Gene-edited-baby claimant gets prison
BEIJING -- A Chinese scientist who set off an ethical debate with claims that he had made the world's first genetically edited babies was sentenced Monday to three years in prison because of his research, state media said.
He Jiankui, who was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, was also fined $430,000 by a court in the southern city of Shenzhen, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. Two other researchers involved in the project received lesser sentences and fines.
The verdict said the three defendants had not obtained qualification as doctors, pursued fame and profits, deliberately violated Chinese regulations on scientific research, and crossed an ethical line in both scientific research and medicine, according to Xinhua. It also said they had fabricated ethical review documents.
The court also confirmed a third birth, saying the researchers were involved in the births of three babies to two women. It said all three scientists pleaded guilty during the trial.
He, the lead researcher, shocked the scientific world when he announced in November 2018 that he had altered the embryos of twin girls who had been born the same month.
He said he had used a tool called CRISPR to try to disable a gene that allows the AIDS virus to enter a cell in a bid to give the girls the ability to resist the infection. The identity of the children has not been released, and it isn't clear whether the experiment succeeded.
Many in the scientific community denounced He's work as medically unnecessary and unethical because any genetic changes could be passed down to future generations. The U.S. forbids editing embryos except for lab research.
Seized ship smuggling fuel, Iranians say
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Monday seized a ship in the Persian Gulf suspected of carrying smuggled fuel, state media reported.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency said the seized ship was carrying more than 1.3 million liters of fuel near Abu Musa Island at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
All 16 crew members, who are Malaysian nationals, were also detained, the report added. It did not say what country's flag the ship sailed under.
The Revolutionary Guard patrols the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf waters and has seized several ships in the area in the past year.
In July, Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker amid high regional tensions over Tehran's collapsing nuclear deal with world powers. It also seized a United Arab Emirates-based oil tanker.
27 Sudanese agents sentenced to hang
CAIRO -- A Sudanese court on Monday sentenced 27 members of the country's security forces to death by hanging for torturing and killing a detained protester during the uprising against longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir earlier this year.
The verdict, which can be appealed, was the first connected to the killing of more than 200 pro-democracy protesters since the demonstrations began a year ago.
"We are now sure our revolution is continuing on the right path," said protester Amna Mohammed. She was among a cheering crowd of hundreds that gathered to welcome the verdict's announcement outside the court in Omdurman, the capital Khartoum's twin city.
The death of protester Ahmed al-Khair, a schoolteacher, while in detention in February was a key point in the uprising that convulsed the large African country. That led, in April, to the toppling of al-Bashir, and ultimately to the creation of a joint military-civilian Sovereign Council that has committed to rebuilding the country.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of unions that led the protests against al-Bashir, welcomed Monday's verdict. The group vowed to continue pursuing and bringing to justice security officials accused of torture.
Russia cites U.S. tip in 2 terror arrests
MOSCOW -- A St. Petersburg court on Monday ordered the detention of two Russian men who were arrested on a tip provided by the U.S. and are suspected of plotting unspecified terrorist attacks in the city during the New Year holidays.
The Dzerzhinsky District Court ruled that the suspects identified as Nikita Semyonov and Georgy Chernyshev should remain in custody pending their trial.
The Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, said in a statement that the suspects detained Friday confessed to plotting the attacks. It added that it also seized materials proving their guilt.
The Federal Security Service didn't elaborate on motives or targets, but Russia's state television reported that the suspects had recorded a video swearing their allegiance to the Islamic State group.
The agency said it was acting on a tip provided by its "American partners."
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. President Donald Trump to thank him "for information transmitted through the special services that helped prevent terrorist attacks in Russia," according to the Kremlin.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 12/31/2019