Chinese district bans pet dogs, threatens to kill all
BEIJING: A district government in east China has banned pet dogs and threatened to kill them on the spot if they were not removed, triggering protests from canine lovers.
“All dogs must be removed from the district before September 10, otherwise authorities will enter your house and kill your dog on the spot,” state-run Global Times reported on Friday. Termed as a “the cruelest ban”, a statement released by local government of Dayang district in Shandong province said that the district government will ban residents from keeping dogs, including those who have an animal licence. It defended the ban saying that it is for the good of residents and the district’s hygiene.
“The rule is aimed at preventing stray dogs from hurting residents, but made no further comments on why domestic dogs should also be eliminated,” a district officer said. “It’s unacceptable. Many residents here keep dogs and have an animal licence. They cannot kill my dog and have absolutely no right to storm into my house without permission,” a resident surnamed Yang told the paper.
For many Chinese who are permitted only one child, dogs have become life companions. Love for dogs has become so strong that several volunteer groups have been stopping lorries carrying captured dogs for slaughtered houses for meat in recent years and seizing the animals. Many netizens slammed the measure as barbaric and urged the government to reconsider the ban, the report said. A similar regulation has been enforced in Huidong county, Sichuan province, with the local government forbidding dogs in public areas, and would kill any stray dog. (PTI)
Man bites off wife’s nose, eats it for not picking his calls
BEIJING: In a gruesome incident in China, an estranged husband reportedly bit off his wife’s nose and ate it after she did not pick up his calls.
The pair, from the city of Dezhou in China, allegedly got into a fight after the woman did not answer her estranged husband’s calls after a late work shift earlier this week. Enraged, her husband apparently stormed into her work place the following day and attacked her, biting off her nose and then swallowing it, according to the People’s Daily Online.
The woman, identified only as Yang, told Shangdong Television station, “And the next thing I knew, he pushed my head towards the way and ate my nose in one go.”
Doctors have claimed the damage to Yang’s nose is so severe she will require extensive surgery. Almost her entire nose, including the nasal septum, soft triangle and nose tip, were eaten.
Surgeons believe it will be at least three months before her nose can be cosmetically reconstructed, British daily The Independent reported.
The couple, who were both divorcees when they married, appeared to have a tumultuous relationship.
According to local news reports, Yang claims her husband — who had two grown-up children from his previous marriage — attempted to sell the couple’s child so she could care for his grandchildren. When Yang refused, the couple separated, although she claims he continued to ring her regularly. Police are reportedly attempting to locate her husband, who remains at large. (PTI)
Indian researcher’s heart disease project gets $400,000 boost
Washington: An Indian-American researcher at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has received a $423,485 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his project related to ischemic heart disease, a media report said.
The grant will give a boost to the project led by Krishna Singh, professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Quillen College of Medicine and physiologist at the Quillen VA Medical Centre, to study the role of a protein called ATM, or ataxia telangiectasia mutated kinase, in ischemic heart disease, johnsoncitypress.com reported on Friday. “The aim of this research is to identify a link between ATM and ischemic heart disease, and to understand why ATM deficient patients are more susceptible to ischemic heart disease,” Singh was quoted as saying.
Mutations in the ATM gene cause a rare genetic disorder known as Ataxia-telangiectasia, or A-T, which affects multiple organs in the body and leads to severe disability.
Individuals carrying both copies of the mutated ATM gene die in their teens or early 20s. Patients with one normal and one mutated copy of the ATM gene are spared from most of the symptoms of the disease. However, they are more susceptible to cancer and ischemic heart disease. The study will focus on examining the role of ATM in heart muscle cell death and heart function.
Singh also holds a VA Merit Review Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs for nearly $1 million to study the role of a protein called osteopontin in heart disease. (IANS)
