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Robbie Robinson, 32, has been in coma since he fell from a balcony in Thailand a month ago. , Robbie Robinson Fund via Facebook

AN IRISHMAN WHO is in a critical condition following a fall in Thailand has been flown home following a massive fundraising drive by his friends, iphone Case family and neighbours.

Robbie Robinson from Bray in Co. Wicklow fell from a balcony in Bangkok over four weeks ago. He’s spent his time in a Thai hospital for the last four weeks, before being flown home to Beaumont Hospital on Thursday nightwaterproof cases.

The 32-year-old had no travel or health insurance and his accident has racked up a medical bill of over €90,000.

Barbara Gordon, a family friend, told TheJournal.ie it cost nearly “€30,000 to fly Robbie back to Ireland digitizing embroidery, while his hospital stay in Thailand cost almost €60,000 – that’s over €2,000 a night”.

The Robinson’s family and friends have started a fundraising drive to help pay for Robbie’s medical bills. So far, over €40,000 has been raised at different events such as, concerts, a cake sale organised by a nine and ten-year-old and a poker night set-up by his friends.

Fall from high-rise building
“The generosity of people is overwhelming,” Gordon said. “A homeless man came to the fundraiser in Wicklow on Thursday night. He had over €120 in change and gave it to the fund cem1 pcb.”

Fundraisers are trying to “raise as much as possible” for the Wicklow man who has been in a coma ever since the fall from the high-rise building.

His mother Martina, who has been by his side since the accident, said doctors have described his condition has “really, really critical”, but she refused to turn off his life-support machine even after doctors in Thailand advised her to.

Robbie’s heart-rate picks up when he hears his family cry or when a phone is held to his ear and friends speak to him. Martina also told TV3′s Ireland AM show that “he started moving on the eighth day, so we knew we couldn’t turn off the life support… We want to fight for him a little bit longer”.

Robbie flew back to Ireland in June to be best man for his best friend’s wedding. He had been returning to work in New Zealand when he stopped off in Thailand for holiday.

You can donate to the ‘Get Robbie Back Fund’ at the Bank of Ireland account IP Camera Manufacturer, sort code 90 67 34 and account number 71649421.

ALL COWS born in Ireland from tomorrow will be required to undergo mandatory testing for a bovine form of viral diarrhoea which can prove fatal if spread to vulnerable calves.

Agriculture minister Simon Coveney has issued an order which will require all newborn cattle born from January 2013 onward to be tested for the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus.

Anyone who owns or controls a newborn bovine will be required to take a sample from the animal and submit it to a designated laboratory to be tested for the virus Art Culture.

Bovine viral diarrhoea can often be difficult to immediately diagnose because it is spread by a small population of cows which become ‘persistently infected’ with the virus, but which themselves become immune to it within just a few weeks.

This means a mother which can appear perfectly healthy is actually passing on the virus to its own offspring, Limited company Hong Kong some of which could appear completely healthy but which may in turn act as a carrier for the disease and facilitating its spread to other healthy calves.

In many cases, however, calves which become persistently infected are stunted and never reach their full growth or fertile potential.

Other symptoms of the virus include spontaneous abortions among pregnant cows, infertility, Asian college of knowledge management and a mucosal disease which can see cows develop blisters and ulcers around the mouth and snout, and which usually proves fatal.

The virus poses no threat to human health, however.

A NEW REPORT, examining mortality statistics for almost three million people, has determined that people who would officially be deemed ‘overweight’ by modern classification live slightly longer than those whose weights are considered ‘healthy’.

The report from academics at the US National Center for Health Statistics found that those which would be statistically classified as overweight are 6 per cent less likely to die prematurely than those who are of ‘normal’ weight.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is calculated by converting a person’s weight into kilograms, and dividing it by their height in metres. The resulting number is then divided by the height in metres again to give the BMI.

A BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered ‘normal’, while an index of between 25 and 29.9 is classified as ‘overweight’. An index of 30 or over is statistically determined to indicate obesity.

The study’s authors have stressed that their findings should not be interpreted as a warning against pursuing a New Year’s any health regime – but merely want to indicate that the Body Mass Index is an imperfect way of measuring someone’s health, relative to their weight, or their mortality.

“We wouldn’t want people to think, ‘Well, I can take a pass and gain more weight’,” the New York Times quotes Dr George Blackburn of the Harvard Medical School’s nutrition division as saying.

Instead, factors such as levels of blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol should also be taken into account.

The findings also do not hold true for those considered obese: those with a BMI of over 30 are 18 per cent more likely to die prematurely, though when removing those with a BMI over 35, the risk of premature death is 5 per cent lower than the average.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned that the fall of his regime would produce a "domino effect" that would destabilise the region "for many years".

"The whole world knows that if Syria is partitioned, or if terrorist forces take control of the country, there will be direct contagion of the surrounding countries," he said in an interview with two Turkish media outlets cheap bedroom furniture.

"Then there would be a domino effect on countries perhaps far from the Middle East, to the west, east, north and south. This would mean instability for many years, even decades," he said.

Video of the interview, conducted earlier in the week, was posted on the Syrian presidency's Facebook page on Friday night.

In excerpts posted earlier in the week, Assad lashed out at the Arab League and its decision to hand Syria's seat to the opposition company registration samoa.

"The Arab League lacks legitimacy. It's a League that represents the Arab states, not the Arab people, so it can't grant or retract legitimacy."

The interview, with Turkey's Ulusal television and Aydinlik newspaper, focused extensively on Syria's ties with Ankara, which has backed the two-year uprising against his regime.

Damascus has regularly accused Ankara of financing, training and arming rebels fighting troops loyal to Assad. The UN says Turkey currently hosts more than 260,000 Syrian refugees Pambassador.

The UN says more than 70,000 people have been killed in a spiralling war that broke out in March 2011 after the army unleashed a crackdown on a peaceful revolt which morphed into an armed uprising.

Meanwhile, Syrian rebels seized a government checkpoint on a key highway from Damascus to the border with Jordan, as fighting intensifies on the outskirts of Damascus.

"Rebel fighters took control of the Umm al-Mayathin military checkpoint ... in Daraa province in clashes with regime forces," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Two fighters were killed and others wounded," the group added, saying there was no immediate word on any army casualties Claire Hsu.

The checkpoint lies close to the border with Jordan, along the main highway from Damascus. Rebels already control the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, further north towards the capital.

Fierce fighting raged between troops and rebels in Daraya, southwest of the capital, with the Observatory also reporting shelling by the army of neighbouring Moadamiyet al-Sham.

The fighting in Daraya is part of a campaign by government forces to recapture areas on the outskirts of Damascus that rebels have been using as launchpads for attacks on the capital Shipping Forwarder.

Rebel forces also fired on both Aleppo International Airport and Neirab military airbase.

Rebels have laid siege to both since February, in a bid to disrupt the movement of military aircraft.

Nationwide, violence killed at least 36 people on Friday, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and doctors inside Syria.