Third attempt to auction off Aung San Suu Kyi’s home fails
Yangon, Feb 5: A renewed attempt to auction off the family home of Myanmar’s imprisoned former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was unsuccessful Wednesday as the prospect of paying tens of millions of dollars for a property in a country embroiled in a civil war failed to attract any bidders.
It was the third attempt to sell the lakeside property where Suu Kyi had been held under house arrest for nearly 15 years. It’s widely viewed as a historical landmark of her nonviolent struggle against military rule for which she won the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the previous attempt at auction last August, the court-ordered asking price was USD 142 million; on Wednesday it was reduced by USD 1 million, to USD 141 million. Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government was ousted by the military in February 2021. She is now serving a combined 27-year sentence after being convicted of a string of criminal charges that supporters say have been fabricated to discredit her. Since then, resistance to the military government has grown and the country is now in the midst of a brutal civil war. (AP)
Nepal ends solo expeditions on Mt Everest
Kathmandu, Feb 5: The Nepal government has formally ended solo expeditions on Mt Everest and other mountain peaks above 8,000 metres by making one mountain guide mandatory for two climbers, according to revised mountaineering regulations. The sixth amendment to the Mountaineering Regulation came into force on Tuesday after it was published in the Nepal Gazette, the government’s official publication. The revised regulations require a high-altitude support staff or mountain guide to be assigned for every two climbers for peaks above 8,000 metres, including the 8,849 metres tall Mt Everest.
For other mountains, the rule requires at least one guide per group, according to a notice. Under the previous rule, one mountain guide was sufficient for a group of climbers scaling mountains above 8,000 metres.
“The government has made guides mandatory to ensure the climbers’ safety on the mountain,” said Arati Neupane, Director at the Department of Tourism. The amendment was made to minimize the risk associated with mountain climbing, she added. This new regulation should have been made long ago, as it would have a positive impact on mountain tourism, said Mingma G Sherpa, Managing Director of Imagine Nepal Treks, a tourism company. (PTI)
Quakes rattling Greece’s volcanic island every few mins
Athens, Feb 5: Earthquakes rattled Greece’s volcanic island of Santorini every few minutes through the night and into Wednesday as authorities bolstered their emergency plans in case the hundreds of temblors over the past few days are a harbinger of a larger quake to come.
A coast guard vessel and a military landing craft were in the wider area as a contingency should an evacuation be required, Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said during an emergency meeting with security officials, scientists and the prime minister in Athens Wednesday.
“We are obliged to draw up scenarios for better and for worse regarding the prolonged seismic activity,” Kikilias said during the meeting, which was televised live.
Predicting earthquakes is not scientifically possible, and experts cannot yet determine definitively whether the seismic activity between the islands of Santorini and Amorgos could be a precursor to a significantly larger earthquake, or is part of an earthquake swarm that could continue shaking the area with small or moderate intensity quakes for weeks or months.
“I understand the fear of what it means at the moment to be on a Santorini that is constantly moving,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, as he called on residents to remain calm and follow authorities’ instructions. (AP)
Spine-zapping implant helped 3 people walk better
Washington, Feb 5: Three people with a muscle-destroying disease destined to worsen got a little stronger – able to stand and walk more easily – when an implanted device zapped their spinal cord.
On Wednesday, researchers reported what they called the first evidence that a spine-stimulating implant already being tested for paralysis might also aid neuro-degenerative diseases like spinal muscle atrophy – by restoring some muscle function, at least temporarily.
“These people were definitely not expecting an improvement,” said Marco Capogrosso, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh who led the research. Yet over the month-long pilot study, “they were getting better and better.” Spinal muscle atrophy or SMA is a genetic disease that gradually destroys motor neurons, nerve cells in the spinal cord that control muscles. That leads muscles to waste away, especially in the legs, hips and shoulders and sometimes those involved with breathing and swallowing. (PTI)