Last month, the sadhvi and her supporters laid siege to a Jaipur hotel over rumours that it was hosting a ‘beef party.’Earlier this month, a 55-year-old man died at a hospital in Alwar district after allegedly being beaten by a group of cow vigilantes. Pehlu Khan and four others, including his two sons, were beaten up brutally by some locals at Behror who suspected they were smuggling cows. Self-styled cow protector Sadhvi Kamal Didi has equated one of the accused in the Alwar lynching case with revolutionaries Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad.A video of the sadhvi meeting the arrested person, Vipin Yadav, when he came to appear for his annual examination at a college in Behror in Alwar district has gone viral.In the video, the Sadhvi is seen telling Yadav, “The entire country is with you. If we will not do such things in our country than who else will. You need not worry about anything.”Comparing Yadav with revolutionaries of the freedom movement, she said, “People like Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Sukhdev did not do anything wrong.”The sadhvi is the president of the Rasthriya Mahila Gau Rakshak Dal, which operates in Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.She went on to enquire about his health and asked, “Are you getting proper meals and are you well.”When Yadav nodded, she asked him not to hesitate and speak up. “Don’t worry.You seem to be scared,” she said to which Mr. Yadav replied, “No, there is no such matter.”The sadhvi is seen advising Yadav to not sit idle in jail, but spread the message of sacrificing lives while protecting cows.“You must teach everyone in jail to say ‘jai gau mata’, she said.When contacted, she confirmed meeting Yadav at the college. “I just went to assure him of our support,” she said.Also Read Man transporting cows beaten to death in Rajasthan
The South Korean steel major, POSCO, may have pulled out of Odisha, but public resistance is building afresh over the land it has surrendered. In March, POSCO finally let the State government know that it is giving up stake on land it had acquired as it was unable to start work on a proposed steel plant.What happened?On June 22, 2005, POSCO signed a memorandum of understanding with the State to set up a 12 million tonne per annum steel plant along the coast near Paradip at a cost of ₹51,000 crore. It was billed as India’s largest-ever FDI venture. Over the next 12 years, POSCO — and the State government — faced huge public protests. People living in the coastal gram panchayats of Nuagaon, Gadakujang and Dhinkia in Jagatsinghpur district, where the steel mill was planned to be set up, did not want to part with the forestland they had been holding for over 100 years for betel cultivation and fishing.The State government, however, was keen on acquiring the land since the project would boost development and create jobs. The villagers clashed with the police, who ventured into the area to acquire land.How did the situation change?As the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) launched the protests, with Dhinkia village as the epicentre, POSCO decreased its land requirement from 4,004 acres for a 12 MTPA steel plant to be built in three phases to 2,700 acres for an 8 MTPA plant in two phases. Dhinkia was excluded from the project area.Land acquisition was carried out in phases amid violent clashes between pro and anti-POSCO protesters. At least four villagers were killed. Thousands of trees were felled and hundreds of betel vineyards were destroyed for land acquisition. Around 2,700 acres was acquired by 2013.But before the entire land could be handed over to the company, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act was amended. This made the steelmaker’s application for Khandadhar iron ore mines in the State ineligible. The new law stated that a company had to take the auction route to get raw material. POSCO informed the Odisha government in March that it was no longer keen on the project.Why follow Singur?While the State government has started considering proposals from other companies, including JSW Steel, which wants to set up a 10 MTPA steel plant, the villagers have joined hands again, demanding that the land be returned to them.“Odisha must follow the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Singur issue that the land of farmers bought for the Tata Nano plant be returned to them,” says PPSS spokesperson Prashant Paikray.The government must respect the unanimous resolution passed by over 2,000 people at a gram sabha held in October 2012 that the land used for betel cultivation was under the rights provided to the gram sabha under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, says Mr. Paikray.Claims on the forestland filed by a large number of families are still pending for disposal.Many families who “accepted” compensation for demolition of their betel vines too have joined hands with those who had been opposing land acquisition all these years. Nearly 100 betel vines have already been rebuilt by the villagers on the acquired land.The State government wants to limit the damage to its image because of POSCO’s exit by handing over the land to another company. It has started the process for constructing a boundary wall around the acquired land, amid a fresh tussle with the villagers.
Six of the eighteen men accused of lynching Mohammad Akhlaque of Dadri village accusing him of eating beef have alleged that the case against them was “politically motivated.”In a petition filed under section 227 of the CRPC in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shivani Jaiswal, they have pleaded that they should be discharged.Akhlaque, a resident of Bishahra village in Dadri, and his family were attacked by fellow villagers angered by a rumour that they had slaughtered a cow and eaten beef. A violent mob dragged Akhlaque out of the house and lynched him on September 28, 2015.The six accused, Hariom, Bheem, Arun, Sandeep, Puneet and Vinay, said in their plea that there was little evidence against them. “My clients have pleaded before the court that their names were not mentioned in the FIR when it was first registered. Neither had the main witnesses to the lynching — Shaista, Danish, Asghari and Ikraman — named them in their first statements before the judicial magistrate. Their names were included in written statements submitted two months later,” said Ram Sharan Nagar, counsel for the accused.“There is a possibility that my clients were named later under external pressure,” he said.Mr. Nagar is a former president of the Gautam Buddha Nagar District Court Bar Association.Akhlaque’s family’s lawyer Yusuf Saifi, however, disagreed. “There is sufficient evidence to prosecute and convict all the accused in this case. At this juncture, when the charges are about to be framed, moving a petition under section 227 of the CRPC is just a tactic to buy time.”Charges not framedAlmost two years after Akhlaque was lynched, charges are yet to be framed against the accused, despite the case being heard in a fast track court.The court is expected to hear the petition filed by the accused for discharge on August 9.
The Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam, home to the one-horned Indian rhino, will reopen for tourists on October 2 after it was closed in May this year.The UNESCO declared World Heritage Site will reopen at 5 a.m. at Mihimukh under the Kohora Range of the Park in the presence of Assam Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma and local MLA-cum-Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, KNP Divisional Forest officer Rohini Ballav Saikia said here on Thursday. Ms. Brahma is scheduled to open the jeep safari at the Bagori Range, while Mr. Bora will open the Burahpahar Range at KNP, Mr. Saikia said, adding that domestic and international visitors from Germany and Australia are likely to be in the first group of a 14-member elephant safari that is to be kicked off from Mihimukh elephant safari point under the Kohora Range.The Agoratoli Range, famous for migratory birds, will remain closed due to massive destruction by floods during the recent devastating deluge that claimed the life of several rhinos and other animals there, he said.
Heavy rain is expected to pound north and south Odisha districts as the depression that has formed over the Gangetic West Bengal and the adjoining North Bay of Bengal has intensified into deep depression.“Heavy to very heavy rainfall at one or two places in districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Angul, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj and heavy rainfall at one or two places in districts of Subarnapur, Deogarh, Boudh, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur during the next 24 hours,” said the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre here on Monday.Deep depressionAccording to the centre, the observations and satellite imagery indicated that the depression had intensified into deep depression which lay centred about 175 km north-east of Balasore and 300 km north-east of Paradip. Local cautionary signal Number Three was hoisted at the Paradip and Gopalpur Ports. The met office has ruled out the possibility of the deep depression intensifying into cyclonic storm.
Pune: With the onset of the sugarcane crushing season, farmers at the conference organised by the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) in Kolhapur district on Saturday are set to demand a significantly higher price for their crop from factories than previous years.“The imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) coupled with surging costs of agricultural inputs has made it imperative for farmers to raise their demand,” SSS chief Raju Shetti told The Hindu.The Hatkanangle MP said the SSS would not permit factories to begin crushing unless farmers were promised a fair price for the crucial first instalment of sugarcane.“This time, farmers are in a position to secure better prices as the total production nearly equals the sugar consumption across the country. We [the SSS] will urge farmers to sell their stock to factories prudently so as to gain maximum benefit,” Mr. Shetti said.More than 50,000 farmers from north Karnataka and western Maharashtra are expected to attend the annual sugarcane parishad to in Kolhapur’s Jaysingpur township ahead of the start of the sugarcane crushing season on November 1.Mr. Shetti, a former ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, recently severed with the National Democratic Alliance.Last year, the SSS had demanded ₹3,000 per tonne as the first instalment price. Mr. Shetti has been vocal in his criticism of factory owners for defaulting on payments to farmers, alleging corruption in the sector stemming from politicians’ control over sugar mills. “Maharashtra contributes to more than 35% of the national sugar output. This time, the State’s sugar yield has been 85-90 lakh tonnes, which is a drop as compared to the past couple of years. Untimely rain and extreme heat have played spoilsport. This time, sugar factory owners cannot give any excuse for defaulting on payments,” he said. In 2014 and 2015, sugar factories had defaulted on payments of more than ₹400 crore. The SSS had vandalised the Sugar Commissionerate in Pune. Last year, the commissionerate took stern action against 20 sugar factories for failing to make 80% of the fair and remunerative prices payments to farmers.
The Jharkhand High Court on Friday rejected the plea for the extension of the provisional bail to ailing Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and asked him to surrender by August 30.Prasad’s lawyer pleaded for three months extension of his bail on medical ground but the court turned it down.Convicted and jailed in fodder scam cases, Prasad is now undergoing treatment at a super-speciality hospital in Mumbai.A Bench of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh observed that Mr. Prasad’s health condition was not life-threatening.“The treatment for post-fistula surgery could be availed at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS),” the Bench said.Prasad, recently, had an operation for fistula at Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute and had got an infection.His advocate Prabhat Kumar informed the court that “doctors have advised him three more surgeries for prostate, removal of stone from kidney and cataract.” “The court asked Mr. Prasad to get the present treatment at RIMS in Ranchi and he can make a fresh application for provisional bail for the three surgeries, when the time comes”, Mr. Kumar told journalists in Ranchi.Prasad was lodged at the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi on December 23, 2017 after he was convicted in one of the fodder scam cases. However, after serving two months in jail he had developed health complications and was first admitted to RIMS but, later, referred to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.He was granted provisional bail for six weeks by the High Court on May 11 and he was admitted to the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai. The court, subsequently, extended twice his bail period, which finally ended on August 20.Recently, Prasad’s younger son and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav visited him in hospital in Mumbai and wished for his “speedy recovery.”
The ruling Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal were on Friday involved in a bitter exchange of words on the Akali Dal’s proposed “sit-in” in New Delhi on November 3 to seek justice for the families of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims.While the Punjab Pradesh Congress chief Sunil Jakhar termed the SAD sit-in (dharna) as a “political gimmick”, the Akalis hit back, saying the Congress was rubbing salt into the wounds of the Sikh community by opposing the programme.“The dharna on the issue of 1984 riots reflects political hypocrisy of the Akali Dal as rather than withdrawing their own Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the NDA government, they are indulging in such tantrums to befool the masses. It would be a cruel joke if [SAD leader] Sukhbir Badal protests against a government of which his party is an ally,” said Mr. Jakhar.Mr. Jakhar said the Akali Dal remembers the riots issue only when any election approaches. Reacting to Mr. Jakhar’s remark, the SAD dubbed it as the Congress’s nervousness after sensing the rising anger among the Sikhs against the Congress.“The dharna was being held to seek justice for victims of the anti-Sikh riots as well as punishment for those involved. By opposing this dharna, Mr. Jakhar has tried to gratify Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Why is the Congress so upset? Is seeking justice for thousands of innocent Sikhs a crime?” said SAD senior vice-president Daljit Singh Cheema.
A lawmaker in Assam has come out with data on Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-Urban) to pick holes in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the State had seen unprecedented development since 2014.Mr Modi had after inaugurating the 4.94 km Bogibeel Bridge on December 25 outlined a slew of projects undertaken or completed in the North-Eastern states, including Assam.“Either the Prime Minister is unaware or he has been misled by the Sarbananda Sonowal government and senior bureaucrats to make such claims. There is hardly any progress in Assam, and one does not need to go beyond PMAY-Urban to find out,” Anwar Hussain Laskar, the All India United Democratic Front legislator from southern Assam’s Hailakandi constituency told reporters on Monday.Referring to data obtained from the State Mission Directorate, Mr Laskar said only 11 of the 57,364 approved houses under PMAY-Urban had been completed since 2015. “The first instalment of Rs 50,000 for some 17,000 houses was released some time ago after I raised the issue in the Assembly four months ago,” he said.If that were not enough, 37,932 beneficiaries in Guwahati had not received any kind of assistance or subsidy under the Slum Redevelopment Scheme initiated by PMAY-Urban through the State’s Urban Development Department.“The scenario is no different in the case of PMAY-Rural. In the Hailakandi Assembly constituency alone, about 50 out of more than 800 houses have been completed – that too poorly,” Mr Laskar said.There has been no monitoring of the housing-for-all scheme as the district units of the Mission Directorate have been functioning with only one employee instead of the sanctioned four while four districts – Baksa, Biswanath, Hailakandi and Sonitpur – have no manpower at all, the MLA said.Officials handling PMAY-Urban sought time to respond to the legislator’s allegations.
A court here on Monday extended the police remand of former Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma, who had been booked in the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing incident, by three days. The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Chetan Sharma extended the police remand after hearing arguments of both the prosecution and the defence. Sharma’s police remand was expiring on Monday. He was arrested in a case related to the killing of two youths in alleged police firing on anti-sacrilege protesters in Behbal Kalan of Faridkot district.
In a major setback to Congress party in Gujarat ahead of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting scheduled to be held on March 12 in Ahmedabad, two party legislators resigned and join the ruling BJP on Friday. The MLAs were Jawahar Chavda, a senior MLA from Manavadar and Parshottam Sabaria, a first time MLA from Dhrangadhra, both from Saurashtra region. After resigning as legislators, both joined BJP and likely to contest by elections on BJP ticket. . Mr Chavda, a prominent Congress face in Junagadh district had won the assembly polls four times since 1990. He was also a mining and education baron running several education institutions and doing limestone mining in Junagadh district. “I have realised that to better serve your constituency, you should be with the ruling party and that has driven me to BJP,” Mr Chavda told media persons after joining the ruling party. He was from Junagadh district where the BJP had suffered heavily in the assembly polls in 2017. Another legislator to join the BJP was Parshottam Sabaria, who had won the assembly polls in 2017. Interestingly, he was arrested by the state police in a corruption case and was recently released on bail. “BJP is misusing state machinery and offering money to lure our MLAs,” said leader of the opposition Paresh Dhanani. Earlier, senior Congress leader Kuvarji Bavalia had defected to the BJP and became a cabinet minister. Recently, Dr Asha Patel, law maker from Unjha constituency, also resigned and joined the ruling party.
CRPF convoys moving to and from the Kashmir Valley will now be commandeered by a higher SP-rank officer and a single motorcade will not have more than 40 vehicles at any point of time, the paramilitary force has ordered in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 troops during a similar movement. PTI has accessed a set of new standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the force headquarters in Delhi for vehicle-mounted movement of troops in Jammu and Kashmir, and it has also been ordered that the ‘passenger manifest discipline’ for each vehicle in the convoy be strictly adhered to. Amongst the first set of changed SOPs is the move to depute a second-in-command rank officer (equivalent to Superintendent of Police rank) of the force to lead the convoy instead of the current practice of a junior Assistant Commandant-rank (Assistant SP) officer heading the entourage. This is to ensure that the convoy is led by an experienced and senior officer who will have a better clairvoyance and strategy to manoeuvre the convoy to and from the Kashmir Valley which is operationally very sensitive due to terrorist acts and IED threats, official sources said. This will also upgrade the accountability hierarchy and the new convoy commander will now directly report and co-ordinate with one of the three Central Reserve Police Force Deputy Inspector General (operations) based in Kashmir. Till now, the convoy commander or the Assistant Commandant used to report through the Commandant to their higher-ups. The convoy commander usually travels in the lead in a communications gadget-fitted vehicle comprising armed troops for quick reaction. It has also been decided that the convoy strength will not go beyond 40 vehicles in any case and “all possible efforts” will be made to essentially keep the number of vehicles in a motorcade to the least possible of about 10-20 for effective management and control, they said. A CRPF bus in the fifth position of a 78 vehicle convoy was targeted by a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber after he detonated his explosives-laden SUV near it on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama on February 14. The over 2,500 personnel strength convoy was being commanded by an AC-rank officer and all 39 personnel in the ill-fated bus and a sub-officer stationed on the ground, as part of a road sanitisation party, were killed in the deadly blast. The force undertook a huge and time-taking task of identifying the bodies of its slain personnel as the blast had blown the bus and its occupants to smithereens making it difficult to identify the mortal remains as it is understood that some men changed their vehicles when the convoy last halted. It has, sources said, hence been decided that all those who are allotted a seat in the vehicle will scrupulously stick to the seating plan and re-board the same bus or truck after the convoy resumes post a refreshment break. A sub-officer in the rank of an Inspector or a Sub-Inspector will be responsible for ensuring that the passenger manifest of each vehicle remains intact, they said. The convoys will also have a changed strategy of having bullet-proof mobile bunkers which are always deployed at frequent gaps in the motorcade for any armed offensive or defensive action in case of an attack. Also, each vehicle in the convoy will have armed security personnel as usual, but their numbers and position will be changed dynamically and as per operational requirements, they said. The CRPF, designated lead force for internal security duties and anti-terrorist operations in Kashmir, is also mulling to create a new full-fledged transit facility for its troops in Udhampur that will reduce by about 70 km, the distance between Jammu and Srinagar. The present transit camp is in Jammu and it takes about 10-12 hours for convoys to cover about 300 km between these locations. A transit facility in Udhampur will reduce the time taken and the risk involved in running convoys, which cannot be done away with completely despite the government recently allowing all personnel to take a flight to Srinagar from either Jammu or Delhi, they said. The around three lakh personnel strength force has about 65 battalions or about 70,000 personnel deployed in the Kashmir Valley and has two sectors, Kashmir and Kashmir operations, headed by two Inspector General rank officers. CRPF Director General R R Bhatnagar had last week told the news agency that they are going to procure a new fleet of mine protected vehicles, small 30-seater buses and provide more partial armour to its troop carrying buses to ensure safety of jawans post the Pulwama attack, the worst in the valley on security forces in over three decades.
Villagers on Sunday rescued a nine-foot female crocodile, retrieved 59 eggs and handed them over to the Forest department in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, a region where man-crocodile conflicts often hog headlines.Residents of Arada village, on the bank of river Gobari, stumbled upon the crocodile protecting dozens of eggs, when they came out for daily chores early in the morning.Back in safe waters“Usually, crocodiles are violent while laying eggs. They attack anyone coming closer. Villagers, however, mustered courage and captured the reptile using a fishing net. Subsequently they informed us,” said Bijay Kumar Parida, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Mahakalapada. Mr. Parida said the eggs were sent to crocodile research centre in the Bhitarkanika National Park. The crocodile was later released into the Kharnasi water channel in Mahakalapada forest range. Creeks and rivers inside Bhitarkanika are one of the largest natural abodes of crocodiles in the country.Conservation of salt-water crocodiles began in Bhitarkanika on the Odisha coast in 1975 when their number began to dwindle. Only three to four nests were sighted in the area and the population of salt-water crocodiles then was estimated to be just 95. Now, it has increased to 1,700. Last year, the Forest and Environment department had come across 101 crocodile nests in the Bhitarkanika National Park. In 2017, field staff of the park had sighted 80 crocodile nests which had gradually grown from 70 in 2015 to 75 in 2016.
Australia’s top science adviser yesterday warned the nation that it was time to feel a “sense of urgency” about its slipping science and technology expertise or risk falling behind the rest of the world scientifically and economically.Ian Chubb, the Australian government’s chief scientist, made the remarks while unveiling a position paper calling for a strategic plan to advance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the nation.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(*)A neuroscientist and former vice-chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra, Chubb pointed to studies showing that “young people in schools and universities are not acquiring the STEM skills we need for our future prosperity.” He said that although Australia is now not far behind global STEM leaders, the country “lacks the national urgency found in the United States, East Asia, and much of Western Europe.” Moving forward requires reaffirming “a social compact” with the general public to ensure community support for STEM education and research, he said. Earning public trust and support “should not be taken as an easy ride,” he added, and will require strengthening research integrity and also supporting work in the social sciences and humanities. Improving STEM education “brings it all together,” he said. The position paper calls for increasing support for teachers to keep abreast of their disciplines. He also said that the government has a key role to play in providing “patient support” for fundamental and curiosity-driven research, while also ensuring the flow of new ideas into technological development by building links between business and publicly funded research agencies and universities. The final element of a national strategy should be international cooperation. “The world’s challenges are shared. So are the solutions,” he said. The position paper specifically mentions closer ties with Australia’s neighbors in an Asian-Area Research Zone.Chubb described the paper as “a call for a strategy” rather than a specific plan. That will need to be worked out with the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council and the relevant governmental agencies that would be charged with putting strategic actions into practice.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed 26 scientists to a new Scientific Advisory Board that will provide the global body advice on “science, technology and innovation … for sustainable development.” The panel, announced on 18 October, is charged with ensuring “that up-to-date and rigorous science is appropriately reflected in high-level policy discussions within the UN system,” according to a press release by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO, based in Paris, will host the secretariat for the board.”This is a further sign that scientific expertise is becoming more and more important in political decision-making,” Jörg Hacker, president of the German National Academy of Sciences and one of the board’s designated members, told ScienceInsider today. Other members include Israeli crystallographer and Nobel Prize winner Ada Yonath; Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti; and Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Two U.S. scientists are also on the board: Susan Avery, director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Shankar Sastry, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Board members will serve pro bono for 2 years and their contract can be renewed once.”I’d imagine that most of our work will be concerned with the big topics: climate, energy, health,” Hacker says. For example, he says, the panel might examine global demographic changes or strategies for curbing increases in noncommunicable diseases.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(*)The board still has to resolve a number of organizational issues. But it is scheduled to meet for the first time early in 2014, and Hacker says “it is important that we start working straight after that.”
Scholarly papers can have relatively long “half-lives,” finds a survey released yesterday by a U.S.-based association of publishers. More than one-half of the total downloads of the articles covered by the survey took place more than 2 years after publication, while in some fields it took more than 4 years for a paper to hit its half-life.The findings come as the U.S. government, and other governments around the world, attempt to establish policies and deadlines for making government-funded research published in private journals freely available to the public. U.S. officials have suggested that allowing publishers to keep taxpayer-funded papers behind paywalls for a year should be adequate to protect the business model of journals that charge fees to access papers. Some publishers have generally agreed, but others have pushed back, saying that’s not enough time. The new survey, sponsored by the Professional/Scholarly Publishing (PSP) Division of the Association of American Publishers in Washington, D.C., injects some hard data into the debate.“There has been extensive dialogue surrounding public access and embargo periods but assumptions, opinions and ideas have never been grounded in actual data about usage of journal literature,” said John Tagler, PSP’s executive director, in a statement. “Rigorous, scientifically sound studies such as this are critical to setting rational and effective policy.” The results, Tagler added, support the view that “a one-size-fits-all embargo period for scholarly works will not fairly address disparities in journal usage.”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(*)The study is the latest effort to answer a long-standing question: What happens to a research article after it is published? When it comes to citations, the data are obsessively measured, although their significance is hotly debated. And what many researchers would love to know is: “How many times is my work actually read?” Publishers, meanwhile, are interested in the business implications of a 1-year open-access deadline.To explore such issues, Philip Davis, a publishing industry consultant in Ithaca, New York, took a look at download statistics, a potentially good proxy for determining the reading patterns for an article. As a metric, he calculated article half-lives, or how long it took to reach one-half of a paper’s total downloads.Download data are rarely made public, so Davis reached out to a wide range of academic publishers and asked them to share. “I started the study [in] late summer,” Davis tells ScienceInsider in an e-mail:Some of the publishers had to do a lot of work; many had to write programs to extract and count usage events from million and millions of lines of transaction logs. In some cases, they provided me with access to their usage reports and I calculated the half-lives. Everyone I worked with saw the value in doing this kind of research and were very supportive with getting me the data that I needed to do the study.Publishers are very competitive by nature and none of them wanted to go alone with the study, so there needed to be sufficient participation by enough publishers across the subject disciplines where I could show the data but not reveal the details of any one publisher.In the end, Davis got data from 13 publishers that use various business models with their journals (the largest were Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer). It included download information from 2812 journals covering 10 disciplines, from science and engineering to the social sciences and humanities.The surprise was that unlike many blog posts—including, no doubt, this one—scholarly articles continue to be read years after publication. The median half-life across all publishers was between 2 and 4 years. Papers in the health sciences were on the lower end, at 2 to 3 years, and the longest lived fields were humanities, physics, and mathematics with article downloads peaking between 4 to 5 years after publication.The findings come with some caveats, Davis notes. He couldn’t account for papers shared by duplicating PDF versions, for instance, and he had to use statistical sampling techniques to fill in some data gaps. He also was not able to identify the funding sources for papers, so could not see if government-funded papers had different download patterns from those funded by other sources.Still, “this is the first comprehensive study of such data,” says H. Frederick Dylla, executive director of the American Institute of Physics in College Park, Maryland. “In 2012 more than 28,000 [journals] were published by more than 2500 scholarly publishers.” Each of those publishers has access to their own download data, but evidence on the wider trends has been anecdotal.“Most people in publishing would have assumed that humanities or mathematics journal articles have longer article lives than medical journal articles,” says David Crotty, senior editor at Oxford University Press, “but I’m not sure they could have defined those patterns accurately. A lot of previous efforts have gone into studying citation half-lives, which is really interesting, but doesn’t necessarily have as direct a correlation with subscription as does usage.” Crotty says that publishers are likely to release more data after this. “We’re under increasing pressure to provide evidence to help set policy in these matters, so the more we can accurately gauge the ways readers use articles, the better.”
In a takedown of trials testing whether cell transplants could help ailing hearts, a team at Imperial College London suggests that the more discrepancies a study had, the more powerful the benefit it reported for patients with heart problems. The new paper appeared today in BMJ and its implications are nicely explored in this story in Forbes.The cardiac cell therapy field has experienced highs and lows in the last decade, received hundreds of millions of dollars in research money, and most recently been drawn into a university investigation. There’s been much confusion over whether and how well this cell therapy really works—with some studies reporting a robust effect, and others none at all.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(*)The BMJ authors dissected 49 clinical trials. And cardiology professor Darrel Francis and his colleagues say they have nailed down one big commonality among the upbeat studies: They typically had numerous “discrepancies,” sometimes 20 or more. Among them: inconsistencies in the number or type of patients (“Women present in early reports seem to have become men by later reports,” the authors write); statistically insignificant differences reported as significant; and contradictory information in figures and written results. The five clinical trials without any discrepancies reported no benefit from the therapy.Today also marked the release of a meta-analysis of these same types of trials published in The Cochrane Library. And that one, not surprisingly, found a modest benefit, as touted in this University of Oxford press release. It included many of the same trials that Francis and his team examined.
Dogs first surprised cognition researchers when scientists showed that the animals readily follow a human’s pointing finger or gaze to find food. Both wolves, dogs’ closest relative, and chimpanzees, our near-cousin, have trouble doing this. Now, scientists have raised the dogs-only bar: The canines can also use the sound of a human voice alone to find that tasty treat. Researchers carried out the auditory test on adult dogs and 8- to 14-week-old puppies as their owners watched. One of the scientists stood behind a barrier and showed a pet dog or puppy a delicious tidbit and two identical boxes placed on the floor. She then closed a curtain and hid the food in one of the boxes, which were designed so that the dogs could not smell the treat. After reopening the curtain, so that the boxes were again visible to the animal, she crouched behind the barrier to hide, as in the video above. While looking in the direction of the correct box, she called excitedly, “Oh look, look there, this is great!” Almost all the dogs and puppies used the scientist’s voice cue to get the treat. Socialized puppies—those that had spent time with people—were even better than adult dogs at this task. But puppies that had had little contact with humans succeeded only at the chance level. Previously, the researchers had shown that children will use a person’s voice to find a toy or treat, but chimpanzees don’t. That dogs also have this ability adds to previous assertions that we have selected our canine pals to pay special attention to us. Indeed, the scientists say in their study, out today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, that these human-attentive social skills may even be part of dogs’ genetic makeup.(Video credit: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig)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(*)
BRUSSELS—The European Commission today turned down a request by pro-life organizations to block E.U. funding for research using embryonic stem cells—causing many scientists to breathe a sigh of relief. The commission says the existing rules under the European Union’s science program, Horizon 2020, are appropriate and will not change.Last month, a citizens’ initiative called One of Us asked the commission to stop funding research in which embryos are destroyed. Because the initiative reached 1 million verified signatures from seven or more member states, the commission had to formally consider the proposal.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(*)”We have engaged with this Citizens’ Initiative and given its request all due attention,” said research commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn in a statement today. “However, Member States and the European Parliament agreed to continue funding research in this area for a reason. Embryonic stem cells are unique and offer the potential for life-saving treatments, with clinical trials already underway.”The commission’s answer is “very wise,” says Tullio Pozzan, director of the biomedical sciences department at Italy’s National Research Council and a member of Science Europe’s medical committee. The request from One of Us “was not based on scientific considerations, but on philosophical or religious” ones, he says. Stem cell research should be continued even though human therapy is not currently practical, Pozzan adds.Robin Buckle, head of regenerative medicine at the U.K. Medical Research Council, also praised the commission’s decision. “It was essential that the Commission endorsed its existing support in this area,” Buckle said, “as any new restrictions could potentially have been highly damaging to European science and competitiveness.”The pertinent regulations among E.U. member states range from permissive, for instance in Belgium and the United Kingdom, to an outright ban on research using human embryonic stem cells in Poland and Lithuania. At the E.U. level, research is eligible for Horizon 2020 funding only if it is legal in the country where it takes place and has passed a scientific and ethical review. In addition, scientists receiving E.U. money may use leftover embryos granted by couples after in vitro fertilization procedures, but are not allowed to create embryonic stem cell lines for their research.The proponents of the One of Us petition say this arrangement is too liberal. For support, they cite a 2011 ruling by the European Court of Justice in Brüstle v. Greenpeace, which they say “indicates that fecundation is the beginning of human life and in the name of human dignity excludes the patenting of any procedure that involves or supposes the destruction of a human embryo.”But the commission says this ruling is not relevant to science funding. “[T]he ruling was limited to the patentability of biotechnological inventions and did not deal with the question of whether such research can be carried out and whether it can be funded,” the commission argued in another statement today.Under the previous E.U. research program, from 2007 to 2013, the European Union spent €156.7 million on 27 collaborative projects in health research involving the use of human embryonic stem cells. The total amounts to 2.6% of the overall E.U. spending on health research during that period.
As many as 16 warships and submarines from India and Singapore accompanied by aircraft and helicopters from both sides will undertake a series of manoeuvres in the 25th edition of Simbex that began in the Andaman Sea on Thursday. Read it at Deccan Herald Related Items