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She was utterly determined to have a son.

The fact that to do so would make 70-year-old Omkari Panwar the world's oldest mother didn't even cross her mind.

Her resolve was matched by her husband Charan Singh Panwar, 77.

Grandmother Omkari Panwar has given birth to twins at the age of 70.

Proud parents: Omkari Panwar, 70, with her husband Charan, 77

Omraki Panwar recovers in hospital after delivering her twin via Caesarean section

The world's oldest mum, who gave birth to twins at 70 after IVF, proudly showed off her son, then admitted: 'Now I've got another daughter to feed too.'

Omkari Panwar, and her husband Charan Singh Panwar, 77, underwent IVF all for the sake of producing a male heir to take over the family's smallholdings.

The elderly Indian couple, who already have two daughters in their thirties, and five grandchildren, are near destitute after mortgaging their land, selling their buffalo and taking out a loan for the £4,400 fertility treatment.

Omkari and her twins (a boy with white hat and a girl) on the day after they were discharged from hospital

Now the pensioner parents will rely on family handouts and the charity of fellow villagers to bring up the little boy they so wanted, and the little girl they didn't.

But the Panwars, who live in a tiny community in Uttar Pradesh, North India, were delighted to finally see and hold their two babies, now weighing a healthy 4lbs, six weeks after they were born on June 27.

'We have not been able to see or hold them all this time," said frail Omkari. "They had to stay in the hospital because they were so small.

'We could not afford to stay there, so we had to leave them.' And she added: 'We paid all this money to the doctors for a son, but now we have the extra burden of another daughter as well.' Boys are cherished in India because daughters are not allowed to inherit property but leave to marry and become part of their new husband's family.

The twins were born at 34 weeks by emergency caesarian section at a hospital in the nearest town of Muzaffarnagar.

They weighed just 2lbs each and had to be rushed to the Jaswant Roy Speciality Hospital which has a neonatal intensive care unit.

The twins were born at 34 weeks by caesarian section and weighed just 2lb each

Omkari, who saw her babies just once, a week after their birth, said: 'I could only just touch them lightly with my fingers.

'They were so tiny, they would have fit into the palm of my hand.' The Panwars had to scrape together a further £500 to pay for part of their children's medical care and are now almost penniless.

Their little boy is now likely to take over a tiny piece of land with a large mortgage still to pay on it.

But Charan insists the cost was worthwhile, after he became a laughing stock in his village because he had no son to carry on the family name.

'I've finally got what I wanted and I can die a happy man now,' said Charan.

'My wife will look after the babies when I am gone, and after she dies my other daughters will care for them.

'It will be an honour for them to raise their new brother.

'Now my daughters will have a family home to return to on religious days and special occasions.' It is tradition for sons to remain in the parental home with their wives. On festival days the daughters of the family come to visit with their own husbands and children.

Villagers welcomed the jubilant pair back to the village, which lies 20km from Muzaffarnagar, with numerous gifts for the new babies.

The twins will be named at a special Hindu ceremony next week when the whole community will celebrate their arrival into the world.

'It is customary to name the babies after two weeks," said Omkari, who does not have a birth certificate, but insists she is 70-years-old.

'We have not seen the babies all this time, so we haven't been able to hold the naming ceremony.

'Now, we can arrange one, but cannot reveal their names until that day.' Omkari suffered a personal heartbreak more than 40 years ago as a much younger woman, when she miscarried a baby boy.

'For more than 40 years I have thought God did not think I was fit to produce a boy,' she said. 'But fate works in funny ways. It must have been meant to be that I waited all this time.' The couple do not even understand the fertility procedures carried out to allow Omkari to give birth so long after going through the menopause.

It is likely donor eggs were used to allow her to carry a child, but the Panwars simply do not know what happened when they went to a fertility clinic in Meerut last year.

Omkari, who remembers being nine when India gained independence in 1947, said: 'We saw a doctor at the Baby Shastri Nursing Home and I was given treatment.

'Later we were told I was carrying twins, a boy and a girl.' Screening embryos to discover the sex of the baby is illegal in India, following the outlawing of female foeticide - the aborting of girls - more than 10 years ago.

The couple do not even know such medical techniques exist and they do not think anything was specifically done to ensure they would have a boy.

'We just count ourselves blessed that we have a boy. We prayed for it to happen,' said Charan.

'We don't know how. We're just glad the doctor was right, and we do have a son.' The world's previous oldest mothers were Romanian Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth to a daughter, aged 66 and 320 days in May 2005, and Spanish woman Carmela Bousada, who was 66 and 358 days old when her twins were born in December 2006.

Omkari does not care that she has broken the world record and said: 'If I am the world's oldest mother it means nothing to me.

'I just want to be with my new babies and care for them while I am still able.'

Goldfish who swims upside down

These days pet fish come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Indeed, the ordinary goldfish has come to seem just that.

But Aussie, who shares a tank on pub bar, is rarely viewed with indifference. In fact, she is rather a star attraction.

She has spent the last four years of her life upside down and - as far as anyone can tell - is perfectly comfortable with this.

'We've had her checked out and she's in good health - I suppose she just likes to see the world from that point of view,' said her owner landlord Liam Matthews, 53.

Something fishy: Aussie swims in her tank

He bought the goldfish from a pet shop in 2004 and says she has since become something of a tourist attraction. Mr Matthews said: 'When I bought Aussie she was swimming normally but six months later she was swimming about upside down. She seems happy enough.'

Aussie shares a tank on the bar at the Globe Inn, near Exeter, with another fish Eddie - who swims normally.

Different strokes: Aussie and her right-way-up companion Eddie at the Globe Inn

'It's quite funny to see Eddie swimming the right way while Aussie is going round the tank upside down,' said Mr Matthews.

He admitted there is another mystery about his inverted pet - whether she is really a she.

He said: 'We're still not sure of its a male or a female but we call her 'she' because she just looks like a woman.'

Mr Matthews revealed he recently had a visit from an RSPCA inspector after an anonymous caller complained about the fish's health.

But he said: 'The inspector told us the fish didn't seem stressed at all. It's crazy that we had a complaint about our fish - she seems to be having a great time.'

'She's a legend': Liam Matthews looks fondly at Aussie his upside-down fish

Fish experts say the condition is caused by a deficiency in the fish's swim bladder - a gas-filled sac in the dorsal portion of the body which stimulates buoyancy.

Swim bladder problems are caused by an infection or are hereditary - meaning Aussie may have been given the condition by her parents.

Jeremy Smale, local tropical fish expert, said: ''Swimming upside down can indicate a problem with the swim bladder but it doesn't mean the animal is any distress.

'It is probably very healthy. I wouldn't expect it to be in any pain at all.'

Carp rid human feet of scaly skin

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away.

Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.

This is a good treatment for everyone who likes to have nice feet," Ho said.

He said he wanted to come up with something unique while finding a replacement for pedicures that use razors to scrape off dead skin. The razors have fallen out of favor with state regulators because of concerns about whether they're sanitary.

Ho was skeptical at first about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries.

But Ho doubted they would thrive in the warm water needed for a comfortable footbath. And he didn't know if customers would like the idea.

"I know people were a little intimidated at first," Ho said. "But I just said, 'Let's give it a shot.' "

Customers were quickly hooked.

Tracy Roberts, 33, of Rockville, Md., heard about it on a local radio show. She said it was "the best pedicure I ever had" and has spread the word to friends and co-workers.

"I'd been an athlete all my life, so I've always had calluses on my feet. This was the first time somebody got rid of my calluses completely," she said.

First time customer KaNin Reese, 32, of Washington, described the tingling sensation created by the toothless fish: "It kind of feels like your foot's asleep," she said.

The fish don't do the job alone. After 15 to 30 minutes in the tank, customers get a standard pedicure, made easier by the soft skin the doctor fish leave behind.

Ho believes his is the only salon in the country to offer the treatment, which costs $35 for 15 minutes and $50 for 30 minutes. The spa has more than 1,000 fish, with about 100 in each individual pedicure tank at any given time.

Dennis Arnold, a podiatrist who four years ago established the International Pedicure Association, said he had never heard of the treatment and doubts it will become widespread.

"I think most people would be afraid of it," he said.

Customer Patsy Fisher, 42, of Crofton, Md., admitted she was nervous as she prepared for her first fish pedicure. But her apprehension dissolved into laughter after she put her feet in the tank and the fish swarmed to her toes.

"It's a little ticklish, actually," she said.

Ho said the hot water in which the fish thrive doesn't support much plant or aquatic life, so they learned to feed on whatever food sources were available -- including dead, flaking skin. They leave live skin alone because, without teeth, they can't bite it off.

In addition to offering pedicures, Ho hopes to establish a network of Doctor Fish Massage franchises and is evaluating a full-body fish treatment that, among other things, could treat psoriasis and other skin ailments.

Ho spent a year and about $40,000 getting the pedicures up and running, with a few hiccups along the way.

State regulations make no provision for regulating fish pedicures. But the county health department -- which does regulate pools -- required the salon to switch from a shallow, tiled communal pool that served as many as eight people to individual tanks in which the water is changed for each customer.

The communal pool also presented its own problem: At times the fish would flock to the feet of an individual with a surplus of dead skin, leaving others with a dearth of fish.

"It would sometimes be embarrassing for them but it was also really hilarious," Ho said.

Grilling With Rich