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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Washington, May 24 (QNA) - People who suffer from frequent heartburn may be at increased risk for cancers of the throat and vocal cords even if they don't smoke or drink alcohol, a new study says.
"Previous studies examining gastric reflux and cancers of the head and neck have generated mixed results," study author Dr. Scott M. Langevin, a postdoctoral research fellow at Brown University in Providence, R.I., said in a press release. "Is a large, population-based study with robust parameters that strongly suggests gastric reflux, which causes frequent heartburn, is an independent risk factor for cancers of the pharynx (throat) and larynx (vocal cord)."
Heartburn, or gastric reflux, is a painful burning sensation in your chest or throat that is caused by stomach acids backing up into the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Certain foods, alcohol or pregnancy can trigger heartburn. Those who experience it more than twice a week are often diagnosed with gastro esophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
Gastric reflux can damage the cellular lining of the esophagus, and is believed to be a risk factor for throat cancer, according to the researchers.
Researchers looked at 631 patients from the Boston area who had been enrolled in a population-based study of cancer risk. Out of the patients, 468 had throat cancer and 163 had vocal cord cancer.
They were matched by age and gender to a group of 1,234 healthy individuals with no prior history of cancer.
Everyone in the study filled out questionnaires on their family history of cancer and personal histories of heartburn, smoking and drinking.
The researchers also tested them for human papillomavirus or HPV, which raises risk for some oral cancers.
People with frequent heartburn were found to have a 78% increased risk for developing cancers of the throat and vocal cord if they were not heavy drinkers or smokers. Patients who had frequent heartburn but reported taking antacids were found to have a 41% reduced risk for the cancers. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Sana'a, May 24 (QNA) - Tribal gunmen today released three Yemeni journalists who had been kidnapped more than a week ago in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa.
Deputy Chairman of the Yemeni Journalists Union Said Thabit  said in a statement in this regard that mediation by local authorities  and a number of tribal chieftains have succeeded in securing the release of three journalists.
In May 16 gunmen abducted five Yemeni journalists in Marib province while on their way to the neighbouring  province of Al Mahra.
According to an official security source, the gunmen led the five journalists to an unknown destination. However, two of them managed to escape from the grip of the militants hours after their abduction. (QNA)

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Beirut, May 24 (QNA) - Australia will deliver an additional 12 million AU dollars (almost 11.62 million US dollars) to help international relief agencies respond to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Syria and neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced on Friday.

Bob Carr made the announcement during a visit with Australia's Ambassador to Lebanon Lex Bartlem to Syrian refugee camps along the Lebanese border.

"By the end of the year, the number of Syrian refugees could reach 3.6 million. Syria's neighbours have been generous in welcoming Syrians displaced by the conflict, but they desperately need more help." Carr said. "If donors have promised financial support to those affected by the crisis in Syria, now is the time to fulfill those promises."

According to him, this funds would provide 9 million AU dollars (almost 8.7 million US dollars) to the UNICEF, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Australian Red Cross to help Jordan and Lebanon host Syrian refugees and, 3 million AU dollars (almost 2.9 million US dollars) for basic medical supplies, to train health care workers in first aid and emergency surgery, to distribute food parcels and supply clean drinking water within Syria.

A UN report estimated that the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon was over 477,000. Most of the refugees are given shelter in the northern regions of the country. (QNA)

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Tunis,May 24 (QNA) - Governor of Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) and head of national commission to recover funds, Chedly Ayari has announced the progress made to recover of SFr60 million ($67 million) of Tunisian funds frozen in Switzerland.

Ayari said the recovery of the stolen assets located in Switzerland will help in financing the social projects in the deprived internal areas as well as providing new job opportunities to the Tunisian people and pushing ahead the economic wheel .

Tunisia needs TND 5bn ($3bn) to fund the budget of the state, he said, noting that these funds will assist in in overcoming the current crisis in Tunisia.

This came during a symposium on combating the corruption held at the premises of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, where Ayari reviewed the results and future programs of the Tunisian Administrative Reform and Combating Corruption Committee. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Moscow, May 24 (QNA) - An earthquake measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale struck Russia's Far East on Friday, with slight tremors felt thousands of miles away in Moscow.

The earthquake occurred in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Kamchatka Peninsula, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported. Emergency agencies in the Far East issued a tsunami warning for Sakhalin and the Kuril islands.

There were no reported injuries or damage, RIA Novosti reported.

The epicenter of the quake was located 385 km (244 miles) west northwest of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy at a depth of 608 km (385 miles), the USGS said. (QNA)

 

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Washington, May 24 (QNA) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck in Northern California on Thursday, according to the US Geological Survey. The epicenter of the quake was located 2 miles (3 km) north-northeast of the town of Canyondam, the USGS said.

An initial report said the quake was magnitude 5.9. A 5.7 magnitude quake is considered moderate, but has the potential to cause considerable damage. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. (QNA

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Washington, May 24 (QNA) - The major highway bridge linking Seattle with Canada and the rest of the Pacific Northwest region collapsed Thursday evening, dumping a handful of vehicles and people into a river, the Washington State Patrol said.

Authorities said there were no deaths, and three people were rescued and taken to hospitals.

he four-lane Interstate 5 bridge more than half a century old collapsed about halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, Trooper Mark Francis said.

rancis said he did not know what caused the collapse, which came at the start of one of the country's busiest holiday weekends of the year. The collapse came before sundown on a clear day. The state Transportation Department said it was investigating whether an oversize truck load may have struck the bridge.

The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Washington, May 23 (QNA) - Migraines and depression can each cause a great deal of suffering, but new research indicates the combination of the two may be linked to something else entirely a smaller brain.
Already aware that people with migraines face double the risk of depression, scientists wanted to determine if having both conditions together affected total brain volume. The difference in size about 2% isn't alarming, study authors said, but needs further research to determine if the disparity causes any meaningful health effects.
"There are several potential explanations why those with both conditions have smaller brain volume," said study author Larus Gudmundsson, a research associate at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. "There could be some genetic factor driving the whole thing. It could be related to pain mechanisms in the brain. It's also possible there are social and economic reasons."
More than 36 million Americans about 12% of the population are estimated to suffer from migraine headaches, which can be debilitating, according to the US National Library of Medicine. Meanwhile, major depression affects 15 million people, and Gudmundsson estimated that perhaps 3% to 4% of Americans suffer from both conditions.
Gudmundsson and his colleagues analyzed data from Iceland on about 4,300 older adults at two time points. At an average age of 51, participants were assessed for migraine headache incidence and about 25 years later were asked about their lifetime history of major depressive disorder. A full-brain MRI scan was taken at that later point to measure brain volume, when participants were between 66 and 96 years old.
Compared to those with no history of migraines or depression, those with both conditions had brain volumes about 2% smaller. There was no difference in the total brain volume when comparing people with only one of the conditions to those with neither condition.
Although the study found a connection between brain size and the combination of migraines and depression, it did not show a cause-and-effect relationship, as one expert noted. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Seoul, May 23 (QNA) - South Korea's latest multipurpose satellite Arirang 5 will be launched in August after a two-year delay, South Korea's science ministry said Thursday.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it has designated Aug. 22 as the launch date for the Arirang 5 satellite, which will lift off from a space center in Russia. The ministry also designated Aug. 23 as a backup launch date, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency.

The country began developing the satellite in 2005, and was originally set to be sent into space in August 2011. The launch has been delayed until now due to what the ministry called problems at the Russian launch site.

South Korea has yet to develop its own means to deliver a satellite into space, though in January it successfully launched its first-ever space rocket, Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, which was built jointly with Russia.

The country is moving to develop an indigenous space rocket for a launch in 2019.

The Arirang 5 is the country's first satellite with a synthetic aperture radar, which enables observation of the earth's surface even at night regardless of weather conditions, according to the ministry. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Kuwait , May 23 (QNA) - Kuwaiti Minister of Health Mohammad Barrak Al-Haifi has announced that the GCC health ministers have approved the Kuwaiti declaration on fighting non-contagious chronic diseases, as an action plan for the cooperation council for the arab states of the Gulf (GCC) member states .

The approval was made on the sidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) annual meeting being held in Geneva .

Kuwaiti Minister of Health Mohammad Barrak Al-Haifi announced in remarks to KUNA on Thursday on sidelines of the periodic meeting of GCC health ministers, held as part of the annual conference of World Health

Organization (WHO), that this declaration was endorsed to avoid severe negative consequences from such diseases on people in the Gulf region.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health is always ready to offer advices to patients suffering from chronic diseases like obesity, heart diseases, blood diseases, or even smoking via various means such as (151) hotline or even on social

networks namely Twitter.

The Kuwaiti declaration comes in accordance with the international work plan, and global reference of fighting non-contagious chronic diseases, and its related risk factors, besides spreading awareness through media.

GCC countries health ministers' adopted Dasman Diabetes Institute, affiliated to Kuwait Institute for Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), as one of the referential centers in dealing with non-contagious diseases, being a comprehensive institution for researches and treatment in its field of specialty.

The GCC countries are following joint approaches in enhancing effort to fight smoking and work hardly to spread awareness of its negative consequences, he affirmed.

This would include tightening sanctions on smokers in closed areas to protect safety and health of non-smokers and encourage smokers to quit this bad habit, he added.

The GCC countries health ministers also approved during their meeting a work plan for exchanging information between GCC countries regarding health condition of foreign workers to register any case of physical impairment in

any of the Gulf states.

Moreover, they discussed efforts exerted in keeping the Gulf region clean form Malaria, as well as supporting Yemen's efforts in fighting this disease.(QNA)

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Kathmandu, May 23 (QNA) - An 80-year-old Japanese climber, Yuichiro Miura, has become the oldest person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, his management office said Thursday.

In his third successful attempt to climb the 8,848-meter peak, Miura and his Sherpas left the last base camp at 8,500 meters shortly after 2 a.m. local time and reached the summit less than seven hours later, according to information received by the office in Tokyo.

Miura broke the record of Nepali climber Min Bahadur Sherchan, who conquered the worlds highest peak at age 76 in 2008. Sherchan, now 81, is reportedly also making another attempt on the summit.

Miura, who climbed Everest in 2003 and 2008, arrived at the first base camp at 5,300 meters April 16 with his second-eldest son, Gota, 43, and their Sherpas.

His latest attempt came after he was seriously injured in a skiing accident in 2009 and underwent multiple operations for an irregular heartbeat.

A native of Aomori, Miura competed as a professional Alpine skier and became the first person to ski down Everest from the 8,000-meter point in 1970. He went on to ski down the "Seven Summits" the highest mountains on each of the seven continents by 1985. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Beijing, May 23 (QNA) - Six people have been confirmed dead since a ship they were aboard overturned on late Wednesday in east China's Zhejiang Province, local authorities said Thursday.

The accident happenedon a river near Siduzhuang village in Yinzhou District, Ningbo City, when all 18 people on the ship fell into the river, according to China's (Xinhua) News Agency.

The other 12 people have been rescued, and an investigation into the cause of the accident is under way. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Tokyo, May 23 (QNA) - Japan Coast Guard officials have warned three Chinese government vessels to vacate Japanese territorial waters off disputed islands in the East China Sea.

A Japanese patrol ship confirmed the entry of the maritime surveillance ships on Thursday morning, according to Japan's (NHK WORLD) website.

Chinese government ships have trespassed on Japanese waters for a total of 26 days this year. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Tehran, May 22 (QNA) - An earthquake measuring 4.8 degrees on the Richter scale jolted Goharan in Iran's southern province of Hormuzgan early Wednesday.
The earthquake was epicentered in an area located at 26.74 degrees latitude and 57.88 degrees longitude, (IRNA) news agency reported, citing a report by the Seismography Center affiliated to Tehran University Geophysics Institute.
There is no report on possible casualties or damage caused by the quake. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Beijing, May 21 (QNA) - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, jolted off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, on Tuesday.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake's epicenter with a depth of 33 kilometers, was located 136 kilometers southeast of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
There is a possibility of casualties and material losses. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Seoul, May 21 (QNA) - South Korea has reported the first confirmed case of a person infected with a tick-born virus in the country following reports of deaths in China and Japan, the state-run disease control agency said Tuesday.
Out of five suspected cases, a 63-year-old woman was found to be infected with the virus transmitted by one species of tick, the Haemaphysalis longicornis, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The infected patient died in Seoul in August last year and four others were found to not be infected with the virus, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency.
Symptoms of the virus include high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, multiple organ failure and other blood-related problems.
China and Japan have also recently reported similar cases of the virus, which is known to have a fatality rate as high as 30 percent. In Japan, eight patients were found to be infected with the virus, with five of them having died. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Beijing, May 21 (QNA) - The death toll from a blast that ripped through an explosives manufacturing plant in east China's Shandong Province has climbed to 13, according to China's News Agency (Xinhua).
The explosion, which occurred inside a workshop of a plant owned by Poly Explosives (Jinan) Co., Zhangqiu City, also injured 19 people.
Thirty-four workers were in the workshop at the time of the accident that caused the building to collapse, according to a statement released by the publicity department of the Zhangqiu City government.
Eight other workers were also working near the workshop when the blast occurred.
31 workers had been pulled out of the rubble, including 13 who were killed, the statement said.
Search and rescue work for the missing workers is ongoing. (QNA)
 

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Beijing, May 21 (QNA) - No new cases of human infection with the H7N9 bird flu virus have been reported on the Chinese mainland over the last week, China's health authority said.
Over the same period between May 13 and Monday afternoon, there was one report of an infection that ended in death, and 15 patients have recovered, according to a statement issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
The statement said that to date, the Chinese mainland has reported 130 confirmed H7N9 cases, of which 36 cases ended in death, and 72 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital, according to China's (Xinhua) News Agency.
The statement added that there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission detected so far.
The commission issued a circular on the technical standards of hospitals' tests for the virus.
The circular called on local governments to form expert teams to provide expertise and training for the medical workers, in order to ensure the reliability of the test results. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Islamabad, May 21 (QNA) - An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted several cities in northwest Pakistan last night.
According to Pakistan Meteorological Department, the tremor jolted each of Peshawar, capital of the Khyber Pakhtun-khua province, Swat, Malakand and Battagram.
The quake's epicenter was located in the Hindu Kush Mountains at a depth of 180 kilometers, the Meteorological Department said, adding that there were no reports of casualties yet. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Washington, May 21 (QNA) - US President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma and ordered the availability of federal financial aid after a tornado earlier today devastated the town of Moore, killing at least 51 people.
Obama's declaration makes US government funding available to people affected by the storm in five Oklahoma counties, according to a White House statement.
The assistance includes grants to cover home repair and temporary housing costs, along with loans to help pay for uninsured property losses, the White House said.
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to conduct damage assessments in the affected areas, and additional assistance may be made available depending on the results, the White House said. Funding will also be available to the state and eligible local governments in the area. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Oklahoma, May 21 (QNA) - A giant tornado, a mile wide or more, killed at least 91 people, 20 of them children, as it tore across parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs Monday afternoon, flattening homes, flinging cars through the air and crushing at least two schools, the New York Times reported.
Amy Elliott, the spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner, said at least 91 people had died, including the children, and officials said that toll was likely to climb. Hospitals reported at least 145 people injured, 70 of them children.
Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was reduced to a pile of twisted metal and toppled walls.
Rescue workers were able to pull several children from the rubble, but on Monday evening crews were still struggling to cut through fallen beams and clear debris amid reports that dozens of students were trapped. At Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City, on the border with Moore, cars were thrown through the facade and the roof was torn off.
"Numerous neighborhoods were completely leveled," Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department said by telephone. "Neighborhoods just wiped clean."
He said debris and damage to roadways, along with heavy traffic, were hindering emergency responders as they raced to the affected areas.
A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office in Moore said emergency workers were struggling to assess the damage.
Brooke Cayot, a spokeswoman for Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City, said 58 patients had come in. An additional 85 were being treated at Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
The tornado touched down after the first warning went out, and traveled, said Keli Pirtle, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. It was on the ground, she said. It struck the town of Newcastle and traveled to Moore, a populous suburb of Oklahoma City.
Pirtle said preliminary data suggested that it was a Category 4 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which measures tornado strength on a scale of 0 to 5. A definitive assessment will not be available until Tuesday, she said.
But the region has rarely had a tornado as big and as powerful as the one on Monday. (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Beijing, May 20 (QNA) - Continuous rainfall has claimed a life while affecting about 200,000 people in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said.
  As of Saturday, the heavy rain, which started on Thursday, has battered 14 counties in Guangxi, said a statement from the regional department of civil affairs.
  The weather has left 199,700 people affected and over 12,100 displaced in Guangxi, according to the statement.
  It added that the downpours have damaged or destroyed 561 houses and ruined 12,120 hectares of crops, resulting in direct economic losses of 148 million yuan (about 24 million US dollars). (QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​London,May 20 (QNA) - Tourists can now get a bird's eye view over London with a helicopter sightseeing tour with the company The London Helicopter. The helicopter leaves 15 times a day to explore the
British capital from the air.
   The London Helicopter is the first company to receive a licence to run the trips, according to London & Partners.
   Tours with the helicopter had previously only been allowed with a special permit.
   Tourists can decide between two routes. The company said one tour starts downtown and travels along the Thames River over the city
centre. The trip lasts about 20 minutes and costs 199 pounds (310 dollars), reported DPA.
   The cheaper tour starts in the London suburb Redhill, goes for 30 minutes and costs 129 pounds.  
   Among the sites to enjoy on both tours
are Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the new glass skyscraper The Shard.(QNA)

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ArticleMainBodyHTML1: ​Nevsehir, Turkey, May 20 (QNA) - A hot air balloon crashed early Monday morning after colliding mid-air with another balloon in Turkey's popular tourist destination Cappadocia, killing a Brazilian national and injuring 24, authorities said.
  Citing witness accounts, Abdurrahman Savas, governor of the central Nevsehir province, said the accident occurred at about 6.00 a.m. (Turkish local time) when the balloon's envelope ripped open after colliding with the basket of the other balloon.
 The governor said one tourist was in serious condition and was rushed to a nearby university hospital, adding that most of the injured suffer from bone fractures. He did not elaborate on nationalities of the injured tourists, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).
 The accident happened near Nevsehir's Ortahisar and Goreme towns.
 The region is famous for its chimney rocks, cave houses, underground cities and balloon trips. (QNA)

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