Tuesday 22 December 2015

Dunya TV

Dunya TV

Boxing: Fury's potential rivals to fight it out on same card

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NEW YORK (AFP) - Four fighters seeking a potential showdown for an undisputed heavyweight boxing crown against Britains Tyson Fury will meet on the same New York card on January 16, promoters revealed Tuesday.Undefeated challengers Charles Martin and Vyacheslav Glazkov will fight for the vacant International Boxing Federation world title on the same Brooklyn card where unbeaten American Deontay Wilder defends his World Boxing Council crown against Polands Artur Szpilka.US southpaw Martin, 22-0 with one draw and 20 knockouts, puts his 16-fight win streak on the line against Ukraines Glazkov, 21-0 with one drawn and 13 knockouts.The fight was added to Wilder -- 35-0 with 34 knockouts -- making his third title defense against Szpilka, who is 20-1 with 15 knockouts.Fury won the World Boxing Association title last month by taking a unanimous decision over Wladimir Klitschko, the long-time champion from Ukraine who is set for a rematch. Fury also won three other crowns, including the IBF title he quickly vacated.That set up the heavyweight title double-header, the first such bouts in Brooklyn for 115 years, and those winners could meet to unify the crowns and be ready for the Fury-Klitschko winner late next year to decide an undisputed king.I want to become a world champion so I can go down in history as a top heavyweight, Martin said.Glazkov is a great fighter. Hes undefeated, so I know its going to be a tough fight, but Im coming in to be victorious.Its the first world title bout for both fighters. It will be Martins fifth fight within a year and a week and Glazkovs third fight in 10 months.I am looking forward to getting back in the ring and finally getting my opportunity to fight for a world title, said Glazkov.

YouTube ramps 36-degree video with 'spotlight stories'

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SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - YouTube on Tuesday added interactive, 360-degree animation video to its line-up, with help from the makers of Wallace and Gromit.Dubbed Spotlight Stories, the new feature will be viewable on the YouTube app of an array of Android-powered smartphones.Showcasing the technology was a Santa-themed short film from Academy Award-winning studio Aardman Animations, entitled Special Delivery.The animated short centers on a building custodian trying to find a mysterious stranger who remains just out of sight but leaves behind a trail of gifts.Designed by Google as a new form of storytelling, the immersive films allow users to drill down into sub-stories within their plot by moving their phone towards what they want to see.The sensors on your phone allow the story to be interactive, so when you move your phone to various scenes, you unlock mini-stories within the story, technical project lead Rachid El Guerrab said in a blog post.Special Delivery features 10 subplots and three potential endings.Google Spotlight Stories will be expanded next year to more Android devices as well as a YouTube application for mobile devices powered by Apple software, El Guerrab said.

Football: Van Gaal hopes for stay of execution

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LONDON (AFP) - Louis van Gaal was left hoping for a stay of execution over Christmas after speculation mounted that the Manchester United manager was set to be sacked before his sides Boxing Day trip to Stoke City.Van Gaal finds himself in severe danger of being axed halfway through his three-year contract after Uniteds miserable six-match winless run saw them suffer an embarrassing Champions League exit and slip out of the Premier Leagues top four.In the aftermath of Uniteds lacklustre 2-1 home defeat against lowly Norwich City on Saturday, it was widely suggested van Gaal had two games to save his job.Reports claimed a defeat against either Stoke on Saturday or Chelsea at Old Trafford on Monday would prompt Uniteds owners, the Glazer family, to dismiss him.But on Tuesday it appeared van Gaal might not even last that long after Twitter was deluged with talk that he had been sacked.Those reports were given credence by news that United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had travelled to London for a meeting with club officials.However, the Manchester Evening News later reported that Woodward had only been discussing commercial matters rather than settling van Gaals future.With van Gaals weekly press conference ahead of the Stoke game set for 1530 GMT on Wednesday, United would have to announce the embattled Dutchmans departure before then.But even if he survives that deadline, van Gaal -- who has overseen just four victories in Uniteds last 15 matches -- must know he desperately needs a winning run over Christmas to have any chance of saving his job.Jose Mourinho, sacked by Chelsea last week, has apparently indicated to United he is ready to take over at Old Trafford if van Gaal is ousted and that could persuade the Glazers to move now rather than miss out on the Portuguese coach.Van Gaal is unlikely to be especially encouraged by the revelation from Mourinhos agent that no deal has been agreed with United at present.There is nothing, Jorge Mendes was quoted as telling Globoesporte when asked about reports of Mourinho moving to United.We dont know what will happen in the future, but now there is no agreement. There isnt an official proposal either, thats not true.Pep Guardiola would also be high on Uniteds wanted list after the Spaniard said he will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season.United could appoint van Gaals assistant Ryan Giggs as interim boss -- a role he served following David Moyes sacking in 2014 -- in a bid to buy time until Guardiola is available.Van Gaals cause hasnt been helped by reports that he has lost the support of senior United players, although publicly they continue to back the former Barcelona boss.

Football: Bony fumes at Pellegrini over Arsenal snub

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LONDON (AFP) - Wilfried Bony has slammed Manuel Pellegrini for failing to start him in Manchester Citys defeat at Premier League title rivals Arsenal.Ivory Coast striker Bony had scored three in four games while Citys star forward Sergio Aguero was out with a heel injury.But Aguero was back for Mondays clash at the Emirates Stadium and started as City lost 2-1 in a match that could have a significant bearing on the title race.With City boss Pellegrinis position already under increased speculation following Pep Guardiolas announcement he will be leaving Bayern Munich next year, Bony has heaped more pressure on the Chilean with his rant.When asked by reporters if he deserved to be starting instead of coming off the bench in the second half, Bony said: I think so.He (Aguero) is coming back from injury. He hasnt played for a couple of weeks. Im disappointed today that I didnt start but Im not the coach.The coach does what he thinks is best for the team. Im sure everyone on the bench wants to play. He just has to choose 11 players.So when I come on I just try to do my best to try to score or to give an assist to the other players to score to help the team to win.Bony, 27, arrived at City from Swansea in January for a fee of 28 million ($41.5 million; 37.9 million euros) but has only started 10 league games in that time.He also revealed he would talk to Pellegrini about his position amid speculation regarding his own future.Thats my feeling today, he said when asked if he would air his views to his manager.We have lost the game so we just have to be ready for the next game. I will continue to work hard and think about the next game, prepare very well then it will depend on the coach who he is going to put in.

Football: Bradley voted US soccer's Male Player of the Year

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CHICAGO (AFP) - US captain Michael Bradley has been voted the 2015 US Soccer Federation Male Player of the Year, the organization announced Tuesday.The 28-year-old midfielder won the award for the first time in his career and enjoyed success at the club and global level, captaining Toronto FC to the Major League Soccer playoffs for the first time in team history.The two-time World Cup veteran claimed his 100th cap this year, becoming the fourth-youngest player to do so.Bradley received 43 percent of the votes from national team players, top level club and US national team coaches, former players and reports. He was followed by Fabian Johnson at 33 percent and Clint Dempsey at 20 percent.Its an honor to be selected amongst this group of players, said Bradley. This has been a challenging year for our team, yet we continue to understand the opportunity we have to represent the United States and know how important it is that we give everything we have every time we step on the field.Bradley, the son of former US national team coach Bob Bradley, led the Americans with 1,668 minutes on the field and topped the team with a career-best six assists while also scoring three goals.He claimed Man of the Match honors in road victories over the Netherlands and Germany.

Iraq forces advance into centre of IS-held Ramadi

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BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi security forces advanced Tuesday into the centre of Ramadi for a final push aimed at retaking the city they lost to the Islamic State group in May, officials said.We went into the centre of Ramadi from several fronts and we began purging residential areas, said Sabah al-Noman, spokesman of the elite Iraqi counter-terrorism service.The city will be cleared in the coming 72 hours, he said.We did not face strong resistance, only snipers and suicide bombers and this is a tactic we expected, Noman told AFP.The fresh push was launched on Monday night and aims to result in the full recapture of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq.Footage on state TV channel Iraqiya showed soldiers driving down the deserted streets of the bombed-out city, entering homes with caution to detect possible booby traps and retrieving shells and rockets from abandoned IS positions.The fighting in Ramadi is led by the elite counter-terrorism force, backed by US-led coalition air strikes and also supported by the police, army and Sunni tribes opposed to the jihadists.IS has lost several key towns in Iraq since Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish region in the north started fighting back following the jihadist groups devastating offensive 18 months ago.The Shiite-dominated Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary forces were heavily involved in battles that led to the recapture of towns such as Tikrit and Baiji, but they have remained on the fringes in the battle for the Sunni city of Ramadi.Retaking the city, an insurgent bastion that saw some of the deadliest fighting against US troops a decade ago, would be the Iraqi federal forces most significant victory so far.We built temporary bridges on the Euphrates and our forces were able to cross the river to enter residential areas and gain access to the city centre, a brigadier general said, speaking on condition of anonymity.IS fighters have had plenty of time to dig in since they took full control of Ramadi on May 17 after blitzing government forces with wave after wave of car and truck bomb attacks.The jihadists built tunnels to move without being exposed to the coalitions daily raids, but their supply lines have been gradually severed and military officials estimated last week there were no more than 300 fighters left in the city.The breakthrough came earlier this month when counter-terrorism forces broke down IS defences and retook the key southwestern neighbourhood of Al-Tameem.After beefing up their new positions, Iraqi military leaders had said a final push was imminent and leaflets urging the population to flee were dropped over the weekend.The distance between our forces and the governmental compound, which is located in the central district of Hoz, is less than a kilometre or 500 yards, said the brigadier general.The provincial headquarters is believed to be one of the main IS bases in the city, and was at the heart of deadly fighting earlier this year.According to another military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to the press, 15 families had managed to escape from Hoz in the past 24 hours.They were able to flee the lockdown imposed by Daesh on civilians and they found shelter with the army on the southern side of the city, he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.The senior officer said the civilians were mostly children, women and elderly men who were screened and then taken to a safe area on the edge of Ramadi.Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi and other officials said in recent days they believed there were still a few civilians in Ramadi being used as human shields by IS.The coalition said its aircraft had been carrying out six strikes a day on IS targets in the Ramadi area for the past month.The fall of Ramadi is inevitable, the end is coming but... its gonna be a tough fight, coalition spokesman Steve Warren told US reporters in a videoconference from Baghdad.He also said there were at least thousands of civilians left inside Ramadi, possibly tens of thousands.A victory in Ramadi would leave Mosul, Tal Afar and Fallujah as the only major Iraqi cities still in IS hands and further undermine the groups claim that the caliphate it proclaimed last year is expanding.Obeidi has said successive operations have shrunk the area controlled by IS from nearly 40 percent of Iraq last year to 17 percent.

UN envoy warns Yemen peace plan fragile

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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United Nations special envoy for the conflict in Yemen warned UN ambassadors on Tuesday that a fledgling peace process was hanging by a thread.At the weekend Yemens Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Huthi rebels wound up peace talks in Switzerland without a breakthrough.On the ground ceasefire violations are continuing even as UN humanitarian agencies warn that civilians are under fire and living in desperate conditions.The talks revealed deep divisions between the two sides on the path to peace and the shape of a future agreement... trust between the parties remain weak, UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed warned.Ahmed called for a stronger ceasefire agreement and urged UN member states to support his efforts to mediate a dialogue in the run-up to renewed talks next month.I have to admit that there were several days when I feared that the two sides would not find a way to make progress on any of the central issues, he said.We all know that the path to peace in Yemen will be a long and difficult one -- but we also know that failure is not an option, he insisted.In Yemen, Shiite Huthi rebels have allied themselves with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh to take on government forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.Iran has supplied weapons to the Huthi, and Saudi Arabia -- with logistical support from the United States -- is leading a Sunni coalition campaign in support of Hadi.Human rights watchdogs have accused the Saudi-led coalition of the careless aerial bombing of civilian targets and Huthi forces of indiscriminate shelling.The situation for the surviving civilian population is dire.The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein told the UN Security Council that the Saudi-led coalition was responsible for a disproportionate amount of the strikes hitting civilian homes, schools and hospitals. Conditions of life have become untenable for the vast majority of people in Yemen, he said.I call on the council to do everything within its power to help restrain the use of force by all parties and to urge all sides to abide by the basic principles of international humanitarian law.The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, supported the call for international law to be respected -- but pointed the finger at Huthi forces.Militia loyal to the Huthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh must stop any indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, including Taiz, and they must stop their cross border attacks, she said.We continue to urge the Saudi-led coalition to ensure lawful and discriminate targeting and to thoroughly investigate all credible allegations of civilian casualties and make adjustments as needed to avoid such incidents.According to UN figures, the war in Yemen has killed 2,700 civilians, including 637 children, and left four fifths of the 21 million-strong population in need of humanitarian aid.

At least 23 killed in IS, regime shelling of Syria city: monitor

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BEIRUT (AFP) - At least 23 people were killed in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor Tuesday, including nine children when a school was shelled by the Islamic State group, a monitor said.At least 24 more people died in air raids or fighting outside the capital, in the Latakia province bastion of President Bashar al-Assad and in Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added.The Observatory said the students, all girls, were among 11 killed in IS shelling of the school in the regime-controlled Hrabesh quarter of the divided city.The remaining 12 died in government air raids on the Hamidiya district, the Observatory said.The toll is likely to worsen as some of the injured are in serious condition, the Observatorys Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP early on.The Syrian government condemned the attack.The terrorist rockets will not prevent us from continuing our mission of education, said Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi.IS has controlled nearly all of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province since 2013, but half of the regional capital remains in government hands.In recent weeks, the US-led coalition and Russias military have targeted IS jihadists in the province with air strikes.Meanwhile, at least 19 civilians, among them children, were killed in regime air strikes on the Eastern Ghouta region, a rebel bastion just outside the capital, the Observatory said.And in the west of the country, at least 20 air strikes likely to have been carried out by Russia caused injuries in Latakia province, said the Observatory.Elsewhere in Latakia, forces loyal to Assad fought fierce battles with Islamist rebels, leaving several dead on both sides, it added.The government has been trying for months to recapture rebel-controlled areas of the Mediterranean coastal province.Last week, troops and allied militia pushed rebel fighters from a hilltop, Jabal Nuba, which overlooks a strategic highway in Assads heartland.Meanwhile, in the northern province of Aleppo, five people were killed and dozens wounded over 24 hours in air raids on the town of Al-Bab, said the Observatory.The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, also said IS carried out nine execution-style killings in the same province over the past few days.Aleppo province is almost entirely in the hands of Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian offshoot of Al-Qaeda, and its Islamist allies, as well as IS.The conflict in Syria has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it broke out in March 2011.

France foils attack plot, plans constitutional reforms

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PARIS (AFP) - A jihadist plot was foiled last week in the French region of Orleans, southwest of Paris, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday, as the government prepared constitutional changes to enshrine emergency police powers. A planned attack targeting representatives of state forces in the Orleans region was foiled last week by the DGSI (Frances internal intelligence agency), Cazeneuve said.Two French citizens aged 20 and 24 were arrested on December 19, he said. The older has a police record for petty crime. A police source told AFP that one was originally from Morocco and the other from Togo. They were in contact with a French jihadist in Syria and the investigation ought to establish if he ordered the attacks that one of the two arrested men has admitted they were planning to carry out against soldiers, police and representatives of the state, Cazeneuve said.These arrests are the result of meticulous work by our intelligence services and bring the number of attacks foiled on the national territory since 2013 to 10, he added.He also said that 3,414 people had been turned away from Frances borders since a state of emergency was introduced in the wake of last months Paris attacks, which left 130 people dead. They were refused entry due to the risk they present to security and public order, Cazeneuve said.France took back control of its national borders on the night of the attacks on November 13, which is permitted under European rules in special circumstances.Police also announced plans on Tuesday to hold a special recruitment drive and exams in March that will help meet the governments goal of appointing an additional 5,000 trainees in the coming year.The announcements came a day before the government was due to present reforms aiming to inscribe emergency security powers in the constitution. Emergency policing powers used under the state of emergency -- such as house arrests and the right to raid houses without judicial oversight -- are currently based on a simple law, which can be challenged at the constitutional court.An environmental activist has already challenged the right to the house arrests, although the court ruled Tuesday that they were allowed under state of emergency rules. President Francois Hollande has called for the powers to be protected from further litigation by placing them in the constitution. But there have been criticisms over the violence of police raids, cases of mistaken identity and people losing their jobs because they were placed under house arrest. More than 3,000 raids have taken place since the Paris attacks, leading to 360 house arrests and 51 people jailed.The government said Tuesday it will not seek to enshrine the right to remove an individuals French nationality if he or she is convicted of a terrorist offence, which can be used only against people with a second nationality. There were fears that this would lead to discrimination against people with dual nationalities. Several sources have told AFP that there may be a return of the national unworthiness sentences that were used against Nazi collaborators after World War II.

Tennis: Williams and Djokovic named 'world champions'

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LONDON (AFP) - Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic were named the womens and mens players of the year by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Tuesday.Both won three of the four Grand Slams in 2015 and are well clear in the world rankings.Williams, who was named ITF World Champion for the sixth time, won five titles throughout the year, finishing with a 53-3 win-loss record. After winning Wimbledon in July she also held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time for the second time in her career, which she previously dubbed a Serena Slam in contrast to a calendar Grand Slam.It means a lot to me to be named the ITF World Champion for the sixth time. I am proud to have achieved my second Serena Slam, in what has been an amazing year for me, she said in an ITF statement.Djokovic, who finished the year as mens number one for the fourth time, won the award for a fifth time.He managed a career-best 11 titles and finished with an 82-6 record.He got even closer to the Grand Slam than Williams, who was beaten in the US Open semi-finals, as he only missed out on a first Roland Garros crown in the final against Stan Wawrinka.My season was the best of my career with many highlights. It inspires me even more to keep on going, and I hope to continue to play at this level in 2016, he said.Indias Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis of Switzerland were named the womens doubles champions with Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau of Romania picking up the mens award.

Football: Platini unable to take appeal straight to CAS

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PARIS (AFP) - FIFA have told the suspended Michel Platini that he cannot go straight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to appeal his eight-year ban from the game, the Frenchmans lawyers revealed on Tuesday.The banned UEFA president must wait to receive a notice of what motivated the ethics committee of world footballs governing body to give him his suspension before then going to FIFAs own appeals committee.Only if they reject his appeal can he then go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.The timetable of such a process means his chances of standing for the FIFA presidency at elections on February 26, even if the ban were overturned, are slim in the extreme.Prevented by FIFA from going straight to the CAS, prevented from lodging an appeal against the ban (immediately, internally with FIFA) because we do not yet know the reasons, Michel Platini and his advisors condemn an act of sabotage aimed at stopping him from being elected president of FIFA, read a statement from the Frenchmans lawyers.Platini needed the agreement of FIFA to take his case straight to the CAS.He is not expected to be informed of the reasons for his ban until early January.All candidates to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA leader must submit their bids to Domenico Scala, the head of the FIFA electoral commission, by January 26.In an exclusive interview with AFP on Tuesday, Platini admitted his frustration at the process.What is troubling is that I have no certainty about the timetable ahead. As long as I have not had the reasons for the suspension I cannot appeal before the CAS. Without certainty on the timetable, I dont know how the match will play out.Platinis lawyers added: It is now up to FIFA to explain how the reasons for refusing to let us go straight to the CAS, as well as the unacceptable delay in explaining their reasons for the ban, can be compatible with the timetable for the presidential election.Platini and Blatter were suspended by FIFAs ethics committee over a 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million/1.8 million euro) payment made to Platini in 2011 for work carried out between 1999 and 2002.Corruption charges against the two men were dropped by the FIFA court, but they were found guilty of abusive execution of their powers and a conflict of interests.

US oil prices rise, edge above Brent

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NEW YORK (AFP) - US oil prices edged up Tuesday as the American oil benchmark finished above its European counterpart only days after the US lifted an oil-export ban.US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February rose 33 cents to $36.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February dipped 24 cents to $36.11 in London, its lowest level since 2014.Analysts warned oil could be vulnerable ahead of a weekly petroleum inventory release Wednesday by the US Department of Energy.Tuesdays gains looks like consolidation ahead of US weekly inventory data amid light volume book squaring ahead of the holidays, said Tim Evans, analyst at Citi Future.The worry is that the DOE report will be a repeat of last weeks that showed big increases in stocks of oil and key petroleum products.I dont think the US supply demand fundamentals are improving very much, said Kyle Cooper of IAF Advisors. I still see a bearish report on tomorrow.Tuesday marked the first time since January that WTI traded above Brent.John Kilduff, a founding partner at Again Capital, said the push of WTI above Brent could mark a new phase between the two contracts in the wake of last weeks measure passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama to lift a 40-year ban on US oil exports.It seems to be a bit of a reaction to the lifting of the US crude export ban and what that portends about the ability of US producers to hit international markets in a more substantial way, Kilduff said.However, Kilduff noted that Tuesdays trade may have been distorted by low trading volume as well as by end-of-year crude destocking in the US Gulf Coast for tax purposes.You have to be very careful of drawing any conclusions between now and the end of the month, Kilduff said.

Dollar dips for 2nd day in a row on profit taking

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NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar retreated against the euro and the yen Tuesday for the second straight session in a decline attributed to profit taking after making big gains in 2015.Data from the Commerce Department showed US economic growth at the expected 2.0 percent level in the third quarter behind a solid 3.0 percent increase in personal consumption expenditures.A report from the National Association of Realtors showed a big drop in existing-home sales in November, but that was partly due to new mortgage disclosure rules that slowed home closing times.Analysts described the foreign exchange market as choppy this week with many traders on holiday and economic newsflow relatively light.The dollar may struggle to post any major gains ahead of the New Year, said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.There remains little appetite ahead of the New Year among investors to add any major positions to their books. Most traders were content to book profits on their long-US dollar trades following the greenbacks rally in the wake of this months Fed interest rate hike.

Philippines the first Asian country to clear dengue vaccine

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PARIS (AFP) - The Philippines became the first Asian country on Tuesday to approve the sale of the worlds first-ever dengue vaccine.Dengvaxia, manufactured by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, secured its first regulatory approval in Mexico a fortnight ago and is currently being reviewed by around 20 countries in Asia and Latin America. It is hoped the drug could eventually help prevent millions of deaths from dengue, the worlds fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease. The World Health Organization says as many as 400 million people are infected worldwide every year, and two-thirds are in Asia.Its a major step in the prevention of dengue and for public health, Olivier Charmeil, head of Sanofis vaccines division, said in a statement.Scientists have long been stumped by dengue, which has four separate strains, forcing researchers to find a drug able to fight all of them at once.Clinical tests -- carried out on 40,000 people from 15 countries -- have found Dengvaxia can immunise two-thirds of people aged nine years and older, rising to 93 percent for the more severe form of the disease, dengue haemorrhagic fever. It was also found to reduce the risk of hospitalisation by 80 percent.Dengue can trigger a crippling fever, along with muscle and joint pain. There is no known cure, and children are at particular risk.The deadliest form of the disease kills 22,000 people a year, the WHO says.It was once considered a disease of the tropics, endemic in only nine countries, but globalisation, urbanisation, climate change and jet travel are helping it to move into more temperate zones.It is now endemic in more than 100 countries.The WHO says cases have risen 30-fold over the last 50 years, with more than half the worlds population potentially at risk.Several million doses of the vaccine are ready to ship, and Sanofi expects annual production to reach 100 million doses by 2017.Sanofis research and development work took 20 years, costing more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion).But the vaccine could bring the company more than $1 billion annually starting in 2018 or 2019, analysts said.Other pharmaceutical companies are developing dengue vaccines, including US firm Merck, Japans Takeda and Britains GlaxoSmithKline, but Sanofi is ahead of the competition.

NASA suspends March launch of InSight mission to Mars

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CHICAGO (AFP) - NASA has suspended the March 2016 launch of its InSight mission to Mars because of problems with a key scientific component, the US space agency said Tuesday.The next launch window will not occur until around May 2018 and NASA said it does not yet know if it will be able to continue with the mission given budget constraints.The InSight lander was set to delve deep beneath the Red Planets surface in order to discover how the solar systems rocky planets formed.Learning about the interior structure of Mars has been a high priority objective for planetary scientists since the Viking era, said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington.We push the boundaries of space technology with our missions to enable science, but space exploration is unforgiving, and the bottom line is that were not ready to launch in the 2016 window, he said in a statement.The problematic instrument is a seismometer provided by Frances Centre National dEtudes Spatiales (CNES), designed to measure ground movements as small as the diameter of an atom.Its a hard blow, CNES president Jean-Yves Le Gall told AFP. This is one of the risks of the job. The good news is that our system was able to discover the problem when it was still here on Earth.NASA said the decision to delay follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak affecting the device, which requires a vacuum seal around its three main sensors to withstand the harsh conditions of the Martian environment.A leak discovered earlier this year, that prevented it from retaining vacuum conditions, was successfully repaired, and the mission team was hopeful the most recent fix also would be successful. However, the instrument once again failed to hold a vacuum during testing on Monday in extreme cold temperature.Its the first time ever that such a sensitive instrument has been built, said Marc Pircher, Director of CNESs Toulouse Space Centre.We were very close to succeeding, but an anomaly has occurred, which requires further investigation. Our teams will find a solution to fix it, but it wont be solved in time for a launch in 2016.The relative positions of the planets are most favorable for launching missions from Earth to Mars for only a few weeks every 26 months, according to NASAs statement.For InSight, that 2016 launch window existed from March 4 to March 30, the space agency said.A decision on a path forward will be made in the coming months, but one thing is clear: NASA remains fully committed to the scientific discovery and exploration of Mars, added Grunsfeld.While the InSight launch is important, Grunsfeld said the suspension doesnt affect the sequence of any other missions.Plans to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s remain on track, NASA said.NASA is currently working on three Mars missions with the European Space Agency and plans to send another rover to Mars in 2020.
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