A two-year-old is seriously ill after being admitted to hospital with 50 sewing needles inside him.Doctors in Brazil believe the needles were deliberately pushed into his body through his skin - including 17 discovered in his digestive system.Police have launched an investigation to discover who carried out the attack amid fears the boy may have been used as part of a sinister black magic ritual.
One of the needles perforated the youngster's left lung. Stunned medics admitted him to hospital in Barreiras in the state of Bahma, north east Brazil, after X-rays showed the 50 metal objects in his abdomen, neck, thorax and legs.Today it emerged the macabre crime may be linked to a bizarre black magic ritual.The boy, taken to hospital by a relative on Sunday with stomach pains, has not been named.His mother, maid Marma Souza Santos, has told police she does not know who is responsible and said his gran used to look after her son while she was out at work.But she has reportedly claimed in a statement the youngster's stepfather may have used the infant in a black magic ritual. He has denied the claims.
Police chief Helder Fernandes Santana said: 'We are certain someone introduced the needles because of the position of some of them in the child's body.'At the moment we don't know who did it.'It's such a strange situation. We could be looking at attempted murder, a serious assault or some type of revenge attack. We're not ruling anything out at the moment.'Doctors at West Hospital in Barreiras where the boy is currently being treated, said they would considering trying to remove sewing needles just under the surface of the boy's skin.But hospital director Luiz Cesar said none of the needles were endangering his life at the moment - and said he may have to live with them inside his body because of the risk involved in removing them.He added: 'We're certain the boy didn't swallow the needles of his own accord.'If he did, they would be in his gastrointestinal tract.'I've never seen a case of its kind.'Our priority at the moment is the boy's lung which was perforated by one of the needles.'Fortunately his life is not in danger.' The boy's dad Gessivaldo Alves added: 'We have faith in God that he is going to get better.'
Plummeting through the air off the top of a 421m tower is not everyone’s idea of fun, but for these base jumpers it was an experience of a lifetime.
Some 98 of the extreme sports enthusiasts took part in the 2009 International Tower jump in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, today.
The structure was built in 1995 for communication purposes and is currently the fifth tallest freestanding tower in the world.
A gardener got his own unique five-a-day in one go after digging up a hand-shaped carrot complete with five fingers.The bizarre 'carrot claw' was grown by Peter Jackson, 66, in the garden of his home in Shropshire.But Peter thought nothing more of the wacky-shaped vegetable and merely took a picture before proceeding to cook it, much to surprise of his daughter Lindsay.
Lindsay, 42, a chef from Condover, Shropshire, joked whether the hand might count as all of her 'five a day' in one go. She said: 'We couldn't believe it, it was quite a shock to see a carrot perfectly shaped like a hand. 'You'd think that with me being a chef and my dad a gardener, we might have come across something this strange before - but we never have. 'My dad just seemed to make some joke about it being 'handy', took a picture and then I think they just ate it. He played it all down, but that's just the way dad is."We've not had anything weird since - no arms or legs to go with it. I don't think his garden is trying to build a carrot man. Now that would really be unusual.'It was just one of those one-off freak of nature occurrences - but isn't it funny?'Peter, who is a semi-retired gardener, has three vegetable plots in his large garden, in a leafy part of Shropshire.He said that throughout his years of gardening, he had never seen anything quite like his 'carrot claw'.Other oddly-shaped veg to hit the headlines over the years include baby-shaped pears, a parsnip that looked like a witch and a potato teddy bear. Earlier this week a gardener cut open a Jalapeno pepper to see a smiley face, complete with eyebrows, looking back at him.
Victims of landmines come in all shapes and sizes and Mosha the elephant is no exception.
Mosha, a baby elephant from Thailand, became the world's first pachyderm to be fitted with a prosthetic limb in 2007.
But the three-year-old has been growing so quickly she's outgrown two previous artificial legs and is now on her third.
Amazingly, Mosha is not the only elephant to be fitted with an artificial limb.
Another landmine victim, Motola, will also receive a prosthetic leg this weekend - 10 years after losing her left leg.
'I do hope she will accept the new leg. It would be wonderful to see Motola and Baby Mosha walking together side-by-side," said Soraida Salvala, secretary general of the charity Friends of the Asian Elephant.
Motola was injured in 1999 while she was working at a logging camp along the Myanmar-Thailand border. The area is known to be covered in land mines.
Her badly injured foot was amputated and the elephant managed to hobble along on three legs after the operation.
She was fitted with a canvas, shoe-like device two years ago, but will receive her own tailor-made artificial leg this weekend.
'It has been 10 years now, but in all these long years Motola enjoyed a happy life, walking out of her shelter for a sun bath,' said Salvala.
Experts in Thailand have already made casts of Motola's injured left foot for the permanent plastic leg. It must be strong enough to support the 48-year-old's three-ton weight.
Although Motola is the second elephant to receive an artificial leg, she has already been in the record books following her injury.
During the operation to remove her left foot, she received enough anaesthetic to knock out 70 people - a fact that put her into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000.
Motola's new leg is being constructed by the Prostheses Foundation, an organisation that usually makes cheap but effective artificial limbs for human amputees.
The injuries of the two elephants have highlighted the difficulties facing the majestic creatures in Thailand.
Both are now being cared for at the Elephant Hospital in Northern Thailand. The hospital was set up by the FAE and is the only elephant hospital in the world.
It has treated thousands of elephants for ailments ranging from eye infection to gunshot wounds.
A number of elephants have also been injured by land mines, but the charity says this is just one problem facing the animals in Thailand.
They say the number of domesticated pachyderms has dropped from 13,400 in 1950 to today's estimated 2,500, while the number of wild elephants has also dropped dramatically.
Looming from the depths, this huge creature looks as if it is about to swallow diver Sam Bester whole.Luckily for her, it is actually a whale shark, which only eats plankton.The picture was taken by Miss Bester's friend Fiona Ayerst off the coast of Durban in South Africa.
The diver had been completely oblivious to the shark's presence until Miss Bester pointed it out.Whale sharks are the largest living fish species and can grow up to 65ft (20m) in length. Some experts believe they can live to the age of 100.They are found in tropical and warm seas, typically with temperatures ranging between 18 and 30C.And though the gaping mouth may look terrifying, it has a very practical purpose.Whales sharks are able to gobble up huge amounts of plankton, sieving out the water swallowed with each mouthful through the gills.Although they are so big, they are one of the world's more elusive creatures and little is known about them.Marine scientists dubbed them whale sharks because of their size. They have the skeleton of a shark and are therefore fish, not mammals.
There was shampoo, backcombing and enough diva antics to scare the steeliest of postmen but as beauty pageants go not every canine would have been quite so happy to participate. But for those who did take part in the World's Ugliest Dog Competition at Sonoma-Marin Fair in California it was a question of ugly being the new beautiful.In the dog-eat-dog, claw-biting contest a truly 'unique' looking creature beat off other hideous hounds to claim the crown for being the world's ugliest pedigree dog.
Miss Ellie, a pure breed Chinese crested hairless from Tennessee, is reported to be around 15 years old, has only a couple of back teeth, cataracts in both her eyes, several moles and pimples and limited hair - with such credentials the other mutts surely could not have stood a chance.And like every good beauty queen Miss Ellie also had a heartfelt message for her adoring fans. According to her owner come spokesperson, Dawn Goehring, Miss Ellie really hopes to be a 'spokesmodel for rescue dogs of the 'not so cute' kind''.'Her dream is to travel around to prove that ugly is just a word, and says nothing about how wonderful she is,' she said.
Ellie has come a long way from being kept in a kennel area for much of her life with an owner that saw no purpose for her.When she was rescued she knew no commands and was not house trained but now rules the roost among her other rescue pals and even attended her owner's wedding in rival white dress and veil.'Miss Ellie hopes that people get the message that there are plenty of wonderful rescue dogs out there just waiting for a chance,' added her proud owner.
As well as winning a modeling contract from House Of Dog lucky Ellie will also pick up a cheque for $1,000, a trophy to put in her kennel and even a professional photo shoot. But it was Pabst the boxer who came through as the surprise overall winner of the contest.His victory was an upset - the first place usually goes to a Chinese crested, like Miss Ellie. 
The fabulously toothy four-year-old Boxer, who is also a rescue dog, has a 2in underbite, a large burn scar on his stomach and his nails grow in any direction they feel like. While looking absolutely ferocious Pabst's bark is worse than his bite and in fact the loveable mutt is reportedly a pussy cat who likes nothing more than to take lots of naps in the sun.
One of the needles perforated the youngster's left lung. Stunned medics admitted him to hospital in Barreiras in the state of Bahma, north east Brazil, after X-rays showed the 50 metal objects in his abdomen, neck, thorax and legs.
Police chief Helder Fernandes Santana said: 'We are certain someone introduced the needles because of the position of some of them in the child's body.
