Masood Azhar was listed as a designated terrorist 04/05/2019 – Posted in: Daily News
Masood Azhar was listed as a designated terrorist
Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was listed as a designated terrorist. The listing is a victory for India in a decade-old diplomatic battle waged primarily by it and supported by its friends at the UNSC, as it would mean a travel ban, arms embargo and asset freeze on Azhar.
The P-3 or group of three permanent UNSC members, the U.S., the U.K. and France, had co-sponsored a listing request at the Committee on February 27, weeks after the Pulwama attack that killed over 40 security personnel. This was the fourth such attempt to designate Azhar, over a decade, that had gone away.
At the end of March, the U.S. circulated a draft resolution (to sanction Azhar) among the UNSC members, i.e., outside the 1267 Committee, presumably to pressure China into either supporting the listing or having to take a stand in open proceedings and risk being seen as supporting terror.
The reasons for designating Azhar as a terrorist included his support for the JeM (Jaish E Mohammad) since its founding, being associated with the Al-Qaeda by recruiting for them. It also pointed to his role in recruiting fighters in Afghanistan. The JeM itself was sanctioned by the 1267 Committee in 2001.
The Varuna exercise
The first part of the Indo-French joint naval exercise, Varuna 19.1, began off the Goa coast and will continue till May 10. The Varuna exercise aims at developing interoperability between the two navies and fostering mutual cooperation by learning from each other’s best practices to conduct joint operations.
The second phase is scheduled for later this month in strategically located Djibouti. The bilateral naval exercise was initiated in 1983 and it was christened as ‘Varuna’ in 2001.
Denisovans
Analysis of a fossil jawbone containing molars recovered from Baishiya Karst cave in Xiahe, Gansu, China shows Denisovans lived in the Tibetan Plateau some 1,60,000 years ago.
The Denisovans or Denisova hominins are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans in the genus Homo. Denisovans were an extinct group of hominins that were close relatives of Neanderthals. They are known primarily from a handful of fossil fragments found at Denisova Cave in Siberia, and from genetic clues that linger in the DNA of people across Asia.
The first evidence for Denisovans or Denisova hominins was first discovered in 2008 in a cave in the Altai mountains in Siberia. This is the first time evidence of Denisovan presence has been found outside the Denisova cave.
Contrary to popular belief that high altitude regions were inhabited only by modern humans dating back to less than 40,000 years, the fossil remains conclusively prove that Denisovans lived in the Tibetan Plateau (the tallest and widest plateau on Earth, known as “the Roof of the World”) at an altitude of 3,280 metres much earlier — 1,60,000 years ago. The Denisova cave in Siberia is at an altitude of just 700 metres.
Antidote to box jellyfish
Australian researchers believe they have found an antidote to a sting from the world’s most venomous creature, the much-feared box jellyfish.
Researchers at the University of Sydney had been investigating how the venom is so deadly that one box jellyfish can kill 60 people. The team noticed the venom needs cholesterol to kill human cells and decided to test whether existing drugs could stop it.
It’s a molecular antidote and could stop tissue scarring and pain associated with the sting as long as the medicine was injected within 15 minutes. Stings from box jellyfish — which can be smaller than a fingernail or up to three metres long depending on the species — can cause acute muscular pain, violent vomiting, feelings of “impending doom”, hair that stands on end, strokes, heart failure and death within minutes.
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