October 2023 – Page 867 – Safir News Agency

How does it work?

Messenger RNA’s job in the body is to help deliver specific instructions from DNA to cells. In the case of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs, lab-generated mRNA tells human cells to create antigens — proteins that are similar to ones found in the Covid-19 virus.

Thanks to those antigens, a person’s immune system learns how to fight the virus and neutralise Covid if it enters the body.

After the cells create these proteins, the body breaks down the mRNA instructions and gets rid of them.

Such direct communication with cells is revolutionary — classic vaccines aimed to provoke an immune response by injecting a neutralised form of a virus or antigens into the system.

Where did this come from?

The first big breakthrough, in the late 1970s, was in using mRNA to make test-tube cells produce proteins. A decade later, scientists were able to get the same results in mice, but mRNA still had two major drawbacks as a medical tool.

For one thing, cells in live animals resisted synthetic mRNA, provoking a dangerous immune response.

On top of that, mRNA molecules are fragile, making them difficult to deliver to the system without altering them.

In 2005, Kariko and Weissman of Penn State University published a groundbreaking study showing that a lipid — or fat molecule — envelope could safely deliver mRNA without negative effects.

The research caused a buzz in the pharmaceutical community and start-ups dedicated to mRNA therapies began to pop up around the world.

What else can mRNA do?

Scientists have worked on developing mRNA jabs for illnesses like seasonal flu, rabies and Zika, as well as those that have remained vaccine-resistant until now, including malaria and AIDS.

Researchers have also started testing personalised treatments on cancer patients, using samples of the proteins in their tumours to create specialised mRNA.

This then triggers the immune system to target specific cancer cells.

“The mRNA platform is versatile,” University of Pennsylvania biochemist Norbert Pardi told AFP. “Any protein can be encoded as mRNA so there are many potential applications.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

"In Close Coordination With Canada…": US On Hardeep Nijjar's Killing

admin Oct 2, 2023 0

'In Close Coordination With Canada...': US On Khalistani Terrorist's Murder

India Canada Row: Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down outside a Gurdwara in Canada in June.

Washington:

The US has said it is in close coordination with Canada on allegations regarding the Indian government’s involvement in the fatal shooting of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“We remain in close coordination with our Canadian colleagues on this question,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said while responding to a question related to Nijjar’s killing in Canada.

Miller’s remarks came during a daily press briefing on Monday (US local time).

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently alleged that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Nijjar.

Nijjar, who was a designated terrorist in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada’s Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.

Trudeau, during a debate in the Canadian Parliament, claimed his country’s national security officials had reasons to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.

However, India has outrightly rejected the claims, calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’.

Notably, Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Miller said the US has engaged with the Indian government on a number of occasions to urge them to cooperate with Canada’s investigation.

He said US State Secretary Antony Blinken had an opportunity to discuss the issue with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar during their meeting on Friday.

Meanwhile, Trudeau has said that Ottawa wants to “work constructively with India” regarding the allegations.

While addressing a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trudeau said, “In regards to India, Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday. With India, we did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter.”

EAM Jaishankar recently said that the ongoing problem with Canada has been there for some years because of the “permissiveness” by the government regarding terrorism, extremism and violence in the country.

Mr Jaishankar said that the current situation can’t be termed a “deadlock”, adding that the Indian government is open to looking at any specific and relevant thing shared by the Canadian side in connection with the issue.

Addressing a press conference in Washington DC on Friday, Mr Jaishankar said, “Well, I don’t know if I would use the term deadlock…The issue is as follows: The Canadians have made some allegations. We have pointed out to them that this is not the Government of India’s policy and if they are prepared to share with us specifics and anything relevant, we are also open to looking at it. So in that sense, that’s where the matter stands”.

“But what we do not want to see is an incident treated in isolation because then that somewhere does not convey the right picture,” he added.

The EAM said that the ongoing problem with Canada is because of the “permissiveness” regarding terrorism, extremism and violence in the country.

India has suspended its visa services in Canada, following Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s allegations of Indian involvement in the killing.

Amid strained ties, India issued an advisory for its citizens and those who are travelling to Canada to exercise “utmost caution in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence” in the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Middle East

Hezbollah leader: Normalization with Israel by any country stab in Palestinians’ back

admin Oct 2, 2023 0

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has urged Muslims across the world to strongly condemn any step taken by any country toward normalization of relations with Israel.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks in a Monday televised speech on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“Any country that moves toward normalization of its relations [with Israel] must be condemned, because this step amounts to abandoning Palestine and bolstering the [Zionist] enemy, which must not be accepted,” the Hezbollah leader said.

Nasrallah was making an apparent reference to the latest efforts by the United States to persuade Saudi Arabia to normalize its relations with the Israeli regime.

Elsewhere in his speech, Nasrallah urged the “Muslim Ummah” to fulfill its responsibility toward the Palestinian people and the al-Aqsa Mosque.

“The Muslim Ummah must shoulder responsibility for what is happening to the brave people of Palestine and the al-Aqsa Mosque and Zionists must hear the voice of the Muslim world with regard to the first qibla of Muslims.”

Arab and Muslim countries have criticized Riyadh for keeping the door open to a renewed push by the United States to work out a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, saying it would be a betrayal of the Palestinian cause and would encourage the Israeli regime to intensify its aggression.

Palestinian resistance movements believe that Israel has already been emboldened by the potential success of efforts to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia, saying attempts in recent weeks by extremist settlers to make regular presence in al-Aqsa Mosque show the regime wants to pile up pressure on Palestinians.

Reports suggest that Washington will reward Saudi Arabia for normalizing ties with Israel with a major security pact as well as support for the kingdom’s plans to develop a peaceful nuclear program.

This comes as calls for the regular presence of Jewish extremists in the Aqsa Mosque have increased in recent days concurrent with holidays marking a Jewish festival.

Israeli police allows settlers’ incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque complex despite repeated condemnations by the Palestinians and international community. The provocative incidents have been on the rise since the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office last December.

Such incursions come despite the fact that non-Muslim worship at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound is prohibited according to an agreement between the occupying Israeli regime and the Jordanian government following the regime’s seizure of East al-Quds in 1967.

Elsewhere in his speech, Nasrallah touched on the West’s media warfare against Muslim nations, which is aimed at undermining those nations and achieving goals that have not been realized through wars.

“Enemies use the media war, which is also known as the soft war, to weaken nations and … achieve those goals, which they have failed to realize through military wars,” Nasrallah said.

He also pointed to economic problems facing Syria and displacement of a large number of its people due to a Western-sponsored terrorist war against Damascus, emphasizing that the United States is the primary culprit behind Syria’s refugee crisis.

“The main party responsible for the influx of refugees into Lebanon is that who kindled the war in Syria, that is the US government,” the Hezbollah leader said.

“Following the implementation of the Caesar Act, the United States is also responsible for the economic crisis in Syria as well. Those who believe that Syrian refugees are a threat to Lebanon must tell Washington that Lebanon would be saved through the abrogation of the Caesar Act,” Nasrallah said.

Syria has been a target of US sanctions since 1979. Following the start of the foreign-sponsored terrorist war in the country in 2011, the US and its Western allies imposed several rounds of sanctions on the Arab country. The sanctions intensified with the passing of the Caesar Act in 2019, which targeted any individual and business that participated either directly or indirectly in Syria’s reconstruction efforts.