33 abducted children have been reunited with their families. A group of American missionaries attempted to kidnap these children on January 29.
The children left the safe environment of the children’s village that welcomed them during the process. The children stayed in SOS village for seven weeks. While the Haitian Child Authority traced the parents and cleared the paperwork the children, aged between four months and twelve years, were placed in a SOS Children on the outskirts of Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.
More than 400 unaccompanied and orphaned children have found their way to the SOS Children’s village since the earthquake, SOS Children said.

NEW YORK: Putting children in front of educational DVDs does not help boost their language skills, according to a U.S. study that focused on one product, the Baby Wordsworth from the Walt Disney Company’s Baby Einstein series.

While The Baby Einstein Co does not make educational claims, it notes on its web page that the Baby Wordsworth DVD is a “playful introduction to words and sign language.”

A study by researchers at the University of California, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, put the DVD to the test with one and two-year-olds.

For six weeks, 88 children were randomly assigned to either watching the DVD a few times a week or not at all. Researchers then tested the language skills in each group based on how many words the children knew according to their parents and how well they did in a lab test.

At the end of the period, toddlers who had watched the DVD fared no better than those who hadn’t.

Children in both groups understood about 20 of the 30 words highlighted in the DVD, on average, and spoke 10. Their general language development showed no difference, either.

The researchers also asked parents about their children’s television viewing before entering the study. The earlier a child started watching Baby Einstein DVDs, it turned out, the smaller his or her vocabulary was.

The Baby Einstein Company emphasized that it “does not claim educational outcomes.”

On its web page, it notes that its products “are not designed to make babies smarter,” but rather “to engage babies and provide parents with tools to help expose their little ones to the world around them.”

The study’s finding is in line with earlier research, said Rebekah Richert, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, who led the study, but it is unclear if the DVDs themselves are responsible.

Parents who place their kids in front of the screen could be trying to remedy slow language development, or they could be using the DVDs as baby sitters, cutting back on social stimulation.

“A lot of children, particularly when they’re young, seem to have these kinds of (DVDs),” Richert told Reuters Health. “My take-home message would be to encourage live interaction between parent and child.”

Although it is not well understood how watching television affects language, Richert and colleagues wrote in their report that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children younger than two stay away from the screen.

Some experts have even suggested that baby videos might be harmful by impeding social and cognitive learning.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen raided a village in Basilan, killing at least 11 people and injuring 20 others, including a one-year-old girl.
Police said most of the villagers of Poblacion Tubigan in Maluso town were asleep when they were attacked by suspected Abu Sayyaf extremists. The assailants opened fire with automatic arms and torched several houses in the village that also left 10 people wounded, including four children who were last reported in critical condition. Initial reports said the number of victims could increase since many of the villagers were caught in a hail of gunfire from the attackers. The attack came in the wake of the recent killing of Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad and the arrest of two key leaders of the extremist group. Government forces had been told to be on alert for reprisal attacks. It was the worst attack on civilians since 2001 when the Abu Sayyaf seized dozens of villagers and later beheaded nine farmers and shot to death another civilian in Lamitan town. The attack also came a day after government troops rescued two Chinese nationals in nearby Sumisip town. The two men were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf from a plywood factory in Maluso in November. One of the factory workers seized with them was beheaded.

Octomom On The View : Octomom on the View videos/Nadya Suleman aka “Octomom,” on the View videos can be found here.Nadia “Octomom” Suleman was grilled by the ladies but she simply replied with her obnoxious laugh.Suleman talked about raising the children,how she paid for her fertility treatment and her future business plans.Here is her interview.
Whoopi Goldberg o you understand why people think a mom of 14 is maybe… not quite all there?
Nadya:

“I’ve asked myself that for years too.Everyone goes through life, some people in varying degrees… wearing certain clouded glasses.I was in denial for so many years thinking, ‘Oh, I’m so smart, you know, I have a year more for my masters, right? I can do it all. I’m strong. I study all night long. I get straight A’s and I’m taking care of my kids, six of them, no help. Not one nanny,.So I’m delusionally thinking, ‘Oh, I’m gonna keep going. Oh [I’ll] have one more. What’s one more from six?’ OK, so this happens… It took this monolithic experience of having eight simultaneously to completely, completely alter, wake me up, and alter my mindset permanently.”

Four people including 3 siblings and their aunt died while nine others injured when a rocket fell at a house in Bahamari area, Peshawar.
According to SHO PS Bahamari, some unidentified miscreants fired the rocket, which fell on the house of one Rehman Ullah. Resultantly, four persons including Rehman’s three children aged between 9 to 12 and his 16-year-old sister died on the spot while nine others received serious burn injuries. The wounded were shifted to hospital, of whom four are stated to be in a critical condition, while rescue teams are busy in removing the debris.

LONDON – The suspect in the disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway has confessed to disposing of her body in a swamp on the Caribbean island of Aruba, according to a Dutch tabloid newspaper and Aruba’s chief prosecutor.

Joran van der Sloot made the statement in a sit-down interview with a television journalist, De Telegraaf reported Tuesday.

However, Aruba’s chief prosecutor Peter Blanken told NBC News that the suspect’s story was “very unbelievable.”
Holloway, from Mountain Brook, Ala., was 18 when she was last seen leaving a bar in the Aruban capital on the final night of a high school graduation trip in May 2005. Her body has never been recovered.

Authorities in Aruba reopened the investigation after they found out about the alleged confession, which is believed to have been recorded in August.

“The locations, names and times he gave just did not make sense,” Blanken told NBC News.

‘Lies’
De Telegraaf quoted Blanken as saying that van der Sloot’s statement was “held together by lies and fantasy.”

The interview was not aired by German broadcaster RTL because of doubts about whether van der Sloot was telling the truth, Blanken added.

Van der Sloot claimed that Holloway had died accidentally and insisted that he did not kill her, Blanken said.

In 2008, the suspect was secretly taped saying that Holloway had died after suffering a seizure on a beach and that he had dumped her body in the sea.

Van der Sloot later said he had been lying in a bid to impress the man he was talking to.

He also told a U.S. journalist that he sold Holloway to a man on a boat for $10,000. However, he subsequently insisted he had also made up that story.

Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005. She was last seen getting into a car with van der Sloot and two of his friends.

The three men have been questioned repeatedly by police but have never been formally charged.

Today is National Pancake Day. This day is created by the International House of Pancakes (IHOP)

Since beginning its National Pancake Day celebration in 2006, IHOP has raised more than $3.25 million to support charities in the communities in which it operates. …. With your help, we hope to raise $5 million in five years for Children’s Miracle Network and other local charities through your donations in 2010!

People are so much excited to eat free pancakes.

All the money raised at five GR-area stores will go to the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. Last year the stores raised $14,000. This year they hope to raise $20,000-$25,000. Stores are asking for donations in exchange for the free pancakes.

Since beginning this tradition in 2006, IHOP has raised $3.25 million for various charities. The chain is hoping to raise $1.75 million for CMN during this year’s event. Miss America Caressa Cameron is serving as spokeswoman for IHOP’s fifth National Pancake Day.

Colombian performer Shakira announced on Monday a $300 million joint initiative with the World Bank to expand development programs for young children in Latin America.

The musical sensation made the announcement in Washington D.C. after meeting with US President Barack Obama. She said they discussed the importance of promoting education for children younger than six years of age. It was really a privilege to me to be able to sit down today earlier with President Obama and to talk about our shared commitment to early childhood development and, in particular, the way that investing in our children’s earliest education is the smartest strategy that governments can create to boost economic growth, global security and peace,” she told. Shakira has long been an advocate for children and founded the nonprofit ALAS (Spanish for ‘wings’) to unite artists, business leaders and intellectuals to promote childhood nutrition, education and health. She said the money, which will be accessible to governments as grants and loans over the next two years, was a significant opportunity to make a difference in the region where the World Bank says 9 million children suffer from chronic malnutrition and 22 million lack access to early basic care. During this year, 2010, and next year, we can count on this enormous help and invest in nutrition, health and education for 22 million children in Latin America who have no access to this kind of state protection. This is truly a golden opportunity that we shouldn’t waste, she said.

One of the first beneficiaries of the World Bank funds will be a partnership with Mexico’s state agency CONAFE to provide parent and caregiver training in the country’s poorest 172 municipalities.

Scotty Lago Pictures, Scotty Lago (born November 12, 1987) from Seabrook, New Hampshire, is an American snowboarder. He is best known for being the last world quarterpipe champion and winning a bronze medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Lago has raised money for the Floating Hospital for Children in Boston. When Lago is not on the snow he enjoys hunting and fishing.

Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya would embark on a political career by taking part in the upcoming parliamentary polls scheduled to be held on April 8.

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Jayasuriya is seeking to become a Member of Parliament under the ruling coalition United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the south coast district of Matara, his hometown. The 40-year-old was recently dropped from the Sri Lankan ODI team but he has no plans to end his cricketing career in spite of his entry into politics.

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