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Despite the mammal’s death with her unborn calf, the team believes that IVF methods can save endangered African northern white rhinos

FILE PHOTO. © TONY KARUMBA / AFP

Scientists with the BioRescue research consortium in Kenya have recorded the world’s first pregnancy in a rhino following a successful embryo transfer, potentially paving the way to save Africa’s northern white subspecies from extinction.

The embryo of a southern white rhino, created in vitro from egg cells and sperm, was transferred into a surrogate mother at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy last year, the team said in a statement on Wednesday.

”The BioRescue team confirmed a pregnancy of 70 days with a well-developed 6.4 cm long male embryo,” it announced. However, the mother rhino named Curra and her fetus have died from a bacterial infection.

”It is bitter that this milestone is confirmed under such tragic circumstances with the death of the surrogate Curra and her unborn calf, but I am certain that this proof of concept is a turn of the tide for the survival of the northern white rhino and the health of Central-African ecosystems,” BioRescue project chief Thomas Hildebrandt said.

Fatu and her mother, Najin, are the world’s two remaining northern white rhinos, living on Kenya’s 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta wildlife conservancy, under protection from poaching.

The northern white rhino was pronounced functionally extinct after the last male, Sudan, died in 2018.

Last year, BioRescue announced that five new embryos had been created to rescue the endangered African mammal under the project, funded mainly by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The consortium said 18 eggs had been collected from Fatu and fertilized with sperm from two different bulls to improve genetic diversity. The zygotes were then cryopreserved – a process that keeps them at low temperatures for later transfer to surrogate-identified wild southern white rhino females – as neither Fatu nor Najin are able to carry a pregnancy to full term.

According to the scientists, the next step in the project will be to select and prepare a new teaser bull, which will reveal when potential surrogate mothers can be implanted with embryos.

Havana, Jan 25 (Prensa Latina) The first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, expressed his willingness to strengthen ties with the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), the Presidency informed on Thursday.

At a meeting with PCE Secretary General Enrique Santiago Romero at the Palace of the Revolution (seat of the Executive) on Wednesday , Díaz-Canel referred to the need for joint work on issues of international interest.

I think that there are many global issues; that we have to be sharing ideas; above all, visions from our positions, especially in view of the media manipulation of issues related to the visions of the leftist, socialist, communist parties, and also for the Third World, the Cuban president said.

The head of State also referred to the environment, or the necessary energy transition, which he considered essential, and to which poor countries do not know what their paths with solutions can be.

In this regard, Santiago Romero noted that capitalism is incompatible with the workers’ rights, with a dignified life, and “today it is already clear that this is “incompatible with the maintenance of life on the planet, of ecosystems, and is a risk of destruction for the human species.”

Havana, Jan 25 (Prensa Latina) President Miguel Díaz-Canel met with José Miguel Mejía, general secretary of the United Left Movement (MIU) party and Minister for Regional Integration Policies of the Dominican Republic, national television informed.

During the meeting on Wednesday at the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of the Government, the head of State expressed satisfaction with this new visit to Havana of the political leader and member of the Dominican Executive, who visited Cuba in 2022.

Díaz-Canel considers Mejía “a great friend of Cuba.”

The president was interested in the program conducted by Mejía in this capital and sent a greeting to his Dominican counterpart, Luis Abinader, to whom he reiterated the invitation to visit Cuba officially when his agenda allows it.

Both leaders acknowledged the MIU’s historic position in supporting Cuba and its solidarity against the economic, commercial, and financial blockade of the United States imposed on Cuba, which has lasted for more than 60 years and is currently being tightened.

Roberto Morales, a member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC); Emilio Lozada, head of the International Relations Department of the PCC Central Committee; and Juan Carlos Frómeta, an officer of the same party, attended the meeting.

Chinese tourists pose for photos with the Merlion statue at Marina Bay in Singapore, May 3, 2023. (File photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)

Singapore (VNA) - Singapore and China have agreed to a 30-day mutual visa-free entry for their citizens, which will formally come into force on February 9 - the eve of the Lunar New Year.

As reported by the Channel News Asia, plans for the 30-day mutual visa exemption agreement were announced last December during the two countries’ highest-level annual bilateral forum, which was co-chaired by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.

Singaporeans holding ordinary passports can currently enter China without a visa for 15 days for purposes like sightseeing, visiting family and business. China resumed this arrangement in July last year, more than three years after it was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese citizens currently require a visa to enter Singapore.

Between January and November 2023, Singapore welcomed a total of 12.4 million tourists, of which the number of Chinese visitors was just over 1.2 million.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3431281

Image link https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_lossless,ret_img,w_1536/https://laotiantimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/wirestory_99a965b424adfe60f97a1c42a04d2c0e_16x9-1536x864.jpg Police officers gather outside the Kyoto District Court in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, 25 January 2024, ahead of the sentencing hearing for Shinji Aoba, who has confessed to a deadly arson attack in July 2019 on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio. Aoba was convicted of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out the shocking arson attack on the anime studio that killed 36 people and drew an outpouring of grief from anime fans worldwide. (Miki Matsuzaki/Kyodo News via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out a shocking arson attack on an anime studio in Kyoto, Japan, that killed 36 people.

The Kyoto District Court said it found the defendant, Shinji Aoba, mentally capable to face punishment for the crimes and announced his capital punishment after a recess in a two-part session on Thursday.

Aoba stormed into Kyoto Animation’s No. 1 studio on 18 July, 2019, and set it on fire. Many of the victims were believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. More than 30 other people were badly burned or injured.

This past Monday heavy rains hit Southern California, triggering dangerous flash flooding and mudslides across the region. Hundreds of people were in need of emergency rescue due to the intensity of the flooding, with many people losing all their belongings.

Image link https://www.wsws.org/asset/012b0c2d-cc5a-483a-a600-88a1f1dacd74?rendition=image1280 Marlene Sanchez-Barriento salvages items behind her home damaged by flooding on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 in San Diego. [AP Photo/Denis Poroy]

Thousands of residents were unaware of the immense danger until the floodwaters entered their homes. Miraculously, no deaths have been reported as of this writing.

Due to the large storm originating in the Western Pacific, San Diego County experienced historic levels of flash flooding. An alarming one inch an hour or more of water was falling in many places across the county, including National City, Point Loma and San Diego.

The airport in San Diego recorded 2.73 inches of rain, breaking the record for the wettest January day in San Diego County ever recorded and the fourth wettest day ever recorded, according to the National Weather Service. The catastrophic flooding provoked multiple emergency declarations by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in San Diego and Ventura counties.

The San Diego River and the Tijuana River overflowed, flooding the nearby communities of Mountain View, Southcrest and Shelltown, as well as multiple highways, which were inundated with several feet of water. In Southcrest, hundreds of families were rescued after a creek overflowed threatening their lives. According to San Diego’s fire department, at least 24 people had been rescued from overrunning rivers, and hundreds more were rescued from flash floods across the county, as well as 30 animals. Even more San Diegans were displaced by the floods, while 1,000 residents were still without power into Tuesday.

Southern California boasts some of the highest rates of homelessness in the country. In San Diego alone, more than 10,000 homeless people are especially vulnerable to intense storms. Normally, the city experiences two inches of rain a month during the winter season.

However, in National City, the storm produced three inches of rain in the span of three hours. The water drainage system in the city failed due to the high volume of water over such a short period of time and inadequate maintenance of drainage systems. Images and videos on social media show cars floating away at the mercy of the floods and entire neighborhoods severely flooded.

Link to Twitter/Nitter video of flood https://nitter.net/i/status/1749548699146162320

According to San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. Zee Sanchez, water flooded into homes in the Spring Valley and Casa de Oro neighborhoods, prompting rescue efforts. Other residents were forced to escape by walking through waist-high water carrying their children and pets to safety.

Insultingly, insurance corporations are refusing to cover or assist families who lost their homes to floods. In a region that historically has had very little rainfall, very few residents have flood insurance.

According to the mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria (Democrat), early conservative estimates of damages from the floods and mudslides are $6 million, but that is likely to rise. The devastation by unpredictably heavy rainfall that coastal cities are prone to, particularly with the oceans warming due to climate change, coupled with the sheer scale of damage to infrastructure and homes, calls into question San Diego’s current building codes.

The devastating storm and floods came with little warning to residents, who had to flee for their lives completely unprepared. While doing a tour of the immense damage left by the storm Tuesday morning, Mayor Gloria attempted to block any political blame for the devastation, telling Fox 5, “We knew it was going to rain, but no one told us that we were going to get four inches of rain right here in Point Loma. … What that did was overwhelm our city’s stormwater drainage system to the point where we see an extraordinary amount of flooding all across the city, but particularly impacted our southeastern communities that today are now cleaning out and cleaning out for many days to come.”

While it may be true that unprecedented weather events, particularly in a coastal city, can be difficult to anticipate, this does not explain why there is not adequate infrastructure being built to deal with more intense storms as they are expected to increase in Southern California.

It is no secret that one of the trends of climate change is an increased intensity of storms in the Southwest of the United States. Last August, Hurricane Hilary swept through Southern California and devastated much of the state’s southeastern desert regions. Hurricane Hilary started as a tropical storm but quickly strengthened to a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

As the latest catastrophe demonstrates, San Diego’s severely outdated water drainage system is in urgent need of repair and maintenance that have not been allocated by the city’s budget. While the city neglects infrastructure maintenance, over half a billion dollars was appropriated to the police department last year.

Other parts of California also suffered from the extreme weather. In the town of Guerneville, north of San Francisco, four inches of rain within 24 hours caused a creek to overflow, forcing the closure of schools Monday. In the mountains around Lake Tahoe in Northern California, the storm is expected to bring up to a foot of snow, as well as 60 mph winds, prompting an avalanche warning through Tuesday morning.

These events are part of an international trend of chaotic and dangerous weather patterns, which are increasing in frequency due to climate change. Last month, there was record-breaking torrential rain in northwestern Queensland, Australia which provoked mass flooding and landslides. Earlier this month, an arctic blast which affected almost every state in the US and exposed 231 million Americans to dangerously cold conditions, resulted in numerous deaths. The tragic consequences of these weather disasters expose the ruling class’s criminal failure to make and maintain safe public infrastructure.

Total household energy debt in the UK has reached nearly $3.8 billion and continues to grow, according to Citizens Advice

© Getty Images / coldsnowstorm

More than 1.4 million people in the UK have been disconnected from the energy grid since November as consumers struggle to pay their bills this winter, according to new research by state-funded Citizens Advice.

Published on Tuesday, the study shows that over 3 million people have been cut off from energy in the last year because they could not afford to top up their prepayment meter. The average energy debt had increased to £1,835 ($2,332) by the end of 2023, up from £1,579 a year earlier. As the total energy debt pile – currently at £2.9 billion – continues to rise, it is weighing down millions of consumers and risks becoming unsustainable for the sector, the researchers warned.

Data shows that over 5 million people live in homes with an energy debt, and are at greater risk as a result of actions to reduce costs, including turning off the heating or skipping meals.

“The rest of winter looks set to be even worse, with prices rising 5% this month and colder weather seeing typical household energy usage reach its highest point,” Citizens Advice wrote. “We estimate that over 2 million people will disconnect because they can’t afford to top up by the end of winter.”

The report comes as the energy price cap in Britain has risen this month. With the situation predicted to ease somewhat from April, bills will still be 40% higher than they were in 2021, Citizens Advice wrote. “We risk an annual winter crisis unless action is taken to help those struggling most,” the report warned.

Germany's rail network has been brought to a standstill after the country's leading train drivers union launched a six-day-strike as part of a long-running pay dispute.

The decision marks the longest strike in the history of state rail firm Deutsche Bahn and comes after months of shorter bouts of industrial action.

Passengers are being warned of major disruption, with thousands of services being cancelled across the country's high-speed, intercity, regional and metro networks. Affected ticket holders are being given the option to rebook with no penalty or a full refund.

The strike, which began at 2am local time on Wednesday morning is expected to last until Monday evening, follows intense negotiations between union leaders and Deutsche Bahn's management over salary increases for drivers.

With platforms largely empty at key rail hubs in Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich, passengers were left scrambling trying to find alternative means of transportation.

"I'm a little frustrated because trains which were announced as running this morning as part of the emergency schedule at the end never arrived. It's annoying but I have to live with it," said stranded passenger Torsten Ilgenstein.

"Six days is exaggerated, quite honestly. Especially in the current situation, we don't need a six-day train strike," said Andrea Kretschmer.

More pay, less hours

Drivers are asking for higher salaries to compensate for rising inflation, and to have their working hours reduced from 38 to 35 a week with no loss of wages.

Executives from Deutsche Bahn have criticised the demands.

"This six-day GdL strike is the longest in Deutsche Bahn's history. We tried to avert it up to the very last moment but the GdL refused and escalated the situation. There are currently massive restrictions to train services across the country," said company spokesperson Anja Broeker.

GdL union leader Claus Weselsky told German broadcaster ARD defended the disruption, saying the current offers put on the table by the rail company weren't adequate.

"We have to strike longer and harder because the railway management is resistant to advice," he said.

"Sand in the gears"

Freight train drivers have also joined the strike, with analysts warning disruption to the logistics sector could spell trouble for Europe's biggest economy.

"The strike itself will not trigger a recession, but it will throw sand in the gears of an engine that is not running smoothly anyway. And all of us know that we are currently facing a number of burdens. We really don't need this on top," said Michael Groemling, an economist with the Cologne Institute for Economic Research.

The management of Deutsche Bahn has also sharpened its rhetoric against the union about the impact its decisions are having on the economy.

"This six-day GdL strike has massive implications on the economy. If you will, the GdL is also on strike against the economy in Germany and Europe. Cancellations can already be felt in European freight traffic and as far as the economic impact is concerned, we must count on it being massive," said Broeker.

Havana, Jan 24 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban government today approved a three-month increase in the social benefit for maternity, as part of the actions planned to correct distortions and boost the economy in 2024.

Granma newspaper reported that the communiqué informing the measure, published on the government’s official networks, explains that protecting the most precious thing for our family, infants, is a priority for the Revolution.

Granma adds that from this moment on, mothers and fathers will be able to be with their babies until they are 15 months old, three more than the 12 months established so far. This is the second time in less than five years that Cuba has adopted a resolution of great benefit for parents and their families.

In October 2021 the approval by the Council of State, Decree Law 56 “On Working Mothers and the Responsibility of Families” increased and equalized guarantees for working mothers in the state and non-state sector.

This decree is also noteworthy because it included the payment of 100 percent of the worker’s salary in the event of a risky pregnancy and the elimination of the requirement of having worked 75 days to be entitled to receive economic and social benefits.

In turn, the entry into force of Decree Law 71 in 2023 extended the exercise of the right to protection for the care of the daughter or child to other working persons.

This new regulation introduced changes in line with the Family Code as a consequence of multiparentality, adoptive, assisted and socio-affective filiation.

BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- By the end of 2023, all pre-roll advertisements had been removed from China's cable TV and Internet Protocol TV services as the result of a targeted campaign, according to an inter-agency meeting on Tuesday.

The ongoing campaign aims to tackle unreasonable TV fees and streamline TV services for the benefit of audiences, said the meeting, which was held by authorities including the National Radio and Television Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the State Administration for Market Regulation.

In over four months, the initial phase of the campaign also led to an average reduction of more than 50 percent in various TV package fees, and audience-friendly upgrades to TV home screens, navigation, fee-charging services and applications, according to the meeting.

CHANGCHUN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Jilin, a key agricultural province in northeast China, reported grain production of 41.87 billion kilograms in 2023, setting a new record, despite the challenges posed by floods in certain regions.

The average grain yield per mu (approximately 0.067 hectares) stood at 479.1 kg last year, positioning the province at the forefront of grain-producing regions nationwide, according to the government work report released at the annual session of the Jilin Provincial People's Congress on Wednesday.

In 2023, the province implemented a raft of measures to increase grain output, such as expanding cultivated areas, improving the quality of farmland and seeds, and promoting agricultural machinery.

The province developed nearly 8 million mu of high-standard cropland and 254,000 mu of arable land transformed from saline-alkali soil. The integrated mechanization rate for crop cultivation reached 94 percent, the government work report said.

Jilin Province plays a crucial role as one of China's significant commodity grain bases.

In 2024, the grain production of Jilin is expected to surpass 44 billion kg. It strives to develop all permanent basic cropland into high-standard cropland by 2027, it noted.

Image too large to upload. Check link for image FILE PHOTO: National flags are placed outside a room in Beijing, China, January 23, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — China, which once criticized and urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to “read more to develop a proper understanding” on the Taiwan issue, now said it appreciates the chief executive’s assurance that the Philippines adheres to the One China Policy.

“We appreciate President Marcos reiterating the Philippines adherence to the one-China policy, emphasizing Taiwan is a province of China and the Philippines not endorsing Taiwan independence,” said the China Embassy in Manila in a statement on Wednesday.

This, after Marcos made it clear that he only extended greetings to Taiwan’s Lai Ching-te “out of common courtesy.

The Department of Foreign Affairs previously explained that President Marcos’ controversial congratulatory message to Lai was only his way of thanking them for hosting nearly 200,000 Taiwan-based Filipino workers.

“Nevertheless, the Philippines reaffirms its One China Policy,” DFA told reporters then.

Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy on Wednesday said “there is but one China in the world” and that Taiwan “is an inalienable part of China’s territory.”

“The complete reunification of China is where global opinion trends and where the arc of history bends. China will realize reunification, and this is unstoppable,” it added.