PAPA

Baby born on plane named after AirAsia
October 28, 2009 (Wednesday)

The baby boy, who created national headlines when he was born on an AirAsia plane, has been named Asia Liew Ya Hang.

His mother Liew Siaw Hsia said the Chinese name ‘Ya Hang’ means ‘AirAsia’ in Mandarin.

“It’s the best name I can give my son who was the first baby born on the airline’s plane,” she said in a statement yesterday.

The mother and baby are currently at the Putrajaya Hospital.

Asia Liew Ya Hang was safely delivered on board Flight AK 6506 on Oct 21 when the aircraft was about 800m in the air.

The flight from Penang to Kuching was diverted to the low-cost carrier terminal here when Liew went into premature labour.

The airline has presented Liew and the baby free flight tickets for life to celebrate the birth. Source

Jude Law's Baby
October 27, 2009 (Tuesday)

Samantha Burke, 25, introduces five-week-old Sophia Lee, her daughter by actor Jude Law, in Hello! magazine. Samantha reportedly earned $300k for the photoshoot. Sophia Lee was born weighing just 5lb 12oz after Samantha endured a 25-hour labor.

Samantha reveals that Jude he has not yet visited his fourth child.

Samantha said, “She’s already got such a great personality. I think he’ll fall in love with her when he sees her.”

Describing Sophia, Samantha said she looks more like her famous father, and is already showing signs of sharing his mannerisms. “Her features are more like Jude’s. She has his chin and nose, and she does a little pout that I notice that he’s done before. I think her eyes are more like mine, though. You can’t always tell when they’re so young but they don’t have that big, glassy look that his do – mine are a little smaller and more like hers.”

In the revealing interview, Samantha shares how she met Jude at a club in New York, and that the devoted father of three children – Rafferty, 13, Iris, 9, and Rudy, 7 with ex-wife Sadie Frost – has not yet met little Sophia.

“There are no plans for it to happen at the moment, but I know he’s busy.”

Asked if she had received any presents from Jude, who demanded a DNA test a few months ago, the former model admitted, “No nothing.”

She also revealed her hopes for her daughter’s relationship with Jude. Samantha said, “I hope for him to be just as good as he is to his three children by Sadie Frost. He’s a great father to his three kids. She’s his daughter and I believe he’ll come through. I mean once you see her face, how can you deny it?”

She also denies claims that she is a ‘gold-digger’, insisting, “It really hurt. I have never dated a guy for money. All my ex-boyfriends were just normal guys.” Source

M’sians getting heart disease at younger age
October 26, 2009 (Monday)

Pickup story from The Star. Malaysians are suffering from heart attacks about 10 years earlier than their counterparts in developed countries, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

He said Malaysian patients who had severe heart attacks were far younger, with an average age of 56 compared with people from developed countries in the West, where the average age was 65.

“In Malaysia, coronary heart disease or heart attack affects 141 out of every 100,000 people each year,” he told a press conference after launching the National Heart Association of Malaysia (NHAM) Heart House in Jalan Tun Razak here yesterday.

He said this meant that for a population of 27 million, the ministry expected about 38,000 new cases every year. “It is a heavy burden on our healthcare delivery system,” he said.

Liow added that the amount of expected new cases was worrying because it almost exceeded the number of new cancer cases yearly, which was between 30,000 and 40,000.

Heart diseases and diseases of the pulmonary circulation were the top killers in government hospitals last year and accounted for up to 16.54% of the 45,936 deaths.

In a bid to improve treatment for heart diseases, Liow said the ministry would extend cardiac healthcare services to Kuantan and Kota Kinabalu under the 10th Malaysia Plan if the financial situation permitted.

It would also consider extending the ministry’s specialist cardiology services to Hospital Ipoh and Hos-pital Kuala Terengganu and eventually to all state hospitals as more cardiologists are trained in the future.

During the event, Liow visited the building which would serve as a “home” for NHAM to carry out activities in a bid to tackle heart diseases.

For more information on the association, log on to www.malaysianheart.org.

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden Introduce Baby Sparrow!
October 23, 2009 (Friday)

Photo by: Justin Coit

Six weeks after welcoming their first son, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden – along with their 21-month-old daughter Harlow – are showing off the latest addition to their family, Sparrow James Midnight Madden.

"I couldn't be happier," Richie tells PEOPLE. "The only thing you want is for your kids to be healthy and happy, and they are. I'm right where I belong."

In an interview at their home in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles, Richie, 28, and Madden, 30, her boyfriend and front man of the band Good Charlotte, say they are deprived of sleep, but grateful their daughter Harlow is now fawning over a baby brother.

"I'm glad I had a girl before I had a boy," says Richie. "She just loves him so much." Adds the children's proud papa, "She's very gentle with him."  Source

Tom Cruise agrees to send Suri to a Catholic school
October 20, 2009 (Tuesday)

Katie Holmes has won a battle with her Scientologist husband Tom Cruise to enrol their daughter Suri in a Catholic pre-school.

The Church of Scientology has always been a bone of contention between the couple and Tom wanted three-year-old Suri to be raised a Scientologist.

But last week Katie enrolled the toddler at the Catholic Charities Yawkey Centre For Early Education And Learning in Boston, Massachusetts. Read more

Too young to start at 5
October 16, 2009 (Friday)

LONDON - Children should delay the start of formal schooling to the age of six, a year later than at present, the largest review of primary education in England for 40 years recommended on Friday.

The 608-page Cambridge University study said introducing children at the age of five into the constraint and discipline of a classroom - a throwback to Victorian days - provided little benefit and could even be harmful.

'They are not going to learn to read, write and add up if you have alienated children by the age of four and five,' said Ms Gillian Pugh, chairwoman of the Cambridge Primary Review's advisory committee.

'That's the stage at which we are tuning children into learning. If they are already failing by the time they are 4-1/2 or five, then it's going to be quite difficult to get them back into the system again,' she added.

Although the authors of the report stopped short of recommending a rise in the starting age of compulsory schoolingfrom five, they called for an 'open debate' on the issue.

They said children up to the age of six should instead be given the more informal, play-based education typically found in nurseries, adding that 'extending the early years phase to age six or seven would give schools up to three years to work with children to establish positive attitudes to learning'. Reuters

Baby's pram hit by train
October 16, 2009 (Friday)

SYDNEY - A SIX-MONTH-OLD baby boy whose pram rolled onto railway tracks in front of an oncoming train has survived with only a bump to the head, officials said on Friday.

The child, who was strapped into his stroller when the accident occurred, was dragged about 35m by the train as it pulled into Ashburton station in Melbourne's east on Thursday afternoon.

'The pram rolled a very short distance straight over the edge of the platform and onto the tracks right as the train was coming in,' Connex trains spokesman John Rees told AFP. 'The baby has gotten away with just a cut on the forehead.'

Mr Rees said the driver slammed on the brakes as hard as possible as soon as he saw the pram tumble in front of him, and was aided by the fact that the train was slowing down as it entered the station.

Paramedics, who arrived to find the baby being comforted by his mother, confirmed the child received a bump on his head.

'Luckily he was strapped into his pram at the time, which probably saved his life,' paramedic Jon Wright said in a statement. - AFP

Heidi Klum & Seal Welcome a Daughter
October 13, 2009 (Tuesday)

Photo by: Steve Granitz / WireImage

Heidi Klum gave birth to a girl, Lou Samuel, on Oct. 9 in Los Angeles, her rep confirms. She joins siblings Johan, 2 ½, Henry, 4, and Leni, 5.

The supermodel's husband, Seal, released the following statement Monday night:

"It's difficult to imagine loving another child as much as you love your existing children," Seal writes. "Anyone who has a family will tell you this. Where will one find that extra love? If you love your existing children with all of your heart, how then can one possibly find more heart with which to love another?"

"On Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, at 7:46 p.m., the answer to this question came in the form of our fourth child and second daughter," he continues. "Lou Sulola Samuel was born, and from the moment she looked into both of our eyes, it was endless love at first sight. She is beautiful beyond words and we are happy that she chose us to watch her grow over the coming years." Read more

A walk in Boston
October 12, 2009 (Monday)

Credit: James Devaney/WireImage

Katie Holmes gave daughter Suri, 3, a lift while on a walk in Boston on Saturday. Source

Husband delivers baby
October 10, 2009 (Saturday)

A man, forced to be midwife for his wife in the car, safely delivered their baby – thanks to tips from Youtube.

The relieved wife, Siti Norhayati Hambadely, 29, said she was thankful her 50-year-old husband cared enough to scroll through the Net for information and visual tips on child delivery several months prior to the delivery.

“He just wanted to get ready in case of an emergency,” said Siti Norhayati, when met at the house in Panji Alam yesterday.

“I am now thinking of naming my daughter Nissan Sunny as she was born inside our old faithful,” she said in jest.

The safe birth of their youngest child had been a happy ending after a traumatic experience.

The young mother was forced to deliver her baby inside a car after a clinic staff allegedly refused to help.

Siti Norhayati was rushed to a nearby private clinic by the husband Amrun Mamat, when she complained of labour pains at about 12.50pm in their home.

Upon arriving, there was no doctor at the clinic. The couple claimed a nurse had refused to attend to Siti Norhayati and had turned them away.

In the midst of it all, she felt labour pains. Amrun saw her in pain and rushed to her side.

“I knew I was about to deliver and my husband had no choice but be the midwife, as the nurse was not helpful,” she said.

She said her three children, ages between seven and two years, were in the car when her husband managed to safely deliver their baby girl weighing 3.1kg.

“Despite in pain, I had to hold my newborn as my husband drove me to a private hospital to seek medical attention,” she said. Source

Heidi Klum: Pregnant At The Pier!
October 06, 2009 (Tuesday)

Wright/Beiny/WENN

Whoa mama! Heidi Klum — who’s approaching the end of her pregnancy with baby no. 4 — showed off her full-term belly in a fitted dress while at the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday.

Joined by her parents Erna and Günther and children Johan, 2 ½, Henry, 4, and Leni, 5, Heidi snapped photos of her kids while enjoying the sunny weather. Source

Brad and Angelina Take the Twins for Ice Cream!
October 04, 2009 (Sunday)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stepped out for ice cream in Amman, Jordan – and brought along the littlest Jolie-Pitts, 14-month-old twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline.

Ihab Fakhouri, a co-owner of Licky Licious ice cream shop on Rainbow Street in Amman, snapped a photo of the family that was later posted on Twitter. Source

Jessica Alba & Honor in Santa Monica
October 03, 2009 (Saturday)

Splash News Online

A back-to-brunette Jessica Alba toted daughter Honor Marie, 15 months, to a doctor’s appointment on Thursday.

Later that evening, the actress, 28, was spotted out for dinner with new mom Nicole Richie and pals at Church and State.

Honor is the first child for Jessica and husband Cash Warren. Source

Will Ferrell to Become a Father Again
October 01, 2009 (Thursday)

Photo by: Kevin Winter / Getty

Will Ferrell's house is fast becoming a real boys' club.

The former Saturday Night Live star, 42 and his wife, auctioneer Viveca Paulin, 40, are expecting their third child, a boy, the actor's rep tells PEOPLE.

The couple, who met in an acting class in 1995, have two sons already – Magnus, 5, and Mattias, 2. Their little brother is due in January, according to a source.

Ferrell last starred in this summer's Land of the Lost, and earlier this year his Broadway show, featuring his famous George W. Bush impersonation, was nominated for a Tony. Source