A 91-year-old woman has graduated from evening school in southern Japan, the daily Mainichi Simbun paper reported on Wednesday.
The Kobe evening school is for people who failed to receive a secondary education because of difficult circumstances.
"I had to sacrifice a lot and give up a lot," Sidzue Hirai said.
Hirai was orphaned in early childhood and had to start to work at the age of twelve. She married at the age of 18 but her husband was killed in World War Two. After marrying again, her house was destroyed by an earthquake in 2007.
"This school has returned my youth to me. I've received back everything I lost. I would like to continue my education further and I believe this day is to be a start of a new path in my life", she said at a graduation ceremony.
Ria Novosti
Monday, March 15, 2010
Baby born with tail
Surgeons in China have operated to remove a five inch tail from a four-month-old baby girl.The little girl, called Hong Hong, was born with the tail but it had since doubled in size, reports the Anhui Market Daily.
Her father, Hou, of Lixing town in eastern China's Anhui province, said he had been "shocked" to see the tail at birth.
"I wanted to cut it off when she was born, but doctors suggested we wait some time, as a newborn is too weak to take such a surgery," he said.
He checked the tail each day, hoping it would get smaller but instead it just "grew bigger and bigger", he added.
Doctors at the Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital said they too had been surprised by the case.
"It's very rare, about one in a million. We have never seen anything like this before," said Dr Sun Jun.
X-rays had shown that the tail was connected to a fatty tumor within the spinal column.
Dr Sun said the surgery had been successful, but it was still too early to say whether further treatment would be necessary.
Ananova
Boy develops fish scales at 14 months old
This 14-month-old boy born without pores in his skin has baffled medics by developing fish scales.Doctors believe Song Sheng, of Jinhu, eastern China, may be suffering from a rare genetic condition that means his body cannot cool itself.
Song Sheng - called fish boy by locals - began developing scales within days of his birth caused by his lack of pores.
Doctors say because he cannot sweat or lose heat through his skin, it peels away in fish-like scales.
Instead, his family controls his body temperature by laying him in baths of ice.
Song Dehui, his father, said: "He is in a lot of pain all the time and if we don't have enough ice he gets a fever."
But doctors have told the family there is still no known cure for the genetic condition, known as Lamellar ichthyosis.
"It can be treated but not cured so we are praying for a miracle or a folk medicine cure," his father said.
Telegraph
It's pregnancy, not gout -- woman shocked
BAMPTON, England, March 10 (UPI) -- A British woman said she gave birth to her first child only 3 hours after doctors discovered she was pregnant, and not suffering from gout as they had thought.
Belinda Waite, 21, of Bampton, England, said she had been in and out of the hospital for 9 months with problems her doctors attributed to irritable bowel syndrome and gout -- and she was shocked Feb. 6 when doctors told her she was about 3 months pregnant, The Sun reported Wednesday.
Waite and husband Wayne Boyles, 28, said the hospital sent her home just before midnight but she was back 3 hours later to give birth to a healthy 8-pound, 14-ounce daughter.
"I was really shocked. They told me to get some rest and make an appointment with the doctors the following Monday," Waite said. "Three hours later, Louise was born. I don't think Wayne could believe it was happening."
Officials at the hospital, run by National Health Service Devon, were unavailable for comment, The Sun said.
UPI
Belinda Waite, 21, of Bampton, England, said she had been in and out of the hospital for 9 months with problems her doctors attributed to irritable bowel syndrome and gout -- and she was shocked Feb. 6 when doctors told her she was about 3 months pregnant, The Sun reported Wednesday.
Waite and husband Wayne Boyles, 28, said the hospital sent her home just before midnight but she was back 3 hours later to give birth to a healthy 8-pound, 14-ounce daughter.
"I was really shocked. They told me to get some rest and make an appointment with the doctors the following Monday," Waite said. "Three hours later, Louise was born. I don't think Wayne could believe it was happening."
Officials at the hospital, run by National Health Service Devon, were unavailable for comment, The Sun said.
UPI
Woman sells souls to highest bidder
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The rare spirits that went under the gavel at a recent online auction in New Zealand weren't aged brandies or hard-to-find liqueurs.
Instead, two glass vials purportedly containing the ghosts of two dead people sold for $2,830 New Zealand dollars ($1,983) at an auction that ended Monday night.
The "ghosts" were put up for bidding by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch. She said they were captured in her house and stored in glass vials with stoppers and dipped in holy water, which she says "dulls the spirits' energy."
She said they were the spirits of an old man who lived in the house during the 1920s, and a powerful, disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board. Since an exorcism at the property last July led to their capture, there has been no further spooky activity in the house, she said.
The auction attracted more than 214,000 page views and dozens of questions before the winning bid, Trademe auction site spokesman Paul Ford said Tuesday. The name of the winning bidder was not released.
Woodbury said that once an "exorcist's fee" has been deducted, the proceeds of the spirit sale will go to the animal welfare group the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Instead, two glass vials purportedly containing the ghosts of two dead people sold for $2,830 New Zealand dollars ($1,983) at an auction that ended Monday night.
The "ghosts" were put up for bidding by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch. She said they were captured in her house and stored in glass vials with stoppers and dipped in holy water, which she says "dulls the spirits' energy."
She said they were the spirits of an old man who lived in the house during the 1920s, and a powerful, disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board. Since an exorcism at the property last July led to their capture, there has been no further spooky activity in the house, she said.
The auction attracted more than 214,000 page views and dozens of questions before the winning bid, Trademe auction site spokesman Paul Ford said Tuesday. The name of the winning bidder was not released.
Woodbury said that once an "exorcist's fee" has been deducted, the proceeds of the spirit sale will go to the animal welfare group the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
7-Year-Old Calls 911, Saves Family From Attack
ORWALK, Calif. — A terrified 7-year-old boy begged emergency dispatchers to send police to his Southern California home where three armed robbers threatened his parents, according to a recording of the call released Tuesday.
Gunmen broke into the boy's home Tuesday morning and announced that they would take whatever they wanted, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Steve Kenny said.
The boy and his 6-year-old sister hid unnoticed in the locked bathroom while the suspects threatened his mother and father at gunpoint.
"There's some guy who's going to kill my mom and dad," he said breathlessly. "Bring cops. A lot of them! ... And soldiers, too."
The suspects eventually broke into the bathroom and someone screamed. The 911 operator sounded shaken as she explained what happened to her colleagues.
Kenny said the suspects grabbed the boy and asked who he called. He responded, "911." The gunmen fled without taking anything or injuring the family.
"If not for the brave and educated actions of the 7-year-old boy, this might have ended tragically," said sheriff's Capt. Pat Maxwell.
The three men remain at large.
Fox News
Gunmen broke into the boy's home Tuesday morning and announced that they would take whatever they wanted, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Steve Kenny said.
The boy and his 6-year-old sister hid unnoticed in the locked bathroom while the suspects threatened his mother and father at gunpoint.
"There's some guy who's going to kill my mom and dad," he said breathlessly. "Bring cops. A lot of them! ... And soldiers, too."
The suspects eventually broke into the bathroom and someone screamed. The 911 operator sounded shaken as she explained what happened to her colleagues.
Kenny said the suspects grabbed the boy and asked who he called. He responded, "911." The gunmen fled without taking anything or injuring the family.
"If not for the brave and educated actions of the 7-year-old boy, this might have ended tragically," said sheriff's Capt. Pat Maxwell.
The three men remain at large.
Fox News
Alcoholic chimpanzee to be taken to treatment clinic from zoo
Frequent "treats" by visitors of a Russian zoo made one of its resident, Zhora the chimpanzee, an alcoholic and nicotine addict, a Russian daily has said.
Zoo authorities in the Russian city of Rostov (200 km northeast of Moscow) were quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda as saying Zhora, who had been brought to the zoo from the Tatarstan republic five years ago, was to be taken back to the republic for treatment in early March.
They said visitors at the zoo frequently gave the chimpanzee, a former circus artist, alcohol and cigarettes which eventually led to heavy addiction.
"We asked visitors not to give him [alcohol and cigarettes], but it was all in vain," the Rostov zoo deputy head was quoted by the paper as saying. Although Zhora was kept behind a three rows of fences, visitors managed to throw him bottles and cigarettes, Nadezhda Yeutushenko said.
"People laugh when they see an animal drinking [alcohol] and smoking, but vicious habits damage [the animal's] health, and many do not understand this," zoo workers said.
Ria Novosti
Zoo authorities in the Russian city of Rostov (200 km northeast of Moscow) were quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda as saying Zhora, who had been brought to the zoo from the Tatarstan republic five years ago, was to be taken back to the republic for treatment in early March.
They said visitors at the zoo frequently gave the chimpanzee, a former circus artist, alcohol and cigarettes which eventually led to heavy addiction.
"We asked visitors not to give him [alcohol and cigarettes], but it was all in vain," the Rostov zoo deputy head was quoted by the paper as saying. Although Zhora was kept behind a three rows of fences, visitors managed to throw him bottles and cigarettes, Nadezhda Yeutushenko said.
"People laugh when they see an animal drinking [alcohol] and smoking, but vicious habits damage [the animal's] health, and many do not understand this," zoo workers said.
Ria Novosti
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