Who Cares Petrol Price Increase; As You Can Run Your Car Using Water!

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Photos That Will Tell You What A Wonderful World She Is

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Photographer Darren Leal captured this leaf sparking with rain in the rainforest in Australia for his entry in Wildlife of the Year Photographer 2008.

A dazzling colourful bullethead parrotfish is caught on film as it holds its mouth open so a cleaner fish can peck inside for titbits off the coast in Israel.

This flock of starlings was captured over Lake Mogan in Turkey as they danced for half-an-hour in aerobatic routines before sunset.

Photographer Arthur Morris found these 6,000 Sandpipers snoozing on a beach near the Alaskan fishing town of Cordova.

This three-metre shark was pictured lit by the afternoon sun in the Gulf of Tadjourah, Djibouti.

Read This If You Want To Be Successful

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Who doesn't want to strive and become successful? Exactly, no one. Deep inside all of us, we have our own personal reasons for striving for success, and really, we all define success in very different ways whether it is for financial freedom or mere sense of accomplishment.

When you go to the bookstore, there is a reason that there are six thousand different books proclaiming to know the recipe for success; it's one of the most sought after things on the planet. Ironically, we tend to think that the most complicated solutions are the most effective and we subsequently ignore the simple facts.

Simplicity is what makes everything possible and with every great feat, there were hundreds of small, simple decisions that had to take place first. Look at Google and their simplistic homepage; did simple work for them?

In this article I am not going to break some earth-shattering news or reveal a 10-step program to success. Instead, I want to refresh your brain a little, tip some simplistic approaches and get you back to basics. The simplest things are easily forgotten, have some of these fallen from your scope?

1. Let go of the past. Act and apply in the present and shape up the future

2. Utilize your failures as a guide towards success

3. Do not try. Just do it.

4. Make a list of your dreams. No matter how hard they might be to achieve, just sit down and write all your dreams down.

5. Make a list of your goals and think how you can achieve them

6. Use negative feedback and criticism to your advantage and better yourself

7. If you want to be successful in someone else's game (if you have a boss), play by their rules or create your own game.

8. Make a list of your values. What do you value most and build your success upon them

9. Keep personal time separate from business time.

10. Your success depends on your failures as well as your achievements.

11. If you are in doubt let someone else do it. Doubtfulness is saying I almost believe it. If you don't fully believe it, leave it for someone else who does

12. Avoid interruptions during your productivity time. Whatever it might be, work or family or some alone time, interruptions can throw you off for whatever it is you are doing.

13. Determine your peak performance hours. Work at a point in day when you feel like you are most effective.

14. Breath deeply and let go off any stress.

15. Rest and relaxation plays as much an important part as exercise itself.

16. Do not worry. All it does is gets you ready for negative outcomes.

17. Think happy thoughts and there will be positive outcomes.

18. Do not step back from the job at hand when fear subsides in you.

19. Use your brain not only your heart.

20. Eliminate emotions by letting go off the past and thinking about the present.

21. What has happened in the past will most probably stay the same; you can't change it. Instead focus on the present and live today instead of yesterday.

22. Don't let the time control you. You control the time.

23. Time management is the most effective tool you can utilize and become successful.

24. Create strategies and build credibility among your peers.

25. Once again, forget the past and live it up in the present.

Those were my thoughts and what I practice and preach. Feel free to add more through your comments. Another key reason to becoming successful is following advice and suggestions so lets go ahead and use the comment section for that purpose.

Getting A Higher Salary Using Secret Technique

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Graduates these days find salary negotiations to being a very difficult aspect and experience during an interview with a prospective employer. Indeed it is uncommon for one to want the job yet also at the same time need more money. To make things worse, having little or no experience being a fresh graduate does not help either during negotiations for a higher salary or improved package of benefits from a prospective employer. These graduates simply lack the ability to being more assertive towards the employer.

The remedy for this lies with the graduate itself in accepting that they may not get what they want. But this does not mean that they should simply give up and settle for less. Graduates need to get a clearer picture on what and how the negotiating process really functions. Aligning themselves to being more active will serve to make the graduate feel more in control and maybe even negotiate for more money in the process.

What are "Negotiations"?

Negotiation according to the oxford dictionary means to confer in order to reach an agreement. In simpler words, it’s when one meets and discusses a subject with another person or party, in order to reach a conclusive agreement. It is to be noted that the art of negotiation is based upon mutual agreement of issues, not confrontation. The end result should be a win-win situation for both parties.

Contrary to popular believe, negotiations do not start towards the end of the interviewing process, but instead begin when the graduate tells the company about themselves, their accomplishments and what they can do for the employer given a chance to work. Using active words in the interview to describe one’s accomplishments such as: I oversaw, I developed, I took charge of, I initiated, I followed up on, I actively contributed to, and I created, will only serve to the graduate’s advantage as it will increase the graduate’s "value" when the time comes to offer them a job. The ability to handle details whether minor or major, multiple projects or excellent time management and follow up skills will also contribute to increase the graduate’s value.

To negotiate does not simply mean that the graduate asks for more money from the employer. Graduates need to ask themselves a few questions prior to discussing the issue of salary, in order to know if they have a chance to get more. The idea of a negotiation is basically to reach a common outcome. That is why, asking a few questions may be necessary to see if there might be a way to reach a similar outcome and or a compromise. Among the types of questions graduates need to ask themselves are:

What would be the lowest salary that I would consider accepting?

What the salary range is for the job in question?

What makes myself worth a higher salary?

In order to get information on salary, graduates could approach people who work in that particular industry or at that very company, libraries, trade associations and trade publications or even at job hunting web sites found on the Internet.

If already graduates have correct information or answers to the above questions, employers will most likely have some objections to request for more money. Some of the common objections are as follows:

That other employees in their company are not making more

That the graduates do not have enough experience

That their budget would not permit it

It would therefore be a good idea before the interview for the graduate to think about how they would respond to these objections in a way that continues the discussion on a positive note without backing themselves into a corner. It is important for graduates to keep in mind that they are only asking questions, and not delivering an ultimatum.

Singapore Teenagers Got Pregnant Easily

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September 27 is World Contraception Day and some health groups in Singapore are taking the opportunity to call for improved education on the choices and usage of contraception, in light of increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections among teenagers.

It has been eight years since schools started teaching about sex and contraception but it seems students are still woefully ignorant.

In a survey of 240 youths aged 15 to 20, it was found that 30 per cent thought washing the genitals after sex could prevent pregnancy while 15 per cent believed urinating will do the same. 16 percent believed that exercising vigorously after sex will help shed off sperm, thus preventing pregnancy.

The survey, conducted by pharmaceutical company Bayer Schering Pharma and with doctors advising on the study, found that about 1 in 4 youths engage in sexual activity and about half of them are not using contraceptives.

Said Dr Janet Lee, a general practitioner at Temasek Medical Centre: "I do see teenagers with unwanted pregnancies, and a lot of times, they do not even realise that they are pregnant because it never occurred to them they can be pregnant through unprotected sex.

"Their mindset is that it will not happen to me... I think we need to educate youths about the importance of abstinence, and also educating them about condom use and contraceptive pills so as to prevent unwanted pregnancies."

Teenagers account for about 12 percent of abortion numbers every year, and the number of teenagers with sexually transmitted infections has also doubled in the last decade.

The Ministry of Education has made it compulsory for all schools to have a sexuality education programme, but it seems the message is still not getting through to all teenagers.

Some said it’s because teachers gloss over sexuality education. Others feel teenagers may be too embarrassed to ask questions about sex in class.

"It is not just enough for the schools to be teaching, or for the VWOs to come in. They (teenagers) need to be guided to the right sources of information, and parents can also play a part to be more open, to encourage their teenagers to approach them if they have questions about sex. But I think this will take time, as we are still a pretty conservative society," said Joanne Tan, spokesperson for the Singapore Planned Parenthood Association.

Children As Young As Nine Are Forced To Marry

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British children as young as nine are being forced to marry against their will by their families, campaigners have warned.

Charities supporting victims of forced marriages report growing numbers of young teenagers and children seeking help.

They are urging schools to take tougher action where they suspect pupils are at risk, and to monitor their rolls carefully and raise the alarm when children disappear.

Thousands of Britons - mainly young women from the Asian communities - are thought to be victims of forced marriage each year, but concerns are increasingly focused on the plight of underage girls who are being offered for marriage to foreign men when they have barely left primary school.

No accurate figures exist for the scale of the problem, although the Government's Forced Marriage Unit has helped rescue around 60 children aged 15 or under in the past four years - including 11 so far in 2008 - and experts fear that may represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Typically victims are taken overseas by their families on a false pretext and forced to marry. Extreme cases where women rebel against their family's plans and try to run away have led to so-called 'honour killings' or suicides.

Ministers angered campaigners two years ago by dropping plans to make it a criminal offence to force someone to marry, after Muslim groups objected strongly to the plans.

A charity operating a national helpline on forced marriage, Karma Nirvana, yesterday highlighted one incident where a nine-year-old girl from a Pakistani family in the east Midlands was taken into care after her parents told her she was to be married.

Director Jasvinder Sanghera said that on average one child a week aged under 16 had sought assistance since the helpline launched in April.

'The youngest child we have dealt with was nine years old,' she said. 'The girl told her teacher she was going to be forced to marry someone and initially she was not believed.

'Ultimately, with the help of the Forced Marriage Unit, she was dealt with through child protection procedures. She was assessed and, thankfully, taken into foster care.'

The Forced Marriage Unit, jointly funded by the Home Office and Foreign Office, deals with around 5,000 calls and 300 known cases a year, while a third of all inquiries come from under-18s. Some 15 per cent of cases involve boys being forced to marry.

The youngest victim rescued and repatriated to Britain by the unit was an 11-year-old girl who was flown back from Bangladesh last year after her parents tried to make her marry a local man. Ms Sanghera, who herself fled home after being threatened with forced marriage at the age of 15, said: 'I currently have cases involving four children aged 11 to 14 who were forced to marry or were at risk, and have now been made wards of court.

'You don't just get forced into a marriage at 16 or 17. This is happening to very young children. We certainly have had cases of minors being sexually abused.

'But we have no idea how many children under 16 are at risk, and this is compounded by a reluctance of schools to engage with the issue. Many schools shy away due to supposed cultural sensitivities.'

She added: 'These marriages can be prevented by identifying the signs in school or teachers believing pupils when they raise it.'

The problem is believed to be particularly prevalent in Pakistani communities, she said, where many parents arrange to marry their children to first cousins.

The charity is calling for a formal system of headcounts before and after summer holidays, so that schools can identify children who disappear without explanation.

A report by Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee earlier this year said more than 2,000 pupils were unaccounted for in just 14 local council areas across England and Wales.

Plans to make forced marriage a specific crime were dropped by ministers in 2006 following a Muslim community backlash, although new laws passed last year gave courts new powers to issue injunctions preventing a young person from marrying or being taken abroad - any breach of which by parents would constitute a crime.

Japanese Space Tourist Want His $21 Million Back

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A Japanese businessman who trained for a 10-day flight aboard the International Space Station has sued to get his money back, claiming he was defrauded of $21 million by the U.S. firm that arranged the venture.

Daisuke Enomoto, 37, had completed training in Russia and planned to fly to the station aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule in September 2006. But he was pulled from the three-member crew a month before liftoff, opening a seat for Dallas businesswoman Anousheh Ansari to fly instead.

Enomoto filed suit last month in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, against Virginia-based Space Adventures, the space tourism company that plans to send its sixth paying passenger to orbit next month.

In the lawsuit, which was posted on the Internet by Wired magazine, Enomoto says the medical condition cited for his removal from the crew -- kidney stones -- was well known by Space Adventures and the doctors who had monitored his health and suitability for space flight throughout the training.

Enomoto alleges he was pulled from the flight so Ansari, who had invested in Space Adventures, could fly instead. Ansari also was the primary backer of the $10 million Ansari X Prize awarded in 2004 for the first privately developed manned space flight.

In a response filed on Wednesday, Space Adventures' lawyers said Enomoto's contract did not entitle him to a refund if he became medically disqualified.

"That was a risk he undertook," they said. "Even if Enomoto could prove his unlikely claim that he was somehow misled, he suffered absolutely no damage from any misstatement because ... the cause of his failure to fly was medical disqualification, not lack of authority."

Enomoto claims Space Adventures persuaded Russian space officials to disqualify him under the pretense of medical issues.

"Mr. Enomoto's 'medical condition' was no worse than it was just two weeks prior to his disqualification, when he was medically cleared by the Russian Government Medical Commission," the lawsuit said.

Nor was his health any worse than it was seven weeks before his disqualification, when Enomoto was cleared by the group of five doctors charged with approving private citizen travel to the space station. They included doctors from the Russian Federal Space Agency, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other space station partners, the lawsuit said.

The complaint also alleges that Space Adventures promised Enomoto he could conduct a spacewalk while aboard the station and collected $7 million in deposits, though the firm never had an agreement with Russia for the outing.

In all, Enomoto paid Space Adventures $21 million over two years, none of which has been refunded, the suit claims.

Even Monkey Also Poisoned By Milk

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Two baby orangutans and a lion cub have become the latest victims of China's poisoned milk powder crisis.

The baby animals were found to be suffering from kidney stones when concerned keepers sent them to the veterinarian at Hangzhou Safari Park for a checkup.

All had been fed prepared milk made by the Sanlu Group Co, whose products have been found to contain the toxic industrial chemical melamine.

Four Chinese infants have died and 53,000 infants have fallen sick with kidney stones after drinking Sanlu and other Chinese companies' contaminated milk.

"The milk powder crisis made us very worried about the health situation of baby animals," said Ju Lijia, the animal park's public affairs manager.

"We stopped feeding with Sanlu after it was found to be tainted."

Vet Zhang Xu, who is treating the sick animals, said their kidney stones were not yet visible, but would grow.

"The crystallisation now is very small, but it will grow bigger and then block the urine," he said. Kidney stones are small, solid masses that form when salts or minerals normally found in urine crystallise inside the kidney.

If they become large enough, they can move out of the kidney, cause infection and lead to permanent kidney damage.

Officials at the Beijing Zoo and zoos in the other major cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xian said none of their animals had so far been taken ill due to contaminated milk powder.

Meanwhile, an official at the world's most famous panda reserve, the Wolong Nature Reserve, assured that the baby pandas there are not fed on milk made from formula.

Another Horrifying Stunt By David Blaine

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New York's mayor has banned the practice of climbing or jumping off high buildings - but his new law will not affect daredevil illusionist David Blaine's latest stunt.

The performer has begun an attempt to hang upside down, suspended from a four-storey metal frame in Central Park, for 60 hours.

His medical advisors have warned him he faces going blind from dangling head first for such a long time.

Blood vessel surgeon Dr Massimo Napolitano, of the Hackensack University Medical Centre in New Jersey, said that hanging upside down increases blood pressure in the head, especially in the eyes.

The increased pressure could result in loss of sight, but also swelling and cramps in internal organs.

Despite the dangers, Blaine's spokesman said he had secured full permission for the attempt. But other thrill-seekers may find themselves under arrest for attempting dramatic stunts in future.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a new bill after a spate of so-called base jumping incidents in the city.

It "prohibits climbing, jumping or suspending oneself from structures without the approval of the police department and the owner of the structure".

The law targets freelance climbers who scale large objects, sometimes descending by parachute or wingsuit.

The mayor's office said: "Valuable city resources are dedicated to responding to these events - resources that could be better utilised to respond to other emergencies."

Special Preview: Google Phone Finally Hit The Market

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Google is preparing to take on the biggest names in the telephone industry with the launch of its first mobile phone. The search engine giant will unveil the phone dubbed the 'G1' in a press conference in New York today. No images have been released of the new mobile, which will be available exclusively on T-Mobile in the UK. The release is expected to spark major competition ahead of the lucrative Christmas shopping season. The G1, priced around £100, is expected to compete directly with Apple's iPhone 8gb 3G. Google have been very secretive about their first hardware product. The specifications are yet to be confirmed, but it is widely rumoured that the phone - which is to be manufactured by Taiwanese firm HTC - will have a large touchscreen as well as a fold-out Qwerty keypad. It is also expected to contain a GPS chip, enabling satellite navigation using Google maps. A large touchscreen with vibrating feedback, WiFi support and a 3.0 megapixel camera are also rumoured to be featured. The phone will run on Google Android, a mobile operating system that integrates with the web giant's products. These are likely to include Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps, GChat and Google's new web browser, Chrome. The GPS functionality is expected to give users location-based services, such as restaurant reviews and photos of the surrounding area. Blogs across the web predict the phone will be based on the HTC 'Dream' handset and will be available in grey and black.

Bollywood Version Of Harry Porter, The Hari Puttar

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Moves to sue the makers of Bollywood film Hari Puttar over its title have been dismissed.

Hollywood studio Warner Bros, which owns the rights to the blockbuster Harry Potter movies, argued the Indian film sounded too similar to the name of their young wizard hero.

But lawyer Pratibha Singh announced that a court in New Delhi had dismissed the case.

He said that Warner Bros had known the title of the film since 2005 and had delayed bringing the case to court until the last moment.

The court added that consumers who read the Harry Potter books, written by JK Rowling, were sufficiently educated to know Hari Puttar was different, the lawyer said.

Lawyers for Warner Bros confirmed the ruling but declined to comment.

Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors was due to open earlier this month. But producers delayed its release after some television networks refused to air the trailers due to the legal dispute.

The film is a comedy about the adventures of a 10-year-old Indian boy whose family moves to England.

It is scheduled to premiere in Mumbai on Wednesday and will be on general release from Friday. The makers of Hari Puttar said their product had nothing in common with the boy wizard movies.

Producers argued that Hari was a common Indian name and Puttar is Hindi for son.

Warners' next Harry Potter instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is due for worldwide release next summer.

It is the sixth movie adaptation of Rowling's seven books, the last being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The Harry Potter films have grossed more than $4.47bn since 2001, making it one of the most lucrative franchises of all time.

Ghost Force Mllionaire To Sell Off His £3.6m Mansion

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A millionaire businessman has become so spooked by the "haunted" £3.6m mansion he bought last year that he has handed the property back to the bank.

Anwar Rashid, 32, described how he, his wife and their four young children lived in fear after they began hearing screams in the corridors shortly after moving into Clifton Hall.

They also claim to have seen apparitions and heard knocking on the wall of the 17-bedroom mansion in Nottinghamshire.

But it was the sight of blood spots on their 18-month-old son's bed clothes that finally forced the family to abandon their luxury home, Mr Rashid said, comparing his experience to Nicole Kidman's film The Others.

"We were like the family in The Others. The ghosts didn't want us to be there and we could not fight them because we couldn't see them," he said.

"The day we moved in we had our first experience. We sat down in the evening to relax and there was a knock on the wall. We heard: 'Hello, is anyone there?'

"We ignored it the first time but two minutes later we heard the man's voice again. I got up to have a look but the doors were locked and the windows were closed.

"On another occasion my wife went downstairs to make milk for the baby at 5am and she saw our eldest daughter watching television.

"She said her name but she wouldn't respond. My wife realised something was up, so she went back upstairs to check on her and found her fast asleep in her bed.

"When we found red blood spots on the baby's quilt, that was the day my wife said she'd had enough. We didn't even stay that night. It was the last straw, we felt that they had come to attack us. It was really emotional."

Clifton Hall, which dates back to the Norman conquest, has 17 bedrooms, 10 reception rooms, 10 bathrooms, a gym and a cinema.

Mr Rashid, who is worth £25m and made his money through a chain of nursing homes, said: "I am now looking at a new property in Nottingham. I don't think I will ever buy an old building again because of what has happened."

US Need Stagerring $700 Billion To Avoid Disaster

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President Bush has announced a $700bn bail-out plan to mop up toxic mortgage debts in the US financial system.

The cash is likely to come from the country's expanding national debt, which currently stands at almost ten trillion dollars.

Bush is urging lawmakers to move quickly as negotiators from Congress and the White House work through the weekend to thrash out details of the draft bill.

The US Treasury admits the move to guarantee bad mortgages is risky, but says it is necessary to avoid sweeping job cuts and a further housing crash that would cripple the American economy.

Under the taxpayer-funded plan, the government would buy, or commit to buy, "mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States."

The plan also calls for a 6.6% increase in the permitted limit of US national debt to $11.315 trillion.

In his weekly radio address, Bush stressed that action was vital, not only for Wall Street but also for the high street.

Further pressure on the nation's financial markets could reverberate and "cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts, further erode housing values, and dry up new loans for homes, cars, and college tuitions," he warned.

Elsewhere, Mr Bush said it was a "big package because it was a big problem".

"I will tell our citizens and continue to remind them that the risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package."

Administration officials and congressional leaders hope a deal can be approved by Congress by the end of next week.

Stock markets around the world soared in value after the US Treasury announced it was stepping in to deal with the crisis.

In London, the FTSE added £103bn to the value of Britain's biggest companies in its biggest-ever one-day rise, while New York's Dow Jones closed 368.75 higher.

Other European stock markets were also in better shape, with Paris's CAC 40 9% ahead, and Frankfurt's Dax 6% up.

But while there is some cause for optimism, Anatole Kaletsky, economic commentator for The Times, told Sky News there could be big problems ahead for Europe.

He said: There are plenty of banks outside the US, including in the UK, which are potentially just as exposed, if not more exposed, to a collapse in the housing market, which is basically what triggered this whole process in the US.

"Now, the fall in the housing market in the US is arguably almost over. In Britain, it's only just started... and the chances are that our housing market will fall at least as much as the one in America.

"Therefore, our banks are equally vulnerable and will need government support."

:: A US bankruptcy court has approved the sale of key assets of fallen US investment bank Lehman Brothers to its British competitor Barclays.

4 Dating Ideas That You Don't Need To Spend A Cent

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Whether you’ve been with your loved one for a week or a lifetime, it’s important to do some fun “couple” things together – to go on dates. The problem is that money is tight and for a typical 'dinner and a movie' evening for two can easily cost $100 (unless you go for fast food). If you have kids and require a babysitter, costs clearly increase from there.

If you use your imagination a little, you can easily come up with some inexpensive options. Remember, it's the time - not the money - you spend together that is special. If you're having trouble thinking of things, consider these four. Then, but the iPhone down, leave your worries behind, and enjoy.

Here are some ideas for money-conscious lovers:

Go For a Long Country Walk

I really enjoy walking with my boyfriend – it’s one of the times when we forget about the distractions of computers, TVs, college work, paid work … and just enjoy being together. It’s also a great way to stay fit and healthy as a couple, and to feel a deep sense of connection with the natural world.Pick a sunny afternoon to drive out into the country and go exploring. Take a map, plenty of water and wear good walking shoes. Relax and enjoy yourselves – imagine that you have all the time in the world to spend together.If you live near the beach, the seashore is a wonderfully romantic place to walk. Pick a quiet stretch of coast where you can listen to the waves crashing onto the shore as you walk hand-in-hand.

Pack a Picnic

Meals at restaurants quickly get expensive. If you and your partner are spending a lot on food every time you’re out, why not take a picnic instead? You could each bring a few of your favorite foods, or you could go shopping together to pick some easy al fresco items at the start of the date.It’s nice to take food items that you can share – so rather than packing separate sandwiches, take a chunk of French stick, some butter or cream cheese and luncheon meat, then assemble it piece-by-piece as you eat. Pita breads and hummus dips also work well, or wraps and a pot of prawn mayonnaise or roasted veggies to fill them with.Almost any location can be good for a picnic, but local parks and fields are ideal. Take a rug with you, and you won’t even need to find a picnic bench.

Watch a DVD

Instead of forking out cash for two cinema tickets, buckets of coke and vats of popcorn, why not have a movie evening at home? Pick a favorite movie each (it doesn’t cost much to rent a DVD) – though if you’re being truly romantic, take your partners’ taste in movies into account too.Get some snacks – chips, popcorn, ice-cream, pizza, whatever you fancy – dim the lights, and snuggle up together on the sofa for a cozy home movie experience. Sure, it’s not quite the same as the cinema: there’s no hordes of kids chucking popcorn, no elderly lady tutting every time you so much as hold hands, and no adverts before your film starts. I expect you’ll cope…

Bake Cakes Together

Pick a rainy weekend afternoon to roll your sleeves up and get baking. You can have fun beforehand poring over recipe books together and deciding what to make. Buy the ingredients you need and get cracking!If you’re short of ideas, anything that you can decorate together works well. How about making some mini cakes and covering them with sprinkles and hearts drawn on in colored frosting? If that’s too saccharine for you, baking bread together is also great fun. Pancakes – with lots of different bits and pieces to fill them with – are almost certain to be a hit, too.

You'll Love Your Mom Even More After You Read This

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MORE than half a million women still die each year in pregnancy and childbirth, often bleeding to death because no emergency obstetrical care is available, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says.

Despite modest progress, particularly in Asia, the global maternal mortality toll remains stubbornly stable due to a lack of financial resources and political will, it said.

More than 99 percent of the estimated 536,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2005 occurred in developing countries, half of them in sub-Saharan Africa, it said in a report entitled "Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Maternity".

"One of the critical bottlenecks has always been access to highly skilled health workers required to deliver emergency obstetrical care, particularly caesarian sections," UNICEF's chief of health Peter Salama said.

About 50 million births in the developing world, or about 4 in 10 of all births worldwide, are not attended by trained personnel, according to the report. Haemorrhaging is the leading cause of maternal death in Africa and Asia, causing one in three deaths, it said. Infections, hypertensive disorders, complications of abortion, obstructed labour or HIV/AIDS are other causes.

Such complications can be easily treated in a health system whose facilities are staffed with skilled personnel to handle emergencies around the clock, but disparities persist, it said. "The lifetime risk of maternal death in the developing world as a whole is 1 in 76, compared with 1 in 8000 in the industrialised world," UNICEF said.

The riskiest place to give birth is Niger, where the risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth over the course of a woman's lifetime is one in seven, it said. In Sierra Leone it is 1 in 8. But developing countries including Sri Lanka and Mozambique have succeeded in reducing maternal mortality rates, it said. A combination of family planning, training skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetrical care and post-natal care is the key to reducing maternal mortality, according to the agency.

At the current average reduction rate of less than one per cent a year, the world will miss the goal of reducing maternal mortality rates by 75 percent between 1990 and 2015, to less than 150,000, one of the Millennium Development Goals, it said. "The time is right. We now know exactly what to do for maternal mortality reduction to make this one of the next big issues in global health," Salama said.

Boy Become Superstar After Sex Change

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A GIRL believed to be the youngest person in the world to have a sex change is set to become a pop star, after years of bullying, and taunts about her changing body.

Kim Petras - originally called Tim - changed sex after she started hormone treatment at the age of just twelve. Now 16-year-old Kim is ready to storm the charts with her first album after landing a record deal.

The German teenager has overcome years of taunts and bullying to release her first CD after becoming a cult hit on MySpace and You Tube.

Petras, who is now officially registered as a female and has long blonde hair and blue eyes, said:

“My music is most important to me at the moment. It’s the way I can best express myself."

“I know that because of my past people will always bring up the subject, I can’t get away from it."

“But I hope that one day I might be better known for my music than for my past.” Petras was diagnosed as a transsexual three years ago.

Doctors and psychiatrists concluded that her claims to be "in the wrong body" were so deeply felt that she required treatment.

Her therapy included artificially halting male puberty - with a series of potent hormone injections. She was then administered female hormones to initiate the development of her breasts.

Famous Millionaires Who Went Bankrupt; Therefore You Are Not That Bad Afterall

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Take a browse through some famous people who you might never have thought would file for bankruptcy...Gary Coleman, who won fame with TV show "Diff'rent Strokes" was once worth an estimated US$18m. In the 1990s he filed for bankruptcy.

George Best suffered from bouts of bankruptcy and alcoholism through his life.

When Kim Basinger pulled out of the 1993 film Boxing Helena the producers sued her for over $8m in court. She was forced to declare bankruptcy, but later had the decision reversed.

When Larry King amassed huge debts and was accused of stealing US$5,000 from a business partner, his career was almost ruined. By 1978 he had to file for bankruptcy.

Despite "Got To Give It Up" going to number one on the pop charts, Marvin Gaye would file for bankruptcy in 1979. For a while the soul superstar lived in a bread van.

Before films, Walt Disney tried his hand in commercial art with his own company "Laugh-O-Grams". It soon went bankrupt.

A lavish lifestyle and dwindling album sales forced the illustrious MC Hammer to declare bankruptcy in the 1990s.

In 2004 Donald Trump's flagship casino business filed for bankruptcy. He later argued that recovering from bankruptcy made him the businessman he is today. In 1832, after returning from military service, Abraham Lincoln filed for bankruptcy. He worked as a postmaster for a while, amassing huge debts which he later repaid and earned the nickname "Honest Abe". In 1998 the five-time Grammy winner Toni Braxton filed for bankruptcy. Afterward she said it taught her a "humiliating lesson".

Tall Sexy Leggy Women And A Short Man

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They looked like the odd couple when they posed in central London.

The world's smallest man hooked up with the lady with the longest legs.

He Pingping, who is just 74.61cm tall (2ft 5.37in), posed on steps in London's Trafalgar Square with Russian Svetlana Pankratova, whose legs have been measured at 132cm (4ft 3.9in).

That is almost twice his height.

Pingping admitted he was head over heels in love - but not with the lady towering above him. Pingping, who was born with primordial dwarfism, was thinking as ever of his girlfriend back in Inner Mongolia.

He said through an interpreter: "I always miss her when I'm not with her."

The 20-year-old has been going out with the woman, who is of average height, for six months. He is from Huade County in Wulanchabu, and at the time of his birth was no bigger than his father's palm.

He Pingping met Svetlana at the launch of the 2009 edition of the Guinness World Records book. Svetlana, from Volgograd, lives with her Russian boyfriend on the Costa del Sol in Spain, and is 1m 96cm tall (6ft 4in).

The 36-year-old said of He Pingping: "I heard he was going to be the shortest man, but I didn't realise he was going to be that small."

"He seems very happy, he smiles and laughs a lot."

Svetlana, who works in a real estate agency business in Spain, already has a boyfriend shorter than herself.

"I don't mind dating a shorter person, my boyfriend is 1m 85cm (6ft 1in)," she said.

Man Ate 23,000 Big mac Burgers

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An American has eaten his 23,000th Big Mac burger after just 36 years. But despite the odds Don Gorske is not overweight.

Mr Gorske, from Wisconsin, said he reached the milestone after his obsessive-compulsive disorder fuelled his love for the McDonald's snack.

He began eating the burgers on May 17, 1972, and has kept every receipt to prove his achievement.

The 54-year-old has written a book about his experience after he became fascinated with the way the fast food chain tracks its customer numbers so he decided to track his own consumption. Mr Gorske, who is 6ft 2in tall and weighs 84 kg, burns off the burgers by strolling up to 10 miles a day.

Each day he eats two Big Macs, which are made up of two beef patties, cheese and a special Mac sauce.

"I enjoy them every day. I need two to fill me up."

"Sometimes people call me a freak but it doesn't bother me. I just say respect people as they are," he said.

"I just want to make sure people understand I'm not going to change."

Mr Gorske used to order fries every day in the 1980s but began to cut back in the 90s. He now limits himself to once a month.

To All Facebook Users Beware! Because The Worms Are Coming To You!

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The number of Facebook accounts being attacked by internet worms is on the rise, with users reporting that their accounts are being hijacked.

The worms get into profiles of unsuspecting users and tap into the information to silently rapid-fire malicious spam messages to the user's friends.

The technique is known as "social engineering" and messages usually mislead the recipient, claiming to feature a web video or blog post.

It encourages them to follow the link, which leads them to rogue webpages, exposing them to viruses and worms.

Several Facebook users have reported the link to rogue websites.

The most prolific culprit is a worm dubbed "Koobface", which first came to light in July.

Because messages appear to come from a friend, they often catch people off-guard.

Popular websites MySpace and Facebook now have over 100 million users each, and hold a wealth of sensitive data threatened by these attacks.

Facebook acknowledges that its users have been targeted but says the problems are largely under control.

Facebook said: "Over the past few days, we have received reports from users of spam and phishing attacks.

"We have also detected and contained a worm. We are investigating every report, removing false content, blocking bogus links and addressing the concerns of our users.

"These efforts have limited the affected users to a small percentage of those on Facebook."

In addition, Facebook released a new security feature to deter spam wall posts from spreading across the site - another common threat.

The site will now display warnings when a user posts a potentially harmful web address, and scans all suspect links for reported attacks, warning users they may be at risk.

Facebook head of security Max Kelly, a former FBI computer forensics examiner, advised users to be on their guard. In a blog post, he recommended that those affected report suspected threats and keep their passwords safe.

The World Most Powerful Celebrities

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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are the most powerful celebrities on the planet, according to the new edition of Guinness World Records.

The couple, known collectively as Brangelina, have moved to the top of the Hollywood power league - toppling Tom Cruise and Jennifer Aniston.

They hit the pinnacle of power by a combination of internet searches, press stories and earnings. But even though they are at the apex of the A-Listers, they are not the most searched people on the web.

That goes to fallen pop princess Britney Spears, whose eratic behaviour helped her take back the crown from Paris Hilton.Elsewhere in the stellar section of the 2009 edition, actor Samuel L Jackson tops the league of highest grossing actors.

His 68 films have trousered $7.42bn at the box office.Director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp have become the most lucrative Hollywood movie partnership, grossing $986m from six films including Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd.With yet another movie in the Bond franchise about to hit the screens, Guinness said the 21 already made make the series the highest grossing in history with takings of $4.49bn since 1962.

And while Lost becomes the most downloaded TV show of all time, it is ousted from the position of most popular TV show by House, starring Hugh Laurie.Amy Winehouse gets the title of most Grammy awards won by a British female act in a single year after getting five gongs.The 2009 edition of Guinness World Records, which chronicles records from sharing a bath with the most number of rattlesnakes, to the fastest time to complete a marathon in orbit, goes on sale on Wednesday.

Top 10 Sex Tips That You Have Been Waiting For

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Teeth brushed, condom on, socks off? The Times has revealed a list of top ten sex tips for men.

1. Men aren't irresistible and not all women are desperate for sex. Good lovemaking starts long before you reach the bedroom, so before any date, have a bath. Everyone smells: some women like the smell of male sweat, others don't, but no one likes the smell of stale sweat.

2.Sexual gymnastics are often distracting. Chopping and changing positions and techniques can make a woman's sexual excitement plummet.

3. Thrusting for hours without climaxing doesn't make you a stud muffin. It does make her numb and sore.

4. Don't assume your partner is comfortable in her own skin. A survey of 3,500 British women, by the bathroom equipment company SHUC, found that one woman in ten feels so embarrassed about her body that she turns the lights out before taking off her clothes. The average woman still spends a lot of time every day beating herself up about her weight and looks. Nakedness increases that vulnerability, so be sensitive to her insecurities and, if you think that your partner looks great, for God's sake tell her.

5. There's more to sex than pushing the right button. Men have discovered that the key to female orgasm is clitoral stimulation, and many now rub the lamp rather than poking around inside it. The upside is that women are climaxing more often but the increase in emphasis on genital manipulation has made for some very mechanical sex. Going straight to the erogenous zones is the equivalent of fast forward. Men who focus on left breast, right breast, genitals, reduce their partner to a set of body parts.

6. Be polite. Never nudge your partner's head towards your nether regions. During fellatio don't thrust into your partner's mouth, don't hold the side of her head - and definitely warn her when you think you are going to come. With regard to orgasm, always operate a ladies-first policy.

7. Make certain that your partner knows how attractive you find her by paying as much attention to kissing her, complimenting her and generally spoiling her. Don't neglect the breasts and other erogenous zones.

8. Though clitoral orgasm is easy to achieve, most women want to experience penetrative orgasm. Intercourse is the ultimate connection between man and woman and the sensation of fullness that it creates is intensely pleasurable.

9. Women are slow burners. They take longer to become aroused and get as much pleasure, if not more, out of tenderness, kissing and cuddling. Though quickie sex has its place, for women on the whole, the longer sex takes, the better it feels. If arousal is allowed to build gradually, it floods the whole body rather than being confined to the genital area and a delayed orgasm is infinitely more powerful than an orgasm induced by five minutes of digital manipulation.

10. Put a little X in your sex. Watching steamy movies with your partner will increase the chance of some how's-your-father.

Government Declare One Day Holiday, Just To Have Sex

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Lovers in a Russian province are getting a day off work to have sex as part of a drive to boost the country's birth rate.

The governor of Ulyanovsk is offering prizes to couples as an incentive to conceive.

If they have a baby on Russia Day, on June 12, they could win fridges, televisions, washing machines, cars or money.

The event is unofficially known as Conception Day in Ulyanovsk.

Since it was launched four years ago, the region's birth rate has risen by around five per cent. A Russian news website is reporting that this year's 'Give Birth to a Patriot' day will coincide with a 'Day of Soberness'.

Governor Sergei Morozov wants couples to focus on conceiving rather than drinking.

According to the report, businesses in the region have been ordered not to sell any alcohol throughout the day.

In terms of territory, Russia is the largest country in the world covering more than an eighth of the earth's surface.

But with fewer than 142 million people, it is one of the most sparsely populated.

The population has been shrinking since the 1990s and is falling by almost half a per cent every year.

It is estimated Russia could lose 40 million people by the middle of the century.

Falling birth rate, emigration and an ailing healthcare system are to blame.

When Vladimir Putin was president, he described the population crisis as the most acute problem facing Russia and announced cash incentives to families to have more than one child.

The tradition of rewarding families for having children dates back to Soviet times when women were named Mother Hero if they gave birth to 10 babies or more.

Apple Want To Hit The Market By Storm From The Latest iPod Nano

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Apple has unveiled its thinnest-ever iPod Nano and a host of other updates in a hotly anticipated announcement ahead of the Christmas shopping season.

CEO Steve Jobs showed off the new products at the Let's Rock event in California.He revealed the new Nano, a revamped iPod Classic, iTunes version 8 plus changes to the iPod Touch.

Much of what was announced matched speculation sweeping the web ahead of the launch, the contents of which were meant to be a closely guarded secret.

iTunes 8 will enable users to watch high-definition television programmes on their computers. The new version also features Genius Playlists, which generates a list of songs that go well together based on the preferences of users.

The fourth-generation Nano has a sleek, slim shape and listeners can move to the next track by shaking it. It will cost $191 for 8GB.

Also revamped were the Classic, which can now store 30,000 songs, and the Touch, which features integrated volume control, in-built speakers and Genius Playlists.

However, the innovations revealed were merely the "natural evolution" of the Apple brand and lacked the show-stopping surprises industry figures hoped for, according to Ben Camm-Jones, news editor of Web User magazine.

"To be honest, it's underwhelming except for the HD development," he told Sky News Online.

"The Nano and Touch updates were expected. "It's unusual that there was nothing that really surprised anyone."

Free updates are also on the way for iPhone users. Boss Mr Jobs promised they would "fix a lot of bugs".

He also made light of the obituary of his life accidentally published by newswire Bloomberg by standing in front of the Mark Twain joke, "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Singapore Fall Out Of World Top 5 Greenest Cities

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Urban areas gobble copious amounts of energy, accounting for most of world consumption. Discover 10 cities—including a few local standouts—that are innovators in eco-friendly energy usage:

Seventy-five percent of world energy consumption happens in cities, says Energe-Cites, a France-based organization, which acts as the voice of some 100 European cities committed to sustainable practices. This means that urban areas present rich opportunities for energy conservation. Indeed, a growing number of cities around the world are pursuing eco-friendly strategies. The 10 cities mentioned below are unique because of their innovative approaches to green energy usage:

Chicago, IL, USA

The word "green" is hardly associated with Chicago because of its industrial heritage. But Mayor Richard Daley has kick-started an ambitious program that aims to make Chicago the most eco-friendly city in the world. And his plan is already bringing distinction to the metropolis, which has more than a billion square feet of industrial real estate. For starters, Chicago can now claim to be one of the biggest non-utility purchasers of renewable energy in the country. Moreover, it's already on the verge of meeting its goal to buy 20% of its municipal power from renewable energy—two years ahead of the 2006 deadline set by the city government. Moreover, the city has shown creativity in promoting sustainable practices. For instance, it offers various incentives to city residents who buy historic bungalow-style homes and install energy efficient technologies in them. Through this initiative, the city is showing that historic design can go hand in hand with modern, clean energy systems.

Reykjavik, Iceland

With a population of only about 115,000, Reykjavik may be small in size but it has a huge ambition—to become the world's first hydrogen city. In April 2003, it became home to the first Shell-branded hydrogen station built by Shell Hydrogen, a global business of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies. And apart from fuel cells, Reykjavik also embraces renewable energy. Its home country of Iceland has been benefiting from its remarkable geothermal and hydro electric resources for many years and currently gets an impressive 70% of its energy from renewable energy generated on the island. Moreover, Iceland aims to become a hydrogen economy by 2050.

Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver is an even bigger user of renewable energy than Reykjavik. In fact, a whopping 90% of the energy it provides its 560,000 residents comes from renewable energy, mainly hydro electric. And it's not stopping there. It has a 100-year plan that includes far-reaching strategies that will enable the city to embrace emerging energy-efficient technologies. Moreover, the coastal city is seeking to take advantage of a broader range of renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, wave and tidal.

Sacramento, CA, USA

This central California city with a population of 400,000 consistently finds itself in the Top 10 metro areas in the U.S. when it comes to green energy sales to consumers. It can thank the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) for this distinction. The utility, which is one of the largest retail green energy suppliers in the U.S., offers a green-energy pricing program that allows consumers to pay a fixed monthly fee, which it then invests in renewable energy. Currently, the utility gets almost 60% of its energy from renewables, mainly from hydro electric resources. And it plans to broaden its portfolio, providing 10% of its electricity from non-hydro renewables by 2006 and 20% from non-hydro renewables by 2011.

Barcelona, Spain

In order to lessen carbon dioxide emissions, this city of 1.5 million is encouraging the installation of solar panels. For example, a law requires new buildings or buildings under major renovation to implement enough solar energy systems to satisfy 60% of running hot water needs. Since the law became effective, builders have applied for licenses to install 14,028 square meters of solar panels, compared to only 1,650 square meters before the law took effect, says the Barcelona Energy Agency. As a result, the city will likely save 11,222 MWh a year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,973 tons annually.

Portland, Oregon, USA

While renewables now provide only about 10% of its electric load, this Pacific Northwest city (population: roughly 0.5 million people) has set its sights on an ambitious goal—to get 100% of its energy from renewables by 2010. As part of that effort, it depends on solar energy to power its parking meters. What's more, it also employs fuel cells powered by waste methane, a micro hydro facility located in its drinking water system, and microturbines propelled by waste methane.

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo, which can be found in Sweden's southern province of Skane, already has hundreds of smart energy homes. And the city, which has a population of about 260,000, is not resting on its laurels. In fact, it hopes to become an international example for densely packed sustainable residences and office buildings that derive all of their energy from renewable resources. To this end, Malmo is renovating shipyard and industrial areas and turning them into residential communities. Moreover, the city is constructing energy-efficient homes with recyclable materials.

Austin, Texas, USA

Like other cities on this elite list, Austin (population: 650,000) has a lofty goal—to become the number one solar manufacturing center in the U.S. Currently, it is supporting the solar industry by offering various pro-green energy initiatives. Its municipal utility, Austin Energy, has set its sights on obtaining 35% of its energy from renewable resources and through efficiency measures by 2020. Central to the plan is what the utility calls the "nation's most ambitious solar energy initiative" which is expected to pave the way for the installation of 100 MW of solar power by 2020.

Freiburg, Germany

Freiburg is already renowned in Germany as the solar city. In this city of 200,000 people, solar panels are everywhere—in homes, hotels, sports complexes, schools, businesses and institutes. Moreover, hundreds of environment-related companies call this city home. One such company is Solar Fabrik, a photovoltaic company that says it's Germany's largest manufacturer of installation-ready solar modules and the operator of a zero-emissions factory, Europe's first carbon dioxide-neutral production facility for solar modules.

Sydney, Australia

This city of 4 million people celebrated the arrival of 2004 by using green energy to light up the 1,650-feet Harbour Bridge and 16 other landmarks. And it also embraces eco-friendly energy usage on a daily basis. In February 2003, Earth Power, a green waste generator, opened in the city, and now restaurants and supermarkets deposit 2,100 tons a day of leftover food there. The facility turns waste into gas through anaerobic digestion, a combustion-free process, and produces 3.2 MW of power. It generates electricity as well as produces high-nutrient fertilizer. Moreover, the state of New South Wales (NSW), where Sydney is located, is striving to increase green energy production and consumption. The state already holds 52% of Australia's renewable energy capacity—more than 4,051 MW

Sex On The Beach Couple Back In Court

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Two Britons accused of having sex on a Dubai beach are heading back to court in a bid to clear their names and avoid six months in jail.

Vince Acors, 34, of Bromley, south east London, and Michelle Palmer, 36, deny they got intimate in public - something which is strictly forbidden in the Gulf Emirate state.

Their lawyer claims DNA and medical tests failed to prove the duo had sex.

In today's hearing the police officer who arrested the pair - who described Palmer sitting on Acors with her shirt off - will be called to give evidence.

During the last court hearing in Dubai, the pair's appeal for a quick ruling that would let them return to Britain was rejected.

But their lawyer Hassan Matter said: "Medical reports for Michelle said that she didn't have sex. The DNA from Michelle said she didn't have sex.

"They were arrested at about 1am and they went for a medical report at about 8.30am. The medical examination of Vincent didn't give any sure findings."

Miss Palmer and Mr Acors were arrested hours after attending a £60 all-you-can-drink champagne brunch at Le Meridien hotel, close to Dubai Airport.

Sex outside of marriage is illegal in Dubai.

Miss Palmer, who worked as a publishing executive in Dubai, was sacked following her arrest.

Zoo Official Shock When Polar Bear Turn Into Green Color

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Three polar bears at a Japanese zoo are looking under the weather after their fur turned green.

The powerful beasts at the country's Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens are normally white to match their native Arctic habitats.

But their changed colour in July after swimming in a pond with an overgrowth of algae.

Zoo official Masami Kurobe said that the sight of green polar bears has sparked concern amongst visitors about whether the animals are sick or carrying mold.

Mr Kurobe said high temperatures in July and August and less-frequent water changes because of the zoo's conservation efforts have caused an algae growth in the bear pond and safety moat.

He added that the algae enters hollow spaces in the bears' fur and is hard to rinse off.

The bears are expected to return to their natural colour when the algae growth subsides in November.

Polar bears are the world's largest predator found on land.

An adult male can weigh up to 1,500 lbs.

Toshiba Throw Away Remote Control And Control TV By Just Using Hand

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People will soon be able to control their TVs simply by waving their hands, researchers have said.

Toshiba Research Europe's Cambridge Research Laboratory has developed a gesture-based interface which could eventually act as an alternative to a remote control.

Users raise their hand to take control of a screen, and then move it around to change the channel or the volume.

Researchers are now working on the system recognising gestures in different lighting conditions and on dealing with multiple users in the same room.

It also needs to be developed so that it recognises real gestures, rather than involuntary movements such as sneezes.

Professor Roberto Cipolla, Managing Director at Toshiba's Cambridge Research Laboratory, said the research was "opening an array of possibilities for consumers, such as new interfaces for TVs and interactive displays in shop windows and information kiosks.

"The gesture interface may not replace a remote controller, but can provide an alternative way to interact with a PC or display.

"Imagine never having to search for the remote controller to turn the TV volume down when receiving a phone call."