London: A British-led trial has produced 'spectacular' results with advanced melanoma tumours seen shrinking or brought under control in more than half of the patients using the drugs. More than 945 patients suffering from advanced melanoma were treated using the drugs ipilimumab and nivolumab. The treatments stopped cancer advancing for nearly a year with the tumours shrinking for an average 11.5 months. The combination of the drugs represented what is a 'powerful one-two punch.' Eminent oncologist Prof Karol Sikora, the dean of the University of Buckingham’s medical school, however, cautioned against the news. “I’m afraid it’s mixed news. There are breakthroughs coming, there is hope for cancer, that we will do much better in the future. It’s slow progress, rather than miraculous breakthroughs, as it’s likely to be reported.”
Fines amnesty for late tax returns
London: Up to 890,000 people who have filed late tax returns have been given an amnesty for missing the deadline and the tax officials are no longer checking why people are unable to submit their self assessment forms on time, as long as they provide a reasonable excuse. The unusual step was taken as HRMC faces a backlog of almost a million letters from taxpayers. An HRMS spokesman said, "We want to focus more and more of our resources on investigating major tax avoidance and evasion rather than penalising ordinary people who are trying to do the right thing."
Hawking expresses concerns for disabled students
London: Britain's high profile scientist Stephen Hawking expressed concerns at an event held to celebrate his 50th year as a fellow at the University of Cambridge's Gonville and Caius College. “I wonder whether a young ambitious academic, with my kind of severe condition now, would find the same generosity and support in much of higher education. Even with the best goodwill, would the money still be there? I fear not.” His comments come at a time when the universities continue to lobby for sufficient resources. Hawking had previously raised concerns about cuts to government funding for research budgets and had warned against the £80m of grant cuts saying they threatened Britain's international standing in the scientific community.
Bangla blogger gets death threat on Facebook
Dhaka: Another Bangladesh blogger has been threatened by extremist elements. A day after the story of how the 25 year old Bangladeshi blogger was living a life of fear, Ananya Azad received a message on a social networking site that mentioned him to be 'The Next.' Ananya, who is on a hit list of 84 atheist bloggers said he was shocked by the nature of the threat that addressed his father Humayun Azad as 'Nastiker Sardar.' The message read that his throat would be slashed at the Dhaka University's Bhaskarjya where he would meet his gruesome end. Apparently, Ananya isn't the only blogger suffering. A group of masked assailants chopped Ananta Bijay Das on May 12. His fellow blogger Monir Hussain has gone into hiding following the incident.
Gunmen kill 20 bus passengers in Pakistan attack
Islamabad: At least 20 bus passengers were killed when gunmen disguised as members of the Pakistani security forces opened fire at a bus which was travelling from western city of Quetta to Karachi. First the assailants asked the passengers to get down from the bus before killing them. The assault occurred in the town of Mastung about 40 km south of Quetta where 15 to 20 armed men in three pick up trucks wearing security uniforms kidnapped around 35 passengers. Twenty bodies were later recovered 2 km away from the main Quetta-Karachi highway. The attack poses a major concern for the government as it raises questions about the feasibility of a major new economic corridor Pakistan wishes to build with billions of dollars of Chinese investment.
New York millionaire woman jailed for killing autistic son
New York: A wealthy businesswoman who poisoned her autistic 8 year old son in a Manhattan hotel room has been sentenced to 18 years in a state prison for manslaughter. Gigi Jordan claimed to murder the child to prevent him from being sexually tortured by the child's father and asked Justice Charles Solomon to show some compassion. The judge, however, did not believe her story as there was no credible evidence presented at the trial showing Jude Mirra had ever been sexually abused. “The defendant appears to have psychological problems,” he said. Jude was found dead in a bed at the Peninsula on Feb 5, 2010, after the police and a hotel security guard broke into the room. Jordan was on the floor next to the bed, surrounded by pills, a pill crusher, a syringe used to force feed patients and empty bottles of vodka.
Pakistan executes eight death row convict
Islamabad: Pakistan executed 8 death row prisoners, including 3 hijackers of a PIA plane. Death row prisoners Shahsawar and Sabir Baloch were hanged in Hyderabad Central Jail for hijacking a PIA flight from Turbat in 1998. The third hijacker, Shabbir Baloch was hanged in Karachi Central Jail. Death row prisoner, guilty of killing a minor in 2003 was hanged in the same prison. Convict Akseer, guilty of killing Rizwan over a business dispute in 1998 was hanged in Attock Central Jail. Muhammad Ashraf was hanged in Sahiwal Central Jail in a double murder case. Amir Abdullah was hanged in district Jail Sargodha and prisoner Khurram was executed in Haripur Central Jail. The convicts remained on a death row until Pakistan removed the moratorium on executions following the Peshawar school massacre in December.
PIO student sentenced to life for murder
Washington: Rahul Gupta, a 25 year old Indian-American student was sentenced to life in a prison by a US court for fatally stabbing his friend on finding him cheating with his girlfriend. He changed his narrative several times in court but acknowledged killing his friend Mark Waugh, 24. On October 13, 2013, Gupta caught Waugh cheating with his girlfriend and stabbed and slashed him 11 times. He told the police: “My girl and my buddy were cheating, my girl was cheating with my buddy. I walked in on them cheating and I killed my buddy.” He was arrested in October 2013.
Kenyan man keen to marry Obama's daughter
Nairobi: Felix Kiprono, a Kenyan lawyer has offered the US President Barack Obama, 50 cows and other assorted livestock in exchange for his 16 year old daughter Malia's hand in marriage. He said he intended to put his offer of marriage and hopes the President brings his daughter with him on his first presidential visit to Kenya. The young lawyer said he already has planned his proposal which would be made on a hill near his rural village, and the wedding at which champagne would be shunned in favour of a traditional sour milk called “mursik.” As a couple, he and the young Obama would lead a 'simple life.'
Rajapaksa’s wife questioned by Lankan police over graft
Colombo: Sri Lanka's former first lady, Sriranthi Rajapaksa was questioned over the alleged corruption in an NGO run by her during her husband, Mahinda Rajapaksa's presidency. The Financial Crime Investigation Division questioned her for more than two hours. Her media coordinator quoted that the former first lady obtained funds from overseas for her humanitarian work in a transparent manner and has never gotten involved in politics. The Rajapaksas have called the investigations against several of the former regime members as a political witch-hunt. Mahinda said his successor Maithripala Sirisena's government was out to jail all the members of the family, including him.
