BERLIN: Expectant mothers in Germany are doing what they can to put off giving birth until Jan 1, when a generous government aid programme takes effect. The media has been filled with tips and warnings from doctors and midwives about holding off birth until Jan 1.While experts have warned women to refrain from medical intervention to delay births, they acknowledge the allure of a financial incentive worth up to $33,300.

“We’re bracing for a siege on New Year’s Day and will have a full staff on hand,” said Klaus Vetter, chief doctor at Berlin’s Vivantes hospital.

Worried about a shrinking population and a birth rate at a post-war low in 2005, the government in September introduced the law to encourage working couples to have children. Babies born on or after Jan 1 qualify for the new benefits.

Parents who take time off from work to care for newborns can receive two-thirds of their net monthly salary, up to a maximum of 1,800 euros, for 12 months. If the other parent takes a further two months off, the benefit is extended to 14 months.

“It should send a clear signal that our society wants to try to compensate for some of the financial loss young parents face,” Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen was quoted saying in the online edition of Der Tagesspiegel on Tuesday.

Christian Albring, president of the German association of gynaecologists, told the Berliner Zeitung all his patients have asked how they could safely extend their pregnancies to January.

“They’ve all asked about possibilities of delaying delivery, but none want to risk their babies’ health,” he said.

Physicians and midwives have been saying that avoiding red wine, stress as well as physical or sexual activity are among the recommended natural methods to help prevent inducing birth.

“Try to lie down a lot and avoid stress,” midwife Stefanie Koehn said is the advice she has been giving. She added they should avoid cinnamon and cloves in Christmas baked goods.

Gynaecologist Folker Adam said delaying births, by methods such as taking magnesium, has been a hotly discussed topic at his office but said none of the mothers wanted to risk the babies.

Sonja Kastner, 34, is expecting her first child on Dec 31.

“I’ve been telling him ‘take your time’,” said Kastner, who added she would have 300 euros more per month if he comes later.

A pregnant doctor named Lucia C. said her due date is Jan 7 and calculated she will lose 15,000 euros if her baby arrives before Jan 1.—Reuters

KATHMANDU: A mysterious teenaged boy believed by some to be a reincarnation of Lord Buddha has reappeared in eastern Nepal after vanishing for nine months, a witness and a television channel said on Monday.

Sixteen-year-old Ram Bahadur Bamjon was spotted on Sunday by villagers in the remote and dense forests near Piluwa village in Bara district, 150 km east of Kathmandu, local journalist Raju Shrestha, who visited the boy, told Reuters.

Bamjon disappeared in March from the forests in nearby Ratanpuri village where he had reportedly been meditating without food or water for almost 10 months.

“I have been wandering in the forests since then,” Shrestha quoted Bamjon as telling him.

“I am engaged in devotion which will continue for six years,” the boy told Shrestha.

Hundreds of curious on-lookers, including many Buddhists, thronged the site to see the boy, sitting in a meditating position.

A local TV station showed people pressing their palms together and lowering their heads in devotion in front of him.

“I don’t think he is a Buddha. But he has some sort of extra strength to meditate. He eats herbs,” Shrestha said.

Before his disappearance, an estimated 100,000 people from Hindu-majority Nepal and neighbouring India flocked to see him meditate. They were not allowed to get closer than 50 metres.

Shrestha, who met the boy up close, said he had shoulder-length hair and sat cross-legged under a small tree.

“He has an ash-colour shawl wrapped across his chest,” he said, adding the boy had a “flat-ended scimitar” next to him.

Buddha was born a prince in Lumbini, a dusty village in Nepal’s rice-growing plains about 350 km west of the capital Kathmandu more than 2,600 years ago.—Reuters