities are included in the list, with the University of British Columbia finishing in the 33rd spot, and University of Toronto in 45th spot. "McGill is now the top-ranked public university in North America, with an excellence in neuroscience, developmental biology and law," as stated by the university principal, Prof. Heather Munroe-Blum. Universities from 28 different countries are represented in the top 200. The UK and USA still dominate the Top 10 - Harvard University, Cambridge, Oxford and Yale retain the top four positions for the second year. University College London and Chicago join the top 10 for the first time. Cape Town, at 200, is the first ever African institution in the rankings.

Elizabeth Hay, the 56-year-old novelist and short story writer, was awarded the $40,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, Late Nights on Air. The Giller, founded in 1994 by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch, to honour his late wife literary journalist, Doris Giller, is about celebrating excellence in Canadian-English language fiction. It is also about selling books. The trio of judges had read 108 books, submitted by more than 40 publishers. A list of 15 nominees was announced in September, with the final five culled from that last month, including some high-calibre writers, such as Michael Ondaatje, M.G. Vassanji, Alissa York, and Daniel Boliquin. Hay's long-time publisher, McClelland and Stewart, originally printed 17 copies, and after the novel was named to the Giller shortlist last October, two reprints of 5,000 copies each were ordered. After winning the award, 25,000 copies were released, to cope with the "Giller effect". Elizabeth Hay was a famous CBC radio broadcaster. Her first book in 1980, was a collection of short series was called Crossing the Snow Line. He first novel, published in 2000, was called A Student of Weather. Three years later, another novel named Garbo Laughs.

The British 42-year-old billionaire, J.K. Rowling, has spent the past October visiting cities in North America, in support of her 7th and final Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." She autographed 7,500 books on her trip, with over 900 books at her Toronto reading alone. Interestingly, 12 publishing houses had rejected the manuscript for "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". In 1996, the London-based Bloomsbury Publishing, paid her only $3000 as an advance for, "Philosopher's Stone." Rowling's assets are estimated to be more than $1 billion, according to the Sunday Times rich list. Touch wood!

Dozens of companies now offer tests that are supposed to help people chart geographic origins of their ancestors, and test kits available through Internet sites, need just a scrape from inside your cheek, which can be mailed to a lab for genetic analysis. On 18 October, 14 leading US researchers published a warning in the leader journal, Science, noting that these popular tests, which range in price from $100 to $900, can produce incomplete and misleading results. Dr. Deborah Bolnick, who leads this list, noted that the two most common tests are based on an examination of either the Y chromosome (passed down from father to son) or mitochondrial DNA (passed down from mother to child in both males and females). The tests can identify related individuals and potentially support existing genealogical records. The drawbacks of the tests are that they trace back only few of our ancestors, and that they may report false negatives or positives. Dr. Bolnick mentioned that the gene testing companies often make big, often times faulty, assumptions, since certain DNA sequences, in native Americans are also routinely found in Asians. As a result, some people are informed they have Native American origins, when their ancestors never migrated beyond Asia. Also, there is significant risk that some people may suffer an identity crisis after their long held family histories have been shattered by faulty results.

Duncan Cree, 35, is dreaming to be the first Mohawk astronaut. After growing up in a small Quebec aboriginal community, Duncan Cree is a 4th doctoral student at the International Space University in Beijing, China. He obtained his bachelors and masters degrees in mechanical engineering from Concordia University (Montreal), and is dreaming to be first aboriginal Canadian with a PhD degree in this field. Ms. Roberta Jamison, the President of the National Aboriginal Achievements Foundation, said that Mr. Cree is an amazing person. "He has now become a global role model, not only for our people, but for indigenous people the world over."

A French lawyer and amateur historian, Bruno Roy-Henry, has published a book saying that Napoleon Bonaparte - France's greatest general and most famous Emperor-- was poisoned by his English captors and his body switched with that of his valet, who was then buried in a massive coffin in Les Invalides, the French army museum in Paris, beneath the golden dome. He said he has new evidence that was linked to Napoleon's death mask, indicated the body at rest in the Emperor's tomb is actually that of Jean-Batiste Cibriani, Napoleon's childhood friend, valet, and illegitimate half-brother, who died in May 1821, after nearly 6 years in exile on St. Helena. The face in the Paris mask, with its long pointed nose, high cheek bones, and delicate lips, did not seem to match the official portraits of the Emperor. They did, however, match known portraits of Mr. Cibriani.
 

The British Medical Journal recently published a poll ranking the top 15 medical breakthroughs. The provision of clean water and waste disposal, has provided the greatest benefit to humanity, and was placed on the top of the list. The first discovery of antibiotics by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1924 was the second greatest modern medical finding, after he discovered penicillin by accident in his University of London laboratory. The other top medical breakthroughs are: anaesthesia, vaccines, discovery of DNA structure, germ theory, oral contraceptive pills, evidence-based medicine, medical imaging, computers, oral dehydration therapy, risks of smoking, immunology, chlorpromazine, and tissue culture.

A giant swath of mineral-rich land, covering one third of Quebec is on track to become a self-governing region for the province's 10,000 Inuit, to be called the Regional Government of Nunavik. It will have its own elected assembly representing Quebec's 14 remote Inuit communities and a public service responsible for services normally delivered by provinces, such as education and health. The Inuit hope that the new Nunavik Government will be in place by 2009. The Nunavik region used the 55-parallel as a southern border. The historic agreement is a result of decades of negotiations. The Nunavik Assembly will have a 5-member executive council, who will act as a form of cabinet. Each of the five will be responsible for at least one government department; such as health, education, and local and regional affairs. The community on Quebec's northern tip, just south of Iqaluit, is expected to be the capital of the new government.

Three of the biggest names in Canadian literature - Margaret Atwood, Alice Monro, and Michael Ondaatje - were among the 15 authors from 10 countries vying for the Second Man Booker International Prize, worth $135,000. The prize which started in 2005, is awarded every 2 years. The inaugural list in 2005, was announced at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, with Albanian author Ismail Kadare, eventually prevailing from a field of 18 nominees. The Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer from South Africa, was one of the three judges in the 2007 contest. She said that, "it is purely coincidental that three of the 15 nominees for 2007 are Canadians." Interestingly, Ms. Atwood has been nominated for the Man Booker five times, and won for The Blind Assassin in 2000. The trio of Canadians met in Dublin last June, where Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author was awarded the prestigious prize for 2007.
 

Since losing the 2000 U.S. Presidential Elections, Al Gore has made the fight against greenhouse gas emissions, a personal and public crusade. His Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth, drew amazingly large crowds for a documentary. He has been working on this issue for 30 years. His book, The Assault on Reason, published by Penguin Press, became one of the best-sellers following the announcement of him sharing the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Al Gore is a Harvard University alumnus, fighting against the chemical contamination of neighbourhoods riddled with toxic dump sites. Al Gore added another award to his growing collection that already includes an Oscar, an Emmy and the Nobel Peace Prize, when actor-director Robert De Niro presented the former US vice-president with a special honour last November at the 35th annual International Emmy Awards. In December, Gore participated in the UN Climate Change conference held in Bali, Indonesia where he urged world nations to reach a consensus on limiting pollutants and committing to the next round of Kyoto Protocols, and improving overall environmental health.  

With 13.4 million copies sold worldwide of Susan Eloise Hinton's novel, The Outsider, the book represents the rough side of teenage life and has reached its 40th year of publication; proving that great books don't age. She started writing the book when 15-years-old, dealing with serious themes of violence, abuse, and alienation. Francis Ford Coppola made a film of the book in 1983. The book is still a requested reading in schools worldwide. Hinton mentioned she was driven to write the story out of anger of seeing kids in her school marginalized. Penguin Books' 40th anniversary edition of The Outsider, was released last October. She says that her new, 10th book, Tim's Stories, is one of her best works.

Dr. Gulzhan Moldazhanova is the most powerful woman in Russia now. She runs a $23 billion Russian giant that shares control of Magna International. She is CEO of Oleg Deripaska's Dairibaskas Basic Element, a conglomerate with stakes in seven domestic industries. She started her career as a secretary, sorting out the daily routine of this young Russian businessman. He is a big player in industries from aluminium and airports to cement and cars, and has 300,000 employees. Mrs. Gulzhan is a divorced mother of a 3-years-old daughter, and is the 20th most powerful woman in the world according to Fortune. She studied physics and received her doctorate from Moscow University. Her mother was a pharmacist and her father a metallurgy student.

India - Daddy or Grand Daddy?

The Times of London reported that a 90-year-old Indian farmer, named Nanu Ram Jogi, from the state of Rajasthan, boasts the world's oldest dad. He has fathered his 21st child, and he plans to continue breeding for at least another decade. He said, "women love me...I want to have more children, I can survive another few decades and want to have children until I am 100. Then maybe, it will be time to stop." The world's oldest known father was an Australian named Les Colley, who was 92 when his 9th child was born. He died in 1998, just before his 100th birthday.

London, UK - Earliest Ancestors of Whales

In the December 2007 issue of the journal, Nature, Dr. Hans Thewissen, professor of anatomy at Northern Ohio Medical College, published a study about his discovery of the missing link in the evolutionary path of whales. The latest discovery, named Indohyus, is the first whale ancestor dating back 48 million years who lived on both land and water. The anatomists studied the cat-sized fossil, discovered in Kashmir by Indian geologist, A. Ranga Rao, as the earliest ancestor of the modern whale, noting similarities in both ears and teeth.