GENEVA, OCT 03 (DNA) – The fight against the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has killed at least 722 people over the past five years, is honing in on its target: camels. MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a member of a virus family ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, appears to have emerged in humans in Saudi Arabia in 2012, but has now been traced back in camels to at least 1983. Almost all the outbreaks so far originated in the Arabian Gulf, but MERS-CoV could infect humans wherever there are one-humped dromedary camels – two-humped bactrians are not affected.
EU to kick off mid-term GSP Plus review this month
ISLAMABAD, OCT 03 (DNA) – The European Union, with the assistance of Pakistan, will undertake a mid-term review of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status by the middle of current month in a bid to assess the required measures already taken and the future plan of action designed by Islamabad. “Pakistan has improved its position on human development indicators over the past three years (since winning GSP Plus trade preference status in January 2014) and has shown impressive performance and extraordinary recovery in key competitiveness indicators,” a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce and Textile told.
Electricity prices reduce by Re 1.81 per unit
ISLAMABAD, OCT 03 (DNA) – The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has on Wednesday announced to reduce electricity price by Re 1.81 per unit for one month. The reduction has been made in respect of monthly fuel adjustment for the month of August. The decision will be implemented on users of all electricity distribution companies except K-electric. Those who consumed over 300 units will not be benefited from this decision.
Stopping aspirin therapy may raise heart attack, stroke risk
STOCKHOLM, OCT 01 (DNA) – Stopping low-dose aspirin therapy without good reason raises the likelihood of heart attack or stroke by nearly 40 percent, a large Swedish study suggests. Doctors commonly prescribe daily low-dose aspirin after a heart attack to reduce the risk of having a second cardiovascular event. But about one in six patients stop taking their aspirin within three years, the study authors note in Circulation. “(Low-dose aspirin) makes the platelets in the blood less likely to form blood clots, and this is especially useful in the coronary or carotid arteries, where blood clots may lead to myocardial infarctions and strokes,” lead author Dr. Johan Sundstrom told Reuters Health by email.
Cartoon Network at 25: sketching out a cutting-edge future
OCT 01 (DNA) – Sunday marks a quarter century since the Cartoon Network burst upon the pastel-colored landscape of American television animation, redefining the way kids’ entertainment was beamed into homes. Launched when ratings for morning cartoons were dropping and “The Simpsons” was starting to dominate primetime, many thought Turner Broadcasting Systems’s $320 million purchase of the Hanna-Barbera library was lunacy.
Florida: Police claim ‘clown murder’ mystery solved after 27 years
TALLAHASSEE, SEPT 29 (DNA) – Homicide investigators in Florida believe to have solved the 27-year-old bizarre murder case of a young woman shot dead in May of 1990 by a balloon-carrying clown who knocked at her door. Believed to have cracked the cold case, the authorities said on Thursday that the victim Marlene Warren was shot dead by Sheila Keen, who following her affair with Warren’s husband, later became his second wife.
Pakistan can face absolute water scarcity, drought by 2025: Experts
LAHORE, SEPT 27 (DNA) – Health experts have warned that Pakistan can approach absolute scarcity levels of water and face a drought as early as 2025. These hazards, pose not only threats to individual health but also to economic growth, food security and environmental sustainability, they said and added efforts to include environmental considerations in all phases of policy making, planning and development must be actively pursued. The experts expressed these views during a seminar held to observe “World Environmental Health Day 2017”, here on Tuesday. Project Management Unit-Punjab Public Health Agency (PMU-PPHA), Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, Government of the Punjab organized the event in collaboration with UNICEF.
Qatar, FIFA urged to protect 800,000 workers from desert heat
DUBAI, SEPT 27 (DNA) – World Cup 2022 host Qatar must urgently introduce laws to protect the lives of up to 800,000 migrant construction labourers working in scorching temperatures, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. The New York-based organisation also called on the Gulf state to investigate workers’ deaths and make those findings public. “The Qatari authorities’ failure to put in place the most basic protection from the heat, their decision to ignore recommendations that they investigate worker deaths, and their refusal to release data on these deaths, constitutes a wilful abdication of responsibility,” said report author Nicholas McGeehan.
Ousted Thai PM Yingluck sentenced to 5 years for negligence
BANGKOK, SEPT 27 (DNA) – Thailand s top court on Wednesday sentenced ousted premier Yingluck Shinawatra in absentia to five years in prison for criminal negligence, a verdict that likely ends the political career of a popular leader who fled the junta-run kingdom last month. Yingluck s administration was toppled in a 2014 coup and she was later put on trial for failing to stop corruption and losses in her government s rice subsidy scheme, which the court said cost the country billions of dollars. She pleaded innocent and accused the ruling junta of a political witch-hunt.
‘Please don’t grow up’, Akshay Kumar’s birthday wish for daughter
NEW DELHI, SEPT 26 (DNA) – Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has tweeted a surprising and heart-warming wish on his daughter Nitara’s birthday asking her “please don’t grow up”. Nitara turned five on Monday and the cute kid is already a fitness enthusiast, much like the parents. Akshay’s wife and actor-turned-writer Twinkle Khanna has earlier shared pictures on Instagram where she is seen teaching yoga to the daughter. Akshay, too has shared videos of Nitara learning self-defence techniques.
