Lifestyle

The EU's executive called in Europe's law enforcers and urged bloc-wide DNA food testing on Wednesday to restore consumer confidence in a widening scandal over horsemeat-tainted processed food, AFP reports.

Kazakhstan is among the 5 countries that are testing the 3rd generation artificial heart, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan’s senior cardiac surgeon Yuriy Pya.

Colors at this New York Fashion Week have often seemed tuned to the stormy weather outside, but Marc Jacobs is among those who've decided to bring sunshine -- even if only onto the catwalk, AFP reports.

A Pakistani man was beaten by his two former ex-wives (sisters) for allegedly kidnapping and forcing their youngest sister into marrying him, local media reported on Thursday.

The beating took place outside a courtroom in Gujranwala, north-east of Punjab province in Pakistan, where the man, named Adnan was standing with his wife, Pakistan daily Tribune reported.

Just before the incident, Judge Mansoor Ahmed Khan, ruled in favor of the newly-weds and disposed of the appeal filed by the women’s father, Muhammad Riaz.

Riaz had claimed that the man kidnapped his youngest daughter, Anum, and forcibly married her.

However, the judge heard Anum’s statement, which contradicted her father’s, where she said she had married Adnan of her own free will.

Riaz and his two elder daughters tried to take Anum away from Adnan outside the courtroom after they failed to get her back.

After refusing to accompany them, the trio consequently beat Adnan with anything they could get their hands on, including a brick from a nearby construction site, witnesses told the newspaper.

Adnan managed to escape the assault with the help of both the police and his relatives.
Tangled in knots

At an earlier court session, Adnan said he married the eldest sister, Tabassum, six years ago, but was now divorced. He said they separated after Tabassum’s father unlawfully occupied his house.

In an attempt to resolve the family dispute, Riaz offered Adnan his second daughter, Tehmina’s hand in marriage, to which Adnan accepted.

He added that three years later Riaz demanded $1,500 (Rs.200, 000) or divorce Tehmina.

Adnan claimed Riaz threatened to file a fabricated case against him if he did not produce the money.

Being unable to pay the amount, he was left with his only option to divorce the second daughter as well.

Riaz has denied Adnan’s claims and said Adnan divorced his daughters because he could not afford the sufficient dowry.

He later developed an interest in Anum, Riaz’s youngest daughter.

After finding out that Adnan had married Anum at a court five months ago, Riaz filed a kidnapping case against him at the local police station in January 2013.

Anum, supporting her husband said he had not abducted.
 

After years of research, the first bionic eye has seen the light of day in the United States, giving hope to the blind around the world, AFP reports.

Men who watch television for 20 hours per week have almost half the sperm count of those who watch very little television or none at all, AFP reports according to a study published on Tuesday.

About 500 000 children would be left without insurance and the poorest Americans could be fined under President Obama’s new health care law because of a loophole that the administration and Congress failed to fix.

Lawmakers passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 without taking care of a loophole that would make it impossible for low-income families to purchase health care for their themselves or their children. Under the health care law, anyone who fails to acquire insurance will be forced to pay a heavy tax penalty – including those who can’t afford their employer’s insurance plans.

To downplay the severity of the loophole, the administration is calling it a “glitch” and claiming that it was initially unable to address it because of the way Congress wrote the law. Now, two years after the law was voted on, the affordability loophole is posing a significant problem in wake of many of the provisions' 2014 implementation.

The Obama administration initially planned to offer financial assistance to families to buy private health insurance if they cannot afford their employers’ options – but Congress did not include text for the financial assistance program in the Affordable Care Act.

Under the law, anyone who remains uninsured will be forced to pay heavy fines – including those who can’t afford their employer’s insurance plans. And the IRS on Wednesday refused to exempt such individuals from the fines.

Employer-sponsored health care plans are on the rise, but some families that are unable to afford the coverage offered by their job could be left uninsured when “Obamacare” goes into effect. In the legislation, affordable coverage is defined as costing no more than 9.5 percent of family income. But low-income workers might be unable to pay for the care offered by their employer – especially if it exceeds the affordability margin. Health insurance coverage also costs more if a worker has a family to cover, making it difficult for low-income families to also insure their children.

An average workplace plan costs about $5,600 per individual worker and about $15,700 for a family, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Paying three times as much might not be an option for those with insufficient incomes, thereby prompting them to leave their children uninsured.

Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, told AP that close to 500,000 children could be left without insurance because of the loophole. Many families will not be able to afford coverage unless their employers help them pay for the premiums – which not all employers do.

In order to solve the problem, Congress would need to amend the health care law, since a significant measure is missing from the text and the IRS failed to exempt Americans who are poor and uninsured from financial penalties.

“They are bound by the law and cannot extend further than what the law provides,” Neil Trautwein, vice president of the National Retail Federation, told AP.

But Republicans are already starkly opposed to “Obamacare” and would be unlikely to add new measures it, thereby leaving the Obama administration – and the people his law would cover – stuck in the mud.

The loophole would significantly burden low-income families, making the Affordable Care Act not so affordable for everyone. But unlike a “glitch”, which is usually a short-lived fault, this gap might simply thrust hundreds of thousands of Americans further into poverty.
 

The origins of HIV can be traced back millions rather than tens of thousands of years, research suggests.

HIV, which causes Aids, emerged in humans in the 20th Century, but scientists have long known that similar viruses in monkeys and apes have existed for much longer.

A genetic study shows HIV-like viruses arose in African monkeys and apes 5 million to 12 million years ago.

The research may one day lead to a better understanding of HIV and Aids.

HIV affects 34 million people worldwide.

The disease emerged during the 20th century after a HIV-like virus jumped from chimps to humans.

Scientists have long known that similar viruses, known as lentiviruses, are widespread in African primates.

Past genetic research has suggested these "cousins" of HIV arose tens of thousands of years ago, but some experts have suspected this is an underestimate.
Evolutionary arms race

Scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle, US, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, also in Seattle, looked at the genetic signatures of HIV-like viruses in a number of primates, including chimps, gorillas, orang utans and macaques.

Changes in genes that have evolved in the immune systems of monkeys and apes in Africa suggest the viruses arose between 5 and 16 million years ago.

The research, published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, gives clues to how the immune systems of our closest relatives evolved to fight infection.

Dr Michael Emerman of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center said: "Our study reveals that, while primate lentiviruses may have modern consequences for human health, they have ancient origins in our non-human primate relatives."

Commenting on the study, Dr Sam Wilson of the MRC - University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research in Glasgow, said: "This kind of research helps us understand how the virus works.

"The hope is that one day this will translate into therapy."