People are far more likely to be admitted to hospital for trips and falls on New Year’s Eve than for any other cause, research shows.
Data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre in Britain revealed more than 1,000 people were admitted last New Year’s Eve for falls.
Some 120 people fell down steps while two children were admitted after falling from playground equipment. Fifteen people had a fall involving ice skates, skis, roller skates or skateboards, while 222 fell over at the same level by slipping, tripping and stumbling. (PA)
Father fights crocodile to save son
A villager fought a crocodile with his bare hands to free his son from its jaws, reports in Zimbabwe have said.
Tafadzwa Kachere and his 11-year-old son Tapiwa were trying to cross a river in rural Mutoko on Christmas eve when the crocodile attacked the boy. Kachere jumped onto the crocodile’s back and tried to force open its jaws, beating at its head with his fists and poking at its eyes with reeds, The Herald newspaper reported.
The crocodile released the child and turned on his father who wrestled free of its grasp. The newspaper says the child lost a leg and his father’s arm was badly mauled. Both survived. (AP)
China officials in smoking ban
China is asking its officials to take the lead over a ban on smoking in public places.
The official Xinhua news agency says officials are not allowed to smoke in schools, hospitals, sports venues or on public transport, or to smoke or offer cigarettes when performing official duties.
Xinhua has said the new rules were contained in a circular from the Communist Party’s central committee and the state council, or China’s Cabinet.
China has more than 300 million smokers.
In 2011, China’s Health Ministry issued guidelines banning smoking in indoor public places, including hotels and restaurants, but they are not strictly enforced. (AP)
Hottest chilli pepper in the world
A US who man took a sweet hot pepper from the Caribbean and worked to make it hotter now officially grows the hottest peppers in the world.
Ed Currie, of South Carolina, spent four years working with students at Winthrop University who test food as part of their undergraduate classes to certify the amount of heat.
Guinness Book of World Records says a batch of Mr Currie’s Carolina Reaper peppers registered at nearly 1.6 million Scoville Heat Units. A regular jalapeno pepper registers around 5,000 on the Scoville scale, while pepper spray weighs in at about two million Scoville Units. He grows peppers on his Chester County farm and in his backyard in Rock Hill. (PA)
Travellers get unintended present
A computer glitch gave some Delta Air Lines travellers a welcome Christmas present.
Some fares on Delta’s website and other sites were showing up incorrectly, offering bargain-hunters an incredible deal. A round-trip flight between Cincinnati and Minneapolis for February was being sold for just $25 (€18) and a round-trip between Cincinnati and Salt Lake City for $48 (€35). The correct price for both is more than $400 (€290).
A spokesman for the Atlanta-based airline said the problem has been fixed but “Delta will honour any fares purchased at the incorrect price”.
New official regulations, aimed at truth in advertising, require airlines to honour any fares offered in error. (PA)