Scientists tracking the Ebola outbreak have confirmed that the deadly virus has mutated. The team however are yet to confirm whether the virus has become more virulent or contagious. | Scientists say the genetic code of the virus has substantially changed - and will most likely lead to it becoming airborne.
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Today, January 29th 3:46am
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Scientists at a French research institute say the Ebola virus has mutated and they are studying whether it may have become more contagious.
Researchers at the Institut Pasteur are analyzing hundreds of blood samples from Guinean Ebola patients in an effort to determine if the new variation poses a higher risk of transmission, according to the BBC.
“We’ve now seen several cases that don’t have any symptoms at all, asymptomatic cases,” said human geneticist Dr. Anavaj Sakuntabhai. “These people may be the people who can spread the virus better, but we still don’t know that yet. A virus can change itself to less deadly, but more contagious and that’s something we are afraid of.”
Although virus mutations are common, researchers are concerned that Ebola could eventually morph into an airborne disease if given enough time.
However, there is no evidence to suggest this has happened yet, and the virus is still spread only via direct contact with an infected person.
Institut Pasteur, which first pinpointed the current Ebola outbreak last March, is hoping that two vaccines they are developing will reach human trials by the end of the year.
Current figures indicate 8,795 of some 22,000 cases across Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — around 40% — have been fatal.
[BBC]
World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News
Today, January 29th 7:56am
Scientists say the genetic code of the virus has substantially changed - and will most likely lead to it becoming airborne.
Ebola has mutated: Scientists - Times of India
 Times of India |
Ebola has mutated: Scientists
Times of India LONDON: Scientists tracking the Ebola outbreak have confirmed that the deadly virus has mutated. The team however are yet to confirm whether the virus has become more virulent or contagious. Viruses are notorious for changing form making it difficult to ... New Ebola cases per week fall under 100 for 1st time since JuneCBC.ca WHO: New Ebola cases drop to lowest level in 7 monthsCNN With Ebola on the ropes, health officials hoping to knockout diseaseChicago Tribune USA TODAY -The Guardian -BBC News all 305 news articles » |
Transgender women, especially women of color, face physical risks so routine that we barely hear about them. Erasure of their identities is more routine still
Three transgender women of color have been murdered in America less than one month into this new year: Lamia Beard in Virginia, Ty Underwood in Texas, and Goddess Edwards in Kentucky. Their names join the list of more than 200 trans people worldwide who were murdered last year, according to statistics compiled by Transgender Europe – and that’s only counting cases that were reported to the police and in which the victim’s gender identity was known. The real number is certainly higher.
Like the ticking hand on a clock, violence against trans women (especially women of color) is so routine we barely hear it, except in those few and far between spaces, primarily online, where trans people have created room to discuss these issues safely amongst themselves. What infuriates me most about the wider world’s reaction to these murders is the erasure and transphobia that characterizes what little discussion even occurs outside those few safe enclaves.
Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.
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Avdiivka, just north of Donetsk, has been shelled by both sides of the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists. There are no soldiers in the town, and many inhabitants have also left. Those who remain have no running water or electricity, many have no gas. Schools and shops are closed. RFE/RL's Shahida Yakub, who visited on January 28, described it as a ''city of ghosts.''
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's envoy to the European security watchdog OSCE urged the United States and Europe on Thursday to stop supporting "party of war" in Ukraine and warned a "catastrophe" could lie ahead, Interfax news agency reported.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A report into crimes committed by South Africa’s police force draws a disturbing picture: dozens of officers charged for the murders, armed robberies and rapes of citizens they are sworn to protect.
Particularly worrying is the number of reported cases of police officers detaining women in order to rape them.
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Only one of the Sydney siege victims was shot by the gunman, with the second killed by fragments of police bullets fired when officers stormed the cafe, an inquest has heard.
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The man who lent Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman the gun that killed him said Nisman had told him he was afraid for his family’s life.
Diego Lagomarsino said at a news conference on Wednesday that he lent the pistol to Nisman, his employer who was found dead in his apartment on Jan. 18, after the prosecutor told him he did not even trust the bodyguards, Reuters reports.
“At this point, he cracked up, and said: ‘Do you know what it is like for your children not to want to be with you just in case something happens to them?” Lagomarsino said, according to Reuters.
Lagomarsino was charged on Tuesday with illegally lending a weapon that was registered in his name, becoming the only person so far charged in Nisman’s mysterious death, which investigators initially indicated was a suicide while others, including President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, say they believe he was murdered.
Nisman was investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and was set to testify before Congress the day after he died about his allegations that Fernández covered up Iran’s alleged involvement in the attack.
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CAIRO (Reuters) - A crackdown on protests in Egypt is not expected to provoke widespread unrest that threatens President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's rule, as most Egyptians crave an end to years of political turmoil that have hammered their hopes of prosperity.
Kenji Goto had every reason to stay home in Japan. A successful career. A doting mother. A loving wife. A pair of young daughters, one of them just two-weeks old. And yet the experienced journalist felt he had to go into war-torn Syria.
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The chances of a peaceful solution to the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine are waning and poses the biggest security threat to Europe since the end of the Cold War, Poland’s defense minister said.
(TOKYO) — A sunset deadline was approaching Thursday in the Middle East for Jordan to release an Iraqi prisoner or face the death of a captured Jordanian air force pilot, according to the latest threat purportedly issued by the Islamic State group.
The audio message was read in English by a voice the Japanese government said was likely that of Kenji Goto, a Japanese hostage also held by the militant group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq.
It was released online after Jordan offered Wednesday to hand over the prisoner, an al-Qaida-linked would-be suicide bomber, in exchange for Jordanian air force pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh.
The Associated Press could not independently verify the contents of the recording, which was distributed on Twitter by Islamic State-affiliated accounts.
The cases of the Japanese hostage, the Jordanian pilot and the Iraqi prisoner held in Jordan have become intertwined in recent days. The prisoner is Sajida al-Rishawi, a woman convicted of involvement in deadly Amman hotel bombings in 2005.
The recording says the pilot will be killed if the prisoner is not presented at the Turkish border in exchange for Goto’s life by sunset. It’s not clear what would happen to Goto if the Iraqi woman is not returned by the deadline.
In Tokyo, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thursday the government was in close communications with the Jordan government. He said Japan was doing its utmost to free Goto, working with nations in the region, including Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
“As the situation is developing, I shouldn’t comment on details. But, Japan and Jordan are dealing with the matter based on an extremely trusting relationship,” Suga told reporters.
Efforts to free al-Kaseasbeh and Goto gained urgency after a purported online ultimatum claimed Tuesday that the Islamic State group would kill both hostages within 24 hours if Jordan did not free al-Rishawi.
Japan has scrambled to deal with the crisis that began last week with the release of a video by the Islamic State group showing Goto and another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, kneeling in orange jumpsuits between a masked man who threatened to kill them within 72 hours unless Japan paid a $200 million ransom.
That demand has since shifted to one for the release of al-Rishawi. The militants have reportedly killed Yukawa, 42, although that has not been confirmed.
“This heinous terrorist act is totally unforgivable,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in parliament Thursday.
Goto, a freelance journalist, was captured in October in Syria, apparently while trying to rescue Yukawa, who was taken hostage last summer.
In Tokyo, Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, has been desperately pleading for the government to save her son.
“I know Mr. Abe is someone who can handle this matter. I trust Mr. Abe and I can do nothing but rely on him,” she said.
Releasing the would-be hotel bomber linked to al-Qaida would breach Jordan’s usual hard-line approach to the extremists and set a precedent for negotiating with them.
It would also be a coup for the Islamic State group, which has already overrun large parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq. Jordan is part of a U.S.-led military alliance that has carried out airstrikes against the extremist group in Syria and Iraq in recent months.
The Islamic State group has not publicly demanded prisoner releases before and Jordan’s main ally, the United States, opposes negotiations with extremists.
Jordanian King Abdullah II faces growing domestic pressure to bring the pilot home. The pilot’s father said he met on Wednesday with Jordan’s king, who he said assured him that “everything will be fine.”
The pilot’s capture has hardened popular opposition among Jordanians to the air strikes, analysts said
“Public opinion in Jordan is putting huge pressure on the government to negotiate with the Islamic State group,” said Marwan Shehadeh, a scholar with ties to ultra-conservative Islamic groups in Jordan. “If the government doesn’t make a serious effort to release him, the morale of the entire military will deteriorate and the public will lose trust in the political regime.”
Jordan reportedly is holding indirect talks with the militants through religious and tribal leaders in Iraq to secure the release of the hostages. In his brief statement, al-Momani only said Jordan is willing to swap al-Rishawi for the pilot. He did not say if such an exchange is being arranged.
The 26-year-old pilot, al-Kaseasbeh, was seized after his Jordanian F-16 crashed in December near the Islamic State group’s de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. He is the first foreign military pilot the militants have captured since the coalition began its airstrikes in August.
Previous captives may have been freed in exchange for ransom, although the governments involved have refused to confirm any payments were made.
The Islamic State group broke with al-Qaida’s central leadership in 2013 and has clashed with its Syrian branch, but it reveres the global terror network’s former Iraqi affiliate, which battled U.S. forces and claimed the 2005 Amman attack.
___
Laub reported from Amman, Jordan. Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, and Kaori Hitomi, Mari Yamaguchi, Emily Wang and Koji Ueda in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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Fugitive Treasure Hunter Who Found $50 Million in Gold Is Captured
People Magazine When treasure hunter Tommy Thompson first found the "Ship of Gold," a long-sunken steamer loaded with loot worth $50 million, the oceanic engineer was hailed as a "brilliant scientist" who uncovered the greatest lost treasure in American history. and more » |
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