Tag: InternationalNews

{Replacing animal fat in the human diet with vegetable oil seems not to lower heart disease risk.}

Replacing animal fat in the human diet with vegetable oil seems not to lower heart disease risk, and might even boost it, according to a study published Wednesday that challenges a cornerstone of dietary advice.

Switching from saturated to unsaturated Omega-6 fats did result in lower blood cholesterol in a trial with nearly 10,000 participants, it said, but not the expected reduction in heart disease deaths.

In fact, those with a greater reduction in cholesterol “had a higher rather than a lower risk of death,” according to the research published by the medical journal BMJ.

For 50-odd years, animal fat in meat, butter, cheese and cream has been the bad boy of the diet world — blamed for boosting artery-clogging cholesterol linked to heart disease and stroke.

In 1961, the American Heart Association recommended vegetable oils replace saturated fats — a position it still holds even as some research has started to challenge that hypothesis.

The World Health Organisation also advises that saturated fats should comprise less than 10 per cent of total energy intake.

For decades now, the world has viewed full-fat milk and bacon with suspicion and replaced pork with chicken, and butter with plant-based margarines and cooking oils.

But in the past few years, researchers have started poking holes in the “fat is bad” hypothesis.

The new study, led by Christopher Ramsden at the National Institutes of Health, re-analysed data from a randomised controlled trial conducted 45 years ago with 9,423 residents of state mental hospitals and nursing home in Minnesota.

This is a type of experiment — generally considered highly reliable — in which people are randomly divided into groups to receive, or not, the treatment being studied.

‘LESS CERTAIN THAN WE THOUGHT’

Part of the Minnesota group had their intake of saturated fat replaced with corn oil, while the rest ate a diet high in animal fat.

“As expected, the diet enriched with linoleic acid (a fatty acid found in plant oils) lowered cholesterol levels,” said a statement by The BMJ.

But “this did not translate to improved survival. In fact, participants who had greater reduction in blood cholesterol had higher, rather than lower, risk of death.”

The team also looked at other randomised controlled trials, and found no evidence anywhere to support the hypothesis that vegetable oils curb heart disease.

“The benefits of choosing polyunsaturated fat over saturated fat seem a little less certain than we thought,” Lennert Veerman, a lecturer at the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health commented on the study.

Further research is needed, he added, to determine whether all Omega-6 type fats provide similar results.

“While we wait for further clarification, we should continue to eat more fish, fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” Veerman wrote.

In January, updated US dietary guidelines reiterated that saturated fats should make up less than 10 per cent of a day’s food intake — a recommendation that now “will be under increased scrutiny”, according to Veerman.

“If blood cholesterol values are not a reliable indicator of risk of cardiovascular disease, then a careful review of the evidence that underpins dietary recommendations is warranted,” he wrote in The BMJ.

Other experts stressed there was an established link between high cholesterol and the risk of heart attack or stroke.

“More research and longer studies are needed to assess whether or not eating less saturated fat can reduce your risk of cardiovascular death,” said Jeremy Pearson of the British Heart Foundation.

{Most also don’t tend to see Ankara as a trusted partner, let alone a potential member in the union.}

The majority of Germans believe that EU-Turkey deal is a bad idea and will not work properly, according to a recent poll.

Most also don’t tend to see Ankara as a trusted partner, let alone a potential member in the union.

Under a plan agreed in Brussels earlier in March, all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey would be returned.

For each Syrian sent back, another Syrian already in Turkey would be resettled in the EU. Turkey had been offered extra funding and acceleration of EU integration talks.

While Brussels sees the deal as a principal breakthrough in tackling the crisis, in Germany — which championed the Turkey pact and has taken in over 1.1 million refugees — public perceptions appear to be different.

According to a poll released by ARD-Deutschlandtrend, 56 per cent of Germans — up from 49 per cent last month — described the deal as ‘rather bad’, compared to 39 per cent rating it ‘rather good’.

The poll was conducted between 4 and 5 April and involved 1,005 respondents.

Earlier this week, around 200 refugees arrived in Turkey after being deported from EU member Greece.

This is the first ‘one-in, one-out’ deportation aimed at stemming the flow of migrants.

However, 41 per cent of Germans do not believe that the number of arrivals will drop, marginally more than the 40 per cent who believe the scheme will work.

Meanwhile, Greece was stepping up efforts today to persuade hundreds of migrants to leave a squalid camp on its border with Macedonia where violence broke out at the weekend, officials said.

{A Somali journalist who helped al-Shabab kill five fellow reporters has been executed by firing squad.}

Hassan Hanafi, once a respected broadcaster, was sentenced to death last month by a military court in the capital, Mogadishu.

He assisted the Islamist militant group by identifying possible targets amongst journalists between 2007 and 2011.

He joined its armed wing after working for Radio Andalus, al-Shabab’s mouthpiece in Somalia.

More than 25 journalists have been murdered in Somalia since 2007, the Committee to Protect Journalists says.

While he was working for al-Shabab, Hanafi would call up journalists and threaten them with death if they refused to join the militant group, the BBC Somali’s Mohammud Ali says.

Al-Shabab frequently stages attacks in Mogadishu and other cities, and still controls many rural areas in southern Somalia.

{Special envoy Ahmed Ismail Ould Cheikh says now is time to step back from the brink and rebuild the war-torn country.}

The United Nations special envoy has called the ceasefire in Yemen “a first step in Yemen’s return to peace”, as the truce in place since Sunday midnight seems to be mostly holding.

Forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the Shia Houthi rebels who drove his government out of the capital, and the Arab-led coalition that intervened in Yemen last year all pledged to honour the truce after it took effect.

“This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives,” Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, said in a statement on Monday.

Previous efforts to stop the fighting in Yemen – which has left more than 6,000 dead and forced more than two million people from their homes – have collapsed amid mutual recriminations.

Sporadic clashes and exchange of gunfire, however, were reported in other parts of the country, including the besieged city of Taiz where one person was killed and five wounded in shelling.

Residents of Taiz, which has been under the control of rebels for over a year, blamed the Houthis for the overnight random shelling.

Ahmed urged all parties to work to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is “fully respected”.

He added that preparations were under way for Kuwait peace talks scheduled to be held on April 18, which are to focus on key issues such as withdrawal of militias and armed groups, handover of heavy weapons and resumption of an all-inclusive political dialogue.

Al-Qaeda gains influence

The coalition intervened last year in March to push out Houthis, who are backed by the Iran and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The conflict in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation has ruined large parts of the country and raised Middle East tensions.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the powerful Yemeni branch of the armed network, has taken advantage of the conflict to seize territory and gain influence.

General Mohamed Ali al-Makdashi, the chief of staff for Hadi’s forces, said early on Monday the ceasefire was largely holding despite some violations by rebels.

“The truce has not collapsed and we hope the rebels end their attacks and respect the ceasefire,” he said, alleging breaches in several areas including the cities of Taiz, in southwestern Yemen, and Marib, east of Sanaa.

Hadi forces accused Houthis of 25 truce violations around Taiz, while the rebels said in a statement that there was at least one coalition air strike in Taiz province, and accused loyalists of being behind 33 truce violations north and east of Sanaa, as well as in the south.

A committee comprising representatives from both sides will work to ensure the ceasefire is respected.

Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri earlier described the violations as “minor”.

“It is the first day and we should be patient,” the top Saudi officer told AFP news agency. “Day by day, it will be better.”

No bombings in Sanaa

An AFP photographer in Sanaa said the rebel-held capital has not been targeted by coalition warplanes since Sunday.

The Western-backed Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher also played down violations, saying that the truce “seems good”, adding after meeting the UN envoy in Riyadh that “we want a durable peace”.

“Now is the time to step back from the brink,” the UN envoy Ahmed said.

“The progress made represents a real opportunity to rebuild a country that has suffered far too much violence for far too long.”

The Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014. As the rebels advanced into other areas, Hadi and other officials fled first to the main southern city of Aden and eventually to Riyadh.

A coalition of mainly Sunni Arab allies launched air strikes in March last year against the Houthis and later sent ground troops to support pro-government forces.

The loyalists have since managed to reclaim large parts of the south, establishing a temporary capital in Aden, but have failed to dislodge the Houthis from Sanaa and other key areas.

{At least 12 people are dead and 38 others injured in a suicide attack on a defence ministry shuttle bus.}

At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded on Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan army recruits near Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad, officials have said.

“It was a single suicide blast that killed 12 army recruits and wounded 38 others,” Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province, told Al Jazeera.

“The target was the army shuttle bus. These recruits were traveling to the capital, Kabul, for their training. All of them were young.”

Ahsanullah Shinwari, head of the Jalalabad hospital, said on Monday that all 12 bodies were brought to the hospital in the city, 125km from Kabul.

He said the rest of the 38 wounded were in critical condition.

The attacker was on a motorcycle when he rammed the bus, detonating explosives, according to Ahmad Ali Hazrat, chief of the Nangarhar provincial council.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

In another incident early on Monday, a bomb hit a mini-bus carrying Afghan education ministry workers in Kabul, killing at least two people and wounding seven others.

The roadside bomb blew up as the bus was carrying workers to their offices in the Afghan capital’s eastern Bagrami district, the ministry said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility this attack.

Afghanistan’s precarious security was underlined late on Saturday when at least two rockets hit the diplomatic zone in Kabul only hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry had held meetings with government leaders. No injuries were reported in those attacks.

Government workers and members of the security forces are often targeted by armed groups, including the Taliban, who are seeking to topple the US-backed government in Kabul.

{Police arrest employees of fireworks manufacturer after huge blaze kills at least 108 people and injured almost 400.}

Indian police said they have arrested five people after a fireworks display at a temple sparked a fire that killed at least 108 people in one of the worst accidents ever seen at a religious festival.

Thousands of people were gathered at the temple at Kollam in the southern state of Kerala on Sunday for the pyrotechnic show to mark the start of the Hindu year when sparks ignited a cache of fireworks stored on the grounds.

A police officer, Anantha Krishnan, said the five taken into custody on Monday were employees of a fireworks manufacturer who ran the show at the Puttingal Devi temple.

The district administration said it had not given permission for the fireworks display following complaints of noise and pollution.

The head of the manufacturing company was injured, one of 380 people who were in hospitals across the state with burns as well as injuries caused by flying concrete and debris.

Police had not been able to reach members of the temple management, Krishnan said.

Al Jazeera’s Divya Gopalan, reporting from Delhi, said daily celebrations were being held in the country to mark the Hindu festival.

“Some of the celebrations take place without the authorities’ permission and without taking into consideration safety measures, which is what happened [on Sunday],” she said.

Kerala is studded with temples managed by rich and powerful trusts that often flout local regulations. Each year temples hold fireworks displays, often competing to stage the most spectacular ones, with judges who decide the winners.

On Monday, grieving relatives of the victims were scouring the temple grounds for possessions of their loved ones among the shoes, handbags and other articles strewn in a pile of debris and a puddle, dark red with blood.

The scale of the tragedy has prompted demands that fireworks shows be banned at crowded places in Kerala.

The chief of the state unit of the Indian Medical Association, AV Jayakrishna, said he planned to file a petition before the Kerala High Court on Monday, curbing the use of fireworks.

Such has been the outrage across the nation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Kollam within hours with a team of doctors.

Opposition politicians led by Rahul Gandhi also visited the temple site, demanding a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire which took place amid a state election to choose a new assembly.

Modi has faced public criticism for failing to respond quickly to disasters such as the floods in Chennai late last year. Large parts of the city were under water for days before government help arrived.

But Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party said he was focused on the task in hand.

Fires and stampedes are not uncommon at temples and during religious occasions, often because of poor security arrangements and lax safety standards.

Earlier this month, a flyover being built in the eastern city of Kolkata collapsed killing more than 20 people, raising questions regarding safety measures.

{Prime Minister Cameron has already published a summary of his finances for the past six years, revealing his salary, expenses, rental income from a house.}

Britain’s finance minister and the head of the Labour opposition Monday released details of their last tax returns after days of controversy following the publication of the so-called Panama Papers.

The release showed finance minister George Osborne had a total taxable income of £198,738 (Ksh28m) during the 2014/15 financial year.

This included £44,647 in the form of dividends from a wallpaper and fabrics company founded by his father and £33,562 in rental income.

Mr Osborne paid income tax of £72,210 for the year. The release stated he had “no offshore interests in shares or anything else”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s tax return showed that he had an additional income of just £1,850 for the year — most of it payment for giving a lecture — beyond his parliamentary salary.

Mr Cameron was forced to publish his tax returns over the weekend after admitting he had held shares in his late father’s investment fund based in the Bahamas, which he sold before becoming prime minister in 2010.

INHERITANCE TAX

The prime minister Monday addressed the House of Commons for the first time since the scandal broke.

While Mr Cameron said prime ministers, finance ministers and their opposition shadows should in future declare details of their tax returns, he thought all MPs should not have to do so.

In a first for a British prime minister, Cameron on Sunday published a summary of his finances for the past six years, revealing his salary, expenses, rental income from a house he owns in London and savings.

He also revealed that he received a £200,000 ($280,000, 240,000 euros) gift from his mother, on top of £300,000 received in his father’s will, raising questions over whether the gift was intended to avoid inheritance tax.

Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha had previously owned shares in Ian Cameron’s investment fund Blairmore, which was named in the leak of documents by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca — the so-called Panama Papers — and which they sold for £31,500.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “We need to know why he put this money overseas in the first place.”

“What Panama has shown, more than anything, is that there is one rule for the rich and one rule for the rest,” he said.

Scotland’s first minister, Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon, also published her tax details, putting pressure on Cameron’s ministers, in particular finance minister George Osborne, to do the same.

“It’s the UK cabinet that sets the framework of legislation, that discusses what UK policy is and we have heard absolutely nothing about other members of the cabinet,” said SNP lawmaker Angus Robertson.

A source in Osborne’s department said he had “never had any offshore shareholdings or other interests”.

Currently lawmakers only have to declare shareholdings over £70,000, but junior defence minister Penny Mordaunt said all politicians may be forced into greater transparency “if that is what the electorate require”.