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Conjoined twin sisters, Maria and Consolata in Tanzania die at 21

Conjoined twins in Tanzania who were well-known in their country died this week at the age of 21 from respiratory failure.
Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti were joined at the midsection and shared lungs. They had separate head and hearts.

Back in December, Maria was diagnosed with a respiratory problem resulting from an inoperable chest deformity, Dr. Faith Kundy, a physician at Iringa Regional Hospital, told CNN.

“They underwent tests and it was very unfortunate that nothing could be done,” Kundy said. “It was very sad for me. Apart from being patients they were friends, they were funny people. I feel so sad because they had a hope of living.”

Maria died on Saturday afternoon. Fifteen minutes later, Consolata died, as well.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli tweeted said he was “saddened” by news of the twins’ deaths.
Maria and Consolata “dreamed of serving the nation,” he said.

The twins were lauded by their determination to get an education and won national acclaim when they graduated high school last year, according to the BBC. They also hoped to one day marry the same husband.

The parents of Maria and Consolata both died when the twins were infants. They were raised by a group of nuns.

“They were very lovely, very enthusiastic,” Sister Jane Nugi told CNN. “Their plan was to work and to help other people less fortunate in the community. They were suffering of course but they were able to live and want to live. In spite of the bonding condition, they had passion for life.”

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Meghan and Harry to tour Australia and New Zealand

(CNN) Royal newlyweds Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will tour Australia and several neighboring countries later this year, Kensington Palace announced.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will visit Australia, Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga, and New Zealand in a tour to coincide with the Invictus Games which will be held in Sydney from October 20 to 27.

Prince Harry founded the Invictus Game, a sporting event for wounded or sick servicemen and veterans, in 2014. It’s held in a different city every year.

Prince Harry, who served with the British army in Afghanistan, was the first member of the Royal family to enter a combat zone since 1982.
The Games also hold extra significance for the royal couple; they made their first public appearance together at the 2017 Games in Toronto, Canada.

 

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The bizarre reason why the Queen has 2 birthdays

Being the Queen comes with special privileges, like owning 200 of the same handbag, and having not one but two birthdays.

The Queen turns 92 on her actual birthday on April 21, but she also has an official birthday that is celebrated every year on a Saturday in June.

The reason for the second birthday has to do with the weather. Sovereigns whose real birthdays fall in colder months have often celebrated an official birthday on a different date in the hope of good weather for their birthday parade, known as the Trooping the Colour, according to the Royal Family’s official website.

Because British weather can be cold on April 21, the Queen celebrates her official birthday in June. The Queen’s official celebration usually falls on the second Saturday of June.

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Malian ‘spiderman’ hero to get French citizenship after saving child from fourth floor balcony

A Malian man hailed a hero after saving a child dangling from a fourth floor balcony in Paris will be granted French citizenship.

Mamoudou Gassama met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace after a video of his daring rescue went viral on social media.
As well as being made a French citizen, the 22-year-old – who recently moved to the country in the hope of a new life – will be offered a place in the fire brigade, Mr Macron said on Monday.

Mr Macron hailed the “exceptional act”, telling Mr Gassama: “You saved a child. Without you, no one knows what would have become of him.
“You need courage and the capability to do that.”

He added Mr Gassama had become an “example” because millions have viewed the astonishing act after footage was uploaded to Facebook.
The migrant admitted he was “trembling” after the rescue, but told the French president: “When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing.”

Mr Gassama also received a medal and certificate for bravery on his visit to the presidential residence.
He scaled an apartment block in northern Paris on Saturday evening after seeing a four-year-old in danger.

Footage shows Mr Gassama pulling himself up from balcony to balcony in a matter of seconds, while a man on the fourth floor tries to hold on to the child by leaning across from a neighbouring balcony.

On reaching the fourth floor, Mr Gassama puts one leg over the balcony before reaching out with his right arm and grabbing the child.
Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the child had already been rescued. A spokesman said: “Luckily, there was someone who was physically fit and who had the courage to go and get the child.”

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More than a dozen killed by outbreak of rare nipah virus in India

The World Health Organisation says the nipah disease spreading through a state in southwest India could cause a global epidemic.

Emergency measures have been imposed across the southwestern state of Kerala following the emergence of the nipah virus, which causes flu-like symptoms leading to an agonising brain-swelling condition known as encephalitis.

Those afflicted by the disease, which has a mortality rate of 70% and has no vaccine, can also be sent in to a coma.

Health experts have been flown over to help contain the virus, which is listed alongside ebola and zika as one of eight priority diseases the World Health Organisation believes could cause a global epidemic.

Nipah has killed 260 people in Malaysia, Bangladesh and India since 1998, and has previously spread to Singapore.
Pigs were the host on that occasion, but this time it has been spread by fruit bats, with a number of the winged animals found dead in a well at the home of a family which has lost four people to the disease.

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Harry and Meghan to make first appearance as her dad leaves hospital

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will make their first public appearance as a married couple later today at a garden party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate Prince Charles’ 70th birthday.

Prince Harry and Meghan will join the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the event, where a minute’s silence will be held to remember the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena bombing one year on.

It comes as Meghan’s father Thomas Markle was spotted for the first time since missing his daughter’s wedding to undergo heart surgery. The 73-year-old was pictured buying frapuccinos from a Starbucks in Rosarito, Mexico.

In the images, he is carrying a plastic bag which appears to have the words “personal belongings” on the side and could be from a hospital.

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Unsurprisingly, Putin has won Russia’s presidential election and will serve another 6-year term as president

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a rally to support his bid in the upcoming presidential election at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia March 3, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

  • After a campaign without any serious political challengers to his hegemony, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been re-elected president of Russia for a fourth term.
  • He will serve for at least another 6 years.
  • Behind Putin, a Communist Party challenger took second place, a nationalist took third, and anti-Putin liberal and socialite Ksenia Sobchak took fourth.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – An exit poll showed Vladimir Putin won Russia’s presidential election held on Sunday with 73.9 percent of the vote.

The voting projection, by pollster VTsIOM, put Communist party challenger Pavel Grudinin in second place with 11.2 percent.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was on 6.7 pct, and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak had 2.5 percent, the exit poll showed.

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk, Andrew Osborn and Katya Golubkova, Writing by Maria Kiselyova, editing by Christian Lowe)

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He’s 16 and he’s gigantic: Meet world’s tallest teenager

A British boy, who stands at 7 feet and 4 inches, is making headlines as the tallest teenager in the world, according to SWNS.

Brandon Marshall is 16 years old and is still growing.

“People stop him, asking for photos with him,” his mother, Lynne Quelch, told the news service.
Quelch said her son, who loves basketball and plays for the Wales National Team, is shy and introverted.

“When people notice his height, he says ‘Oh, here we go again, yes I am tall, yes I am Britain’s tallest teenager’,” the 49-year-old mother said.

Brandon shot up 5 inches from last year, when he was 6 feet 11 inches tall. “I was normal size up until the age of 9,” he explained. “I then had a big growth spurt. I was about 6 feet when I was about 13 [years old] and I started to grow a lot more by then.”

“When I was in year nine [at school] I got to 6 feet, 7 inches; and in year 10, I got to 7 feet.”

Brandon, who trains three times a week with the team, is getting ready to play his first professional tournament in Lithuania.
The 7-feet-4-inch teen has been able to slam dunk since the age of 13.

His mother said, “All the good colleges that have good basketball academies attached to them are all fighting over him as to who will get him. He absolutely loves it.”

His height, however, can sometimes pose a problem, “He does tend to struggle with roofs, ceilings, doorways — just everything normal-size people take for granted,” his mom shared.

She added, “He has got a super king bed at the moment, but we are having one made for him.”
Because of his size, Brandon consumes 8,000 calories a day, and Quelch said she is “constantly shopping to keep the fridge stocked.”

Doctors in England are trying to learn more about the teenager’s height. He tested negative for Marfan syndrome ꟷ a genetic disorder of connective issues ꟷ but a genetics team is still investigating why the 16-year-old is reaching such dramatic heights.

Brandon is just 3 inches shorter than 7-feet-7-inch Paul Sturgess from the U.K., who currently holds the title for Britain’s tallest man. The American Robert Pershing Wadlow, who is 8 feet, 11 inches tall, has the title for the world’s tallest man.

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Two stowaways hid in a plane’s landing gear — and fell to their death during takeoff

On Monday, three objects tumbled from a plane leaving Ecuador for New York, falling nearly 1,000 feet shortly after takeoff and landing with a thud on the runway.

Airport personnel rushed to the site, fearing LATAM Airlines flight XL1438 lost vital parts before leaving the port city of Guayaquil.

They arrived to find one person dead from the fall and another badly injured but alive. He would die minutes later, local media outlets reported. A suitcase with clothes and about $20 also was found.

The two men appear to have crawled into the landing gear section of the plane, said Gen. Marcelo Tobar, Guayaquil’s police chief. He speculated they were either forced out by the mechanics of the gears or they had second thoughts and jumped in the hope they would survive, according to Ecuador-based El Comercio. The men, between the ages of 25 and 30, did not have identification.

Officials suggested the men were Peruvian because the flight originated in Lima with a stop in Guayaquil, but they later determined the stowaways likely climbed aboard in Ecuador, El Comercio reported.

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Pope Francis with president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse

The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, met with the Holy Father in the Apostolic Palace.

The two discussed the country’s main social problems, especially poverty. Haiti has yet to recover from natural disasters like a 2010 earthquake or Hurrican Matthew in 2016.

Social crisis is coupled with a political one. Jovenel Moïse was elected president in February 2017 following a year and a half of electoral chaos.

Haiti was one of the countries mentioned by Donald Trump in his controversial statements on immigrants who arrive in the U.S.

The president presented Pope Francis with this image. In addition to his three main documents, the pope also gave Moïse a medal with a message of hope – the desert will become a garden.

“This is my wish for your country.”

A reserved individual, 49-year-old Jovenel Moïse owned a fruit business before beginning his political career.

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