Sheriff's deputies rescue newborn found buried near river

This Friday, Nov. 27, 2015 photo provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shows an unidentified deputy holding an infant girl where she was found abandoned under asphalt and rubble, lower left, near a bike path in Compton, Calif., as they seek the public's help in identifying her. (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department via AP)

COMPTON, Calif. –  (AP)  Los Angeles County sheriff's officials asked for the public's help Saturday in gaining information about a newborn baby deputies rescued after finding her buried beside a popular Compton bike path.

The girl was believed to be only 24 to 36 hours old when she was found Friday afternoon near a creek that flows into the Los Angeles River, said Sgt. Marvin Jaramilla of the Sheriff's Department's special victim unit. He said she was listed in stable condition on Saturday.

"There's indication that the child was born at a medical facility or a hospital," he said.

Jaramilla said two deputies found the girl around 4 p.m. after people on the bike path heard her cries and called authorities.

"As they searched, deputies heard a baby's muffled cry and located a newborn baby girl buried alive under pieces of asphalt and rubble inside a crevice located along the bike path," the sheriff's sergeant said in a statement.

He added she was wrapped in a blanket and cold to the touch when deputies found her. They summoned Compton Fire Department paramedics who took her to the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Department is asking for the public's help in identifying her.

"Some parents of newborns can find themselves in difficult circumstances. Sadly, babies are sometimes harmed or abandoned by parents who feel that they're not ready or able to raise a child," Jaramilla said.

He added that anyone in such a situation should simply surrender their newborn to authorities, who will care for the child.

"A parent stuck in this difficult situation can safely surrender their baby at any hospital or fire station in Los Angeles County, no questions asked," he said. - foxnews

President Obama: Overcoming Fear 'Most Powerful Tool' to Fight ISIS

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Nov 22, 2015, The “most powerful tool” to fight ISIS is to prevent the group's recent terror attacks in Paris from injecting fear in communities or governments around the world, President Obama said Sunday during his trip to Malaysia.

“We do not succumb to fear,” Obama said during a news conference closing out the final leg of his nine-day, three-nation trip overseas. “The most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we’re not afraid. To not elevate them and to somehow buy into their fantasy that they’re doing something important.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, the president sought to reassure allies that the U.S. will continue as an effective leader of the global coalition to destroy ISIS.

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“Destroying ISIL is not only a realistic goal,” Obama said, using a preferred acronym for the terror group. “We’re going to get it done and we’re going to pursue it. It’s going to get done.”

Obama, who is set to visit Paris at the end of the month for a major climate conference, said world leaders would be sending an important message by not letting last week's attack in Paris, in which 130 people were killed, prevent them from attending.

“I think it is absolutely vital for every country, every leader to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business,” he said.

The president also decried news headlines that sought to label the recently-deceased ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, as a “mastermind.”

“He’s not a mastermind,” Obama said. “He found a few other vicious people, got [his] hands on some fairly conventional weapons, and sadly, it turns out if you’re willing to die, you can kill a lot of people.”

The president added that ISIS "cannot strike a mortal blow" to the U.S., France, or even Malaysia.

"They’re a bunch of killers with good social media," he said. "Our way of life is stronger. We have more to offer. We represent 99.9 percent of humanity and that's why we should be confident that we will win."

Obama also gave his first public acknowledgment of ISIS being behind the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt late last month, killing more than 200 people. An image included in the latest issues of an ISIS magazine shows a soda can and what explosives experts told ABC News earlier this week are a blasting cap and an electric initiator.

The ISIS magazine said the image showed “the IED [improvised explosive device] used to bring down the Russian airliner.”

"I do think that as a consequence of ISIL claiming responsibility for bringing down their plane, there is an increasing awareness on the part of [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin that ISIL poses a greater threat to them than anything else in the region," said the president.

National Security Advisor Susan Rice said after the press conference that the U.S. agrees ISIS took down the plane. - abcnews

Neurosurgeon to attempt world's first head transplant

Patient will be 30-year-old Russian Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from Werdnig-Hoffmann, a muscle-wasting disease.

An Italian neurosurgeon has unveiled plans to perform the first human head transplant by the end of 2017.

Dr Sergio Canavero announced his plan at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons in the US state of Maryland on Friday, saying he believes he has a 90 percent chance of success.

He said his patient will be a 30-year-old Russian man, Valery Spiridonov, who has the muscle-wasting disease, Werdnig-Hoffmann.

"Of course there is a margin of risk, I cannot deny that," Canavero said.

"I made the announcement only when I was pretty sure I could do it."

Both men, who have been in regular contact through video chats, believe the controversial procedure is Spiridonov's best hope, the Reuters news agency reported.

"If it goes good, I think I will get rid of the limits which I have today and I will be more independent and this will much improve my life," Spiridonov said.

"We are making a huge step forward in science and I hope it will be OK."

Canavero is quick to point out that few with Werdnig-Hoffmann disease reach adulthood.

"He is a brave man and he is in horrible condition. You have to understand - for him, Western medicine has nothing to offer. Western medicine has failed."

Canavero will need the support of his peers in order to move forward on the operation which could cost around $15m.

Cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Raymond Dieter, a former president of the International College Of Surgeons, said one of the biggest concerns with the procedure was keeping the brain alive during the surgery.

"When you think you are doing a heart transplant, or a kidney transplant, or a liver transplant, you have to cool those organs to give you a longer period of … surgical time before you reconnect all the vessels and you start reperfusion," Dieter said. 

"We've seen several professors criticising Dr Canavero's work but you know, there was criticism for the first heart transplant as well and now it's commonplace."

The operation, which would require a team of more than 100 medical workers and could take 36 hours to complete, could take place in the US or China.

Canavero plans to carry out the procedure in December 2017.

"I prepared myself not only scientifically, but also psychologically which is equally important in order to tackle all of these attacks from several fronts, in order to justify what you want to do, why you want to do, you have to prepare yourself," Canavero said.

"This is a frontier, the final frontier. It's not space. This is it because it has implications that go well beyond religion, culture, the future, everything." -  Reuters

Delhi student lands a dream job at Google, gets a whopping Rs 1.27 crore salary package!

Just like finding that one great love, we all want to land a dream job. But for this, one must set his goals and strive hard to achieve them. This is what exactly this Delhi Technological University (DTU) did. A final year student of DTU Chetan Kakkar, who hails from the national capital, has set a new record for international placement by grabbing an offer of $1,90,000 (Rs 1.27 crore approx) per annum from Google.

Kakkar, who is an alumnus of Springdales, Pusa Road, said, DTU campus has made a great difference to his prospects, revealed a Times of India report.

After he completes his study in 2016, Kakkar will be joining Google at its headquarter in Mountainview, California with a compensation of Rs 1,25,74,200 ($1,90,000). Up until now, the tech giant has offered salary packages as high as Rs 93 lakh in DTU.

Kakkar, whose parents are teachers at the Delhi University, told the news daily, "This was what I had been striving so far and I am excited to join Google."

Last year, Gaurav Agarwal, a 21-year-old B-Tech student of IIT Indore, had bagged a job with Google at an annual salary package of Rs. 1.7 crore. - Google

Belgian police launch raids linked to Paris attacks

Security operation targets 'entourage' of suicide bomber after attacks that killed 129 people.

Belgian media reported that the operation was taking place in Molenbeek and Jette in the Brussels region [File - Reuters]

Belgian authorities launched six raids on Thursday in Brussels linked to a suicide bomber who took part in the recent attacks in Paris, according to local media reports.

Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported that the operation was taking place in Molenbeek and Jette in the Brussels region. 

Bilal Hadfi has been identified as one of three suicide attackers at the Stade de France. The raids are centring on "his entourage", a Belgian official told the Associated Press news agency.

At least 129 people were killed in the attacks in six different locations across Paris last Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel rejected criticism over the role security services played before the Paris attacks, which French authorities say were prepared and organised in Belgium.

"I do not accept the criticisms which is aimed at denigrating the work of our security services," Michel said in a speech to parliament.

He added his country will spend an extra 400 million euros ($427m) in the fight against security threats within Belgium.

Israel Grants Palestinian Mobile Carriers 3G Frequency

JERUSALEM — Nov 19, 2015 (AP) Israel has signed an agreement granting Palestinian mobile phone carriers 3G high-speed data services in the West Bank.

It's unclear when the measure will go into effect. Palestinians have had 2G access since 1998.

Israeli Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai and Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh signed an agreement on 3G service on Thursday.

The agreement will not extend 3G frequencies to the Gaza Strip, nor will it allow for 4G data transmission.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says it's meant to facilitate economic development.

Under interim peace agreements, Israeli authorities control cellular networks in the West Bank.

Thursday's decision comes amid a two-month surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed 14 Israelis and at least 82 Palestinians.

ISIS Claims Deadly Paris Attacks, 'First of the Storm'

                                      Eyewitness to French Attacks Recounts Horror

The terror group ISIS today released a statement claiming responsibility for the horrific, apparently coordinated attacks in Paris Friday that killed more than 100 people.

Calling the attack “blessed,” an audio statement released online in Arabic and French said that ISIS “soldiers” targeted the “capital of prostitution and obscenity.”

The statement said eight attackers were involved and claimed the attack was the “first of the storm and a warning to those who wish to learn.”

At least 127 people were killed at multiple locations as gunmen with military-style semi-automatic rifles and explosives shattered a peaceful French Friday night in Paris.

Eight attackers were left dead after the Friday night assaults, seven by detonating suicide belts, according to Agence France-Presse. A police official told ABC News that a Syrian passport was found on the body of one of the attackers.

ISIS supporters have repeatedly threatened France, along with other Western nations, as many has a half dozen times this year alone. In July, for instance, a French-speaking purported ISIS fighter said in a video released online that the group would bring “slaughter” to France.

U.S. officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. - abcnews

Several babies found dead in German flat

Police find probable total of seven dead infants in Bavarian town and say forensic investigation could take time

 German police have so far been unable to question the previous resident of the apartment where the bodies were found. Photograph: AFP/Getty

BERLIN: (AFP) The bodies of “probably seven” babies have been found in a flat in a Bavarian town.

German police said a local woman found the body of one baby on Thursday afternoon at the apartment in Wallenfels, near the Czech border, and called the emergency services. Officers then found several more bodies in a room at the property.

“Officers found several bodies of infants. The police and prosecutor ... believe that there are probably seven dead,” the police said. They have as yet been unable to question the previous resident of the apartment, a 45-year-old woman.

Forensic investigators were examining the corpses, police said, but the process could be lengthy due to the poor condition of some of the bodies.

Detectives revealed the find late on Thursday, with local press reporting that two bodies of babies were uncovered in the afternoon.

Germany has seen several infanticide cases in recent years.

Last May, a woman was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for killing two of her children and hiding them in a freezer.

In October 2013, in Bavaria, the bodies of two babies from the 1980s were found during construction works.

And in the worst post-war infanticide case the country has seen, a 42-year-old woman was convicted in 2008 of killing eight of her newborn babies.

It was unclear how long the babies had been dead or who, if anyone, was living at the property at the time of the discovery.

Massachusetts Woman Finds Out She's in Labor After Going to Hospital for Abdominal Pain

                          Woman Who didn't Know She Was Pregnant Welcomes First Child

A Massachusetts woman was stunned to find out she was expecting a child, just about an hour before she gave birth.

Judy Brown, 47, went to Beverly Hospital in Beverly, Massachusetts, with severe abdominal pain, according to a hospital spokesman. While she initially thought the pain might have been caused by a blockage or gall stone, medical staff quickly figured out she was actually in labor.

"It was a little bit scary getting into the hospital thinking something was really bad was going on," Brown told ABC News. "To understand and take in that was I pregnant and was about to go into labor … it was very overwhelming."

Brown, joined by her husband of 22 years, Jason Brown, then gave birth to a healthy 8-pound, 2-ounce daughter about an hour later.

The parents named her Carolyn Rose after both of their mothers, and baby and mom are doing well, according to a hospital spokesman.

At this stage in her life, Brown said, it hadn’t occurred to her that she might be pregnant even though her body was going through changes.

"After being married for 22 years, it really wasn’t coming up being pregnant," she said. "It was not really there in my mind."

The couple is expected to check out of the hospital today, but had to borrow some key baby items like a car seat and bassinet just to leave the hospital. But the delivery has been a welcome surprise for the couple, who have no other children.

Dr. Kimberly Gecsi, an obstetrician and gynecologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said while rare, some women do not realize they're pregnant until shortly before giving birth.

"People don’t know sometimes or they’re in denial about it and denial can be pretty strong," Gecsi said.

Gecsi said women even in their late-40s should not think they can't get pregnant and use contraception until they talk to their doctor about stopping because of menopause.

"Most physicians who see women in their 40s should be counseling them on [contraception,]" she said. - abcnews

Google makes Maps, driving directions available offline

The latest version of Google’s map app allows users to download city maps so that streets and businesses will be stored on their mobile devices. Above, the company's headquarters in Mountain View.  (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

A map app is only as good as your access to the Internet.

Now drivers who have ever been frustrated by losing navigation can use Google Maps offline and still have access to directions.

The latest version of Google’s map app allows users to download city maps so that streets and businesses will be stored on their mobile devices. The app automatically goes into offline mode when it detects there is little to no signal.

The offline version still provides information like a business’ hours of operations, contact information and ratings. But it can’t offer real-time traffic patterns to help determine driving routes.

“When a connection is found, it will switch back online so you can easily access the full version of Maps, including live traffic conditions for your current route,” Google Product Manager Amanda Bishop wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “By default, we’ll only download areas to your device when you are on a Wi-Fi connection to prevent large data fees.”

Google first previewed the new features during its developers conference Google I/O in May. The company said more offline features were in the works. The update is currently only available for Android users, but will come to Apple iOS soon.

Google Maps is the No. 1 downloaded map app. The company also owns Waze, another popular map app that Google bought in 2013 for about $1 billion.

Apple also features a navigation app called Maps, but it has long been dismissed as inferior to Waze and Google Maps. - latimes

Facebook Messenger will remind you to send your friends' photos to them

Facebook is rolling out a new feature for the Facebook Messenger app. Called Photo Magic, the feature will remind you to send photos you took of your friends to them. This should come in handy if you are one of those people who takes pictures of your friends but then forgets to send them across later.

The feature works by using facial recognition on the photos you capture or the ones you already have stored on your phone. It then finds people in them and matches it against its database to identify them, and then reminds you to send the photos to your friends.

The app can automatically detect when you take a picture and can popup a notification immediately on Android to ask if you want to share the photo with the people who are in it, and with a single tap can send it to them on Facebook Messenger. Or you could dismiss the notification if you don't feel like doing that.

The feature might sound a little bit creepy but it's completely optional if you don't feel like using it.

The feature is rolling out now in Australia on Android and later on iOS and other parts of the world. - GSM Arena‎

New Facebook feature won't wait to scan your photos

NEW YORK — Facebook is now automatically scanning user photos for recognizable faces, even before they’re uploaded to the social network.

For many years, Facebook has been scanning photos for recognizable faces after customers uploaded them. But the company’s new “Photo Magic” feature is the first time that Facebook has crept outside the boundaries of its own app, doing face recognition directly in your camera roll.

If the faces match up with customers’ friends, Facebook will suggest people to share the photos with.

Facebook says Photo Magic will help make sharing easier. While the old process wasn’t exactly rocket science, it did take several steps, including navigating into your photos folder, clicking share, selecting which app you want to share with, and then selecting the people you want to receive your photo.

A notification that allows you to just click “share” will save a lot of taps.

“It’s still way too difficult to share photos with friends, and receive all the ones you’re in,” said David Marcus, head of the Messenger app, in a Facebook post.

Facebook has rolled out Photo Magic in Australia as a test market. Assuming all goes well, Marcus said the Photo Magic feature will soon come to the United States. - http://fox6now.com

Excavation of 15th Century Church in the Tropics Reveals a Fallen City's Dark History

Archaeologists digging in the ruins of Cidade Velha, the once-thriving city on the Cabo Verde islands off the west coast of Africa have found the oldest Christian church in the tropics, and the horrible reason why the city was once so rich.

Cidade Velha was at one point the second richest city in the Portuguese Empire. This was no mean feat in the mid-1500s, when Portugal ruled a good piece of the Western world. At first it seems odd that a city on an archipelago three hundred miles off the coast of Africa would be so wealthy and powerful. A recently uncovered church reminds us as to how it got that way.

Excavation of 15th Century Church in the Tropics Reveals a Fallen City's Dark History

Nossa Senhora da Conceição was built around 1470, when Cidade Velha was just a small trading outpost for the Portuguese in the Cabo Verde islands. University researchers from Cambridge teamed up with the Cabo Verde government and Cabo Verde archaeologists to uncover the physical remains and virtually reconstruct as much of the church’s history as they could.

What they found was a huge extension to the modest church. The extension was built in 1500, an ever-growing monuments to the population of the island. One of the largest grave stones in the church belonged to Fernão Fiel de Lugo, the town treasurer and a famous slaver. Slavery was what built up Cabo Verde’s wealth, and its population. Thousands of slaves were brought to the island before being loaded onto different ships and sent off to be sold.

But that’s not all of the islands’ heritage. The city was also a melting pot, where people from Africa and Europe lived together and, inevitably, mixed their genes. The bodies in the churchyard can give archaeologists an idea about what that society was like. This is especially important to the people of Cabo Verde. The Republic of Cabo Verde is only forty years old, and its people would like to know the details of their history.

With luck, the church and its occupants can tell them about what went on half a millennium ago. [Source: Earliest Church in the Tropics Unearthed in Heart of the Atlantic Slave Trade]