Mauling victims of a starving polar bear have been airlifted from Norway to Britain for treatment. The bear killed a teenager on a Norway science trip before a team leader managed to kill the animal with a rifle that jammed four times. The adult leader, a co-worker and two other…
Continue reading …Apes did not just take over our fictional world, they conquered our box office, too. Thanks to strong word-of-mouth and great reviews , Rise of the Planet of the Apes scored an unexpectedly strong opening weekend of $54 million—nearly $20 million better than the best forecast, says the Hollywood Reporter…
Continue reading …Jackie Kennedy Onassis believed Lyndon Johnson was behind JFK’s assassination, knew about her husband’s affairs with his interns, and had her own fling with actor WillIam Holden. Those are the stunning revelations in an interview she held decades ago which are about to be released publicly, the Daily Mail is…
Continue reading …The Navy SEALs killed in the helicopter crash in Afghanistan were headed home from a rescue mission saving Army rangers who had come under a major Taliban assault, officials are revealing. The SEALs had “subdued attackers” who had pinned down the Rangers and were flying back on the Chinook when…
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Court ruling sets legal precedent in Israel and is possibly first of its kind in world An Israeli family has been given legal permission to extract and freeze eggs from the ovaries of their 17-year-old daughter, who died in a road accident. The ruling by the magistrates court in the town of Kfar Sava sets a legal precedent in Israel and, according to a lawyer with 10 years experience in similar cases, is possibly the first of its kind in the world. According to the Ha’aretz news organisation, the family of Chen Aida Ayash agreed for her organs to be donated following her death a week after she was hit by a car. She was declared brain dead on Wednesday. They also petitioned the court in Kfar Sava, where they live, for permission for her eggs to be harvested and frozen. Ha’aretz quoted a medical source as saying the family had requested that the eggs be fertilised with donated sperm, as embryos stand a better chance of surviving the freezing procedure than unfertilised eggs, but the court denied permission for fertilisation at this stage. Maayan Maor, a spokesperson for the Meir medical centre, Kfar Sava, confirmed that the procedure had taken place. “This is a unique case, since this is the first time an Israeli court has approved the extraction and freezing of ovarian eggs from a dead woman,” she told the Guardian. “We don’t know the reason why Chen’s parents wanted it done. We just received the court order and did the procedure.” The Ayash family has made no public comment. According to Irit Rosenblum, a lawyer who founded New Family, an Israeli organisation that promotes family rights, the key issue is consent. “We don’t know if [Ayash] was concerned about continuation,” she said adding that even though the girl was only 17, she may have expressed a desire to bear children. “If [the family] can prove the fact that she wanted children, I see no reason why not to allow this.” There have been many precedents of sperm being extracted after death to allow a dead man’s widow or partner to conceive his child. Courts have insisted that petitioners must be able to show the man wanted to become a father. In 2007, the Israeli parents of a deceased soldier won a legal battle to be allowed to use his sperm, which was extracted post mortem, to create a child with an identified surrogate mother. Earlier this year, another Israeli family embarked on a legal battle to be allowed to use their dead son’s sperm to produce a grandchild , although they had no surrogate standing by. Rosenblum argued that a condition of creating a child from Ayash’s eggs must be that “the resulting child be brought up by his or her biological father”. She said it was better for a child to know its “biological legacy” than to be created by anonymous donor sperm or eggs. Rosenblum cited a recent case in which a couple created embryos through IVF treatment, but the woman later discovered she had cancer. Two years after her death, the man wanted to fulfil his pledge to create a child, but Israeli law meant he had to use a surrogate mother in the US. “It was the first case in the world of a child being born long after the death of its biological mother,” Rosenblum said. Israel Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Military investigating claims soldier from Scottish regiment in Afghanistan kept body parts of dead insurgents as trophies Claims that a British soldier cut off the fingers of Taliban insurgents as trophies during combat operations in Helmand in Afghanistan are being investigated by the military police. The soldier, from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, is alleged to have removed fingers from dead insurgents during his unit’s tour, which ended in April. Detectives from the special investigation branch of the royal military police are reported by the Sun to have interviewed the soldier, but the MoD has declined to comment in detail or to confirm whether any soldier has been suspended. A spokesman said: “This is a very serious allegation and it would be wrong for us to comment. An investigation is ongoing.” The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who specialises in air assault, were on their second tour of duty in Afghanistan, helping train the Afghan police but also involved in combat and security operations around Helmand. Part of the 16th air assault brigade, a company from the battalion, was also attached to the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, on combat duties. There is no information on which company the soldier came from. Clive Fairweather, a former SAS commander and former honorary colonel for the Argyll’s cadet force, said if the allegation turned out to be true, the soldier’s comrades would be “horrified” that any soldier collected body parts as souvenirs. “This is one of the taboos of the military. There’s not that many, but this is one of them,” he said. He said some units were required, or under pressure, to produce evidence when an enemy combatant or target has been killed. Normally that would be a photograph or potentially a DNA sample, using a swab. Soldiers did sometimes take trophies, such as enemy equipment. Taking body parts would cause horror. Douglas Young, executive chairman of the British Armed Forces Federation, told the BBC he was “shocked” about the investigation. “While the facts still need to be established, if there turns out to be anything in these claims, clearly the MoD are correct to treat the matter very seriously,” he said. “The alleged behaviour is totally out of kilter with the ethos of the armed forces.” The Argylls, based in Canterbury, Kent, lost one member on their previous tour: a Fiji-born private, Joseva Vatubua. The 24-year-old became the first Nato soldier fatality in Afghanistan in 2011 when he was killed in an explosion during combat operations on 1 January. Military Afghanistan Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bricks were hurled at police, cars torched and shops looted as rioting spread to new communities in a second night of street violence in London. Clashes erupted in Enfield, Walthamstow and Waltham Forest in north London, and Brixton in the south of the city following a riot over the weekend…
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Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-trained scholar who has never visited Tibet, takes the oath of office in Dharmsala, India A Harvard-trained legal scholar has been sworn in as the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, replacing the Dalai Lama as leader of his people’s fight for freedom. The Dalai Lama, 76, announced in March he would be giving up his political role as leader of the Tibetan exile movement , although he would remain the spiritual leader for Tibetan Buddhists. Lobsang Sangay, who was elected in April, was surrounded by hundreds of Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as the Dalai Lama, as he took the oath of office in Dharmsala, India, where the exile administration is based. Sangay has said he will follow the Dalai Lama’s approach of seeking increased autonomy for Tibet within China. However, China refuses to recognise Sangay’s authority. “We will continue the Middle Way policy. We are also willing to negotiate with the Chinese government any time, anywhere,” Sangay told crowds during the ceremony at the Tsuglagkhang temple. Sangay said he would work to fulfil the Dalai Lama’s vision of a truly secular democratic society. “Tibetan leadership is far from fizzling out … We are here to stay,” he added. Tibetans played traditional musical instruments and cheered as the Dalai Lama accompanied the leader to the temple for the brief ceremony. Later, the crowds applauded as the Dalai Lama hugged and blessed Sangay after the ceremony. Sangay’s election as the Kalon Tripa (prime minister) marks many firsts. He was born in the eastern Indian town of Darjeeling and has never visited Tibet. He is also the first secular leader to take over the political leadership of the Tibetan community. The Dalai Lama said he needed to resign as political leader because he feared chaos would erupt after his death, when the Chinese government and Buddhist monks are certain to argue over the identity of his successor. “Now, that danger is no longer there,” he told the Associated Press. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in northern India in 1959. The Indian government allowed him to establish the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharmsala, setting up schools, hospitals and housing for the hundreds of thousands of Tibetans who fled China over the past five decades. The Dalai Lama, who is worshipped as a near-deity by most Tibetans, said he would continue to advocate for the Tibetan people. He also promised to allow the exile government’s envoys to act in his name. China, which has vilified him as a separatist troublemaker but dislikes the exile government even more, is forcing him to remain involved. Chinese leaders have said they will only hold negotiations with his representatives. Dalai Lama Tibet India China guardian.co.uk
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UK donations are lower for east Africa crisis than for Asian tsunami or Haiti earthquake, despite it affecting more people British donations to tackle the drought crisis in east Africa are falling far short of previous appeals, figures released by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) reveal. In the first weeks of the campaign, donations totalling £42m were received by the DEC. This is less than an eighth of the £396m raised after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and also far less than the £106m raised for the Haiti earthquake and £71m for Pakistan in more recent campaigns. The shortfall is made even worse by the huge numbers affected by the drought across Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. Estimates suggest at least 10 million people have been hit by food shortages – five times as many as were directly affected by the natural disasters in Pakistan, Haiti and south Asia. This means UK donations per person believed to be affected stand at just £4.20, compared with £58.89 for Haiti and £196 – 45 times higher – for the south Asian tsunami, which affected an estimated two million people. The DEC does not set targets for its campaigns, but said the first few weeks of donations were crucial and the absence of strong pictures from the disaster had hurt fundraising. “The majority of donations come in the first few weeks as people respond to media appeals,” said Kath Hindley, deputy chief executive of the DEC. “But it’s never a simple story. It’s difficult to compare a natural disaster such as Haiti with a drought in terms of both needs and messaging. “Visual images make so much difference – people respond very differently to an earthquake than a drought. The impact is not the same.” The situation has been exacerbated by the shortage of reporters on the ground, particularly in Somalia, to cover the crisis. Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991, leading to substantial logistical and safety challenges when reporting in the region. Reporters Without Borders describes Somalia as “the deadliest country in Africa for journalists”. Farah Hassan Sahal , 45, a presenter for Radio Simba, a Somali station, was shot dead last Friday outside the entrance to his workplace. The shortfall in British donations is mirrored across the world, as the UN struggles to raise the $2.5bn (£1.5bn) it says is needed to manage the crisis. As of last week, the UN had raised only $1.27bn in funding or pledges of the total sum needed. Somalia, estimated to need $1.06bn, had just $408m (38%) pledged, while Kenya had $357m (48%) of a $741m requirement. Ethiopia has received $148m for its humanitarian requirements, but just $22m to aid with its worsening refugee situation, less than 10% of what the UN believes is needed. The US is the largest state donor to the crisis so far, having pledged $398m. The UK is second with $111m, followed by the European commission ($92m) and Japan ($87m). Somalia Famine Disasters Emergency Committee Drought Africa Aid South Sudan Kenya Ethiopia James Ball guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …‘Incredibly exciting’ find implicates defect in RAD51D gene as hugely increasing the chances of developing ovarian cancer Scientists have pinpointed a rare gene variant that increases a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer six-fold. The discovery will lead to new diagnostic tests to identify the cancer earlier and provides better information to help doctors choose targeted anti-cancer drugs. Ovarian cancer can develop without many clear symptoms and is the fifth most common cancer in women. In the UK, 6,500 cases are diagnosed every year and, of those, almost 4,000 end in death. In the latest study, scientists found that, in around 60 cases of ovarian cancer every year in the UK, the women had faults in a gene called RAD51D. Anyone who inherits a faulty version of this gene, they calculated, therefore had a one in 11 chance of developing ovarian cancer, compared with one in 70 for the general population. “At this level of risk, women may wish to consider having their ovaries removed after having children, to prevent ovarian cancer occurring,” said Professor Nazneen Rahman, head of the division of genetics and epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden hospital, who led the research. “There is also real hope on the horizon that drugs specifically targeted to the gene will be available.” Rahman’s colleagues have also showed that a new class of anti-cancer drugs going through clinical trials, called PARP inhibitors, are effective in killing ovarian cancer cells with RAD51D faults. In laboratory tests, the drugs killed 90% of cells that did not have a functioning RAD51D gene, compared with just 10% of cells where the gene was working properly. A decade ago, scientists found that the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes accounted for around 10-15% of ovarian cancers and there have been several findings since that show very small further contributions to the risk of developing the disease. In that context, Cancer Research UK described the discovery of RAD51D variants as a “landmark”. Rahman’s team looked at DNA from women in 911 families with breast and ovarian cancer, and compared it to the DNA from a control group of 1,060 people in the general population. The researchers found a series of eight faults in a gene called RAD51D in the women with ovarian cancer, compared with just one fault in the control group. Their work is published on Sunday in Nature Genetics . RAD51D seems to be important in the repair of damaged DNA so if it does not function properly, faults can build up in cells as they grow and divide. More faults means more opportunities for the cell to become cancerous. Professor Nic Jones, chief scientist at Cancer Research UK, said it was “incredibly exciting” to discover this high-risk gene for ovarian cancer. “It’s further evidence that a range of different high-risk genes are causing the development of breast and ovarian cancer and we hope there are more waiting to be discovered in different cancers.” He added that the results would also help inform personalised treatment for ovarian cancer and “give doctors better information about risks of cancer to tell patients”. Cancer Medical research Genetics Biology Cancer Health Alok Jha guardian.co.uk
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