Rise in Down's syndrome cases
Tuesday October 27 2009
The number of babies diagnosed with Down's syndrome has risen sharply in the past 20 years -- largely due to women delaying motherhood, new research has claimed.
The risk of having a baby with Down's syndrome is one in 940 for a woman aged 30. But by age 40, the risk rises to one in 85.
Researchers in Britain found that the proportion of diagnoses among women under 37 has risen over the time period.
Madonna to build a school
Madonna has launched the construction of a multi-million dollar girls' school that she is building in Malawi and pledged to build similar schools in other countries if the project succeeds.
The Raising Malawi Academy for Girls -- in Chinkhota village about 15 kilometres outside the capital Lilongwe -- is expected to be completed in two years and will admit 500 girls from the small southern African country's 28 districts.
'I won't rush troop decision'
US president Barack Obama told a military audience he would not be hurried as he considered whether to alter US strategy in Afghanistan.
"I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm's way. I won't risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary," Mr Obama said during a visit to Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida.
Mr Obama is debating whether to send tens of thousands more troops to the country to curb the Taliban-led uprising.
Scarlett to star on Broadway
Actress Scarlett Johansson will make her Broadway debut starring in a revival of American playwright Arthur Miller's drama A View from the Bridge, the show's organisers said.
Amid a growing trend of Hollywood stars appearing in Broadway plays, Johansson (24) will appear on the Great White Way in the drama set in 1950s America about a Brooklyn dockyard worker obsessed with his 17-year-old niece, to be played by Johansson.
