Latest news with #mothers
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Mother shares urgent warning about terrifying way criminals could be trying to drug young women with 'Devil's Breath' on public transport
A mother has shared an urgent warning about the terrifying new way criminals are trying to drug young girls on public transport. Aysin Cilek, 22, was travelling via train to Birmingham Moor Street last Tuesday when she was approached by a stranger, whom she now believes was trying to drug her with 'Devil's Breath', also known as scopolamine or burundanga. The substance, which has been dubbed the 'world's scariest drug', is derived from the Borrachero tree and was once used by the CIA as a truth serum. Victims are said to be rendered into a zombie-like state with as little as 10mg, making them easy to manipulate, hallucinate, and follow commands, sometimes with fatal consequences. Some however claim the alleged scam is little more than an urban myth. Aysin was travelling alone with her baby daughter Neveah in a pram when an unknown man came up to her, asking her to help him with a 'stamp' for his letter. But alarm bells soon rang for the young mother when he wanted her to 'lick' the stamp, saying he couldn't do so himself as he was 'fasting'. Aysin now believes the stamp was laced with Devil's Breath and quickly took to TikTok to issue a warning to other young women. She shared, in a video: 'Guys, the scariest thing happened to me today and I am literally just posting this for awareness, for other people, for other mums. Please be careful.' Aysin said she got on the train and 'everything was fine' until a 'dodgy looking' man joined her carriage. She continued: 'Just as we were getting to the next stop, he comes over and he's like "hi". He passes me a stamp but it's obviously not a stamp - it literally looks like an acid tab. 'But I wasn't thinking straight. He passes me this thing and I take it off him. I thought he was trying to sell me something. And he goes "Can you put my stamp on my letter?"' Aysin initially agreed to help him out but soon backed out when he asked her to 'lick it' She said the man told her 'you need to lick it [the 'stamp']. You need to get it wet to stick it on there'. She added: 'He had his fingers all over this piece of paper, stamp thing. And he was like "you need to lick it!".' The "letter" wasn't even a letter, it was a piece of paper. 'This guy was definitely trying to drug me. It was just me and Nevaeh. I'm actually getting teary thinking about it. If I was that stupid to just lick the stamp and put it on, I could have been drugged, and Neveah could have been gone. 'This is serious guys, you need to be so careful when you're out and about. I would never ever have imagined something like that would happen to me. I've never been so scared in my life.' She now says she won't be getting public transport any more or 'ever ever again' on her own and is afraid to leave the house alone Although the man got off at the next stop, Aysin grew even more worried about his behaviour when he began peering into her pram, saying 'don't wake the baby'. She now says she won't be getting public transport any more or 'ever ever again' on her own and is afraid to leave the house alone. She's since reported the incident to the British Transport Police and enquiries are ongoing. Taking to the comments, people were left shocked and also emphasised the importance of never accepting an item from a stranger - even if just to hold it. They wrote: 'Do not take things that have been offered to you that's all I say'; 'If a random person tries to give u something u NEVER it let alone licking it!'; 'Stop being 'nice' to strange men you come across in the street. Ignore them and keep walking, especially if you're with your child'; 'Scary, and worse still. If it was a grandparent might not have thought twice as we are old school and stamps always used to be licked.' On TikTok, people emphasised the importance of never accepting anything from strangers WHAT IS DEVIL'S BREATH? Devil's Breath, also known as scopolamine or burundanga, which has been dubbed the 'world's scariest drug', is derived from the Borrachero tree and was once used by the CIA as a truth serum. Victims are said to be rendered into a zombie-like state with as little as 10mg, making them easy to manipulate, hallucinate, and follow commands, sometimes with fatal consequences. It is also used by some as a recreational drug - but the visions it causes are said to be far more disturbing than those caused by LSD. It also has 'amnesiac' properties meaning that users of the drug may not be able to recall their own actions. Some however claim the alleged scam is little more than an urban myth. The US State Department has recorded unofficial estimated of 50,000 incidents a year in Colombia. They previously published advice for US Citizens visiting South America: 1. Avoid going to nightclubs and bars on your own 2. Never leave your food or drink unattended 3. Never accept food or drink from strangers 4. Never leave restaurants, bars or clubs with strangers A spokesperson for the British Transport Police told MailOnline: 'Officers were contacted on Tuesday 23 July by a woman in her 20s who was concerned about a man's behaviour, after he asked her to lick a postage stamp when she was on a train to Birmingham New Street earlier in the day. 'Enquiries into the nature of the incident are ongoing.' Last month, Deborah Oscar also claimed she was a victim of a similar situation as she travelled on the Elizabeth Line in London - leading to fears that the drug has arrived in the UK. Speaking on a TikTok video, she said: 'Today I am on the train, this is the first train, so the train is empty, the previous one had just left a few seconds earlier so I was one of the first people who got on the train. 'So I sat down and had the whole carriage to myself. 'A few minutes later I noticed someone walking very slowly and I looked up and I am thinking "this woman is walking very slowly, what is going on" and when I looked up I realised that she was staring in my direction.' She goes on to describe that at first she thought this person was a tourist about to ask her for directions, but things start taking an unusual twist. The TikToker, who goes by the handle @debyoscar, went on: 'She walks and stands in front of me, so at this point I'm like "how can I help you because this train is empty" and she is looking at me, and I am like "how can I help?"' She explains that this mysterious woman is holding a newspaper and is 'waving it around' in a 'really strange' manner. 'She makes her way very slowly, still maintaining eye contact, and she sits down next to me,' the woman explains. She then tells that as the train moves, all of a sudden she starts feeling dizzy and very high, and she describes 'the room getting very dark and it's spinning'. She started to worry that it may be low blood sugar and that she may be about to faint. She then remembered that she had previously watched a video about the drug which causes similar symptoms. She said: 'In the groggy state, I start thinking "Oh my Gosh, is this what I think it is?" 'I pick up my phone and I leave a very groggy voice note to my sister in Italian. The woman is still staring at me and I start [describing the woman's appearance].' To make things even creepier, she then claims the woman, while still looking at her, starts to walk away to another carriage. 'Then I remembered, in those videos [about the drug], they normally leave and somebody else will swoop in and basically lead you to cash machine and lead you to transfer your money to them.' She claims she stood up in the train and moved to the next carriage and spotted a man and a woman who were sat one seat apart from each other in an otherwise empty carriage. 'I thought, what if these are the people that are watching me, because where they are sat they could clearly see where I was sat earlier.' She said she felt 'dread' and thought 'you need to get out now'. She claims she waited for the doors to almost close to leave the carriage. 'I waited until I heard the doors beep, and as soon as the doors beep I stood up and when I stood up the two South Asian people in front of me immediately looked at me and then looked at each other, and that was all I needed to see. 'I stumbled out of the train, and the doors closed behind me. When the fresh air hits me, the dizziness feeling subsides.' She finished the video by saying: 'I don't know what that was. I don't know if it was black magic, a spell, or hypnotherapy, whatever it is, it was scary, but it was very real. 'I am just here to warn you to be careful and be wary.' She added: 'I am thankful God that I left before they could do anything because I am planning a wedding so my account would have fed them for a few years, you know. So I am just thankful that didn't happen to me. But please be wary, they are in London.' In May, it was reported that violent organised crime groups in Colombia were reportedly using Devil's Breath to kidnap and rob British tourists. Feared mobsters are using it to drug unsuspecting tourists after ensnaring them with honey trap schemes through dating apps like Tinder and Grindr. Hundreds of people in Colombia are thought to have been targeted with the drug. Colombian police reportedly fear London-based scientist Alessandro Coatti, 38, may have died after being targeted this way. The molecular biologist was staying at a hostel in the scenic historic centre of the coastal city of Santa Marta while on holiday. Colombian detectives fear Mr Coatti may have gone to an abandoned house in the southern San José del Pando area of the city after connecting with someone on Grindr, The Daily Telegraph reported. The drug is thought to have been used before in honey trap schemes in Colombia. Footage of two women with a man in the city of Medellin was previously shared online. Video showed the man carrying a paper bag and keying in the code for the entrance door's security lock. One of the women, dressed in a black bodysuit, looked forward while her accomplice, wearing a similar pink outfit, turned around and looked towards a group of people that were standing near their motorcycles. The individual then opened the door as the suspects followed him into the home - where the alleged robbery took place. Once inside, the women allegedly drugged the man with powdered scopolamine, otherwise known as the 'Devil's Breath,' which causes a person to become disoriented. The women fled with the victim's money, jewelry and cell phone. According to Medellín authorities, at least 254 people were robbed in 2023 by criminals who exposed them to powdered scopolamine.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Gaza has become a graveyard – both literally and morally
OPINION I have been in and out of Gaza many times over the last year, and every time it feels like stepping into an even darker version of the nightmare I had left behind. I most recently returned in late May, after a long and dangerous journey and went straight to check on two old friends. I was relieved they were still alive, but shocked to feel the bones underneath their clothes as I hugged them. Their faces were gaunt, their arms frail, and their bodies visibly wasting away. They are mothers, like so many others here, giving every scrap of food they can find to their children and surviving on little or nothing themselves. It's a silent, everyday act of love and desperation. Across Gaza, this is the reality: mothers are starving themselves so that their children might have a chance to live. Since the horrific October 7 attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups, I have asked myself many times whether the relentless killing, maiming, and starving of Gaza's children by Israeli forces could get any worse, any more inhumane. Terrifyingly, it has. Again, and again. There have been countless, unimaginable horrors in Gaza since the war began, including the bombing of hospitals and schools, children being disappeared, and the deliberate deprivation of lifesaving humanitarian aid to those in need. The most recent outrage is the near-daily massacre of civilians at the Israeli-backed militarised distribution sites run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The GHF's 'safe' corridors to access aid are anything but. Civilians are herded like cattle into barren lots, scanned by drones, and often, shot at while they wait to receive the bare minimum they need to survive. At least 1000 people have been killed and over 5000 injured while trying to access aid at GHF sites. Make no mistake: any humanitarian aid is welcome. But what has been proposed so far – just 1 per cent of what is needed – is the opposite of humanitarian. It's inhumane, effectively guaranteeing continued starvation, lawlessness and desperation. Simply put, the GHF is not a humanitarian aid system. It is a deliberate and deadly failure. According to the most recent IPC figures, more than 93 per cent of the children in Gaza are at critical risk of famine. Yet there are just four GHF sites replacing the hundreds that the UN and NGOs like Save the Children used to operate under the old humanitarian architecture. The international community must demand that food not be used as a weapon of war. It must insist that all parties of the conflict facilitate unfettered access to a wide source of aid that people living in a war zone need to survive. Just delivering a tiny bit of food is no good to a child who is drinking dirty water and will die of a waterborne disease. Food is no good to a child who can't recover from the third degree burns on her legs caused by a bomb blast due to the siege on medical supplies and antibiotics. It's not just the hunger and violence wreaking havoc across Gaza. It's the hopelessness. My colleagues speak of children in our programs expressing suicidal thoughts. We are seeing a sharp increase in children being orphaned not just once, but twice as their foster families also are killed or injured. We're seeing severe behavioural issues, aggression, deep fatigue, disassociation, lack of focus, because, quite simply, children are starving and are exposed to unimaginable trauma every day. Parents are constantly terrified. It's not easy to ask them to send their child to one of our programs when the last time they walked to fetch water they watched someone get shot in the street. Healthcare here is not just collapsing, it's cruel. A British surgeon at Nasser Hospital told me he's performing surgeries on children using expired muscle relaxants. Children are waking up mid-surgery, writhing in pain. A colleague of ours was significantly injured by a bomb blast and needed reconstructive surgery on her foot and pelvis. But doctors told her she had to wait five days as they did not have any beds available and that they had no pain killers for her to take while she waited for the surgery. Imagine sustaining that type of an injury involving shattered bones and shrapnel wounds and being told not only that you could not get emergency surgery, but that you would have to wait for days with no relief. It's medieval. Every time rumours of a ceasefire begin, hope flickers, then vanishes. And every time it does, the crash in morale is worse. For our staff, who are among the 'lucky ones' with jobs, the disappointment is visceral. For the tens of thousands of displaced people with no income, no food, and no roof over their heads, it's devastating. I know Gaza often feels far away for Australians. But please believe me when I say this is not a political crisis. It is a moral one. What's happening here is not a natural disaster, it is human-made, and it is preventable. And if we accept what is happening now in Gaza, what's to stop other actors thinking they too can get away with it elsewhere? It sets a dangerous new precedent where one party to a conflict can choose what rights a civilian population can and cannot have, without any regard for international law. And the whole world becomes less safe. Never before has the systematic starvation and dehumanisation of an entire population been so well documented, filmed and sent to our devices to watch in real time every day. The Australian government must speak louder, not just for aid access, but for the basic dignity and protection of civilians. We need pressure. We need accountability. We need an end to the killing. months, including being deployed there a number of times since November 2024. She is currently back in Australia.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Map reveals where it will cost you $40,000 to give BIRTH... as natural-born population risks going 'extinct'
Americans living in 10 states may have to fork over nearly $30,000 to give birth, shocking new data reveals. In Alaska, mothers opting for a vaginal birth can expect to receive a bill for $29,000, including both insurance and out-of-pocket costs. Going with a C-section? That will be an extra $10,000 for moms living in America's 49th state, twice the national average. For vaginal births, which just over 66 percent of American women choose, New York and New Jersey followed closely behind, both costing about $21,800. Connecticut and California rounded out the top five priciest states to have a vaginal birth, totaling $20,600 and $20,400, respectively. And for the 1.2million women in the US who undergo a C-section every year, Maine and Vermont were the two most expensive states behind Alaska, each costing roughly $28,800. States rounding out the list of most expensive C-sections were Oregon and New Jersey, with price tags of $28,700 and $26,900. Meanwhile, women giving birth in Mississippi paid the least on average for both vaginal birth and C-sections. A typical vaginal birth in the Magnolia state runs roughly $9,900, while a C-section is about $11,100. The rankings, compiled by health insurance claims analyst FAIR Health, are based on records from 51billion commercial health insurance claims filed nationwide within the last several years. All services were considered in-network, meaning insurance covered some of all of the costs and a patient paid the remaining balance. The costs account for both the portions paid by the patients and by the insurance companies. Services included vaginal or C-section delivery, anesthesia, ultrasounds, lab work, breast pumps and fetal nonstress tests, which measure a fetus' heart rate and movement in the womb. The average vaginal birth in the US is $15,200, whereas a C-section costs $19,300. C-sections tend to cost more than vaginal births because they need more specialized surgical equipment and often require longer hospital stays and more involved post-operative care. Recent research suggests the cost of childbirth in the US increased 22 percent from 2017 to 2021, a factor potentially driving America's fertility crisis. The current fertility rate reached a new low of 1.6 births per woman, according to a new CDC report. This is well below the 2.1 needed to sustain population growth. It's also a sharp decline from 3.5 in 1960 and 2.1 in the 1990s, showing women are having far fewer children than their mothers and grandmothers. Young Americans have also cited a shifting focus on their careers and climate change as reasons for not having children. Experts previously told that while the US has not seen a 'downward trend economically' in the way countries like South Korea, Japan, or Germany have, the effects of depopulation in the US would be 'detrimental.' They fear depopulation would put a significant strain on the job market and drastically reduce the number of workers in the country. This would drive up the cost of goods. Dr Abigail Hall, an associate professor of economics at the University of Tampa, told 'Economically speaking, depopulation is detrimental for economic growth.' As the population dwindles, there will be fewer people to pay off the nation's debt. For example, the Heritage Foundation estimates a baby born in 2007 will assume $30,500 in debt. However, a baby born in 2020 will assume $59,000. Dr Hall said: 'One thing people would probably witness is that it's going to be harder to find people to fill jobs.' In FAIR Health's analysis, Alaska was the most expensive state for vaginal and C-section births. The former added up to $29,152 while the latter was $39,532. This could be due to one in five Alaskans living in remote locations, meaning medical supplies and personnel have to be transported by air, driving up costs. Rural areas also have fewer hospitals to choose from, leading to many increasing costs since there is little competition. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut all followed closest behind Alaska for the cost of vaginal births. Costs in these states range from $20,600 to $21,800. The Northeast has a generally higher cost of living and rent than the rest of the country, driving up overall hospital stay and material prices. The area also has a high concentration of academic, renowned medical centers like Columbia, Yale New-Haven and NYU Langone, which tend to charge more. California, which rounds out the top five most expensive states for a vaginal birth at $20,390, requires insurance companies to cover many maternity-related screenings that aren't mandatory in other states, which tends to drive up overall total cost. The list varied for C-section births. Following close behind Alaska was Maine with a cost of $28,794. Like Alaska, a significant portion of residents - 61 percent - live in rural areas, limiting their access to a variety of hospitals. Rural hospitals often have lower patient volumes but still have to pay to keep facilities open, so they typically charge more per patient to afford these costs. The same is true for Vermont, where it costs $28,747 on average to have a C-section. Oregon and New Jersey rounded out the top five C-section states, totaling $28,708 and $26,896. Meanwhile, Mississippi was the cheapest state to give birth either vaginally or via C-section. The former costs $9,847 while the latter is $11,110 on average. More than half of births in Mississippi are covered by Medicaid, according to the latest available data, which significantly lowers overall costs. Births in Mississippi are also more likely to occur in lower-cost community hospitals without advanced, costly facilities. Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee also ranked closely behind, with costs ranging from $10,000 to $11,500 for a vaginal birth and $11,500 to $15,000 for a C-section.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
I spent four nights a week drinking until I blacked out – before snorting cocaine to sober up. I told myself it was OK... but this is how I finally ditched the booze: BRYONY GORDON
When I was making my first shaky, shame-filled steps to sobriety over a decade ago, I really wish there had been someone as brilliantly brave as Ulrika Jonsson out there, speaking openly about what it is like to be a mother with a drinking problem. Because listening to the TV presenter talk (pictured) about her decision to get sober, I was taken straight back to those awful last days of my drinking, when I looked at my lovely home and my gorgeous child and thought: 'What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I stop drinking?'
Medscape
6 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
Maternal T1D Raises Odds of Adverse Neonatal Outcomes
TOPLINE: In a nationwide study of over 1.4 million singleton births, neonates of mothers with type 1 diabetes (T1D) had substantially higher odds of stillbirth, congenital malformations, preterm birth, hypoglycaemia, and neonatal death. METHODOLOGY: Researchers in Sweden conducted a nationwide cohort study of 1,402,394 singleton births to compare adverse neonatal outcomes between infants born to mothers with and without T1D. Data of neonates delivered at 22 or more completed gestational weeks between 2010 and 2022 were retrieved from the national birth register. Maternal T1D diagnoses and neonatal complications were ascertained from antenatal records and diagnostic codes. TAKEAWAY: During the study period, 0.5% of women were diagnosed with T1D. Neonates born to mothers with T1D had higher odds of stillbirth (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.54; 95% CI, 1.98-3.28) and congenital malformations (aOR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.50-1.84). Women with T1D and underweight or obesity showed a significantly higher prevalence of congenital malformations than their normal-weight counterparts. Neonates of women with T1D were far more likely to born preterm (< 34 weeks of gestational age; aOR, 3.80), be large for gestational age (aOR, 22.0), develop hypoglycaemia (aOR, 45.85), and experience neonatal mortality (aOR, 4.1). IN PRACTICE: "Neonates born to mothers with type 1 diabetes faced higher risks compared to neonates born to mothers without type 1 diabetes, highlighting the need for a better understanding of the causation and how care can be improved for their mothers," the authors wrote. SOURCE: This study was led by Alexandra Goldberg, Karolinska Institutet Soder Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. It was published online on July 15, 2025, in Acta Paediatrica. LIMITATIONS: The authors were unable to account for all potential diabetic complications and maternal postprandial glucose levels before and during pregnancy. This study included only pregnancies that have completed 22 or more gestational weeks, which may have introduced selection bias. The authors could not control for elective or missed abortions attributable to congenital malformations. DISCLOSURES: This study did not receive any specific funding. The authors declared having no relevant conflicts of interest. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
