Libyan parliaments approves new government

Libya's General National Congress has approved the new government led by Prime Minister Ali Zidan.

The vote comes a day after protesters unhappy at the make-up of the proposed cabinet disrupted proceedings.
Mr Zidan's list includes a mixture of liberal figures and Islamists as he tries to build a coalition acceptable to all parties.
The previous Prime Minister, Mustafa Abu Shagur, was dismissed after Congress voted down his cabinet.
Only two-thirds of the assembly's 200 members attended the session on Wednesday and after the vote, the session abruptly adjourned for prayers.
The head of Congress and Libya's interim leader, Mohammed Magarief, said he had been advised by security guards to end the session early.
About 100 protesters stood outside the Congress building, but there was no repeat of Tuesday's disturbances.

Inclusive cabinet
The new government has representatives from the two biggest blocs in the Congress - the Alliance of National Forces, led by liberal former Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, and the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party.

Mr Zidan said he had tried to strike a balance between Libya's different regions in making the appointments.

According to his list, the defence and interior ministries would be headed by ministers from the eastern city of Benghazi, considered to be the cradle of last year's revolution that ended Muammar Gaddafi's rule.
Two women are also among the ministers proposed by Mr Zidan.
The protesters on Tuesday reportedly said some of the proposed ministers had links to Col Gaddafi.
Despite largely peaceful elections in July, Libya's transition continues to be affected by instability.
Reining in the different militia and trying to integrate them into a single national army will be one of the biggest challenges for any new government, analysts say.

source: BBC

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Patient bleeds dark green blood

A team of Canadian surgeons got a shock when the patient they were operating on began shedding dark greenish-black blood, the Lancet reports.
The man emulated Star Trek's Mr Spock - the Enterprise's science officer who supposedly had green Vulcan blood.
In this case, the unusual colour of the 42-year-old's blood was down to the migraine medication he was taking.
The man's leg surgery went ahead successfully and his blood returned to normal once he had eased off the drug.
Dark green
The patient had been taking large doses of sumatriptan - 200 milligrams a day.
This had caused a rare condition called sulfhaemoglobinaemia, where sulphur is incorporated into the oxygen-carrying compound haemoglobin in red blood cells.
Describing the case in the Lancet, the doctors, led by Dr Alana Flexman from St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, wrote: "The patient recovered uneventfully, and stopped taking sumatriptan after discharge.
"When seen five weeks after his last dose, he was found to have no sulfhaemoglobin in his blood."
The man had needed urgent surgery because he had developed a dangerous condition in his legs after falling asleep in a sitting position.
The surgeons performed urgent fasciotomies - limb-saving procedures which involve making surgical incisions to relieve pressure and swelling caused by the man's condition, known as compartment syndrome.
In compartment syndrome, the swelling and pressure in a restricted space limits blood flow and causes localised tissue and nerve damage.
It is commonly caused by trauma, internal bleeding or a wound dressing or cast being too tight.
According to the science fantasy television series Star Trek, Mr Spock had green blood because the oxygen-carrying agent in Vulcan blood includes copper, rather than iron, as is the case in humans.
Mr Spock had a human mother, and Vulcan father, from whom he inherited his inability to make sense of human emotion, as well as his green blood. 

source: BBC

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Learn about the history of Halloween

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve,  is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints). According to many scholars, it was originally influenced by western European harvest festivals and festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain.Others maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has Christian roots.


Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as "guising"), attending costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

History

Celtic influences

Though the origin of the word Halloween is Christian, the holiday is commonly thought to have pagan roots. Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain", which comes from the Old Irish for "summer's end". Samhain (pronounced SAH-win or SOW-in) was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic (Irish, Scottish and Manx) calendar. It was held on or about October 31 – November 1 and kindred festivals were held at the same time of year in other Celtic lands; for example the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall) and Kalan Goañv (in Brittany). Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.This was a time for stock-taking and preparing for the cold winter ahead;cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and livestock were slaughtered.In much of the Gaelic world, bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them Some of these rituals hint that they may once have involved human sacrifice. Divination games or rituals were also done at Samhain.


Samhain (like Beltane) was seen as a time when the 'door' to the Otherworld opened enough for the souls of the dead, and other beings such as fairies, to come into our world. The souls of the dead were said to revisit their homes on Samhain.Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them.Lewis Spence described it as a "feast of the dead" and "festival of the fairies". However, harmful spirits and fairies were also thought to be active at Samhain. People took steps to allay or ward-off these harmful spirits/fairies, which is thought to have influenced today's Halloween customs. Before the 20th century, wearing costumes at Samhain was done in parts of Ireland, Mann, the Scottish Highlands and islands, and Wales. Wearing costumes may have originated as a means of disguising oneself from these harmful spirits/fairies, although some suggest that the custom comes from a Christian or Christianized belief (see below). In Ireland, people went about before nightfall collecting for Samhain feasts and sometimes wore costumes while doing so. In the 19th century on Ireland's southern coast, a man dressed as a white mare would lead youths door-to-door collecting food; by giving them food, the household could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'. In Moray during the 18th century, boys called at each house in their village asking for fuel for the Samhain bonfire. The modern custom of trick-or-treating may have come from these practices. Alternatively, it may come from the Christian custom of souling (see below).
Making jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween may also have sprung from Samhain and Celtic beliefs. Turnip lanterns, sometimes with faces carved into them, were made on Samhain in the 19th century in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. As well as being used to light one's way while outside on Samhain night, they may also have been used to represent the spirits/fairies and/or to protect oneself and one's home from them. However, a Christian origin has also been proposed

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Disney buys Star Wars maker Lucasfilm from George Lucas

Disney is buying Lucasfilm, the company behind the Star Wars films, from its chairman and founder George Lucas for $4.05bn (£2.5bn).

Mr Lucas said: "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of film-makers."
In a statement announcing the purchase, Disney said it planned to release a new Star Wars film, episode seven, in 2015.

That will be followed by episodes eight and nine and then one new movie every two or three years, the company said.
The last Star Wars film was 2005's Revenge of the Sith, and Disney said it believed there was "substantial pent-up demand".

Disney will pay about half in cash and half in stock, issuing 40 million Disney shares in the transaction.
The deal follows Disney's acquisitions of Pixar studios for $7.4bn in 2006 and Marvel comics for $4.2bn in 2009.

"Our valuation of Lucasfilm is roughly comparable to the value we placed on Marvel when we announced that acquisition in 2009," Disney said, adding that the valuation was almost entirely driven by the Star Wars franchise.


Transition The first Star Wars film was released in 1977.
"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next," said George Lucas.

"I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."
Mr Lucas will continue as a creative consultant.
Kathleen Kennedy, currently co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become president of the firm and will be the executive producer on the new Star Wars films.

Lucasfilm is also the production company behind the Indiana Jones franchise, and fantasy films Willow and Labyrinth.
Michael Corty, analyst at Morning Star, said Disney's deal was clearly part of a pattern in buying new franchises.
"Pixar was the first big one, then Marvel, and now this one here," he said.
"Because Lucas is private, I would assume most investors would be surprised."

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