Cells taken from blood and ‘reprogrammed’ into heart muscle cells may help patients with heart failure
Damaged hearts can literally be patched up to help them work, say researchers, in what has been hailed as a groundbreaking development for people with advanced heart failure.
According to a recent study, heart failure affects more than 64 million people worldwide, with causes including heart attacks, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.
Continue reading...Ursula von der Leyen announces plans to cut red tape and boost innovation in second term as head of European Commission
The EU executive has announced “an unprecedented simplification effort” to cut regulations and boost innovation in an attempt to reverse Europe’s economic decline and better compete with China and the US.
In her first major policy announcement since starting a second term as the European Commission president last month, Ursula von der Leyen outlined policy proposals intended to boost Europe’s flagging economy.
Continue reading...Levies threaten exporters to US market, while scrapping of subsidies will hit EV sales – and Tesla could gain
The internal combustion engine appears to hold a special place in Donald Trump’s psyche. During his inauguration speech last week, he made a “sacred pledge” to raise US car production to “a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago”.
Car making and the oil industry – not AI, computer chips, or even cryptocurrencies – were the only two industries the new US president highlighted as he promised to make America a “manufacturing nation once again”.
Continue reading...Crowds give life to the Paris museum and the painting is a silent, compelling mystery at the heart of the hubbub
What a wonderful headache for a museum to have. The Louvre in Paris gets so many visitors it is taking drastic measures to cope, which include moving its most famous treasure to a dedicated space where fans can visit without entering the main museum at all. It will no longer suck the oxygen from other art.
Nearly 9 million visitors a year stream through the Louvre and it’s believed 80% of them are looking for Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, better known as La Gioconde, better still as the Mona Lisa.
Continue reading...Prosecutor at Old Bailey says Katrin Ivanova was only member of Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off plot
A lab technician has been accused of being the only member of a Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off a plot to steal the mobile numbers of Ukrainian soldiers training in Germany.
Katrin Ivanova, 33, was told by prosecutor Alison Morgan KC at the Old Bailey that she had been described by the plotters’ leader as the most technically adept member of the group and that she was necessary to the planned surveillance in Stuttgart.
Continue reading...Rome prosecutor launches investigation into controversial release of Osama Najim, who is wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes
Giorgia Meloni has said she is under investigation in connection with Italy’s unexpected release and repatriation last week of a Libyan general who is wanted for war crimes by the international criminal court.
The Italian prime minister said in a video message posted on social media that she is suspected of aiding and abetting a crime and embezzlement in connection with the case of Libya’s chief of judicial police, Osama Najim – also called Almasri.
Continue reading...Atomic scientists push clock to 89 seconds before midnight, citing nuclear risk, AI and climate crisis as a ‘warning’
A panel of international scientists has moved their symbolic “Doomsday Clock” closer to midnight than ever before, citing Russian nuclear threats amid its invasion of Ukraine, tensions in other world hotspots, military applications of artificial intelligence and the climate crisis as factors underlying the risks of global catastrophe.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the clock to 89 seconds before midnight – the theoretical point of annihilation. That is one second closer than it was set last year. The Chicago-based non-profit created the clock in 1947 during the cold war tensions that followed the second world war to warn the public about how close humankind was to destroying the world.
Continue reading...Spoof fires back at supposed inauthenticity of Oscar-tipped screen musical with a song-and-dance tale of boulangeries at war
The war of words between Mexico and France over trans gangster musical Emilia Pérez has heated up even more after the release of a spoof film called Johanne Sacreblu poking fun at French stereotypes.
Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard and which is up for the best picture Oscar along with a best actress nomination for its star Karla Sofia Gascón, is the story of a cartel boss who hires a lawyer (played by Zoe Saldana) to enable a gender transition, and has attracted much criticism in Mexico, where it is supposedly set.
Continue reading...Latest push to process migrants in Balkan country despite court challenge comes amid increase in boat arrivals
Italy has transported 49 people to Albania, in the latest push by Giorgia Meloni’s government to enforce a legally disputed plan to have asylum claims processed in the Balkan country as part of a hardline policy critics have called “disgraceful”.
The Italian navy ship Cassiopeia arrived at Shëngjin port on Tuesday morning carrying passengers intercepted on Saturday in the Mediterranean south of the island of Lampedusa. They will be identified and have a health check before being transferred to a detention centre in Gjadër, about 12 miles away.
Continue reading...Businesses should avoid panic amid fears US will attempt to repatriate jobs and taxes, says Danny McCoy
Donald Trump will not be a knockout “meteor” to Ireland’s economy despite its heavy reliance on US multinationals, the head of the country’s business trade organisation has said.
While the US president told world leaders gathered at Davos last week that “Europe treats us very, very unfairly” there is a heightened sense of nervousness in Ireland that this could translate to an attempt to repatriate jobs and taxes from the 950 US companies there.
Continue reading...Top US Jewish advocate Halie Soifer calls Trump adviser’s address to far-right Germany rally ‘incredibly dangerous’
Elon Musk’s remarks to a German far-right party that Germans should not focus on their country’s Nazi past should prompt “deep concern” about “the security of American Jews” and “of Jews worldwide”, a leading US Jewish advocate has told the Guardian.
“Speaking as a deeply concerned American Jew,” said Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), “I am deeply concerned about the security of American Jews, of Jews worldwide, given our president’s clear alignment with dangerous rightwing extremists.”
Continue reading...Jos Leijdekkers, reportedly the son-in-law of African country’s president, was sentenced to 24 years in prison
One of Europe’s most wanted men, the Dutch crime boss Jos Leijdekkers, is hiding out in Sierra Leone, Dutch prosecutors have said.
The statement came after Dutch media published footage that appeared to show the violent drug trafficker at a New Year’s Day church service seated close to Sierra Leone’s presidential family. Sierra Leone’s information office said it was investigating reports that he was benefiting from high-level protection.
Continue reading...Henrik Landerholm left behind documents at a hotel, a phone at an embassy and a notebook after a radio interview
Sweden’s national security adviser has announced his resignation as police opened an investigation after he inadvertently left classified documents at a hotel, one of a series of mishaps that Swedish media have revealed in recent weeks.
Henrik Landerholm, whose appointment two years ago sparked debate due to his longstanding friendship with the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, also left a notebook behind after an interview and left his phone at the Hungarian embassy, incidents particularly embarrassing given his sensitive national security role.
Continue reading...Net increase of 80,000 deaths a year projected in hottest scenario, with milder winters failing to redress balance
Dangerous temperatures could kill 50% more people in Europe by the end of the century, a study has found, with the lives lost to stronger heat projected to outnumber those saved from milder cold.
The researchers estimated an extra 8,000 people would die each year as a result of “suboptimal temperatures” even under the most optimistic scenario for cutting planet-heating pollution. The hottest plausible scenario they considered showed a net increase of 80,000 temperature-related deaths a year.
Continue reading...Elon Musk’s company still imports large number of cars into Europe from its Shanghai factory
Tesla has filed a complaint against the European Commission after the imposition of tariffs by the bloc on its Chinese-made electric vehicles.
The EU announced its decision to impose tariffs on all imports of Chinese electric cars in June, alleging that the Chinese government had provided unfair state subsidies to manufacturers in order to win a dominant position in the emerging industry. EU leaders approved the tariffs in October.
Continue reading...Decision to change name of new submarine to HMS Achilles is ‘craven political correctness’, says ex-navy officer
Downing Street has defended the government’s decision to change the name of a new attack submarine from HMS Agincourt to HMS Achilles, after critics accused ministers of trying not to upset the French.
A No 10 spokesperson called the decision to change the planned name of the vessel “appropriate and fitting”, despite criticism that ministers were being “craven”. Officials say the name Achilles had been chosen in part to pay tribute to an earlier ship of the same name.
Continue reading...Archaeologists hail discovery of very rare hoard featuring 44 gold coins bearing name of Celtic king Cunobelinus
A hoard of British coins bearing the inscription of King Cunobelin and found in a Dutch field have been identified as very likely to be the spoils of war of a Roman soldier from the conquest of Britain.
The 44 gold coins, known as staters, were discovered alongside 360 Roman coins, by two amateur archaeologists with metal detectors in a field in Bunnik, near Utrecht. The coins are believed to have been given as military pay.
Continue reading...David Yambio says Rome ‘has blood on its hands’ after freeing police chief he alleges beat him in Tripoli prison
A man who says he experienced abuses at a notorious prison in Tripoli at the hands of the head of Libya’s judicial police, Osama Najim, has said Italy has “crushed” his hopes for justice by releasing the war crimes suspect despite an international criminal court arrest warrant.
David Yambio was held at Mitiga prison in Tripoli after several attempts to cross the Mediterranean in search of refuge in Europe were thwarted by Libya’s coastguard as part of a controversial pact with Italy.
Continue reading...Report by rights groups alleges border police refused to rescue boys and blocked activists’ efforts to save them
Bulgarian authorities have been accused of ignoring emergency calls and obstructing efforts to rescue three Egyptian teenage boys, who later died in sub-zero temperatures near the Bulgarian-Turkish border in late December.
A dossier of evidence compiled by two humanitarian organisations, seen by the Guardian, contains photos, testimonies and geolocations allegedly showing the authorities’ failure to save the boys, who called for help as they struggled cold and lost in the forests of Burgas, in south-eastern Bulgaria.
Continue reading...The missing 73-year-old set off his distress beacon during stormy weather on Saturday afternoon
A 73-year-old British sailor is lost at sea and his yacht has been found “eviscerated” off the French coast in stormy weather.
A French air force helicopter was dispatched to find the man after he set off his distress beacon at 3pm on Saturday, approximately 50 miles (80km) west of Lacanau in south-west France.
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