The Punjab police arrested Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Abhay Chautala, for violating prohibitory orders when they attempted to step into Punjab to dig the controversial Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal at Shambhu barrier on NH-1 at the Punjab and Haryana border.Fifteen party MLAs and two MPs were among those who courted arrest after they were stopped by the Punjab police near the Shambhu barrier for breaching section 144 of the Cr P C.“SYL canal is the lifeline of Haryana and we will fight to get water for the State,” said Mr. Chautala, addressing a “Jal Yudh Sammelan” rally at the Ambala vegetable market. Thousands of INLD workers then marched towards the Shambhu barrier in an attempt to enter Punjab and start digging the SYL Canal in symbolic gesture. At the barrier, the Punjab police issued them a warning and asked them to leave. They were arrested when they refused.Strong caseHaryana Health Minister Anil Vij, meanwhile, said the INLD was inciting the people to dig the canal so that the decision of the Supreme Court cannot be implemented. “The State had presented a strong case for the construction of the SYL Canal in the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the State. The step taken by the INLD was not in the interest of the people and was more likely to harm the State.”He said the Shiromani Akali Dal and the INLD were colluding to hamper the construction of the canal. “Haryana government will not allow these parties to succeed in their evil designs and will ensure that Haryana get its rightful share of the water within the ambit of the law,” he said.Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh warned of a serious law and order problem in the old Naxalite and Khalistani belt of southern Punjab if the SYL canal construction was completed without taking the ground realities into account.Pointing to the huge infrastructural cost involved in the canal construc read more
Denying allegations that protesters were killed in police firing in Darjeeling on Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said there was “deep rooted conspiracy” behind the current unrest.She also said the State government had been informed of a “terrorist connection” to the current violence. The Chief Minister was addressing the media at the State secretariat after a meeting with various community council chiefs from Darjeeling. Representatives of 15 development boards in the district were also present. “Police did not fire; that is absolutely wrong. They, the GJM, started firing,” Ms. Banerjee said. On the “terrorist connection”, she said the “underground North-Eastern insurgency groups are connected” to the movement in Darjeeling. Calling for cooperation between the Centre and the State on the issue, the CM said, “I think the Centre and the State government must work together here and the Centre should extend full cooperation.” She also urged the Centre “not to encourage them (GJM).” read more
Senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar on October 18 said the Taj Mahal was Lord Shiva’s temple called ‘Tejo Mahal’ which was converted into a mausoleum by Shahjahan. He, however, added that he does not want the monument as famous as this, which is among the wonders of the world, to be demolished. He also has no objection to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visiting the Taj Mahal to review tourism schemes.“It was Tejo Mahal, Lord Shiva’s temple, where Shahjahan buried his wife and turned it into a mausoleum,” said, Mr. Katiyar who had been in the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement . “It was constructed by Hindu kings, the rooms and carvings there prove that it was a Hindu monument… it has also been termed as one by historian P.N. Oak,” he said about the Taj. He said like a Shiva temple, water drips from the ceiling in the Taj Mahal, which is not a case in any mausoleum anywhere and is like that only on a Shivlinga. “It was a famous monument and was grabbed by Shahjahan,” Mr. Katiyar said. “It was our temple but was made a mausoleum as they had more power. But it is a grand monument and national heritage… people come to see it and so it should be kept safe and secure,” he said.Mr. Katiyar, who is also an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, said no political meaning should be derived from the grand Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya by the Adityanath government. “The aim is to develop Ayodhya…the effort is to recreate the scene of Lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya from exile,” Mr. Katiyar said, adding there is no politics behind the function as seen by the Opposition.On the issue of Ram temple construction, Mr. Katiyar hoped that the court verdict will come in a year’s time as the hearing is being conducted on a day-to-day basis. “I hope some way will be found to construct Ram temple or else we can construct it on the lines of Somnath temple… We will look at the alternatives as options like dialogue or (constructing) on the lines of Somnath temple are open…but we want temple,” he said. The stone carving work for the first storey is over and that of the second storey is on, he said, adding “as soon as we get land, we can start construction”. Meanwhile, former U.P. Minister Azam Khan said, “It is almost definite that Taj Mahal will be destroyed because whatever P.N. Oak wrote in his book, all of that is being implemented by the fascist forces of India and the RSS.” Mr. Khan said that Oak had written that “there stood a Shiva temple in Ayodhya. If the Babri Masjid could be destroyed because people believe there stood a temple instead, then no place of worship in India is safe”. The SP leader said, “The kind of atmosphere which was there before the Babri Masjid was demolished with dynamite was created long before the actual event took place. There was a High Court and a Supreme Court stay and the then Chief Minister had submitted an affidavit to the court. Despite all this, Babri Masjid was demolished with dynamite.” Referring to Mr. Adityanath’s decision to visit Taj Mahal, Mr. Khan said, “I am sure that the damage control measures being taken today regarding Taj Mahal is because of the international pressure. Because this monument is the seventh wonder of the world and it still stands only because of this.” read more
The police in eastern Assam’s Bokakhat town arrested a man on the basis of a woman’s dying declaration that he had sexually assaulted her before setting her on fire.However, they added that they have visual evidence that the woman committed suicide and that the man could have been framed.Minutes before the woman died at the Jorhat Medical College Hospital on Wednesday night, she accused one Tirtha Sarma of setting her on fire. She also said the man, a resident of Bokakhat, had sexually exploited her.Jorhat is about 70 km east of Bokakhat, the administrative centre for Kaziranga National Park.The police on Thursday said that evidence pointed to the woman having committed suicide. “There is nothing in the CCTV footage to suggest the man set her on fire. But he has been arrested on the basis of her dying declaration. We are awaiting the autopsy report,” Manabendra Deb Roy, Golaghat district superintendent of police, said.The woman, an Adivasi in her early 20s, had been a domestic help at the residence of Badan Sarma, the father of the accused, for three years. She was fired a year ago, police said. read more
The governments of northeastern States adjoining Assam have alerted their citizens to a possible increase in influx of outsiders following the publication of the NRC draft.Nagaland’s Home Department has issued advisories asking all village, town and municipal authorities to strictly monitor the influx of people from outside the State in violation of the existing rules and norms.According to the department’s advisory, “Any unusual influx of outsiders should be promptly brought to the knowledge of the district administration and police.” read more
Security forces on Wednesday killed two militants in an operation in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.An Army spokesman said the bodies of two militants were found at the encounter site at Anantnag’s Muniward. Arms and ammunition were also recovered from the encounter site. “The identity of the militants is being established,” said the police.The gunfight started at around 5 a.m. in Muniward area when a joint team of the security forces cordoned off the area. The exchange of fire lasted for many hours. Director General of Police (DGP) S.P. Vaid described the operation as “clean one with precision”.Meanwhile, internet services have been suspended in Anantnag. Train services were also suspended in south Kashmir. read more
In what can be considered as an outreach to the Hindu community during Navratri, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday approved proposals to fund fairs held by three religious trusts in the State. These are the Maa Lalita Devi Shaktipeeth Amavasya Mela, Naimisharanya in Sitapur; Maa Pateshwari Shaktipeeth, Devipatan Tulsipur Mela in Balrampur and Maa Vindhyavasini Shaktipeeth Mela in Mirzapur.The government will provide them funds of ₹60 lakh, ₹48 lakh and ₹41.49 lakh respectively, it said in a statement.Cabinet nodThe decisions were passed by the State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. While earlier the local municipal corporations would arrange for these religious fairs, now it will be the responsibility of the respective District Magistrates.The decision was taken with the view of providing proper facilities and successful arrangement of the fairs keeping in mind their inter-district, inter-State and international appeal, the government said, adding it had received proposals from the District Collectors. Suresh Kumar Khanna, Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Minister, said the fairs would be funded so that basic facilities are ensured for all devotees who come there. “So they don’t face any kind of trouble,” said Mr. Khanna. read more
Two infiltrators were killed by the Army personnel manning the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Keran Sector. One intruder was killed in Jammu.A Srinagar-based Army spokesman said they foiled an infiltration bid in the Keram Sector on Tuesday. “Two militants have been killed. The operation is on,” said the spokesman. A group of militants was trying to infiltrate and was spotted, triggering an encounter.In Jammu, the Army said it killed a heavily-armed Pakistani intruder along the LoC in the Akhnoor Sector.“An armed intruder was noticed trying to infiltrate into this side in the Pallanwalla area of the Akhnoor sector and was challenged by the alert Army personnel,” said the Army. read more
The Odisha Police Crime Branch on Thursday announced that it would move the High Court challenging the acquittal verdict of the lower court in the 2011-2012 rape and murder of a teenager.This came three days after a trial court in Bhubaneswar absolved the two accused in the case.“We will write to the Director of Public Prosecutor so as to prefer an appeal before the High Court to challenge the verdict delivered by the Bhubaneswar-based court of first additional session judge,” said Crime Branch IG Santosh K. Upadhaya.The senior police officer said the investigations into the rape and murder case were done properly and the Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) had established the involvement of the accused in the case. After going through the court documents, including the written arguments and depositions of the APP, the public prosecutor has given his opinion suggesting that there are valid grounds to prefer an appeal challenging the acquittal verdict, Mr. Upadhaya said.Prashant Pradhan of Pipili and his brother were arrested in connection with the case. The teenager was allegedly raped and an attempt was made to kill her on November 28, 2011. When the incident triggered public outcry following allegations that the local BJD MLA and then Minister Pradeep Maharathy was sheltering the accused, the State government handed over the case to Crime Branch police. Also, Mr. Maharathy was asked to put in his papers. read more
The Opposition parties attacked the Congress government in Punjab on the second day of the Assembly session on Wednesday on the issue of alleged deterioration in the law and order situation in the backdrop of the recent gang rape incident in Ludhiana.Suggesting fast-track courts to try rape cases, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he would approach the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek his personal intervention to ensure speedy justice in such cases.Responding to the issue raised by Simarjeet Singh Bains of the Lok Insaaf Party and Kultar Singh Sandhwan of the Aam Aadmi Party, the Chief Minister assured the House that he would also request the Chief Justice to try all such cases in a fast-track court on a day-to-day basis.He stressed the need for prompt dispensation of justice to the victims, besides exemplary punishment to the convicts in such dastardly acts.The Chief Minister informed the House that of the six persons involved in the heinous crime, three had already been arrested and the remaining would be nabbed soon. Earlier during Zero Hour, AAP MLA Sarabjit Kaur Manuke raised the issue, saying that crimes against women were rapidly rising in the State. “Had the police acted upon the input provided by the survivor’s friend, the incident could have been averted. The government must sack all the police personnel involved for dereliction of duty to send out a message to others,” he said. read more
A BJP panchayat president in Assam has been shot dead and another party worker critically injured by unidentified gunmen in Cachar district ahead of the three-phase Lok Sabha polls in the State next month, police said on Wednesday.Unidentifed gunmen opened fire at Sukhendu Das, the president of Borkhola Hatichora panchayat, in front of his residence in the village on Tuesday night in which he and another person was grievously injured.The two were rushed to Silchar Medical College Hospital, where Mr. Das succumbed to his injuries. The injured person, who was identified as Rinku Senapati, was admitted to the intensive care unit where his condition was stated to be critical.The police rushed to the spot and launched a search to nab the culprits. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has condemned the incident and directed the authorities to take measures and arrest those responsible for the killing at the earliest. read more
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND—Foxes and feral cats are wildly unpopular among Australian conservationists. The two animals are infamous for killing off the continent’s native species, and they’ve been the targets of numerous government-backed eradication campaigns. But new research suggests that on Australian islands, these predators help control an even more destructive one: the black rat. As a result, eliminating cats and foxes could actually leave native mammals more vulnerable to predation, competition, and ultimately extinction.Australia is ground zero for the modern biodiversity crisis. The continent has suffered more than a quarter of all recent mammal extinctions, and many other native species survive only as small populations on one or more of the country’s thousands of islands. While habitat destruction has caused some extinctions, cats, foxes, and rats introduced around 1800 by British sailors have also played a major role, decimating native animals like bilbies and bandicoots—both small, ratlike marsupials found only in Australia. All of this has given large, nonnative predators like cats and foxes a bad name. “We hate them,” biologist Emily Hanna of the Australian National University in Canberra declared here last month at the International Congress for Conservation Biology.But to plan successful eradication campaigns, scientists must first understand how introduced predators interact with native fauna and with each other. For instance, cats and foxes are infamous for hunting birds and other wildlife, but they can also control rats, which are themselves ferocious killers of and competitors with native animals like the bandicoot. To date, few studies have looked at which type of predator is actually most likely to drive native animals extinct.Sign up for our daily newsletterGet more great content like this delivered right to you!Country *AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBolivia, Plurinational State ofBonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongoCongo, The Democratic Republic of theCook IslandsCosta RicaCote D’IvoireCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Faroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and Mcdonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)HondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIran, Islamic Republic ofIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwaitKyrgyzstanLao People’s Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldova, Republic ofMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinianPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairnPolandPortugalQatarReunionRomaniaRussian FederationRWANDASaint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Martin (French part)Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSint Maarten (Dutch part)SlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailandTimor-LesteTogoTokelauTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofVietnamVirgin Islands, BritishWallis and FutunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabweI also wish to receive emails from AAAS/Science and Science advertisers, including information on products, services and special offers which may include but are not limited to news, careers information & upcoming events.Required fields are included by an asterisk(*)To determine which island invaders were doing the most damage, Hanna and her research adviser Marcel Cardillo created and analyzed what she calls a “ridiculously large” database comprising 934 living and extinct populations of 107 mammal species on 323 Australian islands between the early 1800s and today. For each island, the researchers recorded the presence or absence of various native mammals, and of rats, cats, foxes, and wild dogs known as dingoes, which some scientists believe help control invasive predators. The researchers also included other factors that might affect extinction risk, such as the size of the island and distance from the mainland. (Ecologists have found that island populations close to continents are more easily replenished, while more distant populations more easily go extinct.) Hanna then analyzed these data to find which factors most often correlated with native mammal extinctions.The study yielded some surprising results: Native mammals were most likely to die off on islands that had rats, but not cats, foxes, or dingoes. Extinction rates on such islands ranged from 15% to 30%, but when cats, foxes, or dingoes were present, the rates plummeted to just over 10%—not much higher than on islands without any introduced predators, the scientists reported at the meeting and online this month in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.The scientists also found that native mammals fared only slightly worse on islands with cats than on islands without them. Moreover, the presence of foxes and dingoes on islands seemed to give native species a slight overall boost. “I was really surprised,” Hanna says. “I thought I’d made a big mistake.” Hanna and Cardillo also found that rats’ impact was most pronounced on small mammals—those weighing less than 2.7 kilograms—although the scientists are unsure how much of this influence was due to direct predation as opposed to competition for food and other resources or disease spread. Rats also had the greatest effect on islands within 2.1 kilometers of mainland Australia.The study includes “a very nice, large data set, and a very well-constructed and complete analysis of the problem,” says Phillip Cassey, an ecologist at the University of Adelaide Environment Institute. The results suggest that managers may need to simultaneously eliminate more than one predator to save rare animals from extinction, he adds; eradication efforts frequently focus on only one species. When it comes to planning such eradication campaigns on limited budgets, Cassey says, “analyses like [Hanna’s], which can assist in prioritization, are going to be really important.”Despite the apparent benefit of cats and foxes, Hanna does not advocate introducing the animals to islands that don’t already have them. But she says her results do raise questions about the strategy of trying to kill top predators off while ignoring rats. She now hopes to study whether her results also apply to birds and other groups of native species and to other predators. read more
Earlier this month, many cetacean researchers and conservationists rejoiced when Japan canceled its controversial scientific whale hunt in Antarctica in response to an order from the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands. Now, however, Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) says it plans to resume research whaling in the region next year, with a program that is “in accord” with the court’s ruling. But ICR’s move could be just a legal maneuver, some observers say.ICR’s plans became public last week, after the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), an antiwhaling group known for harassing Japanese whaling ships, publicized legal briefs the research agency filed in a federal court in Seattle, Washington. (ICR is seeking a court order preventing SSCS from interfering with its fleet when killing whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.) Although the documents provide few details, ICR says it plans to resume its Antarctic hunts beginning in the 2015 to 2016 season. (Japan has a second scientific whale hunt in the North Pacific that is not affected by the international court’s ruling.)The news came as little surprise to those following the controversy. “It’s entirely consistent with what I would expect from ICR,” says Phillip Clapham, a marine biologist with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, Washington. Clapham has served as a member of the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee, which for decades has been critical of Japan’s research whaling program.Sign up for our daily newsletterGet more great content like this delivered right to you!Country *AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBolivia, Plurinational State ofBonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongoCongo, The Democratic Republic of theCook IslandsCosta RicaCote D’IvoireCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Faroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and Mcdonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)HondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIran, Islamic Republic ofIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwaitKyrgyzstanLao People’s Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldova, Republic ofMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinianPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairnPolandPortugalQatarReunionRomaniaRussian FederationRWANDASaint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Martin (French part)Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSint Maarten (Dutch part)SlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailandTimor-LesteTogoTokelauTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofVietnamVirgin Islands, BritishWallis and FutunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabweI also wish to receive emails from AAAS/Science and Science advertisers, including information on products, services and special offers which may include but are not limited to news, careers information & upcoming events.Required fields are included by an asterisk(*)Resuming whaling in the Antarctic could be easier said than done, specialists say. To comply with the international court’s ruling, Japan will have to offer valid scientific reasons for the number of whales it wants to kill and include nonlethal research methods to meet research objectives. Indeed, Clapham quips that the process is so daunting that “I wouldn’t want to be a scientist who’s been told to come up with a new research program that makes any sense.” (Any new program will also be reviewed by the whaling commission’s scientific council, but Japan does not need its approval to proceed.) It’s possible that ICR does not intend to resume Antarctic whaling, but is instead pursuing a legal strategy in its case against SSCS. “In order to continue the court case … they [the ICR] have to say they’ll be working in the Antarctic in 2015, even if that decision hasn’t been made,” Clapham writes in an e-mail. ICR may be trying to demonstrate that its need for an injunction against SSCS “is not moot,” adds Alison Rieser, a specialist in international law at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.Japan’s whaling fleet returned from the Southern Ocean last month after killing 251 minke whales instead of the planned 935, partly because of harassment by protesters from Sea Shepherd Australia. read more
Eighteen adults with severe eye disease who were among the first people to receive transplants created from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) continue to have no apparent complications with the introduced cells after an average of nearly 2 years, according to the latest status report on their health. Vision tests also suggest the eyesight of more than half of the subjects has improved, but other researchers expressed caution about those results. Nevertheless, the outcome may pave the way for transplants of stem cell–derived eye cells called photoreceptors, which could dramatically improve vision in people with eye disease if all goes according to plan.Eye diseases—such as age-related macular degeneration, as well as a genetic condition called Stargardt’s macular dystrophy that afflicts young people—are considered excellent candidates for stem cell therapy because the eye is an immune-privileged site, meaning transplanted cells are not as likely to be rejected as foreign compared with transplants elsewhere. (Volunteers in these trials nonetheless received immunosuppressants for 12 weeks as a precaution.) Such treatment could, in theory, repopulate the eye with cells that have been destroyed, helping restore lost sight. But there are many hurdles: Among them, growing enough of the cells in a petri dish and ensuring that they connect to “the existing machinery” in the eye, says Hendrik Scholl, who co-directs the Center for Stem Cells and Ophthalmic Regenerative Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. There have also been safety concerns confronting all hESC studies, including worries that the embryonic stem cells could proliferate out of control.Today’s report, which appears in The Lancet, follows on another from the same group in early 2012. Then, a team led by Robert Lanza, the chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and his colleagues published the first results ever of a clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells. That study reported that the first two patients treated, both of them legally blind, had suffered no ill effects from the cells.Sign up for our daily newsletterGet more great content like this delivered right to you!Country *AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBolivia, Plurinational State ofBonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongoCongo, The Democratic Republic of theCook IslandsCosta RicaCote D’IvoireCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Faroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and Mcdonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)HondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIran, Islamic Republic ofIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, Democratic People’s Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwaitKyrgyzstanLao People’s Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldova, Republic ofMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinianPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairnPolandPortugalQatarReunionRomaniaRussian FederationRWANDASaint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da CunhaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Martin (French part)Saint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSint Maarten (Dutch part)SlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailandTimor-LesteTogoTokelauTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofVietnamVirgin Islands, BritishWallis and FutunaWestern SaharaYemenZambiaZimbabweI also wish to receive emails from AAAS/Science and Science advertisers, including information on products, services and special offers which may include but are not limited to news, careers information & upcoming events.Required fields are included by an asterisk(*)Now, Lanza and Steven Schwartz, who heads the retina division at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, along with their colleagues, share more details from early studies in two different eye diseases. They describe outcomes on nine people with age-related macular degeneration and nine with Stargardt’s. The volunteers, ranging in age from 20 to 88, received injections under their retina of a particular type of eye cell, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, which were derived from hESCs in the lab. RPE cells have some big advantages for initial hESC safety studies: Because they are pigmented, they can be tracked. They are also relatively easy to grow, manipulate, and control in the lab. The downside is that people with these eye diseases are losing sight in large part because they’re losing a different type of eye cell: the photoreceptors that sense light in the retina.Still, the trial results offer hope so far. After the surgery, 13 of 18 patients had an increase in pigmentation, suggesting that the transplanted cells were doing their job. The authors also reported that 10 patients described some improvement in their vision, which Lanza says was an unanticipated result. “In the best-case scenario, we thought we could hopefully prevent the loss of vision in these patients,” he says, because RPE cells are known to help maintain existing photoreceptors, in part by digesting the cellular debris that they shed. “We never really expected such dramatic improvement,” Lanza says. He suspects that transplanted cells are actually restoring the function of “dormant” photoreceptors.However, the improvements didn’t correlate with how much additional pigment researchers detected, and Lanza is careful to point out that for ethical reasons, the study had no control group that received the surgery without the transplanted cells.Scholl is upbeat that the transplanted cells still appear safe and says that analysis of the cells in the recipients’ eyes are “indeed an indication that something is happening.” The “small signal” that vision improved in this cohort could be because the remaining photoreceptors “are exposed to a healthier environment,” he believes. Or it could be due to the cataract surgery several patients in the study received, or the challenges of measuring vision to begin with. Still, Scholl adds, transplantation of RPE cells “can’t be it” for such patients, because ultimately they need new photoreceptors to restore vision.Some groups, including Lanza’s, are looking to do just that: transplant photoreceptor cells. Initial evidence shows that these cells, derived from hESCs, have “an amazing capacity” to migrate into the retina and restore vision, Lanza says. But they’re more difficult to grow in the lab, and testing is right now limited to animals. In the long term, it’s hoped that injecting these cells could make a dramatic difference for people whose sight is disappearing or has already vanished. read more