IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • Pet exposure may reduce allergy and obesity

    {Research shows having a dog early in life may alter gut bacteria in immune-boosting ways}

    If you need a reason to become a dog lover, how about their ability to help protect kids from allergies and obesity?

    A new University of Alberta study showed that babies from families with pets — 70 per cent of which were dogs — showed higher levels of two types of microbes associated with lower risks of allergic disease and obesity.

    But don’t rush out to adopt a furry friend just yet.

    “There’s definitely a critical window of time when gut immunity and microbes co-develop, and when disruptions to the process result in changes to gut immunity,” said Anita Kozyrskyj, a U of A pediatric epidemiologist and one of the world’s leading researchers on gut microbes — microorganisms or bacteria that live in the digestive tracts of humans and animals.

    The latest findings from Kozyrskyj and her team’s work on fecal samples collected from infants registered in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development study build on two decades of research that show children who grow up with dogs have lower rates of asthma.

    The theory is that exposure to dirt and bacteria early in life — for example, in a dog’s fur and on its paws — can create early immunity, though researchers aren’t sure whether the effect occurs from bacteria on the furry friends or from human transfer by touching the pets, said Kozyrskyj.

    Her team of 12, including study co-author and U of A post-doctoral fellow Hein Min Tun, take the science one step closer to understanding the connection by identifying that exposure to pets in the womb or up to three months after birth increases the abundance of two bacteria, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira, which have been linked with reduced childhood allergies and obesity, respectively.

    “The abundance of these two bacteria were increased twofold when there was a pet in the house,” said Kozyrskyj, adding that the pet exposure was shown to affect the gut microbiome indirectly — from dog to mother to unborn baby — during pregnancy as well as during the first three months of the baby’s life. In other words, even if the dog had been given away for adoption just before the woman gave birth, the healthy microbiome exchange could still take place.

    The study also showed that the immunity-boosting exchange occurred even in three birth scenarios known for reducing immunity, as shown in Kozyrskyj’s previous work: C-section versus vaginal delivery, antibiotics during birth and lack of breastfeeding.

    What’s more, Kozyrskyj’s study suggested that the presence of pets in the house reduced the likelihood of the transmission of vaginal GBS (group B Strep) during birth, which causes pneumonia in newborns and is prevented by giving mothers antibiotics during delivery.

    It’s far too early to predict how this finding will play out in the future, but Kozyrskyj doesn’t rule out the concept of a “dog in a pill” as a preventive tool for allergies and obesity.

    “It’s not far-fetched that the pharmaceutical industry will try to create a supplement of these microbiomes, much like was done with probiotics,” she said.

    Source:Science Daily

  • Duterte orders Philippine troops to South China Sea reefs

    {Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he has ordered troops to deploy on unoccupied South China Sea islands, boosting the military presence on remote reefs claimed by Manila in a move that could provoke rival claimants including Beijing.}

    “It looks like everybody is making a grab for the islands there, so we better live on those that are still vacant,” he told reporters during a televised visit to a military camp on the western island of Palawan, near the disputed Spratly group.

    China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea despite rival claims from Southeast Asian neighbours and has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.

    Duterte has previously sought to improve his nation’s relations with Beijing by adopting a non-confrontational approach over their competing claims in the strategically vital waters.

    But the president appeared to alter his tone with his announcement Thursday, saying it was time to “erect structures there and raise the Philippine flag”.

    “I have ordered the armed forces to occupy all,” Duterte said.

    “At least, let us get what is ours now and make a strong point there that it is ours,” he said, adding Manila was claiming “nine or 10” Spratly islands, reefs and cays.

    The defence department later said that nine outcrops “are already in our possession” and occupied by marines, including Thitu island where the Philippine military maintains an airstrip.

    Its statement suggested that Duterte’s plan was to beef up contingents on the reefs.

    “The president wants facilities built such as barracks for the men, water (desalination) and sewage disposal systems, power generators, light houses, and shelters for fishermen,” the defence department said.

    – Race for possession –

    After China occupied Mischief Reef in the mid-1990s, the Philippines marooned a decrepit navy vessel atop nearby Second Thomas Shoal to assert Manila’s territorial claim and has kept the rusting boat manned ever since.

    Duterte also said he could visit Thitu island on June 12 to mark Philippine Independence Day and raise the nation’s flag there.

    An official at the Chinese embassy in Manila seemed surprised when asked by AFP to comment on Duterte’s declaration, but referred questions on the matter to the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing.

    The Philippines under Duterte’s predecessor Benigno Aquino actively challenged China’s claim to control most of the South China Sea including taking the claim to a UN-backed tribunal, which ruled in its favour last year.

    But the controversial Duterte, who took office last year on a promises to kill thousands of people in a drug war, reversed that policy as he sought billions of dollars worth of investments and grants from Beijing.

    China now controls several reefs in the South China Sea including Scarborough Shoal — which Beijing seized from the Manila in 2012 — and is just 230 kilometres (143 miles) from the main Philippine island of Luzon.

    The two neighbours are scheduled to hold talks in China in May to tackle issues related to the sea row.

    Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also sparred with Beijing over territory in the disputed waterway.

    US President Donald Trump’s administration has so far taken a tough stance on China’s claims in the South China Sea, insisting it will defend international interests there.

    Trump is set to sit down with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later in the day to discuss a range of issues which will likely include tensions in the South China Sea.

    Source:AFP

  • Global tobacco death toll still climbing

    {The percentage of men and women who use tobacco every day has dropped in most nations since 1990, but the total number of smokers and tobacco-related deaths has increased, a consortium of researchers reported Thursday.}

    Mortality could rise even further as major tobacco companies aggressively target new markets, especially in the developing world, they warned in a major study, published in the medical journal The Lancet.

    One in four men and one in 20 women smoked daily in 2015, according to the Global Burden of Diseases report, compiled by hundreds of scientists.

    That was a significant drop compared to 25 years earlier, when one in three men, and one in 12 women, lit up every day.

    But the number of deaths attributed to tobacco — which topped 6.4 million in 2015 — went up by 4.7 percent over the same period due to the expanding world population, the report found.

    “Sadly, all those deaths were preventable,” senior author Emmanuela Gakidou from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington told AFP.

    “The deaths of all the people who will die next year and the year after that, and so on, are also preventable.”

    More than 930 million people smoked daily in 2015, compared to 870 million in 1990 — a seven percent jump.

    Smoking causes one in ten deaths worldwide, half of them in just four countries: China, India, the United States and Russia.

    Together with Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Japan, Brazil, and Germany, they account for fully two-thirds of global tobacco use.

    “Smoking remains the second largest risk factor for early death and disability” after high blood pressure, Gakidou said.

    – ‘Lives for profit’ –

    Some countries have seen sharp reductions in smoking driven by some combination of higher taxes, education campaigns, package warnings and programmes to help people kick the nicotine habit.

    Brazil was among the leaders over the 25-year period examined, with the percentage of daily smokers dropping from 29 to 12 percent among men, and from 19 to eight percent among women.

    But Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines — where 47, 38 and 35 percent of men smoke, respectively — saw no change from 1990 to 2015.

    In Russia — where tobacco control policies were not put into place until 2014 — the percentage of women who smoke climbed by more than four percent over the same period.

    Similar trends are emerging in much of Africa, the authors cautioned.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) projects that the number of men and women smoking in sub-Saharan Africa will go up 50 percent by 2025, compared to 2010 levels.

    “Future mortality in low- and middle-income countries is likely to be huge,” John Britton from the University of Nottingham’s UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies wrote in a comment, also in The Lancet.

    Responsibility for the global tobacco epidemic lies mainly with a handful of multinational companies based in rich countries, he said.

    “The modern tobacco industry profits from enslaving children and young people in poor countries into a lifelong addiction, and ultimately taking their lives for profit,” he told AFP.

    The global response — including a 180-nation “tobacco control” treaty inked in 2005 — has focused mostly on users and not the supply, he added.

    The WHO has noted that “tobacco is the only legal drug that kills many of its users when used exactly as intended by the manufacturers.”

    It is estimated that half of daily smokers will die prematurely due to their tobacco habit unless they quit.

    Failure to stop the epidemic means that “scarce resources will be used to treat tobacco-caused problems such as cardiovascular disease, cancers and chronic respiratory disease,” Gakidou said.

    Source:AFP

  • India police arrest three over cow vigilante murder

    {Police said Thursday they have arrested three people for murder over the death of a Muslim man attacked while transporting cows in India, in the latest incidence of violence over the animal Hindus revere.}

    Pehlu Khan, a 55-year-old farmer, died in hospital on Monday after around 200 vigilantes attacked trucks carrying cattle on a highway in Alwar in the western state of Rajasthan.

    Cow slaughter is illegal in many Indian states, and vigilante squads that roam the highways checking livestock trucks for animals being transported across state borders have proliferated since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

    Police are still trying to identify most of the 200 vigilantes who attacked Khan and injured six others as they transported dozens of cows into a neighbouring state.

    Alwar police chief Rahul Prakash said they arrested three late Wednesday after examining video footage shot by onlookers and broadcast by the media.

    “We saw the videos and identified at least five people who were at the spot. We called those five people to the police station and found that three of them were directly involved in assault on the victims,” Prakash told AFP.

    Prakash said police had also arrested 11 survivors of the attack, charging them under various sections of Rajasthan’s cow protection law.

    Rajasthan is among the states that ban cow slaughter, and authorities also require anyone transporting the animals across state borders to have a licence.

    Rajasthan’s BJP home minister Gulab Chand Kataria told reporters earlier that both sides were to blame for the incident on Saturday.

    Khan’s death sparked outrage Thursday in India’s upper house of parliament, where opposition lawmakers shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government.

    Rahul Gandhi, vice president of the opposition Congress party, said there had been a “shocking” breakdown of law and order.

    “When government abdicates responsibility and allows lynch mobs to rule, tragedies of immense proportion follow,” he tweeted.

    At least 10 Muslim men have been killed in similar incidents across the country by Hindu mobs on suspicion of eating beef or smuggling cows in the last two years.

    In 2015 a Muslim man was lynched by his neighbours over rumours that he had slaughtered a cow. Police later said the meat was mutton.

    Last month a hotel manager was beaten in Rajasthan after Hindu vigilantes accused him of serving beef.

    Millions from India’s huge minority populations — including Muslims, Christians and lower-caste Hindus — eat beef.

    India is also the world’s largest exporter of beef, although most of the meat comes from buffalo, which are not considered sacred.

    But right-wing Hindu groups have long demanded a complete ban on the slaughter of all cattle, citing religious scripture.

    Source:AFP

  • King Abdullah praises Trump’s Israel-Palestine efforts

    {King of Jordan welcomes Trump’s ‘holistic approach’ as US leader vows commitment to bringing stability to Middle East.}

    King Abdullah II of Jordan has expressed his trust in US President Donald Trump’s vision of tackling challenges in the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Speaking in front of the White House together with Trump, the Arab monarch said on Wednesday that the US leader’s “early engagement is beginning to bring Palestinians and Israelis together”.

    “I am very delighted for your vision and holistic approach to all the challenges in the region,” he told Trump.

    “There is a lot of responsibility for all of us in the international community to support the president of the United States and the American people to bring brighter days to all of us.”

    Trump said he was working “very, very hard on trying to finally create peace between Palestinians and Israel and I think we will be successful, I hope to be successful”.

    He also said the Jordanian leader – “a tireless advocate for a solution” – would help him with his mission.

    “Working together, the United States and Jordan can help bring peace and stability to the Middle East and in fact to the entire world. And we will do that,” said Trump.

    A two-state solution – the idea of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side and at peace – has been the bedrock of US diplomacy for the past two decades.

    The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with the capital in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

    Trump sparked international criticism in February when he suggested, in a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that he would no longer insist on the creation of an independent Palestinian state as part of any future peace accord.

    In an interview several weeks later, he clarified that he would be “satisfied with whatever [solution] makes both parties happy”.

    Netanyahu committed, with conditions, to the two-state solution in a speech in 2009 and has broadly reiterated the aim since. But he has also spoken of a “state minus” option, suggesting he could offer the Palestinians deep-seated autonomy and the trappings of statehood without full sovereignty.

    While Netanyahu has paid rhetorical tribute to the two-state solution, the construction of Jewish-only settlements in occupied territory under his administration has escalated dramatically. Analysts have repeatedly hinted the idea of a two-state solution is dead.

    Since January the Israeli government, emboldened Trump’s inauguration, has authorised the construction of more than 6,000 illegal settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, including 719 in East Jerusalem.

    Analysts say the increase in settlement marks a shift in strategyfrom the Israeli government’s more cautious approach under the Obama administration.

    In recent weeks a number of Israeli Knesset members have proposed a law to annex the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem, along with other settlements in close proximity to the city.

    In February of this year, the Israeli parliament passed a bill that retroactively legalises the seizure of private Palestinian land on which settlements have already been established.

    More than half a million Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to leading Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

    {{‘Unsustainable status quo’}}

    Former Jordanian prime minister Samir al-Rifai told Al Jazeera the king’s visit to Washington was important for Jordan and for the Middle East as a whole.

    “At this juncture, given the conflicts in the region along with the deterioration of the peace process, the status quo is not sustainable,” he said.

    Rifai also praised the Jordanian leader’s efforts to urge the US government to play “a constructive role to end the plight of the Palestinian people and establish a Palestinian state”.

    “The continued reluctance to drive the process forward and establish an independent Palestinian state is hindering any chance for peace and security in the region and is fueling the fire of hate and giving various actors fodder to continue with their destructive agendas,” he said.

    Adnan Abu Odeh, Jordan’s former information minister and chief of the royal court under the late King Hussein, told Al Jazeera he was sceptical whether the US could really help advance peace in the region, particularly by ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands or advancing a two-state solution.

    “The United States and Israel are one side, therefore the US should not be treated as a third party who is supposed to be a broker of peace talks with Israel,” he said.

    “While the US is falsely presenting itself as a third party, Arab states constructed an alternate reality in order to believe it.”

    Trump said the Jordanian leader would help him with his Middle East mission

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • South Africa court permits domestic trade in rhino horns

    {South Africa’s constitutional court has rejected an attempt by the government to keep a ban on the domestic trade in rhino horns.}

    The ruling that the application be dismissed means that rhino horns can effectively be traded in the country.

    Rhino breeders argue that legalising the trade could cut the number of rhinos slaughtered as horns can be sawn off anaesthetised live animals.

    However many conservationists disagree with the proposed policy.

    The department of environmental affairs said authorities were still considering the implications of Wednesday’s judgment.

    “It is important to note that permits are required to sell or buy rhino horn,” the department’s spokesman, Albie Modise, said in a statement.

    The ruling only applies to the industry in South Africa as a ban on international trade remains in force.

    Rhino breeders who have argued that open trade is the only way to prevent widespread slaughter of the animal welcomed the ruling.

    “We are absolutely delighted at the ruling by the constitutional court,” Pelham Jones, chairman of the Private Rhino Owners Association (PROA), told AFP news agency.
    Breeders also argue that the process is not permanent as the horns grow back.

    The Helping Rhinos organisation however tweeted that the ruling was “disastrous”.

    South Africa is thought to be home to around 20,000 rhinos, around 80% of the worldwide population. More than 1,000 rhino were killed by poachers in South Africa in 2016.

    Source:BBC

  • Gambians vote in first post-Jammeh poll

    {Gambians have begun voting for members of their one-chamber parliament in the the first polls since Yahya Jammeh left power after more than 22 years.}

    Under Mr Jammeh, the National Assembly was frequently ignored as the president enacted executive decrees without consultation.

    Expectations are high that under the new president, Adama Barrow, parliament will play a key part in lawmaking.

    Mr Barrow has pledged to carry out political, security and media reforms.

    As part of his proposed reform, he is setting up a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate abuses committed under Mr Jammeh’s rule.

    Mr Jammeh sparked a political and constitutional crisis by refusing to leave office following his defeat in the December 2016 presidential election.

    He finally headed for exile on 21 January after neighbouring countries threatened to remove him by force.

    {{What happened in the last parliamentary elections?}}

    Mr Jammeh’s then-ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) won 43 out of 53 seats in 2012.

    The opposition largely boycotted the polls and one opposition member was elected. Four independent candidates also won seats.

    The president had the power to select a further five members, which he did.

    {{What is the current situation?}}

    A coalition of seven parties that supported President Barrow during the presidential election has collapsed.

    And the list of parliamentary candidates shows parties formerly in the coalition vying against each other in various constituencies.

    President Barrow used to be a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), but quit after being chosen as the opposition coalition’s presidential candidate so as not to be seen as favouring one party within the grouping.

    Mr Jammeh’s APRC remains intact, and is taking part in the election as an opposition party for the first time since he seized power in a 1994 coup.

    {{What is the electoral process?}}

    The National Assembly is made up of 53 MPs who serve for a five-year term.

    In the past, 48 were elected by voters while five were appointed by the president.

    This time, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has declared that all 53 constituencies will be contested and it has published a list of the 239 candidates contesting seats.

    To qualify a candidate must be at least 21 years old but a law requiring candidates to pay $10,000 (£8,000) has recently been repealed.

    {{How is voting carried out?}}

    Any citizen aged 18 years or older and of sound mind has the right to vote.

    The IEC rules say voters must be on the electoral register and have a polling card.

    Also, they must attend the right polling station and avoid turning up drunk.

    There are 886,578 registered voters, who will make their choice of candidate by dropping marbles into drums – the method The Gambia has long used in elections.

    This is said to prevent possible multiple voting and presiding officers “listen to the sound of the marble/token hitting the drum”.

    {{Who are the electoral observers?}}

    Both local and foreign observers are expected.

    The European Union has deployed an observation mission, with 20 people who will monitor the ballot across the country.

    The authorities banned the EU from monitoring the last presidential elections. However, African Union officials were allowed.

    {{What is the likely outcome of the poll?}}

    Local media have said that the vote will be one of the closest since the country’s independence in 1965.

    President Barrow needs a majority in the National Assembly if he is to successfully push through his political reforms.

    But with the break-up of the coalition that sponsored him at the last election, there are doubts whether now independent parties will continue to back him.

    Mr Barrow has campaigned for pro-government candidates, but it is unclear whether the poll winners will continue to support him.

    And the opposition APRC may take advantage of the situation to win seats. If it succeeds, it is likely to frustrate the government’s agenda.

    Source:BBC

  • South Africa’s ANC stands by President Jacob Zuma

    {ANC rejects calls for President Jacob Zuma to resign over controversial sacking of finance minister Pravin Gordhan.}

    South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has won the backing of the ruling ANC party, which rejected calls for him to resign over a controversial cabinet reshuffle.

    The African National Congress on Wednesday acknowledged growing calls for Zuma to step down, admitting to “serious and difficult disagreement” over the president’s sacking of respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan last week.

    Zuma could either be ousted by the ANC recalling him, or a vote of no confidence in parliament that has been scheduled for April 18.

    The party retains a large majority in parliament, and Zuma has easily survived previous confidence votes.

    ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told reporters on Wednesday that although the party had “reflected” on the resignation demands, “we won’t recall President Jacob Zuma because opposition parties say so. It won’t work that way”.

    Zuma has been under fire for several days – including from within his own camp – after dismissing Gordhan, a decision that caused the rand currency to plummet.

    Gordhan’s removal triggered unprecedented criticism from Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as well as the party’s treasurer and several ANC allies.

    Ramaphosa, who could succeed Zuma, described it as “totally unacceptable”.

    South Africa’s powerful trade union federation Cosatu this week joined many anti-apartheid veterans, business leaders and civil action groups calling for Zuma to step down.

    Mantashe – who was among those who had hit out at Zuma in recent days – said ANC would “close ranks” around the president and the party would iron out its differences with trade unions.

    Mantashe blamed Gordhan’s sacking on “the irretrievable breakdown” in relations with the president.

    Gordhan was at loggerheads with Zuma for months, receiving support from several ministers and major foreign investors, as well as many ordinary South Africans.

    Gordhan had campaigned for budget discipline and against corruption, but Zuma’s allies accused him of thwarting the president’s desire to enact radical policies to tackle racial inequality.

    Gordhan’s sacking contributed to a credit ratings downgrade to junk status on Monday by Standard & Poor’s, further fuelling calls for Zuma to step down.

    The president has defended his change at the Treasury, saying that the government’s financial policies remained the same.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Morocco’s king names new coalition government

    {Appointments come after new prime minister agreed to form government with five parties, ending a political deadlock.}

    After six months of post-election deadlock, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI named a new cabinet on Wednesday led by the main Islamist Justice and Development (PJD) party, which lost a key ministry in negotiations with rivals.

    PJD won parliamentary elections in October, but the formation of a government was delayed during negotiations with parties who critics say were too close to royalists uneasy with sharing power with Islamists.

    In March, Morocco’s new Prime Minister Saad Eddine el-Othmani agreed to form a coalition government with five other parties, something former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane failed to do, leading to his dismissal.

    Under Moroccan law no party can win an outright majority in the 395-seat parliament, making coalition governments a necessity in a system where the king holds ultimate power despite ceding some authority during protests for reforms in 2011.

    The new cabinet includes PJD, pro-market parties RNI and UC, conservative MP party, and the socialist parties USFP and PPS. Together they hold 240 seats in the 395-seat House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament.

    Several key ministerial portfolios remain unchanged and under the control of the RNI, which clashed with PJD during talks over its insistence on including the USFP in the coalition, the state news agency MAP said. PJD had resisted under Benkirane’s leadership.

    Aziz Akhannouch, RNI leader and close friend of the king, remains minister of agriculture and fisheries.

    RNI members Mohammed Boussaid and Moulay Hafid Elalamy remain heads of the Ministry of Finance and Economy and Ministry of Trade and Industry, respectively.

    But PJD lost its control of the key Ministry of Justice and Public Freedoms, previously led by Mustafa Ramid, who had been critical of the security service’s record during his days as a lawyer and human rights activist.

    As minister of justice since 2012, Ramid spearheaded a series of reforms after PJD had won elections in 2011 amid protests inspired by the Arab uprisings across the region. He will remain as minister of state in charge of human rights.

    Critics have argued that since the 2011 protests, royalists have tried to push back Islamist influence.

    Dismissing claims of royal interference, the palace has said the king maintains an equal distance from all parties.

    Saad Eddine el-Othmani was appointed prime minister after his predecessor was dismissed for failing to form a government

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • At least 13 new mass graves found in DRC amid rebellion

    {The United Nations says 13 new mass graves have been found in central Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the total to 23 amid mounting violence in the area.}

    Jose Maria Aranaz, director of the UN human rights office in Kinshasa, said on Tuesday that Congolese authorities would try to determine how many bodies were in the graves.

    The mass graves are in a part of central Congo where at least 400 civilians have been killed since August amid a rebellion loyal to former traditional leader Kamwina Nsapu. The UN says at least 434 000 people are internally displaced.

    Among the victims were two UN experts — American Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zaida Catalan — and their Congolese interpreter. Three others who were with them remain missing.

    Source:News 24