A new technique could help nearly double the precious few hours surgeons have to carry out lung transplants, raising hopes for saving more lives, said a study released today.
	Doctors typically rush to complete a transplant within about six hours of the lungs being taken from a donor, with time being of the essence because the tissue starts to break down.
	But the new method, which uses a process called ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP), could help keep lungs outside the human body for over 12 hours without significantly harming their eventual recipient's chances of survival.
	The extra time means more transplants could be performed because organs which were previously too far away could now reach recipients in time, said the study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.
	Getting the organs to recipients is the difference between life and death for people on wait lists, and who number about 1,700 in the US and Canada alone.
	The process starts with the lungs being taken from 

New lung transplant technique could save lives: study

PTI Automatic

Pope Francis has said he is not losing any sleep over a challenge from a group of conservative cardinals who have accused the Argentine of contradicting Church teaching.
	The comments published today in the Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian conference of bishops, follow a direct challenge to the pope's authority from American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has threatened to undermine Francis' authority in a row over the rights of remarried divorced couples.
	Burke said in an interview earlier this week that it may be necessary to make a highly rare "formal act of correction" if Francis does not answer a letter he wrote with three other cardinals calling for clarification on a document penned by the pope on the theme of the family.
	The challenge is "not making me lose any sleep", the 79-year-old Argentine told Avvenire.
	"Sometimes criticisms are merely aimed at vindicating already fixed opinions (rather than fuelling debate). They are not honest, they are driven by a mean spirit to 

Pope 'not losing sleep' over conservative challengers

Photos of US President-elect Donald Trump's landmark first talks with a foreign leader show his daughter Ivanka was present, underscoring the family's influence as he readies to take power.
	In the meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the mogul's Trump Plaza residence, Ivanka -- a model-turned-business executive -- was seen seated as the group conversed in the opulent reception room.
	Media were shut out of the gathering in Manhattan, but images released by the Japanese government also showed Ivanka and her husband, real estate developer and publisher Jared Kushner, standing and chatting with Abe.
	Ivanka and Kushner, both 35, have emerged as key advisers to Trump, who shocked the world by beating Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election.
	World leaders have scrambled to establish ties with Trump but Abe was the first to see him in person since the vote which has provoked anxiety over US foreign policy and its commitment to security in Asia.
	Abe told reporters 

Trump's daughter sits in on landmark Japan PM talks

US President Barack Obama and European leaders pledged today to maintain NATO cooperation, and vowed to keep up sanctions against Russia, in their first meeting since the shock election of Donald Trump sparked fears of drastic policy shifts.
	During a fractious presidential campaign, Trump had appeared to call into question a near 70-year-old security shield for US allies under NATO, and vowed to withdraw from hard-fought deals on the climate and Iran's nuclear programme.
	The US president-elect's friendly disposition towards Russian President Vladimir Putin has also raised questions over his attitude toward Moscow's backing for President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian war as well as Russia's role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
	In the talks in Berlin during which jittery European partners sought reassurances from Obama, the six parties "agreed on the necessity of working collectively to move the transatlantic agenda forward", according to a statement from the White House.
	That ..

European leaders, Obama vow to hold fast to NATO

More than 20 people have been killed in intense fighting between rebels and loyalists on the outskirts of Yemen's third city Taez, military and medical sources said today.
	The clashes have eliminated hope of the warring parties abiding by a truce announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry that was to have taken effect yesterday.
	Loyalist military sources told AFP that 13 rebels and eight pro-government forces were killed over the past 24 hours, while the rebels reported dozens of casualties in shelling of a local market.
	Two civilians were also killed and 16 wounded as rebels fired Katyusha rockets on a residential area of Taez, they said.
	For its part, rebel-controlled sabanews.Net website reported that pro-government forces fired artillery rounds into areas east of the city.
	A rocket crashed into a market selling the mild narcotic leaf qat, popular among Yemenis, leaving 40 casualties, said sabanews.Net, without giving a breakdown of dead and wounded.
	The medical charity ...

More than 20 dead in heavy clashes in Yemen

Several people were hurt today when a train partly derailed after smashing into a milk tanker in the northeastern Netherlands, police said.
	"At least one person was taken to hospital, but the exact number of injured and the condition of the wounded is not yet known," spokesman for the local Groningen crisis team, Cyriel Hamstra said.
	Only about 20 people had been on the train at the time of the crash, he added.
	The tanker truck was leaving a farm in the rural area of Winsum and "was probably driving over an unguarded railway crossing when it was hit by an oncoming train," Groningen police said on their Twitter account.
	The driver of the truck had escaped unhurt, but dozens of rescue workers had been rushed to the scene, the police added.
	Ambulances and a helicopter were already at the site of the crash which happened around midday (local time).
	"Most of the injured are only slightly hurt," Groningen police spokesman Ernest Zinsmeyer told the NOS public broadcaster.
	Television ..

Several hurt in Dutch train crash with milk truck

At least six Zimbabwe activists were abducted and beaten today ahead of a planned protest in Harare against President Robert Mugabe's government, a protest leader said.
	Riot police were on patrol in the capital to prevent crowds gathering after civil action groups vowed to hold the first anti-government protest in several weeks.
	Frustration at Zimbabwe's economic collapse under the authoritarian regime of Mugabe, 92, has triggered a series of protests this year, with security forces often beating up demonstrators.
	Sylvanos Mudzvova, one of the protest leaders, told AFP that fellow activist Patson Dzamara and two others were admitted to hospital after being abducted by unidentified men who dragged them out of their cars.
	"Dzamara and two colleagues were taken to the bush where they were beaten up," Mudzvova said.
	"Three others are unaccounted for. They were blocked on the road and taken from their cars which were later found burnt.
	"This is the most barbaric thing to do. That's ..

Zimbabwe activists beaten up ahead of planned march

Syrian aircraft and artillery pounded rebel-held areas of Aleppo early today as Damascus and its ally Moscow intensified a renewed offensive against the rebels.
	It was the fourth straight day of bombing since Russia declared an end to a month-long humanitarian pause on Tuesday.
	The more than 250,000 civilians living under siege in the rebel-held east of Syria's second city spent the night in basements and bomb shelters after one of the most intense bombardments of the renewed offensive.
	Barrel bombs and other ordnance rained down until midnight only to resume in the early hours, an AFP correspondent reported.
	The bombardment came as government troops pressed an assault on the southern neighbourhood of Sheikh Said, which they briefly entered before being pushed back by rebel fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	The rebels riposted by firing more than a dozen rockets into government-held areas of the city, the Britain-based monitoring group added.
	At least 65 ...

Syria army steps up bombardment of rebel east Aleppo

Volkswagen today said it will cut 30,000 jobs at its own brand unit under a huge savings plan aimed at helping the German auto giant recover from the dieselgate emissions cheating scandal.
	The deal, agreed with labour representatives after months of tortuous negotiations, will lead to annual savings of 3.7 billion euros (USD 3.9 billion) by 2020, VW brand chief Herbert Diess announced.
	"Worldwide we will cut about 30,000 positions, including 23,000 positions in Germany," he said, adding that these would be mostly through measure such as attrition and cutting temp jobs.
	"I am very sorry for those affected, but the situation of the brand at the moment gives us little room for manoeuvre," he told a press conference at the group's Wolfsburg headquarters in northern Germany.
	The so-called "Future Pact" agreed with labour leaders will also see VW create 9,000 new positions, as part of the group shift to electric vehicles in the wake of dieselgate.
	VW was plunged into crisis last year ..

Volkswagen to cut 30,000 jobs in huge post-Dieselgate revamp

Iran denied today that it had in any way breached its nuclear deal with world powers, insisting it was meeting its commitment to cap its stocks of controlled materials.
	A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency last week showed that Iran's stocks of so-called heavy water had inched above the 130-tonne level set out in the agreement.
	Heavy water is not itself radioactive but is used in certain types of nuclear reactor, which can in turn produce plutonium that can be used in an atomic bomb.
	The July 2015 deal with world powers sets Iran's heavy water "needs" at 130 tonnes and states that any excess must be "made available for export".
	Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said arrangements were in hand to export the excess.
	"Iran has fulfilled its obligations on heavy water stockpiles," state broadcaster IRIB quoted him as saying.
	"We were required to put on the international market any excess over 130 tonnes and so far we have sold 70 tonnes," ..

Iran denies any breach of nuclear accord

Scoreboard at stumps on the
opening day of the first cricket Test between New Zealand and Pakistan at Hagley Oval, here today:
     Pakistan first innings:
	Sami Aslam c Raval b Southee             19
	Azhar Ali b de Grandhomme                15
	Babar Azam c Taylor b de Grandhomme       7
	Younis Khan c Raval b de Grandhomme       2
	Misbah-ul-Haq c Williamson b Boult       31
	Asad Shafiq c Raval b de Grandhhomme     16
	Sarfraz Ahmed c Astle b Southee           7
	Mohammad Amir b Boult                     3
	Sohail Khan c Latham b de Grandhomme      9
	Yasir Shah not out                        4
	Rahat Ali c Watling b de Grandhomme       0
	Extras: (B-8, LB-12)                     20
	Total: (all out in 55.5)                133
	Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-53, 3-53, 4-56, 5-88, 6-101, 7-114, 8-129, 9-129, 10-133
	Bowling: Southee 19-11-20-2, Boult 16-5-39-2, de Grandhomme 15.5-5-41-6, Wagner 5-0-13-0
     New Zealand first innings:
	T Latham lbw Amir                 1
	J Raval not out 

Christchurch, Nov 18 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on the

Late bloomer Colin de Grandhomme celebrated his first international call-up with record New Zealand debut bowling figures of 6-41 as Pakistan crumbled in their first innings of the opening cricket Test, here today.
     After the 30-year-old de Grandhomme engineered Pakistan's collapse to be all out for 133 at Hagley Oval, New Zealand's other debutant Jeet Raval put them in a strong position to be 104-3 in reply at stumps.
     New Zealand made a rocky start to their reply when the experienced Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor -- with 158 Tests between them -- could muster only 16 runs in total.
	But the novice Raval (55 not out) and Henry Nicholls (not out 29 in his eighth Test) have added 64 for the fourth wicket to put New Zealand in charge.
     On what was effectively the first day of a now four-day Test, after rain washed out the scheduled Thursday start, the honours lay with de Grandhomme.
	The Harare-born, former Zimbabwe under-19 representative is more renowned as a 

Grand debut for de Grandhomme as Kiwis take charge

A man died today while diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, just days after two French tourists perished snorkelling in the same area, police said.
	The Cairns Post said the latest victim was a 60-year-old from England who was travelling with his wife and who died diving on Agincourt Reef off the popular tourist resort of Port Douglas.
	"We were called to Agincourt Reef after a man in his 60s suffered a medical condition. He is now deceased," a Queensland police spokesman told AFP, adding that he was believed to be British, but this was not confirmed.
	The newspaper said he was a passenger on a tourist boat and was found without a regulator during a certified scuba dive with another person at the reef, 100 kilometres north of Cairns.
	Crew on the vessel tried to revive him with a defibrillator and contacted emergency services who flew a doctor to the reef, but attempts to resuscitate him failed.
	His death followed the death of two elderly French tourists, who had pre-existing ...

Tourist dies on Great Barrier Reef

A Siamese fighting fish sporting the red, white and blue stripes of the Thai flag has been sold for 53,500 baht (USD 1,500) - a massive price tag for the tiny, inch-long pet.
	The vibrantly-coloured animals, also known as Betta fish, can go for as little as $5 in Thailand, where the species is native.
	But highest bidder Chuchat Lekdeangyu said he could not back down from the online price war after seeing the fish's iridescent, patriotic pattern.
	"There have been other fighting fish that resemble the national flag before but none with as clear colours as him," said the 44-year-old freelance photographer and fish enthusiast.
	He joined the auction when the fish was priced at 13,000 baht (USD 365) and fought off rival buyers to take it home for 53,500 baht (USD 1,500) on November 9.
	"It is a lot of money for me but I think it is worth it," he told AFP, adding that he has named the three-month old fish "Tri-colour" in Thai.
	He plans to snap photos of the pet and keep it in its own ...

Patriotic stripes fetch tiny Thai fish $1,500 price tag

Twenty-six people were hurt today, some critically, after a man set fire to a busy bank in Australia with one witness saying he heard a "big blast" and children screaming.
	Police said the man entered the Commonwealth Bank branch in the Melbourne suburb of Springvale with flammable liquid. Some reports said he doused himself with the accelerant and went up in flames, although this was not confirmed.
	"He had some sort of accelerant with him. A container, not sure what he had. And somehow that accelerant was lit inside the bank," Inspector Jacqui Poida said.
	The motive was not clear and Poida said it was too early to tell if it was terror related.
	Paramedics said six of those injured were in a critical condition. One is believed to be the suspect, who is under police guard in hospital.
	Fire crews were quickly on the scene with Country Fire Authority official Paul Carrigg saying the doors to the bank were shut when they arrived.
	"The fire was inside the building. So they entered ...

26 hurt after man sets fire to Australia bank

Seismologists in New Zealand said today that this week's 7.8 earthquake was one of the most complex ever recorded and warned there was a high likelihood of further powerful aftershocks.
	As a massive clean-up continued following the tremor that claimed two lives early Monday, scientists were coming to grips with the "astonishing" scale of the seismic seizure.
	The official GeoNet science agency said the land moved up to 11 metres along the many faultlines in the South Island disaster zone, permanently changing the region's geography.
	The quake also pushed up the seabed by as much as two metres along a 110 kilometre stretch of coastline that includes the tourist town of Kaikoura.
	GeoNet said the quake ruptured at least four faults and was "clearly... One of the most complex earthquakes that has ever been observed".
	New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the so-called "Ring of Fire", and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a ...

Seismologists warn of more quakes in New Zealand

South Korea today rejected Google's request to export government-supplied data for its global mapping service, arguing it would make the country more vulnerable to attack by North Korea.
	"There are concerns that Google's request to export map data could escalate security threats amid confrontation between South and North Korea," the land ministry said in a statement.
	South Korea's strict National Security Law prevents Google from exporting government-supplied maps on the grounds that it could expose the location of sensitive military installations.
	Because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas remain technically at war.
	Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., operates its mapping services by exporting map data from each country to its headquarters in California and 14 data centres situated around the world including the US and Singapore.
	It was forced to use a third-party server when it first rolled out Google Maps in the South in .

S Korea blocks Google export of map data

Ex-Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was given a hero's burial with military honours today, a deeply controversial move three decades after he was ousted in a "People Power" revolution.
	The ceremony began with a 21-gun salute as soldiers in parade dress and ceremonial rifles stood to attention at the "Cemetery of Heroes" in Manila, after his body was secretly flown to the venue in an apparent effort to avoid protests.
	The Supreme Court said last week that Marcos, who ruled the nation for two decades until millions of people took to the streets in the 1986 military-backed uprising, could be buried at the heroes' cemetery.
	The decision, endorsing a recommendation from controversial President Rodrigo Duterte, outraged many opponents of the Marcos regime who said it would whitewash the dictator's many crimes.
	The surprise move by the Marcos family and the government to bury him so quickly after the Supreme Court verdict, with appeals still to be heard, caused further ...

Philippine dictator Marcos given hero's burial

More than 20 people were hurt today, some seriously, after a man apparently set fire to a branch of the Commonwealth Bank in Australia, police said.
	Paramedics treated 21 people at the scene, an ambulance spokesman said. Most suffered breathing problems but five have serious burns.
	"Police responded to reports that a man had allegedly set fire to a Springvale Road bank," Victoria state police said of the incident in the Melbourne suburb.
	"The man has been taken to hospital in a serious condition under police guard."
	Eric Sleuriot, who was nearby, told the Melbourne Age newspaper: "It's bloody awful. I just can't believe it."
	The Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest, said the branch would remain shut for the rest of the day, with its response team on site.
	"We are working closely with local authorities and emergency services," it said in a statement.

Twenty hurt after man sets fire to Australia bank

Singapore today executed two foreigners convicted of drug trafficking, authorities said, a day after the city-state's highest court rejected final bids for both men to escape the gallows.
	The Nigerian and Malaysian were hanged after their last minute appeals were thrown out.
	"A 38-year-old male Nigerian national, Chijioke Stephen Obioha, had his death sentence carried out on 18 November 2016 at Changi Prison Complex," the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said in a statement.
	Obioha, who came to Singapore hoping to be a footballer, was convicted of trafficking 2.6 kilograms of cannabis in 2008. Under Singapore law, anyone caught with more than 500 grams of cannabis can be sentenced to death.
	A change in the law in 2013 meant that Obioha could apply to be re-sentenced, opening up the possibility of a life sentence, but he turned it down, the CNB said.
	Just before he was to be hanged in 2015, Obioha's lawyer filed for a stay in execution, which was allowed by Singapore's highest ...

Nigerian,Malaysian hanged in S'pore for trafficking

North Korea lashed today at a new South Korea-Japan intelligence-sharing accord, accusing Seoul of a gross act of betrayal with the "sworn enemy" of the Korean people.
	The deal to share defence intelligence - largely driven by the growing threat of the North's nuclear and missile programmes - was reached and provisionally signed in Tokyo on Monday.
	It was a controversial move in South Korea, where the legacy of Japan's harsh 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula is a deep well of anti-Japanese sentiment and a belief that Tokyo has never properly atoned for the abuses of that era.
	Tensions between South Korea and Japan are welcomed and even encouraged by North Korea, which seizes any opportunity to drive a wedge between the two key US military allies in the region.
	A spokesman for the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee in Pyongyang called the intelligence agreement a "hideous act of treachery aimed to stifle fellow countrymen in the north in league with the sworn enemy of ..

AFP

AFP

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