Crazy World: Boy dies after 3 yrs without brain

US: A Colorado boy who survived three years without a brain has died.
 
Nickolas Coke surprised doctors after he born with only a brain stem. Most babies with that condition are stillborn or die shortly after birth.
 
According to KOAA-TV, the boy survived without medical equipment and was playing with pumpkins before he died earlier this week.
 
KOAA reports that Nickolas' condition is known as anencephaly. The Coke family lives in Pueblo, located about 43 miles from Colorado Springs. (AP)

 

Mother attacks girl with acid for looking at boy

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani mother who killed her teenage daughter by dousing her with acid for looking at a boy has told the BBC it was the girl's destiny to die in this way.

Police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir arrested Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen for the October 29 attack on their daughter Anusha, 15, who died in hospital two days later after suffering horrific acid burns.

So-called "honour" attacks are common in deeply conservative Pakistan. Rights activists say more than 900 women were murdered last year after being accused of bringing shame on the family in some way.

Speaking from their police cells, the father told the BBC they had warned Anusha before about looking at boys, while the mother described how her daughter had begged for forgiveness.

"She said, 'I didn't do it on purpose, I won't do it again," the mother, whose own arm bore an injury from the acid, told the BBC.

"By then I had thrown the acid. It was her destiny to die this way."

The parents waited two days to take Anusha to hospital. A doctor said the teenager arrived in a "very critical condition" with almost 70 per cent burns. (AFP)

 

Girl, 10, beaten up for not doing homework, suffers trauma

INDIA: In one of the most shocking cases of corporal punishment, a 10-year old girl's life has changed completely. She was beaten up by her class teacher and thrown on the floor four months ago for not doing her homework.

The cheerful fourth grader is a completely different person now. IBN Live was quoted as saying that she doesn't talk anymore, except to recall her name, barely recognises her own family and has not been eating well.

The girl's father is a member of the school committee and he believes the teacher took her anger out on his daughter because they were both at loggerheads over some issues.

 

Mum stabs newborn to death hours after giving birth

US: Police in north Georgia say an infant was stabbed to death at an Athens house, hours after being born.
 
Athens-Clarke police say the newborn's 21-year-old mother, Cassandra Elyse Norwood, has been charged with murder in connection with the baby's death Thursday afternoon.
 
The Athens Banner-Herald reports that Norwood was under guard at a hospital, where she was being treated for blood loss from giving birth. It wasn't clear early Friday whether she has an attorney.
 
Athens-Clarke police Capt. Clarence Holeman said investigators determined the baby boy was born in the home where she lived with her parents and other family members.
 
Police say Norwood was alone in one part of the house when she gave birth without anyone else knowing. (AP)

 

Indian wardens bang drums to halt relieving in public

INDIA: NEW DELHI - Volunteers in India armed with drums and whistles are to lead a crackdown on going to the toilet in public under a new scheme in the western state of Rajasthan, a report said Monday.

"We are constructing public toilets... and people will be encouraged to use them," Ramniwas Jat, head of the state's Jhunjhunu district council, told the Times of India.

"We want to raise awareness against the practice of urinating in public, which gave birth to the idea of beating drums and blowing whistles."

The Times said that volunteers, who will be paid a small wage, would embarrass people caught urinating or defecating by standing behind them and letting loose a barrage of noise.

Guilty parties would also have their names read out on public address systems.

Defecating in the open is a serious social issue in India, touching on health, hygiene, women's rights and the clash between traditional and modern lifestyles.

Women often refuse to go to the toilet outdoors during daylight hours to preserve their modesty, so they must go before dawn or wait many hours before it is dark again.

Walking barefoot where villagers defecate every day also spreads diseases such as tapeworm, and many children play close to outdoor latrine areas.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh recently encouraged future brides to check their new family's home to ensure it had an indoor toilet before accepting any marriage proposal.

Earlier this year he said India should be ashamed that nearly 60 per cent of all people in the world who defecate in the open were in India. (AFP)

 

Boy, 2, mauled by African wild dogs, dies

No exhibit completely fail-proof, says zoo president

US: A zoo where a 2-year-old boy fell into an exhibit and was fatally mauled by African wild dogs had met or exceeded all safety standards for animals and visitors, proving that no exhibit is "fail-proof," the zoo's president said Monday.

Nearby staff responded "within seconds" on Sunday but quickly determined the dog attack was fatal and didn't send handlers into the enclosure to intervene, Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium president Barbara Baker said.

Instead, the dogs were recalled into an indoor enclosure as they've been trained to respond, though four of the 11 lingered near the boy even after blank anesthetic darts, used out of an abundance of caution for the boy's safety, were fired to shoo them away. One of the dogs, which are endangered, was fatally shot by police.

Baker said the zoo has been open since 1898 and this is the first time there's been "a visitor incident of this magnitude." She called the boy's death a "horrible, horrible tragedy" and said there's "no such thing as a fail-proof exhibit."

Baker struggled to maintain her composure during her Monday news conference and made clear she was careful to consider the family's feelings before answering questions, including one about how the boy died.

She paused several seconds before saying, "I'm trying to think of a family-sensitive way to address that. The child did not die from the fall. The child was mauled by the dogs."

Police were investigating, though police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki, who attended Baker's news conference, said he was there only to observe.

The boy's mother had put him on a wooden railing at the edge of a viewing deck before he fell late Sunday morning. He bounced out of netting below before dropping more than 10 feet (3 meters) into the dogs' enclosure.

Baker said the Allegheny County medical examiner's office determined the boy survived the plunge. The medical examiner's office has not publicly confirmed its findings or released the boy's name. Pittsburgh media outlets reported the boy was from suburban Whitehall, but The Associated Press couldn't immediately confirm that.

A spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits zoos and aquariums that meet certain standards, said the Pittsburgh Zoo successfully completed its five-year review in September. And Baker said the U.S. Department of Agriculture had inspected the zoo and found it safe in recent months.

The wild dogs, about as big as medium-size domestic dogs, resemble wolves. They hunt in packs, targeting prey such as antelopes, gazelles and wildebeest calves, and their kills are noted for their savagery. Visitors view the zoo's dogs from a wooden deck that's enclosed except for the front, where the roughly 4-foot(1.2-meter)-high wooden railing is located.

The exhibit is closed indefinitely, and the dogs have been quarantined, though Baker said they will not be euthanized. The zoo also has been closed since the boy's death but will reopen Tuesday, Baker said.

Mourners left teddy bears and other items outside the zoo and responded to a condolence message on the zoo's Facebook page.

Nearly 1,000 people commented on the post, some passionately condemning the boy's mother and others urging compassion and understanding. More than a few parents acknowledged lifting their children onto the rail, too.

Baker said zoo officials "discourage" parents from setting their children on the wide, wooden railing, which slopes toward the viewing platform at a 45-degree angle so a child placed there would be more likely to fall backward into a parent's arms than forward into the exhibit.

Nate Legler takes his 4-year-old daughter to the Pittsburgh zoo two or three times a month and said it's safe and there's no way for a small child to climb over the wooden railing without assistance. He said he has lifted his daughter to give her a better view but never close enough to the railing to be dangerous.

"You can take your child to the Grand Canyon and hold them up to let them look down but not feel unsafe like you're going to drop them into the canyon," he said.

The director of animal care at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in neighboring Ohio, Doug Warmolts, said exhibits are designed with visitors' expectations in mind because they all want to have unobstructed views and "the up-close experience" but the first priority is always safety.

He said accidents like the boy's death in Pittsburgh are "one of those things that keep you up at night."

"I'm sure it's going to send ripples through our industry and everybody's going to double-check their measures and how to respond to things like that," he said. (AP)

Image courtesy Shutterstock