Pakistan market bomb 'kills 15'

Pakistan Darra Adam Khel market bombing 'kills 15'

Some of the wounded were taken to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar 

At least 15 people have been killed and up to 30 wounded in a car bomb attack on a market in north-west Pakistan, local security officials say.
Some reports said a suicide attacker detonated the bomb in the town of Darra Adam Khel near the Khyber tribal area. It was apparently aimed at a pro-government militia set up to fight the Taliban, local security officials said.

Some of the wounded were being taken to hospitals in other towns, because local facilities could not cope. Some were being taken to Peshawar, about half-an-hour's drive to the north.

Arms bazaar

Officials said no group had claimed responsibility for the bombing, but previous attacks in the area have been blamed on the Taliban. President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the blast. In a condolence message he said the incident showed that extremists had no regard for human life. The blast occurred outside the office of the local "peace committee" - a group of militants who used to fight with the Taliban but switched sides and now support local elders and the government. At least 20 nearby shops were also badly damaged in the explosion, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported. It was not immediately clear how many of the victims were members of the peace committee and how many were local people going about their shopping on a Saturday morning, local government official Fakhar-ud-Din told the AFP news agency. Darra Adam Khel is a small town on the edge of the ethnic Pashtun tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan. The government has fought a long campaign to bring the region, which is a haven for militant groups, under its control. Darra Adam Khel has been a centre for arms trading, with locally made weapons on sale openly at stalls in the town.

Some victims were taken to hospital in nearby Peshawar 

A suicide bomb attack on a mosque in the town two years ago killed more than 70 people. Prayers were held in schools across Pakistan on Saturday for a young victim of the Taliban, 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who was shot this week in the Swat Valley. The girl, who had campaigned for the right to an education, was picked out by name by an armed man on a bus, and shot in the head. A military spokesman said she was still on a ventilator in hospital on Saturday and that the next 36 to 48 hours would be critical.

Chasing America's deadliest storms

Each year Sam Hall, who has a rare genetic condition, drives with her brother Keith across the US to experience tornadoes first-hand.

Tornado researcher Sam Hall found herself heading into America's deadliest tornado that destroyed the town of Joplin, Missouri, on her latest storm-chasing trip.
From Warrington, Cheshire, she is the editor of the International Journal of Meteorology but also has to battle a rare genetic condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), in which her skin and internal body linings blister at the slightest knock.
Each year Sam drives herself and her brother Keith thousands of miles across America to experience tornadoes first-hand.

SPOTTED! Eight months pregnant Ash!

Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, 37, who is eight months pregnant, attended the launch of the Sri Hanuman Chalisa album in Mumbai on Sunday.
Her father-in-law, actor Amitabh Bachchan, has also sung in the album.
Ash, who wore an off-white, Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla suit, was seen holding a dupatta over her baby bump as she walked in with mother-in-law Jaya Bachchan.
AshAishwarya was also spotted during the Navaratri celebrations.

Man with world's largest feet finds fame

PARIS: The first thing that people notice about Brahim Takioullah is not his feet - which he hopes will make him famous - but his enormous height. He stands more than eight foot (246 cm) tall.

As he strolls through downtown Paris people gasp, stare, take his picture and ask: "Are you the tallest man in the world?" He's not, not quite, but he does have the biggest pair of feet on the planet -- and that's official.

Judges from Guinness World Records came to France to measure him and confirmed his suspicion that he had record-breaking feet -- his left measuring one foot three inches (38.1 cm) in length and his right, one foot 2.76 inches.

Takioullah cannot stand up straight in the small flat he shares with his mother in the Paris suburbs, has difficulty getting into a taxi or the Metro, and can never move around without attracting attention.

But he is surprisingly good humoured about his situation, smiling and posing for cellphone snaps and politely answering questions about his condition, a rare medical problem that he hopes to cure through surgery.

Takioullah is from Morocco, and grew up in a small village -- grew up fast. In one year in his teens he put on more than three feet (one metre) in a spurt.

Now 29, no-one thought to investigate his unusual size until he was 18.

Acromegaly is a pituitary gland disorder that causes the body to produce excessive growth hormone. The brain tumour can lead to other problems aside from great size, and Takioullah was advised to seek surgery.

But first he decided to finish his university studies in geography. When he began treatment, he was already huge and closing in on the world's tallest man, eight-foot three-inch (2.51 metre) Sultan Kosen of Turkey.

Five years ago, a French doctor brought him to Paris for treatment, and he is not expected to reach Sultan's height record.

Takioullah contacted Guinness himself to challenge for the record, and says he is proud to have it recognised, though daily life is not without its problems.

He hopes one day to have a specially built car he could drive himself, but for now even getting a pair of shoes stretches his budget -- he takes a European size 58, which no shop has ever stocked.

This week he met an orthopedic podiatrist to be fitted with a specially made pair designed to support his huge weight.

French doctors are working to reduce Takioullah's brain tumour, and he hopes his newfound fame will help him find the specialist treatment he needs.

"The record now will be known around the world, and experts anywhere around the planet may be able to help," said Craig Glenday of Guinness World Records, publisher of the famous guide to the world's extremes.

Two-faced cat sets record as oldest living "Janus" cat

CONWAY: Frank and Louie is the world's oldest two-faced cat, which is not to say he is deceitful or insincere.

Rather, the fluffy, gray feline with two mouths, two noses and three eyes, turned 12 years old this month, setting the record for "longest surviving Janus cat," Sara Wilcox, a Guinness World Records spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The name "Janus cat" was coined by British zoologist Dr. Karl Shuker, based on the two-faced Roman god of transitions, gates and doorways.

Frank and Louie has a case of craniofacial duplication, an extremely rare congenital condition resulting from a protein with the odd name of sonic hedgehog homolog (SHH).

The disorder, also known as diprosopia, can cause part or all of an individual's face to be duplicated on its head. It has been recorded multiple times in the domestic cat (Felis catus), but few of the resulting two-faced kittens survive into adulthood, Wilcox said.

Frank and Louie was born on September 8, 1999 and his remarkable life will be commemorated in Guinness World Records' new 2012 edition, Wilcox said. (Reuters).

Make dog your fitness buddy

NEW YORK: When it comes to getting fit a person's best friend just might be a four-legged one.

Experts say studies show dog owners walk more, walk faster, and are more likely to enjoy an active lifestyle because of their companion animal.

"I'm fascinated by what a great motivator dogs can be," said Dr. Sandra McCune, co-editor of the book, "The Health Benefits of Dog Walking for People and Pets."

McCune, an animal behaviorist based in Leicestershire, England, said studies show if you're a dog walker, you're more likely to meet the guidelines for daily activities.

Dogs are the reason behind two-thirds, 66 percent, of the walks their owners take each week, according to a recent survey of more than 1,011 adults commissioned by pet food company Mars Petcare.

One-quarter of people with children and pets regularly visit parks and other outdoor spaces because of their dog. (Reuters)