Author: Starvision News Desk

Seoul, Sep 1 (IANS) UN special rapporteur for North Korea’s human rights Elizabeth Salmon will visit South Korea next week to meet Seoul officials as well as defectors from the reclusive regime, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Salmon is expected to arrive here on Monday for a nine-day stay to meet foreign, unification and justice officials, along with North Korean defectors, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.She is also scheduled to hold a press conference in Seoul on Sepember 12, Yonhap news agency reported.The rapporteur will submit a report on North Korean human rights issues to the UN…

Quito, Sep 1 (IANS) The fragile security situation in Ecuador was underscored by a series of car bombings and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various prisons, just weeks after the country was shaken by the assassination of a presidential candidate.Authorities said the brazen actions were the response of criminal groups to the relocation of various inmates and other measures taken by the country’s corrections system. The crimes happened three weeks after the slaying of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, Associated Press reported.Ecuador’s National Police reported no injuries resulting from the four explosions in Quito, the capital,…

Bangkok, Sep 1 (IANS) The Thai king on Friday announced a reduction in the prison sentence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from an initial eight years to one year.The 74-year-old former Prime Minister ended his exile of more than 15 years and returned to Thailand 10 days ago, but was soon detained and faced an eight-year prison sentence, Xinhua news agency reported.Thaksin was Thailand’s premier from 2001 to 2006 but had been in self-exile abroad since 2008.–IANSint/khz

Tokyo, Sep 1 (IANS) Japanese researchers have discovered a type of gut bacteria that might help improve insulin resistance, and thus protect against the development of obesity and Type-2 diabetes. The study, published in the scientific journal Nature, involved genetic and metabolic analysis of human faecal microbiomes and then corroborating experiments in obese mice.In obese mice, the team led by Hiroshi Ohno at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) looked at how treatment with different bacteria affected blood sugar levels.They found that A. indistinctus lowered blood sugar and reduced insulin resistance and the amount of carbohydrates available to the…

Colombo, Sep 1 (IANS) Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka crossed the 900,000-mark this year on August 30, according to the latest statistics released by Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). According to SLTDA, 900,708 tourists arrived in the country so far this year, which is an increase against 719,978 total arrivals reported for the entire year of 2022.Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is aiming to attract two million visitors in 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.Tourism, as one of Sri Lanka’s leading foreign exchange earners, has suffered a setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and economic and political crises in the South…

Manila, Sep 1 (IANS) Five Philippine government militiamen were killed and three others wounded in an ambush on Friday by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, a military spokesperson said. Dennis Cana, spokesperson of the military’s Southern Luzon Command said the attack occurred around 7:00 a.m. local time while the government forces were on patrol in Tagkawayan town to investigate the presence of an undetermined number of NPA fighters, Xinhua news agency reported.The militiamen were members of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit, a paramilitary force helping the military in a counter-insurgency campaign against…

Sydney, Sep 1 (IANS) Police in the Australian state of Victoria on Friday issued an urgent road safety warning to motorists ahead of the high-risk spring period.The announcement came after a fatal truck collision on Thursday morning killed four people on Hume highway at the intersection of Wenkes road in Chiltern, northeast Victoria.Data from Victoria Police showed that the state has recorded 197 lives lost so far this year — 40 more deaths than at the same time last year, Xinhua news agency reported.”With spring a time when many recreational motorcyclists jump back on their bikes, police are urging all…

Sari Pul (Afghanistan), Sep 1 (IANS) One child was killed as a landmine left over from past wars went off in north Afghanistan’s Sari Pul province, said a statement of the provincial police headquarters on Friday. A group of children found a toy-like device in Sayad district of Sari Pul province on Thursday evening and played with it. The device exploded, killing a child on the spot, the statement added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.Afghanistan is one of the most landmine-contaminated countries in the world as dozens of people, mostly children, are killed and maimed every month due…

New York, Sep 1 (IANS) A team of US researchers has detected significant levels of metals in the blood and urine among marijuana users, concluding that marijuana may be an important and under-recognised source of lead and cadmium exposure. Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that people with exclusive marijuana use compared to nonmarijuana-tobacco had significantly higher lead levels in blood (1.27 microgram per decilitre) and urine (1.21 microgram/gram creatinine).“Because the cannabis plant is a known scavenger of metals, we had hypothesised that individuals who use marijuana will have higher metal biomarker levels compared to those who…

New York, Sep 1 (IANS) Scientists have found promising early results that a therapy combining cell-killing and immune-stimulating drugs are safe and effective in extending survival for patients with gliomas — a highly aggressive form of brain cancer.Given gliomas’ poor prognosis and limited response to treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, the team looked to using the adenoviral gene therapy. The therapy proved not only safe but also improved survival, reveals the study published in the journal The Lancet Oncology.”Being able to move a novel therapy from bench to bedside in such a streamlined fashion is exciting, and represents a tour-de-force…