Smileband General News

Ecuador's vice president has been sentenced to six years in prison for taking illegal kickbacks from a Brazilian construction giant.

Jorge Glas is highest-ranking politician to be convicted in the sprawling case centred on Odebrecht, whose practice of giving bribes to secure public works contracts has cast a cloud over officials and ex-officials in several Latin American countries.

Glas, 48, had been in preventive custody since October. 

His trial before Ecuador's Supreme Court started last month and he was sentenced today.

Prosecutors said he received a total of $13.5 million in Odebrecht bribes, via an uncle who is also under arrest.

Fallout from the massive Odebrecht corruption scandal has continued to sweep Latin America.

The company, which has admitted to paying bribes to win contracts in a number of countries, has already paid $3.5billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland.

A close ally of leftist ex-President Rafael Correa, Glas served as Correa's vice president from 2013 and retained the position under current President Lenin Moreno. Three other individuals have been sentenced to 14 months in prison in the same case, their sentences lightened by 'effective cooperation' with authorities, according to the verdict read by judge Edgar Flores.

In an October interview from prison in Quito, Glas said he was a victim of the construction giant's revenge after he was instrumental in kicking the company out of Ecuador in 2008 following a dispute over repair of a hydroelectric plant.

Glas, who was minister of strategic sectors before becoming vice president in 2013, denied any link to the Odebrecht scandal, though his uncle, Ricardo Rivera, has been arrested for his alleged involvement.

Under investigation by the US Justice Department, Odebrecht agreed in December to pay the record $3.5 billion fine after admitting to paying $788 million in bribes across 12 countries to secure contracts.

The scandal has ensnared politicians in several countries, including Mexico, Peru, Panama and Venezuela.

Ecuadoran prosecutors said Odebrecht spent $47.3 million in bribes in their country to get public contracts.

Ecuador's former president, Rafael Correa, told CNN Spanish from Panama that Glas was a 'political prisoner' and there was 'no evidence against him'.

He claimed the conviction was a way for his successor, President Lenin Moreno, to seize control of the vice president's office. 

Smileband General News

Members of the Royal Family shed tears for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire alongside their bereaved relatives at a poignant and emotional memorial service today.

Princes Charles, William and Harry were joined by the Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge at St Paul's Cathedral for the service, with Kate clearly battling tears as tributes were made to those who lost their lives in the tragedy. 

Celebrities with links to the area were also among the 1,500 guests, including Adele, who had many friends in the Kensington community, who was seen openly weeping as she embraced others in the congregation.

She was joined by fellow singer Marcus Mumford and his actress wife Carey Mulligan, with both also seen crying as they struggled to keep their emotions under control.  

After the service, the Royals were quick to engage with the families, providing comforting words and a friendly face for them to talk to and share their grief with.

It comes after Boris Johnson branded London Mayor Sadiq Khan's response to the tragedy 'spineless' after Tory councillors were blocked from attending today's service.

The Foreign Secretary launched a furious attack on the London Mayor who he said should share some of the blame over why many victims have still not been rehoused.

And he hit out at the decision to block Tory councillors in Kensington and Chelsea from attending even though Labour councillors were invited.

The blaze at the 24-storey tower in June killed 71 people and injured a further 70, while making hundreds homeless and is believed to have been started by a faulty fridge-freezer before spreading rapidly. As the service ended, the Grenfell banner was held aloft and carried out of the cathedral, followed by survivors and bereaved holding white roses and photographs of their loved ones.

Maria Jafari, 38, and her family met Prince Harry at the end of the service.

Harry told her mother, Fatima Jafari, 78, that she must have been very proud of her daughter for speaking at the front, before congratulating her for taking part.

As Mrs Jafari began sobbing for her husband, who was 82 when he died, the prince asked an interpreter: 'Just tell her I am so incredibly sorry for her loss.' 

Meanwhile the Bishop of Kensington told the community at the heart of the Grenfell Tower fire of his hope that the tower may one day become 'a symbol of the time we learnt a new and better way'.

The Right Reverend Graham Tomlin said six months on there were 'so many unresolved issues and questions', but he trusted that the truth would bring justice and heal the divides in society the tragedy had laid bare.

He told survivors and those who lost family members in the blaze that he hoped that Thursday's national memorial service would assure them that the nation had not forgotten them.

Bishop Tomlin told the congregation at St Paul's Cathedral: 'My hope, my prayer is that today we will pledge ourselves to change, from a city where we didn't listen, where we didn't hear the cries of our neighbours because we were too wrapped up in our own interests and prosperity, to create a new type of life together, where we are turned not inwards to ourselves, but outwards towards each other: a society known for listening, compassion and love.

'In years to come, our hope is that the name of Grenfell will not just be known as a symbol of sorrow, of grief or injustice, but a symbol of the time we learnt a new and better way, to listen and to love.'

Reflecting on the immediate aftermath of the fire, the Bishop said the response from all over London, the UK and beyond had been 'extraordinary', while the emergency services worked tirelessly.

Smileband General News

Two men and two women have been arrested on suspicion of murdering an 87-year-old who has died three weeks after being savagely beaten and robbed.

Widower Arthur 'Bob' Gumbley, who ran a successful heating and plumbing supplies company before retiring, was set upon in his own home on November 21. His gated property was broken into at around 8pm and repeatedly punched him in the face before kicking him as he lay helplessly on the floor, before making off with items including a purse belonging to his late wife.

Mr Gumbley succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Monday. When paramedics arrived at the scene in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, at 10pm to find the retired company director lying in a pool of blood.

He was taken to Good Hope Hospital were he was treated for severe bruising to his left eye, neck, chest, both hands and right arm.

Staffordshire Police released photographs of Mr Gumbley's injuries in a bid to catch the perpetrators.

Yesterday police confirmed Mr Gumbley died from his injuries on Monday (December 11) and officers had arrested four people on suspicion of murder.

Two men aged 42 and 34, and two women aged 33 and 29, who are all from Birmingham, are currently being quizzed by detectives. Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Dan Ison, said: 'This was an horrific and despicable attack on a defenceless elderly man in his own home, which has now resulted in his untimely death and a murder investigation.

'He had been punched in the face and kicked while on the floor.

'He was taken by ambulance to Good Hope Hospital where he was initially treated for injuries to his chest, neck, arms and face.

'Despite being in good health prior to the attack, his condition deteriorated last week and he sadly passed away on Monday 11 December. 'The robbery is believed to have taken place between 7pm and 9pm, when thieves ransacked the house and stole items of jewellery and cash, as well as a purse that belonged to Arthur's late wife.

'Crimes of this nature cannot go unpunished, and I want to reassure Arthur's family that every effort is now being made to bring those responsible to justice.'

Speaking at a press conference after the attack, Mr Gumbley's daughter Sue said before he died: 'It's started to become real to him now, and he's said he's scared. 

'His question is, why did it happen to him? What did he do wrong? How do you tell somebody that? That he did nothing wrong? 

'To do that to an old person, to push them around and kick them and punch them, and cut them, it's really frightening. 'To see your dad, that you've looked up to all these years, sitting in a pool of blood is just awful.

'We've shown him a picture of himself and it's frightened him. He's a scared old man now, and he was a tall, upright person that people respected, he's worked hard all of his life.'

Smileband Health issues

A recent Danish study has linked hormone-based birth control methods to an increased risk of breast cancer, but experts say these contraceptives have protective effects.

The research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, scientists collected data from 1.8 million women between the ages of 15 and 49 for nearly 11 years. They found that hormone-based birth control methods were linked to 13 extra cases of breast cancer among 100,000 women using these these contraceptives for a year.

However, the overall risk is small and varies depending on a woman's age and genetics. 

In fact, some experts say women should not be alarmed because the benefits of birth control outweigh the risks.

'The absolute risk cancer is very small,' epidemiologist Dr JoAnn Manson of Brigham And Women's Hospital told Daily Mail Online. 'There are counter-balancing benefits [of hormone-based birth control methods] There are studies that support Dr Manson's claim that hormone-based contraceptives protect against several types of cancer.

Research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics of Gynecology earlier this year,  examined data from 46,000 women for up to 44 years and found that women who had ever used oral contraceptives were less likely to develop colorectal, endometrial and ovarian cancer.

The study revealed contraceptive pills were associated with a 33 percent reduced risk of developing endometrial and ovarian cancer, and about a 20 percent reduced risk of developing colorectal cancer.

Researchers also found that these protective benefits seemed to last more than 30 years after women have stopped using the pill.

A 2015 study published in The Lancet Oncology also found that oral contraceptives reduced the risk of developing endometrial cancer, while another study published last year in the Annals of Oncology found that they protect against dying from ovarian cancer.

Another published in the Journal of Women's Health in 2012 linked contraceptive pills to a reduced risk of Alzheimer's Disease.

Researchers found that women on birth control scored higher on cognitive tests than women who had never taken birth control. These effects could also be seen for years after the women had stopped taking the pill.

Although that study focuses specifically on oral contraceptive pills, Dr Manson stresses that no studies have linked hormone-based contraceptives to an increased absolute risk of cancer and mortality. However, for those who are worried, there are birth control methods that do not contain hormones that are effective and affordable. 

Many people are familiar with Mirena, Liletta and Skyla IUDs which used the hormone progestin. But there's a hormone-based IUDs called Paragard which can protect against pregnancy for up to 12 years. 

Meanwhile, the hormone-based IUDs only work for three to six years.

The Paragard IUD is wrapped in a tiny copper and inserted into the uterus.

Smileband General News

One day in July 2001, Larry Page decided to fire Google's project managers. All of them.

It was just five years since Page, then a 22-year-old graduate student at Stanford, was struck in the middle of the night with a vision. In it, he somehow managed to download the entire Web and by examining the links between the pages he saw the world's information in an entirely new way.

What Page wrote down that night became the basis for an algorithm. He called it PageRank and used it to power a new Web search engine called BackRub. The name didn't stick.

By July 2001, BackRub had been renamed Google and was doing really well. It had millions of users, an impressive list of investors, and 400 employees, including about a half-dozen project managers.

As at most startups, in Google's first year there were no management layers between the CEO, Page, and the engineers. But as the company grew, it added a layer of managers, people who could meet with Page and the rest of Google's senior executives and give the engineers prioritized orders and deadlines. Page, now 28, hated it. Since Google hired only the most talented engineers, he thought that extra layer of supervision was not just unnecessary but also an impediment. He also suspected that Google's project managers were steering engineers away from working on projects that were personally important to him. For example, Page had outlined a plan to scan all the world's books and make them searchable online, but somehow no one was working on it. Page blamed the project managers.

Some dramatic streamlining was called for, he resolved. Instead of the project managers, all of Google's engineers would report to one person, a newly hired VP of engineering named Wayne Rosing, and Rosing would report directly to him.

Google's human resources boss, a serious woman with bangs named Stacey Sullivan, thought Page's plan was nuts, according to "I'm Feeling Lucky," Douglas Edwards' inside view of Google's early years. Sullivan told Page so. "You can't just self-organize!" she said. "People need someone to go to when they have problems!"

Page ignored her.

Sullivan took her concerns to Eric Schmidt. In March, Schmidt had become the chairman of Google. Everyone assumed he'd be CEO as soon as he could leave his full-time job as CEO of Novell.

Schmidt agreed with Sullivan. So did Page's executive coach, Bill Campbell. Everyone called Campbell "Coach" because he'd once been Columbia University's football coach. He still walked and talked like he was pacing a sideline. But Page was determined.

Schmidt in particular may have been the worst person for Sullivan to turn to for help back then. Page had never been behind hiring him - or any CEO, for that matter. Google's investors made him do it.

Before long, Schmidt might have presented an obstacle to Page's plan. But not yet. It was July 2001 and Schmidt hadn't officially become CEO. So Page went ahead.

Smileband Health issues

She was the size of a grape in the womb when doctors diagnosed a rare condition and put her chances of survival at 'next to zero'.

But baby Vanellope Hope – whose beating heart grew on the outside of her body – has defied eight-in-a-million odds and is three weeks' old. It took an incredible team of 50 doctors, midwives and nurses to safely deliver her in an operation rarely successfully performed in Britain.

And her joyful parents – who had dismissed early advice to terminate the pregnancy – showed off the miracle daughter they never thought they would have.

Vanellope is recovering from three extraordinary operations to relocate her heart from outside her chest to inside her body.

Her condition, ectopia cordis, was discovered during a scan at nine weeks into pregnancy. 

Expectant mother Naomi Findlay, 31, recalled: 'I burst into tears. The condition came with so many problems.  Her partner Dean Wilkins said: 'We were told our best bet was to terminate and my whole world just fell to bits.'

Miss Findlay added: 'All the way through it, it was 'the chances of survival are next to none, the only option is to terminate, we can offer counselling', and things like that.

'In the end, I just said that termination is not an option for me. If [death] was to happen naturally, then so be it.'

The parents were warned their baby might have chromosomal abnormalities, potential damage to her heart and circulation, and was unlikely to even survive until birth. But hope began to return when Frances Bu'Lock, consultant paediatric cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, conducted further scans at 13 and 16 weeks and discovered that – apart from her heart being in the wrong place - Vanellope 'appeared essentially normal'.

Mr Wilkins, 43, said: 'When she starts moving her arms, you feel like, 'That's a life in there, she is there'.'

Undeterred in their fight for their baby, The couple, from Nottingham, paid for a special blood test to check for chromosomal problems. 

Mr Wilkins said: 'When the results of that test came back as low risk of any abnormalities, we jumped up and down in the living room and cried. At that point we decided to fight to give our daughter the best chance of surviving. Doctors began drawing up a hugely complex plan, conducting ultrasound and MRI scans on the baby's chest wall, lungs and brain.

Dr Bu'Lock said: 'We came together as a team of fetal medicine doctors, obstetricians, anaesthetists, cardiac and abdominal surgeons and cardiologists to review all of the available information and discuss how best to plan for a delivery, surgery and subsequent care. 'It was decided that delivery by caesarean section would be best to reduce the risks of infection, risks of trauma or squashing of the heart during delivery, and that surgery to provide some sort of covering to the heart would be needed immediately after baby was delivered.'

When she was 35½ weeks' pregnant, at 9am on November 22, Miss Findlay was wheeled into a cardiac theatre at Glenfield Hospital.

She met the 50 doctors, midwives and nurses who were split into four teams to deliver the baby, keep the mother safe and carry out the complex heart surgery. At 9:50am, baby Vanellope was born. Miss Findlay recalled: 'I started to panic. I actually felt physically sick, because I thought there was a big possibility I wouldn't be able to see her, or hear her, or anything really. 

'But when she came out and she came out crying that was it - the relief fell out of me.'

Mr Wilkins said: 'When she cried, we cried. I felt hopeless and just held onto Naomi and was staring into her eyes praying that it was all going to be ok.'

Vanellope - and her exposed beating red heart – was immediately wrapped in a sterile plastic bag and was whisked to the next team in an adjoining theatre. Her head was kept outside the bag, with a woolly hat to keep warm.

Consultant Neonatologist Jonathan Cusack said: 'The bag keeps the organs sterile but also keeps the tissues moist. We inserted a breathing tube into her mouth and gave medications to sedate her and stop her moving.

'Vanellope was born in good condition. She cried at birth and coped well with the early stabilisation and her heart continued to beat effectively.'

Around 50 minutes after birth, Vanellope was stable enough to be transferred back to the main theatre - where surgical teams began the task of putting her entire heart back inside her chest.

They carefully stretched apart a tuppence-sized chest hole to create more space for the heart, and installed a protective membrane over the beating organ.

Over the next nine days, lying on her back in intensive care, Vanellope's heart gradually sank into the hole in her chest.

Smileband Health issues

• Colds and flu. Although they can occur in warm weather too, your risk of contracting these viral diseases goes way up during the winter months. To prevent them, wash your hands often, avoid work or family environments where others have colds or the flu, and if you get sick yourself, stay home. Don’t “tough it out” and go to work and spread the virus.
• Sore throats. These symptoms are more prevalent in cold weather, and there is some evidence that they are triggered by sharp changes in temperature, such as going in and out from warm, heated homes and offices to cold weather outside. If you feel that scratchy sensation in your throat, treat it immediately by gargling with salt water.
• Asthma. If you already suffer from symptoms of asthma, cold weather may trigger more attacks than usual, including wheezing and shortness of breath. So try to stay indoors on cold, windy days and keep your rescue inhalers handy.
• Norovirus. Otherwise known as the “winter vomiting bug.” It’s not fatal, but if you catch it you may wish you were dead. This is an infectious disease that is transmitted via contact, so avoid public places if you’re susceptible to it.
• Arthritis and joint pain. Yes, your mother and grandmother were correct that you can “feel the effects of cold weather in your bones.” Maintaining your daily exercise regimen can help to prevent outbreaks of joint pain when the weather gets cold.
• Cold hands and feet. No, it’s not just your imagination. Cold weather affects your circulation, and your fingers and toes can literally “turn blue” in cold weather. To limit this, try to avoid caffeine, smoking, and drinking alcohol, all of which restrict circulation.
• Depression. Although technically not a transmittable disease per se, about 5% of Americans (75% of them women) experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which causes them to become clinically depressed, socially withdrawn, fatigued and sleepy, to crave carbohydrates, and gain weight. An additional 15% of the public has a milder form of the condition. Spending more time in sunlight or using full-spectrum light bulbs in your house and office can help to stave off depression.
• Dry skin. It’s even more important to stay hydrated and keep your skin moisturized during the winter months than it is during the hot summer months. A tip to be aware of is that “moisturizers” and skin lotions aren’t really absorbed through your skin. What they do is act as a sealant to keep moisture from evaporating, so the best time to apply them is right after a bath or shower.
• Heart attacks and stroke. We’ve saved this one for last, because it’s the most important winter health risk that you should be aware of. Your blood vessels constrict in cold weather, which can raise your blood pressure and trigger stress reactions that place additional burdens on your heart and circulatory system. Numerous studies have shown that the incidence of heart attacks and stroke go up dramatically during cold weather, and that the greatest periods of risk may be when the temperature changes rapidly during the day. One recent study showed that each 5-degree fluctuation in temperature increased stroke hospitalizations by 6%, and that each additional fluctuation increased the risk by an additional 2%. So don’t over-exercise when the temperatures get cold, or are fluctuating wildly. Take it easy while shoveling snow (one of the biggest winter weather sources of heart attacks) and while performing winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, and cross-country skiing.