Surgeon Plans First Human Head Transplant

The first human head transplant could take place in just two years, according to a radical proposal by an Italian surgeon.

Sergio Canavero, from the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, wants the surgery to be used to help extend the lives of people who have suffered degeneration of the muscles and nerves or those who have advanced cancer.

The surgeon plans to announce the project at the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons (AANOS) conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in June, the New Scientist reported.

Mr Canavero published a paper on the technique he would use in the Surgical Neurology International journal this month.

The recipient's head and the donor body would be cooled at the start of the procedure to extend the time that cells can survive without oxygen.

Tissue around the neck would be dissected and major blood vessels would be joined using tiny tubes.

The spinal cords would then be cut and the recipient's head moved on to the donor body. The ends of the spinal cord would be fused together using a chemical called polyethylene glycol, which encourages fat within cell membranes to mesh.

After this, the person would be put into a coma for around four weeks to prevent them moving while they heal.

Mr Canavero said he would expect the patient to be able to move and feel their face when they awoke, they would speak with the same voice and they should be able to walk within a year.

He first proposed the idea of the surgery in 2013.

He told the New Scientist: "If society doesn't want it, I won't do it. But if people don't want it, in the US or Europe, that doesn't mean it won't be done somewhere else.

"I'm trying to go about this the right way, but before going to the moon, you want to make sure people will follow you."

The first successful head transplant - involving moving the head of one monkey on to another - was carried out in 1970 at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, US.

The monkey lived for nine days, but its immune system rejected the head.

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Life Or Death For Convicted Killer Jodi Arias?

By Sky News US Team

The case of convicted murderer Jodi Arias has gone to a jury that will decide if she is sentenced to death or life in prison for killing her boyfriend.

The jury of eight women and four men began weighing the former waitress's fate on Wednesday and are set to resume deliberating on Thursday.

In 2013 Arias was convicted of killing Travis Alexander, 30, in his Phoenix-area home.

The case became a sensation and the trial was broadcast live, drawing a large audience with its lurid details, graphic testimony and blood-splattered crime scene photos.

Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander in a photo shown by the prosecution

The jury that convicted her deadlocked on her punishment, prompting a penalty retrial before a new jury.

In closing arguments earlier in the week, defence lawyer Kirk Nurmi pleaded for Arias's life, saying the woman, now 34, was remorseful and fragile, suffers from mental illness and was physically and emotionally abused as a child.

Video: Jodi Arias Boyfriend Murder Verdict

Prosecutor Juan Martinez closed his remarks by showing a gory photograph of Mr Alexander with his throat cut. He said that there were no mitigating factors that should preclude a death sentence.

Mr Alexander was killed in 2008, his body found in a shower at his home. In addition to his throat being cut, he had been stabbed multiple times and shot in the face.

Arias said she acted in self-defence, but prosecutors accused her of murdering her former partner in a jealous rage.

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Banksy Goes Undercover To Make Gaza Film

Banksy has released a video of a satirical travel advert for Gaza after travelling to the area undercover.

The film, posted on the elusive artist's website, appears to show him entering through one of the underground tunnels carrying cans of spray paint.

"Make this the year you discover a new destination," it says before showing the extensive bomb damage in the region.

After footage from a drone strike is shown, the film goes on to say: "Development opportunities are everywhere."

The graffiti artist used his anonymity to create pieces of art on some of the rubble, including a stencil of children swinging from a surveillance tower.

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1. Gallery: Banksy Goes Undercover In Gaza

   Graffiti artist Banksy has gone undercover in Gaza to make a film about the war-torn area

The film was posted on his website Banksy.co.uk alongside these photos showing some of his artworks. Click through for more pictures

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Pasco Killing: Mexican Shot 17 Times By Police

By Sky News US Team

Police who killed a Mexican man in Washington state after he pelted the officers with rocks fired 17 shots at him, officials said.

Antonio Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old unemployed farm worker, was struck five or six times, said a police task force investigating the case. None of the bullets hit him in the back.

The 10 February shooting of Mr Zambrano-Montes in Pasco, a small town in Washington state's agricultural heartland, has sparked protests in the Hispanic community.

The Mexican government has condemned the shooting. 

Police said officers responding to a report of a man throwing rocks at passing cars shot Mr Zambrano-Montes after he began pelting them with rocks and ignored commands to surrender.

They said a stun gun had also failed to subdue him.

The killing sparked protests

Video taken by a witness shows Mr Zambrano-Montes running from officers. As the officers draw closer, he stops, turns and faces them. Multiple "pops" are heard, and then he falls to the ground.

Police Sergeant Ken Lattin, a spokesman for the task force, said a rock was found next to Mr Zambrano-Montes' body, but no gun or knife.

He promised the investigation would be thorough and fair.

"We're not here to cover up for anybody," he said.

"Did he have some sort of injury? Did he have some mental health situations that he was dealing with in the days and hours (before the incident)? Or was he under the influence of drugs? We need to know," Sgt Lattin said.

He said autopsy results were pending.

The report from the task force came shortly after about 100 mourners gathered at St Patrick's Catholic Church in Pasco for Mr Zambrano-Montes' funeral Mass.

His body was to be returned to his small hometown in a rural part of Michoacan, Mexico.

A lawyer representing the victim's estranged wife and two teenage daughters said it is difficult for police officers to investigate their colleagues.

"I do not think these authorities can conduct a truly impartial investigation of their brother officers," Charles Herrmann said.

He said the widow, Teresa De Jesus Meraz-Ruiz, who lives in California, was "devastated" by the shooting.

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Dead Fish Swamp Rio Olympic Sailing Venue

Thousands of dead fish have been found floating in the sailing venue for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The carcasses of twaite shad - small silver fish belonging to the herring family - have filled huge swathes of water in Guanabara Bay, and were even found washing up on the coastline outside Rio's international airport.

They were discovered by inspectors testing pollution in the bay, which has consistently high levels of garbage and untreated sewage in the water.

Sewage flows into the bay which has some 15 cities lining its shores

The city's environmental agency says it has launched an investigation, with results expected in a week's time. Officials say it is likely the fish fell victim to the intense drought.

The promise to clean up the notoriously filthy Guanabara Bay was part of Rio's Olympic bid.

This week, the International Olympic Committee said the city was making "solid progress" in its preparations for the 2016 Games, following a visit on Monday.

But last month, the Government admitted it would miss its target of reducing water pollution by 80% by the start of the Olympics next August.

State governor Luiz Fernando Pezao admitted that cleaning up the area has not been easy. "Every time we have a negotiation, the bidding process [for the project] slows and postpones things," he said.

For years, sewage has flowed into the bay from the surrounding urban sprawl. Fifteen cities share its shoreline. That means more than eight million residents, producing over 18,000 litres of sewage per second.

Mass fish deaths are common in waterways across Rio. The local O Globo newspaper reported this week that 60 tonnes of dead fish were collected in November alone.

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Afghan Avalanche: 180 Dead And Dozens Trapped

More than 180 people have been killed in avalanches triggered by three days of heavy snow in Afghanistan.

Dozens of people remain unaccounted for as rescuers battle treacherous conditions in their attempts to reach those still buried underneath the snow.

Most of the victims were in the northern Panjshir province, where snow has blocked the main roads leading up to the affected villages.

Provincial governor Abdul Rahman Kabiri said a team of 300 emergency workers had been sent to help, but a lack of adequate tools was hampering the operation.

"We don't have the equipment we need and people are using shovels and their bare hands to reach the trapped people," he said.

Relatives walk from the site of the avalanche after searching for victims

At least 100 homes have also been destroyed in what has been described as the worst avalanches the country has seen in 30 years.

The blizzard has left parts of Kabul without electricity after hitting power cables along the Salang Pass, which connects the capital to the country's north.

The current conditions are expected to last for another two days, prompting fears of an imminent humanitarian emergency.

This week's storm interrupted an otherwise mild and dry winter, but natural disasters are common in Afghanistan's mountainous north.

Last May, up to 2,700 people were killed after a mountain collapsed in the northeastern province of Badakhshan.

Another landslide left 75 people dead in Baghlan province in the north of Afghanistan in 2012. The vast majority of bodies were never recovered, and the site was eventually turned into a memorial site.

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South Korea Abolishes Law Banning Affairs

South Korea's top court has abolished a law banning extramarital affairs, prompting the stock price of a prominent condom manufacturer to rocket by 15%.

The ruling by the country's Constitutional Court spells good news for thousands of people currently facing trial.

Under the 62-year-old statute, cheating spouses could be jailed for up to two years.

Judge Park Han-Chul explained that "even if adultery should be condemned as immoral, state power should not intervene in individuals' private lives".

Contraceptive maker Unidus Corp also reaped the benefits of the turnaround, as its share value rocketed by the daily limit of 15% on Pyongyang's Kosdaq market.

Nearly 53,000 people have been convicted of adultery since 1985, but prison terms have become increasingly rare. Conviction rates were also falling, with 5,400 people found guilty since November 2008 and January this year.

Since the ruling, the law has become the most searched term on the country's top search engine, Naver. Residents also took to Twitter to air their views. 

@bluexmas47 wrote: "to those who think that if the law is banned then everyone would start cheating, do you ever think about inner conscience? Or do you think that it doesn't exist, and therefore you want the law to bind you?"

@johnchun58 tweeted: "there are many stupid people thinking that since the law has been banned, it is okay to cheat on your spouse. Maybe we should have kept it?"

Supporters of the legislation believe it promoted monogamy, thus underpinning traditional family values in the face of modernisation. But critics argue that it permitted too much state interference in individuals' sex lives.

The ban was originally designed to protect the rights of women.

Husbands had previously been allowed to divorce their wives, if judged to have fallen foul of the so-called 'Seven Evils' - which included jealousy. Divorces carry huge social stigma in South Korea and most women have no access to independent income.

A study by the Korea Women's Development Institute in June last year found 36.7% of men said they had cheated on their partner, compared to just 6.5% of women.

South Korea was one of very few non-Muslim countries to have ever criminalised adultery. The ruling marked the fifth time the court had reviewed the law since 1990. The last time, in October 2008, the motion was very narrowly defeated.

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Behind The Twisted Appeal Of Jihadi John

He has been Islamic State's poster boy of horror.

Once dubbed 'Jihadi John', Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Briton from northwest London, has been named by friends and associates allegedly as the death cult's best known murderer.

Sadly, and dangerously, such notoriety serves the purpose of the movement he has joined - demonstrating a sense of invincibility as a purging 'saint' for the cause.

Emwazi, if he is ever formally identified as the infamous killer, appears to closely fit and serves the psychological profile which has driven much of Islamic State's appeal.

Experts speak of three important characteristics which drive the appeal of IS.

Video: 'Jihadi John' Reportedly Named

There is the notion of "cognitive closure". Islamic State's uncompromising theologically driven world perspective in a world of "unsettling, anxiety inducing uncertainties" offers men and women, especially those in the West who are from immigrant backgrounds and may feel alienated, an end to the "cravings for coherence and closure", according to Professor Arie Kruglanski, from the University of Maryland.

Writing on the E-International Relations website Prof Kruglanski, a leading authority on the minds of terrorists, observed that fundamentalism offers people a "world of good versus evil, saints versus sinners, order versus chaos; a pure universe in black and white admitting no shades of grey. A fundamentalist ideology… offers a future that is predictable and controllable.

"Such a perspective holds particular fascination for confused youths in transitional stages of their lives, who drift like rudderless ships and find themselves torn by conflicting cultural demands."

Emwazi, a computer science graduate from Westminster University, appears to have been restless.

He is reported to have been arrested in Tanzania on suspicion of links to al Shabab in Somalia nine years ago. He complained of being interviewed and "threatened" by MI5.

He sought work in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia but grew up in the gang-blighted parts of Queen's Park in northwest London. 

Video: Sept 2014 - Unmasking Jihadi John

Jihadi ideology removes uncertainty and provides a sense of superiority - so much so that those who do not share its tenets are deemed worthy only of obliteration.

Another appeal of IS is that it offers followers a chance at being significant.

Emzawi, or Jihadi John, is seen as a hero by himself, his comrades and internet groupies attracted to his brand of bullying machismo.

The message from him is "you too can be a world player, bring war and bloodshed in return for worldly recognition, and end to the 'humiliation' and rewards in heaven following 'martyrdom'.

This "denotes the supreme importance to humans of being noticed, mattering, and deserving honour and esteem", Prof Kruglanski writes.

In recent months, the base instincts of young men and women are also forming part of the IS appeal.

Video: PM On Jihadi John Reports

Sex is selling their agenda. Young fighters are promised a bride, sex slaves or captured women, while their groupies are lured to Syria by internet images of handsome armed men and the promise of an Islamic life in the arms of a hero.

IS has seen recruitment leap from 10,000 to more than 40,000, with 12,000 foreign fighters of whom at least 3,000 hail from Europe.

Emwazi is a magnet for IS recruits.

His appeal will only end, says Prof Kruglanski, with "ignominy, an unglamorous death in the desert with no one to care".

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IS Fighters Destroy 3,000-Year-Old Artefacts

The Islamic State has released a video which appears to show militants smashing up rare ancient artefacts in northern Iraq.

In five minutes of footage, a group of men can be seen destroying several sculptures up to 3,000 years old, using sledgehammers and pickaxes, in Mosul museum.

One shot reveals a black-clad militant at a nearby archaeological site drilling through a winged-bull Assyrian deity that dates back to the 7th century BC.

Facing the camera, one of the men says: "these ruins that are behind me, they are idols and statues that people in the past used to worship instead of Allah".

The montage was posted on social media sites affiliated with the Islamic State group, and a professor at Mosul's Archaeology College confirmed that the two locations depicted are the city museum and Nirgal Gate, which historically led to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah.

"It's a catastrophe," Amir al Jumaili said. "With the destruction of these artefacts, we can no longer be proud of Mosul's civilisation."

Since IS fighters seized large swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria, they have sought to cleanse society of everything considered heretic, even targeting Islamic sites deemed idolatrous.

This week reports emerged that fighters have also ransacked Mosul Library, setting fire to more than 10,000 rare manuscripts and books. Some of the documents, which span centuries of learning, were registered on a UNESCO rarities list.

Mosul is the biggest city controlled by the Islamic extremists, who took it in June last year.

Washington has claimed that Iraqi and Kurdish forces are preparing to recapture the city - Iraq's second largest - in April or May.

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Reports Identify IS Militant 'Jihadi John'

The Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John" has been identified as a Londoner called Mohammed Emwazi.

Emwazi was born in Kuwait and comes from a well-to-do family, according to the Washington Post.

He grew up in northwest London and graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in computer programming.

US journalist James Foley was one of the hostages killed

Aged 27, he is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2012 and to have joined Islamic State (IS) later.

A close friend of Emwazi told the newspaper: "I have no doubt that Mohammed is Jihadi John. He was like a brother to me... I am sure it is him."

Video: 'He Was Such A Beautiful Man'

A representative of the British advocacy group CAGE who had been in contact with Emwazi before he left for Syria also said he believed he was "Jihadi John".

"There was an extremely strong resemblance," research director Asim Qureshi said after watching a video of him beheading a hostage.

He later described Emwazi as "extremely kind, extremely gentle... and the most humble young person that I ever knew".

Emwazi rose to notoriety last August in an IS video in which he killed American journalist James Foley.

Video: Who Is 'Jihadi John'?

Since then he has appeared in a series of videos documenting the gruesome murders of other hostages, including British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines.

In each, he taunts audiences and is dressed all in black, with a balaclava covering his face. He wears a holster under his left arm.

The Washington Post claims Emwazi started to radicalise after a planned safari in Tanzania following his graduation was brought to an abrupt end. He was detained on arrival in Dar es Salaam and deported.

He is said to have told friends he was flown to Amsterdam where an officer from MI5 accused him of trying to reach Somalia, where the militant group al Shabab operates.

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1. Gallery: Profile Of Alan Henning

   Alan Henning, 47, was born in Salford, Greater Manchester. Friends gave him the nickname "gadget" due to his love of technology. The British aid worker was murdered by Islamic State militants in Syria.

He was married for 23 years and he had a teenage son and daughter

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