Prominent Egyptian female activist jailed for 15 months

Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi flash the four finger symbol during a demonstration on September 13, 2013 in Alexandria

Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian appeals court sentenced a lawyer and award-winning activist to 15 months in jail for breaking into a police station and assaulting officers in 2013, a court official said.

In February, Mahienour El-Massry, winner of France's 2014 Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, was sentenced with two other defendants to two years in jail by a lower court in the same case.

She appealed the verdict and on Sunday an appeals court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria reduced the sentence to 15 months.

When the judge read the verdict, Massry chanted "Down with military rule".

Defence lawyer Mohamed Ramadan said the defendants were charged when they had gone to a police station in Alexandria in March 2013 to check about a fellow lawyer who had been detained.

He dismissed the verdict -- which is final -- as a "political" ruling.

Since the July 2013 ouster by the army of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, authorities have cracked down on his supporters and secular activists as well.

The crackdown has left hundreds of Morsi supporters dead and thousands jailed, while dozens have also been sentenced to death in mass and speedy trials.

The sweeping crackdown has also seen several top secular activists jailed.

Massry was also sentenced to two years in jail last January for violating a protest law that bans all but police-sanctioned demonstrations.

An appeals court later suspended that jail term.

Calcium Carbide ripened mangoes, hazardous to your health

KARACHI: Summer is upon us bringing with it the king of all fruits, the world famous Pakistani mango season is almost here. Before you run to buy your share of the sweet yellow goodness you might want to know how the fruit is being artificially ripened and could be hazardous to your health.

While the use of Calcium Carbide (CaC2) has been banned in most countries including neighbouring India, in Pakistan producers continue to use the hazardous substance to artificially ripen fruit – including mangoes.

Farmers have been using the hazardous substance to artificially ripen mangoes instead of waiting for the fruit to ripen naturally. Traces of dangerous chemicals including Phosphorus and Arsenic have also been found in Calcium Carbide.

While its use remains banned in most countries, there is no prohibition for using Calcium Carbide to artificially ripen fruit in Pakistan.

According to experts, consuming fruit ripened using Calcium Carbide can cause skin related problems and consuming even a nominal amount of the substance can lead to Cancer and other diseases.

Zimbabwe happy to contribute to Pakistan revival

LAHORE (AFP): A top Zimbabwe cricket official Sunday expressed delight in contributing to the revival of international cricket in Pakistan after a six-year hiatus, hoping it will open more doors for their hosts.

Zimbabwe became the first Test team to tour Pakistan since terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009, suspending all international cricket in the country.

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) managing director Alistair Campbell said his country decided to play two Twenty20 and three one-day internationals after their intelligence work.

"I am glad that we have been able to make a small part in trying to get Pakistan cricket back on track," Campbell told media on the sidelines of third and final one-day international in Lahore.

"We did our due intelligence work, there were guys who said that ´how can you go?´ and that ´you are putting lives of the players at risk´ but we assessed the security and we were sure it will be a successful and safe tour."

Pakistan deployed 6,000 policemen, beefed up to 10,000 after Tuesday´s explosion of a gas cylinder, with thorough check-ups of the fans at various points.

Campbell, 42, said perceptions about Pakistan will change after the successful series.

"I am sure this tour will open more doors and change the perceptions about Pakistan," said Campbell who played 60 Tests and 188 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe besides leading them.

Campbell admitted it was a tough decision to travel to Pakistan after a deadly bus attack which left 45 people killed a week before the team´s arrival.

"It was a tough and topsy turvy thing. Pakistan invited us in good faith and they have done and taken all the necessary security precautions, beefed up the security better than they provided before.

"We were told that this is better than given to a state head and I think when there was a bus shooting in Karachi then it put a spanner in the work because it wasn´t an ideal situation to tour," said Campbell.

After the Karachi killings, ZC initially suspended the tour before rescinding their decision.

"At that time we were in discussions on whether to tour or not but obviously credit to the ZC president Wilson Manase and Shaharyar Khan of Pakistan Cricket Board who took the matter to the highest level and made sure that we tour and security given is perfect.

"The players were also in an ebb and flow, whether to go or not but in the end we made a commitment and were happy with the security plan and that we will be well looked after."

Campbell said the excitement of fans in Pakistan was exemplary as they packed the 27,000 capacity Gaddafi Stadium in the two Twenty20 and one-day matches.

"It´s heart warming and more than anybody expected, to be honest.People embraced the Zimbabwean players and the hospitality is outstanding and it´s the first time that in the sub-continent that people were chanting for the opposition.

"The players have felt welcome and the hospitality is outstanding. From the moment the Zimbabweans touched down to when they leave tonight there were utmost precaution taken without compromising too much on their freedom."

Campbell said the series will strengthen relations between Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

"This series will strengthen our bilateral relations with Pakistan and they are due to tour us in August this year and this tour will go a long way in our relationship." 

New research shows immunotherapy targeting several cancers

Chicago (AFP) - Immunotherapy, which has shown remarkable success against advanced melanoma skin cancers, is now being used to target other cancers that are tough to treat.

The results of several clinical trials were presented on the opening day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology´s (ASCO) annual conference in Chicago on Friday.

Results show early, limited successes in immunotherapy compared to conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy in the treatment of diseases such as metastatic cancers of the liver, head or neck as well as against the most common type of lung cancer, known as "non-small cell."

Typically, tumors exploit certain weaknesses in immune cells to block their attacks or to appear invisible to the body´s natural defenders. But immunotherapy can harness the power of the immune system so it is trained to attack cancer.

In some cases, immunotherapy has been shown to completely eradicate cancer. But it doesn´t work for everyone.

"The field of targeted immunotherapy gets more exciting every year," said Lynn Schuchter, an ASCO specialist who on Friday presented four clinical trials.

"With these trials, we´re rapidly moving past the era in which immunotherapies are seen as breakthroughs for melanoma alone," she added.

"Remarkably, these drugs are proving effective in other cancers where practically no other treatments work. Just as important, it´s possible that we´ll be able to pinpoint, in advance, which patients are the best candidates for these therapies."

- Liver, head and neck cancers -

A small, phase I clinical trial with 42 patients suffering from advanced liver cancer, presented Friday at the conference, showed a reduction of more than 30 percent in tumors in 42 percent of participants with the nivolumab (Opdivo) antibody from the US laboratory Bristol-Myers Squibb, compared to two percent in the control group being treated by conventional chemotherapy.

"While we have to verify this early signal in larger studies, this is one of the first signs that immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors will have a role in the treatment of liver cancer," which kills more than 600,000 people worldwide each year, said Anthony El-Khoueiry, professor of medicine at the university of Southern California in Los Angeles, which led the study.

Nivolumab works by neutralizing a protein called PD-1 found in tumor cells. The protein makes the rogue cells invisible to the immune system.

Underscoring that the antibody is safe for sick people, El-Khoueiry said preliminary data were promising.

Another clinical test with the antibody pembrolizumab (Keytruda) from Merck´s US laboratory also targets the PD-1 protein in cancerous cells. It was said to be promising in cancers of the head and neck.

Out of 132 patients, 57 percent had a reduction in their tumor and in some cases it disappeared altogether.

"The efficacy we saw was remarkable pembrolizumab seems to be roughly twice as effective, when measured by response, as our only targeted therapy cetuximab," said Tanguy Seiwert, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, a co-author of the study.

"We have high hopes that immunotherapy will change the way we treat head and neck cancer," he added.

He said two phase III studies were underway to evaluate the treatment pembrolizumab, comparing it to standard treatment in patients with a recurrent metastatic cancer of the head and neck.

Additionally, the nivolumab antibody prolonged the life of patients with even the most widespread lung cancer.

Among 582 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who were treated with nivolumab, 19.2 percent saw their tumors shrink compared to 12.4 percent in the control group treated with chemotherapy.

Survival rates increased by more than 30 percent, even double in some patients.

"This is the first phase III study to show that immunotherapy is effective against non-squamous cell (non-small cell lung cancer)," said Luis Paz-Ares, medical professor at the University Hospital of Madrid, which led the study.

Researchers also presented Friday a small clinical study that identified a genomic marker called MMR (mismatch repair deficiency) that allows scientists to predict the efficacy of the pembrolizumab (Keytruda) antibody. 

'Several' Americans held in Yemen by Shia rebels, US state department says

Houthi rebels who toppled Yemen's US-backed government holding Americans in Sanaa

WASHINGTON: Several Americans have been detained in Yemen, a State Department official said Sunday, amid reports that at least four US citizens are being held by Shiite rebels.

The Washington Post reported that the Americans were believed to be held by the Huthi militia in a prison near the capital Sanaa, and that US efforts to secure their release had faltered, hampered by the fact that Washington has no direct links to the rebels.

The State Department had seen the "reports that several US citizens have recently been detained in Yemen," the official told AFP.

"We are doing everything we can to get these individuals released," the official said, but would not say how many were held or who was holding them.

But he could not confirm any details about how many where held or who was holding them.

At least four Americans were being held, according to the Washington Post.

The Americans are believed to be imprisoned in the capital Sana'a, which Saudi Arabia has repeatedly bombed in a campaign to oust the Shia rebels, known as Houthis, from power, the report said.

The Houthis had cleared one of the prisoners for release, but the report said members of the Houthi rebellion reversed that decision.

Three of the prisoners held private sector jobs, and the fourth holds dual US-Yemeni citizenship. None is a US government employee, the report said.

The Post report said the newspaper was withholding details about the four, at the request of relatives and US officials, who cited safety concerns.

One more American is being held in Yemen. Sharif Mobley is also in Houthi custody. He's been held for more than five years on terrorism-related charges brought by the previous government; his capture has been reported previously.

The Post report said those most recently detained are among dozens of Americans who were unable to leave Yemen or who chose to remain in the country after the US closed its embassy.

US officials said that efforts to secure the release of the Americans had been mainly through "intermediaries including humanitarian groups that continue to have a presence in Sanaa," the Post said.

One of the prisoners had been approved to be released in recent days, but the rebels went back on their decision, the Post said.

He had initially been detained for overstaying his visa, but then the rebels accused him of travelling to "sensitive" areas in Yemen, a US official told the Post.

A fifth American, identified by the daily as Sharif Mobley, is being held on terrorism charges brought against him more then five years ago, the paper said. - AFP