Raqqa: Syrian Arab fighters pull out of Kurd-led offensive

Arab brigade says disagreements forced withdrawal from operation, leaving only Kurds involved

SDF forces expect the Raqqa offensive to last for months (Reuters)

Thursday 10 November 2016

The Syrian Arab component of forces attacking Raqqa have withdrawn from operations, declaring Kurdish forces had broken an agreement to allow them to lead the charge into the Islamic State (IS) group-held city. 

In a statement released only days after the "Euphrate's Wrath" offensive began, Liwa Thuaar Raqqa (Raqqa revolutionary brigade) said it would no longer fight alongside the Kurdish YPG militia.

The brigade accused the US of trying to "sideline" its men in favour of the Kurdish forces, placing pressure on the YPG's backers in Washington who had pledged to let Arab forces take the lead in the operations.

Liwa Thuaar's political office leader, Mahmoud Hadi, said: "The brigade refused to participate in the operation because the YPG did not keep to what we had agreed – that the battle be led by the brigade and that the fighters all come from Raqqa itself.”

"The agreement was that the SDF would only provide logistical support for the operation," he added.

"Everything had been agreed beforehand, we even agreed which flags would be raised... and that the brigade would be in charge of the administrative and security management of the city afterwards.

"But what happened on the ground has unfortunately been the complete opposite to what we had agreed."

The brigade said it was the only Arab component of the operation.

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Hadi said his brigade was still committed to its goals of retaking Raqqa, that the operation would be long and that the "sons of Raqqa" were the only ones capable of winning this battle and freeing the people from IS.

"There are internal divisions within the SDF and pressures on the YPG from the international coalition, specifically the US, to sideline the brigade," said Hadi. However he added that his men were not pulling out of the wider SDF coalition.

Turkey has previously expressed alarm that the SDF is dominated by the YPG, and an influx of Kurds into Raqqa would change its demographics.

Ankara considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it considers a terrorist group.

It has vowed to fight it in northern Syria, and warned it could act if Raqqa, an Arab-majority city, is taken by Kurdish forces.

The Turkish deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmus, said Raqqa "belonged to the people" who lived there before the conflict erupted.

"Changing the demographic structure will in no way make any contribution to making peace," he said earlier this week.

"Legitimacy is not provided by armed terrorist groups. I think in the end the United States will have to understand this. 

"Every step taken by non-Arab elements is not in the interests of the United States."

The YPG-dominated SDF announced the start of 'Euphrates Wrath' on Saturday (Reuters)

The US general, Joseph Dunford, said earlier this week that he did not think the YPG would be involved in the direct capture of the town, but only in its isolation, a process that he said could take months.

"We always knew the SDF wasn’t the solution for holding and governing Raqqa. What we are working on right now is to find the right mix of forces for the operation."

He also suggested Turkish views would be taken into account before any final assault.

"The coalition and Turkey will work together on the long-term plan for seizing, holding and governing Raqqa," Dunford said.

Hillary Clinton actually got more votes than Donald Trump – but he still won the election

Hillary actually won the most votes (Picture: Getty Images)

Ashitha Nagesh for Metro.co.ukWednesday 9 Nov 2016 5:09 pm

Hillary Clinton actually got more votes than Donald Trump – but because of the electoral system, he won the presidency.

Clinton has become the fifth US presidential candidate to finish ahead of her rival in the popular vote, but to still lose the election overall.

As of 3pm GMT, Clinton had won 59,299,381 votes nationally. Trump, however, had only won 59,135,740 – 163,641 votes less than the Democratic candidate.

This is because of how the US electoral system works – in theory, according to NPR’s calculations, it could be possible to win a US presidential election with less than 30% of the popular vote.

So how does the US election system work?

In the US, candidates are competing to get the most electoral votes rather than most of the popular vote.

Each state in the Electoral College has a certain number of electoral votes.

If a candidate gets the majority of popular votes in a state, they win *all* of that state’s electoral votes. Even if they only win in that state by one vote, they get the whole pie.

So, in this way, a candidate like Trump can win entire states with really narrow majorities.

Does this happen often?

No, despite this being possible it is still incredibly rare. This is because elections are rarely as close as this one was.

Here are the four would-be-presidents Hillary is joining in losing the election even though they got more votes.

• Al Gore, who lost to George W Bush in 2000 by five electoral votes even though he won the popular vote
• Grover Cleveland, who lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888
• Samuel Tilden, who lost to Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876
• Andrew Jackson, who lost to John Quincy Adams in 1824

Trump didn’t win the popular vote (Picture: Getty Images)

Doesn’t anyone want to change this system?

Well, the last time the Electoral College system was thrown up for serious debate was in the 1960s.

A resolution was proposed at the end of the decade calling for the direct election of the President and Vice President, with a run-off being required when none of the candidates received more than 40% of the vote.

It actually passed the House in 1969, but failed when it was put before the Senate.

Nothing has really come close to reforming the system since. However, we have a feeling this election could change that.

Hillary Clinton didn’t give her concession speech on election night. Now we see one reason why.

Hillary Clinton spoke to supporters, Nov. 9, offering a message of thanks, apology and hope. Here are the key moments from that fervent address. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

By Jena McGregor November 9 at 1:52 PM

As the early morning hours ticked away and the 2016 presidential race was called for Donald Trump on election night, some critics on social media pounced on Hillary Clinton for not giving a concession speech. While she phoned Trump to officially concede, she did not appear in front of her supporters at the Javits Center in New York, instead letting her campaign manager John Podesta make a brief appearance under that massive glass ceiling so many had thought she was going to shatter.

Yet her delayed remarks Wednesday morning offer one possible reason she waited. This was not just a concession speech, even if it had the gracious calls to her supporters to give Trump "an open mind and a chance to lead." It was also an inspiring message aimed directly at young people, particularly young women and young girls, who Clinton seemed to feel a responsibility to address in the wake of her historic campaign -- and ultimate loss.

[Remembering a speech from ‘the most beautiful loser’ after Trump won’t commit to accepting results]

"To the young people, in particular, I hope you will hear this," Clinton said, pausing for emphasis. "I've spent my entire adult life fighting for what I believe in. I've had successes and I've had setbacks -- sometimes really painful ones.

"Many of you are at the beginning of your professional, public and political careers. You will have successes and setbacks, too. This loss hurts. But please never stop believing that fighting for what's right is worth it," she said, to cheers and applause. "It is. It is worth it." 

Hillary Clinton is joined on stage by her husband, Bill Clinton, and her running mate, Tim Kaine, as she addresses supporters in New York City the day after the election. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Certainly, anyone could have watched a video later online of the speech had it been delivered in the middle of the night, on that vast stage, under that still intact glass ceiling. Yet the importance of the message, and who it was aimed at in particular, allowed for the composure and restraint that was required at such a pivotal and historic moment, even in her loss. And delaying it allowed its message to break through in ways that might have gotten lost in the early morning hours.

"To all the women, and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion," Clinton said, appearing to come close to choking up. "Now I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we think right now." 

Then, in an emotional message given the context of the campaign, she addressed their younger sisters and daughters: "To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams." 

If done well, presidential concession speeches, in their humility and their grace, offer more examples of leadership than many offered in victory. The ability to put aside one's own emotions, to model graciousness in losing and to focus on the greater good -- a peaceful transition of power -- is something we see rarely in our leaders. At the end of this "consequential election," as Clinton called it, the more prepared she was to deliver it, and the more people -- and particularly young women and girls -- who saw it, the better.

The American constitution sets about the civilizing of Donald Trump

10 NOV 2016

The US system of Government has swung into action, embracing the ‘next President of the United States of America’. Today he will meet with Barack Obama – a man whose identity as an American he has challenged again and again.

For years Trump told the world that Obama was never born an American, and was therefore an illegal President. In contrast to Trump’s refusal to produce his tax return, Obama was gracious in publishing his birth certificate.

But today Trump visits the Oval Office where Obama will hand him today’s top secret intelligence briefing. Yes, it will detail the situation of US special forces in and around Mosul whose Commanders Trump dubbed ‘losers’ earlier this week.

Donald Trump during his victory speech on Tuesday night.

Joe Biden, the Vice President will have lunch at the Naval Observatory, his official residence on Massachusetts Avenue, with soon to be Vice President Mike Pence. Michelle Obama – possibly the most regarded First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt – will meet Melania Trump to show her the White House and how it works.

The pace from hatred, war, and peace, to respect and good behavior – inside 36 hours has been breath-taking. Hillary Clinton set the American transition ball rolling with her courageous concession speech of elegance, grace, and acceptance of the victor. If her campaign speeches had been as impressive and heartfelt as this perhaps things may have been different.

At the same time, on the streets of American Cities from New York to Los Angeles, students and others came out in their many thousands to protest the prospect of a Trump’s Presidency. In New York they marched forty blocks from Time Square to Trump Tower chanting “Not my president” and “hey, hey, ho, ho Donald Trump has got to go.” They held signs that read “Trump Makes America Hate” and “Don’t Lose Hope.”

Even the President in the White House will have heard the protests in Lafayette Square from beyond his bedroom windows.

Thus not one hostile move from the Democrats. Not one hostile move even from Trump himself.

America’s old boy network kicks in at such a moment. More so this year more than ever before. Trump, depicted as bigot, an extremist, ‘unfit to be President’ (Obama said it) has been silent as the ‘process’ unfolds. And New Yorker that he is, Democrat as he was, reaches out to call New York Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority leader. Then he calls Democrat Nancy Pelosi, House Minority leader. Not so hard seeing as Trump, a billionaire New Yorker, has known both for years and donated to their Democrat campaigns.

Yes, there you have it. Trump has been a Republican again for a couple of years – the time he’s been weighing up running for the Presidency. Talking to the people from whom he sprang is no big deal despite the visceral poison of his disgusting campaign.

So all is peace in love and war here in America today because the sanctity of the US Constitution still just transcends the swamp of verbal filth that has defined this bitter campaign. That’s America. The system is kicking in to use every device to lash the first ‘reality TV candidate’ ever to become President into the process of Presidential handover and behavior. The US ‘system’ will do all it can to civilize ‘the Donald’ during the more than two month process of Presidential transition.

The Chief Justice will swear him in high on the dais below the Capitol on January 20. For the next 71 days the verbal violence ends here in Washington, whatever happens on the streets. The Constitutional hope is that this period mellows the contest and reduces the political battle back to the traditional conduct of Government. For 71 days it will work. Thereafter, given the temperament, the unpredictability, the history of Donald J Trump, all bets are off.

Amid America’s exultation, grief, and yes, well behaved drawn-out performance of transition, the world is holding its breath.

Follow Jon Snow on Twitter: @jonsnowC4

In Watching the Spread of Nationalist Populism, Eyes Now Turn to Germany

“Can Trump also happen in Germany?”

BY EMILY TAMKIN-NOVEMBER 10, 2016

That’s what German newspaper Bild wondered on Thursday. Der Spiegel took a different approach, bemoaning that “It Becomes Lonely in Europe,” as Berlin and Brussels must now deal with Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Donald Trump, in addition to local populists like Viktor Orban.

Germany might not be lonely for long. The European powerhouse, for obvious reasons, has for decades been hyper conscious of hate speech and xenophobia. In September’s regional elections, however, the right-wing populist party AfD outperformed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s partyin her home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Merkel took blame for her party’s poor performance but nevertheless maintained that her refugee policy  — which the AfD openly hates — was fundamentally right.

AfD was originally formed in 2013 to protest the euro, but has since morphed into an anti-immigrant, anti-Islam party, and has taken to aping the anti-establishment rhetoric of the (also anti-immigrant, anti-Islam) “Pegida” movement.

Its official policy says that “Islam does not belong to Germany.” And, since the German government’s 2015 decision to take in refugees, it has done quite well. In the September regional elections, it won 24.2 percent of the vote in Saxony Anhalt; 12.6 percent of the vote in Rhineland-Palatinate, and 15.1 percent of the vote in Baden-Württemberg. It has nine MPs across Germany’s state parliaments. And it may well win seats in next year’s federal elections, which bodes ill for Merkel’s already struggling current coalition. Electoral desperation has prompted some in Merkel’s own center-right CDU party to suggest banding together with AfD. Meanwhile, after Tuesday’s shock, some German officials are warning that Trump’s victory should put German politicians on alert.

In response to Trump’s election, Frauke Petry, the leader of AfD, tweeted, “Congratulations to the next president of the United States of America #USElection2016 #Trump #AfD.” She added, “Americans have decided for a new political beginning and against sleaze/corruption — this opportunity
ishistoric #Trump,” and “It’s revealing how establishment politicians and journalists treat a democratic election as the apocalypse. #USAWahl2016.”

Frauke Petry was certainly not alone: Marine Le Pen, front of the National Front and Nigel Farage, former head of UKIP and champion of Brexit, both extended their heartiest congratulations.

While most world leaders were not as effusive as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, prime ministers and presidents from friendly nations — Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Georgia’s Giorgi Margvelashvili, India’s Narendra Modi, and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May (“don’t touch her, for goodness sake,” Faragejoked) — offered Trump straightforward congratulations.

Merkel, however, whom some have called the last guardian of liberalism and whom Trump called his favorite world leader after many months of blaming her for ruining Germany, did not.

After the election, Merkel submitted a statement saying, “Germany and America are bound by common values — democracy, freedom, as well as respect for the rule of law and the dignity of each and every person, regardless of their origin, skin color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or political views. It is based on these values that I wish to offer close cooperation, both with me personally and between our countries’ governments.”

Germany holds federal elections next year. The world will have to wait until then to see if Germans agree with Merkel as to the centrality and importance of any of those things.

And to answer Bild’s question: After Tuesday’s result, it’s clear that Trump can happen anywhere — even, potentially, in Germany.

Photo credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Is the Indian demonetisation exercise the beginning of the end of the country’s black money menace? 

A customer deposits 500 Indian rupee banknote in a cash deposit machine in Mumbai, November 8, 2016 - REUTERS

Thursday, 10 November 2016

On 8November, the Government of India announced the cancellation of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 currency notes with immediate effect. The day after the announcement all banks and Government Treasuries remained closed for business and they will open again from 10November.

The operations regarding the cancellation of the currency notes will be restricted as follows:

Old Rs. 1,000and Rs. 500currency notes will be shut out of circulation so that they cannot be used for any payment or shopping.

All commercial banks and the Currency Issue Departments of the Reserve Bank will accept as deposits into their bank accounts amounts with no upper limit from 10November to 30December.

Exchanging of the cancelled notes to other denominations or new notes would be subject to a maximum limit of Rs. 4,000when submitted with a declaration as provided by the Reserve Bank and with proper identity. This limit of Rs. 4,000for exchange of currencies will be reviewed by the Reserve Bank after 15 days.

From 31Decemberonwards till 31March2017 old notes will be accepted for deposit only at the Reserve Bank or specified units of the Reserve Bank of India.

From 10November, 2016 ATM withdrawals will be limited to Rs. 2,000per transaction and a maximum of Rs. 4,000per day until 18November.

Cash withdrawals from a bank account over the counter will be limited to Rs. 10,000with a maximum of Rs. 20,000per week till 24November.

A 72-hour moratorium period is allowed to avoid any inconvenience to specially identified categories such as the payments at hospitals and travel, etc.

According to the Government, the decision to cancel the high value currency notes has been taken to curb several unauthorised acts such as use of funds for subversive activities, smuggling of arms, drugs and other contrabands. There has been a high volume of fake notes also in circulation in these denominations and they have been used for various anti national and illegal activities.

India is a highly cash-based economy and such a menace of increasing circulation of fake currency has gone beyond the level of a menace, causing serious issues.

Hoarding of black money and the use of faked currencies for corrupt political activities was also on the increase. High denomination currencies facilitate rampant black money operations.

The Government of India has taken this step in consideration of all these matters and according to the announcement no new currency note of Rs. 1,000denomination will be issued.New notes will be Rs. 2,000and Rs. 500denominations.

The Reserve Bank of India has taken certain novel steps arising out of the need to curb black money operations, utilising new technology.All new Rs. 2,000currency notes will have a nano GPS chip embedded in the note as a special security feature.

The unique nature of this phenomenon is that it works without any power source to reflect a signal to trace the exact location of the note.It is informed that this NGC embedded currency can be traded and located even at a buried depth of 120 meters below the ground. A satellite determination could identify the exact amount of currency located in any unusual or suspicious place thus providing information to tax and anti-corruption authorities.

Sri Lanka too went through a demonetisation exercise with the cancellation of Rs. 100and Rs. 50currency notes in 1970 but the exercise was designed for a different purpose.

It would be a good idea to consider the introduction of nano chip embedded currencies for higher denominations in our country too.It might help to uncover unscrupulous corrupt operations involving currency exchanges.

The resulting scenario in the immediate aftermath appears to be chaotic.But the majority are not frustrated by the drastic change to bring sanity to the economy and free it from money mongers.

Critics say this is not a sudden step as it has been carefully planned and implemented in stages complimentary to the grand finale on 8Novemberthroughout the period over the last two years.

First all citizens were encouraged to open bank accounts. They were linked to the National ID System.The information of the bank account and passport number,etc. was an integral part of the tax return.This was followed by an income disclosure scheme.Then suddenly on 8Novemberat 8p.m. the announcement came when all the jewellery shops were closed and with least impact on the share market operations.

It also affected the gamblers, currently betting on US elections running into thousands of cores and with the rendering of the currency notes worthless after 12 midnight all their activities came to an unexpected halt in a complete surprise!

It is claimed to be a maestro operation carefully masterminded to combat black money and corruption.

Whatever the views expressed, the step will have serious consequences and impacts only to be seen later. With a very large population and an overseas working population not second to any other country in the world, the magnitude of the effects to India from this exercise would be extremely large.

New Interpol head is Chinese former deputy head of paramilitary police force

Vice-minister Meng Hongwei’s election has sparked concerns his position may be used to boost China’s campaign to pursue dissidents around the globe

Meng Hongwei, China’s vice public security minister, who has been elected head of Interpol. Photograph: China Stringer Network/Reuters

Benjamin Haas in Hong Kong-Thursday 10 November 2016 

A Chinese security official has been elected head of the global police organization Interpol, sparking fears the move may be used to track down dissidents as well as alleged fugitives who have fled abroad.

Meng Hongwei, vice minister for public security since 2004 and the first Chinese to hold the post, will serve as president for four years after he was elected at an Interpol meeting in Indonesia, the agency announced on Twitter.

“This is extraordinarily worrying given China’s longstanding practice of trying to use Interpol to arrest dissidents and refugees abroad,” Nicholas Bequelin, east Asia director at Amnesty International, said on Twitter.

“The Chinese police have a terrible human rights record, including the endemic practice of coercing ‘confessions’ and the widespread use of torture,” Bequelin said separately in an interview.

“Unlike most law enforcement agencies around the world, the Chinese police have – in addition to the classic law and order mandate – a political mandate to protect the power of the Communist party.”

Meng was previously deputy director of China’s armed police, a paramilitary force that is often deployed to the country’s most unstable areas, including Tibet, the border with North Korea and the far western province of Xinjiang.

Li Wei, head of the anti-terrorism centre at China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said: “As the head of Interpol, Meng Hongwei will deepen the fight against transnational crime.”

Since taking power in 2012, China’s President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption, punishing more than a million officials. But critics say the anti-graft drive is merely a way for Xi to take down his political enemies.

China has worked through Interpol to bring back officials it says fled overseas and last year issued 100 “red notices”, a type of international arrest warrant.

It says about a third have been returned to China, but many western countries are wary of complying with extradition requests given China’s harsh treatment of prisoners, use of the death penalty for economic crimes and a lack of concrete evidence.

Most officials on the list had fled to the US or Canada, and China does not have extradition treaties with either country. But in a surprise move in September, Canada announced it would start negotiating a treaty.

Li said: “We see people who China has issued red notices for are still very active in Europe.” With Meng at the head of Interpol “there will be closer cooperation between countries in fighting crime,” he added.

China has been more forceful in recent years, exerting its version of policing abroad. Last month, Thailand detained a prominent Hong Kong democracy activist who was scheduled to speak at a Bangkok university, and last year publishers of books critical of China’s leaders were abducted from Thailand and Hong Kong, without any formal extradition procedures.

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Vietnam scraps plan to build nuclear power plants

Image via Shutterstock

10th November 2016

VIETNAM has decided to cancel plans to build the country’s first two nuclear power plants, citing slowing demand for electricity and the declining price of other sources of energy.

The state-controlled Tuoi Tre newspaper said the lawmaking National Assembly will ratify the government decision later this month.

The newspaper quoted the head of the state-run Electricity of Vietnam Group, which was to pay for the plants, as saying they are not economically viable because of other cheaper sources of power.

The group’s chairman Duong Quang Thanh told Vietnamnet that the country is not expected to face a power shortage in the near future. The cancellation of the Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant, he said, was done because the facility could face difficulties competing with other power sources.

He said the government will propose the scrapping of the plan at the National Assembly on Nov 10.

Thanh said the country’s new power plan, which had been approved by the prime minister, did not include any nuclear plant.

SEE ALSO: Safety first: Philippines’ Duterte says no to nuclear energy

He added coal and oil energy sources were cheaper than nuclear power therefore the latter a less feasible energy option.

The country’s power growth rate, he said, was much lower than what was estimated in 2009 during the proposal phases of the nuclear plant project.

“The latest survey predicted that power growth rate will be at 11% in the 2016-2020 period and fall to 7-8% in the 2021-2030 period. So there will be no power shortage in the country in the near future,” he was quoted as saying.

In 2009, the assembly approved the construction of two nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of 4,000 megawatts. The plants had an estimated to have cost $10 billion and would have supplied electricity to three to four percent of the country’s power grid.

Due to technical issues, the construction of the first plant, which received technical assistance from a Russian nuclear firm, was called off in 2014. The government had also roped in a Japanese consortium to help build the second plant.

The nuclear disaster from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, however, prompted the Vietnamese government to conduct a thorough review on safety measures. Last year, Vietnam decided to delay the construction of the plant until 2020.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press

Russia upholds LinkedIn ban over data protection fears

The logo for LinkedIn Corporation is shown in Mountain View, California, U.S. February 6, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo

 Thu Nov 10, 2016

A Russian court on Thursday upheld a decision to block the website of social networking company LinkedIn Corp., Interfax news agency reported, setting a precedent for the way foreign internet firms operate in the country.

Russia's Roskomnadzor communications watchdog has said LinkedIn, which has more than 6 million registered users in Russia, was violating a law requiring websites which store the personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers.

Moscow has said the law, introduced in 2014 but never previously enforced, is aimed at protecting Russians' personal data. Critics see it as an attack on social networks in a country which has increasingly tightened control over the Internet in recent years.

Moscow's Tagansky District Court ruled in August that LinkedIn's site should be blocked, but the decision had not yet come into force pending a company appeal.

"The decision of the Tagansky District Court has been upheld, the appeal by LinkedIn Corporation is unsatisfactory," Interfax quoted a court decision as saying.

Russia will take action to block LinkedIn's website within the next week, RIA news agency cited a Roskomnadzor spokesman as saying.

"LinkedIn's vision is to create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce. The Russian court's decision has the potential to deny access to LinkedIn for the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses," a LinkedIn's spokesman told Reuters.

"We remain interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localization request."

Roskomnadzor did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

While some companies such as online reservations site Booking.com have said they will transfer the necessary data to Russian servers, it is unclear whether others, including Facebook and Alphabet unit Google, will comply with the law.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Jack Stubbs and Anastasia Teterevleva; Writing by Maria Kiselyova and Jack Stubbs; Editing by David Evans and Elaine Hardcastle)

'Brain wi-fi' reverses leg paralysis in primate first

By James Gallagher-10 November 2016

An implant that beams instructions out of the brain has been used to restore movement in paralysed primates for the first time, say scientists.

Rhesus monkeys were paralysed in one leg due to a damaged spinal cord.

The team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology bypassed the injury by sending the instructions straight from the brain to the nerves controlling leg movement.

Experts said the technology could be ready for human trials within a decade.

Dr Andrew Jackson talks about the primate brain chip

Spinal-cord injuries block the flow of electrical signals from the brain to the rest of the body resulting in paralysis.

It is a wound that rarely heals, but one potential solution is to use technology to bypass the injury.

In the study, a chip was implanted into the part of the monkeys' brain that controls movement.

Its job was to read the spikes of electrical activity that are the instructions for moving the legs and send them to a nearby computer.

It deciphered the messages and sent instructions to an implant in the monkey's spine to electrically stimulate the appropriate nerves.

The process all takes place in real time.

The results, published in the journal Nature, showed the monkeys regained some control of their paralysed leg within six days and could walk in a straight line on a treadmill.

Dr Gregoire Courtine, one of the researchers, said: "This is the first time that a neurotechnology has restored locomotion in primates."

He told the BBC News website: "The movement was close to normal for the basic walking pattern, but so far we have not been able to test the ability to steer."

The technology used to stimulate the spinal cord is the same as that used in deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinson's disease, so it would not be a technological leap to doing the same tests in patients.

"But the way we walk is different to primates, we are bipedal and this requires more sophisticated ways to stimulate the muscle," said Dr Courtine.

Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon from the Lausanne University Hospital, said: "The link between decoding of the brain and the stimulation of the spinal cord is completely new.

"For the first time, I can image a completely paralysed patient being able to move their legs through this brain-spine interface."

Using technology to overcome paralysis is a rapidly developing field:

• Brainwaves have been used to control a robotic arm
• Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord has helped four paralysed people stand again
• An implant has helped a paralysed man play a guitar-based computer game

Dr Mark Bacon, the director of research at the charity Spinal Research, said: "This is quite impressive work.

"Paralysed patients want to be able to regain real control, that is voluntary control of lost functions, like walking, and the use of implantable devices may be one way of achieving this.

"The current work is a clear demonstration that there is progress being made in the right direction."

Dr Andrew Jackson, from the Institute of Neuroscience and Newcastle University, said: "It is not unreasonable to speculate that we could see the first clinical demonstrations of interfaces between the brain and spinal cord by the end of the decade."

The brain chip with a lab model of a monkey brain

Image caption

However, he said, rhesus monkeys used all four limbs to move and only one leg had been paralysed, so it would be a greater challenge to restore the movement of both legs in people.

"Useful locomotion also requires control of balance, steering and obstacle avoidance, which were not addressed," he added.

The other approach to treating paralysis involves transplanting cells from the nasal cavity into the spinal cord to try to biologically repair the injury.

Following this treatment, Darek Fidyka, who was paralysed from the chest down in a knife attack in 2010, can now walk using a frame.

Neither approach is ready for routine use.

Follow James on Twitter.