London: A British couple has become one in a million to add a second set of identical twin girls to their home, it has been reported.
But newborns Isabella and Chloe Dawson had to fight a life-or-death battle to join their six-year-old sisters Lilly and Sophie.
They were delivered two months prematurely with breathing problems — and had to spend weeks in intensive care.
Parents Michele and James had already endured a worrying time when the babies needed an operation to survive while still in the womb.
At 20 weeks the girls developed deadly twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, where one takes vital nutrients from the other.
A team at King’s College Hospital, London, saved their lives by performing keyhole laser surgery to separate the placenta.
The babies remained in the womb for three more months.
Then, at 32 weeks, they were delivered by Caesarean section at St Mary’s Hospital in London on May 19. Both weighed 3lb 3oz.
They are now well and being cared for by their proud twin sisters back home in Northaw, Herts. (ANI)
Website Hot or Not celebrates first FB wedding
London: Hot or Not website, which attracted criticism in 2000 after it asked its users to upload pictures and “rate” those of others, is celebrating its first Facebook wedding.
Brazilian airhostess Gisele Cunha, 31, uploaded her picture on the Hot or Not Facebook application in January 2008, and after Gavin Jenkins, 30, from South Wales, noticed it, he planned to meet her on a work trip to Brazil.
The pair used email and instant messaging to keep in touch, until Cunha began working in Britain in April 2008. Jenkins proposed in October the following year.
“I have a lot to thank Mark Zuckerberg for. I definitely owe him a pint,” the Telegraph quoted Jenkins as telling the Sunday Mirror.
Hot or Not now has originally conceived to settle a disagreement between its two founders. Volunteer moderators vet all the images that are uploaded to prevent offensive content finding its way on to the site.
Hot or Not was sold for a rumoured 20 million dollars in 2008 when it was bought by Avid Life Media, with net profits of 2 million dollars. (ANI)
Kids under 5 should exercise three hours a day
London: In the growing concern over childhood obesity, the British government has issued new guidelines to parents, recommending three hours of daily exercise for children under the age of five.
Babies should stretch and roll on activity mats and be taken swimming while toddlers should walk for at least 15 minutes for any routine journey, such as trips to nursery or the shops, according to the government’s chief medical officers, reports the Daily Mail.
However, the guidance, which will also include recommendations for older children and adults, is bound to lead to accusations of nanny-state meddling.
The advice was issued by England’s chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies and her counterparts across Britain. (ANI)
SA Presidential guards over-react to middle finger
JOHANNESBURG: South African President Jacob Zuma’s elite guards overstepped their authority when they arrested and roughed up a student who they thought made an obscene hand gesture, a government commission said on Thursday.
Chumani Maxwele was arrested by guards brandishing assault rifles who jumped out of a luxury sedan after the University of Cape Town student gestured at siren-blaring vehicles that nearly ran him over while he was jogging, witnesses told local media.
Members of the unit arrested and detained Maxwele for gesturing with his middle finger. (Reuters)