Twice lucky - Michigan family welcomes second leap year daughter

A southeast Michigan couple is twice lucky after the birth of their daughter on Feb. 29, the second time the mother has given birth to a baby girl on that day in a leap year.

Chad and Melissa Croff, from Columbus Michigan, welcomed Evelyn Joy into the world at 3:06 a.m., the Henry Ford Health System said in a statement. She arrived 10 days after her due date. Weighing in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces, the little girl shares a birthday with older sister Eliana Adaya, who was born Feb. 29, 2012, the last time there was a leap year, the hospital system said.

"It's a little surreal," Melissa Croff told Reuters in an interview. "It's kind of winning the lottery; the baby lottery." She added that labour was not induced. Neither drugs nor a Caesarian section delivery method were used.

Currently, the couple celebrates Eliana's birthday on the closest Saturday relatives can agree on, Croff said. In the future, the girls will pick a celebration day during non-leap years.

The serendipitous timing doesn't happen often. Guinness World Records lists five siblings born on the same day in the United States, Feb. 20, from 1952 to 1966, according to the hospital system.

World’s Longest flight lands in Auckland

WELLINGTON: An Emirates Airbus A380 touched down in New Zealand on Wednesday, completing what is believed to be the world’s longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight.

The service from Dubai to Auckland covered 14,200 kilometres (8,824 miles), according to industry website airwaysnews.com, pipping Qantas’ 13,800-kilometre Sydney-Dallas route launched in 2014.

It said the route was also the longest in duration, with passengers set to spend 17 hours 15 minutes in the air during the return leg from Auckland to Dubai.

However, that record is expected to be short-lived because Emirates’ upcoming Dubai-Panama City service will take 17 hours 35 minutes when it launches later this month.

Emirates described it as “one of the longest air routes in the world by distance”.

“But with the assistance of clever technology and good planning, passengers will get to their destination in the shortest possible time,” it said.

“Emirates will be using flexible routes, which can vary by day, taking advantage of tail winds and avoiding head winds to reduce the time in the air.”

The inaugural Dubai-Auckland flight was made by an A380 but the regular service will be carried out using the Boeing 777.

New Zealand Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the non-stop service, which cuts three hours off current Dubai-Auckland travel times, improved New Zealand’s connectivity to the rest of the world.

“Direct flights will encourage even more trade and tourism between our two countries, by offering more choice to passengers and freight customers,” he said.

First case registered in Lahore under Women's Protection Act

LAHORE: Days after the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Bill was passed, a woman on Tuesday filed a complaint against her husband in Lahore’s Green Town area.

Bassra Bibi, 30, filed a complaint against her husband at Green Town Police Station, making it the first since Punjab Assembly unanimously passed the protection of women bill.

Punjab Assembly unanimously passes protection of women bill

She claimed “her husband has been beating her for the past one year.” Further alleging that her husband “tortures and threatens” her, the 30-year-old demanded for her husband to be arrested.

“Police have registered an FIR 203/16 on Bassra Bibi’s complaint and police have arrested her husband Tayab,” officer on duty, Younis said while speaking to The Express Tribune, adding that he used to beat and torture her.

Further, Bassra’s four-year-old son has also been affected by the father’s alleged violent behaviour.

Earlier, Bassra staged a sit-in against the police in front of Green town police station on the grounds that police did not file any case against her husband which she had been pursuing for months.

Punjab’s pro-women bill goes against Sharia, says Fazl

She further expressed her disappointment, saying, “I have heard about the women protection bill but I don’t think the bill will be implemented in the province.”

Balochistan home minister survives attack on his convoy

QUETTA: Unknown gunmen on Monday targeted the convoy of Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti near Dera Bugti area of the country’s southwestern province.

“He was heading towards Dera Bugti from Sui area of the province when his convoy came under armed attack, in which he remained unhurt” Geo News reported.

The attackers fled as the security guards returned fire.

On January 22, Bugti narrowly escaped another life attempt when his convoy was targeted with a roadside bomb. Sarfaraz Bugti was on an official visit to his hometown when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Baker tehsil of Dera Bugti.

CNG price to be slashed by Rs6-7 in Islamabad, Punjab from March 1

ISLAMABAD: keeping in view the low import price of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the government has decided to reduce CNG prices in Punjab and the federal capital, applicable from March 1.

All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) chairman Ghiyas Paracha termed the decision a major step towards reviving ‘dying CNG industry’ in a statement issued here on Monday.

He said the business community is highly thankful to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in this regard.

Paracha said that price of CNG would be slashed by Rs6 to Rs7 per Kg only on the CNG stations which are being run on RLNG, adding that the decision will also help in reducing the oil import bill and pollution besides providing jobs to millions.

The APCNGA leader said the vision of Prime Minister Sharif has saved the investment worth Rs350 billion in Punjab as the CNG sector will attract more investment after being revived.

“Pakistan’s CNG industry will soon reclaim lost title of world’s largest CNG industry due to the support and initiatives of the government backed by the vision of energy managers,” he said.

Paracha said that CNG in Punjab would be 30 per cent cheaper than petrol, making it attractive for motorists and transporters and will also help to reduce fares in public transport providing relief to commuters.

Ghiyas Paracha hoped that the initiatives of the government will settle the gas shortages in the country soon.

Section 144 imposed in Karachi until Friday

KARACHI: The Sindh provincial government has imposed Section 144 in Karachi from March 01 (Tuesday) to March 04 (Friday) on the advice of the Sindh police.

A notification was issued in this regard here on Tuesday.

As per the notification, gathering of more than four people at any public place is banned under Section 144. The section 144 has been imposed on the advice of Additional IG Karachi.

It may be noted here that pillion-riding had also been banned in Karachi for four days till March 04.

Why do we have leap year?

Every leap year we welcome February 29 into our calendar - and with good reason. The humble leap day comes and goes every four years without much fuss - but it saves us a lot of trouble and is the one day women are encouraged to propose to their man.

Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Liverpool Ken Durose told the ECHO: “Leap years are a way to avoid a good deal of confusion – and some inconvenient party times.

“Without leap year we would only celebrate New Year on the stroke of midnight once every four years. The next year we’d have to celebrate at 6am, and after that at midday then the year after at tea time.

“I’ve spoken to some of the people in the lab and they weren’t too keen on having a 6am New Year ’s Eve, you’d run out of steam by then.”

We need an extra day every fourth February because a solar year is 365.25 days – not 365, so an extra day is added to keep the calendar and solar years in sync.

Without February 29 every four years the seasons would, in time, fall out of sync with the calendar.

Dr Steve Barrett from the Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool said: “If we adopt a calendar which is always exactly 365 days long then over a long period of time the calendar will slowly slip out of step with the Earth moving around the Sun. And so the seasons will occur at different times of the calendar year.

“After 100 years the seasons will have shifted by 25 days and after 400 years the shift will have amounted to 100 days. The middle of winter would then be in April and the middle of summer in October.

“To stop this happening we add a leap day into February in every fourth year. This year is exactly divisible by four and so 2016 is a leap year. This keeps the calendar in step with Earth’s motion and so the seasons come and go at the same time every year.”