World News
At least nine police officers killed in Pakistan in a suicide attack on their vehicle

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Steph Deschamps / March 6, 2023
At least nine policemen were killed and 16 wounded Monday in a suicide attack targeting the truck carrying them in southwestern Pakistan, police told AFP.
The bomber was riding a motorcycle and hit the truck from behind,” said Abdul Hai Aamir, a senior local police official. The attack took place in Dhadar in Kacchi district, about 120 kilometers southeast of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province.
The death toll could rise as eight of the injured are in critical condition, Abdul Hai Aamir said.
Mehmood Notezai, the police chief of Kacchi district, told AFP that the victims were returning from a neighboring district, where they had been protecting an agricultural fair for a week.
Balochistan is the large, poor and sparsely populated province in southwestern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran. It has long been the scene of ethnic, sectarian and separatist violence.
The province is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but its population of about 12 million complains that it is marginalized and robbed of its natural resources.
Tensions in Balochistan revolve around the massive China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), on which China is expected to spend more than $50 billion, with the Gwadar deepwater port as its flagship.
The police are regularly targeted by local rebel movements or by the Pakistani Taliban of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan has been facing a deteriorating security situation in recent months, particularly since the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021, especially in the border regions with Afghanistan.
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World News
At least 63 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees killed in Gaza

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Eva Deschamps / October 31, 2023
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 63 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have already lost their lives in the Gaza Strip. Ten aid workers have been killed in the last 72 hours, according to this new toll released by the agency on its website on Monday.
At least 22 UNRWA staff were also injured. Since October 7, 44 UNRWA facilities have also been destroyed. Of its 22 health centers, only nine are still operational, the UN agency said, warning that the provision of health care is made even more difficult by the very low fuel supply.
The UN agency had previously reported that several of its warehouses had been looted. “Due to the very limited aid available and overcrowded shelters, growing tensions are being reported within the displaced communities,” it stressed. Some 672,000 refugees are living in 149 UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip, “in increasingly difficult conditions”. “The ability to provide vital assistance was further hampered by the 36-hour communications blackout between October 27 and 29”, UNRWA added.
In all, an estimated 1.4 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip. Over 120,000 of them have taken refuge in public buildings such as hospitals and schools.
“The aid currently available is insufficient to meet the most basic needs of displaced people and the communities hosting them”, warns the UN agency.
World News
Mouse embryos grown in space for the first time

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Sylvie Claire / October 31, 2023
This research into mammal reproduction in space could prove crucial for future solar system exploration missions.
Mouse embryos were grown on board the International Space Station (ISS) and developed normally, according to a Japanese study published in the scientific journal “iScience” on Saturday, October 28.
This is “the very first study to show that mammals might be able to thrive in space”, claim Yamanashi University and the Riken National Research Institute.
The researchers, including Teruhiko Wakayama, a professor at Yamanashi University’s Center for Advanced Biotechnology, and a team from the Japanese space agency Jaxa, sent frozen mouse embryos aboard a rocket to the ISS in August 2021. The astronauts thawed the embryos at an early stage, using a specially designed device, and cultured them on board the station for four days.
The experiment “clearly demonstrated that gravity had no significant effect”, noted the researchers. After analyzing the blastocysts (cells that develop into fetuses and placentas) that were returned to their laboratories on Earth, they observed no particular changes in the state of DNA and genes.
“In the future, it will be necessary to transplant blastocysts grown in microgravity on the ISS into mice to see if the mice can give birth,” in order to confirm that the blastocysts are normal, say Yamanashi University and the Riken Institute.
This research could prove crucial for future space exploration and colonization missions. As part of its Artemis program, NASA plans to send humans back to the Moon to learn how to live there in the long term, and to prepare for a trip to Mars in the late 2030s.
World News
Bobi, the world’s oldest dog, died aged 31

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Steph Deschamps / October 25, 2023
The world’s oldest dog died last weekend in Portugal. Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro de l’Alentejo, was 31 years and 165 days old, reports the British public broadcaster BBC on Monday.
Last February, Bobi entered the Guinness Book of Records as not only the oldest living dog, but also the oldest dog of all time.
The old record had been held for almost 100 years by Bluey from Australia. He died in 1939 at the age of 29 years and five months.
Bobi has spent his entire life with the Costa family in the village of Conqueiros, near the west coast of Portugal.