Plastic bags help to save premature infants

Plastic bags help to save premature infants

The number of deaths of premature babies has been dramatically cut in one UK hospital by using simple plastic food bags and gel packs used for sports activities.

India's costly monkey menace

India's costly monkey menace

Farmers in India's northern hilly state of Himachal Pradesh are calling on the government to control a growing monkey menace in populated areas.

Monkeys are worshipped by Hindu faithfuls across India as the incarnation of monkey God "Hanuman".

But more often than not they turn out to be a nuisance.

Lured by easy availability of food the monkeys march in hordes to human settlements.

And their favourite jaunts are the nearby fields that offer them a variety of crops to feed on.

Hot competition at ice festival

Hot competition at ice festival

Eighteen teams are taking part in this year's international ice sculpture festival in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

For five days the city's central square is turned into a building site as international teams get to work creating their entries.

The festival this year has a special theme - the East.

The idea was proposed by the city administration, because in the summer of 2009 Yekaterinburg will host the summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping Russia, China and the four ex-Soviet Asian republics (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstab, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).