US TO CUT AID TO PAKISTAN AND OTHER NATIONS IN NEW BUDGET
The US on Monday announced a move to end foreign assistance to a number of countries, including one-time ally Pakistan that has been struggling to protect its equity from its reputation as a state using terrorists as a strategic tool.
Pakistan will continue to get assistance but as loans and not as grants. The amount was earmarked $742 million in 2017, according to the US state department, but may have been received more under heads that could not be determine readily.
“Yes, I can confirm that,” Trump’s director of budget office Mick Mulvaney said, when specifically asked if Pakistan and other aid-receiving nations would no longer be getting these sums as grants, specially military assistance.
Mulvaney said: “Yes, we do change a couple of the foreign military programmes from direct grants to loans. Our argument was instead of loaning somebody, giving somebody $100 million, we can give them a smaller number worth of loan guarantees and they can actually buy more stuff.”
There was no change for allies like Egypt and Israel though, Mulvaney stressed, drawing a significant distinction.
Asked again it there was a cut in aid to Pakistan, Mulvaney seemed a little unsure about the exact provisions in the budget.
The situation will be clearer when the details are rolled out.
After nine months in space, mouse sperm has yielded healthy mice, Japanese scientists reported on Monday.
The freeze-dried sperm samples were launched in 2013 to the International Space Station and returned to Earth in 2014. The radiation of space caused slight DNA damage to the sperm. Yet, after in vitro fertilization on the ground, healthy offspring resulted. The baby mice grew into adults with normal fertility of their own.
The researchers — led by Sayaka Wakayama of the University of Yamanashi — said it’s a step toward reproducing other mammals, even humans, using space-preserved sperm. They envision missions lasting several years or multiple generations, during which assisted reproductive technology might be used for domestic animals and people, too.
The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Previous developmental studies in space have involved fish and amphibians. Mammals are more difficult to maintain and handle in space, and so testing has been limited. More extensive testing on sperm preservation is needed in space, according to the researchers.
Besides looking ahead to long-term space crews and societies, the researchers see other reasons for saving sperm in space, including in the event of disasters on Earth. The moon would be ideal for underground sperm storage, they noted, in particular lunar lava tubes because of “their very low temperatures, protection from space radiation by bedrock layers, and complete isolation from any disasters on Earth.”
Our argument was instead of loaning somebody, giving somebody $100 million, we can give them a smaller number worth of loan guarantees and they can actually buy more stuff