Indian Twin Village
Baffled doctors are trying to unravel the mystery of an Indian village boasting more than 220 sets of twins born to just 2,000 families.
Experts who have visited the remote tropical village of Kodinhi, in Kerala, have been left scratching their heads over the phenomenon that has seen almost six times as many twins born than the global average.
In 2008 alone 15 pairs of twins were born in the village out of 300 healthy deliveries and this year is expected to top that number.
A 67-year-old Romanian has become the oldest woman to give birth, fuelling an ethical, medical and religious debate about fertility treatment.
Adriana Iliescu gave birth to a daughter who weighed 1.4 kilograms and was delivered by caesarean section after a twin embryo died in the womb.
Sunday's birth came six weeks before the university professor was due to have the child. She started fertility treatment at the age of 58.
Mrs Iliescu finally conceived last May, but she and her doctors kept the news secret until she gave an interview to a Romanian TV station in December announcing she was pregnant with twin girls. The revelation prompted outrage in some quarters and celebration in others.
The mother-to-be made an emotional defence. While critics complained she would be too old to watch her children grow up, she insisted that her family had a history of longevity.
At her Bucharest hospital, doctors said the surviving infant was in intensive care but breathing independently. "The mother is doing well," a spokesman said. "She is saying she has been given a new lease of life."
The Romanian Orthodox Church gave the birth its blessing, but some doctors have been outraged. The head of Romania's medical ethics board said such a controversial procedure should have been debated before conception.
The previous oldest woman to give birth had a son 10 years ago when she was 62.
MOSCOW, April 8 - RIA Novosti. Law enforcement agencies of Moldova stated that control of the situation in Chisinau, where the eve of the protests against the outcome of the parliamentary opposition elections resulted in massive street riots. The crowd defeated the residence of the president and the parliament building, overturned cars, cast stone the police.
President Vladimir Voronin called the attempt to seize power by what is happening and promised to protect the country from pogromschikov and putschists. According to him, all the observers have been April 5 parliamentary elections in Moldova said that the elections were free of violations, so there is no reason to organize such protests.
