Boy alive crushed between two escalators

A four-year-old boy had his young age to thank after surviving a horrifying accident that saw him crushed between two escalators.

Doctors said that had Stevie Webb been older, his neck would have been snapped when he was bent double in the foot-wide gap between two ramp-style travelators.

The incident occurred when Stevie's mother turned her back and he sneaked between the two walkways, which were moving in opposite directions, in the Savacentre in Colliers Wood, south-west London.

Lucky escape: Stevie Webb was caught between two travelators at a south-west London shopping centre

In seconds his clothes were caught and Stevie was whipped round backwards so hard his head was level with his ankles.

His horrified mother hit the machine's emergency stop button before dragging him free with the help of a friend.

The force of the impact and twisting motion left Stevie with discoloured eyes and face because blood vessels burst under the skin.

Doctors told Stevie's parents that had their son been any older, and his bones more set, the force of the accident would have snapped his neck.

It is expected to take at least a month for Stevie's complexion to return to normal.

An investigation has now been launched at the Savacentre.

On the road to recovery: Stevie will regain full health, but doctors say if he had been older his injuries would have been fatal

Stevie's father Darren Webb, 39, from Mitcham, Surrey, said his son's injuries were so severe he resembled the blue-purple alien characters from the film 'Avatar'.

He said: 'It's left him looking like an extra out of that new Avatar film. He doesn't have any white left in his eyes and it could be months until the colour in his face goes back to normal.

'The doctors said he'd been incredibly lucky because his neck and body were so contorted. It's only because he's so young and supple that his neck didn't break.'

Mr Webb was in the centre's car park waiting to pick up his family when the accident happened. He immediately rushed unconscious Stevie to St George's Hospital, Tooting, less than a mile away.

But Mr Webb said he was planning to take legal action against the centre after its manager refused to take responsibility for the accident, claiming the boy's mother was not watching him at the time.

Mr Webb, who has spoken to centre manager Eric Sante and watched CCTV footage of the accident, said: 'I'll put my hands up and agree my child was playing while his mum's back was turned - but four-year-olds do that sort of thing.

'There was no kind of protection or barrier to stop this from happening but the shopping centre manager still wants to make out that this is our fault.

'It's unbelievable - my son nearly died.'

Horrific accident: Travelators at the Savacentre (no members of the Webb family are pictured)

Mr Sante said: 'Mr Webb came in on Monday screaming and demanding to see CCTV footage which we let him do.

'I sat him down and apologised but told him I was in no position to accept responsibility for what happened.'

He added the CCTV footage showed Stevie playing next to the travelator while his mother was on the phone.

The incident has already been referred to the shopping centre's legal team.

MB Trust, which manages the area where the walkways operate, said it was officially checked twice a year and the most recent check was in November.

Juliet Bray, marketing director of MB Real Estate, an arm of MB Trust, said: 'It's a horrible incident and I can't imagine how upsetting it must have been for the parents and the little boy.

'I'm confident that we've done what is needed to make it safe. I'm very moved and I know that all of my colleagues are too and they will take every step necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again.'

The travelator is situated near to the shopping centre's Sainsbury's store.

A Sainsbury's spokesman said: 'We would like to express our sympathies to the Webb family for this incident. We have been in contact with MB Real Estate who confirmed that they are taking every possible step to prevent something like this happening again.

'As soon as our colleagues at the store were made aware of the accident they began to give first aid and also called an ambulance.'

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Drunk men force wives into sex

Drunk men who force their wives or girlfriends to have sex should be prosecuted for rape, the head of a Government inquiry into sex crime said yesterday.

Drinking by the man should be considered an 'aggravating factor' when any woman makes a complaint of rape, said Baroness Stern.

She added: 'Being drunk is voluntary and people who become drunk are responsible for their actions.

Baroness Stern has warned that alcohol cannot be used as an excuse for rape (picture posed by models)

It is not the alcohol that commits the rape. It is not an excuse. It used to be regarded as such, but it is not.'

Her call for police, prosecutors and the courts to consider how much alcohol a man has consumed raised the prospect of a 'sex breathalyser' that would help decide when sex has become a crime.

A similar idea has already been put forward by ministers, who said it should be a crime for a man to have sex with a woman who was very drunk. Judges quashed the plan.

But Lady Stern also told the London Evening Standard a drunken woman was not 'fair game' for men.

The former prison reform campaigner is running an inquiry for Women and Equality Minister Harriet Harman into the way rape complaints are handled by police, the Crown Prosecution Service and other public authorities.

Ministers are concerned at the low conviction rate for rapes. They hope to encourage more women to make complaints and 'fairly' increase convictions.

Alcohol is thought to be involved in two out of three alleged rapes. Most also involve a man and a woman who know each other rather than an attack by a stranger.

In 2003 Ministers changed the definition of rape so a man had to show he had reasonable grounds to believe he had been given consent.

They argued that a woman who was very drunk was not capable of giving consent.

But a series of cases showed that juries were reluctant to convict a man on the word of an alleged victim who was drunk and Appeal Court judges ruled that even a drunken woman could still consent to sex.

Lady Stern's suggestion echoes comments by Victims' Champion Sara Payne earlier this month.

Mrs Payne said some people felt women were too often warned about the risk of rape if they drink too much.

In a report for the Home Office she said: 'The advertising we have had puts all the onus on the victim - it's "don't go out and get drunk, you might get raped". The onus needs to be on the man.'

But criminologist David Green, of the Civitas think-tank, warned that the law should not treat men and women differently.

'If a man is responsible for his conduct when drunk, so is a woman,' Dr Green said.

'The law must be applied equally. It is a choice to get drunk, but it follows that the consequence of that choice applies to both sides.'

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Chinese university sets up patrols to stop students kissing

Chinese university sets up patrols to stop students kissing

The patrols at Nanjing Forestry University watch out for couples who are hugging, kissing or sitting too close to each other.

The university says the patrols will "clean up the atmosphere" on campus.

Teachers supervise the patrols, which are staffed by fellow student volunteers working two-hour shifts.

On the college's internet bulletin boards one woman describes how she and her boyfriend were sitting together when a patrol spotted them. The patrol member got behind them and kept coughing until they moved apart.

Others complain that the university authorities should spend their time managing the institution, not regulating young lovers, and speak of their shame at the publicity the crackdown has generated.

In one of the complaints, student Gui Ya, says: "The news is spreading over the internet. It's like being naked and shown to the public."

And a colleague with the user name Raymondxiao moans: "The action is a shame. The university is not going to be a real university."

Another bulletin board complaint from Yi Fu Jia Da Po Tou says: "There are no human rights on this issue."

Volunteers who turn a blind eye to an infraction are said to face penalties themselves, although calls to the university to confirm this went unanswered.

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Farmer digs naked baby boy out of ground

Baffled scientists are trying to get to the root of this astonishing plant dug out of the ground by a Chinese farmer.

Farmer digs naked baby boy out of ground

The two foot tall root weighs in at a massive 12 lbs and bears an amazing resemblance to a boy in even the smallest detail.

The root comes from the Chinese knotweed plant, used by local healers as a natural laxative.

Farmer Zheng Dexun, 63, of Datianba, in southern China, said: "I was shocked that it was so large and is so clearly like a boy.

"It's bigger than my grandson. Scientists are looking at it now and will tell me how it came to be like this."

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Church urges couples to pray before sex

Newly-wed Roman Catholic couples are being encouraged to say a special prayer together before having sex.

The specially-composed Prayer Before Making Love is aimed at 'purifying their intentions' so the act is not about selfishness or hedonism.

It appears in the 64-page Prayer Book for Spouses which has been published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society, reports the Daily Mail.

The prayer implores God 'to place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes'.
It adds: "Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will."
The group has close links to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.

The Rt Rev Paul Hendricks, who is the Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and sits on the charity's board, said he thought the prayer's inclusion was 'brave but good'.

"I suppose it is a bit idealistic but it is recognising that God is at the heart of the marriage relationship between husband and wife," he said.

"It is important for the Church to affirm the value of marriage and family life and I suppose this is a particular way of doing that."

The book contains prayers for every stage of marriage and family life, including engagement, planning for parenthood, pregnancy and caring for children and elderly parents.

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Optimum Uses Of Condum Around The World

Where in the world are people most likely to use condoms? Well, according to these latest figures, the winner is … China.

But in number two - and somewhat surprisingly considering the present panic over teenage pregnancies - it's the UK,

perhaps showing that all those years of sex education ads have finally paid off. These figures are the latest available from the World Health Organisation, which has a searchable database of every possible health indicator in the world and is the most credible source available.

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International Sex Survey 2007 Seduce Any Woman

Sorry, dude, but guys in other countries are having more sex than you. Way more. We know, it doesn't make sense. Pop culture and the Internet would have us believe that American men are the most oversexed stallions on the planet, that every girl is 20, tanked, and topless. Plus, we have George Clooney and Matthew McConaughey. And has anyone tallied Tommy Lee's numbers?

Yet, there are the stats. According to a Men's Health survey of 40,000 readers worldwide, foreign men have sex up to 70 more times a year than you do. So much for our superpower status. But don't worry--we have a plan. We took a trip around the world to find out what makes men from other countries so attractive to the women they pursue. We also enlisted the help of sex experts around the globe to save you from another sexless night. Master their tips and soon you'll simply be able to say "G'day" and mate.

England : Take Her, Outside

Hugh Grant has typecast British men as meek and bumbling. But according to a 2005 Durex survey of 317,000 people in 41 countries, these blokes are so irresistible, their partners can't even wait to get back to the flat. Twice as many Brits as Americans report having had sex on public transportation and in alleyways and gardens. "Many a chap has fallen in love in the checkout line at the supermarket," says Vicki Ford, a British psychosexual therapist and the author of Overcoming Sexual Problems. And apparently they consummate it on the way home.

How To Do It: Arouse her temptation. Pull her into a side alley or a dark doorway and plant one while gently stroking her neck, suggests Emily Dubberley, a British sex expert and the author of Brief Encounters. "Fear of being caught stimulates her fight-or-flight response," explains Ford. "Adrenaline floods her system, making everything feel much more intense."

Australia : Drive Her Wild

We Americans love our cars, but Australians love in their cars. Almost 75 percent of Aussies have had sex on the road, according to Durex. "We can always find a private space to get it on," says Jan Hall, Ph.D., an Australian sex therapist. The car provides the ideal cover: "Sneaking away for a surreptitious shag or fondle says, 'I can't wait,' " says Gabrielle Morrissey, Ph.D., Australian author of A Year of Spicy Sex.

How To Do It: Heading to a party is the perfect opportunity to lure her over to the driver's side--the mood is up, and you're dressed to the nines. Playfully graze her inner thigh with your fingertips. Suggest that it's proper to be fashionably late--how should we fill the time?--and park on a secluded street for a quickie. "It's like sharing a secret all night," Morrissey says, "especially if you've promised each other an encore."

Romania : Play it Straight

Meeting women is easy, if you're not sidetracked by insecurity ("Is she looking at me?"), coy games ("Have our waitress ask her waitress what she's drinking"), or body-language interpretation ("Dude, her eyes say no, but the angle of her feet says olé!"). When Romanian men want a woman, they tell her. "The men here have a lot of self-confidence," says Felicia Abaza, sex editor of Men's Health Romania. "And the women are tuned to respond to it."

How To Do It: Tired come-ons will fall flat. Instead, lean in unexpectedly and whisper in her ear, "I just had to be near you." Be mindful of your tone. Brash: bad. Calm: good. "Caress her with your voice," says Patricia Cihodaru, Ms.C., a Romanian psychologist and sex expert. And when you've become friendly enough that you won't get a punch in the chops, "say she looks beautiful and tell her how much you want her," says Cihodaru. "Hearing your desire is the strongest aphrodisiac."

China : Build Tension with Technology

Forget the 3-day rule. In China, men follow up the day after a successful date--by e-mail. "Technology plays a big role in relationships here," says Yoyoo Chow, sex editor of Men's Health China. "Most couples meet over the Internet. So if a man doesn't take the initiative, she'll find someone else pretty quickly."

How To Do It: Send a short, suggestive note, says Chow. Something as simple as "Last night . . . wow! When can I see you again?" will incite her interest. If she feels the same way, she'll respond accordingly. As the sexual tension builds, resist the temptation to pour out your soul or create a list of your top 10 fantasies. At this early stage, short equals sexy--always. And remember: Use of emoticons will ensure that you spend the night alone.

Italy : Seduce Her with Food

It's no secret that good food, wine, and conversation lead to great sex. "Italian men flock to dinner parties to meet women," says Adriana Amedei, sex editor at Men's Health Italy. "There's no crowd, no noise, it's relaxed. All you have to do is share your opinions . . . at least to start." The real mating game, says Amedei, begins at the table. Flirting overtly over a meal (or discreetly under the table) builds tension that will spill over later. "Food and sex are intimately connected, because they tap into the senses," says Martha Hopkins, author of InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook.

How To Do It: "Listen attentively to her, make eye contact, and seek out a common interest," says Hopkins. "Then, while eating, conjure up the same sounds that accompany passionate sex: mmm, oooh, aahh." You're creating a mood and a fantasy. Be subtle about it, however. You don't want the host to say, "Um, Fred, do you mind? We're eating."

India : Prolong Your Pleasure

Indian men know that the journey is almost always more interesting than the destination. "Sexual pleasure is linked to the gradual process of seduction, which includes courtship, touching, and kissing," says Sanjay Srivastava, Ph.D., author of Passionate Modernity. "Focusing on the finish misses the point."

How To Do It: Practice a technique called karezza, in which the man remains inside the woman for at least 10 minutes, moving only when necessary to maintain an erection. Penetrate her slowly and gently. Match your breathing and maintain eye contact to focus on your emotional connection, not the physical act. "Conventional sex can be very limiting," says Kenneth Ray Stubbs, Ph.D., author of The Essential Tantra. "This results in a larger climax for both partners."

Netherlands : Play with Positions

Lovers in the Netherlands know what they want--and how to ask for it. Sixty-four percent of Dutch men and women are confident asserting their needs during sex, compared with less than half of Americans, according to the Durex survey. "In bars, men are picked up as often as they approach women themselves, and both are willing to experiment in bed," says Achsa Vissel, a Dutch sex psychologist. Being forward with your compliments--and desires--will pave the way for pleasure.

How To Do It: "Dutch men pay attention to places that seem less erotic, like the inner arms, back, and shoulders," says Vissel. Shaking up the routine leads to more sex: Sixty-three percent of the Dutch are satisfied with the amount of sex they're having, compared with 55 percent of Americans. When your partner is ready to move past the missionary position, try moves that allow you to stroke her clitoris during sex, like doggy-style or cowgirl.

Greece : Don't be So Uptight

Americans are bombarded with sexual imagery all day, yet we're closemouthed about sex. Not in Greece. "We talk about sex all the time--in the office, with our friends, with our partners," says Nikki Hayia, sex editor of Men's Health Greece. "A Greek man can talk dirty to his woman in front of 10 people, and it doesn't bother him to kiss and touch her in public." Simple public displays of affection can work for you, too: A recent study by the Berman Center in Chicago found that couples who kiss often in nonsexual situations are eight times more likely to be sexually satisfied.

How To Do It: Hint at what's to come, says Hayia: Subtly stroke her thigh or lower back during dinner; run your fingers up her leg; steal a lingering kiss on her bare shoulder at a crowded bar. "American men are too uptight," Hayia says. "Relax, guys. Have sex like there's no tomorrow."

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Burkha brigade: Women lead the charge in mosque clashes

Like some secretive, sinister army they march on their target.

With only eyes visible behind black burkhas, scores of women wielding bamboo poles descend on a police checkpoint in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad.

Backed by armed male students, they snatched weapons and took four officials hostage, triggering a gun battle that left at least nine people dead and 140 wounded.

As the bullets flew, many of the women took to rooftops to shout anti- Government slogans.

Students set fire to two government offices and torched dozens of cars outside.

There were even loudspeaker calls for suicide attacks on the police. The clashes yesterday were a violent climax to a long dispute between Pakistani officials and the controversial Red Mosque, run by a Taliban-style movement.

Clerics at the mosque and the 5,000 students at its two madrassas, or religious schools, have been campaigning for the imposition of fundamentalist Islamic social values, including Sharia law, that would include public executions and the stoning of adulterers.

Trouble first flared in January when female students occupied a library next to their madrassa to protest at the destruction of mosques built illegally on state land.

The fundamentalists have also been involved in a number of incidents, including the kidnapping of police and prostitutes and anyone the mosque's leaders say is involved in immoral activities.

About 150 students, including masked men with guns and scores of women in burkhas, attacked a police checkpoint near the mosque. Some carried gas masks and several had petrol bombs.

Police and paramilitary Rangers fired tear gas and, as the students retreated, at least four male students open fire on security forces from about 200 yards away.

Shooting by both sides went on for several hours. Scores of local people, including children, came out to shout support for the students and call on the government to stop the shooting.

Officials said at least four students, including two women, were killed, along with two policemen and a soldier.

There were reports that a TV cameraman and a passer-by also died. Clerics at the mosque, however, said at least ten of their supporters had died.

Troops occupied buildings overlooking the sprawling mosque complex while ambulances waited nearby.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi, a deputy leader of the student movement, said: "They are behaving brutally. So far several of our students have been killed. The government is to be blamed."

Asked about the presence of armed students, Ghazi said: "They are our guards." He claimed the Rangers sparked the trouble by erecting barricades near the mosque. But Pakistani officials said it began when police moved to stop militant students occupying a government building.

Mahira, one of the female students, said in a phone call from the mosque: "Kill us. We will die but we will not back off from our demands to enforce Islamic Sharia."

As the shooting continued there was a loudspeaker announcement inside the mosque complex calling for suicide attacks on security forces.

"They have attacked our mosque, the time for sacrifice has come," it said. There was no immediate sign of such attacks being carried out.

The Pakistani government has so far refrained from using force against the mosque for fear of provoking suicide attacks.

Officials were also worried about potential casualties among female students.

But last Friday Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who has survived two Al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempts, said the government was ready to take action.

He said suicide bombers and militants from the Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which is linked to Al Qaeda, were inside the mosque.

Some clerics have accused Musharraf's intelligence agencies of encouraging the crisis to justify a state of emergency and prolong military rule. As darkness fell last night, city officials said a ceasefire had been agreed.

One soldier was killed in the standoff with these Islamist radical students

Fighting has continued throughout the day with Islamist students taking on security guards

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Naked Gardeners open up for the public

When Ian and Barbara Pollard let it be known that they enjoyed gardening in the nude, they attracted a fair amount of coverage.

What they didn't expect, however, was to discover that their enthusiasm for clothes-free horticulture was shared by so many others.

So much so that the Pollards now hold special naturist open days at their highly acclaimed five-acre garden in Wiltshire. On Sunday, they had about 350 visitors, with about 300 disrobing.

Word spread of the couple's stripped-down approach after Mr Pollard, 61, and his 54-year-old wife appeared on the BBC show Gardeners' World.

Since then they have been inundated with requests from other naturists asking if they can visit their Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury, which is open to the public from March to October, and stroll around in the way nature intended.

Mr Pollard, an architect, said: "At first I said no because we would be responsible for their behaviour. But in the end we were having so many inquiries we thought why not have set days when they can do it?

"So we started what we call our 'clothes-optional days'. That was three years ago. This year we are having six 'clothes-optional days', our most ever. The next is on June 17."

Mr Pollard said naked gardening is no more dangerous than gardening fully clothed.

"Waving sharp implements around is just as dangerous if you have trousers on or not," he said.

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Rare giant manta born at Japan aquarium

TOKYO - What is believed to be the first giant manta ray born in captivity has arrived at a southern Japanese aquarium, the facility said Sunday.

The baby manta, a female, was born late Saturday in a huge fish tank at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, more than a year after its parents mated, the aquarium said in a statement posted Sunday on its Web site.

In a video capturing the birth, the baby manta, rolled up like a tube, came sliding out of the mother manta, then quickly spread its fins and began swimming around.

The scene, recorded by the aquarium, was broadcast by national broadcaster NHK on Sunday.

The event marks the first birth of a manta in captivity, according to the aquarium, which started raising manta rays in 1988.

Noriyasu Suzuki, an official at the Izu-Mito Sea Paradise commercial aqua zoo in western Japan, said he thought the birth in captivity could be a world first.

"I've never heard of any other case before," he said. "Aquariums that raise manta rays are rare to begin with ... because they get so big."

According to the aquarium, the newborn manta was more than six feet wide.

The mother manta, which was brought to the aquarium in 1998 after hitting a fishnet off the southern island of Okinawa, about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo, mated with its partner on June 8, 2006, and was pregnant with the baby for 374 days, according to the statement.

Aquarium official Minoru Toda said little has been known about the life of manta rays, and the record of pregnancy and the birth would provide valuable scientific data to the studies of the species.

"We unfolded some of the mysteries about the life of manta rays, including the length of their pregnancy," Toda said. "Now we have to make sure the baby grows in good health."

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18,000 nudes in Mexico City

It’s not easy to gather 1,000 people at any place. Sure enough, you get tens of thousands of people at big events such as a big concert or a major sports event. But, have you heard of 18,000 people getting naked at the same time at the same place? That must be a marvelous and historical scene! I know what you are thinking… no way, that’s impossible. There is no way to get so many people naked at the same time! Too ridiculous!
However, believe it or not, that’s exactly what New York photographic artist Spencer Tunick just did. He is best known for staging photos with hundreds, or often thousands of naked people in public settings.
unick, who has amazed many by staging mass nude photo shoots in cities from Dusseldorf, Germany, to Caracas, broke his previous record of 7,000 volunteers set in 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. On Sunday he managed to enticed more than 18,000 Mexicans to pose naked in the Mexico City’s Zocalo square, the heart of the ancient Aztec empire.

Spencer Tunick’s next large scale nude shoot will be on June 23rd in Amsterdam. Have you booked a ticket to Amsterdam?

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