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21.10.2022
THEME: POLITICS

EU Council takes measures for Ukraine war and energy market crisis

While Russia continued striking energy infrastructure in Ukraine, the EU council met on October 20-21 to formulate decisions on several open issues including the Ukraine and energy crisis. The council expressed determination “to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine and rules-based international order”. It reiterated “that Russia bears the sole responsibility for the current energy and economic crises” and the “rejection of the illegal annexation by Russia of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions”. The EU will continue to support Ukraine, providing “political, military, and financial support” and it decides to “conduct an EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine”. The Council condemns the acts of sabotage against critical infrastructures, such as those against the Nord Stream pipelines, and urges nations to cooperate to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure. To contain gas pricing, the EU decided to encourage joint purchasing and implement a temporary dynamic price cap on natural gas transactions, in particular to the gas used for electricity generation. This will establish a flexible range for gas prices, but more precise details will be known in the next two to three weeks. During the press conference after the council, French president Emmanuel Macron expressed the feeling that gas pricing is not only concerning Russia but the US too. In his words “American gas is 3-4 times cheaper on the domestic market than the price at which they offer it to Europeans. These are double standards", Macron said. According to him, this should become a topic for discussion, since "it concerns sincerity in transatlantic trade". The Council also discussed external relations and pointed to the need to hold strategic discussions with China in preparation for the EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit on 14 December 2022. This will be an opportunity to further deepen the European Union’s Strategic Partnership with ASEAN.

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19.10.2022
THEME: HEALTH

A new DNA-based screening test has been developed to predict cervical, ovarian, and breast cancer

So far, cervical cancer screening has been the most successful personalized cancer prevention strategy. This type of screening aims to identify women with a pre-invasive lesion, which can be then surgically excised. Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV, which is sexually transmitted) could increase the risk of cancer of the cervix, vulva, and vagina. Today, many countries are adopting screening for human papillomavirus (HPV) as the primary investigation for cervical cancer. The test consists of the cytological analysis of a small biopsy of the cervix: high-risk HPV-positive women are identified and successive eventual treatment is determined. However, many patients are developing this type of cancer that are HPV-negative, implying that preventive diagnosis remains limited to a minority of cases. Scientists from the University of Innsbruck and University College London (UCL) developed a new screening test based on a DNA analysis that brings preventive diagnosis significantly beyond. The study, published in Genome Medicine, demonstrates a DNA methylation test of the cervical fluid capable of identifying women with a high risk of developing cervical, ovarian, and breast cancer. Such methodology opens the way to the more efficient and quick prediction of multiple cancer risks - and therefore a concrete possibility to a systematic early cancer diagnosis, the most important factor for increased chances of success in successive treatment.

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17.10.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

Devastating floods in Nigeria kill more than 500 people and displace Millions

On October 14 devastating floods caused by heavier-than-usual rain hit Nigeria. More than 500 people were killed and roughly 90.000 homes are underwater as well as food and fuel supplies are blocked. The floods have impacted 1.4 million people which are currently displaced. According to the humanitarian ministry, flooding this year was similar to Nigeria’s last major flooding in 2012, which killed 363 people and displaced 600.000 people. The World Food Programme indicates that Nigeria is at risk of poverty and vulnerable to food shortage, often caused by periodic floods that put the agriculture sector under pressure. The abnormal floods in Nigeria this year are just one of the many recent signs of climate change: indeed, in the last months, we witnessed natural extreme events around the world. In September severe floods hit Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and Pakistan. Earlier than that, in August, extreme temperatures occurred in the US, China, and central EU - where serious drought put at risk harvests and drinking water availability. Such a high frequency of events due to extreme climate demonstrates not only that climate change is happening, but in some cases that it can turn into a real humanitarian catastrophe.

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