California woman sentenced to life for cutting off her husband's penis and tossing it in the garbage disposal

Jailed: Catherine Kieu,was found guilty of charges of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack and has now been sentenced to seven years to life in jail

A California woman who was accused of cutting of her husband's penis before tossing it in the garbage disposal has been sentenced to seven years to life in state prison.

Catherine Kieu, 50, was guilty of charges of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack and sentenced to life in jail, but she could be eligible for parole after seven.

She was convicted in April of one count each of torture and aggravated mayhem.

The victim, known only as Glen throughout the trial, was in court for today's sentencing.

'I'm hoping this will be the last time I ever have to see her,' he said. 'I felt some relief, and it was a very sad day for me.'

Kieu was convicted in April of aggravated mayhem - maliciously depriving a human of a body part.

'This was a horrible event,' said John Christl, of the Orange County District Attorney's office. 'In effect, the victim is going to be serving a life sentence because of what the defendant did to him. She, in turn, deserves her life sentence.'

The victim was hospitalized, but reconstructive surgery was not successful.

'I remember the event. It's not cohesive because of the shock, the trauma, the torture,' he said. 'There may be a situation where I can become happy. Whole? Never.'They had argued over the possibility of a friend staying at their condo at a later date, authorities said.

'In my 24 years on the bench, I've seen a number of murder cases,' said Judge Richard F. Toohey. 'Her actions were as calculated, as cold, as callous as any murder in the first degree.'

Prosecutors argued that Kieu refused to accept her husband's demand for a divorce and carried out the attack as part of a revenge plot. The attack occurred about two months after the husband filed for divorce.

'I don't think she wanted to get divorced -- that's what it came down to. As far as the reason for it,she was adamant. Maybe this is her way.'

During trial, the 60-year-old victim testified that his penis could not be reattached and that he felt as though he had been murdered.

Deputy District Attorney John Christl told jurors that Kieu, 50, drugged the man's tofu with sleeping pills and screamed 'You deserve it!' before attacking him with a 10-inch kitchen knife.

Kieu was jealous and angry about her husband's plans to divorce her because he was seeing his ex-girlfriend, the prosecution said.

Kieu spiked her husband’s dinner with Ambien, tied him to his bed with nylon ropes and then cut off his penis with a 10-inch kitchen knife, according to prosecutors.

She then threw it in the garbage disposal and turned it on, mutilating the organ, authorities said.
Her husband was treated and released from UC Irvine Medical Center, but doctors were unable to re-attach his penis.

The couple was reportedly going through a divorce at the time, and the defense argued that Kieu was suffering from depression and other mental health issues.

Audio of the incident was captured by a voice-activated recorder Kieu had hidden in the bedroom, Christl said.

'This was a cruel and calculated violation of a person’s body and mind,' the victim, who was not identified, said in an impact statement at the sentencing.

'I now struggle with what is before me. She has torn off my identity as a man,' he said. 'She has caused doubt in my belief in good. She has betrayed my trust in people.'

The victim testified he had spent a few days in a hospital and underwent surgery, but 'not reconstructive surgery.'

The operation was 'to make it usable as far as going to the bathroom.

The defense argued she 'had a break from reality' on the night of the attack.

Kieu apparently had mental health problems caused by a childhood full of molestation and other trauma in war-torn Vietnam and her husband also constantly demanded sex in ways that caused her pain, her defence lawyer said.

Kieu's public defender, Frank Bittar, said before jury deliberations: 'She's a shattered woman who tried to do the best she could'.

The husband said he remembered waking up tied to the bed. 

During the trial Mr Christl described the scene: 'When he woke, she told him 'You deserve it' three times, and then slices off his penis with one motion of the knife'.

'She then walks into the kitchen, takes the severed penis, and puts it into the garbage disposal.'

'All of a sudden I felt a very sharp pain,' the husband said. 'I will never have a sex life again.'

Bittar agreed that Kieu had a difficult past, but said no one could condone what the victim went through.

Culled from DAILY MAIL

Japanese scientists clone a mouse from a SINGLE drop of blood

A mouse has been cloned from a single drop of blood, Japanese scientists have reported. 

Blood cells from a donor mouse's tail were collected and used to  make the cloned female mouse, which went on to reproduce and live a regular lifespan. 

Japanese scientists have previously cloned mice using cells from various sources, such as white blood cells found in the liver and lymph nodes.

The difference this time was that the circulating blood cells, as they are known, were taken from the tail of another mouse. 

The researchers, from the Riken BioResource Centre, wanted to find a straightforward source of donor cells to clone laboratory mice.

After extracting the blood, they isolated the white blood cells, and used the nuclei to do the cloning -  using the same procedure that created Dolly the sheep, BBC News reports.

The technique, called somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves a donor cell nucleus being transferred to an egg cell whose own nuclear DNA has been removed.

The egg develops into an early-stage embryo that is a clone of the donor, containing the same genes.

Stem cells taken from the embryo are 'pluripotent', having the ability - with the right coaxing - to mature into any kind of tissue in the body, from brain to bone.

After extracting the blood, scientists isolated the white blood cells, and used the nuclei to do the cloning - using the same procedure that created Dolly the sheep (pictured)

The findings of the study, published in the journal Biology of Reproduction, state the researchers 'demonstrated for the first time that mice could be cloned using the nuclei of peripheral blood cells'. 

Furthermore, the cells 'could be used for cloning immediately after collection and no donor animals need to be euthanised'. 

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge of the MRC National Institute of Medical Research in London, told BBC News it was a 'useful small advance on previous work showing that it is possible to clone mice from a variety of adult cell types, including white blood cells.

He added: 'The efficiency of cloning from these cell types was very good, suggesting that even a small drop of blood will contain sufficient numbers...this is helpful if the intention is to use cloning to propagate and expand numbers of rare or valuable types of individual or species.'
 

Culled from DAILY MAIL

Former Communist Party official caught on video having sex with his teenage mistress is jailed for 13 years

Stung: A screenshot from the video showing Lei having sex with his mistress which went viral online

A former regional Communist Party official implicated in a sex scandal that has transfixed China was sentenced today to 13 years in jail for taking more than 3.1 million yuan ($500,000) in bribes.

Lei Zhengfu, a portly, pop-eyed ex-secretary of a region in southwestern China's Chongqing, was caught on video having sex with an 18-year-old mistress, with the clip ricocheting around China's gossip-obsessed Internet when it surfaced last November.

The encounter turned out to be a sting operation by a property developer hoping to blackmail Lei, 55, into favorable commercial decisions, Chinese media reported.

When blackmailed with the sex video, Lei asked another property developer who had benefited from his patronage to pay hush money of 3.1million yuan. 

Lei was fired, then charged last month with corruption, which carries a maximum penalty of death

Lei argued that the money was a loan, but prosecutors said the money - which was not fully repaid - amounted to a bribe. 

His punishment also includes confiscation of personal assets of 300,000 yuan ($48,000).

Shamed: Lei Zhengfu, a former regional Communist Party official, at a court in Chongqing municipality where he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for taking more than $500,000 in bribes from a property developer

Lei did not say whether he would appeal the verdict by the city's No. 1 Intermediate Court, according to state media.

Lei's case has riveted the public since video clips went viral of the portly, pop-eyed 55-year-old having sex with an 18-year-old mistress hired by property developers, allegedly in an elaborate extortion scheme.

As more lurid details emerged, the scandal has exposed the shady intertwining of sex, money and power.

The sex extortion scheme has ensnared at least 20 other party cadres, but Lei appears to have been singled out - partly because he has been especially vulnerable to public derision.

Lei's receding hairline, pop eyes, bushy eyebrows and wide jowls provided a caricature for public corruption and moral degradation widely detested by the public.

Beijing Institute of Technology law professor Xu Xin said the sentence was more severe than those in earlier corruption cases involving similar amounts of bribes.

'Maybe because of the case's social impact, the court has chosen to be on the harsh end with its sentence,' he said.

Prosecutors also said Lei took two other bribes - one of $10,000 and another of 100,000 yuan ($16,000) - in return for favors granted through his government position.

But it is Lei's sex scandal and the scheme behind it that have captivated member of the Chinese public, who are disgusted by what they see as the moral degradation of those in power.

In a separate case, a district court on Friday afternoon sentenced Xiao Ye, the man convicted of masterminding the extortion scheme, to 10 years in prison.

The woman in the sex tape, Zhao Hongxia, was given a two-year sentence that was suspended for two years and could eventually be reduced.

Honeytrap: Prostitute-turned-nurse Zhao Hongxia (pictured) secretly filmed herself having sex with Lei after being hired by a property developer to blackmail him. She was given a two-year suspended jail term

The official People's Court Daily said Xiao plans to make an appeal but Zhao does not.

Culled from MAIL ONLINE

'When I look in the mirror I see myself': shotgun victim given a new face by surgeons via face transplant

Disfigured: When he shot himself in the face in 1997 he lost his nose, lips and most movement in his mouth

Horribly disfigured after a shotgun accident blew half his face off in 1997, Richard Norris has lived a hermit's life for 16 years - hiding behind a mask and only ever shopping at night.

Each day became a living nightmare as he faced cruelty from strangers whenever he ventured outdoors, fought addiction and contemplated suicide.

But doctors have turned the 37-year-old's life around after performing one of the most complex face transplants in history, giving him  new features, teeth, a tongue and a jaw.

Mr Norris's skull after his accident

Rebuilding process: Mr Norris's skull as surgeons began to piece it back together

And as these latest pictures show, Norris barely turns a single head when he goes out after the ground-breaking surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

'When I look in the mirror, I see Richard Norris,' he said remembering the immediate connection he felt with his new face.

Life saving: He has had multiple life-saving, reconstructive surgeries but none as successful as this

'When I was disfigured, just walking the sidewalk, I was surprised that more people didn't walk into telephone poles or break their necks to stare at me.

'Now ... there's no one paying attention. Unless they know me personally, they don't know I am a face transplant patient. That right there is the goal we had.'

He hopes his story sends a message of hope to people in similar situations and encourages empathy in others.

'I've heard all kinds of remarks,' he said. 'A lot of them were really horrible.'

'Those 10 years of hell I lived through, it has given me such a wealth of knowledge,' Norris recently told The Associated Press. 'It's unreal. It has put some of the best people in my life.'

Now, at 38, he's starting a new life: taking online classes in pursuit of a degree in information systems and 

Now, at 38, he's starting a new life: taking online classes in pursuit of a degree in information systems and contemplating a foundation to help defray future transplant patients' everyday expenses during treatment

contemplating a foundation to help defray future transplant patients' everyday expenses during treatment. 

He also has been working with a photojournalist who just completed a book about his journey, titled 'The Two Faces of Richard.'

After the 1997 accident at his home, Norris had no teeth, no nose and only part of his tongue. He was still able to taste but could not smell. When he went out in public, usually at night, he hid behind a hat and mask.

Norris had dozens of surgeries to repair his face, but eventually reached the limits of what conventional surgery could do for him, said Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, who performed some of those operations and later led the surgical team that performed Norris' face transplant.

Hero: Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, speaks with Norris at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore

Some parts of the anatomy, such as eyelids and lips, are just too complex to recreate, he noted.

'You can create a semblance of something, but I can guarantee you it's not normal by any means.'

ust weeks after Norris was told by another doctor that there was little else that could be done for him, Rodriguez presented him with another option: a transplant.

The doctor, who is head of plastic surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, had been following advancements in the face transplant field for years. 

An Office of Naval Research grant for the purpose of helping wounded warriors made it possible for him and his team to attempt their first face transplant, an operation that previously had been performed by only two other centers in the United States.

The world's first partial face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on a woman who was mauled by her dog. Of the 27 other transplants that have followed, four recipients have died, and the survivors face a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs, which can take a toll on their health.

Unlike most organ transplant recipients, who need their surgeries to live, face transplant patients are risking death to eliminate a non-life-threatening condition, noted Dr. Mark Ehrenreich, the psychiatric consultant to Norris' transplant team.

Rodriguez says patients are well aware of the situation.

'If you talk to these patients, they will tell you it is worth the risk,' he said.

The team carefully lays out all of the dangers for patients: Norris' mother, Sandra, remembers Rodriguez saying there was a 50-50 chance her son would survive the surgery.

'We looked at Richard and we told him we loved him the way he was and it didn't matter to us, but it was his life,' she said. 'That was what he wanted to do and we supported him.'

Norris said he is humbled by the gift he received from the family of 21-year-old Joshua Aversano, who died after being struck by a minivan while crossing the street. The Maryland family, which agreed to donate his organs, declined to be interviewed by the AP.

In a statement, the family said, 'We are grateful Joshua's legacy continues through the lives of the individuals he was able to save with gifts of organ and tissue donation.'

Norris said he speaks to the family regularly and keeps them updated on his life and health.

Norris' 36-hour transplant operation is still considered the most extensive ever conducted because it included transplantation of the teeth, upper and lower jaw, a portion of the tongue and all of the tissue from the scalp to the base of the neck, Rodriguez said.

'The real main limitation ... is that patients are dependent on medication for life,' he said. The immunosuppressant medications carry risks for the patients, who don't know how long the transplant will last. Rodriguez said if all goes well, a transplanted face could last 20 to 30 years.

For Norris, who makes daily visual checks, the risk of rejection is never far from his mind.

'Every day I wake up with that fear: Is this the day? The day I'm going to go into a state of rejection that is going to be so bad that the doctors can't change it?'

But he said he can't let himself worry about it too much, and he knows that he's in good hands.

Norris has come far in the past 15 months, learning how to eat and talk again and adjusting each time his face gains more feeling. He continues with therapy, travels to Baltimore from his home in Hillsville, Va., regularly to see doctors, and still takes pain and immunosuppressant medications. He says his faith in God has carried him through it all; that he has maintained a sense of humor and remained the same person inside.

And he agrees with doctors, who dismiss a commonly held belief that face transplant patients are likely to experience an identity crisis.

The bigger issue for Norris is being able to appear in public again. Facial disfigurement tends not to engender sympathy, leaving patients feeling shunned, Ehrenreich noted.

'Unfortunately, with severe facial disfigurement, people recoil and make comments they would never make to someone in a wheelchair,' he said.

'I have been doing very well regaining my speech back,' Norris said. 'Each day it improves a little more.'

There was, however, one hiccup in the recovery process: the much-feared rejection.

As with any transplant, there was a possibility that Norris’s body would reject his new face. In this case, the rejection was mild and treatable, Rodriguez said.

'When people hear ''rejection,'' they think, ''Oh, my God, the face is going to melt off,''' Rodriguez said. 

'That’s not the case at all. The skin got a little bit swollen and there was a little bit of redness. On a scale of 1 to 10,” with 10 being the worst-case scenario, “this was a Grade 1 rejection.'

Still, Norris is not in the clear. He continues to run the risk of rejection and he will have to take medications for the rest of his life.

Rodriguez said that one of the most common questions he is asked is: 'How is Richard dealing with having a new face?'

Dr Rodriguez said: 'We always think that there is going to be a facial identity crisis. That’s the worry of people with normal faces. We think how we’d feel if this happened to us. 

'But for people with disfigurements — these people have lived lives concealed from society. That’s a very different and difficult recovery.'

Before the transplant, Norris rarely left his home. In addition to wearing a surgical mask and baseball cap on his infrequent trips out in public, he did his shopping at night so he wouldn’t have to face the stares of as many people.

'I am now able to walk past people and no one even gives me a second look,' he wrote.

After years of going out of his way to avoid people, Norris is surprisingly comfortable socializing now, Rodriguez said. 'Everybody (at the hospital) knows him. He’s such an animated guy.'

While Norris’s results are 'extraordinary,' Rodriguez said the full recovery will take more time.

There’s the challenge of teaching Norris, who has not eaten or spoken properly for 15 years, to use his fully functional face. 

The teeth plus the tongue is a lot to get used to when someone has gone so long without them, Rodriguez said. Additionally, minor surgery is planned for the soft tissue of his face, such as the eyelids where there is extra skin.

But more than anything else, there is a looming question. Even with immuno-suppressing drugs, doctors say they have no idea how long the transplant will last. There is an expectation that they will have to repair or replace the transplant eventually.

Dr Rodriguez looks with hope to earlier face transplants. The world’s first full face transplant took place in Spain in 2010 and is aging well two years later. The first partial transplant was done in France in 2005, and Rodriguez said its longevity is promising.

'I’d like to hit that 10-year mark with Richard,' he said. 'Of course, we can’t promise anything, but 10 years would be great.'

In the meantime, Norris said he is excited to fish, golf and spend time with his family and friends.

'My friends have moved on with their lives, starting families and careers,' he said. 'I can now start working on the life given back to me.'

Culled from DAILY MAIL

Husband who bludgeoned his wife to death with ornamental elephant after she asked for a divorce is jailed for 16 years

Devendra Singh, (left)  battered  Charlotte Smith (right)

A spurned husband was today sentenced to serve at least 16 years in prison for bludgeoning his wife to death with an ornamental elephant.

Devendra Singh, 33, battered Charlotte Smith, 42, with the 4lb wooden object after she asked for a divorce.

He was convicted of her murder yesterday and was today handed a life sentence and told he must serve 16 years before he will be eligible for parole.

Singh hit his wife 'with extreme force and extreme violence' following the row at their home on September 3, last year, Stafford Crown Court had heard. 

Miss Smith’s skull was repeatedly ‘smashed and shattered’ at their home in Ladderedge, near Leek in Staffordshire. 

Speaking after the sentencing the victim's parents, Irene Cork and Peter Smith, said: 'We would like to thank our family, all friends and neighbours for their continued support over the last nine months.

'We would also sincerely like to thank everyone concerned on this case for their hard work, kindness and consideration shown to us.

'We wanted justice for Charlie and for the perpetrator of this crime the loss of his freedom for the rest of his life. No matter what length of sentence is served to him nothing will compensate for our loss. 

'Some years from now he will leave prison and be free to join his family and continue with his life. For Charlie there is nothing, she has been tragically denied her future life.

'We are completely devastated and there are no words to describe the pain and emptiness we feel and how much we love and miss her.'

Detective Inspector Glyn Pattinson, who led the inquiry for Staffordshire Police, added: 'Our investigation has uncovered that since Singh moved to England to live with Charlotte, after an initial period of being happy newlyweds, there began a deterioration in the couple's marriage.

'Although there was nothing to indicate that the relationship would come to such a tragic and violent conclusion, there is no doubt that Singh's attack was brutal and sustained.'

Prosecutor Sarah Cameron said today: 'Charlotte Smith died as a result of the most brutal and cruellest act of domestic violence.

'She wanted to end her two-year marriage with Devendra Singh, but he was unable to accept this. He became violent and struck her with force described by the pathologist as being off the scale in its ferocity.'

Singh had denied murder on the basis he ‘lost control’ but was found guilty on Monday after a five-day trial.

During the trial, senior pathologist Olaf Biedrzycki, who examined the body of the health and safety manager, said her injuries were among the worst he had ever seen during his 20-year career.

He told the court: 'The degree of force used to inflict the injuries is of an extreme nature. I would consider it beyond the scale we would normally see of mild, moderate and severe.

'It is one of the most severe head injury cases I have come across. This is not one or two impacts to the head. It is difficult to be sure how many, but if I had to estimate I suspect it would be double figures.'

Following the verdict yesterday, Staffordshire Police said the force's Major Investigations Department discovered that following Ms Smith's death Singh spent two nights 'drinking heavily'. 

After visiting a friend, he handed himself into police on September 6. 

The court had heard that Ms Smith had become unhappy with their relationship and asked for a divorce. 

Philip Bennetts QC, prosecuting, said: 'Miss Smith died as a result of sustained and extreme blunt force trauma.

'Many of the blows were delivered with a heavy implement - an ornamental elephant which the defendant picked up and used to strike her repeatedly to the face and head.

'Bone was smashed and shattered time and time again. The amount of force used was effectively off the scale. It was beyond severe - it was extreme.'

Following the attack, Singh left his wife's body on the lounge floor and left the house, taking her mobile phone SIM card with him.

The court heard he cleaned up and threw evidence - including the wooden elephant - over the garden fence into a field before fleeing to London.

He is then said to have put Miss Smith’s SIM into his own phone and sent text messages to her family and friends - including her father - pretending to be her.

Singh returned to Leek that same day and handed himself in to police.

Giving evidence Miss Smith's father Peter, 65, recalled how the couple had lunch at his home on September 2 - just a day before Charlotte was killed.

He told the court that he ‘got on well’ with Singh during his four-year relationship with his daughter, who worked as a health and safety environmental manager.

Mr Smith told the court: 'We had a really great time. We were talking about holidays and parties.

'When they left everything was OK. We were planning to go on holiday to Goa in November.'

Miss Smith’s dead body was discovered at her home address on September 6 last year.

Culled from DAILY MAIL

19yr-old American becomes the first woman to win competition where hopefuls catch catfish with their BARE HANDS

Lucy Millsap hauls her 72-pound winner on stage at the 14th annual Okie Noodling Festival

A 19-year-old woman has won top honors at the 14th Annual Okie Noodling Festival in Oklahoma, bringing a 72-pound flathead catfish on stage to claim victory.

Lucy Millsap was the first woman in the history of the competition to win, after she saw off 200 competitors to win first place and $1500 in the 'Big Fish' category.

Noodling is a sport most popular in the southern states of the U.S. in which flathead catfish are caught by hand.

The method is daring: noodlers wave their arms around in a catfish hole. If all goes according to plan, the fish will latch onto the arm as a defensive measure and the noodler can bring the fish in. The arm-as-bait method means the sport isn't for the faint hearted.

According to NewsOK, Millsap's chosen sport has landed her in the hospital numerous times, but so far all her fingers are intact.

Millsap  caught the 72-pound catfish in Lake Texoma at 3am the morning of the competition

'My dad asked me if I wanted to fish in the women's division,' Millsap, who's been noodling since she was five, told the paper. 'I said, "Heck no." I don't want to fish in the women's division. I want to beat the men.'

Millsap is part of an all-female noodling collective called the Bare Knuckle Babes (she's May in their annual calendar). 

It was the Texan former high school cheerleader's first competition. According to NewsOK, she caught the 72-pound catfish in Lake Texoma at 3am the morning of the competition, before driving three hours to Wacker Park in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, with the live fish in the back of her truck.

The competition is the brainchild of Moore native and filmmaker Bradley Beesley, who expected the inaugural Okie Noodling Festival to be the last.

Millsap was the first woman in the history of the competition to win, after she saw off 200 competitors

He began the festival to support and promote his documentary Okie Noodling. The first festival attracted 500 people, and 14 years on, it's drawing crowds of 10,000 from around the country.

'We never thought it would take off like this,' he told NewsOK. 'It was just a device for the film.'

The documentary spawned not just the Okie Noodling Festival but also a second documentary and a television series aired on the History Channel called Mudcats. 

The sport is described as a centuries-old tradition by noodlers. Urban Dictionary's most popular entry for the term 'noodling' is:

The annual competition sees people wade through murky waters hoping to catch a 30+lbs catfish

'A form of fishing in which a crazy person runs into a lake and searches for holes on the bottom with his foot. Then he inserts his finger into the hole and lets something bite it. Hopefully, it's a catfish. If so, he wrestles the catfish to the surface and drags it to shore. If it's not a catfish, he may lose his finger to a snapping turtle or his life to a water moccasin. Believe it or not, noodling is illegal in many states.'

That last part is definitely true - Millsap's own state of Texas has only just legalized the practice, and it is illegal everywhere but 11 Southern states.

The festival's slogan is 'No hooks, no bait, no fear,' and it's a credo Millsap seems to live by.

'Women don't think they can do a lot of stuff. And you get a lot of trash talk from the guys,' Millsap told NewsOK. 'I'm proud to justify the name Bare Knuckle Babes.'

Asked what she'd name her winning catfish, Millsap responded, 'Dinner.'

Culled from DAILYMAIL

She's 16 but she looks like she's 60': Teen with rare condition which makes her look middle-aged given fresh hope after face-lift (VIDEO)

A teenager who suffers from a rare genetic condition which makes her look middle-aged has been given new confidence thanks to pioneering facelift surgery.

Zara Hartshorn, 16, from Rotherham, south Yorkshire, had to endure years of cruel taunts and even physical abuse because of her appearance.

She inherited lipodystrophy - which makes her skin looked wrinkled and twisted - from her mother Tracey Gibson who also suffers from the illness.

Tough: Zara Hartshorn has endured a difficult childhood suffering from a condition which makes her appear middle-aged

But after hearing of her condition, a top surgeon in the US offered to perform cosmetic surgery for free. It has proved to be a complete success and Zara has felt able to start a relationship with new boyfriend Ricky Andrews and is even keen to go to college.

It is a remarkable change of fortunes for the teenager who was once left in tears after being made to get off a bus for not being able to prove she was eligible for a child's ticket.

By the time she was 12, Zara was already being mistaken for a middle-aged woman - and was even mistaken for 17-year-old sister Chloe's mother.

Genetic: Zara, pictured right pre-surgery, inherited the condition from her mother Tracey, left. But sister Chloe, centre, has not been affected

But now thanks to a lifeline by a surgeon in the US Zara feels indistinguishable from her peers.

Dr Abhimanyu Garg told Zara her condition is actually cutis laxa, an even rarer disease which only affects 30 people in the UK.

And Zara, who one day dreams of owning a beauty salon, says she is ready to leave the past behind and forgive her tormentors.

She said: 'Before I had surgery I was picked on for looking different, now I look the same as other girls my age.

'I don't feel like people are staring at me when I walk down the street anymore. I finally feel like a teenager.

'I've carried some hurtful comments with me all my life but now I feel ready to leave the past behind and forgive and forget.'

Her newfound self-assurance has helped her start a relationship with apprentice painter and decorator Ricky, 22, three months ago, who she met through friends.

She said: 'I've had boyfriends in the the past but I don't think any accepted my condition, really. But with Ricky it's never been an issue. 

'He's seen pictures of me before and told me I was always beautiful - although I wouldn't have had the self-confidence to believe him before.'

Growing up Zara put her rapid aging down to lipodystrophy - a genetic illness which decays bones and destroys fat beneath the skin.

At age four doctors told her she had inherited the condition from Tracey after she developed excess skin round her jawline.

Zara said: 'Mum explained that I had an illness like she did, but that I was beautiful and shouldn't pay any attention to what anyone said.

'The bullying was worst between the ages of eight and ten. Kids used to call me monkey and granny and I was even beaten up just because of how I looked.

Taunts: As a child, Zara was bullied by other children who called her 'monkey' and 'granny'

'It got so bad I stopped going for a while.'

But even after changing schools Zara's life was made a misery because of her illness.

She recalled: 'I lived in fear of being asked how old I was.

'I was even mistaken for a teacher in school on a couple of occasions, which was just mortifying in front of my classmates.'

After Zara's plight was made public she was contacted by lipodystrophy expert Dr Abhimanyu Garg, from Texas, US, who asked to carry out some tests on Zara and Tracey.

The pair were found to be suffering from cutis laxa, an even rarer condition which can shorten life expectancy, weaken joints and can lung and heart problems.

Although hard news to take in, Zara was later presented with the offer of a facelift and nose augmentation free of charge by top surgeon Dr Robert Ersek.

Thanks to pioneering facelift surgery, Zara says she feels much more confident about her appearance

She said: 'It was an amazing opportunity that I could never of dreamed of before.

'When I saw myself in the mirror after the bandages all came off it was mixture of surprise and happiness.

'I used to hate my nose, but now I love it.'

Found love: On top of her facelift, Zara has also met a new boyfriend Ricky Andrews

And thanks to her confidence boost, Zara is determined to go to college and achieve her ambition.

She said: 'I feel much more confident and just happier in general.

'I'm now able to do things like going to college and having a career which I might not have felt possible before.

'The surgery has given me a boost and now I don't fear what other people think.

'I've noticed a change in me and I feel a lot happier.'

And poignantly, Zara says she is all the more determined to live a happy, normal life because of the support she has had from her mother Tracey.

She said: 'I know I'm lucky to have had the opportunity and it's something my mum would have loved to have been offered.

'I want to make something of my life for her - to make her proud.

'I know I'll always have this condition and it may shorten my life, but at least I can feel more like comfortable and confident.

'Although I look younger I still feel older than my years because of everything I have been through.'

Culled from DAILY MAIL

Saudi Arabia switches to Friday-Saturday weekend

 Saudi Arabia is switching its weekend to Friday-Saturday to better serve its economy and “international commitments,” the official SPA news agency reported on Sunday quoting a royal decree.

Saudi Arabia becomes the last of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council — which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates — to abandon the Thursday-Friday weekend to be closer to the world’s Saturday-Sunday weekend.

The decision takes effect in ministries and government departments from next week, while it will be implemented by schools and universities from the start of the next academic year.

According to the decree the change was made to better serve “the Saudi economy and its international commitments” and coordinate with the working days in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world.

It will “reduce the negative repercussions on economic and financial activity in the kingdom and make up for lost economic opportunities,” said the decree.

Riyadh’s stock exchange, the biggest in the Arab world, is open for five days a week, but until now only three of these coincided with the working week in the world’s major financial centres.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter and a member of the G20 group of the globe’s biggest economies.

The move had been previously rejected by clergymen in the kingdom, which follows the ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Islam, on the grounds that Saturday is the religious weekend for Jews. (AFP)

Culled from VANGUARD