Tragedy of Chinese woman, 94, who sued her own children because they wouldn’t care for her

A 94-year-old Chinese woman sued her children because they were not taking care of her.

A court ordered that three of Zhang Zefang's children take her into their homes for four months of the year each.

Another was told to pay her $10 a month, and all four of her adult children must split the costs of her medical bills, according to Associated Press.

It comes after a law change in China, which came into effect in July, stating that parents should be supported emotionally as well as financially by their children.

This means people can be taken to court for not visiting their parents.

Ms Zefang claimed she never wanted to sue her sons, Zhou Mingde, 71, Zhou Yinxi, 68, and Zhou Gangming, 56, and daughter, 54-year-old Zhou Yunhua. But she said she did not have a choice.

She is now temporarily living with her youngest son and her daughter-in-law, Kuang Shiying.

‘I never thought about whether my kids would take care of me when I was old,’ she said.

‘I just focused on taking care of them.’

Zhang Zefang, of Fusheng in the Changshou district, is one of more than 1,000 parents to have sued their offspring in China in the last 15 years.

When she went to her village court, she was told she should sue her children so the law could force them to take care of her.

A court official said that local people mostly consider the children neglectful and are shocked that the matter has been aired in court.

Middle son Yinxi has yet to pay anything to his mother, despite being told to give her $10 a month.

Daughter-in-law Kuang Shiying goes to see Zhang Zefang, who is currently living with her

Bomb at Eid prayers kills Afghan provincial governor, 11 worshippers in Iraq

A bomb hidden in a microphone killed an Afghan provincial governor Tuesday as he made a speech at a mosque after Eid prayers in Logar, close to the capital Kabul, officials said.

And in Iraq a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers Tuesday as they left a mosque in Iraq after prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, killing 11 people, police and a doctor said.

“This morning, governor Arsala Jamal was delivering a speech after Eid prayers when he was killed by a bomb planted in the microphone,” Logar provincial governor spokesman Din Mohammad Darwish told AFP.

“Eight other people have been wounded.”

No group claimed immediate responsibility for the blast, though Taliban militants often target government officials as well as Afghan soldiers and police.

Eid ul Adha is a major public holiday across the Muslim world, with mosques packed with devotees marking the prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son when God ordered him to.

Sheep and goats are sacrificed in many households and the meat distributed among family, friends and the poor.

Bomb targeting worshippers kills 11 in Iraq
And in Iraq a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers Tuesday as they left a mosque in Iraq after prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, killing 11 people, police and a doctor said.

The blast near a Sunni mosque in the northern city of Kirkuk also wounded 22 people, the sources said.

An AFP photographer at the scene said bodies, their clothes covered in blood, were placed in the back of a small police pickup truck to be taken away. Bright red blood stained the street.

Angry and grieving worshippers railed against those who carried out the attack, shouting, “God take revenge on those who are evil!”

Eid al-Adha, which commemorates the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) to sacrifice his son at God’s command, is the biggest Muslim holiday of the year.

Almost nothing is safe from attack by militants in Iraq, where violence has reached a level not seen since 2008 when the country was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

Secure targets such as prisons have been struck in past months, along with cafes, markets, mosques, football fields as well as weddings and funerals.

The increasing number of attacks on both Sunni and Shiite gatherings have raised fears of a relapse into the intense sectarian bloodshed that killed tens of thousands of people in 2006-2007.

Analysts say the Shiite-led government’s failure to address the grievances of Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority — which complains of being excluded from government jobs and senior posts and of abuses by security forces — has driven the surge in unrest.

Violence worsened sharply after security forces stormed a Sunni anti-government protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23, sparking clashes in which dozens died.

And while the authorities have made some concessions aimed at placating anti-government protesters and Sunnis in general, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sunni anti-Al-Qaeda fighters, underlying issues remain unaddressed.

The Iraqi government has enacted new security measures and carried out wide-ranging operations against militants for more than two months, including dozens of executions, but has so far failed to curb the violence.

The latest unrest takes the number of people killed so far this month to more than 310, and to over 5,000 since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

In addition to major security problems, the government has failed to provide adequate basic services such as electricity and clean water, and corruption is widespread.

Political squabbling has paralysed the government, while parliament has passed almost no major legislation in years.

Kano: Islamic police to arrest anyone for indecent dressing

The Islamic police in the northern state of Kano are deploying thousands of officers to arrest anyone wearing the “indecent dress” that is fashionable among young men driving motorized rickshaw taxis, including pants cut off just below the knee and sleeveless T-shirts, a representative of an Islamic agency said Monday. The police also have orders to arrest any driver carrying men and women together in the three-wheeled taxis, said Yusuf Yola, a spokesman for the Hisbah board, which is responsible for ensuring compliance with Shariah laws in Kano. Mr. Yola said Christians also must comply.

Nine of Nigeria’s 37 states have introduced a strict version of Islamic law since 2000. But the law is interpreted differently and enforced more rigidly in some states. Three other states introduced Shariah law, but only for Muslims who want to use it as an alternative to Western-style family law. The rest of the country is under secular law. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, with more than 160 million people, almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians.

Ethiopia vs Nigeria: 2 Men Killed While Preparing a Bomb for an Attack, an Official Says

Two Somali men killed in a bomb blast were believed to have been plotting an attack in Ethiopia when they accidentally blew themselves up, Redwan Hussein, Ethiopia’s minister of information, said on Monday. The explosion took place Sunday afternoon as thousands were gathering in the capital, Addis Ababa, to watch a World Cup qualifying soccer game between Ethiopia and Nigeria. Security officials found grenades, a revolver and explosives at the scene, Mr. Redwan said. He characterized it as a terrorist plot but said it was not yet clear who was behind it. The Shabab militant group, which claimed responsibility for last month’s attack on a Kenyan shopping mall, carried out a pair of bombings in Uganda during the broadcast of the World Cup final in 2010. Like Kenya and Uganda, Ethiopia has troops in Somalia. The two men killed in Sunday’s blast were in the country illegally, Mr. Redwan said. He said that the attackers had apparently intended to strike multiple targets but that the bombs had detonated unexpectedly before the men could execute their plan.

Kissing may help you find right partner

Kissing helps us size up potential partners and, once in a relationship, may be a way of getting a partner to stick around, a new Oxford study suggests.

"Kissing in human sexual relationships is incredibly prevalent in various forms across just about every society and culture," said Rafael Wlodarski, from the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University.

Wlodarski and colleagues set up an on-line questionnaire in which over 900 adults answered questions about the importance of kissing in both short-term and long-term relationships.

"There are three main theories about the role that kissing plays in sexual relationships: that it somehow helps assess the genetic quality of potential mates; that it is used to increase arousal; and that it is useful in keeping relationships together. We wanted to see which of these theories held up under closer scrutiny," Wlodarski said.

The survey responses showed that women rated kissing as generally more important in relationships than men.

Furthermore, men and women who rated themselves as being attractive, or who tended to have more short-term relationships and casual encounters, also rated kissing as being more important.

Previous studies have shown women tend to be more selective when initially choosing a partner.

Men and women who are more attractive, or have more casual partners, have also been found to be more selective in choosing potential mates.

As it is these groups which tended to value kissing more in their survey responses, it suggests that kissing helps in assessing potential mates, researchers said.

It has been suggested previously that kissing may allow people to subconsciously assess a potential partner through taste or smell, picking up on biological cues for compatibility, genetic fitness or general health.

"Mate choice and courtship in humans is complex," said Professor Robin Dunbar.

"Initial attraction may include facial, body and social cues. Then assessments become more and more intimate as we go deeper into the courtship stages, and this is where kissing comes in," he said.

Cultists hold 'security summit' in Edo

BENIN-Against the background of incessant kidnappings and other violent crimes in Edo State, members of various cult groups in the state came together in Benin, weekend, in a move they said was to tackle insecurity in the state.

However, the cult groups during their summit with the theme Interactive Peace Summit: Strategy for Social Cohesion, which held at the Sand Beach Resorts, Benin, expressed dissatisfaction with threats posed to Edo and other neighboring states due to the activities of kidnappers, armed robbery gangs and other criminal activities. They resolved to tackle them.

Represented

Some of the cult groups represented by at the summit included Green Circuit (Maphites), Norsemen (Vikings), Black Axe, Eiye Confraternity, Family Fraternity of Nigeria and Avarian Organisation of Nigeria.

Also in attendance were representatives of Governor Adams Oshiomhole; the Iyase (traditional Prime Minister) of BeninKingdom, Chief Sam Igbe; representatives of the Edo State Commissioner of Police and that of AIG Zone 5 Benin and representatives of the Director, Department of State Services.

Others were representatives of the Commandant of Civil Defence and Security Corps, Edo State Neighbourhood Watch Council and the OC, SIB, AIG Zone 5.

Chairman of the Consolidated Forum, Donald Edeo-ghon, while acknowledging the damage done by activities of the group, however expressed hope that the coalition of the groups would help in checking crime in the state.

He said: "If you remember, for over two decades, inter-group conflicts, which often resulted in violent and fatal crises, were the attributes of EdoState communities.

"Innocent lives and property of inestimable worth are destroyed on a whim.

"Armed robbery, kidnapping, thuggery and sundry social vices rose to unprecedented levels; it became dangerous to reside and function legitimately in EdoState and in particular, Benin.

"The situation looked bad, but then came the platform of Rainbow Consolidated Forum with a template for all seasons."

Chief Igbe expressed joy at what he witnessed and called on the groups not to disappoint, saying "you know I am going to brief the Oba on what I have witnessed here today."

Ambience can affect taste and flavour of your booze

Your environment what you see, hear, and smell - can trick you into believing that the taste and flavour of a glass of alcohol has changed, a new study has found.

In an experiment researchers found that participants' ratings of the smell, taste and flavour of a whisky changed by ten to twenty per cent depending on the environment they were drinking it in.

Manipulating people's senses with environmental triggers can have a significant effect on the taste of whisky, they concluded.

Charles Spence, Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, and sound designers Condiment Junkie, conducted an experiment that examined how changing what people saw, heard, and smelled affected how they tasted whisky.

During a whisky tasting event, participants were asked to sample a whisky in three different rooms. Each room had a unique visual appearance, soundscape, fragrance, and feel which was designed to emphasise a different attribute of the whisky; its grassiness, sweetness, or woodiness.

The experiment assessed how these different environments influenced the participant's perceptions of these different attributes.

The room that was designed to emphasise the 'grassiness' of the whisky had a turf floor and a soundscape recorded in a summer meadow (which included sheep 'baa-ing' in the background).

This contrasted to the other rooms, such as the one that was designed to emphasis 'woodiness', which had a fragrance of cedarwood and tonka bean and a soundscape that included the sound of creaking timbers, log fires, and wood instruments.

The results showed that participants perceived the whisky as significantly 'grassier' in the 'grassy' room, sweeter in the 'sweet' room and having a woodier aftertaste in the 'woody' room. Ratings changed by as much as twenty per cent between rooms.

"These results suggest that, even under realistic and noisy conditions, a change of the multisensory environment in which people drink can give rise to a very real change in their experience," said Spence, co-author of the paper.