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Goodwill rescinded
JASON SZENES/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
UPFRONT
Goodwill rescinded AFTER facing global criticism, the World Health Organization has rescinded the appointment of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador. “I have… consulted with the government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization,” said the WHO’s new director-general, Tedros Adhanom. Tedros announced the appointment last week, praising Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage… at the centre of its policies.” He said Mugabe could use the role “to influence his peers in his region” when it came to fighting diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. Several world leaders and health
organisations were outraged by the decision, noting that Zimbabwe’s health system has collapsed under Mugabe’s regime. Medical workers often go unpaid, the country’s life expectancy is lower than in the 1980s, and almost half of all deaths as a result of childbirth are avoidable. The president travels abroad for his own medical treatment. “This appointment clearly contradicts the United Nations ideals of respect for human rights and human dignity,” said the US State Department in a statement to the Associated Press. “Given Mugabe’s appalling human rights record, calling him a Goodwill Ambassador for anything embarrasses WHO and Dr Tedros,” said Iain Levine of the charity Human Rights Watch.
Kaspersky’s audit
agencies from using Kaspersky antivirus products. Earlier this month, anonymous reports surfaced claiming the Russian government may have compelled the company to compromise its own software to allow the Kremlin to hunt for classified documents. On Monday, in an attempt to lay the matter to rest, the firm announced it would submit its source code to a broad selection of computer security experts and government officials for review. “We’ve nothing to hide,” said CEO Eugene Kaspersky.
–Contradicting UN ideals–
Self-harm is rising
be a result of increasing stress and higher levels of psychological problems in young people.” There is some evidence that mental health disorders are becoming more common in this age group, says Kapur. His team’s analysis found that, in more than half of cases, there was no documented referral to mental health services of a teenager who was self-harming. Children in the poorest areas were 23 per cent less likely to be referred within a year of their selfharming episode than children living in the richest areas.
OUT of every 10,000 teenage girls in the UK, more than 37 have selfharmed. That’s according to an analysis of data from 647 doctors’ practices across the country. The study found that, between
2011 and 2014, there was a 68 per cent increase in reports of self-harming among girls aged between 13 and 16. The rate in 2014 for girls aged 10 to 19 was 37.4 in 10,000. But among 13 to 16-year-olds, this figure rose to 77. In boys aged 10 to 19, the self-harm rate in 2014 was 12.3 out of 10,000 boys (British Medical Journal, doi.org/cfgs). “We can’t really explain this possible rapid increase in selfharm among girls. It could reflect better awareness or recording of self-harm in primary care,” says Nav Kapur at the University of Manchester Centre for Suicide Prevention, UK. “But it could also 4 | NewScientist | 28 October 2017
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
“We can’t really explain this rapid increase in self-harming among teenage girls in the UK”
THE Russian software company Kaspersky is opening up its code to independent scrutiny. The firm wants to counter media reports that Russian intelligence had installed a backdoor into its popular antivirus software. Kaspersky had been one of the world’s top cybersecurity firms – its software is installed on some 400 million computers around the world. But last month, after US coverage of the company’s alleged links with the Kremlin, the Trump administration banned US federal
Extended Dawn NASA’S Dawn mission will spend another year orbiting Ceres, an icy dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Since arriving at Ceres in 2015, Dawn has found organic compounds, water ice and unexpected bright spots. Mission engineers are deciding how to manoeuvre the craft to let it fly less than 200 kilometres above the surface during its extended mission. This should –On with the mission– allow it to measure gamma rays
UPFRONT
Goodwill rescinded AFTER facing global criticism, the World Health Organization has rescinded the appointment of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador. “I have… consulted with the government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization,” said the WHO’s new director-general, Tedros Adhanom. Tedros announced the appointment last week, praising Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage… at the centre of its policies.” He said Mugabe could use the role “to influence his peers in his region” when it came to fighting diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. Several world leaders and health
organisations were outraged by the decision, noting that Zimbabwe’s health system has collapsed under Mugabe’s regime. Medical workers often go unpaid, the country’s life expectancy is lower than in the 1980s, and almost half of all deaths as a result of childbirth are avoidable. The president travels abroad for his own medical treatment. “This appointment clearly contradicts the United Nations ideals of respect for human rights and human dignity,” said the US State Department in a statement to the Associated Press. “Given Mugabe’s appalling human rights record, calling him a Goodwill Ambassador for anything embarrasses WHO and Dr Tedros,” said Iain Levine of the charity Human Rights Watch.
Kaspersky’s audit
agencies from using Kaspersky antivirus products. Earlier this month, anonymous reports surfaced claiming the Russian government may have compelled the company to compromise its own software to allow the Kremlin to hunt for classified documents. On Monday, in an attempt to lay the matter to rest, the firm announced it would submit its source code to a broad selection of computer security experts and government officials for review. “We’ve nothing to hide,” said CEO Eugene Kaspersky.
–Contradicting UN ideals–
Self-harm is rising
be a result of increasing stress and higher levels of psychological problems in young people.” There is some evidence that mental health disorders are becoming more common in this age group, says Kapur. His team’s analysis found that, in more than half of cases, there was no documented referral to mental health services of a teenager who was self-harming. Children in the poorest areas were 23 per cent less likely to be referred within a year of their selfharming episode than children living in the richest areas.
OUT of every 10,000 teenage girls in the UK, more than 37 have selfharmed. That’s according to an analysis of data from 647 doctors’ practices across the country. The study found that, between
2011 and 2014, there was a 68 per cent increase in reports of self-harming among girls aged between 13 and 16. The rate in 2014 for girls aged 10 to 19 was 37.4 in 10,000. But among 13 to 16-year-olds, this figure rose to 77. In boys aged 10 to 19, the self-harm rate in 2014 was 12.3 out of 10,000 boys (British Medical Journal, doi.org/cfgs). “We can’t really explain this possible rapid increase in selfharm among girls. It could reflect better awareness or recording of self-harm in primary care,” says Nav Kapur at the University of Manchester Centre for Suicide Prevention, UK. “But it could also 4 | NewScientist | 28 October 2017
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
“We can’t really explain this rapid increase in self-harming among teenage girls in the UK”
THE Russian software company Kaspersky is opening up its code to independent scrutiny. The firm wants to counter media reports that Russian intelligence had installed a backdoor into its popular antivirus software. Kaspersky had been one of the world’s top cybersecurity firms – its software is installed on some 400 million computers around the world. But last month, after US coverage of the company’s alleged links with the Kremlin, the Trump administration banned US federal
Extended Dawn NASA’S Dawn mission will spend another year orbiting Ceres, an icy dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Since arriving at Ceres in 2015, Dawn has found organic compounds, water ice and unexpected bright spots. Mission engineers are deciding how to manoeuvre the craft to let it fly less than 200 kilometres above the surface during its extended mission. This should –On with the mission– allow it to measure gamma rays