US federal agencies consider creation of integrity council to shield science from political meddling after Trump missteps
US federal agencies need to strengthen the policies that protect science used in government decision-making. They should also create a scientific-integrity council spanning many agencies, to help address political meddling by government officials. Those are some of the top conclusions of a long-awaited report from a taskforce convened by US...
Sudan crisis: International community urged to offer military incentives to surrender power to civilians
Events leading up to the resignation on January 2 of civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok have returned Sudan’s rocky democratic transition to square one. This raises fundamental questions about what needs to be done differently to revive the faltering democracy project. Hamdok had been prime minister in the joint military-civilian...
Sudan’s ruling junta agrees to mediation by UN, wants African Union and Kenya on board
The United Nations has announced that it has started consultations in Sudan to try to salvage the country’s move to democracy after a military coup. UN officials were contacting parties to look for a way forward and the army had raised no objections to the initiative, UN special representative Volker...
Human rights: The minute the word gender enters dialogue, some regions get up and leave conference room
Since the beginning of the war in Tigray in November last year, more than 1,300 incidents of rape have been reported, while many argue that more cases went unreported due to societal stigma surrounding the topic. A high number of cases of gender-based violence including gang-rape and other atrocities were...
How Maryland hospital in US obtained emergency authorisation for compassionate use of pig heart transplant
The dramatic bid to save heart failure patient David Bennett’s life at University of Maryland Medical Centre in downtown Baltimore came after he had been in the hospital for more than a month, being kept alive by an artificial breathing machine, and his medical care team determined that he was...
Patient with terminal heart failure breathing on his own after pig heart transplant, his medical team says
A medical team at the University of Maryland Medical Center announced on Monday that it had accomplished a world-first: Its surgeons had transplanted a heart from a genetically engineered pig into a human. The doctors performed the eight-hour procedure on Friday evening. As of Monday night, the man, 57-year-old David...
Sudan security forces teargas injured anti-coup protesters recovering at Khartoum Teaching Hospital
On the afternoon of December 30, security forces banged on the windows of Khartoum Teaching Hospital then fired teargas into an emergency room packed with protesters injured in a nearby demonstration. “We were around the corner trying to hide, it came right past our heads,” said a nurse who asked...
Interview: How can a global treaty to end violence against women succeed?
As Covid-19 enters a third year, so does the “shadow pandemic” of violence against women. Such violence is not new of course, but it has been fostered by lockdowns and economic blows dealt by the coronavirus. The rise in violence since early 2020 has increased awareness and stirred interest in...
VAR decision on Aston Villa equaliser questioned as Man United secure FA Cup fourth round berth
United won a pulsating cup clash at Old Trafford as Scott McTominay’s early header proved enough against Steven Gerrard’s side, who dominated for large spells and could count themselves unlucky to lose. After a weekend of intrigue and upsets, the third round ended with an all-Premier League encounter and one...
Medical first as doctors at Maryland Medical Centre in US transplant gene-edited pig heart into a human patient
In a medical first, US surgeons transplanted a pig heart into a human patient, and say he is doing well three days after the extremely experimental operation. A 57-year-old man with a life-threatening heart condition received a new heart from a genetically altered pig. While it’s too soon to tell...
