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Europe defies Donald Trump on trade with Iran, and paralysed patients walk again

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The big challenge new Maldivian president faces, and another wall falls for Saudi Arabia’s women. 

Europe will continue trade with Iran despite US warnings 

Europe is putting its foot down. Parties to the Iran nuclear deal other than the US agreed Monday to continue trade with Tehran despite apprehensions about the prospect in view of impending American sanctions on Iran’s oil sales, Reuters reported.

In May, US President Donald Trump decided to break away from the milestone 2015 nuclear pact with Iran and restore sanctions on its oil sales — Trump had warned nations that continued trade with Iran may cost them their partnership with the US.

However, after a meeting Monday, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran issued a statement saying “they were determined to develop payment mechanisms to continue trade with Iran”.

One of the solutions offered was the creation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will allow the facilitation of Iran’s oil exports. The idea is to reportedly create a barter mechanism involving Iranian oil and European goods — a European effort to create a direct trade network with Iran, thus keeping Washington out.

The 2015 nuclear agreement, signed under former US president Barack Obama, sought to restrict Iran’s nuclearisation in exchange for the relaxation of western sanctions crippling the Iranian economy.

In May, Trump had declared the deal flawed, saying it did not put curbs on Iran’s ballistic missile programme and support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.

New Maldives President Solih must hold together diverse coalition

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who has defeated pro-China strongman Abdulla Yameen in the presidential elections with a vote margin of 16.7 per cent, faces one of his biggest challenges in holding together the disparate coalition he leads, reports Reuters.

Solih is expected to be sworn in on 17 November. The coalition he heads includes two rivals and former presidents, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed.

“For the president-elect, ensuring a smooth transition and then selecting an all-acceptable, multi-party Cabinet would be the first priority,” said N. Sathiya Moorthy, an analyst at Indian thinktank Observer Research Foundation.

In another first, Saudi woman is first to host ‘hard news’ broadcast

Saudi woman has created history by becoming the first female anchor of a hard-news, prime time bulletinreports Khaleej Times.

Weam Al Dakheel presented news along with co-anchor Omar Al Nashwan on the state-owned Saudi TV Channel 1. This is big news for Saudi Arabia, which has been trying to take strides for women empowerment of late, as women broadcasters have so far been restricted to presenting morning bulletins with “soft news”.

“Jumanah AlShami was the first woman to present morning newscasts in 2016. Today history repeats itself as #WeamAlDakheel becomes the presenter of the main nightly newscast, setting a precedent in a historic first for Saudi TV 1,” Saudi TV said on Twitter.

Earlier this month, for the first time, Saudi women were recruited as co-pilots and flight attendants. In June, the Saudi government lifted its much-criticised ban on women driving.

China white paper slams Washington as US implements tariffs

China published a white paper Monday, as US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports took effect, to clarify its stance on trade with Washington, Global Times reported.

“China is and will stick to its own pace of economic development, reform and opening-up. Any form of bullying from the US is definitely unworkable, Chinese experts warned,” the report read.

Heavy on criticism of the US, the white paper focused on “the trade bullying practices of the US administration, damage by the improper practices of the US administration to the global economy”, and China’s position, Xinhua reported Monday.

The standoff between the two superpowers is unlikely to end soon, with Bloomberg reporting Saturday that US and China were unlikely to sit together for talks until after the US midterm elections in November.

New spinal cord approach helps paralysed patients walk again

A new approach to treating spinal cord injuries, developed at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, US, has helped a small group of paralysed patients walk again, reports The Guardian.

Two separate teams of scientists have revealed for the first time that the technique, along with physical training, has allowed three out of the five individuals treated to walk again.

“It is incredible to be able to be in there and actually see them taking their first steps,” said Dr Claudia Angeli of Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center.

“It is an emotional time for the individuals because it is something that they have been told they are never going to be able to do again,” she added.

“In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Angeli and colleagues report that they implanted an array of 16 electrodes in the lower back of four patients, paralysed after mountain bike or traffic accidents several years before,” The Guardian reported.

Called epidural stimulation, the approach is based on the principle that “there are some small signals from the brain that cross the site of the spinal cord injury, though these signals are not enough on their own to generate voluntary movement”.

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