Source: Sky News
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Friday 29 July 2022 15:00:52
Jab to ‘Cure’ Genetic Heart Conditions That Cause Sudden Death Could Be Just a Few Years Away
A "once-in-a-generation" jab that could "cure" genetic heart conditions that cause sudden death is just a few years away, scientists say.
An international team of researchers is developing the first cures for inherited heart muscle diseases by rewriting DNA with the aim of editing or silencing faulty genes.
They have been awarded £30m by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to fund their research.
The hope is that within just a few years a "cure" injection can be delivered to patients as a jab in the arm, and could be used to prevent illness in family members who carry the same faulty gene.
Inherited heart muscle conditions are driven by different abnormalities in the heart but can cause sudden death or progressive heart failure.
Every week in the UK, 12 people under the age of 35 die of an undiagnosed heart condition, very often caused by an inherited heart muscle disease, also known as genetic cardiomyopathy.
All those with genetic cardiomyopathies have a 50-50 risk of passing faulty genes on to each of their children and, often, several members of the same family develop heart failure, need a heart transplant, or die at a young age.
Professor Hugh Watkins, from the University of Oxford and lead investigator of the CureHeart project, said cardiomyopathies are "really common" and affect one person in every 250.
"There will be one or two in every school," he told a briefing. "Every GP surgery will have several patients with these conditions, but there's quite a range of severity."
He said not all patients would require the new therapy being proposed, but "a very large number" would benefit.
He added: "This is our once-in-generation opportunity to relieve families of the constant worry of sudden death, heart failure, and the potential need for a heart transplant.
"After 30 years of research, we have discovered many of the genes and specific genetic faults responsible for different cardiomyopathies, and how they work. We believe that we will have a gene therapy ready to start testing in clinical trials in the next five years."
