Parents of woman who died when Irish doctors refused to perform abortion meet with Indian government to demand justice

• Savita Halappanavar, 31, was found to be miscarrying when she was admitted to Galway University Hospital
• The dentist, who was 17 weeks pregnant, was denied a medical termination, and died from septicaemia on October 28
• Indian officials have promised parents Anadappa and Akka Mahadevi Yalgi all possible help
• Pro-choice campaigners plan mass rallies in Ireland calling for abortion to be legalised
  

By Rebecca Seales

Published: 14:53 EDT, 16 November 2012 | Updated: 16:49 EDT, 17 November 2012

The parents of an Indian woman who died of blood poisoning after Irish doctors refused her an abortion have met officials to demand justice for their daughter.

Savita Halappanavar, 31, was 17 weeks pregnant when she began miscarrying, and died of septicaemia a week later.

Her husband Praveen Halappanavar, 34, has told how he begged doctors at Galway University Hospital to terminate the pregnancy, but they refused to do so because she was ‘in a Catholic country’ and the foetus’s heartbeat was still present.

The tragedy has provoked soul searching in the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is illegal, as well as considerable anger in some quarters.

Campaigners are demanding a change in the law to allow abortion in the case where the mother’s life is in danger.

Savita’s parents Anadappa Yalgi, 62, and his wife Akka Mahadevi Yalgi, 54, met with municipal government officials late on Friday afternoon at the family home in Belgaum, South West India.

The grieving couple asked Belgaum’s Deputy Commissioner, Anbu Kumar, to help ensure every possible assistance from the Indian government.

Mr Kumar said of the encounter: ‘I visited the house and offered our government’s help where possible.’

A photo of Savita now hangs in the family home covered in a garland, as is traditional in India’s Hindu community after the death of a loved one.

Echoing comments made by her parents, India’s ambassador to Ireland said today that Mrs Halappanavar might still be alive today if she had been treated in India.

Debashish Chakravarti told RTÉ radio that he hoped the Irish government would take steps to ensure the circumstances which led to her death never arose again. 

Abortion is not illegal in India when the mother’s life is at risk, the ambassador noted.

Meanwhile Ireland’s ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin, was officially summoned by the Delhi government on Friday to discuss an inquiry into Mrs Halappanavar’s death.

Madhusudan Ganapathi, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, told the Irish envoy he hoped the inquiry into the tragedy would be independent.

He also conveyed the sadness felt by people in India as ‘a young life had come to an untimely end’.

India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said of the tragedy: “Saving the life of the mother is of prime importance, if you can’t save the life of the child.”

Mr Halappanavar, Savita’s husband, has described how he held her hand as she died.

Reliving her final moments, he said: ‘In the night, at around one o’clock, the nurse came running, as I was standing outside ICU.

‘She just told me to be brave, and she took me near Savita, and she said: “Will you be OK to be there, living her last minutes?

‘I said: “Yes, I want to”. I was holding her hand, they were trying to pump her heart, there was a big team around. The doctor just told me they lost her.’

Mr Halappanavar, who works as an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, came to Ireland from India with his wife four years ago to start a new life together. She had a job in Westport, Co Mayo and the pair lived in Galway city.

Happy couple: Savita and her husband Praveen dancing at 2010 Diwali festival in Galway, video from YouTube

They were so excited about the expected birth of their first child, which was due on March 20, that they had an early baby shower in recent weeks when Mrs Halappanavar’s parents were visiting.

Pro-choice activists in Ireland have turned to social media networks to organise a mass protest against the country’s abortion laws on Saturday.

A rally in central Dublin is expected to attract several thousand demonstrators, and follows similar rallies on Thursday night in Belfast and on Friday in Derry.

Popstars and actors may be the first people that come to mind when thinking of megafans. 

But you may be surprised to know that one man has been crowned the world’s ultimate Apple superfan in an international competition held by SellCell.

Software engineer, David Freedman, triumphed over 1,000 candidates with a collection of more than 100 devices at his Kansas home.

The 29-year-old’s impressive shrine is worth a whopping $36,000 (£29,035), and even includes a pair of glasses crafted by Steve Jobs’ former optician.

But David’s love for the tech giant doesn’t stop there – as he’s even named his daughter after the Apple co-founder’s child, Lisa. 

‘I’m extremely proud and humbled to bring the title to Apple’s home country. A lifetime of being called an “Apple Sheep” has finally paid off,’ he said.

‘Apple is so much more than just a company to me. It is a community and an ecosystem that touches so many aspects of my life. 

‘Every time Tim Cook steps out on stage to unveil a new product feels like Christmas morning.’

David’s passion for Apple kickstarted when he was just a teenager while writing letters to Steve Jobs. 

‘I was inspired by the story of when Steve Jobs was in high school and called Bill Hewlett asking for spare electronic components,’ he said.

‘Not only was he given the parts, but also an internship at Hewlett-Packard. I was hopeful that I could gain a similar opportunity.  

‘Unfortunately, the replies from Steve’s PA were lost well over a decade ago. I do still have a few pieces of him, in a sense though.’

Today, every room in David’s house is painted in each of the six colours from one of Apple’s first ever logos.

Every door, fan, lock, camera and TV is also controlled by Apple’s HomeKit technology, while Siri is used to open the garage and control the heating. 

David even takes ‘religious holiday’ from work whenever Apple makes an announcement or hosts its annual September event. 

‘My house matches the six-colour Apple logo which highlighted the graphics capabilities of the Apple II in 1977,’ he continued. 

‘I received lots of concerned comments from friends and family about how I would be hurting the resale value or how hideous it would turn out. 

‘I wasn’t going to let any of that stop me from having a house that I was happy with, though.’

Although David’s proud to have earned the Apple superfan title, he admits that it’s difficult to find a partner who likes it too. 

‘I have a seven-year-old daughter named Elizabeth (or Lisa for short) – Steve Jobs’ daughter’s name and the name of the first computer Apple released with a graphical user interface. 

‘But I’m currently single – it’s hard finding a partner who is okay with coming in second to Apple.’ 

David was awarded a new Series 9 watch after scoring all answers correctly in the fastest time as part of an Apple-themed contest. 

He added: ‘You’d think a person who already owns over 100 different Apple products couldn’t possibly be excited to get another one, but I always am. 

‘Not only as something practical that I will get use out of but also for what it symbolizes. 

‘It will be an honor to wear it and I’ll surely brag about it to anyone I can get to listen.’

The inaugural boss of NASA‘s newly-created UFO research division has been named as a former meteorologist and liaison to the Pentagon.

Mark McInerney will become the US space agency’s director of research into unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), more commonly known as unidentified flying objects.

NASA officials initially refused to reveal McInerney’s identity amid fears he would be harassed, before later backtracking on the decision.

Speaking about the new UFO boss following the release of the agency’s highly-anticipated study into more than 800 UAP sightings, NASA’s associate administrator Nicola Fox told reporters: ‘They have been working there a while now, during the study, to help be a point of contact.’

But when directly asked whether she could name the official, Fox replied: ‘We will not give his name out.’

All changed hours later, however, when NASA sent out a press release that included McInerney’s name and revealed he previously worked as the agency’s liaison to the Pentagon.

There has been no explanation as to why McInerney’s identity was revealed when NASA initially declined to do so.

However, it emerged at last night’s briefing that several members of the independent study group had received threats, hate mail and been ridiculed on social media.  

Some were even apparently told to stay away from researching UFOs because it could damage their scientific credibility. 

‘That’s in part why we are not splashing the name of our new director out there, because science needs to be free,’ Dan Evans, the NASA official in charge of the study, originally said.

‘Some of [the incidents] rose to actual threats.’

The newly-formed UFO research division will continue studying UAPs, even though the space agency yesterday ruled out that aliens were to blame for some 800 such sightings over almost three decades.

These are defined as objects ‘that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective’. 

In a landmark report commissioned by NASA last year and published on Thursday, an independent panel of 16 experts stressed that there was ‘no reason to conclude’ that any of the sightings they analysed were extraterrestrial in origin. 

However, the team did warn that mysterious flying objects were a ‘self-evident’ threat to American airspace. 

Even though they poured cold water on the extraterrestrial hypothesis, NASA’s experts did not deny the possibility of a ‘potential unknown alien technology operating in Earth’s atmosphere.’ 

Their 33-page report called for NASA to utilise its technological might to continue studying UFOs because many cases remain unsolved — and researchers still have no idea what some of these sightings are.

NASA chief Bill Nelson announced that a new director for UFO research would help implement the panel’s recommendations. 

Following a news briefing setting out the findings, he said: ‘I want to thank the independent study team for providing insight on how NASA can better study and analyse UAP in the future. 

‘NASA’s new Director of UAP Research will develop and oversee the implementation of NASA’s scientific vision for UAP research, including using NASA’s expertise to work with other agencies to analyse UAP and applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to search the skies for anomalies. 

‘NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity.’

McInerney’s new role will see him ‘centralise communications, resources, and data analytical capabilities to establish a robust database for the evaluation of future UAP’, NASA said.

‘He also will leverage NASA’s expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and space-based observation tools to support and enhance the broader government initiative on UAP,’ the space agency added.

Since 1996, McInerney has worked in various positions, spending time at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Hurricane Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The NASA advisory panel’s new report analysed hundreds of potential UFO sightings, albeit with a budget of just $100,000 (£80,500) and just nine months to conduct their work.

The panel noted that, to date, most UAPs are recorded with sensors and other equipment intended for nonscientific purposes, under accidental or ‘serendipitous’ circumstances that are far from ideal.

Evidence from nearly all UFO cases, in other words, was not collected with enough scientific rigour for experts to reach reliable conclusions in the panel’s view.  

‘Coupled with incomplete data archiving and curation,’ the NASA panel wrote, ‘this means that the origin of numerous UAP [UFOs] remain uncertain.’

They concluded that in their scientific view, the bar for proof of extraterrestrial visitors to our planet must be kept high. 

‘In the search for life beyond Earth, extraterrestrial life itself must be the hypothesis of last resort,’ the panel wrote, ‘the answer we turn to only after ruling out all other possibilities.’ 

‘As Sherlock Holmes said, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth”.’ 

Back in May, NASA’s independent study team shared their preliminary observations — that up to 98 per cent of reported UAP sightings can be explained away.

Just 2 to 5 percent are considered ‘possibly really anomalous’, the panel added, but a lack of high-quality data is hampering researchers’ ability to apply ‘rigorous scientific scrutiny’ to the mystery-solving. 

NASA’s study is separate from the Pentagon’s investigation into UAPs, which saw US lawmakers hear first-hand accounts of UFO sightings from former members of the military earlier this year.

That Pentagon study, led by the Defense Department’s new All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and directed by Pentagon physicist Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, has received 350 reports of UFOs in the past two years. 

Almost half, or precisely 171 of those UFO cases, remain unexplained. 

Although their is cross-collaboration, the US space agency’s panel is focused on the civilian, unclassified side of this effort, while AARO leads the charge on examining UAPs in coordination with the intelligence and military communities.

South Park and The Simpsons are among countless nostalgic cartoons that many have grown up watching.

But it seems these may go beyond our screens, with an array of deep-sea creatures bearing an uncanny resemblance to their characters. 

Whether it’s a Pikachu sea slug or the real-life Squidward, the bulging features of many fish are almost too bizarre to be true. 

And it doesn’t stop with characters, as one particularly creepy creature may even remind you of an incredibly gone-off Krabby Patty. 

So, brace yourselves, as MailOnline delves into all things fishy with a list of some eerily familiar swimmers. 

1. Homer Simpson 

With bulging eyes and a miserable expression, this creature is the spitting image of The Simpsons’ iconic character.

Known as the Atlantic Stargazer, the fish buries and hides beneath the sand, with its face just visible through the grains.

But don’t be fooled – this Stargazer isn’t lazing about like his cartoon counterpart might. 

Instead, it’s actually likely to be staking out small fish, crabs and crustaceans for dinner.

Unfortunately for them, the Stargazer often uses poison to finish the job, which it ejects in its vicious bite.

This poison isn’t likely to kill a human, but will cause swelling that’s probably just as painful as Homer’s strangle. 

Another creepy Atlantic Stargazer was also captured by a nominee for this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award.

2. South Park’s Kenny McCormick

South Park’s notorious introvert seems to work quite well as an invertebrate.

Deep sea fisherman, Roman Fedorsov, shared photographs of the uncanny creature in the belief that it looked just like Kenny peeping out from his orange jacket.

‘Lord, they killed Kenny! Oh my God! They killed Kenny,’ he joked on Instagram. 

Despite its cartoon appearance, Mr Fedorsov’s find is actually an anemone – a close relative of jellyfish and coral. 

These carnivorous, aquatic animals spend most of their lives in one place, waiting for plankton, fish and even crabs to cross their paths.

When the opportunity arises, anemones shoot out filaments known as ‘nematocysts’, which completely paralyse their unsuspecting prey.

Tentacles are then used to guide any victims towards their impending doom inside the anemone’s mouth.

3. Squidward Tentacles

Spot this in the ocean and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in Bikini Bottom. 

With a slimy blue coat and an exceptionally large nose, this octopus looks strikingly similar to SpongeBob’s infamously miserable Squidward.

Unbelievable footage of the cephalopod was shot by photographer, Jonathon Gordon in the Caribbean back in 2015.

Within seconds, the eight-legged creature is seen to shift from its camouflaged state to a vibrant shade of turquoise as it moves slowly across the sea bed. 

Octopuses achieve this disguise by tactfully squeezing and contracting sacs of pigment beneath their skin, which can intensify certain colours while muting others.

Some species can also alter their skin texture to blend in with their surroundings, ranging from smooth to a bizarrely spiky surface.

 4. Krabby Patty

Whether it’s a mutated Big Mac or a rather dodgy Krabby Patty, there’s no doubt this strange specimen looks like a burger. 

Once again, this was shared by Mr Fedorsov who also commented on its not-so-appetising appearance. 

‘Is it a sea cheeseburger with teeth? Or Krabby Patty?’ he wrote.

‘Or the dented face of a ninja turtle?…Or McDonald’s new McRib sandwich? Or just another unknown animal from the bottom of the sea?’

Krabby Patties are fictional burgers from SpongeBob SquarePants, served by the main character at the Krusty Krab fast food restaurant. 

While it’s currently unclear what this species is, some commenters speculate that it may be two sea anemones stuck together. 

But this is not something that’s readily seen in our oceans, as anemones generally stay in one place for most of their lives.

They also mate both asexually and sexually by blasting sperm and eggs through their mouths and into the sea.

MailOnline has approached experts for further clarification.  

5. Pikachu 

Believe it or not, this sea slug hasn’t just shot out of a Poké Ball.

But the mysterious Thecacera pacifica does bear a strange resemblance to Pikachu, the world-famous Pokémon character. 

While these creatures are found across the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, they are very rarely spotted thanks to their diminutive size of just one to two centimetres.

Albeit tiny, these slugs still shouldn’t be underestimated, as they hold numerous abilities like their fictional TV twin. 

While Pikachu ejects electric shocks when stressed, this species exudes toxins to defend itself. 

Jellyfish, plankton and algae make up most of their diet, but the slug currently remains very illusive to marine biologists. 

6. Three-eyed fish

The Simpsons has built a reputation for unknowingly predicting the future – from Trump’s presidency to the underwater submersible tragedy in June.

And now, the hit Fox series has struck again, with an episode from the 1990s mirroring the discovery of a mutated three-eyed fish in real life.

Just like The Simpsons’ creature, this catfish was caught from waters that were brimming with so much pollution that its genetics had completely shifted.

Heavy metals, coal tar waste and volatile organics were found in the water in Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn – and eating the fish would pose a great threat to human health.

Fears of similarly mutated fish have arisen once more in Japan, as it was decided that waste from the Fukushima nuclear powerplant would be released into the Pacific Ocean.

While authorities claim it poses no threat to humans, activists are outraged by the sheer risk of treated waste. 

Amid the controversy, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, ate a sashimi fish on camera to prove it was safe to eat.

This again mirrors The Simpsons, with Mr Burns eating a fish exposed to nuclear waste in a previous episode.

Most penguins look like they’re wearing a little waistcoat.

But this ‘all-black’ bird snapped in Antarctica looks like it’s wearing a snazzy cookies and cream vest. 

The Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) has a condition called melanism, where too much of the dark pigment melanin has been produced, making it blacker than usual. 

In humans, melanin is the natural pigment in the body that gives our hair and eyes a dark colour – and it protects us from the sun’s rays.  

Although melanism makes animals look different to other members of the same species, it can be passed down to offspring as an evolutionary benefit. 

Back in 2010, a King penguin with melanism described as a ‘one in a zillion mutation’ was found in Fortuna Bay on South Georgia, but this is only the second recorded Gentoo penguin with the condition. 

The new discovery has been detailed in a new study led by Rocio Nigro at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.  

‘The unusual coloration of the penguin was identified as melanism, a genetic condition that causes an excess of melanin pigment in feathers,’ Nigro and colleagues say in their paper, published in Polar Biology. 

‘This particular individual appeared to be in good health and exhibited normal behaviour.’ 

The penguin was seen in Hope Bay, north of the Antarctic Peninsula (the bit that sticks out from the Antarctic mainland like a little tail). 

Despite its ‘unusual plumage coloration’, it seemed to have been accepted by its colony mates. 

The researchers said they could not able confirm its sex or its breeding status, however. 

Normally, Gentoo penguin wings (or ‘flappers’) are black on the top and white on the underside – but this particular bird has all-black wings. 

Like other penguin species, the Gentoo also normally has black on its back and a huge white chest – but this one is heavily speckled with splodges of black to give a ‘cookies and cream’ appearance. 

However, just like other normal Gentoo penguins, it also has white patches extending from its eyes and a bright red-orange beak. 

Penguins are adept swimmers underwater at speeds of up to 15 to 25 miles per hour in the search for food – and their classic black and white ‘waistcoat’ appearance helps them avoid predators. 

When seen by a potential predator that’s looking up from below, a white belly better blends in with light-filled surface water.

Meanwhile, a predator seen looking down from above sees the penguin’s black back which looks similar to the ocean’s darker depths. 

However, Professor Heather Lynch, an ecologist at Stony Brook University in New York, doesn’t think this cookies and cream bird is at more risk of predation because of its genetic condition.  

‘Though penguin colouration is a long-term evolutionary strategy that helps penguins avoid predation, I do not think this penguin’s colouration places it at serious risk,’ Professor Lynch, who wasn’t involved in the study, told New Scientist. 

‘Being a penguin is risky enough already.’

Because black penguins are particularly rare there has been very little research into them.

It is estimated that about one in every 250,000 penguins has the condition, although few are as completely black as the one found in South Georgia in 2010.

In some species, melanism can be beneficial and passed down to subsequent generations as it can help with survival.

For example, dark skin can provide better camouflage that can make them less visible to their prey. 

Mammals and other animals can also experience melanism, including a gorgeous grey seal pup that recently washed up on the Cornwall coast. 

Named Liquorice by staff at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, the stunning female pup had been spotted by local walkers on a nearby beach.

In 2020, photos emerged of a melanistic tiger in Odisha, India with prominent black all over its back but still with orange stripes over its stomach, neck and legs.

The exact date that King Charles and Prince Harry are likely to ‘meet for peace talks’ has been revealed – but Meghan Markle isn’t expected to be there, according to a well-placed source.

Prince Harry, 38, is reportedly due to fly back home to California via London next month when his Invictus Games end in Germany.

Meanwhile, the King, 74, is due to return from his summer holiday in Balmoral in mid September, meaning both the monarch and his youngest son will be in the British capital at the same time.

As such, it’s thought that the pair could meet with one another in the hopes of smoothing out tensions within the Royal Family, following the release of the Duke of Sussex‘s explosive memoir Spare, and his and his wife’s Netflix docuseries. 

Staff are reportedly making plans for the ‘peace talks’ to take place on September 17, ahead of the King’s trip to France on September 20, a source told OK! magazine. 

The source said: ‘King Charles is due to return to London from Balmoral in the middle of September which ties in with the end of Harry’s Invictus Games trip to Dusseldorf. 

‘The King has a rescheduled official visit to France on September 20 so has a few days to spare in London to meet with his son. Staff are trying to fine-tune the details as we speak.’

The insider added that Charles was also understood to have been upset by the claims his son made in his memoir Spare – particularly those concerning his wife Queen Camilla, who Harry felt ‘had sacrificed me on her personal PR altar’.

‘If the talks take place, the King will make it very clear that there will be absolutely no private family business discussed in public moving forward,’ they told OK!.

Indeed, it was reported that Camilla herself was ‘hurt’ by the contents of the book, in which she was labelled ‘dangerous’ and a ‘villain’, according to one of her closest friends.

‘Of course it bothers her, of course it hurts,’ Fiona, the Marchioness of Lansdowne – who was one of the Queen’s official companions at the King’s Coronation, told the Sunday Times.

‘But she doesn’t let it get to her. Her philosophy is always, “Don’t make a thing of it and it will settle down – least said, soonest mended.”‘

Although Meghan is said to be accompanying Harry to the Invictus Games, the source said it was ‘highly unlikely’ that she would be included in any ‘peace talks’ that took place between Harry and the King. 

Earlier this year, other insiders expressed their belief that a reconciliation between Harry, Prince William and their father is not out of the realm of possibility.

‘It’s fixable,’ they told The Times. ‘Both sides need to hold their hands up and admit ”we didn’t get everything right, and we got a lot wrong”… It’s going to take flexibility on all sides, but it can be done.’

‘It needs Harry over here, in the room with the King and Prince of Wales, a couple of other family members, some of ‘his people’ he trusts who always had his back, so he doesn’t think he’s being ambushed.’

However, the Prince of Wales may be slightly harder to win over, the source added.

Harry had shared deeply personal recollections of brotherly spats, revealed text messages between his wife Meghan and the Princess of Wales during their now infamous bridesmaid dress argument and accused the future King and Queen of endorsing his Nazi costume.

Even still, the royal source says William’s loyalty is ultimately to his country, and he will reconcile if he believes it’s the best thing for the future of the monarchy.

Next month, Harry and Meghan are set to present a segment of Invictus Games weeks after putting on a united front in a TV appearance against cyberbullying. 

The Duchess of Sussex, 42, will enter the stage in September during the closing ceremony of the games. 

Meghan will host the ‘Lifestories Scene’ segment, which provides insight into the bravery and resilience of the injured servicemen and women competing. 

Her contribution will be ‘poignant’ and serve as a testament to the games’ ability to transform lives, organisers said, according to The Telegraph.

Meanwhile Harry will deliver a goodbye speech at the closing ceremony in Düsseldorf, Germany, which is set to take place on September 16. 

The royal will apparently praise the competitors’ ‘unwavering spirit and impressive recovery journey’. 

The world’s oldest bodybuilder is a 90-year-old great-grandfather-of-nine who’s been working out for more than 70 years and can lift more than his bodyweight.

Jim Arrington, who turns 91 next month, was given the title at the age of 83 — and has kept it ever since.

The self-proclaimed ‘gym rat’, credited building muscle with keeping him in good health and allowing him to keep doing ‘everything an able-bodied person can’.

‘Oh, working out has absolutely helped me to live longer,’ he told DailyMail.com.

‘I’m just able to continue doing things that a person my age normally isn’t able to do. It’s just the ability to function more or less normally like I was 21 and on a bicycle that I am pretty happy with. 

‘An older person walks with a walker or something like that, but I am able to take longer steps because the exercise just gets rid of the inflammation in your joints.’ 

Mr Arrington visits the gym three times a week — on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — for about two hours each day. He reserves weekends for recovery time, to help his muscles repair themselves.

Revealing what he lifts at his gym in Los Angeles, the 160lb phenomenon told DailyMail.com his maximum for leg exercises was 250lbs — or 1.5 times his bodyweight.

For his arms, the former salesman said he can bicep curl up to 100lbs — while during chest and back exercises he can lift as much as 140lbs.

And he’s still adding to his impressive fitness routine.

Within five months, he was able to improve his ability on a stationary bike from just five minutes at level five to a ten minute cycle on level 11.

Setting out his training schedule, he said Mondays were dedicated to his back and chest, while Wednesdays were focused on his legs and Fridays were for his shoulders and arms.

He does his exercises on machines, saying as he has aged his joints have become weaker — making it more risky for him to lift free weights.

‘I don’t want to do anymore than what my body and my joints will handle — because it doesn’t make sense to wear your joints,’ he said.

‘I lift as much as I possibly can for the condition of my skeletal structure.’ 

For his exercises, he said he normally begins with a warm-up of lifting 40lbs for 20 repetitions, or lifting it 20 times, and then adds another 40lbs before gradually raising the weight to his maximum.

‘When it is at a weight where I can barely get reps out, I would wrap my knees in stretchy leg wrap and I would do the reps and not stop. I’d hold it at the top and take a couple of breaths, then do a couple more, until I get to 20 reps.

‘I am pretty out of breath and can barely walk after that.’

He lifts up to 250lbs on a machine similar to a leg press where the user lies on their back instead of being in the standard hunched over position.

Mr Arrington has been following his workout routine for more than 70 years.

His love of bodybuilding began when he was just 15 years old and saw it as a way to battle his crippling asthma.

‘I was very sickly and asthmatic [at the time] and I couldn’t run more than 50 yards without starting to wheeze,’ he told DailyMail.com. 

‘So, I saw these ads in a magazine about working out and getting powerful and strong and that was a good thing for me. I decided to send away for these little books and try the exercises.’

He started exercising with 3lb balls in 1947 and quickly found his asthma disappeared while he gained more than 10lbs of muscle.

He then began to work out with his Scouts group leader before heading to college and setting foot in a gym for the first time.

Now, decades later, he maintains a regular workout regimen and still competes in — and wins — bodybuilding competitions, with his latest victory in the over-80s category at the IFBB Professional League championships held in Reno, Nevada last month. He came third among the over-70s.

He first began to compete in the 1950s, initially for the title of Mr America, but quickly decided he had ‘no chance’ because he ‘didn’t have the genetics’.

‘I figured that my best chance of becoming anybody in this field was to wait until everybody else either grew up and did something else or passed away,’ he said.

He has been in more than 70 competitions, winning many accolades and is now starting to win more often in older categories.

He is currently training for the Pro Masters World Championships held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, next month where he’s persuaded organizers to add an over-90s category.

But one of the accolades he is most proud of is being the World’s Oldest Bodybuilder, a title he received from the Guinness World Records. 

To fuel his rigorous exercise routine, Mr Arrington initially focused on drinking plenty of milk and eating beef to help him gain muscle mass.

However, in later years this has caused inflammation, he said, prompting him to switch to a diet that includes more greens and whole foods.

Mr Arrington said working out has kept him young and healthy, allowing him to care for 84-year-old wife, May, who has dementia.

The couple has been married for more than 40 years and he credits his fitness with being able to do more to help her around the house — and drive her to appointments. 

The pair share four children and nine great-grandchildren.

Mr. Arrington says he is revealing his story to encourage others, particularly older adults, to start weight lifting again.

He said: ‘My purpose and my goal is to encourage others to do weight lifting.’

It might have a population of only 50 people, but Adrian Bennett made his dream come true by moving from Bradford, England, to the tiny dusty town of Silverton in the NSW outback.

The reason Adrian moved his wife and three children to the other side of the world to a rural village on the NSW/SA border? Because he is a Mad Max super fan, and he wanted to build a museum in the rural area where the second movie, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, was filmed.

The English family moved to the country in 2006, and while it was always their intention to open the museum, Silverton became their home four years later when the Mad Max 2 Museum was finally erected.

Despite having such a small population, the town has a stretch of road with several galleries on it, including The John Dynon Gallery, and of course, Adrian and Linda’s Mad Max museum.

The small wacky building is instantly recognisable as a museum dedicated to George Miller’s post-apocalyptic movie.

It is a must-see for any film buffs, as it is filled with a large collection of photographs from the movie, character costumes, and an impressive collection of original and replica vehicles from the flick – including two interceptors.

While speaking to Adrian, it is clear that he is obsessed with the movie franchise, and building and running the museum was a dream come true for him.

‘Some people think I’m joking when I talk about how much I love the movie,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.

Adrian first saw the action movie when it was released in cinemas in the UK when he was 18-years-old.

His wife, Linda, said she wasn’t one bit surprised when he came up with the plan to relocate to Australia and start the museum.

‘The first thing he said to me when we met was, “Have you seen a movie called Mad Max?”‘ she said.

‘So when we had been together forever I wasn’t surprised [he wanted to move to Australia].

‘And I always thought it would be nice to come out here, he was always planning it in his head.’

Despite their clear passion, the couple said many people thought they were mad to start a business in a town that has a population of just 50 people.

‘There are two comments I remember from certain people and one was, “You’re a bit of a financial genius aren’t you, starting a museum in a town with a population of 50 people?”‘ Linda said.

‘And I said, “Financial genius? Yes, this town gets hundreds of thousands of tourists.”‘

Adrian said that on top of the town being popular for tourists, Australia needed to have a dedicated Mad Max museum.

‘They needed this museum, it didn’t make sense not to have something like this,’ he added.

‘When we moved in 50 people were living here but I said yes, the financial genius gets 160,000 tourists coming through [the town every year].

‘If I got a dollar off every 160,000 people coming through I’d be doing alright wouldn’t I?’

While it costs $7 to enter the museum, there is also an abundance of merchandise on sale.

However, the couple said despite their success, it has never been about the money for them.

They’ve just always wanted to live comfortably while living their dream of owning a Mad Max museum in the outback.

‘We have never been driven by cash, we just want to live comfortably, for me I’m living the dream anyway,’ Adrian said.

Linda added: ‘It was built from a passion and if this door shuts tomorrow because no one was coming in we still wouldn’t sell up.’

Their hopes of survival had looked slim after the traumatic start to their lives. But the orphaned baby elephants thrived and grew up strong thanks to their rescuer’s incredible love, care and attention.

So when the day came for Roxy Danckwerts to say goodbye to Bumi, Moyo and five others she has rehabilitated and raised at her elephant nursery, it was a bittersweet moment.

There were poignant final cuddles and pats on the trunk as she fought back tears before they set off to their new home 700 miles away.

At the same time, she knew it meant the elephants were finally taking one step closer to her dream of seeing them return to a life in the wild.

Miss Danckwerts accompanied them every inch of the way as they were transported from the nursery run by her charity Wild Is Life (WIL) in Harare, Zimbabwe, to a reserve on the southern African country’s western border.

It is a haven where they can learn to live independently, integrate with and eventually join established wild herds migrating through the area.

As these stunning photographs show, however, getting seven elephants — weighing a combined total of ten tons — there required a truly mammoth operation.

First, they had to be sedated by tranquilizer darts, then specialist teams monitored their breathing and heart rate before they were fitted with straps so they could be hoisted by their feet and lifted while hanging upside down — which experts agree is the simplest, easiest and quickest way — on to a flatbed truck by a crane.

Each was then driven on the truck to a ‘wake-up box’ where their sedation was reversed and they stood up, before being ushered into cages inside the 30-ton lorry which took them on the 17-hour journey to the Panda Masuie Forest Reserve, which is supported by International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Bumi, a male aged three, was rescued when he was a month old in 2019. He had somehow got stuck among rocks and suffered severe sunburn in the searing heat. The Mail reported on his recovery at the time.

After arriving at his new home on the 85,000-acre reserve, Bumi is pictured below enjoying a refreshing drink of water, flanked by Unity, who arrived at the nursery in 2017 after her mother stopped producing milk due to a drought, and Sienna, rescued last year after being spotted alone aged 15 months and suffering from malnutrition.

Moyo, a female now aged nine, was the first elephant rescued by WIL. She was days old and only knee-high when she was found stranded in water in 2014 during heavy rains. It was suspected she had been washed away while trying to cross a river.

It is not known what happened to the orphans’ mothers. Elephant calves can end up alone due to poaching, getting separated from herds or predator attacks, as well as life-threatening accidents, the IFAW says.

All the elephants that come to her nursery have a special place in Miss Danckwerts’s heart.

But she and Moyo formed a very special bond.

Moyo began to regard her as her mother — and also grew up to be a comfort to the other orphans which arrived at the nursery after her, taking them under her trunk and helping them to recover from their own traumas.

Miss Danckwerts, 56, hopes the closeness between her former charges will help them settle into their new home and adapt to life away from her and her team.

As they set off for the reserve, she said: ‘It’s a really bittersweet moment. I’m so glad they’re returning to a proper life in the wild.

‘But I’ll miss them all. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster. They’ve come full circle. I’m proud, happy and sad.’

Miss Danckwerts has rescued dozens of baby elephants since she founded her nursery, the first of its kind in Zimbabwe.

This is the third group to be transported by IFAW and WIL to the release facility. Dedicated Miss Danckwerts’s work will now continue as more orphans arrive at her nursery.

Doubtless, there will be many more magical moments to come which neither she — nor, of course, the elephants — will ever forget. 

To support Wild Is Life-Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery and IFAW, visit wildislife.org and ifaw.org.

Meet the ‘alien life here on Earth’: Scientists discover 12 new species of sea sponge resembling extraterrestrials, unicorns and a POLAR BEAR

• Experts have discovered 12 new species of sea sponge off Monterey, California
• They have been named after a polar bear, a unicorn and one scientist’s partner 

By Sam Tonkin For Mailonline

Updated: 13:33 EDT, 28 July 2023