South Africa: Women Drinking To Harm Babies

By Alex Crawford in Port Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape

Mothers in one of South Africa's poorest areas are drinking heavily to deliberately damage their unborn babies - just so they can claim disability benefit.

Life is so tough with unemployment high and crime rampant in South Africa's Eastern Cape, that a newborn baby represents a form of income for the mothers.

State benefits mean 250 South African rand (£20) per child per month for an impoverished family. But disability allowance is a far more lucrative 1200 rand a month (£85).

It has led to a spike in the numbers of babies born with disabilities.

Mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy run a far higher risk of giving birth to a child born with what is known as Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The condition is usually irreversible and can mean speech problems, physical deformities, learning difficulties and behavioural issues.

More than three-quarters of the children at the Miracle Kids Centre in Helenvale suffer from FASD.

South Africa has the highest prevalence of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

The centre manager Genevieve Hendricks says the children struggle at school, end up dropping out and then many turn to crime to get by.

"It's so sad to see," she says cradling one of her young charges. "But we need to educate these mothers to know they are causing a lifetime of difficulties."

The Eastern Cape Liquor Board has now been prompted to launch a campaign to educate young mothers about the dangers of drinking heavily whilst pregnant.

South Africa has had the highest number of FASD cases in the world since 2002, according to the World Health Organisation.

Many of the problems link back to the prevalence of illegal shebeens, or drinking houses, where homemade, highly addictive and damaging alcohol is sold cheaply. For about two rand (14p), you can buy a litre of kah-kah as the locals call it.

"If I don't drink this, I'm like someone who is sick," Ruth tells us swigging from a transparent bottle containing kah-kah. "I can't sleep, and I cant think straight but when I have this then I am better and I can do anything."

Within two sips Ruth (not her real name) was slurring and dribbling. She staggered up to the door to try to change her baby's nappy before plonking the child on her lap, letting the baby breastfeed while she carried on drinking the toxic liquid.

She told me she drank about "five or six bottles a day" and that this started from "about nine o'clock" in the morning.

"I don't drink through the day because I have things to do," she said.

I'm afraid to say I didn't believe her and when we dropped by her house the following morning, her eight-year-old twins were at home alone with her 15-year-old daughter.

"She's at the shebeen," we were told.

Homemade alcohol is available in illegal drinking houses

The police continually conduct raids on the shebeens, closing them down and throwing away the illegal alcohol. But no sooner one is shut down, another springs up.

"It's cheap to produce and this represents an income to these people," Colonel Abdoerahgmaan Humphries told Sky News.

We are with the Gelvendale police team as they raid one of the shebeens.

The filthy shed is packed full of people, including at least two women cuddling tiny babies. Most appeared intoxicated.

The police move onto what appears to be a small concrete room opposite. Against the wall is a brown wooden panel and when the police pull it down, it reveals a small hole, just big enough for an adult to crawl through. It opens out into another room which is the brewery. There are three barrels half filled with a milky brown liquid - the kah-kah. There are also numerous crates of bottles - all filled and ready to be sold.

"Asse blief  bass (please boss)!" the man pleads. He wants to at least finish his own drink. Most of the brewers are themselves addicts.

The police take the crates out and pour the liquid away in front of the assembled residents, many of whom are drunk and now angry.

"Leave them! Leave us! It makes us happy," one of the women screams at them.

There are several attempts to try to snatch bottles before they are poured on the wasteground.

The police move off to attend to a shooting elsewhere in the area.

"They'll be back brewing some more right now," one says to me as we speed off.

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Gerard Depardieu Receives Russian Passport

The French actor received his passport after being granted Russian citizenship, saying he was leaving France to avoid proposed tax increases.

"There was a short meeting and Depardieu was handed his passport," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

But the Russian leader did not personally hand over the document when the two met at Putin's residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Russians reportedly reacted with amusement to news of their new citizen

The actor is opposing proposed tax increases for French citizens earning more than €1m (£818,000).

President Putin surprised many at his end-of-year news conference in December by saying he was ready to offer the 64-year-old a Russian passport to resolve the row.

The Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card star has become a frequent face on the Moscow celebrity circuit and is well known after appearing in a number of advertising campaigns.

He worked in the country in 2011 on a film about the eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin.

But French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has called Depardieu unpatriotic at a time when the French are being asked to pay higher taxes to reduce a large national debt.

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Syrian President Assad Gives Live TV Address

Syria's president has blamed "outside forces" for orchestrating the conflict in his country in a rare public address to the nation.

The embattled leader, who appeared before cheering crowds in the capital Damascus, struck a defiant tone and was frequently interrupted by supporters chanting: "With our soul with our blood we sacrifice ourselves for you O Bashar."

With insurgents fighting their way closer to the seat of his power, President Bashar al Assad spoke about the latest developments and "suffering" in Syria.

He said the conflict was not between the state and opposition, but the "nation and its enemies".

"We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word," he said.

"This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation."

"We meet today and suffering is overwhelming Syrian land. There is no place for joy while security and stability are absent on the streets of our country.

"The nation is for all, and we must all protect it," he said to rapturous applause inside a packed House of Arts and Culture.

"There are those who seek to partition Syria and weaken it. But Syria is stronger ... and will remain sovereign ... and this is what upsets the West."

Mr Assad called for a "full national mobilisation" to fight against the rebels, whom he branded "terrorists" and "murderous criminals".

While outlining proposals for what he described as a peace plan including a new constitution and amnesty, there was no suggestion of him relinquishing his power.

He asserted the government and army would continue military operations against opposItion groups.

Mr Assad said change must come through constitutional means and appealed for dialogue once the fighting had ended.

"Regional and international countries must stop funding the armed men to allow those displaced to return to their homes ... right after that our military operations will cease," he said.

They were his first public comments since he dismissed suggestions that he might go into exile to end the civil war, telling Russian television in November that he would "live and die" in Syria.

According to Sky sources, the internet in Damascus was shut down during his address - at the end of which Mr Assad needed to be ushered away by security officials when he appeared to be mobbed by jubilant supporters.

The hour-long live broadcast came as fighting between Syrian rebels and government forces continued to rage across the country.

Mr Assad's appeals for a reconciliation are likely to be rejected by opposition forces and rebels, who insist he must step down.

The 21-month uprising against Assad has become a civil war that the United Nations says has killed 60,000 people.

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Six Tourists Killed In Snowmobile Crash

Six Russian tourists have been killed when their snowmobile slammed into a fence and flipped over into a ditch.

The accident happened during a night run down an Italian ski slope.

State radio reported that the crash happened on an unlit slope on Mount Cermis in north east Italy late on Friday.

Six tourists were killed in the snowmobile crash

The victims' names have not yet been released. Two others were seriously injured.

The cause of the crash, which happened at an altitude of about 2,000 metres, is under investigation.

In 1998 a US Marine jet, flying low on a training run from a nearby air base, accidentally sliced a ski gondola's cable on Mount Cermis, sending the cable car crashing to the ground and killing 20 people.

Investigators are still trying to establish the cause of the accident

In 1976 it was the scene of the deadliest cable car accident ever, which killed 43 people when a steel support cable broke as it descended the mountain.

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India Gang Rape Victim's Friend Speaks Of Attack

The male friend of the Indian gang rape victim has spoken for the first time of how he tried to save her and begged her attackers to stop the "cruelty that should never be seen".

The 28-year-old software firm employee said getting on to a private bus that night, because they could not find a rickshaw to take them home, was "the biggest mistake I made".

Speaking in public for the first time, he hit out at the hospital treatment his 23-year-old friend received, the police and at passers-by for failing to help after they were thrown naked from the bus following the two-and-a-half-hour ordeal.

He said that the woman was left naked and bleeding in the street for nearly an hour before a police van arrived to help.

A hearse carrying the body of the 23-year-old rape victim

He said: "What can I say? The cruelty I saw should not be seen ever. I tried to fight against the men but later I begged them again and again to leave her."

The man, who suffered a fractured leg and other injuries in the attack, recounted the savagery of the night of December 16 after he and his friend, who died from her injuries on December 29, had been to see a film in New Delhi.

He told the Hindi-language cable channel Zee News: "I was not very confident about getting into the bus but my friend was running late, so we got into it.

"This was the biggest mistake I made and after that everything went out of control."

He said: "The occupants of the bus, which had tinted windows and curtains, had laid a trap for us. They were probably involved in crimes before also. They beat us up, hit us with an iron rod, snatched our clothes and belongings and threw us off the bus on a deserted stretch.

The medical student's attack has sparked massive protests

"The bus occupants had everything planned. Apart from the driver and the helper, others behaved like they were passengers. We even paid 20 (rupees) as fare. They then started teasing my friend and it led to a brawl. I beat three of them up but then the rest of them brought an iron rod and hit me. Before I fell unconscious, they took my friend away."

"From where we boarded the bus, they moved around for nearly two and a half hours. We were shouting, trying to make people hear us. But they switched off the lights of the bus. We tried to resist them. Even my friend fought with them, she tried to save me. She tried to dial the police control room number 100, but the accused snatched her mobile away," he said.

After that the "driver and the other men raped my friend and hit her in the worst possible ways in the most private parts of her body."

"I cannot tell you what I feel when I think of it. I shiver in pain," he said.

The attackers also violated her with an iron bar, causing the immense internal damage that lead to her death, before throwing them from the bus.

The friend said: "There were a few people who had gathered round but nobody helped. Before the police came I screamed for help but the auto rickshaws, cars and others passing by did not stop."

Police have used water cannons and tear gas to dispel protesters

He said when police arrived: "We kept shouting at the police, 'please give us some clothes' but they were busy deciding which police station our case should be registered at."

"It took an hour and a half for us to be taken to hospital," he added.

The police have arrested six suspects - five men and a juvenile believed to be aged 17 - who were formally charged with murder, rape and kidnapping on Thursday.

The case has sparked massive protests across India, where statistics show a woman is raped every 20 minutes.

Protesters have called for all rape suspects to be hanged and want a better deal for women so the streets are safer and men who rape women are put on trial.

National crime records show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded in India last year were against women and rape cases more than doubled between 1990 and 2008.

Police in Delhi have filed charges against Zee News under laws which protect the anonymity of victims of offences such as rape. In India,    the criminal justice system defines rape as a crime against the state, and it the responsibility of the state to defend the victim.

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Earthquake Strikes Off West Coast Of Alaska

An earthquake measuring 7.7 has been recorded in the Pacific Ocean off Alaska.

The quake was centred about 60 miles (100 km) southwest of Port Alexander at a depth of about six miles (10km), according to the US Geological Survey.

The Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre says some areas are seeing small sea level changes, but there will be no widespread destructive wave that had earlier been warned about.        

Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist from the Pacific Warning Centre said: "We have seen a small tsunami at Port Alexander 100 miles south of the epicentre.

"The tsunami amplitude was 13cm which suggests there may be troublesome waves in the immediate area of the quake, but beyond that there is no hazard so we do not have a tsunami warning for anywhere else in the pacific".

Homes were shaken in Alaska's state capital of Juneau some 205 miles (330 kilometers) away, The Juneau Empire newspaper reported. But there was apparently no major damage to the city, the largest in the area.

Juneau resident Archie Hinman told the Empire the quake "shook my Juneau home violently enough to awaken the entire family. No apparent damage."

The earthquake reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.

A similar 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Canada's Queen Charlotte Islands, located just south of the current epicenter, last October. That quake did trigger a small Pacific tsunami which eventually reached the US state of Hawaii without causing any damage.

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Chavez Suffering From 'Breathing Deficiency'

Venezuela's government has said President Hugo Chavez is being treated for "respiratory deficiency" after complications from a severe lung infection.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas provided the update on Mr Chavez's condition days after officials admitted the left-wing leader's condition was "delicate".

He read from a statement saying that the politician's lung infection had led to "respiratory deficiency" and required strict compliance with his medical treatment.

The government expressed confidence in Mr Chavez's medical team and condemned what it called a " campaign of psychological warfare" in international media surrounding the president's condition.

Dr Michael Pishvaian, an oncologist at Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington, said such respiratory infections range from "a mild infection requiring antibiotics and supplemental oxygen to life threatening respiratory complications".

"It could be a very ominous sign," he said.

Graffiti in Caracas reads: "Admit it, Chavez is dead."

Officials have urged Venezuelans not to heed rumours about their cancer-stricken president's health.

The 58-year-old has not been seen or heard from since an operation in Cuba on December 11.

Venezuela's opposition has demanded more specific information from the government about his health.

Mr Chavez has undergone four cancer-related operations since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer.

He has also had chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

He was re-elected in October to another six year term, announcing two months later that the cancer had come back.

Mr Chavez is due to be sworn in on January 10 but his closest allies still aren't saying what they plan to do if the ailing leader is unable to return from a Cuban hospital to take the oath of office.

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Australia Heatwave Leads To Bushfire Alert

Australians are sweltering through one of the worst heatwaves for years, with temperatures well above 40C in some places.

Much of the country will be on alert for bushfires this weekend as temperatures reach record levels.

Adelaide in southern Australia registered a top temperature of 45C (113 Fahrenheit) on Friday, its fourth-hottest day on record.

Around 80% of the country has been affected by the mass of hot air spreading east from Western Australia.

Australians are braced for more bushfires

Emergency services warned of the risk of bushfires that could threaten homes and farms and health officials are urging people to drink plenty of water and stay out of the heat.

Experts say the last time such large areas of the country experienced similar heat was in 2001.

John Nairn, of The Bureau of Meteorology, said that while heatwaves are a normal part of the Australian summer, the current blast is unusual for the large area it is covering.

Among the hottest parts of the country on Friday were Wudinna, on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, which hit 48.2C. Hobart reached a record 41.8C - one degree hotter than the record set in 1976.

Tasmania Fire Service chief officer Mike Brown told a news conference they reached "catastrophic fire danger ratings" at times during Friday afternoon, with up to 40 fires burning around the state.

The bureau of meteorology told The Australian that the scorching heat bearing down across many states will continue "unabated" well into next week.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called on people to be careful.

"Take care and stay safe as we face extreme heat around our nation. Listen to warnings on the high bushfire risk. JG," she tweeted.

Police have also warned that leaving children, elderly people or pets unattended in cars could prove fatal in the hot weather.

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Falklands Row: Sun's Argentina Ad Warns Kirchner

A British tabloid has published a full page newspaper advert in Argentina, warning its president to keep her "hands off" the Falklands.

The Sun was responding to an open letter from Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in which she called for the islands to come under Argentine sovereignty.

A referendum on the islands' status is to take place in March.

Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted that residents of the Falkland Islands must decide their own future.

The Sun's message to Ms Kirchner - printed in English language paper, The Buenos Aires Herald - raises the issue of Argentina's 1982 invasion of the islands.

It mentions the 649 Argentine and 255 British servicemen who lost their lives and says the invasion was in "direct conflict" with the UN principle of self-determination.

The ad in the paper - read by some 50,000 people - disputes Argentina's claim to the islands and points out that British sovereignty dates back to 1765.

It concludes: "Until the people of the Falkland Islands choose to become Argentinian, they remain resolutely British.

David Cameron insists the islanders must decide their own future

"In the name of our millions of readers and to put it another way: 'HANDS OFF!'"

Ms Kirchner's open letter was published in The Guardian and Independent and called for the UK to give up the Falklands - known as The Malvinas in Argentina.

She urged Mr Cameron to abide by a 1965 UN resolution to "negotiate a solution" to the dispute.

But the PM told the leader that she should "listen" to the result of the March referendum.

And he vowed that Falklands residents would have his full backing if they choose to remain British.

"The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland Islanders themselves, the people who live there," he said.

"Whenever they have been asked their opinion, they say they want to maintain their current status with the United Kingdom.

"They're holding a referendum this year and I hope the president of Argentina will listen to that referendum and recognise it is for the Falkland Islanders to choose their future.

"As long as they choose to stay with the United Kingdom they have my 100% backing."

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India Murder-Rape Suspects Could Face Death

By Alex Rossi, India Correspondent

Five men have been formally charged with the murder, kidnap and gang rape of a medical student in Delhi in India.

The 23-year-old - who has not been named - died at the weekend in a hospital in Singapore where she was being treated for major internal injuries.

If the five men are convicted of murder they could face the death penalty.

A sixth suspect is believed to be under the age of 18.

Indian women hold placards during the Women Dignity march in Delhi

Investigators have ordered bone tests to establish his exact age, as juveniles cannot face murder charges.

The men, who are in custody at Delhi's Tihar prison, did not attend the hearing.

According to the police the charge sheet is more than 1,000 pages long and it is expected when the trial gets under way that more than 30 witnesses will be called.

The document also contains a statement given by the victim to two different judges while she was being treated in hospital.

Investigators allege that members of the gang were drunk and joyriding in a bus when they picked up the woman and her male companion, who were on their way back from the cinema in South Delhi.

They then beat up the couple with an iron bar before gang-raping the woman.

It is claimed they then threw the pair from the moving bus and tried to run over the victim.

Delhi's Bar Association has stated none of its members will act for the men on "moral grounds", and the accused have no legal representation.

The rape has caused national outrage in India since it happened three weeks ago.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets on a daily basis to demand tougher penalties for rapists and fast track courts.

Rape and violence against women is all too common crime in India with the latest figures suggesting that the problem is worst in Delhi.

Last year there were 635 reported cases of rape in the capital but there was only one conviction.

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