Using both types of polio vaccine could speed up efforts to free the world of the disease, research suggests. The oral vaccine is leading the fight to eradicate polio, but trials in India show an additional injection of inactivated virus boosts immunity. The World Health Organization said the findings, published in the journal Science, were “truly historic”. The disease, which is spread through contaminated faeces, can cause paralysis and even […]

Kaleem, from India, was born with hands twice the size of an average baby Continued to grow and now weigh two stone meaning simple tasks are hard They each measure 13 inches from the base of palm to end of middle finger Local doctors baffled by condition which has seen youngster be bullied over An eight-year-old boy has left doctors baffled after his hands swelled to giant proportions and now […]

NEW DELHI: Within four days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to corporates to take up building toilets in schools as a priority under their corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies have announced over Rs 200 crore contribution for government’s “Swachh Bharat” campaign. Two major corporates – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Bharti Foundation, an arm of Bharti Enterprises – on Monday announced a total expenditure of Rs 200 crore as […]

Each year so many lives are lost while waiting for an organ transplant. Not everyone is lucky enough to receive an organ donation as it is still considered a taboo in India due to many religious misbeliefs. India has a rate of less than 0.2 donors per one million population. An estimated 500,000 people die each year in India because of shortage of organ transplants in gigantic proportions. Organ donation […]

Nothing can compare to the nutrients found in mothers’ breast milk for a newborn. While the benefits of breastfeeding are immense for the baby beginning at birth and continuing throughout his/her life, it also has many advantages over mothers’ health. Below are five great reasons why breastfeeding is good for both the mom and the toddler. Nutrients: Breast milk is the best food for your baby. The vitamins and nutrients […]

CANBERRA: More than 150 Sri Lanka asylum seekers have been flown from an Australian immigration detention camp to the Pacific island nation of Nauru after they refused to consider returning to India, an Australian official said on Saturday.  The 157 ethnic Tamil men, women and children had left the port of Pondicherry in an Indian-flagged ship in late June and were intercepted by an Australian customs vessel.  They spent weeks […]

A major oil spill in Canada’s western Arctic would likely spread quickly and foul oceans around Alaska, and possibly as far west as Russia. The research, funded by the World Wildlife Fund, comes as the National Energy Board prepares to consider blowout prevention plans in two separate proposals for offshore energy drilling. Dan Slavik, who works with the WWF in Inuvik, says oil is much harder to clean up when […]

Danny Nickerson is a 5-year-old brain cancer patient from Foxboro, Massachusetts, who only wants one thing for his birthday: birthday cards. Danny, whose inoperable condition, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, gives him a 10 percent chance of surviving more than 18 months, loves getting mail. His mother Carley, made flyers asking strangers to send Danny birthday cards for his 6th birthday on July 25. Since Danny can’t go to school, he […]

“Time is short and options for McLaughlin Ridge will run out soon if the corporation continues to cut out the heart of its ancient forest,” said Ancient Forest Alliance executive director Ken Wu.  The Council of Canadians, Pulp, Paper, and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC) union and various environmental organizations have signed a joint statement calling on Island Timberlands to halt logging the endangered old-growth forests of McLaughlin Ridge near Port Alberni, […]

Just 30 years ago, the rainforests of Southeast Asia covered vast swaths of Indonesia and Malaysia with a verdant canopy of biodiversity. A cacophony of sounds—birds chirping, insects buzzing, orangutans calling—filled the air, echoes of one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. Then the oil palm plantations came, cutting down tract after tract of ancient forest to make room for one of the world’s next big cash crops. Now, […]