Eze Paul Chidiebere

The growing wellness trend in Dubai

2019-01-01T03:16:00.000+01:00

Dubai is set to become the home of world’s largest wellness development, but why?

Part of Dubai Healthcare City in the Al Jadaf area, the new Wellness Village, operated by WorldCare, will offer environmentally friendly living spaces alongside a Wellness Centre focusing on the prevention and management of diseases.

Living spaces will include a personalised spa and exercise facilities, while the medical services are aiming to tap into a global trend of “preventative healthcare, taking into account local and regional healthcare demands and demographic changes.”

“The concept of wellness spans more than just physical health. It includes mental and spiritual health, and incorporates more areas than traditional medicine, with a focus on holistic health.”

Beth McGroarty, Research Director at the Global Wellness Institute (GWI)

Proactive on prevention

Beth McGroarty, Research Director at the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), says a key element of wellness is that it “involves personal responsibility and proactive choice, rather than waiting for sickness and reacting with procedures and pills.”

“The concept of wellness also spans more than just physical health. It includes mental and spiritual health, and incorporates more areas than traditional medicine, with a focus on holistic health,” she continues.

Greater use of such holistic health and prevention ideas – including by traditional medical providers – has been driven by the high growth in chronic conditions globally, such as diabetes and heart disease, says McGroarty. Mental wellbeing is also a growing focus for wellness provision, as rates of depression and anxiety have increased, she adds.

While wellness is often associated with alternative approaches that may lack evidence to support their effectiveness, holistic health and prevention are concepts increasingly used by conventional medical providers.

Rapid adoption

The GWI’s latest Global Wellness Economy report shows that the 21% wellness tourism growth in the Middle East and North Africa has been focused in the UAE. During 2015, tourists made 1.7 million trips to the UAE, spending US$2.7bn.

Beth McGroarty says that a growing middle-class has led to a greater global interest in fitness, healthy food and stress reduction. Workplace wellness activity is also growing, with more programmes to help workers stay healthy at work internationally.

As wellness has gone global, McGroarty says there has been a shift towards “indigenous practices.”

“If you are in a place, you want to explore those local health traditions, such as spa experiences or the local food,” she says.

In 2014, the Dubai Health Authority launched its Dubai Medical tourism strategy, seeking to create leading elective health and wellness treatments through investment in and improvements to the quality of services.

A key part of this strategy, the Dubai Healthcare City is made up of two phases; phase one is dedicated to healthcare and medical education and phase two – where the new Wellness Village will be located – occupies 22 million square feet and is focused on wellness services.

The wellness centre at the heart of the village will provide diagnosis and treatment plans, and a range of patient programmes “built around patient education and lifestyle change.” It is expected the project will be operational by 2020.

5G: High-speed into the future

2018-12-31T15:37:00.000+01:00

5G is set to revolutionize mobile connectivity. It's ten times faster than 4G. The new network is expected to support up to a million connections per square kilometer. Is it really as big as it seems? We take a closer look.

How expats access local healthcare

2018-12-31T03:10:00.000+01:00

When arranging expat healthcare, understanding the impact of local regulations for you and your family will prove vital for both peace of mind and your bank balance.

While international health insurance is the cornerstone of any expat cover, it is chiefly designed for acute conditions or emergencies, sitting alongside any state-funded or private healthcare provision that you have in place for your day-to-day needs.

Working cover

If you’re heading into a job, your new employer may offer to arrange some form of private healthcare. This would typically comprise a list of medical facilities and specialists available to you for particular services – with details of any charges you will be expected to meet.

‘Having healthcare in place (either through an international or local provider) is often a pre-requisite for any non-working expats looking to head abroad.’

Dubai has now followed Abu Dhabi, and has made healthcare compulsory for expats working for any Dubai-registered company. The most basic standard of cover is the Essential Benefits Plan (EBP). From 2017, all government hospitals will be required to accept health insurance cards from expats.

This obligation does not extend to a worker’s dependants, so it is important to check in advance if your employer intends to offer insurance for any family members. If not, the onus would be on you to make sure they are covered.

Resident plans

Having healthcare in place (either through an international or local provider) is often a pre-requisite for any non-working expats looking to head abroad.

European citizens, however, do have the option of an S1 form – the habitual residency version of the temporary European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). The S1 can be used by some pensioners, posted workers and their dependants.

It is important to note that an S1 form is not intended to replace international health insurance, but offer cardholders and their families the same right to everyday services as ordinary citizens – either for free or on a co-pay basis.

Public vs private

In Thailand, expats may enter the public system by paying 5% of their monthly salary into the social security system. This entitles them to free consultations and medicines, but is limited to certain hospitals and doctors – as well as generic medications. With excellent healthcare on offer at an affordable price, most expats tend to opt for private care.

This also holds true in Hong Kong – a city renowned for the quality of its public healthcare treatment. However, due to long waiting periods and restrictions on treatment centres, many residents pay for consultations instead.

Co-payments for healthcare

In most countries, some level of fee is charged for state-funded healthcare, known as cost sharing or co-paying. Private insurance is often held to cover these costs. Such contributions to state-funded healthcare may be shared through matched contributions from employees and employers.

Pre-existing conditions

While access to excellent healthcare facilities means that there is little to prevent people heading abroad these days, if you are a regular user of medication you will need to research whether your current prescription (or an acceptable alternative) will be available to you.

The UAE is a key example of this, with some prescription and over-the-counter medicines prohibited. If your medication features on the Ministry of Health & Prevention’s controlled list(which is updated monthly), you will need to gain permission before bringing it into the UAE. You can request specific rules pertaining to your prescription by contacting the email address drugreg.csc@moh.gov.ae.

Healthcare checklist

Research how healthcare works in your chosen country in advance
Look at how your international health insurance ties in with the options available to you
Familiarise yourself with the relevant care clinics/procedures as soon as you arrive
Ask other expats for their advice
Make sure your dependants are covered
Investigate what resources/medication will be available to you in the case of any pre-existing condition
Always double-check pricing before you undertake any appointments

How Asia's startups drive digital change

2018-12-30T15:35:00.000+01:00

Technological and digital advances are bringing disruptive changes that will impact every aspect of our lives. Founders' Valley presents inspiring founders and innovative solutions for a digitized future.

Technological and digital advances are bringing disruptive and transformative changes that will impact every aspect of our lives. Industry, governments and civil society are trying to anticipate how the pace and scale of these developments will change the way our world works, and tackle the challenges ahead.

Startups are among the main drivers of digital transformation. In season two of Founders’ Valley, female entrepreneurs from Germany travel throughout Asia to meet inspiring entrepreneurs and see how their ideas are changing the planet.

Upcoming Episodes:

Thailand – In Data we trust

South Korea – Driven to Succeed

Philippines – The Dream of New Money

Indonesia – Women Breaking Bounds

India – Digital chances: social inclusion

Airlifted from Mauritius

2018-12-30T03:07:00.000+01:00

In April 2016, an expat family in Mauritius faced every parent’s worst nightmare when a bad headache soon proved to be a lot more sinister for their daughter.

Jamie Copsey and his wife Olivia live on Mauritius with their children Patrick, Matilda (Tilly) and Ferguson.

The family moved to the small island in the Indian Ocean four years ago as part of Jamie’s work as Head of Learning & Development at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Jamie, whose role involves a great deal of travel, runs training programmes for conservation biologists.

In April 2016, they faced every parent’s worst nightmare when a bad headache soon proved to be a lot more sinister for their daughter, Tilly.

After tests were conducted at their local hospital, the family were told that the 10-year-old was suffering from viral meningitis. She was treated accordingly and sent home to recover.

However, a couple of days after leaving hospital, Tilly was re-admitted with excruciating pains in her legs – which soon affected her ability to walk. While more tests were carried out, doctors in Mauritius were unable to find anything wrong. The doctors began to question her symptoms and after another week in hospital she was discharged.

“As Tilly was still paralysed and in extreme pain, we knew we needed outside help – but given our location, we really had no idea what to do for the best. Fortunately, we received a call from the medical team at William Russell the next day. They had requested Tilly’s notes and tests as soon as she had been admitted to hospital, and having seen the results of her lumbar puncture their doctors had decided they were not happy with one of the MRI scans.

“They told us that a plane was being arranged to airlift Tilly off the island immediately. Within 12 hours she was being taken by ambulance to the airport and then on to South Africa.”

Once in Johannesburg, Matilda was admitted to paediatric ICU and her pain was managed with morphine while the doctors tried to agree what was happening to her. Eventually, one doctor diagnosed her with a rare condition that he had seen before: ADEM, or acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.

This disease, which is sparked by inflammation in the spinal chord or brain, prompts an auto-immune response that attacks the nerve endings. During the four-six weeks that Tilly was in hospital in South Africa, she underwent extensive physiotherapy in an attempt to get her walking again.

Jamie explains: “It’s been a long road – because initially, it was intensely painful for Tilly to put any pressure on her legs. However, eventually she was well enough to continue her physio at home in Mauritius.”

Around six months after falling ill, Tilly is now pain-free and has returned to school.

“It’s hard to describe how grateful we are to the doctors at William Russell – and obviously, my employer Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust for arranging such excellent medical cover. Having your child fall ill is bad enough, but when the doctors are unable to agree a diagnosis the whole thing becomes doubly stressful.

“What really stands out for me is the way William Russell’s doctors reviewed Tilly’s case so thoroughly – stepping in before we even got a chance to ask them to. I also found that whenever we received or made a call to our two allocated contacts, they were always there and fully up-to-speed on the latest developments. When you’re experiencing the type of stress our family was under, not having to go over old ground every time you call makes a huge difference.

“Before this happened I hadn’t realised how vulnerable you feel being overseas. It would have been very difficult, not to mention expensive, for us to get the help Tilly needed without private medical cover – and having the support of experts there working for you is amazing.”

Spectacular Cable Car Ride

2018-12-29T15:31:00.000+01:00

Mountain lovers can now travel from Zermatt to Klein Matterhorn in a hyper-modern cable car. The "Matterhorn Glacier Ride" in Switzerland is the world's highest cableway, and a feat of construction.

My Hong Kong childbirth experience

2018-12-29T03:05:00.000+01:00

Preparing for childbirth and going through labour can be stressful at the best of times. Add in unfamiliar surroundings and processes, while being far from friends and family, and the expat maternity experience is potentially even more challenging.

Kate Robertson, who is a clinical psychologist living in Hong Kong, knows exactly how different things can be when planning a birth in another country. Back in 2013, Kate was living and working in London with her husband Duncan and their first child Elsie.

By March of 2014, however, she had swapped London’s more familiar skyline for the harbourside views of the Mid-Level area near Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak. “We moved here because Duncan was offered a new job as Portfolio Manager for an asset management company,” she explains.

“We thought it would be a good cultural experience but we mostly moved for the job opportunity. I was initially less keen on the move given we had a young baby, but I’m glad I was persuaded as we love it out here.”

In early 2015, Kate was happy to discover she was again pregnant. Determined to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible, Kate took time to do her research and explore the available options under her health insurance plan.

One of the first and most important things Kate and Duncan did when they found out she was pregnant was choose their doctor, something that required a bit of homework. Finding the right doctor is particularly important in Hong Kong, as this is the person who will be with you throughout your prenatal care and birth experience.

“Here there’s definitely more choice,” she says, “so I did some Googling and found a good forum called Hong Kong Moms, where a lot of people go for advice. The hospital where I had my birth was very well known and other mothers told me that I would have a great experience.”

“One of the first things I noticed was how much quieter the hospital was than my previous birth in London. It was more of a one-to-one set-up and there was an anaesthetist available so if I wanted an epidural I could have one. At no point did I feel that I wanted to be back in the UK while I was going through labour.”

Lowri – Kate’s youngest child and her first to be born abroad – was safely delivered at Hong Kong’s Matilda International hospital and is now just over a year old. Kate says, “The quality of care was very high and the period immediately after the birth was great as I got to spend three days in hospital. There was a nursery so the midwives would come every three hours and take the baby away so you could rest and then they would bring your child back for breastfeeding. The food was also amazing and there was an incredible view from my room over the ocean.”

Post-natal care in Hong Kong, however, is less well defined. Kate highlights the lack of formal care after you have given birth, saying, “In Hong Kong you don’t get anything post-birth unless you pay for it, unlike in the UK where a health visitor will come and see you and you’ll be expected to regularly visit your doctor. Lowri probably had fewer health visits after she was born, but she was also my second child so there was less anxiety in general.”

Kate’s eldest child Elsie, who is now three and a half, was delivered in London through the National Health Service (NHS) in 2013, about a year before she moved overseas. Kate makes it clear that “while the hospital staff in the UK were good, their sheer workload meant I was unable to have an epidural. A childbirth without much in the way of pain relief wasn’t great,” she adds.

Other people that she’s spoken to have had mixed maternity experiences in Hong Kong, explains Kate, saying, “It can depend on if you have health insurance or not. The local hospitals are decent, and people who don’t have health cover have had fine experiences, but it was more of a local system where you’re not really allowed to have your partner in the room with you.”

Kate concludes, “If I was talking to someone who was going to have a baby while in Hong Kong, I would say that it is great to have insurance as the total value of our package was the equivalent of £14,000 of care, which is a lot of money. I would definitely say that if you can afford it then health insurance is the way to go.”

Protecting Your Digital Identity

2018-12-28T15:24:00.000+01:00

To access many online services, users have to log in to confirm that they really are who they claim to be. But they have little control over how the data they’ve entered is used. A start-up offers a safe alternative.

Five tips for driving safely in Thailand

2018-12-28T03:02:00.000+01:00

Thailand’s roads have the second-highest fatality rates in the world, according to road accident statistics in a 2015 World Health Organization report.

In a country of about 68 million people, there were more than 14,000 reported fatalities in road traffic accidents in 2012 alone. Of these, 73 per cent were users of two- or three-wheeled vehicles and only 13 per cent (combining drivers and passengers) were travelling in cars.

This is particularly chilling for foreigner visitors, who tend to rent scooters and motorbikes more frequently than cars. The rental industry in Thailand makes it easy for foreigners to rent two-wheeled vehicles without proper licences. And while traffic safety laws technically exist in Thailand, they are not frequently enforced.

This has led to the normalisation of risky behaviour among locals, such as drinking and driving, using phones while driving, speeding and weaving through traffic.

But is it still safe to travel in Thailand? While the above behaviour diminishes the safety of the roads in general, you can be assured that there are things responsible drivers can do to prevent collisions and stay safe.

Know the risky habits of local drivers

Thailand roadway traffic can move at quite a fast speed, and the prevalence of scooters and motorbikes increases the number of moving factors to watch out for. You’ll find that scooter and motorcycle drivers will pass on both sides, and employ unconventional ways of moving through traffic, such as using the pavement for short periods. And, although there is a law against using mobile phones while driving, many people both text and talk on the phone, even when driving motorbikes.

Being aware of these risky habits can go a long way in preventing collisions. Always be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to drivers using their phones, who may drift lanes or drive slower than the speed of traffic, while being less likely to use their turn signals.

Understand Thailand’s highway code

To drive legally in Thailand, you must carry either a Thai driving licence or valid international driving licence for the class of vehicle you wish to operate. Seatbelt laws only apply to the driver and front seat car passengers. All scooter and motorbike drivers are required to wear helmets, though many on the road don’t. The blood-alcohol concentration limit is 50mg per 100ml of blood, compared with the UK and US where it is 80mg per 100ml of blood. Be safe and always wear a helmet, rely on public transport when drinking alcohol and buckle up despite the lax laws.

Know the basics

Thailand is like Britain, where people drive on the left side of the road. But if you’re from one of the majority of other countries in the world that drive on the right, you’ll have to adapt. This is especially relevant when making turns, so you don’t find yourself turning into oncoming traffic.

Map out your route

Each day, take the time to understand the routes you will take. Don’t let one-way and tricky branch roads surprise you on the road when you have little time to react.

Don’t rush and keep left

While Thai drivers love to zip around, they will not honk or pressure slower drivers to speed up as long as slow drivers keep left and allow traffic to move around them. Use this to your advantage to drive carefully and confidently, giving yourself enough time to anticipate turns, changes in road conditions and the actions of other drivers.

A device gives the voiceless a voice

2018-12-27T15:23:00.000+01:00

British programmer Hadeel Ayoub and her BrightSign start-up have developed a glove that can translate sign language to spoken language. Sensors convert hand gestures into sound and text.

A guide to water and health – in graphics

2018-12-27T02:58:00.000+01:00

Of the countless challenges we face each day, it’s easy to take drinking enough water for granted. What are the health benefits of drinking the right amount of water?

If drinking water is always to hand, we can simply have some when we feel thirsty. However, it isn’t always this easy.

Two-thirds of Americans don’t drink enough water. Meanwhile, 1 in 5 GP consultations in the UK are down to tiredness and fatigue. These can be symptoms of dehydration, which drinking enough could help alleviate.

How much water do I need?

For a healthy intake of water, the British Nutrition Foundation recommends 1.6L for women per day. For men, it’s 2L of water per day, which is 730 litres per year – more than nine baths! This recommended intake should be increased if you are engaged in strenuous activity.

Why do I need to drink this much water?

Water makes up to 60% of an adult’s and 75% of an infant’s bodyweight and performs crucial roles in the maintenance of our bodies.

Dehydration can affect mental performance and have a negative affect at work, as well as when you get home.

The percentage of water that makes up many organs and body parts is very high. The brain and heart are 73% water, lungs 83% and muscles 79%.

Is dehydration a risk for expats?

Yes – moving to a country with a very hot climate, such as the UAE, brings its own health risks, especially if you are originally from a colder country.

It’s very important to be aware of water loss from your body in a hot climate, particularly if you plan on doing exercise outdoors, as the result can be potentially very serious.

You could end up with heat exhaustion, or in more serious circumstances, heatstroke. This is where the body can longer cool itself and your temperature becomes dangerously high.

Heatstroke can put a dangerous amount of strain on the brain, heart, kidneys, liver and lungs.

How do I know if I am dehydrated?

Symptoms include:

Constipation
Dark yellow or brown urine
Dry, sticky mouth
Few or no tears when crying
Headache
Increased thirst
Muscle tiredness
Sleepiness or tiredness
Children may be less active than usual.

Tips to stay hydrated

1.Try to drink your recommended amount of fluids for you throughout the day.

As well as water, this includes hot drinks, such as tea and coffee, and other cold drinks, such as juice.

However, care should be taken around sugar and caffeine intake with other drinks. Caffeinated hot drinks do not affect hydration, but excessive caffeine intake can affect health. Pregnant women should limit their intake of caffeine, and caffeinated drinks are not suitable for children. Fruit juice, and other sweet drinks, can contain high or very high levels of sugar. As such, there are other health considerations when drinking high-sugar drinks.

2. Include water-heavy foods in your diet wherever possible.

3. Monitor your urine.

While there are gadgets available to test urine for dehydration, it is easy to gauge how hydrated you are by the colour of the urine you pass. The ideal urine colour is a pale yellow, which is an indication that you are well hydrated. If your urine is darker yellow then it’s a sign of dehydration.

An app that saves lives

2018-12-26T15:20:00.000+01:00

This app helps smartphone users deal with emergency situations. Users trigger the national emergency call system with the help-button. First responders in the area are alerted and guided to the scene of the emergency.

How To Ask Websites For Backlinks, And Make Them Say Yes

2018-12-26T14:34:00.000+01:00

When I started my full-time job at an SEO agency, my perception about “good” backlink building changed pretty quickly. Up to that point, I had only known things like article marketing, web 2.0’s, commenting, social bookmarking, and all the other forms of “spam building.”

A few years ago, they worked to a certain degree for low competition niches, but in today’s SEO landscape they do more harm than good – no matter the competition.

When I started building backlinks for high profile, big revenue clients, link building was done in a very different way. It was done through outreach.

And when I saw how effective the method was, I started applying it to my own blogs. Today, it’s one of the main ways I build backlinks to my authority sites.

Although there are many different forms and variations to outreach link building, I’m going to show you the simplest way that you can start doing today.

First, let’s go through what a GOOD link is…

In it’s simplest description, a good link is:

On a REAL website.
Difficult to get.
Unscalable.

A backlink profile with backlinks that consistently meet these standards of quality is worth a lot of money. It’s sustainable, it’s difficult for competitors to replicate, and it’s POWERFUL.

Think of the link building that you are currently doing, or have done before to your blogs. Do the links you build fit that description?

It’s kind of disappointing to see that most link building methods discussed amongst new internet marketers are still:

Built on weak, irrelevant web properties.
As easy to get as ordering a link package.
Extremely scalable, and can be automated with software.

These types of links, even if they might boost your rankings for a while, are short-term ranking links. They’re weak, they’re easily replicated by competitors, and because they’re scalable they have patterns that Google’s spam algorithms are able to detect and penalize.

The value of knowing how to outreach for links

Knowing how to outreach for links is an extremely valuable skill in the SEO industry. It is one of the main ways how link building is done at the top SEO agencies around the world.

If you ever apply for a job at a reputable SEO agency, knowing how to outreach effectively will stand you out from the crowd of applicants who only talk about commenting, software, link packages, and private blog networks when asked about building links.

Believe me, I’ve been on the other side of the table. While I wasn’t the one doing the decision making, I was able to participate during the interviews when we needed to hire a new SEO strategist… and everyone had no clue when it came to link building.

Of course, when doing outreach at an agency there are a lot of steps involved. Everything from using multiple different paid tools to finding link prospects, gathering the data into spreadsheets, and reaching out to them in an organized fashion.

But it’s not totally necessary to get that intense with the method for just link building to our blogs. I’m going to show you the basic way of the method, which is just asking and receiving.

How to ask and receive successfully

The most basic form of outreach is simply to ask for a backlink. You’re basically just emailing other webmasters and asking them to link to you — offering nothing in return (i.e. a guest post).

There are some subtle steps that make a world of difference in your success rate.

Here’s the (wrong) way that most people think of outreach.

Let’s pretend that I’m in the SEO niche.

Hello,

My name is Chris and I run the website over at www.madeupwebsite.com. I am contacting you today to ask you for a link to my website.

I have some great tips on SEO and social media marketing, and I think it would be the perfect fit for your readers.

Would you please take a look at my website and link to it?

Please link to www.madeupwebsite.com using the anchor text, “best made up website”.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Regards,
Chris

Would you reply to something like that? Would you make an effort to even check out their site and then link to it?

Neither would I.

I’m surprised that a lot of big blogs are still recommending emails like this for outreaching, when they’re SO INEFFECTIVE.

As a result, the general consensus on outreach is pretty negative. Most internet marketers think outreach is about spamming emails to webmasters… and it would be if you sent out emails like that.

It’s also not effective at all. You’ll get such a low response rate, it’s not even worth doing outreach if you do it like that.

Instead, here’s the right way to do it.

For your outreaching to be successful, you have to build at least a small form of connection to the webmaster you’re contacting.

Get personal, and never ask for anything in the first email.

Hey John!

Just read your article about the top 20 ways you can use Twitter to get links naturally. Great stuff, I had no idea Twitter was such a powerful tool for link building.

BTW, what do you think about Facebook? I’ve tried some similar things with Facebook and saw some good results, but not as great as I would like. Would love to get your thoughts on it.

Anyways, just wanted to reach out and say hello. Keep up the great work!

Regards,
Chris

I didn’t ask him to link to my site. I didn’t even tell him I have a website.

All I did was praise his work, and use a question to encourage a reply. Not many people ignore emails that say good things about their work and ask for their expert opinion on a related topic.

When they respond, I usually like to go in for the ask.

Here’s what that email would look like.

John,

Great points. Thanks a lot for the suggestions (responding to his answer to my question in the first email). I’ll be sure to try them out.

I actually just stumbled upon your site a few days, but now I’m a major fan and just spent the last few hours binge reading everything on your site, haha.

I also write about backlinking and social media strategies on my own blog, and recently wrote up an ultimate guide to Facebook marketing, www.madeupwebsite.com/facebook-strategies.

I spent a lot of time on it and I would love if you could check it out and give your thoughts on it? If you decided to share it with your own audience, that would be even more amazing 🙂 I really want to get this out there and help as many people as possible to see what Facebook can do for their businesses.

Anyways, thanks, John!
I appreciate the help and feedback.

Regards,
Chris

The second email is when I usually go in for the ask. But notice how I don’t ask for a link at all. I ask for a share.

We’re in a world today where “sharing” is a common word and action. It’s part of our daily lives. And sharing is connected with “interesting” and “helpful.”

Asking for a share gets a lot higher success rate than asking for a link.

People know why you want a link these days. More people are aware of SEO, and you don’t want negative connotations on why you’re asking for a link from their site.

Instead, I ask for a share in a very non-aggressive way. All I do is ask him to take a look at it, and that if he decided to share it I would be thrilled. But notice my wording.

Every sentence is written with a purpose.

I also note that I want a share to HELP people. I make it clear that I want to reach as many people as possible in hopes that it will be of help to them. I’m not just looking for free traffic off their audience or a free link on their site.

Benefits of sharing

When you ask for a share, 60% of the time, they’ll also link to it on their blog. Sometimes you get both, sometimes you get only a share, and sometimes you get only a link.

Let them decide how they want to share it… “Hey can you share this on your Twitter account, and if not your Facebook page?… Of course, a link on your site would be the best :)” –> That just sounds weird.

If you only get a share and no link, it’s still a fantastic result. You get a sudden surge of traffic from the exact audience that you want reading your stuff. Also, it puts you on their radar so if they decided to link to a post in the future, it’s more likely to be yours.

Conclusion

Just taking a small extra step to create some personalization to your outreach strategy, you can vastly improve the rate at which you are able to acquire links through the method.

Does it take more time than methods like building web 2.0 properties and commenting? For sure. But is it worth the time and effort to go through the process for a single link or share? Absolutely.

The backlinks you get through outreach are going to be ones that actually make an impact in your rankings. It’s going to help establish your site’s authority. Best of all, they’re going to be long-term, powerful links that can’t be easily replicated by your competitors.

Although the method here is really basic, it’s still an effective strategy that works. If you take the time to network with others, you’ll find that outreach link building is fun, effective, and definitely worth the effort.

Surviving food poisoning

2018-12-26T02:54:00.000+01:00

Food poisoning affects millions of people every year and can strike when least expected. But with some basic hygiene tips and local knowledge, it should be largely avoidable.

How to prevent food poisoning

The causes can vary and food poisoning symptoms can be very unpleasant. However, basic food safety tips should make a big difference, such as washing your hands before eating and checking your cutlery is clean.

So whether you’re opting for a roadside hut or a five-star restaurant, find somewhere that looks busy and order your food wisely.

A high heat will kill most, but not all, germs. So if you’re worried, opt for a well-done steak instead of sushi or oysters.

High-risk foods include raw items such as salad leaves or raw vegetables. In Dubai, most restaurants serve a plate of raw vegetables and leafy greens before any meal, so if you want to be extra cautious, check that they’ve been washed with bottled water before eating.

If you’re looking for something different, such as Thai street food, choose a popular vendor because the turnover of food will be faster. Rice is one of the most prolific causes of food poisoning, so make sure any rice you eat is cooked thoroughly and hasn’t been left sitting at room temperature, or reheated.

If you’re planning a brunch at a restaurant or hotel, you might want to ask how regularly the food is replaced. Even well-cooked food that’s served piping hot can become contaminated if it’s left sitting at room temperature.

Bacteria thrives in hotter climates so it’s important to keep cold foods refrigerated until they’re ready to be eaten, and keep them away from hot dishes. Be especially careful to avoid any hot/cold or raw/cooked contamination in barbecue season, particularly with your meat dishes.

How to drink safely

Liquids can also be one of the causes of food poisoning. When you’re living or travelling somewhere with a questionable water supply, it’s best to stick to bottled, filtered or boiled water. Government websites will give you general advice, but it also depends on the local plumbing system.

In Hong Kong and Dubai the water is considered safe to drink, but only if you’re confident the pipes and tank are cleaned regularly. The tap water in Thailand is not deemed safe.

It’s worth checking whether the ice is from tap or bottled water when you’re ordering a drink, and making sure the seal is intact when buying bottled drinks from street vendors. If you’ve decided the vegetables and salad are safe to consume but the water isn’t, check what water the foods have been washed in.

Recognising food poisoning symptoms

Depending on the organism, you might feel unwell within a matter of hours, or it might take a few days. Travellers’ diarrhoea, vomiting, cramping and fever are all common.

How long does food poisoning last?

It can last up to several days.

Treatment for food poisoning

Stock up on rehydration salts because it’s important to stay hydrated, especially if you experience watery diarrhoea and vomiting. Paracetamol or ibuprofen can ease fevers, aches and pains. However, if taking other medication then always check with your doctor first.

What to eat after food poisoning

Plain foods such as mashed potatoes, bananas, white bread and crackers are good options for when you feel able to eat again.

What if it doesn’t go away?

Rest and rehydration should be enough to see you through a bout of food poisoning, but sometimes medical help is needed. You should see a doctor if your symptoms don’t improve after three days, you can’t retain fluids, or you experience bloody diarrhoea.

A device gives the voiceless a voice

2018-12-25T15:18:00.000+01:00

British programmer Hadeel Ayoub and her BrightSign start-up have developed a glove that can translate sign language to spoken language. Sensors convert hand gestures into sound and text.

How To Do Niche Research For Blogs That Generate 5 Figures Per Month

2018-12-25T14:27:00.000+01:00

How do you begin your niche research for new blogs? What do you use as the determining factors of whether to tackle a niche or not?

For most people, the first step is to open up a keyword tool and start looking up search terms. They’ll probably start with some bigger search volume keywords first, and check the competition for them. After looking at a few metrics, they’ll usually decide to move on to a more long-tailed keyword with fewer searches, but weaker competition.

But the process is fundamentally flawed and here’s why.

When I first started out building blogs, everybody’s been preaching the same thing: find the long-tail keywords with no competition. And it worked well. I was finding uncompetitive niches with barely any competition, ranking my own sites, and profiting. Then Panda and Penguin came around and changed the entire landscape of how blogs should be built.

The thing is, while our backlinking strategies have evolved (for most people) to adopt to these changes, our niche analysis strategies have not changed at all.

Whatever search you look up today will bring back results full of really strong competitors on the first page.

You rarely see micro blogs with a bunch of weak links on the first page anymore. Yet, still people are still teaching the same niche research strategy as if nothing has changed. Since we were trained to avoid competition, that leaves almost every high search volume keyword off the table.

All that we’re left with are baby keywords, getting under 1000 searches a month. And that’s not the proper criteria for building a dominating blog that has the potential to bring in thousands per month in revenue.

If your looking to build out highly profitable blogs generating 4 to 5 figures per month in revenue, you have to first change your criteria for niche selection.

Moving towards the authority model

You’re probably familiar with the term, authority blog. But what does it mean in terms of niche and competition analysis?

Basically, it means realizing that authority websites don’t rely on a few keywords to determine their success, and then adjusting your niche analysis strategy to suit.

Learn how to build your first blog.

There are various definitions for what an authority model is, and everyone has their own idea of how an authority blog should be built. For me, it literally means becoming an authority in the niche.

If my niche is blue widgets, I’m looking to be the central resource for everything about blue widgets.

This mindset changes our niche analysis strategy completely (at least in the beginning). No longer are we contemplating whether to tackle a niche based on competition of a few keywords. It becomes a decision based on popularity. Fortunately, competition is a pretty clear indicator that a keyword is a popular topic, and a popular search that your target audience is interested in.

So how should you be starting your competition analysis?

For me, it no longer becomes about backlink profiles of the competition and metrics based around them.

I still start by using the keyword research tool, but high competition for 1 or 2 main keywords is not the deciding factor in whether I enter the niche or not. What I’m more interested in is the growth potential within the niche.

What kind of traffic numbers are possible with organic search when we eventually become an authority in this niche? That’s what I’m trying to figure out.

authority blogs are designed for the long-tail. In the long-run it’s not unusual for large authority blogs to have over 90% of their search traffic come from long-tail keywords, even if they’re ranking for big volume keywords.

So, the first thing I do is look up is the first page on Google for its biggest keywords that I want to target.

What I’m looking for are in the results are sites directly built around the niche.

So if you see things like Wikipedia, eHow, Forbes, etc… that’s not what I’m looking for here. If my keyword was about dog training, I’m looking for websites that are built specifically around the dog training niche.

Why? Because it’s most related to the site that I’m going to build. Sites like Wikipedia, eHow, Wikihow, etc. target everything. They’re too general.

Check traffic volumes to that entire site

If it’s on the first page for a high search volume keyword, chances are they’re ranking well for a lot of other terms as well and bringing in a lot of long-tail traffic.

So the first thing I want to do is get an idea of how much TOTAL traffic is going to such a website, and how much of that is from organic search.

Let’s run it through SimilarWeb.

With SimilarWeb, you’re able to get a fairly accurate estimate on how much traffic the entire site is getting per month, and from which sources. It’s free to use.

I decided to check out Petfinder.com first.

3.6 million visits per month. Impressive. A lot of their traffic is coming in directly, and from referral sites, so we can assume they’re a popular resource in the niche with a lot of fans.

33.68% of their traffic is coming from search – so roughly a million visitors. That’s a great sign, and what we were hoping to see.

The more the better, since we’re just looking for a rough estimate of how much organic traffic a top site in the niche is getting.

If the top sites in the niche were only pulling in something like 50k visitors per month from search, it may not be worth the effort in growing out an authority blog in the niche (unless I plan to only tackle it as a category).

Let’s look up another site, CesarsWay.com

They also seem like a pretty big authority in the niche. The site covers basically everything you need to know about dog training. A perfect example of what we want to model our own site around.

They’re getting 2.2 million visitors per month, with 79.52% from search. So roughly 1.75 million visitors per month from search.

They could be doing a lot better by working on other traffic sources as well, something to keep in mind for our own site.

Another awesome sign that this is a great niche. Let’s take a look at their biggest keywords.

The main reason for checking this is to make sure that close to 90% of their search traffic isn’t just a brand search where customers search for their site by name.

These sites have insane backlink profiles

CesarsWay is ranking #1 for “dog training” and “dog training tips.”

A quick look at their link profile through Moz shows a very strong link profile.

Those numbers are enough to turn away most people from entering the niche.

Would I still tackle this niche?

The short answer is, yes.

An analysis of some of the other competitors shows some very high competition ahead of us. Of course, there are a lot of other niches where the competition is a lot less severe than this one, so I’m not saying this is the best niche to enter by any means. It’s just as an example.

But this goes back to what I said in the beginning: We’re not looking at competition for a few keywords to determine if we tackle the niche or not.

Sure, “dog training” and “dog training tips” have some seriously strong competitors. But we’re not looking to build our entire site just around those keywords.

Are we still going to target them? Yes. They’re the main, most popular topic of our blog (at least the one in this example). If I decide to build out a site and take on this niche, I’m doing so with the mentality that I’m going to be one of the biggest and best authorities on the subject – and you can’t do that by avoiding keywords just because they’re competitive.

We won’t outrank them anytime soon, but we should be able to pull in a lot more traffic than they are when we do start ranking up there with them.

Look at the content on the first page

This is one of the main things I’m looking for. The sites on the first page are all authority figures in the niche with really strong backlink profiles. But their content sucks.

A lot of the pages are only a few paragraphs long with no real in-depth information.

That gives us an opportunity to build something great that the current leaders aren’t providing.

How would I build out this site?

If I were to build out the site, what I would do is analyze content and keywords for expansion down the line.

When we do build out our site and gain authority, we want to be able to take advantage of that and pump out content through our domain. At that point, our site can rank for various long-tail keywords almost immediately after being published, with no external backlinking needed.

So, we want to make sure our niche isn’t too limited. Is dogs/dog training a big enough niche where we can continuously pump our articles around it and continuously grow our traffic through long-tail?

If not, I would start out the site with a more broader domain name rather than something specific like caninecentral.com (off the top of my head).

Then, I would go one layer broader and maybe plan to go into pet training in general. That way, I can expand to other animals once I build up authority.

I would still target dog training first and build out the site. But I want to leave myself the option to expand into other pets on the same domain.

It becomes a lot easier to rank future competitive keywords on our established domain, so that’s the move I would take.

Conclusion

I’m not saying don’t do any competitor analysis at all. What I wanted to get across to you was that you should base your niche selection based on a bigger picture, and show you a different way of approaching your research.

It still seems a lot of people base their niche selection on keyword analysis for a few main keywords. Most high search volume keywords today are filled with high authority blogs no matter what you search for, so that leaves nothing on the table except for baby terms that bring in no traffic.

Instead, change your mindset of the type of blog you’re going to build out. Don’t think quick rankings for easy keywords. Those will come automatically once you build authority with your site.

Approach it with the mindset that you’re going to become a major player in the niche. Millions of visitors to a website can be a real business. It’s enough traffic to replace most people’s full-time income.

But you can’t get there creating new blogs targeting a few 500 searches per month long-tail keywords. It’s worth taking the time to enter into more competitive niches even if it takes more time and effort to make it to the top.

Consider these things the next time you decide to enter a niche or not. Don’t let competition stray you away from building out a highly profitable blog.

Vaccinations for expat children

2018-12-25T02:49:00.000+01:00

Any parent reserves the right to worry about their child’s health, but when you’re living abroad issues can often seem magnified.

Having a comprehensive plan for those all-important child vaccinations and development checks will afford you valuable peace of mind, and help you understand exactly what you can expect.

First steps

From the moment they’re born, children automatically qualify for a timetable of baby immunisations designed to protect them both now and in the future. However, it’s important to note that, depending where you are in the world, these routine vaccinations will vary.

The reason for this is straightforward. Protection is designed to reflect the challenges of the local environment or the ongoing risk of a particular disease – so if the odds are deemed small in a certain region, your child is unlikely to be offered a vaccine as standard.

Key examples of this include the Meningococcal B vaccine, which joined the UK immunisation schedule in July 2015, and the BCG for tuberculosis – which is administered as close to birth as possible in numerous countries, but is only offered to babies or children thought to be at an increased risk in the UK.

Getting the right advice

So what do you do if a vaccine that you feel strongly about does not appear on your host country’s schedule? If you are going to be travelling to other countries or back to the UK on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to discuss your child’s proposed immunisation plan at an early stage with a medical professional to ensure that it offers the best protection – wherever they happen to be.

For example, in Thailand, additional immunisations for influenza, Pneumococcal, Rotavirus and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) are all available for children – subject to discussion with your paediatrician.

Key questions to ask include:

Would you be able to add certain vaccines to your schedule?
Is a particular treatment recommended?
Is the vaccine available in your host country or would you need to travel back to the UK?
What costs would be involved?
Could your current paediatrician administer the injection?
How would a joint immunisation schedule work in terms of recommended timings and combinations?
Are there any possible complications associated with a particular vaccination?

Getting the timing right

Depending on your location, the number of vaccinations and associated booster shots, as well as recommended ages and intervals, may differ from what you’re used to or expecting – so make sure you understand exactly what’s on the timetable. Always seek advice from a qualified professional before undertaking any immunisation programme or resuming one already in progress.

Development checks

While numerous tests will be conducted at birth, subsequent checks for hip dysplasia, sight, hearing, speech and cognitive development will also need to be conducted at the appointed intervals. Timings for routine examinations may differ from those in the UK, so make a point of asking for clarification and whether any particular specialists are recommended.

Do you qualify?

In principle, if you are resident in a foreign country and are paying into the system your child should automatically qualify for a state-funded immunisation programme and development checks. However, the rules and access to facilities are country-specific, so you will need to verify your entitlement. If you decide to have vaccinations and checks conducted privately, keep a detailed, personal record of all examinations and injections.

Mum’s the word

Health visitors are an established part of post-natal support in the UK, but new mums are unlikely to find a similar structure in place abroad. Instead, a paediatrician will offer advice during routine baby checks.

However, parent and baby groups are typically well established in larger, more cosmopolitan cities such as Dubai, Bangkok and Hong Kong, with both medical professionals and fellow expats on hand to offer support.

Starting A New Blog? Here’s How to Skip Google’s Dreaded Sandbox

2018-12-24T17:17:00.000+01:00

I recently read something interesting on Neil Patel’s blog, Quick Sprout. For anybody who follows him, you might have read that he’s starting a new project publicly where he’s going to grow a new nutrition blog and take it to $100k per month within a year.

It’s an ambitious goal, but what really caught my attention was his strategy about picking up his domain name and skipping Google’s sandbox.

I think it’s a great strategy if it can work, but he didn’t really go into much detail about it. So I decided to examine it further and put together a guide for anybody who wants to copy his method.

Using a competitor’s domain

One of the most annoying things about starting a new website now is that it takes much longer now for you to start driving traffic from the search engines. Some people call it the “sandbox” and it can take up to 6 months for your new site to finally get some love from Google.

People say the sandbox is theory and they’re not completely sure if it exists or not. I can tell you first hand that it is real. With the number of sites that I launch, I definitely have noticed it.

As a result, some people – myself included – have been registering domains, putting up a few pages of content and just letting them sit for a few months before starting to grow them out.

But there has to be a better way than that, right?

When you purchase a fresh new domain, you have to go through the usual process of waiting for it to be indexed, building a few links, and all the other stuff that comes along with it. And it makes sense. There’s no history at all on your fresh domain.

The way to bypass Google’s sandbox for new sites is simply to NOT use a new domain. This idea is actually not new. People have been putting up new sites on expired domains for awhile now with mixed results.

The problem with using expired domains is that they’re a potential risk. Your site has the possibility of behaving as if it were penalized as soon as you launch it.

It’s not always the case, but there were more than enough case studies on the subject reporting the same thing.

Another thing to note is that most expired domains are… expired. The site’s most recent crawl leads to a dead page or a stock page from its previous domain registrar stating it’s been expired and is up for sale.

Some people claim that Google discredits a domain’s strength once it is dropped. We don’t know for sure if this is true, but I’ve experienced it being the case myself.

Instead, Neil’s strategy is to purchase a competitor site that is pretty much dead, but are still indexed and ranking on Google.

By dead I just mean it hasn’t been updated in years. The owner has lost interest and it looks like it’s not even being paid attention to.

But isn’t that more expensive than just registering a new domain?

Not as much as you think.

The reason we’re looking for “dead” sites is so that we can get them at domain value and not site value.

You can pick up these sites for $100-$200, depending on what you’re willing to pay for it and if the site looks worth it.

New domains from sites like GoDaddy and NameCheap are usually around $10.

Would you pay $100 to get a head start with your new site? Would you rather pay a little bit more and skip the dreaded sandbox? Is it worth it to pay a little extra to start on a domain that’s already indexed, already ranking, and already has relevant backlinks from sites in your niche?

For me, it’s a yes every time. There’s no question.

Obviously, I’m not going to spend $500 on a dead site. But $100 is plenty worth it.

How do you find them?

To find these sites, simply do a google search for your keywords.

Don’t look at the first 2 pages because they’re most likely going to be active, get a fair bit of traffic, and from my experience site owners aren’t really interested in selling them.

Just sift through pages 3 to 15.

You’ll want to do the right research before you reach out to the owner and ask for a purchase.

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. We’re looking to buy the domain. Not the site.

Don’t be too picky about the quality of their content, how much traffic it’s getting, and what they’re rankings are.

We’re looking for dead sites that we can get for cheap so we can use their domain. Most likely, their content will be replaced entirely.

2. We’re buying the domain to skip the sandbox. We’re not buying the domain to purchase its rankings.

Of course, if it’s ranking well and we can get a good deal on the site, it’s a bonus. But that’s not our main goal with this strategy. We’re buying the domain because it’s already indexed on Google.

Once we start putting up content, it will get indexed and start ranking MUCH FASTER than if we did the same thing on a brand new domain.

So don’t get too concerned about its current rankings.

3. Look at their backlink profile, but mainly just for spam.

It would be great if the site had a ton of strong backlinks already, but that’s not what we’re looking for here.

This is different from searching for expired domains for your PBN. Don’t get caught up in the domain’s authority and the links pointing at it.

All we’re doing is making sure that the site doesn’t have a bunch of spam links.

Remember, our main goal with doing this is so that we could start a site on a site that’s already indexed and ranking on Google for some of our keywords.

4. Check the site’s age

I would prefer a site age of 5 years old and over, and stay away from domains that only have a history of a year or two.

To check a domain’s age, you can use this free tool. Simply enter in your domain and solve the CAPTCHA code and it will tell you when it was first registered.

5. Check how many pages it has indexed on Google

To do this, simply do a google search using their site search.

The reason we do this is so we don’t get any surprises. Ten to a hundred is pretty normal – a few hundred is a lot – and hundreds of thousands should throw up warning flags.

If anything looks strange, just go through the pages to make sure they’re all relevant and there’s nothing fishy going on with the site.

6. Check the site’s traffic figures

To do this, I use a tool called Similar Web. It’s free to use, and more accurate than other tools I’ve tried.

Obviously, if you see something like millions of visitors, you’re not likely to get a response.

Writing the email / Contacting the site owner

Keep it short and simple. Talk a little about the topic of the site.

Let’s pretend our topic was baking cookies.

Don’t mention traffic and financials

In your discussions, avoid asking for how much the site is making or access to their analytics. Then, you’re making the sale about the site and the owner might decide to hike up the price rather than if it was just an offer to take over a “dead” site.

We already checked the estimated traffic using Similar Web so that should be sufficient.

Here’s an example of an email.

Hello,

My name is Chris and I stumbled upon your site today. I think it’s a great resource but I see you haven’t updated it in quite a bit. May I ask why?

If you’re not interested in running the site, I would love to take over it and grow it out. I’m a cookie fanatic, and love baking and sharing my recipes.

It would be really awesome if I could share my recipes through X.com. To show you I’m serious about it, I’ll even offer to pay $100 to you for the ownership transfer.

Please let me know if this is something you would be interested in. I would love to get working on this right away.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Chris

You might prefer not to offer the money right away and keep it in your back pocket for when they respond. But having it in the first email would probably get you a lot more responses, than if you were just asking for a freebie.

If they’re just sitting there, most people are more than happy to just sell it off for an easy $100. You’ll be surprised at how many sites are out there where the last published post was something like 2006.

Conclusion

The sandbox is what kills a lot of new people entering internet marketing today. They register a new domain, put up their content, and build a few good links.

After 2 to 3 months of getting barely any traffic and not seeing their rankings rise, they get frustrated and order the 5000 link blast packages “guaranteed” to be Google safe.

That’s game over right there.

Instead, if you’re going to start a new site, this is a great method to skip those months of dryness that maybe you haven’t considered in the past.

It may not always be possible to find the right site owner that’s willing to let it go, but it’s a great strategy to have in your back pocket for your next niche site.

Posh crossover - Ford Kuga Vignale

2018-12-24T15:56:00.000+01:00

Ford customers seem to like a little luxury. 80 percent of Kuga buyers, for example, opt for the second-most expensive trim line, the "Titanium". So how does the exclusive "Vignale" version of the Ford Kuga shape up?

Riding an electric scooter through Paris

2018-12-24T15:45:00.002+01:00

People have long been able to hire cars and scooters. Now kick scooters with electric motors have been added to the list. The environmentally friendly e-scooters are a real alternative in city traffic.

Bring a peaceful Christmas song to the world, "Christmas Eve"

2018-12-24T15:14:00.000+01:00

The first sing of "Christmas Eve" was 200 years ago - December 24, 1818, in the Church of St. Nicholas in the small town of Oberndorf near Salzburg, Austria: "Peace Night, holy night."

The original German lyrics came from the Austrian assistant pastor Joseph Mohr. The village's principal, Franz Xaver Gruber, created a guitar melody that sounds completely different from the quiet version we know today, and he envisions it as a lively dance.

There are many kinds of legends and stories about the origin of the song. One of the arguments was that the Christmas song had to be played with another instrument because the organ was suddenly broken. A more credible claim is that the author, Joseph Moore, wants a Christmas song that can be played with a guitar.

In 1859, the second bishop of the Parish of the State of Florida, John Freeman, created the English version of the song. Soon the song spread and became a favorite Christmas song for the public and singers. This popular "Christmas Eve" later appeared in many popular versions. One of them was created in 1968 by the American Temptation Band.

The legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson interprets the song in his own way. Peaceful information and a laid-back rhythm blend in with her unique singing style. It can be said that her song "Christmas Eve" has always been one of the best-selling songs in Norway.

Even Elvis Presley put this classic song into his 1957 Christmas album. At that time, the album was not particularly popular, and part of the reason may be due to the fact that "Elvis" played a song that was ambiguous.

The first performance of the classic song "Christmas Eve", the St. Nicholas Church in the town of Oberndorf was destroyed in the early 1900s due to flooding. Later, people built a Christmas Eve chapel there, which became a favorite tourist destination during Christmas.

The original manuscript of Joseph Moore has been lost, but in 1995, a document was found confirming him as the original creator of the 1816 lyrics. He wrote the lyrics two years ago. Musicologists have discovered that the traces of Austrian folk songs are hidden in the melody of Franz Gruber.

The song "Christmas Eve" has been translated into dozens of languages and has been sung numerous times. On a Christmas Eve during the First World War, the warring parties temporarily ceased fire, and the soldiers sang the song "Christmas Eve" in German, English and French in the trench. This is the only Christmas song that all soldiers can sing.

Which story do you want to believe about the origin of this song? It is absolutely convincing that this song is still the most popular Christmas song in the world since it was first sung on December 24, 1818.

I wish you "Merry Christmas" in 15 languages!

2018-12-24T15:10:00.000+01:00

In addition to "Merry Christmas" and "Merry Christmas", will you still use that language to express Christmas wishes? The reporters and editors of Deutsche Welle are demonstrating for everyone!

Christmas Eve? Beware of heart attack!

2018-12-24T15:03:00.003+01:00

Swedish scientists found that on December 24th, Christmas Eve, the risk of heart attack in the crowd was highest throughout the holiday season. The British Medical Journal (BMJ) published the study on Wednesday.

A research team led by David Erlinge, a professor of cardiology at Lund University in Sweden, checked data from 280,000 patients hospitalized in Sweden from 1998 to 2013 and found that during the two-week Christmas season During the holidays, the peak of a heart attack is around 10 o'clock on a peaceful night. The heart attack rate on that day was 37% higher than the rest of the holiday.

The risk of heart attack on Christmas Day and New Year's Day is also high, but New Year's Eve is relatively safe. Research suggests that older and frail patients are more likely to get sick, and external stimuli make people who are relatively vulnerable worse.

What is the risk of a heart attack on Christmas Eve? Researchers say that the information they have is not enough to judge, but it also gives some clues.

"A large number of previous analyses have shown that anger, anxiety, grief, sadness and stress increase the risk of myocardial infarction, which may explain the high-risk period we find in our research," the research team said.

This is not the first time a Swedish scientist has discovered a link between heart disease and seemingly unrelated factors. A study published earlier this year found that cold and cloudy weather increased the risk of heart attack.

Letter to the Baby Angel and Santa Claus

2018-12-24T15:02:00.001+01:00

The Christmas Post Office in Engelskirchen, a small town near Cologne, is one of the seven Christmas Post Offices in Germany. On Christmas Eve, the staff here are all "representatives of the Angel of the Holy Child", responsible for handling all the letters and postal parcels that have been sent to the "Infant Angel" with a wish note.

In the second week before Advent, the post office staff was too busy and they received thousands of Christmas letters. All letters are manually sorted, unpacked and read and responded.

To: Christmas Angel

The staff at the Engelkirchen Post Office said that reading the letter was especially good. Some letters are not only touching, but also very interesting. For example, the desire of a child is to let "Daddy not shave his beard." Some children send their handmade works or paintings.

The Engelkirchen Christmas Post Office has a history of more than 30 years. Germany is the country with the largest number of Christmas post offices in the world. All letters with Christmas wishes can be posted at the real name of the Christmas Post Office.

Some Christmas post offices in Germany have received support from volunteers, and some areas even local residents have written back. Write the letter back into the envelope, stamp the seal of the Holy Child Angel, Santa Claus or Nicholas at the post office , and then post a beautiful stamp and send it.

Collection Christmas Postmark

Letters received by the German Christmas Post Office come from all over the world. The Engelskiin Post Office is only responsible for processing German and other letters in six languages, including Chinese.

Miller, a staff member at the Christmas Post Office, said that these messengers around the world are definitely interested in the German Christmas culture. "Sometimes a letter is all a problem." For example, "Do you know Santa? Do you work together?"

The German Christmas Post Office also received letters from adults. These adults write letters not to satisfy their wishes, but to collect Christmas postmarks. There are also some grandparents who write letters to surprise the Christmas angels to their grandchildren and granddaughters. In addition, older foreigners write letters, sometimes in order to practice their German reading ability through the reply of the Holy Baby Angel.

Shopping tips and world peace

Writing a letter to the Baby Angel is an ancient custom in Germany. Children can write the Christmas gifts they want . An old employee of the Christmas Post Office said: "Sometimes the Angels received even the price of the goods and the business information." Some letters also tell you the tips for saving money. "It is cheapest to shop here."

Some children list the toys they want on the wish list, along with the wishes of adults for "world peace." Other children have a very specific desire: "Hope refugees can have warm shoes to wear" or "prevent climate change" and so on.

Do the children who write letters really believe in the Angel of the Baby? This question seems to be difficult to answer. Although the tradition of writing a wish note on Christmas has a Christian background, today's religious significance is not very important. Many letters symbolize the hopes of the children. They want the Angels, Nicholas or Santa to see and understand their wishes and ideas.

EPL: Salah gets new position at Liverpool

2018-12-24T14:57:00.000+01:00

Liverpool ace, Mohamed Salah has been given a new position at the club.

The Egyptian international has been moved from the wing to play as a centre-forward for the remainder of this season.

The shift has seen Roberto Firmino drop back to play behind Salah, while Sadio Mane takes up the right flank with Naby Keita on the left.

Explaining Salah’s new position, Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp was quoted by Mirror UK as saying on Monday at his pre-match press conference: “Salah had to adapt a bit to a slightly different position.

“It’s not that much different, but it is different.”

Klopp added: “We need his link-up play, but he is still with the desire and the speed over the first few yards. He’s impressive, and a very important part of our finishing situations.

“Of course he’s young enough to involve a lot more things in his style of play. It’s not just speed, it’s not just finishing, it’s a lot of things, between the lines and keeping the ball.

“But you need your body for that and that was the problem.

“At the start of the season, part of Mo’s body was not perfect. If you work in an office, if your shoulder is not 100 per cent and it is not your writing hand, then you’re okay.

“But if you’re a footballer, you have to wait until it’s 100 per cent. But we knew he was still a world-class player but we had to wait a little bit. “It’s all good.”

Salah scored 44 goals in 52 appearances last campaign for the Reds as a winger.

The forward will hope to lead Klopp’s men to victory when they tackle Newcastle United on Wednesday in the Premier league fixture.

Liverpool head to the game following a 2-0 victory over Wolves over the weekend.