The former political figure who has been convicted of sexual abuse, heading into court with his lawyer Ian Brookie. Photo: RNZ By Anneke Smith of RNZ Warning: This story discusses details of sexual abuse. A former political figure who sexually abused two teenage boys nearly 30 years ago has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Victims welcome name suppression changes The man, who is not a sitting MP, sexually assaulted two young teenagers he mentored through a sports club in the mid- to late-1990s. He continues to deny any offending after being found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault after a week-long jury trial in the Auckland District Court in August. Judge David Sharp has now sentenced him to two-and-a-half years' imprisonment, taking into account discounts for good character and reparations of $1500 for each victim. The judge acknowledged the man maintained his innocence but said he still had to consider the emotional harm done, having listened to the survivors' stories of intense suffering. Judge Sharp said the offender had abused the teenage boys when they were asleep, drunk or unconscious and that it had been a substantial breach of trust, given his seniority to them in their sports club. The former political figure has had interim name suppression for 667 days now and is now asking the court for a permanent order, his sixth request for further secrecy. RNZ, Stuff and TVNZ have all opposed the the man's continued bids for name suppression, arguing there are no grounds for further name suppression. Victim impact statements The court heard moving victim impact statements from both of the survivors, the first read aloud by Detective Sergeant Richard Veacock who investigated a complaint he made in 1999 that did not lead to any charges. The survivor told the court the abuse had haunted him for decades and he had had horrible nightmares where he was raped and killed by the offender, waking up gasping for breath. He found wiping his newborn's bottom during a nappy change confronting and, when a friend asked why he was having trouble, blurted out that he had been sexually abused as a young person, he said. The survivor said the cost and effort of participating in the justice process and therapy had left him and his family poorer and exhausted, suggesting he had considered killing himself. He also addressed the offender's protracted legal battle for name suppression had been deeply distressing and made him feel like his life was less valuable than that of a convicted abuser. The second survivor stood two metres from the offender as he stood to share his victim impact statement in person on Friday morning. He said he had been "young and vulnerable" when he was abused and the trauma had cycled through him into his relationships with his friends, family and workmates. He struggled with alcoholism and his mental wellbeing and had since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and alcohol misuse disorder since, he said. The second survivor added he had had panic attacks and periods of dissociation during August's trial and would continue to fight to lift his own automatic name suppression so he could tell his story openly. This survivor earlier told RNZ he supported the government's proposed law change that would give victims, not judges, the power to decide if a convicted sex offender got permanent name suppression.Israel strikes Houthi rebels in Yemen's capital while the WHO chief says he was meters away JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen have targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital of Sanaa and multiple ports. The World Health Organization’s director-general said the bombardment on Thursday took place just “meters away” as he was about to board a flight in Sanaa. He says a crew member was hurt. The strikes followed several days of Houthi attacks and launches setting off sirens in Israel. Israel's military says it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa, power stations and ports. The Israeli military later said it wasn’t aware that the WHO chief was at the location in Yemen. An uneasy calm settles over Syrian city of Homs after outbreak of sectarian violence HOMS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s new security forces checked IDs and searched cars in the central city of Homs a day after protests by members of the Alawite minority erupted in gunfire and stirred fears that the country’s fragile peace could break down. A tense calm prevailed Thursday after checkpoints were set up throughout the country’s third-largest city, which has a mixed population of Sunni and Shia Muslims, Alawites and Christians. The security forces are controlled by the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the charge that unseated former President Bashar Assad. The US says it pushed retraction of a famine warning for north Gaza. Aid groups express concern. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say they asked for — and got — the retraction of an independent monitor's warning of imminent famine in north Gaza. The internationally Famine Early Warning System Network issued the warning this week. The new report had warned that starvation deaths in north Gaza could reach famine levels as soon as next month. It cited what it called Israel's “near-total blockade” of food and water. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, criticized the finding as inaccurate and irresponsible. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the famine-monitoring group, told the AP it had asked for and gotten the report's retraction. USAID officials tell The Associated Press that it had asked the group for greater review of discrepancies in some of the data. Trump has pressed for voting changes. GOP majorities in Congress will try to make that happen ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans in Congress plan to move quickly in their effort to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures, seeing an opportunity with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. They want to push through long-sought changes such as voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements. They say the measures are needed to restore public confidence in elections. That's after an erosion of trust that Democrats note has been fueled by false claims from Donald Trump and his allies of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Democrats say they are willing to work with the GOP but want any changes to make it easier, not harder, to vote. Americans are exhausted by political news. TV ratings and a new AP-NORC poll show they're tuning out NEW YORK (AP) — A lot of Americans, after an intense presidential election campaign, are looking for a break in political news. That's evident in cable television news ratings and a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found nearly two-thirds of Americans saying they've found the need recently to cut down on their consumption of political and government news. That's particularly true among Democrats following President-elect Donald Trump's victory, although a significant number of Republicans and independents feel the same way. Cable networks MSNBC and CNN are really seeing a slump. That's also happened in years past for networks that particularly appeal to supporters of one candidate. New York to charge fossil fuel companies for damage from climate change ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Large fossil fuel companies would have to pay fees to help New York fight the effects of climate change under a bill signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. The governor signed the new law Thursday. It requires companies responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions to pay into a state infrastructure fund for repairs or projects that help avoid future damage from climate change. Lawmakers approved the bill earlier this year. It's meant to make big oil and gas companies contribute to the cost of repairs after extreme weather events or for resiliency projects. Such projects may include restoring coastal wetlands or upgrading roads, bridges and water drainage systems. Legal challenges to the new law are expected. Aviation experts say Russia's air defense fire likely caused Azerbaijan plane crash as nation mourns Aviation experts say that Russian air defense fire was likely responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash the day before that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured. Azerbaijan is observing a nationwide day of mourning on Thursday for the victims of the crash. Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons yet unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan. Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Ukraine's military intelligence says North Korean troops are suffering heavy battlefield losses KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's military intelligence says North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses in Russia's Kursk region and face logistical difficulties as a result of Ukrainian attacks. The intelligence agency said Thursday that Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units. Ukraine's president said earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed and wounded in the fighting in the Kursk region. It marked the first significant estimate by Ukraine of North Korean casualties several weeks after Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost 3-year war. How the stock market defied expectations again this year, by the numbers NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors. U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates. The benchmark index posted its first back-to-back annual gains of more than 20% since 1998. The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin and gold surged and “Roaring Kitty” reappeared to briefly reignite the meme stock craze. Why this Mexican American woman played a vital role in the US sacramental peyote trade MIRANDO CITY, Texas (AP) — Amada Cardenas, a Mexican American woman who lived in the tiny border town of Mirando City in South Texas, played an important role in the history of the peyote trade. She and her husband were the first federally licensed peyote dealers who harvested and sold the sacramental plant to followers of the Native American Church in the 1930s. After her husband's death in 1967, Cardenas continued to welcome generations of Native American Church members to her home until her death in 2005, just before her 101st birthday.
Two Sydney to Hobart sailors have died at sea amid wild weather that forced mass retirements overnight, but organisers say the race will continue denying conditions had been unsafe for the fleet. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading A sailor aboard Flying Fish Arctos and one on Bowline were fatally struck by their respective boat's boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail. Both yachts have since retired from the race - two of the 16 that had pulled out by 7.30am on December 27 after a west-southwesterly change brought strong winds to the southern NSW Coast and Bass Strait. The deaths are the first in the 628-nautical miles race since the tragic 1998 Hobart, which claimed the lives of six sailors in storms and triggered mass reforms to safety protocols. David Jacobs, vice-commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, said the race would "absolutely" continue, with the first boats expected to arrive in Hobart later on Friday or early Saturday morning. "The conditions are challenging, but they're not excessive," he told ABC. "So we've got sort of winds at about 25 knots coming from the north seas around about two metres or thereabouts, so the conditions that most of the sailors would normally easily handle." Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the sailors who lost their lives. "We have sadly awoken to tragedy in the Sydney to Hobart with the awful news two sailors have lost their lives," he said. "Our thoughts are with the crews, their families and loved ones at this deeply sad time." The incident aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred around 30nm east-south east of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast late on Thursday night. Crew members attempted CPR but could not revive their teammate, notifying the Australian Maritime Safety Authority of the incident around 11.50pm. Flying Fish Arctos has since altered her course to arrive at Jervis Bay on the morning of December 27. The crew member aboard Bowline was struck approximately 30nm north east of Batemans Bay around 2am and fell unconscious, with CPR also unsuccessful. A police vessel escorted the boat to Batemans Bay. Flying Fish Arctos, a NSW-based 50-footer, has contested 17 previous Hobarts since being built in 2001. She was designed for round-the-world sailing and is currently used by Flying Fish, a sailing school that operates in Mosman, a suburb on Sydney's north shore. The crew this year comprised 12 members, a mix of Hobart veterans and internationals, and was skippered by seven-time Hobart sailor George Martin, her most experienced Hobart sailor. Bowline had been racing in her third Hobart when tragedy struck her crew of seven. One of only four South Australian yachts in this year's race, she placed 33rd and 79th on handicap in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the bluewater classic, respectively. She has been skippered by Ian Roberts on all three occasions and is a previous winner of the Haystack Island Race in South Australia. As a result of the wild weather a crew member was also swept overboard from Porco Rosso, which won the race on handicap as Victoire in 2013, but the sailor was recovered before the boat retired. The twin tragedies came as line honours favourite Master Lock Comanche withdrew from the race 63nm off Green Cape in the early hours of December 27, having sustained damage to her mainsail while leading the fleet. Her retirement has rocketed rival 100ft supermaxi LawConnect into favouritism for back-to-back line honours titles. As of 7.30am, Christian Beck's boat was 8nm ahead of second-placed Celestial V70 sailing through the Bass Strait. Four-time line honours champion Comanche, one of the most impressive monohull yachts in the world, has never retired before in eight previous runnings of Syd-Hob. Comanche had been chasing atonement for last year's race when LawConnect ambushed her in the River Derwent to claim line honours victory by only 51 seconds. The fleet stands at 88 competitors as of 7.30am, reduced from 104 starters, after URM Group, Zeus, Bacchanal and Alive were among the leading handicap contenders to have retired. URM Group had enjoyed a dominant lead-up to the race and placed second overall last year behind Alive, which succumbed to engine issues only three hours into the race. RETIRED BOATS AS AT 7.30AM ON FRIDAY: Alive (26/12, 16:10) - engine issues Transcendence Ruby Project (26/12, 18:20), dismasted Ciao Bella (26/12, 20:14), steering issues URM Group (26/12, 22:15), dismasted Philosopher (26/12, 23:14), dismasted Flying Fish Arctos (26/12, 23:50), fatality Master Lock Comanche (27/12, 00:30), mainsail damage Wild Oats (27/12, 01:10), rigging damage Calibre 12 (27/12, 02:15), mainsail damage Bowline (27/12, 02:15), fatality Centennial 7 (27/12, 03:15), mainsail damage Porco Rosso (27/12, 04:45), man overboard - since recovered Mayfair (27/12, 05:00) broken gear Zeus (27/12, 06:03) foil damage Rum Rebellion (27/12, 06:26) TBA Bacchanal (27/12, time TBA) broken boom Australian Associated Press More from National Sport News Newsletters & Alerts DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. 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As part of a national “moonshot” to cure blindness, researchers at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus will receive as much as $46 million in federal funding over the next five years to pursue a first-of-its-kind full eye transplantation. “This is no easy undertaking, but I believe we can achieve this together,” said Dr. Kia Washington, the lead researcher for the University of Colorado-led team, during a press conference Monday. “And in fact I’ve never been more hopeful that a cure for blindness is within reach.” The CU team was one of four in the United States that received funding awards from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health , or ARPA-H. The CU-based group will focus on achieving the first-ever vision-restoring eye transplant by using “novel stem cell and bioelectronic technologies,” according to a news release announcing the funding. The work will be interdisciplinary, Washington and others said, and will link together researchers at institutions across the country. The four teams that received the funding will work alongside each other on distinct approaches, though officials said the teams would likely collaborate and eventually may merge depending on which research avenues show the most promise toward achieving the ultimate goal of transplanting an eye and curing blindness. Dr. Calvin Roberts, who will oversee the broader project for ARPA-H, said the agency wanted to take multiple “shots on goal” to ensure progress. “In the broader picture, achieving this would be probably the most monumental task in medicine within the last several decades,” said Dr. Daniel Pelaez of the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, which also received ARPA-H funding. Pelaez is the lead investigator for that team, which has pursued new procedures to successfully remove and preserve eyes from donors, amid other research. He told The Denver Post that only four organ systems have not been successfully transplanted: the inner ear, the brain, the spinal cord and the eye. All four are part of the central nervous system, which does not repair itself when damaged. If researchers can successfully transplant the human eye and restore vision to the patient, it might help unlock deeper discoveries about repairing damage to the brain and spine, Pelaez said, as well as addressing hearing loss. To succeed, researchers must successfully remove and preserve eyes from donors and then successfully connect and repair the optical nerve, which takes information from the eye and tells the brain what the eye sees. A team at New York University performed a full eye transplant on a human patient in November 2023, though the procedure — while a “remarkable achievement,” Pelaez said — did not restore the patient’s vision. It was also part of a partial face transplant; other approaches pursued via the ARPA-H funding will involve eye-specific transplants. Washington, the lead CU researcher, said she and her colleagues have already completed the eye transplant procedure — albeit without vision restoration — in rats. The CU team will next work on large animals to advance “optic nerve regenerative strategies,” the school said, as well as to study immunosuppression, which is critical to ensuring that patients’ immune systems don’t reject a donated organ. The goal is to eventually advance to human trials. Pelaez and his colleagues have completed their eye-removal procedure in cadavers, he said, and they’ve also studied regeneration in several animals that are capable of regenerating parts of their eyes, like salamanders or zebra fish. His team’s funding will focus in part on a life-support machine for the eye to keep it healthy and viable during the removal process. InGel Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based Harvard spinoff and the lead of a third team, will pursue research on 3-D printed technology and “micro-tunneled scaffolds” that carry certain types of stem cells as part of a focus on optical nerve regeneration and repair, ARPA-H said. ARPH-A, created two years ago, will oversee the teams’ work. Researchers at 52 institutions nationwide will also contribute to the teams. The CU-led group will include researchers from the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University and Johns Hopkins University, as well as from the National Eye Institute . The teams will simultaneously compete and collaborate: Pelaez said his team has communicated with researchers at CU and at Stanford, another award recipient, about their eye-removal research. The total funding available for the teams is $125 million, ARPA-H officials said Monday, and it will be distributed in phases, in part dependent on teams’ success. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who represents Denver in Congress, acknowledged the recent election results at the press conference Monday and pledged to continue fighting to preserve ARPA-H’s funding under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. The effort to cure blindness, Washington joked, was “biblical” in its enormity — a reference to the Bible story in which Jesus cures a blind man. She and others also likened it to a moonshot, meaning the effort to successfully put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon nearly 50 years ago. If curing blindness is similar to landing on the moon, then the space shuttle has already left the launchpad, Washington said. “We have launched,” she said, “and we are on our trajectory.”15-year-old ID’d as armed person killed by Akron officer after nearby gunshots
AP Business SummaryBrief at 2:10 p.m. ESTPremier League leaders Liverpool ruthlessly exploited another slip by their title rivals to move seven points clear with a match in hand after a 3-1 win over Leicester. Chelsea’s surprise defeat at home to Fulham earlier in the day had been an unexpected gift for Arne Slot’s side and they drove home their advantage by outclassing the struggling Foxes. Having overcome the early setback of conceding to Jordan Ayew, with even the travelling fans expressing their surprise they were winning away after taking just five points on the road this season, the home team had too much quality. That was personified by the excellent Cody Gakpo, whose eighth goal in his last 14 appearances produced the equaliser in first-half added time with the Netherlands international unlucky to have a second ruled out for offside by VAR. Further goals from Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah, with his 19th of the season, stretched Liverpool’s unbeaten run to 22 matches. For Leicester, who had slipped into the bottom three after Wolves’ win over Manchester United, it is now one win from the last 10 in the league and Ruud van Nistelrooy has plenty of work to do, although he was not helped here by the absence of leading scorer Jamie Vardy through injury. It looked liked Liverpool meant business from the off with Salah’s volley from Gakpo’s far-post cross just being kept out by Jakub Stolarczyk, making his league debut after former Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward was omitted from the squad having struggled in the defeat to Wolves. But if the hosts thought that had set the tone they were badly mistaken after being opened up with such simplicity in only the sixth minute. Stephy Mavididi broke down the left and his low cross picked out Ayew, who turned Andy Robertson far too easily, with his shot deflecting off Virgil van Dijk to take it just out of Alisson Becker’s reach. With a surprise lead to cling to Leicester knew they had to quell the storm heading their way and they began by trying to take as much time out of the game as they could, much to Anfield’s frustration. It took a further 18 minutes for Liverpool to threaten with Gakpo cutting in from the left to fire over, a precursor for what was to follow just before half-time. That was the prompt for the attacks to rain down on the Foxes goal, with Salah’s shot looping up off Victor Kristiansen and landing on the roof of the net and Robertson heading against a post. Gakpo’s inclination to come in off the left was proving a problem for the visitors, doing their utmost to resist the pressure, but when Salah curled a shot onto the crossbar on the stroke of half-time it appeared they had survived. However, Gakpo once again drifted in off the flank to collect an Alexis Mac Allister pass before curling what is fast becoming his trademark effort over Stolarczyk and inside the far post. Early the second half Darwin Nunez fired over Ryan Gravenberch’s cross before Jones side-footed home Mac Allister’s cross after an intricate passing move inside the penalty area involving Nunez, Salah and the Argentina international. Leicester’s ambition remained limited but Patson Daka should have done better from a two-on-one counter attack with Mavididi but completely missed his kick with the goal looming. Nunez forced a save out of the goalkeeper before Gakpo blasted home what he thought was his second only for VAR to rule Nunez was offside in the build-up. But Liverpool’s third was eventually delivered by the left foot of Salah, who curled the ball outside Kristiansen, inside Jannick Vestergaard and past Stolarczyk inside the far post.
Edison International Raises Common Stock Dividend 6.1%; 21st Consecutive Annual IncreaseStocks set for strong weekly gain, US yields slip as markets eye Trump policies
LONDON -- At 4-0 down after just 36 minutes, there was a danger that Julen Lopetegui was going to be the only person connected to West Ham left in the stands. The Hammers boss, serving a one-match touchline ban after picking up three yellow cards this season, watched on from a high vantage point as fans streamed out of London Stadium all around him before half-time, shaking their heads in disbelief at the havoc wreaked below. And yet, four minutes later, out of nowhere, West Ham had scored twice. Hope was revived. Just when the Hammers were getting themselves in a position from which to mount a second-half comeback, goalkeeper punched to concede a penalty that converted to send the Gunners in 5-2 up at the break. It was, quite simply, absolute madness -- a glorious advert for the brilliantly chaotic, implausibly unpredictable product, which ranks as one of the United Kingdom's most successful global exports in any field. In the end, the seven first-half goals tied a league record with three other games, the last of which came between Reading and in December 2012. Judging by the relative lack of empty seats -- most of those beleaguered West Ham fans returned anyway -- it was amusing that just when it seemed like more of the same would follow after the break, the second was goalless and uncompetitive. It felt like the proverbial early night in bed after the happy-hour hedonism. So, with about 15 minutes left, they started to leave again. It is, as ever, the hope that kills you as a sports fan and West Ham's had long been extinguished. Meaningful conclusions from games like this are ill-advised, but it should nevertheless be noted that after Arsenal needed a set-piece to break the deadlock, some of their football was a combination of divine and deadly. Gabriel Magalhães' 10th-minute header was the final act of a set-piece routine that will earn Arsenal fresh praise even given their well-documented strength in those situations. Running from far post to near, the Gunners were a blur of movement, in which perhaps the most cunning act was 's gentle nudge on to ensure Saka's delivery found Gabriel unmarked. If dark arts helped break the deadlock, Arsenal then well and truly stepped into the light. had a 17th-minute effort correctly ruled out for offside but West Ham were then overrun, Martin Ødegaard and Saka combining superbly to lay on a simple finish for . Saka then jinked into the box, and Paqueta could do nothing other than bring him down. Ødegaard converted. Trossard then released who finished low past Fabianski to cue the first mini-exodus. West Ham were the heavyweight knowing they were losing on points and therefore reduced to hopeful haymakers; inexplicably, they started landing. was given too much space in the Arsenal defensive third, though his pass was superbly executed through for to slot home. Wan-Bissaka had scored twice in 182 Premier League appearances, but now has two in six days. Because why not? Perhaps even more improbably, conceded a dubious free kick awarded for a challenge on Paqueta, and Emerson Palmieri curled a stunning 25-yard free kick in off the crossbar. It was the left-back's second goal in 20 months. Just as the visitors' sudden loss of composure sparked memories of Arsenal's 4-4 draw at Newcastle in February 2011 -- the only time a Premier League team has failed to win a game in which they led by four first-half goals -- Fabianski mistakenly floored Gabriel trying to meet a corner and Saka slotted home the penalty to conclude the scoring. Mercifully for them, the three-goal cushion proved sufficient. Arteta took pleasure in the restoration of the flow in Arsenal's game, triggered most significantly by Ødegaard's return to the starting lineup; it is no coincidence the Norway playmaker's reintegration has come in a week when the Gunners scored 13 goals including five in the Champions League for the first time since 2008. There was one note of caution after that game, which proved prophetic here too. "Before and after half-time you need to get through those 10-15 minutes in a different way," Arteta said after Tuesday's 5-1 win in Lisbon. "We gave so many balls away, and that doesn't allow you results." There was a similar sloppy spell here and there might come a time when that becomes the talking point. But not today, not after a 45-minute spell that ranks among the most tumultuous in recent memory.
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As part of a national “moonshot” to cure blindness, researchers at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus will receive as much as $46 million in federal funding over the next five years to pursue a first-of-its-kind full eye transplantation. “This is no easy undertaking, but I believe we can achieve this together,” said Dr. Kia Washington, the lead researcher for the University of Colorado-led team, during a press conference Monday. “And in fact I’ve never been more hopeful that a cure for blindness is within reach.” The CU team was one of four in the United States that received funding awards from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health , or ARPA-H. The CU-based group will focus on achieving the first-ever vision-restoring eye transplant by using “novel stem cell and bioelectronic technologies,” according to a news release announcing the funding. The work will be interdisciplinary, Washington and others said, and will link together researchers at institutions across the country. The four teams that received the funding will work alongside each other on distinct approaches, though officials said the teams would likely collaborate and eventually may merge depending on which research avenues show the most promise toward achieving the ultimate goal of transplanting an eye and curing blindness. Dr. Calvin Roberts, who will oversee the broader project for ARPA-H, said the agency wanted to take multiple “shots on goal” to ensure progress. “In the broader picture, achieving this would be probably the most monumental task in medicine within the last several decades,” said Dr. Daniel Pelaez of the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, which also received ARPA-H funding. Pelaez is the lead investigator for that team, which has pursued new procedures to successfully remove and preserve eyes from donors, amid other research. He told The Denver Post that only four organ systems have not been successfully transplanted: the inner ear, the brain, the spinal cord and the eye. All four are part of the central nervous system, which does not repair itself when damaged. If researchers can successfully transplant the human eye and restore vision to the patient, it might help unlock deeper discoveries about repairing damage to the brain and spine, Pelaez said, as well as addressing hearing loss. To succeed, researchers must successfully remove and preserve eyes from donors and then successfully connect and repair the optical nerve, which takes information from the eye and tells the brain what the eye sees. A team at New York University performed a full eye transplant on a human patient in November 2023, though the procedure — while a “remarkable achievement,” Pelaez said — did not restore the patient’s vision. It was also part of a partial face transplant; other approaches pursued via the ARPA-H funding will involve eye-specific transplants. Washington, the lead CU researcher, said she and her colleagues have already completed the eye transplant procedure — albeit without vision restoration — in rats. The CU team will next work on large animals to advance “optic nerve regenerative strategies,” the school said, as well as to study immunosuppression, which is critical to ensuring that patients’ immune systems don’t reject a donated organ. The goal is to eventually advance to human trials. Pelaez and his colleagues have completed their eye-removal procedure in cadavers, he said, and they’ve also studied regeneration in several animals that are capable of regenerating parts of their eyes, like salamanders or zebra fish. His team’s funding will focus in part on a life-support machine for the eye to keep it healthy and viable during the removal process. InGel Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based Harvard spinoff and the lead of a third team, will pursue research on 3-D printed technology and “micro-tunneled scaffolds” that carry certain types of stem cells as part of a focus on optical nerve regeneration and repair, ARPA-H said. ARPH-A, created two years ago, will oversee the teams’ work. Researchers at 52 institutions nationwide will also contribute to the teams. The CU-led group will include researchers from the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University and Johns Hopkins University, as well as from the National Eye Institute . The teams will simultaneously compete and collaborate: Pelaez said his team has communicated with researchers at CU and at Stanford, another award recipient, about their eye-removal research. The total funding available for the teams is $125 million, ARPA-H officials said Monday, and it will be distributed in phases, in part dependent on teams’ success. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who represents Denver in Congress, acknowledged the recent election results at the press conference Monday and pledged to continue fighting to preserve ARPA-H’s funding under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. The effort to cure blindness, Washington joked, was “biblical” in its enormity — a reference to the Bible story in which Jesus cures a blind man. She and others also likened it to a moonshot, meaning the effort to successfully put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon nearly 50 years ago. If curing blindness is similar to landing on the moon, then the space shuttle has already left the launchpad, Washington said. “We have launched,” she said, “and we are on our trajectory.”
Diagnoses of autism have surged more than 175% in recent years, a surge that was particularly dramatic among young adults ages 26 to 34. Autism diagnoses among that group skyrocketed 450%, according to a study published recently in the journal JAMA Network Open. “People in our society are learning and understanding why they’ve been feeling different for so long and why these unique experiences that they’ve had for so long are starting to make sense to them,” said Dr. Sheeima Paramatmuni, director of adult inpatient psychiatry at Trinity Health of New England. “Such young adults may have wondered, ‘Why am I not able to have a back-and-forth conversation, or why am I not able to understand the context of what (people) are telling me or why am I not able to make eye contact?'” she said. Awareness of autism – particularly as a spectrum disorder – may be driving the increase, some area specialists say. Autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, learn and behave (see list below). Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is described as a “developmental disorder” because symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Autism refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that autism affects 1 in 36 children and 1 in 45 adults in the United States. The new report looked at more than 12 million patients enrolled in major U.S. health care systems between 2011 and 2022. In addition to the increases in the population, it found that girls, who are traditionally diagnosed at a lower rate than boys, had soared by 305%, compared to 175% among boys. Although autism is typically diagnosed between the ages of 2 and 6, many young people today were likely missed, said Dr. Hassan M. Minhas, psychiatrist and the chief of autism services at the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain. “People in their 20s and 30s, when they were young, the understanding of autism was very rudimentary and the resources for autism testing were very limited,” Minhas said. “Medical professionals didn’t really know what to look out for. If those children were transported to this day and age, they would be diagnosed much earlier.” Others, however, like Dr. James McPartland, who is director of the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine, said the study fails to address whether the clinical diagnoses of autism were accurate. “It shows us there are more people out there who have a diagnosis of autism,” McPartland said. “What it doesn’t tell us is anything about whether there are actually changes and who is developing autism. One of the things that’s really important to understand that this study can’t tell us about is whether these are accurate diagnoses of autism.” He cites a March study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders that found that 47% of children who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder did not meet the ASD criteria by expert consensus. “Awareness that there is autism is not the same as awareness of what autism how it is defined,” he said. “Being really confident that this is the diagnosis that captures these people most accurately is really a critical thing that this study doesn’t speak to.” A July study published in the same journal found that “a very high proportion” of TikTok videos with the “#Autism” hashtag, which reaches 11.5 million viewers, were inaccurate. Minhas disagreed. “I do not think that autism is being overdiagnosed. I think it’s the numbers that are being reported are actual accurate numbers. I think in the past autism has been underdiagnosed.” McPartland acknowledges that “There could be people who ...grow up with autism but who don’t get detected until they’re older and therefore they may have missed out on the opportunity to get any kind of supports that could have been beneficial to them earlier in life.” Experts say that other issues – anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other conditions – might have “masked” or accompanied autism. “There are many diagnoses that ... could have potentially confusing overlap with features of autism, like social anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder or attention difficulties, but there’s also the possibility it’s not that someone was diagnosed with something else, it was just never diagnosed at all.... It’s certainly a possibility that there are people who could have had autism their whole lives that never got picked up.” Minhas said some people who have not been officially diagnosed may have congregated into jobs that take advantage of their capacity for extreme interests in detail. “These people perhaps kept to themselves or are intensely interested in certain types of jobs that require excessive attention to detail, for example engineering or the sciences, where a lot of what other people might consider to be quirks actually end up being productive for their fields or in their specialty.” Computer coding, for instance, might be one such profession. “I will get a lot of patients in their 20s, 30s, even 40s and 50s who come to me with a diagnosis of ADHD or a personality disorder or a psychosis or OCD, but when I sit down with them and I talk to them, it becomes very quickly apparent that the conditions that they’ve had did not develop later in life, but they’ve had them since early childhood. But since people didn’t understand it, (doctors) diagnosed them with something else, and they’ve been mistreated with treatments and medications that haven’t really helped.” As a developmental disorder, autism itself does not require medication, though some of the symptoms it engenders, including anxiety and depression, sometimes do, doctors say. Autism typically manifests in social interaction, restrictive behaviors (like eating or wearing the same thing daily) and a high degree of interest in a specific area, like train schedules, said Paramatmuni. Because autism is a spectrum, some of the more subtle behaviors may have been missed or attributed to personality idiosyncrasies. “There are different levels (of autism),” she said. “So a lot of people who fall in that band of the mild severity with social interaction or with the restricted repetitive behavior, those are the ones that never ...come to the surface until later in life, when ...the challenges become a lot harder and it’s difficult to mask anymore. That’s when they’re wondering ‘OK, now what is going on with me? ‘Why am I having these difficulties with a job or relationship?” For young adults and even older adults – Minhas said he has patients in their 40s and 50s – receiving a diagnosis of autism can come with a sense of “relief,” Paramatmuni said. “With many of my patients there’s a sense of understanding why they’ve struggled all this time, of why everybody sort of shies away from them or why they felt so lonely all their life,” she said. “I think some of those concerns are alleviated when they know that this is probably not their fault; it is how their brain operates.” McPartland, who is also the director of Yale’s Center for Brain and Mind Health, said it is critical for those who wonder whether they or a family member have the disorder to seek specialists who can differentiate between some of these behavioral patterns. “It’s very easy for a person – even a person who’s a professional but not experienced in diagnosing autism – to see some of these features but not appreciate that an individual feature or even a few individual features isn’t representative of autism the condition itself.” AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a guide created by the American Psychiatric Association that health care providers use to diagnose mental disorders, people with the disorder often have: Difficulty with communication and interaction with other people Restricted interests and repetitive behaviors Symptoms that affect their ability to function in school, work and other areas of life Autism is known as a “spectrum” disorder because there is wide variation in the type and severity of symptoms people experience – Source: National Institute of Mental HealthHaiti’s health minister loses his job after a deadly gang attack on a hospital in the capital
Researchers launch “moonshot” to cure blindness through eye transplants
In what can be consider as a historic day for the Odisha Vigilance, it witnessed a total of 6 convictions in a day (Corruption, Trap & Da) during which 14 ACCUSED PERSONS were convicted and given different jail terms by the Vigilance courts today. A many as 14 accused persons including 5 Sarpanches, 2 AEs, 1 Accountant, 1 Tax Collector and 5 others were convicted in different Vigilance cases today. Have a look at the cases and convictions of today: I) 5 FORMER SARAPANCHES UNDER UDALA BLOCK, DIST-MAYURBHANJ AND ONE ELECTRICAL SUPPLIER (PRIVATE PERSON) CONVICTED IN VIGILANCE CORRUPTION CASE II) FORMER AE, ITDA, CHAMPUA, KEONJHAR, 2) FORMER JE, ITDA, CHAMPUA, KEONJHAR (A/P-AE (CIVIL), MAHANADI NORTH DIVISION, JAGATPUR, CUTTACK AND ONE PRIVATE PERSON CONVICTED IN VIGILANCE CORRUPTION CASE AND SENT TO JAIL. III) FORMER LAW MOHARIR-CUM-TAX COLLECTOR, CUTTACK MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, CUTTACK CONVICTED IN VIGILANCE CORRUPTION CASE AND SENT TO JAIL. IV) CITY LEVEL TECHNICAL CELL (CLTC), PROFESSIONAL AT DRDA-CUMDUDA, ANGUL CONVICTED IN VIGILANCE TRAP CASE AND SENT TO JAIL. V) FORMER ACCOUNTANT, O/O DFO (TERRITORIAL), SUNDARGARH CONVICTED IN DA CASE. VI) FORMER AREA MANAGER AND FORMER DEPOT IN-CHARGE, BOTH OF MARKFED, JAGANNATHPUR, GANJAM CONVICTED IN VIGILANCE CORRUPTION CASE.Researchers launch “moonshot” to cure blindness through eye transplants
From Molly Kilete, Abuja The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has again called on Nigerians not to see national security as the sole responsibility of the Armed Forces. He said that the actions of the military in ensuring Nigeria’s national security account for only 30 per cent of the overall efforts required, while the remaining 70 per cent for maintaining Nigeria’s peace and security rests on the socio-economic elements of the country. The CDS made this known at the Roundtable Discussion on Nigeria’s Security and National Interest organized by organised by the National Counter Terrorism Centre Office of the National Security Adviser in conjunction with the Defence Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria. The CDS, who spoke on the theme “National Security and National Interest: A Development Journalism Approach for the Defence Beat,” noted that in a world fraught with echoes of conflict, uncertainty, security dilemmas, and ambiguous and complex geopolitical challenges, the narrative surrounding national security often emerges from a narrow lens. According to him, “It is easy to find that the focus on national security is often skewed and confined to discussions of military strength as well as the immediate threats posed by hostile state and non-state actors. “Although these views are essential, it is important that our understanding of national security is expanded to incorporate broader social, economic, and environmental elements, which are hallmarks of what is termed ‘development journalism. “In a nutshell, national security entails the protection of our nation’s core values and institutions as well as citizens from both external and internal threats, while national interest involves the broad goals and objectives guiding our nation’s actions and decisions.” Gen. Musa noted that development journalism sought to promote public awareness and understanding of defence as well as security issues while holding governments, the defence sector, and other stakeholders accountable for their actions as well as informing decision-making by policymakers and defence officials. He further stated that the adoption of a development journalism approach allows for a more active collaboration with journalists and media organisations, enabling them to play a more effective role in promoting national cohesion and stability, thereby advancing Nigeria’s national interest. “Therefore, our national security cannot and should not solely be reliant on the strength of the Armed Forces of Nigeria; rather, it should be strengthened by Nigeria’s educated, healthy, and socially cohesive population underpinned by development journalism. “More so, the development journalism approach will not only require collaboration and dialogue among stakeholders; it will also focus on people centrism in the accomplishment of Nigeria’s national interest. He said, “This approach thus resonates with my leadership concept, which is, “to nurture a professional Armed Forces of Nigeria that is people-centric, capable of meeting its constitutional responsibilities in a joint and Collaborative environment.” Gen. Musa, while noting that the defence beat should be tailored through a development journalism lens through various options available, listed some of the options to include the continuous prioritisation of human security, adoption of investigative reporting on policy impact and the real-world implications, as well as promoting dialogue, inclusivity, and stakeholders’ engagement through available fora. He therefore called for the need to advocate for sustainable practices through reporting on innovative practices in defence as well as using available data to tell the stories as evidence-based outcomes allow for a more informed public discourse. The CDS, while noting that These options will engender trust and cooperation between the military, civil society and other stakeholders and enhance contextual understanding of local dynamics for enhanced social cohesion and effective collaboration, said “Today’s occasion presents me the rare opportunity to make a statement on the critical role of the media in fostering Nigeria’s national security and defence matters, thus necessitating collaboration to further Nigeria’s national security interests.” Earlier in his address, the National Coordinator, National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Office of the National Security Adviser, Major General Adamu Laka, who commended the media for its role in security reportage, assured the media of its continuous support and collaboration to deny the terrorist publicity. According to him, “The objective of this roundtable discussion with you is to foster an open and insightful exchange of ideas. By sharing your experiences, observations, and challenges, together we aim to enhance collective understanding of the dynamics of terrorism and its evolving tactics, discover the ethical considerations of reporting on such sensitive issues, identify opportunities for collaboration between journalists, security experts, and policymakers, and have our best thoughts on the development of a national strategic communication plan and protocol for the gathering and distribution of news on terrorism and violent extremism with the hope of stemming threats to our national security and interests.”Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has ‘smashes past Conservatives’ in membership numbers
LOS ANGELES — The partnership between the NFL and Jay-Z and his entertainment company, Roc Nation, won't change despite a woman accusing the rapper and business mogul of raping her when she was 13 years old, league commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday. Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, was added as a defendant Sunday to a civil lawsuit filed against fellow hip-hop star Sean "Diddy" Combs in U.S. District Court in New York. The complaint, originally filed in October, now alleges that the two men raped the 13-year-old at a party after the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. Combs and Jay-Z have denied the accusations, with the latter issuing a lengthy statement Sunday vowing to fight the "idiotic" charges. Goodell addressed the issue with reporters following the conclusion of the NFL owners meetings in Irving, Texas. "We're aware of the civil allegations and Jay-Z's really strong response to that," Goodell said. "And we know obviously the litigation's happening now. And from our standpoint, our relationship is not changing with them, including our preparations for the next Super Bowl." In 2019, Roc Nation signed a deal with the NFL to consult on live music entertainment and social justice issues. The partnership has resulted in several well-received Super Bowl halftime shows — including performances by the Weeknd, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez as co-headliners, Rihanna and a West Coast hip-hip lineup that featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and more — and was renewed in October. Kendrick Lamar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper who had three Billboard No. 1 hits in 2024, will be the halftime performer at Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Music superstar Beyoncé, who is Jay-Z's wife, will perform during halftime of the Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans game on Christmas Day on Netflix. "I think they're getting incredibly comfortable with not just the Super Bowl but other events they've advised us on, helped us with," Goodell said of Roc Nation. "They've been helpful in the social justice area to us on many occasions. They've been great partners that have provided a lot of great value for us." Combs has been charged by federal prosecutors with crimes including sex trafficking and racketeering. No co-conspirators have been named, but the prosecutors have stated their investigation is ongoing. ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Sky Labs Inc., BrainU Co., Ltd., and ANDOPEN Co., Ltd. will be recognized as Innovation Award Winners SEOUL, South Korea , Dec. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Following its successful participation last year, Seongnam City will participate in CES 2025, the world's largest consumer electronics and information technology exhibition. The event will take place from January 7 to 10, 2025 , in Las Vegas , USA . Seongnam City will operate the "Seongnam Pavilion," which will support 25 local startups from the Seongnam region and highlight their innovative technologies and products. CES 2025 will attract approximately 4,400 companies and over 130,000 attendees worldwide. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.