In his basement, son designs prosthetic arm for father in Belarus

Sergei Galtsev, a Soviet army captain at the time, lost his right arm in an explosion on a military firing range when his son, Oleg, was four years old.

Almost three decades later the 53-year-old Belarussian became the first tester of a prosthetic arm designed and made by his own son in the basement of his apartment building.

"We wanted to create a simple and affordable prosthesis," said Oleg, a 32-year-old software engineer.

Two years ago he teamed up with engineer Sergei Arefyev to develop an artificial arm. The video of its final tests hit almost a million views on YouTube, with the partners making all the designs and software available on the internet for free.

"We did not patent it as it made more sense to spend money on development," Oleg said.

"It's like Lego, designed for people who are not at ease with electronics: just put the parts together. If I managed it, then others can do it, too."

In a country better known for its Soviet-era collectivized farming and run by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, the software industry is thriving. Belarus's 54 universities turn out 4,000 software engineers every year.

The prosthetic arm was created in a small workshop in the basement of a residential building in Minsk. Some parts were created using a 3D-printer, some were bought on the internet.

Galtsev and Arefyev say their design is 10 times cheaper than $15,000 mechanical prostheses from big manufacturers, although it lacks sensor controls.

Sergei Galtsev says his world was turned upside down by the accident which befell him when he was 26. It ended his military career and he took his wife and two children back to the home town of Chechersk in what is now Belarus.

His new arm has brought new possibilities within reach.

"It is a very good thing, and it can help so many people," he said after testing the device at his house in the country.

"I sawed wood, mowed the lawn, did some other work around house".

Source: Reuters

Superhero window washers make children's day at Brazil hospital

At a children's hospital in Sao Paulo, two window washers dressed up as Batman and fellow superhero "The Flash" lit up the faces of young patients.

A day ahead of Brazil's celebration of "Children's Day" on Wednesday, the washers waved to the ill kids at Sabara Children's Hospital, took pictures with them from outside, and placed their hands on the glass sentimentally.

Jaquelina Maranhao said their visit lifted the spirits of her 8-year-old daughter Isabela.

"She was happy and got up to look and that was very good," Maranhao said. "When they are sick, they are a little down, quiet, so this helps them have fun."

The superheroes said they too were fulfilled by their visit.

Daniel Barbosa, dressed in red and gold as the main hero from the American television series "The Flash," said he wanted to bring some happiness to the children.

"When I get home, I hug my daughter and feel stronger, freer, calmer, more peaceful, and I feel like I can pass this peace onto these children," Barbosa said with a smile.

Laura, 9, said Barbosa's gestures brightened her day.

"There is nothing to do in the hospital and, with these activities, a child's day is happier," Laura said.

Source: Reuters

Back to basics: Retro games make a comeback in Indonesia

An increasing number of Indonesians are taking a stand against digital games like Pokemon Go that they say erode values, and encouraging children to play traditional toys like wooden spinning tops and bamboo pinwheels.

Tens of thousands of Indonesians were hooked on Nintendo's augmented reality app, in which players hunt virtual characters in real-life places, months before the smash-hit game was officially launched in the Southeast Asian country.

But parents and teachers worry that children get too caught up in the virtual world and are missing out on interacting with each other.

Some parents are nostalgic about the games they used to play and want to introduce their children to them.

Hundreds of parents and children attended a traditional games festival on a recent weekend at the Pilar Bangsa, or "pillar of the nation", school in West Jakarta.

A gaggle of children huddled around a wooden board, taking turns shooting marbles at goal posts made of rubber bands in a version of table soccer.

Others were tying strings around tops and spinning them on a circular platform.

"Traditional games involve more activities, whereas electronic games only require kids to use their thumbs," said Januar Surjadi, who was teaching his three-year-old boy to play with a bamboo toy that made a clicking sound when spun.

Some games like "wayang", or traditional puppets, and "congklak", which requires players to collect as many "seeds" as possible in the holes of a wooden set, have been passed down through generations.

Pilar Bangsa Principal Agustinus, who goes by one name, said his school would organize more events to introduce kids to traditional games.

"We want to show the unique features of Indonesia, that it has a rich culture."

His school is not the only one. Education ministry official Essi Hermaliza said authorities aimed to instill old values in students through traditional games across the country.

The mayor of the city of Bogor has renovated a park and equipped it with wooden stilts and other toys to "help children avoid Pokemon Go", media reported recently.

Traditional toys are often cheap - some sell for a dollar or less - but even so present an opportunity for businessmen like Fahrudin, who gets toys made in villages and sells them online.

"The response from consumers has been positive and there's still a lot of demand," he said at his warehouse near Jakarta, where workers were packaging toys for delivery.

For children like Michelle Miranda, 13, traditional toys won't replace her electronic gadget, but they are still fun.

"I'm getting a little bored of Pokemon Go because it's harder to find the rarer Pokemons," she said.

"I play congklak at home with my friends, it's fun and it helps to teach mental arithmetic."

Source: Reuters

Can social media save Syria's children?

As the image of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh looking dazed and bloodied after an airstrike on his Aleppo home went viral, the online conversation once again focused on children and war.

Omran Daqneesh is not the first Syrian child whose image has been shared thousands of times on social media this month. A high profile Twitter campaign resulted in the evacuation of a wounded girl from the besieged Syrian city of Madaya. More than 34,000 people used the hashtag #SaveGhina in order to focus attention on 10-year-old Ghina Wadi - Amnesty International said she was shot by a sniper when she went out to get medicine for her mother.

The Syrian government initially refused to let Wadi leave the town for medical treatment, but a social media campaign, as well as pressure from humanitarian authorities including Amnesty International and the United Nations, culminated in the Syrian Red Crescent arranging her transit to Damascus for treatment.

Madaya, which is 25km (16 miles) north of Damascus, has been under siege since mid-2015 by government forces and their allies from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The situation has been described as "critical" by aid agencies. Some 40,0000 residents are said to be affected by food and medicine shortages.

Since Wadi's story went viral, several video appeals have sprung up on social media asking for the evacuation of children in similar situations.

On 15 August, a video showing a boy called Yaman Izz al-Din, also said to be in Madaya, was shared by a Facebook group called Hashtag Revolution. He is said to be suffering from acute meningitis.

"The boy has a high grade fever - if this lasts, he might lose his sight or become paralysed," says a man, who introduces himself as a doctor, as the boy screams in his bed.

The clip, which was viewed more than 5,500 times on Facebook, ends with an appeal by the doctor to the UN and Syrian Red Crescent to save his life.

Another clip on the Hashtag Revolution page shows the mother of a girl named Nisreen al-Shamaa appealing for her evacuation. The mother looks into the camera and says that her daughter has been ill for 25 days and can neither see nor move.

There have also been several tributes to children who have been killed in Syria's conflict.

The UN children's agency has warned that thousands of children in the Syrian city of Aleppo are at risk of disease, while the UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, angrily condemned all parties for not doing enough to stop the fighting.

Research by BBC Monitoring

Source: BBC

Banksy paints Bridge Farm Primary Bristol wall as 'present'

The elusive artist composed the mural at Bridge Farm Primary after it recently named a school house after him.

It was discovered as teachers returned from the half-term break along with a letter saying "it's always easier to get forgiveness than permission".

A spokesman for Banksy confirmed to BBC News that the artwork is genuine.

Head teacher Geoff Mason intends to preserve the mural and has "no plans to sell it".

He said the surprise addition to the school's surroundings is "inspirational and aspirational" for his pupils.

Source: BBC

Art disasters: Boy reduces £10,000 Lego statue to rubble

The statue is said to have cost more than 100,000 yuan (£10,382) and taken creator Mr Zhao three days and nights to build.

He posted before and after photos of Nick on the Sina Weibo social network.

A "no touching" sign in place at the Chinese Lego expo seems to have been of little help.

Following the incident, the hashtag #ManSpends3DaysAndNightsBuildingBlocks has been used over 13,000 times on Chinese social media.


Source: BBC