Chopstick dislodged from toddler’s brain
 A chopstick went up 14-month-old Li Jingchao’s nose when he fell over
while playing at home in eastern Shandong province, China in late
December. Local doctors felt they would not perform the delicate
operation because they lacked the right equipment. Li’s parents drove 10
hours north to Beijing’s Bo Ai Hospital. By the time they arrived, the
tot was suffering from high fever and irregular heartbeat.
“We were fully prepared to bear the worst results when we started the
surgery,” said hospital spokesman Chen Yawei. Neurosurgeons found the
chopstick lodged four millimetres into Li’s brain and feared removing it
may cause internal bleeding – possibly causing paralysis, even death.
“We were prepared to cut open his head immediately to stop bleeding
from his brain if blood spurted from his nose while the chopstick was
pulled out.” Doctor Sun Wei, an expert on neurosurgery, has successfully
treated four such cases.
The operation proved successful. Li is now being treated with
anti-inflammatory medication because the dirty chopstick caused an
infection in his brain. He should be able to leave the hospital in about
a week.
Daredevils jump off world’s tallest building
 Omar Al Hegelan and Nasser Al Neyadi leapt 2,205 feet from the top of
the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai before free-falling for 10 seconds
then deploying their parachutes. It was the world’s highest jump from a
man-made structure.
Both men are expert skydivers and obtained permission from the Dubai
authorities to make the jump. Al Hegelan began Base jumping in 1997 and
has made over 15,000 sky dives. He said “It was one of the most
beautiful sensations I’ve ever experienced. We set a new world record.
The Burj Khalifa cost $1.5bn to build and is the tallest man-made
structure on earth at 828 m.
Teen chess genius is game’s youngest no 1
 A teenager who can think 20 moves ahead in a chess match has become
the game’s youngest ever number one. Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, 19,
called the ‘Mozart of Chess’ is listed at the top of the World Chess
Federation’s rankings for January with 2,810 points, five ahead of his
nearest rival, Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. His coach is the Russian chess
grandmaster Garry Kasparov, who took the top spot himself at the age of
20.
Carlsen, who can remember every detail of matches he played six years
ago, dismissed comparisons to troubled chess genius Bobby Fischer.
“Bobby Fischer was obviously one of the greatest chess players of all
time. The difference between him and me is that he was obsessed with
chess in a way that is not healthy and that’s a line I don’t intend to
cross. When I don’t play I do normal teenage things.”
Carlsen started playing chess at the age of eight. It took him a few
weeks to beat his older sister, and just a year to win against his
father, who plays club level chess. At 13 Carlsen became a grandmaster,
and beat world Champion Anatoly Karpov in a speed chess competition. |
