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For William Stuart, it became a ritual. Every morning, he would leave his neat semi-detached home and take refuge for the day in a caravan at a nearby park.

He could not bear to face questions from joiners creating his new kitchen about why he was not going to work.

Until cleared last week of assaulting a 15-year-old girl pupil, the assistant head teacher had endured a six-month ordeal after being suspended from the job he ‘lived and breathed’.

But Mr Stuart, with a 23-year unblemished career, remains suspended pending a General Teaching Council investigation and says teachers facing complaints should have anonymity until the issue is resolved.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Who needs parenting manuals? If you need advice, just ask someone with no kids …

On Thursday morning, when I had a streaming cold and a 12-hour poker tournament to play (starting in the morning! All day! Like a job! Whatever happened to gamblers being society’s drop-outs? I liked that), I wrote miserably on Twitter: “Does anybody have an idea for a column?”

The news seemed so starkly divided between the bleakly dull (analysing the world financial markets? I can’t understand my own gas bill) and the utterly trivial (Mike Tindall squeezes bar-room blonde he then doesn’t have sex with! “Royal family shocked” claim newspapers, as Queen yawns: “Wake me up when there’s a toe-sucking photo, a leaked tape about tampons and a murder conspiracy around a mysterious Parisian death”), that I offered a free book in return, which didn’t even have to be mine.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Road safety officers have found that most seats are wrongly installed, including many put in by the shops that sell them

Two-thirds of child car passengers are being put at risk of injury or death because of poorly fitted seats, the Observer has learned. At least 66% of car seats for babies and young children are wrongly fitted, according to figures supplied by local authority road safety officers around the country. Many were poorly fitted by parents, but a separate investigation by consumer group Which? found that almost half those installed by retailers’ own fitting services were also done incorrectly.

Problems included seatbelts routed wrongly and harnesses that were too high or too loose. In Portsmouth, of 141 seats tested over the summer, only 41 (29%) passed the safety check.

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Twins who were born joined at the head have been successfully separated by a team of British doctors.

Baby girls Rital and Ritag Gaboura, who are 11 months old, were separated on 15 August after four operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

They do not appear to have suffered neurological side effects. Only one in 10 million sufferers survive their rare condition.

The Sudanese infants were flown to the UK by the charity Facing the World. Conjoined twins are very rare and only 5% of conjoined twins are craniopagus, which means they are fused at the head.

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A schoolgirl stabbed 37 classmates with a hypodermic needle after going on a playground rampage.

Health officials in Puerto Rico say the attack by the 14-year-old happened at lunchtime in a middle school on the south of the island.

The victims, aged 12 to 14, are being tested for HIV and hepatitis C. They have also been given preventive medicine for other diseases. Health department officials revealed it is not known if the syringe was contaminated.

The school is the Jose de Choudens middle school in the coastal town of Arroyo.

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London’s youngest rioter has been arrested for shoplifting just days after he was told by a judge: “You can’t get away with this behaviour.”

The 11-year-old looter, who cannot be named, was given an 18-month rehabilitation order for stealing a £50 bin during the disorder last month.

But just six days later he was arrested again for theft and common assault at the Liberty shopping centre, Romford.

He appeared at Havering magistrates court on September 7 and admitted the theft but denied the assault. He was bailed to appear again in November.

When he appeared before Judge John Woollard the youngster, from Romford, was urged to turn his life around and told his behaviour could land him in jail.

Source: London Evening Standard>> Read full article and comment

Incredible moment conjoined twins see each other after being separated by life-saving surgery

They were tiny newborn twins, delivered by frantic doctors in an emergency caesarean in January, six weeks before they were due.

And born conjoined at the base of their spines, their chances of survival were made even smaller.

In what is being hailed as a medical miracle, little Joshua and Jacob Spates have survived being separated after a gruelling 13 hours in surgery.

And as this heart-warming picture shows, the boys – who had never been able to see each other – have now been introduced face to face.

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What judge told pair after horrific abuse of 14-month-old girl

All finger and thumbnails torn and ripped from being stamped on
Bruising all over little Ruby’s face, ears, rib-cage and legs
Fractures to her hands, left wrist and right shin bone possibly caused by door frame
Mother and her partner both jailed for four years. A man who allowed his girlfriend to abuse her 14-month-old daughter has been told by a judge that he would ban him from having children if he had the power.

Jordain Palmer, 19, was locked up for four years for failing to prevent the horrific injuries Melissa Phillips inflicted on her child.

Phillips has also been sentenced to four years after she left the toddler, Ruby, with fractures to her hands, left wrist and a shin bone, as well as bruises that covered her face, torso and legs.

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“Dad, can I use your phone to play games?” asked my son recently as we drove through the southwest on a beautiful summer day. I was taken by his question.

On one hand, it was a lovely day, and I had been greatly enjoying our conversation. On the other, why not let him play a game if he wants? I check my email continuously — why shouldn’t he also be able to play games continuously?

My son’s question is one that millions of parents are asked each day, whether about a phone, computer, Wii or Xbox. The essential plea is the same: “Mom or dad, can I please direct my attention to a screen?”

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

School summer holidays could be cut and child benefit boosted in children’s early years under radical plans being considered in Downing Street to win over disillusioned women voters.

A leaked document set out a range of measures that should be investigated after internal polls suggested female voters are far less enthusiastic than men about the Coalition.

Most dramatic is a reduction in the long school summer holiday to help working families who struggle with the costs of childcare – a move that would pitch the Government into a major row with teaching unions.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has already suggested a shake-up at his flagship academies and free schools, including a more flexible month-long summer recess.

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A father whose four-year-old son was nearly killed after being struck by a bus has told of the moment he found the boy lying motionless in a busy road.

Amir Ardalan Motahhar was today recovering in hospital under heavy sedation nearly two weeks after suffering multiple injuries on his fourth birthday.

He was walking home with his widowed father, Majid, and nine-year-old brother Arsalan in Gospel Oak when he was hit outside St Dominic’s Primary School. He was due to start there this week.

As the bus driver sat dazed with shock, passengers and passers-by gave Amir first aid. He suffered a broken pelvis and thigh bone.

Source: London Evening Standard>> Read full article and comment

Victim’s girlfriend heard attack over the phone
‘My son is stabbing my grandson’: Court hears chilling transcript

An uncle stabbed his 14-year-old nephew to death as he sat watching television with his grandmother, a court heard today.

Jordan Cooper suffered nine separate knife wounds at the hands of Alan Cooper, 32, in the ferocious attack over a telephone call.

Young Jordan had been talking to his girlfriend on the phone while sitting up watching TV in his grandmother’s bed when his uncle attacked, Newcastle Crown Court heard today

Grandmother Susan Smith, who’d been lying next to Jordan, tried to protect him before calling 999 as the assault continued.

‘Please, please help, my son is stabbing my grandson,’ Mrs Smith said in a transcript of the call which was read out by the court.

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Send them to military boot camp

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a hard-hitting plan to send teenage thugs to a new generation of military boot camps.

Juvenile delinquents would be subjected to ‘tough discipline for their own good’ in secure centres run by the French army.

Mr Sarkozy – who once described rioters as ‘scum’ – said current punishments for youth offenders were not tough enough.

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As lollipop men and women throughout the country are squeezed by local authority cutbacks, what price your child’s safety?

Have you heard the latest playground riddle? What’s yellow, goes out in all weathers and is in danger of extinction? Lollipop people
As children are back to the classroom after the summer break, there are currently about 20,000 lollipop people – or school crossing patrols, as they are formally known – in the UK. But in the wake of local government spending cuts that number might be about to drop dramatically.
A survey by The Times Educational Supplement revealed that one in four of the 60 local authorities it contacted is planning to scale back or abolish school crossing patrols to save money.
The service first began in the UK in 1937, with a Mrs Hunt of Bath being the first lollipop person to escort schoolchildren across the road. Since 2001 they have also been authorised to assist adults, too.

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Fathers could be held legally liable for their children’s behaviour until they are 18 – even if they are divorced or separated.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg are considering the proposals by a government advisory body following its report into social issues caused by absent fathers.

Rob Williams, chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute, believes the measures will stop fathers shirking their responsibilities.

He told the Sunday Times: ‘If parents know when they separate they will both be in trouble if their child starts misbehaving it will transform the drift of fathers away from their children.

‘We need to recognise that non-resident parents have responsibilities for their children.’

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The mother of a 14-year-old boy who died on Thursday is under investigation after police found more than 200 animals ‘riddled with disease’ inside their squalid suburban Chicago home.

Matthew Degner’s lifeless body was reportedly dragged outside by family members, before police arrived, presumably in the hope that they would not look inside the home.

Authorities did, however, and were horrified by the disgusting environment they found in the more roughly 1,100 square-foot bungalow. They discovered a menagerie of dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, squirrels, at least one raccoon, two monkeys and two kinkajous.

‘Our animal control officers who have been in some pretty horrific and disgusting environments said this home was easily the worst they’ve been in,’ sheriff’s spokesman Steve Patterson said.

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Threat to mother from boy, 4, who first started lighting up aged TWO

An Indonesian child who gained worldwide infamy for smoking aged just two years old has quit. But has told his mother he will smoke again unless she buys him toys.

Ardi Rizal was found by a US news show and became famous when a shocking video of him puffing on a cigarette went viral.

The show found that Rizal wasn’t an isolated case in the country however when they discovered another smoker aged just two called Chairul, who lives in a fishing village in Eastern Java.

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Children as young as eight could be allowed into youth clubs in a bid to keep them off the streets and away from gangs.

Clubs in Westminster could lower the entry age from 13 after primary school headteachers said they were worried that younger children were getting caught up in gang life.

It would mean cash would be targeted at clubs for disadvantaged youths, and away from those not considered at risk.

Organisations that give places to children who are vulnerable, miss school, live in poverty, are obese or involved in drugs, or at risk of joining gangs, would all be given priority. The clubs could also be given enough money to open every day.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

How to Persuade Your Toddler to Eat Spinach might have been a catchier title for this book, which tackles the fascinating subject of child brain development from infancy through to adolescence.

Written by the former editor of Nature Neuroscience and a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University, Welcome to Your Child’s Brain provides an authoritative overview and is also littered with practical tips for parents.

Among the advice are insights on how to get your child to sleep (small children quickly associate particular cues with sleep, so establish a regular bedtime routine); improve their vision (children who spend more time outdoors are less likely to be short-sighted, possibly because bright light helps the eyes to develop); and promote the development of obedience and moral behaviour (warm and sensitive parenting produces more obedient children than strict parenting, because these children want to please their parents). It also includes interesting boxes that bust myths about child rearing, and fascinating factoids such as what young children dream about – animals apparently, and these dreams also tend to lack feelings like fear or aggression.

Source: Newscientist>> Read full article and comment

I paid for a child seat with my Sixt car hire. None was available – and nor was my refund

I booked a hire car online from Sixt on 31 July for three days during our family holiday in Pembrokeshire, requesting a small car with a child seat for my two-year-old daughter. The next day I was phoned by Days Rental in Haverfordwest, the local agent for Sixt, from which I would be collecting the car. They said they did not have a child seat and had informed Sixt, so it was out of their hands. Worried that the car hire would now be useless, I emailed Sixt for advice. It replied that I had agreed to the terms and conditions – that child car seats were subject to availability – when I booked.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Rather than facilitating work, the huge cost of childcare in the UK is a daunting obstacle – and government cuts worsen the bind

I could understand why my bank manager was looking at me like that. It did sound a bit stupid. “You’re about to start a job, and that means you need to extend your overdraft?” he said, dubiously. After years of scratching around as a student, I was finally about to draw a wage – but first, I needed to get myself just a bit deeper in debt.

I have two children, so before I could set foot in my office, I needed somewhere to put them, and childcare has to be paid for in advance. That’s no minor outlay here in the UK, where we have the highest childcare costs relative to household income of anywhere in the world. A survey by the Daycare Trust and Save the Children explains how much of a barrier and a burden this can be, particularly to families on low incomes. Of the parents questioned, a quarter said that the cost of childcare had caused them to get into debt, but it’s the poorest families (those with a household income of less than £12,000 a year) who experience the most crippling effects.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

One in four working parents has been plunged into debt due to the crippling cost of childcare, a report warned yesterday.

Parents around Britain are fighting a desperate battle to keep financially afloat at a time when childcare costs are rocketing, but their salaries are not.

The poll of more than 4,000 working parents also found nearly two-thirds ‘cannot afford not to work, but struggle to pay for childcare’.

And many poorer parents are having to turn down jobs, or are considering leaving work, because they cannot afford to pay someone to mind their children.

The report, published jointly by two charities – the Daycare Trust and Save the Children, comes at a time when childcare costs have never been higher.

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Britain’s poorest families are turning down jobs or are considering leaving work because they cannot afford to pay for childcare, new research has shown.

Parents spend almost a third of their incomes on childcare – more than anywhere else in the world, according to research by charities Save the Children and Daycare Trust.

For four out of 10 families (41%) the cost of childcare is on a par with mortgage or rent payments, the study shows.

Of those families in severe poverty, nearly half have cut back on food to afford childcare and nearly six in 10 (58%) said they were or would be no better off working once childcare is paid for.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

Childcare costs are rising more than twice as fast as wages, leaving more families questioning whether it is worthwhile both partners working, according to a report.

In England, the cost of a nursery place for a child of two or over has increased by 4.8% in the past year – far exceeding the 2.1 per cent rise in the average wage in the same period, the study by insurer Aviva has claimed.

New mums and dads returning to work full-time and paying for childcare face the biggest bills.

A child up to two years old in full time care costs the most, at £729 a month, in comparison to the same child being in part-time care at £364.
The arrival of the school years, dramatically brings down the cost of childcare.

The average for a two to 11-year-old is £270 for full-time care and £136 for part-time care.

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Armed police stormed an Australian office building today after a father took his daughter hostage and claimed he had a bomb in a backpack.

The 52-year-old holed up in a barrister’s office near Sydney, demanding to see a lawyer and yelling to police outside: “I don’t care if I die.”

Negotiators bargained with him for 12 hours before officers used an axe and a battering ram to break down the door of the room where he was holding his 12-year-old daughter.

As police wrestled the girl from her father and dragged her out she was heard to scream: “That’s my dad.” The man, who was wearing a judge’s wig, was taken into custody.

The girl, thought to be at the centre of a custody battle, was said to be “badly shaken” but unharmed. She was reunited with her family.

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A teenage judo star was jailed for eight months today after taking part in looting during last month’s riots, court officials said.

Anthony Lloyd, 17, was found by police with his pockets ‘bulging’ with stolen cigarettes and jewellery during disturbances in Manchester, the city’s youth court heard.

Lloyd, of Audenshaw, Greater Manchester, previously pleaded guilty to burglary of a non-dwelling property and handling stolen goods.

Earlier today he was sentenced to eight months’ detention and training for each count, to serve concurrently, a spokesman for the court said.

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Police warning as they reveal 15-year-olds are being pulled over

Schoolchildren aged just 15-years-old have been pulled over and found to be drunk, shocking figures have revealed.

Four school pupils were among 1,634 drivers who were found to be over the limit and failed roadside breath tests, with the oldest being an 87-year-old man.

Of those caught, dozens were over the legal limit 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

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Your children are too fat, so you will never see them again

Four obese children are on the brink of being permanently removed from their family by social workers after their parents failed to bring their weight under control.

In the first case of its kind, their mother and father now face what they call the ‘unbearable’ likelihood of never seeing them again.

Their three daughters, aged 11, seven and one, and five-year-old son, will either be ‘fostered without contact’ or adopted.

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Plans to withdraw child-benefit payments to parents of youngsters who play truant from school are being considered by the Government.

And the unemployed are set to be forced to sign on twice as often – or have their dole cut.

The radical moves are signalled by David Cameron in an article in today’s Mail on Sunday in which he vows to smash ‘old taboos and sensitivities’ to tackle the ‘hard-core minority of families’ who wreak havoc in towns and cities. Scrapping child benefit for parents who fail to send their children to lessons would provoke howls of protests both from Mr Cameron’s Liberal Democrat Coalition partners and from Labour.

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Doctor’s daughter who looted Poundland for a bottle of Lucozade is jailed for 8 months

A doctor’s daughter who stole a bottle of Lucozade and some sweets from Poundland during last months riots has been jailed for eight months,

The 17-year-old also helped herself to t-shirts and sunglasses from a nearby store as violence broke out in Peckham, south London.

She claimed she had only gone to see what was going on but took the items from two ransacked shops as she got drawn in to the disorder.

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A hardcore of parents are trying to avoid paying child maintenance using “ridiculous” excuses – including a footballer earning £4,000 a week who said he could not pay off arrears because of the cost of keeping his Ferrari on the road, a government report revealed today.

The Child Support Agency released a list of the worst excuses, with some parents saying it was against their human rights to have pay deducted from their salaries. One man said he had already bought his child some sweets so wasn’t paying a penny more, hundreds blame dogs for eating CSA letters, while a father who had a sex change argued against paying because she was no longer the man who fathered the children.

Work and Pensions Minister Maria Miller said: “Most parents do what’s right for their children, but as these ridiculous excuses show, there is still a hardcore trying to avoid paying what they owe.

Source: INDEPENDENT>> Read full article and comment

A teenage girl hid a newborn baby in a waste bin before flying home to Canada after secretly giving birth on a school trip to London, an inquest heard.

The girl went into labour in the lavatory of her Days Inn Hotel room near Heathrow airport just hours before she checked out on March 19.

The 15-year-old, had been on a week-long cultural visit to the capital.

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A woman who donated her eggs has become one of the first in Britain to meet the children she helped conceive.

Sylvia Barr, now 54, gave away her eggs anonymously nearly 20 years ago at a London clinic.

But Ms Barr read a newspaper article after she donated which told the story of how Joan Isherwood, who is from Cheshire, had successfully become pregnant using an egg donor.

The clinic, the dates and the fact that they were twins – Jonathan and Katherine, now 18 – coincided with Ms Barr’s story and she felt sure that Mrs Isherwood was her recipient.

Today, Ms Barr, from Wallington, in south London, spoke of feeling “blessed” at finally meeting her son and daughter after years of hoping they would track her down.

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Nisreen, 19, admits shooting 11 rebel prisoners, now she is shackled to hospital bed awaiting justice

First you see her large brown eyes and rosebud lips, framed by a pink headscarf. Then you notice that her bruised feet are secured by manacles to the foot of her bed.

Nisreen Mansour al Forgani is a pretty 19-year-old. She was also a serial killer for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Yesterday, in a heavily guarded room at the Matiga military hospital in Tripoli, she admitted to the Mail that she had executed as many as 11 suspected rebel prisoners in the days leading up to the fall of the Libyan capital last week. Shot at point-blank range, in cold blood.

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Teen mauled in lethal Arctic attack reveals what really happened

In the middle of the Arctic wilderness, Patrick Flinders watched his friend Horatio Chapple adopt a mock solemn expression to add the finishing touches to a fitting memorial.

Dedicating it to the many walking poles their expedition group had lost or damaged during several long days of trekking, the pair dissolved into laughter as they took photographs of the Eton schoolboy’s handiwork.

It is a light-hearted memory 16-year-old Patrick will treasure. Two days later, he lay terrified in his sleeping bag as beside him Horatio, 17, was mauled to death in their tent by a polar bear.

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David Remmer has a Mini Cooper S, which is used for the school run and the daily journey to the railway station.

However, his 14-year-old son is now 5ft 9ins, which means getting him in the back of the Mini is no longer an option. Ideally, David is looking for a car with five doors, decent rear legroom, which is small and easy to park, with an automatic gearbox. He wants lots of equipment and has a generous £25,000 budget.

A car for the head

David admits that he is a huge BMW fan and is considering the 120d, 320d and X3 models. Instead, I will point out some compact, spacious – and hopefully stylish – alternatives. The most obvious choice might be a Nissan Qashqai. However, I’d direct David towards Nissan’s rather more distinctive Juke model. It is still fresh enough to turn heads. This is a high-rise vehicle with a decent amount of room – although David should check whether his son has enough headroom in the back, as it does slope slightly. There is the option of four-wheel drive, but the priority is an automatic gearbox and there is a CVT with a 1.6 litre engine with top of the range Tenka specification. It has rain sensing wipers, sat nav, leather trim, rear privacy glass, and plenty of other bits of standard kit. Extras can include a chrome pack, aluminum luggage rack, parking sensors and even Ambience lighting. Without adding any of those items, a 1.6 2WD CVT Tenka costs £18,050.

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Parents will spend £27m more than they did in 2010 on new school items for their kids, a survey says

Parents in the UK will spend an average of £77 a child on “back to school” basics this summer, with 56% saying they feel under pressure to spend more than they did last year.

A survey of 2,000 adults carried out by insurer LV= found that parents are set to splash out £736m on uniforms, stationary, sportswear and school books ahead of their children returning to school – £27m more than they did in 2010.

Back to school costs are £81 for secondary school-aged children, the survey said, compared to £67 for junior school and £63 for infants. Parents in Scotland and north-west London will shell out the most – with an average spend of £88.50 – while parents in the east Midlands said they would spend an average of £60.

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Britain’s oldest twins celebrate turning 100 (and reveal their secret to a long life)

Britain’s oldest twins are celebrating turning 100.

Centenarian sisters Winifred Rippon and Marjorie Woodcock from Withernsea, Yorkshire are believed to be the world’s second oldest set of twins.

The sisters, who turn 100 on Saturday, believe the secret to such a long and happy life is good genes and clean living.
Winifred and Marjorie have never smoked a cigarette and only ever have a tipple at Christmas. While their beloved mother, Alice, lived to the ripe old age of 96.

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Just days after a teenage boy missed death by a fraction of an inch in front of a speeding train, even more horrifying footage has emerged of a young boy being hit by an express – and surviving.

The 12-year-old boy was at first caught between the train and the edge station platform in Sydney, Australia before he vanished from sight.

When he failed to emerge as the seconds and then the minutes passed while the train continued on its way it appeared he had been run over. But then, incredibly, he is seen pulling himself up from the tracks, hauling himself painfully onto the platform and dragging himself along, his leg broken, elbow broken and his body covered in severe grazing.

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Dr Benjamin Spock’s Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care is one of the best-selling books of all time, with overall sales of some 50 million. Sixty-five years since its first publication, what is Dr Spock’s contribution to child-rearing today?

The book’s title wasn’t the most exciting. But in the austere post-war years its message was revolutionary.

“As soon as it hit the market, it was acclaimed,” says Professor Lynn Bloom, Dr Benjamin Spock’s biographer and friend.

“It was so radical and so different from the child-rearing manuals that preceded it.

“People wanted the opportunity and the sanction to have children and to love them. And that book did this.” Baby and Child Care challenged the child-rearing orthodoxy of the early 20th Century – that babies should be fed according to a tight schedule, and that showing them too much affection made them weak and unprepared for the world.

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Teachers who passed a no confidence motion in the head teacher of their troubled Anglesey school are returning to work.

Five of the six teachers at Ysgol Goronwy Owen, Benllech, have been on sick leave since May after threatening industrial action following the motion.

Head Ann Hughes was suspended in July pending an ongoing investigation.

Anglesey council confirmed the five teachers would return at the start of term but Ms Hughes remained suspended.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

A seven-year-old girl suffered from horrific second-degree burns after her family of five started living in a car full of garbage at a Walmart parking lot.

Justin Hamilton, 31, of Paisley, and Kristin Harris, 26, of Eustis, were arrested and charged with child neglect after police were called to inspect the vehicle in Mount Dora, Florida.

Officers found the couple’s three children, the youngest of which is one years old, sleeping among garbage, days-old chicken bones and a container of spoiled milk.

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A 12-year-old boy with special needs is in hospital after plunging 30ft from a theme park ride.

The unnamed boy fell from the Excalibur 2 ride at the Camelot Theme Park in Chorley.

The incident occurred at 1pm yesterday and the boy was airlifted to Wigan Royal Infirmary. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, and a joint police and Health and Safety Executive investigation is now under way.

One eye-witness told the Lancashire Evening Post he had seen the boy ‘hanging’ from the ride.

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Critics say advice and information website selling hair removal products to young girls is ‘cynical’ and ‘clearly a marketing tool’

A leading UK manufacturer of major household brands has come under fire for “crass” and “exploitative” marketing of its body hair removal products to young girls barely into puberty.

Procter & Gamble’s BeingGirl website, associated with its Tampax and Always brands of sanitary protection, offers advice and information about menstruation to girls who have recently started or are about to start their periods.

It is actively promoted to young girls in thousands of schools as part of its parallel education scheme, the About You Personal Wellbeing programme, which provides free information and sample sanitary pads and tampons.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

The NCT reports today that parenting clubs are buying the right to access new mothers for £5,000

The Independent today reports the National Childbirth Trust’s (NCT) findings that “parenting club” companies are paying maternity units £5,000 for the right to access their wards, approach their patients and sell their wares. These generally constitute sets of pictures of your newborn for around £20 a print, and in some cases – notably by the largest of these companies, Bounty – the right to distribute “new mother” packs, which contain free samples of baby-related commercial brands, along with promotional literature and some discount vouchers.

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This is the first picture of the 15-year-old British schoolboy who was murdered in a Spanish seaside resort.

Andrew Milroy, 15, died after being stabbed in Lloret de Mar, on the Costa Brava, last month.

He was attacked late at night in the town, which is hugely popular with British holidaymakers, after trying to break up a fight.

Today, detectives in Lyon, eastern France, said two men aged 21 were arrested in during an early morning raid on their homes in the nearby town of Isle d’Abeau.

They were solely named by their first names and surname initial of Remi Romai A and Jeremy P.

A third man, also 21, named as Ludwig Alex G. was arrested at the same time in the town of Pont-Audemer in Normandy after reporting to a police station with his mother.

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Spanish fashion chain Zara is at the centre of accusations of slave labour and child labour.

A report by Reporter Brasil throws a damning spotlight on the retail giant’s main supplier in Brazil.

It reveals the company has been under investigation since May, when 52 people were found to be working under ‘unsanitary conditions’ in a factory that produces trousers for Zara. Made In Brazil says that a subsequent inspection in July exposed foreign workers labouring under ‘slave-like conditions.’

The 15 labourers, from Bolivia and Peru, included a 14-year-old girl and were ‘set free’ from two factories in Brazil’s largest city, São Paolo, the report said.

It was revealed that the girl and her peers laboured for more than 16 hours a day in the ‘unsanitary and hazardous work environment’ and were not allowed to leave the windowless factories.

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A schoolgirl miraculously survived being impaled on a metal spike for two hours after she fell from a tree.

Caitlyn Brown, 11, dropped six feet from a branch onto a metal railing, with one of the spikes plunging more than six inches into her body.

It pierced her stomach but amazingly missed her vital organs by millimetres and stopped just three inches from her heart.

Her parents, Jan Stevens and Michael Brown watched in horror for more than two hours as firefighters battled to free their girl from the iron railings.

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His 50-year-old grandmother also cut in attack
Suspect shot at police with pellet gun before arrest
Teen had been arrested in June after similar assault

A 14-year-old boy is in custody after using a sword to stab his 77-year-old great-grandmother to death and injure his grandmother, police say.

Family members suggested the suspect, who also allegedly wounded his grandmother in the arm, had been angered by being told to stop playing computer games, according to CBS Atlanta.

Authorities in Douglasville, Georgia, had to taser the boy in order to arrest him, after he shot at them with a pellet gun during a stand-off.

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A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murdering a man during riots in London.

Richard Mannington Bowes, 68, died three days after being attacked as he tried to stamp out a fire in Ealing, west London, on 8 August.

The boy, who cannot be named, has also been charged with violent disorder and four counts of burglary.

His mother has been charged with perverting the course of justice and both are due to appear in courts in Croydon on Tuesday.

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