Sharma dismisses retirement talk after India win Champions Trophy

India captain Rohit Sharma has dismissed rumours of his retirement after leading his side to triumph in the Champions Trophy.

The opener’s half-century set up a successful chase for India in Dubai as they prevailed against New Zealand by four wickets to secure a second successive major tournament title after T20 World Cup success last year.

India have now just lost once, in the 2023 World Cup final to Australia, in the last three ICC events, establishing themselves as the world’s dominant white-ball side with Sharma, now the 10th leading scorer in one day international (ODI) history, a key component as both captain and tone-setting opener.

Speculation over the 37-year-old’s future had built in recent weeks, though, particularly after he was left out of the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in January.

But Sharma emphatically dismissed talk that he may bow out of ODI cricket as he celebrated another success for his side.

“I’m not going to retire from this format, just to make sure that no rumours are spread going forward,” Sharma declared, having already bowed out of T20 international cricket last year.

“It is a great team achievement for the team to win two ICC trophies and to go undefeated is the icing on the cake. I have seen very few teams that have won two tournaments undefeated.

“For us, the most important thing was that we come here and prepared and played the opposition. We used the conditions well and won. Future plan… there’s no future plan, whatever is happening will keep happening.”

India played all of their games at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium during the tournament after refusing to travel to Pakistan, the host nation.

China claims breakthrough in vaccine for stroke and heart attack

Scientists in China have developed a potential vaccine to prevent the build-up of plaque in arteries that can lead to blood clots, stroke and heart attacks.

The build-up of fatty plaque in arteries, a condition known as atherosclerosis, is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The eventual hardening of arteries from inflammation can block the blood flow and lead to a stroke, aneurysm or heart attack.

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease, mediated by the body’s innate immunity consisting of natural barriers and enzymes as well as its adaptive systems consisting of antibodies.

Such arterial blockages, once diagnosed via scans, are currently treated with surgical procedures like angioplasty and the use of stents to prevent the blood vessels from clogging up.

It has long been theorised that vaccination could be used to treat or prevent the disease.

A new study published in the journal Nature Communications described a vaccine that may mitigate atherosclerosis development in mice.

“Our nanovaccine design and preclinical data present a potential candidate for prophylactic treatment for atherosclerosis,” scientists at Nanjing University of Science and Technology in China wrote.

Previous studies have helped create a digital library of various kinds of proteins that protect against inflammation and boost the body’s immune response to atherosclerosis.

One such protein is called p210. It has been found to trigger an immune response against atherosclerosis progression, and it is what the new vaccine uses.

The vaccine latches the p210 antigen onto tiny iron oxide nanoparticles and attaches an adjuvant – a substance used to enhance the immune response of a vaccine – to a different set of nanoparticles.

The study reports that the “cocktail” design of the vaccine mitigated plaque progression and atherosclerosis development in mice fed a high cholesterol diet.

It worked by helping the body take up the antigen and adjuvant, which then activated the immune system’s star-shaped dendritic cells.

A cascade of changes caused by the vaccine eventually triggered the production of antibodies against p210.

“Our findings demonstrate that the two-pronged nanovaccine delivery strategy is effective against atherosclerosis,” researchers write.

They hope to conduct further studies to understand the duration for which the nanovaccine protects the mice against atherosclerosis.

Woman held for locking naked partner out on freezing balcony

A 54-year-old Japanese woman has been arrested for allegedly locking her naked partner out on the balcony overnight, leading to his death three years ago.

The woman, identified by local media as Miho Tsumura from Isahaya, was arrested on suspicion of assault and lethal confinement, police in the Nagasaki region said.

The reason for the delayed arrest was not immediately clear.

The woman forced the victim onto their balcony without his clothes in February 2022 and prevented him from getting back in, a local official, Masafumi Tanigawa, said.

She ordered the victim, her common-law spouse, to get out on a balcony while he was naked and “confined him there”. The next day, police responded to an emergency call and discovered the 49-year-old man “nearly dead” in a room, Mr Tanigawa said.

According to prefectural police, Ms Tsumura called the emergency line at around 6.25am on 7 February 2022, reporting that the man was unresponsive.

When police arrived, they found him lying dead in a room, completely naked.

Police say the victim had been forced to spend the night on the balcony of the woman’s second-floor apartment in Hasami on the night of 6-7 February 2022.

He succumbed to hypothermia as temperatures dropped to 3.7C in Sasebo, a nearby city, according to data from the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Police said on Friday that the woman had previously attacked her partner with a knife, causing injuries that took two weeks to heal.

An autopsy revealed a cut wound on the man’s nose. Prefectural police were investigating whether the suspect had subjected the victim to ongoing violence.

The woman denies the charges. “I have done nothing,” Mr Tanigawa quoted her as saying.

Boy with 95 per cent of face covered in hair sets Guinness record

An 18-year-old in India has made history by securing the Guinness world record for the hairiest face on a man.

Lalit Patidar has nearly 202 hairs per square centimetre on his face due to a rare condition called hypertrichosis, or “werewolf syndrome”.

Despite facing stares from classmates as a child, the teenager from the central Madhya Pradesh state told Guinness World Records that he embraces his uniqueness and now shares glimpses of his daily life on his YouTube channel.

Recently, the teenager travelled to Milan for Lo Show dei Record, where his record was officially confirmed. Over 95 per cent of his face is covered in hair.

“Lalit is one of only around 50 documented cases reported worldwide since the Middle Ages, making him one in a billion,” Guinness World Records said on its website.

“It’s very rare that people are not treating me well. Most people are good to me. It depends on the person. The first day of school wasn’t so good because the other kids were scared of me, but when they got to know me, they realised I’m not so different from them.”

After receiving the title, he said: “I am speechless. I don’t know what to say because I am very happy to get this recognition.”

While some people urge him to remove his facial hair, he confidently responds that he likes himself as he is. “I like how I am, and I don’t want to change my look.”

Patidar has 265,000 followers on Instagram and 108,000 on YouTube.