Governments and campaigners yesterday urged a worldwide end to the death penalty, singling out the United States, Iran and China and denouncing executions of children and other vulnerable groups. Picture shows people simulating an execution as they participate in a demonstration held at the Centre national d’Art et Culture Georges Pompidou’s esplanade in Paris, during the eighth World Day.
Transplant patient celebrates
One of the UK’s longest surviving heart-lung transplant patients has been celebrating the 25th anniversary of her “ground-breaking” operation.
Julie Bennett, 45, of Chepstow, Gwent, marked the milestone by returning to meet staff at Papworth Hospital near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, where she underwent surgery in October 1985.
Doctors said Miss Bennett was the seventh heart-lung transplant recipient and the first person with cystic fibrosis to receive the operation at Papworth.
“I never dreamed I would be here 25 years later eating cake with my surgeon,” she said. “I was extremely ill in hospital and when the doctors asked to see my mother I thought it was to tell her that I was going to die.” (PA)
Continental culture
Britons holidaying in Europe would love to bring home not only their continental cousins’ climate but their café culture as well, a survey showed yesterday.
Good weather topped the list of things UK residents would most like to return from Europe with, the poll by the Post Office found.
Europeans’ “laid-back attitude” was the next most popular aspect of continental life, followed by the cost of living, food and drink and café culture.
Other characteristics of Europe that Britons would like to see adopted at home included better working hours, siestas and improved transport.
A total of 10,000 people were questioned. (PA)
Prince Charles book
A new book by the Prince of Wales is being published documenting his personal views on living sustainably to save the planet.
And in a first for a monarch-in-waiting, Charles has also recorded the unabridged audiobook version of the book, Harmony, A New Way Of Looking At The World.
The book, co-written with former Friends of the Earth executive director Tony Juniper and broadcaster and writer Ian Skelly, examines how to achieve a more sustainable future for humanity. (PA)
Cyberbullying pushes some over the edge
The shocking death of a college freshman in the United States has cast a spotlight on new and vicious forms of harassment which harness the invasive and omni-present reach of the internet.
Eighteen-year-old Tyler Cle-menti leapt to his death from a New York bridge last week after his sex encounter with another man was broadcast over the internet, allegedly by fellow students.
Sophisticated technology, social networking sites and a culture of tell-all disclosure have combined to fuel a new level of cyberbullying – often targeting homosexual youngsters. (AFP)
Mass weddings
Some 7,200 South Korean and foreign couples have exchanged or reaffirmed marriage vows in a mass wedding ceremony organised by the Unification Church.
Church founder Sun Myung Moon offered blessings yesterday for those gathered at Sun Moon University, the school he founded in Asan, south of Seoul.
The one-hour spectacle was the second such mass wedding this year. The participating couples exchanged vows and held hands to pray. Moon is a self-proclaimed Messiah and claims Jesus Christ called upon him to carry out his unfinished work. He founded the Unification Church in Seoul in 1954. (PA)
Facebook and sex assailants
Facebook and other social networking tools are being used by sex assailants in the Philippines to lure their victims, contributing to a rise in such crimes, national police said.
Police are investigating cases in which suspects used Facebook or text messages sent from mobile phones to lure people, especially minors, into sex, said national police spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz.
Police have arrested several people for such alleged crimes but have not yet compiled figures on how many were lured using internet tools or mobile phone. (AFP)