Fulfilling its aim to show military might, North Korea said on Friday that its two latest rounds of weapons tests conducted this week were successful. &nbsp;

It also looks to speed up the development of more powerful warheads. &nbsp;

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seems to have not attended the tests carried out on Tuesday and Thursday. The tests were detected by the militaries of neighbours, South Korea and Japan. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/6-japanese-youth-sue-fukushima-nuclear-plant-operator-over-cancer-claims-448145" hreflang="en">6 Japanese youth sue Fukushima nuclear plant operator over cancer claims</a>

The leader conducted an inspection at a munitions factory, where workers pledged loyalty to their leader, who "smashes with his bold pluck the challenges of US imperialists and their vassal forces," state media said. &nbsp;

According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the two ballistic missiles launched from a coastal area on Thursday were 'surface-to-surface tactical guided missile', which were armed with a conventional warhead. It said that they accurately struck a sea target. &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/north-koreas-kim-takes-toilet-with-him-even-abroad-and-anyone-using-it-will-be-killed-but-why-448133" hreflang="en">North Korea's Kim takes toilet with him even abroad, and anyone using it will be killed. But why?</a>

The state media also released photos, which suggest the weapons test-fired, were a short-range solid-fuel missile. It looks to be apparently designed after Russia's Iskander ballistic system. &nbsp;

Tuesday's launches were of a purported long-range cruise missile the North had first tested in September, said KCNA. &nbsp;&nbsp;

“The two missiles flew for more than two hours and 35 minutes and demonstrated an ability to strike targets 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) away, a performance that underscored their value in boosting the war deterrence of the country," the agency said. &nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Fulfilling its aim to show military might, North Korea said on Friday that its two latest rounds of weapons tests conducted this week were successful. It also looks to speed up the development of more powerful warheads.

Fulfilling its aim to show military might, North Korea said on Friday that its two latest rounds of weapons tests conducted this week were successful. It also looks to speed up the development of more powerful warheads. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seems to have not attended the tests carried out on Tuesday and Thursday. The tests were detected by the militaries of neighbours, South Korea and Japan. Also Read: 6 Japanese youth sue Fukushima nuclear plant operator over cancer claims The leader conducted an inspection at a munitions factory, where workers pledged loyalty to their leader, who "smashes with his bold pluck the challenges of US imperialists and their vassal forces," state media said. According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the two ballistic missiles launched from a coastal area on Thursday were 'surface-to-surface tactical guided missile', which were armed with a conventional warhead. It said that they accurately struck a sea target. Also Read: North Korea's Kim takes toilet with him even abroad, and anyone using it will be killed. But why? The state media also released photos, which suggest the weapons test-fired, were a short-range solid-fuel missile. It looks to be apparently designed after Russia's Iskander ballistic system. Tuesday's launches were of a purported long-range cruise missile the North had first tested in September, said KCNA. “The two missiles flew for more than two hours and 35 minutes and demonstrated an ability to strike targets 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) away, a performance that underscored their value in boosting the war deterrence of the country," the agency said. (With inputs from agencies)

North Korea confirms two tactical guided missiles tests, Kim visits munitions factory

With Xinjiang tightening anti-terror law banning instigation of people to cross border to undergo terror training Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif has assured China of cracking down on militant outfits blamed for attacks in the volatile province. 
 
Pakistan will firmly crackdown on terrorist forces like the &quot;East Turkestan Islamic Movement&quot; (ETIM) and protect the security of &quot;China-Pakistan Economic Corridor&quot;, (CEPC) state-run China Military Online quoted him as saying during his meeting with China&#39;s top military official Fang Fenghui in Urumqi, provincial capital of Xinjiang on Tuesday. 
 
Fang is the member of China&#39;s Central Military Commission (CMC), the highest military body and Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the CMC. 
 
Sharif was in Urumqi to attend the Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism in Counter Terrorism by Afghanistan-China-Pakistan-Tajikistan Armed Forces. 
 
His assurance of firm crackdown followed China-Pakistan border police recently launching first joint patrols of the disputed Pakistan Controlled Kashmir (POK) border amid reports that 114 Uyghurs Muslims from Xinjiang joined Islamic State in Syria. 
 
Xinjiang, the home for Uyghurs who resented the increasing settlements of Hans from other provinces has witnessed violent attacks in recent years. 
 
China blamed ETIM, a separatist outfit linked to al-Qaeda for the attacks. Under pressure from China, Pakistan army has conducted military operations against ETIM training bases in the tribal areas bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent months. 
 
Xinjiang recently adopted new anti-terrorism rules stipulating reassessment of risk levels of prisoners before release and solitary confinement and education for ring leaders. 
 
The new rules stipulated that recruiting, training or transporting terror-related personnel will be regarded as carrying out terror activities, as will as organising or instigating others to illegally cross into another country to participate in terror activities or terror training, state-run Global Times reported. 
 
The Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism formed by China significantly includes Afghanistan which also shares borders with Xinjiang.&nbsp; 
 
(PTI)

Under Chinese pressure, Pakistan army has lately conducted operations against al-Qaeda linked ETIM's training bases

With Xinjiang tightening anti-terror law banning instigation of people to cross border to undergo terror training Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif has assured China of cracking down on militant outfits blamed for attacks in the volatile province. Pakistan will firmly crackdown on terrorist forces like the "East Turkestan Islamic Movement" (ETIM) and protect the security of "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor", (CEPC) state-run China Military Online quoted him as saying during his meeting with China's top military official Fang Fenghui in Urumqi, provincial capital of Xinjiang on Tuesday. Fang is the member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), the highest military body and Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the CMC. Sharif was in Urumqi to attend the Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism in Counter Terrorism by Afghanistan-China-Pakistan-Tajikistan Armed Forces. His assurance of firm crackdown followed China-Pakistan border police recently launching first joint patrols of the disputed Pakistan Controlled Kashmir (POK) border amid reports that 114 Uyghurs Muslims from Xinjiang joined Islamic State in Syria. Xinjiang, the home for Uyghurs who resented the increasing settlements of Hans from other provinces has witnessed violent attacks in recent years. China blamed ETIM, a separatist outfit linked to al-Qaeda for the attacks. Under pressure from China, Pakistan army has conducted military operations against ETIM training bases in the tribal areas bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent months. Xinjiang recently adopted new anti-terrorism rules stipulating reassessment of risk levels of prisoners before release and solitary confinement and education for ring leaders. The new rules stipulated that recruiting, training or transporting terror-related personnel will be regarded as carrying out terror activities, as will as organising or instigating others to illegally cross into another country to participate in terror activities or terror training, state-run Global Times reported. The Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism formed by China significantly includes Afghanistan which also shares borders with Xinjiang. (PTI)

Pakistan army chief promises China firm crackdown on Uyghur militants

Mice given a single shot of one of two experimental Zika vaccines were completely protected when exposed to the virus one to two months later, a promising sign that similar vaccines under development for humans will protect against Zika, US researchers said on Tuesday. 
 
&ldquo;This is an encouraging first step in Zika vaccine design and pre-clinical testing. This new mouse model should be useful for comparative assessments of the large range of vaccine candidates now being designed,&quot; said Professor Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University&#39;s Jenner Institute, which did not conduct the mouse study but is also developing Zika vaccines. 
 
Separately, US scientists said they have developed a model of the Zika virus in monkeys, a close proxy for human disease. 
 
The studies advance efforts in fighting the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has swept through the Americas and Caribbean since last fall, and has been linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect, in Brazil, as well as to neurological disorders. On February 1, the World Health Organization declared Zika a global health emergency. 
 
&ldquo;With diseases spread by biting insects, such as Zika, standard quarantine measures are useless, so stopping an outbreak in its tracks requires a vaccine-led approach,&quot; said Dr Derek Gatherer, a lecturer in the division of biomedical and life sciences at Britain&#39;s Lancaster University. 
 
In the mouse study, published in the journal Nature, a team led by Dr Dan Barouch of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, tested two different vaccine candidates in a strain of mice that develops Zika symptoms. 
 
One candidate, a DNA vaccine, was developed by Barouch and colleagues. It contains bits of genetic material from a Zika virus strain from Brazil. 
 
The other was made from a purified but inactivated version of the Zika virus from Puerto Rico. That vaccine was developed by researchers at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. 
 
Mice given either type of vaccine were 100 per cent protected from Zika after a single shot. Unvaccinated mice that were exposed to the virus all developed symptoms of Zika. 
 
Both types of vaccines - DNA and inactivated virus vaccines - have been successfully developed to prevent infection from viruses related to Zika, including West Nile and dengue. 
 
The team also showed that antibodies taken from immunized mice could be used to protect other, unvaccinated mice, offering proof that the antibodies produced by the vaccines were specific to Zika. 
 
&quot;We need to be cautious about extrapolating data from a mouse model into humans,&quot; Barouch said. But the fact that the vaccines protected mice and that their antibodies protected other mice from Zika was grounds for optimism over the development of a Zika vaccine, he said. 
 
At least 15 companies and academic groups are racing to develop Zika vaccines, according to the WHO. US vaccine maker Inovio Pharmaceuticals last week got US Food and Drug Administration approval to begin testing its Zika DNA vaccine in humans. 
 
Oxford University&#39;s Hill stressed that there are still years of testing needed before a finished vaccine will be available for humans. 
 
MONKEY INFECTION 
 
In another advance, researchers at the University of Wisconsin reported on Tuesday that they have successfully infected rhesus macaques with an Asian strain of the Zika virus that is currently circulating in the Americas. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, shows that monkeys - which have immune responses similar to humans - can be used to study Zika. 
 
In the study, David O&#39;Connor and colleagues inoculated eight rhesus macaques - including two pregnant monkeys - with a strain of Zika virus currently circulating in the Americas. 
 
All eight animals were infected. Tests showed viral particles in their blood, saliva, urine and spinal fluid. All animals stayed infected for at least 21 days, and some remained infected for at least 57 days. 
 
A second exposure to Zika 10 weeks after the first did not make the animals sick, suggesting that antibodies developed by the monkeys protected them against a second case of Zika. This is a promising sign that humans may similarly be able to develop protective antibodies against the virus. 
 
The scientists are still working to understand whether the pregnant monkeys will pass the infection along to their fetuses, and whether infected monkeys can transmit the virus sexually, as has been seen in infected humans. 
 
US health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. 
 
(Reuters)

Encouraging tests have been conducted on both mice and monkeys, but it'll be years before humans have a finished Zika vaccine

Mice given a single shot of one of two experimental Zika vaccines were completely protected when exposed to the virus one to two months later, a promising sign that similar vaccines under development for humans will protect against Zika, US researchers said on Tuesday. “This is an encouraging first step in Zika vaccine design and pre-clinical testing. This new mouse model should be useful for comparative assessments of the large range of vaccine candidates now being designed," said Professor Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University's Jenner Institute, which did not conduct the mouse study but is also developing Zika vaccines. Separately, US scientists said they have developed a model of the Zika virus in monkeys, a close proxy for human disease. The studies advance efforts in fighting the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has swept through the Americas and Caribbean since last fall, and has been linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect, in Brazil, as well as to neurological disorders. On February 1, the World Health Organization declared Zika a global health emergency. “With diseases spread by biting insects, such as Zika, standard quarantine measures are useless, so stopping an outbreak in its tracks requires a vaccine-led approach," said Dr Derek Gatherer, a lecturer in the division of biomedical and life sciences at Britain's Lancaster University. In the mouse study, published in the journal Nature, a team led by Dr Dan Barouch of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, tested two different vaccine candidates in a strain of mice that develops Zika symptoms. One candidate, a DNA vaccine, was developed by Barouch and colleagues. It contains bits of genetic material from a Zika virus strain from Brazil. The other was made from a purified but inactivated version of the Zika virus from Puerto Rico. That vaccine was developed by researchers at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. Mice given either type of vaccine were 100 per cent protected from Zika after a single shot. Unvaccinated mice that were exposed to the virus all developed symptoms of Zika. Both types of vaccines - DNA and inactivated virus vaccines - have been successfully developed to prevent infection from viruses related to Zika, including West Nile and dengue. The team also showed that antibodies taken from immunized mice could be used to protect other, unvaccinated mice, offering proof that the antibodies produced by the vaccines were specific to Zika. "We need to be cautious about extrapolating data from a mouse model into humans," Barouch said. But the fact that the vaccines protected mice and that their antibodies protected other mice from Zika was grounds for optimism over the development of a Zika vaccine, he said. At least 15 companies and academic groups are racing to develop Zika vaccines, according to the WHO. US vaccine maker Inovio Pharmaceuticals last week got US Food and Drug Administration approval to begin testing its Zika DNA vaccine in humans. Oxford University's Hill stressed that there are still years of testing needed before a finished vaccine will be available for humans. MONKEY INFECTION In another advance, researchers at the University of Wisconsin reported on Tuesday that they have successfully infected rhesus macaques with an Asian strain of the Zika virus that is currently circulating in the Americas. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, shows that monkeys - which have immune responses similar to humans - can be used to study Zika. In the study, David O'Connor and colleagues inoculated eight rhesus macaques - including two pregnant monkeys - with a strain of Zika virus currently circulating in the Americas. All eight animals were infected. Tests showed viral particles in their blood, saliva, urine and spinal fluid. All animals stayed infected for at least 21 days, and some remained infected for at least 57 days. A second exposure to Zika 10 weeks after the first did not make the animals sick, suggesting that antibodies developed by the monkeys protected them against a second case of Zika. This is a promising sign that humans may similarly be able to develop protective antibodies against the virus. The scientists are still working to understand whether the pregnant monkeys will pass the infection along to their fetuses, and whether infected monkeys can transmit the virus sexually, as has been seen in infected humans. US health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. (Reuters)

Zika vaccine tests successful on mice

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