Malian government says war will be over soon

The Malian government has predicted that the war against rebels in the north will be over in a matter of days after government troops recaptured another town and advanced on the rebel stronghold of Gao.

Malian troops reached the town of Hombori, 100 miles south of Gao, on Thursday following a series of French air strikes against militant targets, officials said.

Sources said the army – which was driven out from the north of the country last March – retook the central town of Douentza on Monday.

"We are winning very rapidly," Manga Dembélé, Mali's communications minister, told the Guardian on Friday. "We are making quick progress." He added: "The rebels have been dispersed. We expect this to be finished in days."

For nearly two weeks, French aircraft have bombarded rebel positions, vehicles and stores in the centre and north of Mali as a ground force of African troops assembles to launch a UN-backed military intervention.

On Thursday, around 160 troops from Burkina Faso deployed in the dusty central Malian town of Markala – the first west African troops to link up with French and Malian forces. France has some 2,150 troops on the ground.

The French have repeatedly warned that the Islamist enclave in north Mali could be a launchpad for attacks on Europe and Africa. Western powers, including the US and Britain, have provided air transport and surveillance for the mission but are not planning to contribute combat forces.

On Friday, Dembélé said Mali would welcome more troops from any friendly country, including Britain. "All friends of Mali are welcome," he said.

France has said it will stay as long as needed in Mali, a former French colony. However, it has called for African nations to take the lead in fortifying the Malian army's efforts.

There are about 1,750 troops from countries in the region, including Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Senegal, Niger and Chad.

The Malian army, however, has been accused of committing retaliatory violence against civilians who appear to be northerners or those with suspected links to Islamists.

A French-based human rights group, the International Federation for Human Rights, or FIDH by its French acronym, charges that Malian forces have been behind about 33 killings since fighting erupted on 10 January.

The Malian army captain Modibo Traore called the allegations "completely false" but declined to comment further. A government statement issued on Thursday called on the military to respect human rights, saying "the army should be irreproachable".

Human rights groups have long expressed concerns about retaliatory violence against northern Malians or anyone seen as having ties to the Islamists, whose capture of the north has divided the country in two.

Meanwhile, the west African regional bloc known as Ecowas said it was organising an emergency session of defence chiefs from the 15 countries that make up the group. The gathering on Saturday will be held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Ex. fattest man loses 644 pounds

Once dubbed 'the fattest man alive,' Paul Mason was once 980 pounds. Since losing nearly two third of his body weight, he's now fighting to have 112 pounds of excess skin removed. Paul Mason once held the dubious honor of being the fattest man alive.

Wheelchair-bound and given just two years to live, the 50 year-old postal worker from Ipswitch, England weighed a staggering 980 pounds. Since undergoing gastric bypass, Mason is now 644 pounds slimmer — yet he has inherited another problem. Over a hundred pounds of sagging, excess skin, according to the Daily Mail. It’s not just a cosmetic issue, Mason told The Sun. It’s keeping him from being active.

“My skin splits. The skin behind my knee tears because of the weight of the excess skin,” he told the Daily Mail.

--> Excess skin is a common complaint after weight loss surgery — and it comes with own health risks and side effects.

The Sun reported that at the height of his weight problem, he needed two caretakers to help keep him clean, apply anti-chafing cream and to change his diapers. Dr. Jeff Kenkel, a professor of plastic surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas told ABC News that those hanging folds of flesh can trap sweat and dirt, leading to rashes and fungal infections.

"That much skin would affect his joints and his balance,” he said. “If the apron of skin around his abdomen hangs below his knees, it would get in the way." Skin-splitting is also likely to occur, Kenkel said.

England’s National Health Service picked up the tab for Mason’s weight loss surgery but won’t sign off on paying of the removal of his excess skin until he proves that he can keep the weight off for two years. Paul Mason had to quit his job as a postal worker when his legs could no longer support his weight. Mason told The Sun that the excess skin is hampering his mobility and that receiving the surgery sooner would allow him to continue to lose more weight.

"I am doing my part in getting my weight down and they now need to do their part and remove the excess skin," he said. "It is stopping me from being able to get on with my life."

“Once I get rid of the spare skin I also hope to be able to go swimming and cycling and join a gym — and find a girlfriend." This is only the latest chapter in Mason’s tabloid-ready story of gluttony gone berserk.

When he needed a hernia operation In 2002, he had to be removed from his home with a fork lift in order to get him into an ambulance. Since then he has shared his battle with the bulge with world, saying his reliance on food for comfort began in his mid 20s, when his true love broke his heart in 1986. Around the same time, other personal tragedies occurred.

“My dad died and my mum’s health deteriorated. Her hip crumbled and she was in a wheelchair. I became her full-time carer,” he told The Sun. “I couldn’t cope but couldn’t admit it.” Tough times solidified his desire to eat his way into an early grave.

He had to quit his job as a postal worker when his legs could no longer support his weight. Then, after being transferred to a position where he sorted mail, of the he was busted for stealing money to pay for his food addiction. By 2000, he was unable to walk on his own and was confined to wheelchair. Doctors believe he was consuming approximately 20,000 calories a day.

At the height of his weight, he confirmed that breakfast would include an entire package of bacon, four sausages and four eggs. He ate multiple portions of fish and chips and greasy kebabs for lunch. Dinners were comprised of multiple portions of pizza, Indian takeout and endless bags of potato chips.

Mason told British tabloids that his enormous girth prevented him from taking care of his own person hygiene. The Sun reported that at the height of his weight problem, he needed two caretakers to help keep him clean, apply anti-chafing cream and to change his diapers. Not everyone has been supportive of Mason’s struggle. He said that after people found out that his yearly needs cost taxpayers $162,530, he has received death threats. Mason says he wants to become the poster child for obesity awarness to warn others of the dangers of relying overeating.

“Food has taken my mobility away. And I’ve done it all to myself,” he said. “Now I want to travel toevery school in Britain with a cardboard cut-out of me at my heaviest.”

Mason’s story will be airing on British television on Saturday on a special called “Paul Mason: The World’s Fattest Man.”

article source: Daily News