Alive News

Jun Takahashi (left), professor at Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, attends a news conference in Kyoto, Japan, on July 30, 2018. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

TOKYO: Japanese scientists said on Monday they will start clinical trials next month on a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, transplanting “reprogrammed” stem cells into brains, seeking a breakthrough in treating the neurodegenerative disorder.

Curiosity and awe have greeted a complete lunar eclipse, the longest one of this century and visible in much of the world.

The so-called “blood moon,” when it turns a deep red, was visible at different times in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America when the sun, Earth and moon lined up perfectly, casting Earth’s shadow on the moon.

The total eclipse lasted 1 hour and 43 minutes, with the entire event lasting closer to four hours.

Rio de Janeiro’s spectators cheered when the blood moon emerged from the fog. Hundreds of people watched at a fort overlooking the iconic Copacabana beach and Sugarloaf Mountain. The local planetarium set up telescopes for astrology fans.

“These telescopes are fantastic. It’s one thing to see pictures of the planets in a book and another to see it in real life,” said Ana Selma Ferreira, a 46-year old lawyer who brought her children to the spectacle.

Across Africa people turned to the sky, watching the reddish shadow slide up the moon’s surface. In Somalia, some hurried to mosques for special prayers. In South Sudan, some dared to take photos in a war-torn country where using a camera in public is discouraged.

In Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, people at an open-air restaurant admired a rare clear view during the rainy season, comparing a live NASA webcast to what they saw above. Then clouds rolled in.

“Dem yelebesech chereka,” some murmured — Amharic for “blood moon.”

“The reason that the moon turns red is because atmospheric scattering causes red light to pass through the atmosphere and the composition of the atmosphere can change if volcanic eruptions or forest fires occur,” said Tom Kerss, an astronomer with the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

“And the density of dust increasing in the atmosphere can cause the moon to appear a particularly deep red, and indeed it has the same effect on our sunsets and sunrises.”

In a special treat, Mars is also at its closest approach to Earth this week since 2003, making it appear bigger and brighter.

Excited skywatchers on social media shared photos of the bright planet just to the right of the moon.

North America missed out on Friday’s lunar eclipse but can look forward to the next one on Jan. 21, 2019, according to NASA.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Friday caught two government officials red-handed while taking bribe from service-seekers in Birgunj, Parsa.

A team from the CIAA, Makawanpur arrested Krishna Nandan Raya Yadav, an accountant at Dhobani rural municipality, and non-gazetted first class officer Ainamul Haq Ansari for taking a bribe of Rs 110,000 from service-seekers for clearing transactions of constructions of road and temple, said a CIAA official.

The team acted on a complaint by service-seekers that the officials sought bribe in serving them. Both of the arrestees have been sent to Makawanpur for further investigation.

Former prime minister and leader of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) Jhala Nath Khanal has had parathyroid and kidney stone surgeries at Sichuan International Hospital in China.

Parathyroid surgery is removal of one or more of four parathyroid glands if they secrete excess parathyroid hormone which regulate the calcium levels in the body. Excess parathyroid hormone increases the blood calcium level removing it from the bones causing multiple problems in the body including kidney stones, according to parathyroid.com.

He is currently recovering at the hospital after surgery. He had gone to China for treatment in May and the doctors had prescribed the surgeries even then. He had gone to China for the surgeries on Sunday.

The National Medical Education Bill, 2075 BS has been presented in Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR).

Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokhrel, presented the bill in the second meeting of the lower house.

Presenting the bill, Minister Pokhrel said the government was taking a proactive approach to implement the people’s basic rights to education and health service. Lawmakers Gagan Kumar Thapa and Sarita Giri who had lodged a note of protest over the bill withdrew the protest while a note of protest registered by NWPP Prem Suwal was refused by the meeting with majority.

Skywatchers around much of the world are looking forward to a complete lunar eclipse that will be the longest this century.

The so-called “blood moon” Friday, when it turns a deep red, will be visible at different times in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America when the sun, Earth and moon line up perfectly, casting Earth’s shadow on the moon.

The total eclipse will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, with the entire event lasting closer to four hours.

In a special treat, Mars is in opposition on Friday — meaning the planet and the sun will be on exact opposite sides of the Earth and will shine its best. Mars is also at its closest approach to Earth this week since 2003, making it appear bigger and brighter.

A total of 36 district offices in Kathmandu have been removed with the local level units coming into operation following the implementation of federalism.

According to Assistant Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Basudev Ghimire, the move was taken as the services being rendered by the offices will be delivered by the local level units.

The district level offices scrapped are related to education, public health, agriculture, forest and land among others while offices as the District Administration Office, District Court, District Treasury Office, Office of Land Revenue and Survey, District Attorney Office and District Election Office are kept intact, shared Ghimire.

Following the implementation of federalism in the country, the services rendered by the district-based offices would be delivered from local level units from July 17 according to the new Constitution.

The buildings where the removed offices were located would be managed within mid-October while the staffers of the offices too would be deployed at local level offices by the same time, said Ghimire.

There are currently 11 local level units in Kathmandu district.

A local cooperatives feted altogether 35 single women were in Ratnanagar Chitwan district today.

Sauraha Savings and Cooperatives, on its 15th anniversary, feted them with Rs 500 each and letter of appreciation for their contributions to social changes and cooperatives movement.

The single women had opened an account in the Cooperatives and were saving on a regular basis, according to the Cooperative’s chair Ganesh Khatiwada.

He reiterated Cooperative’s support to the Single Women in their enterprises.

Similarly, Ratnanagar Municipality Mayor Narayan Ban commended the roles of the cooperatives in reducing poverty by providing economic opportunities for their members and empowering weaker members and mediating the member’s access to credit.

He reaffirmed the State’s facilities and services to the Single Women, elderly citizens and children at regional and local level.

On the occasion, a blood donation and free health check up camps were set up in association with the local clubs like Lions Club of Chitwan Community help and Leo Club of Sauraha among others.

Pre-summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is taking place in Kathmandu next week, prior to the fourth Summit.

The objective of the establishment of BIMSTEC, a sub regional body comprising seven countries–Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bhutan– is to achieve socio-economic development by assimilating the spirit of equality and cooperation. It was established on 6 June 1997 by adopting the Bangkok Declaration. Its headquarters is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The pre-summit scheduled for coming August 1-2 will be of the people’s level not the government level. The incumbent and retired senior officials of foreign ministries from all member countries will be attending the event to be held on the initiation of an organisation called ‘Institute for Strategic Socio-Economic Research’.

As stated by acting chair of organizing committee Prof Govinda Nepal, ambassadors of BIMSTEC countries, senior officials of external/foreign affairs ministries, intellectual community and people earning names in socio-economic sectors will be featured in the pre-summit.

Following the pre-summit, reports prepared by the organisations of the BIMSTEC countries working on socio-economic and poverty issues will be presented to Nepal in its capacity as the BIMSTEC current chair.

At least seven persons have been killed when a passenger bus veered off the highway after collision with a truck and plunged into the Trishuli river at Ichhakamana of Chitwan Rural Municipality in Chitwan on Friday.

Assistant Chief District Officer of Chitwan Laxmi Prasad Baskota said three women, two men, and a child has been killed when the speeding bus (Na 6 Kha 2506) going to Waling of Syangja from Kathmandu hit a truck (Na 5 Pa 7409) that suddenly entered the highway from an open space used for parking and cleaning vehicles.

32-year-old Arjun Neupane of Begnashkalika of Palpa, 40-year-old Baburam Tiwari of Keshavtar of Tanahu, 30-year-old Rabin Gurung of Kathmandu, 27-year-old Kamala Shrestha of Bhansar of Tanahu and five-year-old Sumit Shrestha of Bhanu-5 of Tanahu are identified as the deceased. The identity of a child and a woman is yet to be ascertained.

Twenty-two injured persons have been rescued and sent to Bharatpur for treatment, according to Baskota. Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the locals were involved in rescue work.

The bus was carrying 28 passengers.

The Government of India has provided Rs 2.1 billion to Nepal as reimbursement of first tranche of private housing reconstruction grant under the cooperation in post-earthquake reconstruction projects.

A program for cheque handover to this end was held at the Ministry of Finance, Kathmandu Friday in the presence of Finance Minister Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada, as stated by the Ministry.

Rajan Khanal Secretary at Ministry of Finance received the cheque from Ambassador of India to Nepal, Manjeev Singh Puri, on behalf of the Government of Nepal. The amount covers the first tranche of housing grant for private housing reconstruction of 42,086 beneficiaries in Nuwakot and Gorkha districts.

The Government of Nepal has expressed its appreciation to the Government of India for providing generous humanitarian support for post-earthquake reconstruction program and recalled in this event the prompt support from the southern neighbor in the rescue and search operation immediately after the earthquake.

A man was killed when a tractor being used for ploughing a paddy field overturned at Chinnamasta Rular Municipality in Saptari district Friday.

The deceased was Janak Mehata, 26, from the same place. Mehata was working in the paddy field when the tractor (Sa 1 Ta 3659) suddenly overturned and crushed him to death, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhavesh Rimal.

Critically injured in the incident, Mehata was rushed to Rajbiraj-based Gajendra Narayan Singh Sangarmatha Zonal Hospital where he breathed his last during the treatment, police said.

The south polar cap of Mars as it appeared to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on April 17, 2000. Photo Courtesy: NASA/Handout via Reuters

WASHINGTON: Using a radar instrument on an orbiting spacecraft, scientists have spotted what they said on Wednesday appears to be a sizable salt-laden lake under ice on the southern polar plain of Mars, a body of water they called a possible habitat for microbial life.

Rescuers are searching for hundreds missing in villages flooded when part of a newly built hydroelectric dam was breached in southeastern Laos.

SK Engineering & Construction, one of two South Korean partners in the project, said in a statement late Tuesday that the top of one of five auxiliary earth-fill dams at the project had collapsed Sunday night after heavy rains.

The cascade from the collapse swept away houses, flooded villages and left more than 6,600 people homeless. The official Lao news agency KPL said the disaster “left hundreds of people missing,” without providing details.

The website of the state-run Vientiane Times newspaper said Wednesday that two people were confirmed dead as of Tuesday afternoon. The government declared the area a disaster zone.

After an acrimonious campaign, polls opened in Pakistan on Wednesday to elect the country’s third straight civilian election __ a first for this majority Muslim nation that has been directly or indirectly ruled by its military for most of its 71-year history.

Rights groups have warned that the rancorous campaign and widespread allegations of manipulation imperil the wobbly transition to democratic rule and raise the specter of bitter post-election challenges of fraud.

The unprecedented participation of radical religious groups, including those banned for terrorist links but resurrected and renamed, has also raised fears the space for moderate thought may shrink further in Pakistan.

Attacks against minorities have increased in recent years. One candidate, Jibran Nasir, an independent from Pakistan’s financial hub of Karachi, received death threats and even had a fatwa or religious edict issued against him after he refused to condemn Ahmadis, who are reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics because they believe the messiah promised in Islam arrived over a century ago.

In Pakistan it is a crime for an Ahmadi to call himself a Muslim after a 1974 constitutional amendment declared them non-Muslims.

“I am speaking for the millions of Pakistanis who are too afraid to confront religious bigotry,” he said in a telephone interview. He also said that no arrests have been made of those who threatened him.

The leading contenders in Wednesday’s polling are former cricket star Imran Khan and his right-of-center Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party or PTI and the right-of-center Pakistan Muslim League, the party of disgraced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in jail serving 10 years on corruption charges. His younger brother Shahbaz Sharif took control of the party. The third-largest party in the running is the left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party, headed by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, assassinated by Pakistan’s Taliban militants, whom she had vowed to eradicate.

Election officials say more than 11,000 candidates are vying for 270 seats in Pakistan’s law-making Lower House of Parliament and 577 seats in four provincial assemblies. The 85,307 polling stations opened at 8 a.m. and will continue for 10 hours, an hour longer than in the 2013 polls. Voting for two parliament seats and six seats in provincial assemblies has been postponed due to attacks on candidates or disqualifications.

There are 105.96 million eligible voters in Pakistan, with 59.22 million men and 46.73 million women.

Pakistan’s election commission reminded candidates their elections will be nullified if the female voter turnout does not reach 10 percent. The requirement was imposed after the 2013 elections when several areas banned voting by women, mostly in Pakistan’s religiously conservative northwest. Some candidates were elected without a single woman marking a ballot.

The commission issued its reminder Tuesday after veteran rights activist, Tahira Abdullah, said local jirgas or councils of elders from 60 areas of the country, representing 16 different constituencies, had signed agreements banning women from voting.

Citing security worries, the election commission announced internet and mobile phone services in several districts in southwestern Baluchistan province has been suspended because of security issues. Some of the worst violence during campaigning occurred in Baluchistan, where earlier this month a suicide bomber devastated a political rally killing 149 people including the candidate, Siraj Raisani. Voting in that constituency is suspended.

Election commission secretary Babar Yaqub, told reporters late Tuesday that threats against polling stations, staff and even candidates have been received.

His statement came just hours after militants lobbed grenades and opened fire at a military convoy escorting election staffers and voting material in Baluchistan’s district of Turbat, killing four troops. At the request of the election commission, Pakistan’s military is deploying 350,000 troops countrywide outside and inside polling stations.

International and domestic election observers will monitor voting. The European Union Election Observation Mission has 120 monitors at polling stations in major centers across Pakistan, with the exception of southwestern Baluchistan province where a suicide bomber earlier this month killed 149 people, including a candidate.

Under Pakistani law, separate seats are reserved for women and for non-Muslim minorities, which comprise 4 percent of the population.

Voter turnout in 2013 was 54.8 percent.

A secretly recorded tape of US President Donald Trump by his longtime personal lawyer was played on CNN Tuesday night in which the two can be heard talking about a potential payment for a Playboy model’s story about an alleged affair and the soon-to-be president is heard discussing whether to “pay with cash.”

The audio recording , surreptitiously made by Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen two months before the 2016 presidential election, was provided to CNN by Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis.

The conversation between Trump and Cohen came weeks after the National Enquirer’s parent company reached a $150,000 deal to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of a 2006 affair, which it never published, a tabloid practice known as catch and kill. Trump denies the affair ever happened and his campaign had said he knew nothing about the payment.

Trump and Cohen appear to be discussing buying the rights to McDougal’s story from the Enquirer’s parent company.

Cohen can be heard on the tape saying that he needed to start a company “for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” a possible reference to David Pecker, Trump’s friend and president of the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc.

When Cohen begins to discuss financing, Trump interrupts him and asks, “What financing?”

“We’ll have to pay,” Cohen responded.

The audio is muffled, but Trump can be heard saying “pay with cash,” though it isn’t clear if he is suggesting to pay with cash or not to pay with cash. Cohen immediately says, “No, no, no” and Trump can then be heard saying, “check.”

A transcript of the conversation provided by Trump’s current attorney, Rudy Giuliani, says Trump actually said, “Don’t pay with cash…check.”

Last week, Giuliani said the recording would prove that “the president said it has to be done correctly and it has to be done by check.”

“The transcript that we provided CNN accurately reflects the taped conversation,” Giuliani told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“Listen to the tape. Donald Trump is not shocked money is being paid about someone named Karen McDougal,” Davis said during an interview with CNN.

Davis said his client — who is under investigation by federal officials in New York — “has been disparaged and insulted and called all kinds of things.”

“He’s got truth on his side and he’ll continue to tell the truth,” Davis said.

Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP on Tuesday night.

American Media, Inc.’s payment effectively silenced McDougal through the election, though days beforehand news of the deal emerged in The Wall Street Journal. At the time, a Trump spokeswoman said his campaign had “no knowledge of any of this.”

The FBI raided Cohen’s office, home and hotel room in April, searching in part for information about payments to McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 — which Trump denies — and was paid $130,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement signed days before the 2016 election.

A dozen audio recordings seized during those raids were forwarded to federal prosecutors last week after lawyers dropped challenges on attorney-client privilege grounds.

Trump and Cohen can also be heard discussing other legal issues, including fighting a request by The New York Times to unseal court records concerning Trump’s divorce from his first wife, Ivana.

The death toll from Greece’s deadliest wildfires in decades climbed to 74 Tuesday as rescue crews searched on land and sea for those who sought to escape the blazes that engulfed popular summer resort spots near Athens.

The number of victims appeared set to go even higher, with crews checking charred homes and vehicles and the coast guard scouring beaches and deeper waters. There was no definitive count of the missing.

Fueled by 80 kph (50 mph) winds that frequently changed direction, the fires — one to the west of Athens near the town of Kineta and another to the northeast near the port of Rafina — spread at speeds that surprised many, trapping hundreds on beaches and cutting off escape routes.

All the casualties appeared to be from the fire near Rafina, a popular seaside area that is a mix of permanent residences and vacation homes. The blaze broke out Monday afternoon during a hot, dry spell but the cause was not immediately clear. Aerial photos showed charred swathes of forest and homes.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared three days of national mourning. Apart from the dead, which included children, hospitals treated 187 people, most for burns, with 10 listed in serious condition.

Although it had abated by Tuesday afternoon, the blaze was far from extinguished and more than 230 firefighters were still trying to put it out, helped by volunteers and water-dropping aircraft. Another five fires continued to burn, with flare-ups reported in the blaze near Kineta. Authorities ordered the evacuation of some communities as a preventive measure.

Authorities urged the public to contact them about the missing. Many took to social media, posting photos and what was believed to be their last location before the fires hit.

Twenty-six of the dead were found after dawn Tuesday, huddled in a compound near the sea in the community of Mati, the worst-hit area near Rafina, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Athens.

Red Cross rescuers said they appeared to be families or groups of friends because they were found hugging in groups of threes and fours.

Hundreds of homes and cars were believed to have been burned. Many vehicles were found with the keys still in the ignition and doors open, a sign of the urgency with which their occupants sought to flee the flames. Narrow roads quickly became jammed, forcing many to try to escape on foot. The ferocity of the fire melted cars’ metal hub caps.

Many ran to beaches, but even there the fire got so close and the smoke was so thick that dozens swam out to sea despite the rough weather.

Coast guard and private boats picked up more than 700 survivors from beaches and the sea — but also recovered six bodies.

“It happened very fast. The fire was in the distance, then sparks from the fire reached us. Then the fire was all around us,” said Nikos Stavrinidis, who had gone with his wife to fix up his summer home for a visit by his daughter.

Stavrinidis, his wife and four friends swam out to sea to escape the smoke, but they quickly became disoriented, losing sight of shore and being swept out farther by the wind and currents. Two of his group didn’t survive.

“It is terrible to see the person next to you drowning and not being able to help him,” Stavrinidis said, his voice breaking. The rest of the survivors were picked up by a fishing boat with an Egyptian crew who jumped into the water to rescue them.

Rafina’s dock became a makeshift hospital overnight as paramedics examined survivors, some wearing only their bathing suits, after being dropped off by rescue boats.

Rafina Mayor Evangelos Bournous said his home had burned down and his family escaped by going into the sea.

The speed of the fires caught many by surprise.

Map shows locations of wildfires around Greece.

“Everything happened in seconds,” said Andreaas Passios, who lives next to the compound in Mati where the 26 bodies were found. “I grabbed a beach towel. It saved my life. I soaked it, grabbed my wife and we ran to the sea.”

Passios said he and his wife stayed by the sea for two hours.

“It was unbelievable. Gas canisters were exploding. Burning pine cones were flying everywhere,” he said.

Among the survivors was former Greek Communist Party leader Aleka Papariga.

“The police tried to direct us away from the fire, but we couldn’t escape it,” she said. “We got stuck in traffic and the flames were on top of us. We managed to find a small gap and we made it out.”

Local officials provided housing, food and clothes for those affected.

Greece sought help in fighting the fires from the European Union. Spain sent two firefighting aircraft, while Cyprus sent in 60 firefighters. Israel, Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy and Germany also offered assistance.

Over the two days, 47 brush and forest fires broke out across Greece, with most of them quickly extinguished, the fire department said.

Heavy rain was forecast Wednesday across southern Greece, and there was hope that could help firefighters.

Forest fires are common during Greece’s hot, dry summers and temperatures recently reached up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

In 2007, more than 60 people were killed when huge fires swept across the southern Peloponnese region.