The Supreme Court's landmark decision to bar colleges and universities from considering race as a specific basis for admission will make it more difficult for schools to achieve a diverse student population, civil rights leaders and education advocates say.

Like many migrants who leave their family and friends behind, Laura Linares finds that when she misses Venezuela, preparing traditional dishes from her childhood...

Leeds slipped closer to relegation from the Premier League after a 3-1 defeat against West Ham in their penultimate game...

The UN's World Heritage Committee has placed two major historical sites in Ukraine on its list of such sites that it considers to be in danger. The iconic Saint Sophia Cathedral in the capital, Kyiv, and the medieval center of the western city of Lviv, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites central to Ukraine's culture and history. The decision announced on Friday to put those two on the body's list of sites “in danger” has no enforcement mechanism, but could help deter Russian attacks. Neither site has been directly targeted since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Lviv has largely been spared from the fighting. But Russia has unleashed waves of strikes on Kyiv and other cities, hitting residential areas and critical infrastructure with Iranian-made attack drones. The decision was taken at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, which is being held in Saudi Arabia. The committee maintains UNESCO's World Heritage List and oversees conservation of the sites. The gold-domed Saint Sophia Cathedral, located in the heart of Kyiv, was built in the 11th century and designed to rival the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The monument to Byzantine art contains the biggest collection of mosaics and frescoes from that period, and is surrounded by monastic buildings dating back to the 17th century. The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches — some underground — that were built from the 11th to the 19th century. Some of the churches are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 600 meters (2,000 feet). The two sites on the Dnipro River, a 15-minute drive from one another, are “a masterpiece of human creative genius," according to Unesco, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The other site is the historic center of Lviv, near the Polish border. A 5th-century castle overlooks streets and squares built between the 13th and 17th centuries. The site includes a synagogue as well as Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic religious buildings, reflecting the city's diversity. “In its urban fabric and its architecture, Lviv is an outstanding example of the fusion of the architectural and artistic traditions of Eastern Europe with those of Italy and Germany,” Unesco said. “The political and commercial role of Lviv attracted to it a number of ethnic groups with different cultural and religious traditions.” Lviv is more than 500km from Kyiv and even further from any front lines, but it has not been spared. Russian cruise missiles slammed into an apartment block in the city in July, killing at least six people and wounding dozens. Unesco added Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa to its list of endangered heritage sites in January. Russian forces have launched multiple artillery attacks and airstrikes on the city, a cultural hub known for its 19th-century architecture. Russia says it only strikes military targets. Under the 1972 Unesco convention, ratified by both Ukraine and Russia, signatories undertake to “assist in the protection of the listed sites” and are “obliged to refrain from taking any deliberate measures” that might damage World Heritage sites. Inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger is meant to rally urgent international support for conservation efforts. The list includes more than 50 sites around the world. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: ‘Significant losses’ for Putin’s forces as Kyiv retakes village and attacks ships Ukraine recaptures another village from Putin’s forces – as it keeps up attacks on Russia’s ships Putin meets the leader of Belarus, who suggests joining Russia's move to boost ties with North Korea Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Jalen Carter's time in Georgia was not all sunshine and roses as a new report reveals the Bulldogs coaches did not treat him well during the pre-draft process.

The Colts just wanted to remind the league that they have a hands-off policy on Andrew Luck: pursue him at your own risk.Colts owner Jim Irsay doesn't want other NFL teams getting any ideas about quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck is a Colt through and through -- both figuratively and contractua...

Alcohol addiction ruins millions of lives every year, but scientists may have found a cure for this terrible affliction. A new treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been trialled in monkeys with impressive results and, if these translate to human trials, the impact could be monumental. A team of neuroscientists and physiologists from across the US tested a new type of gene therapy to see if they could directly target the underlying brain circuitry associated with sustained heavy drinking. As they noted, in the journal Nature Medicine, people suffering from AUD commonly return to alcohol use even if they attempt to quit. This is largely to do with what’s known as mesolimbic dopamine (DA) signalling – meaning how the central nervous system circuit communicates the feelgood neurotransmitter dopamine. A protein called glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is key to keeping these neurons in this reward circuitry functioning. However, experts have found that levels of GDNF are reduced in people with AUD during periods of alcohol abstinence, most notably in a region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), as IFLScience notes. Therefore, the researchers decided to test whether using gene therapy to deliver more GDNF to the VTA could help reinforce this crucial dopaminergic signalling and prevent patients from suffering an alcoholic relapse. The team of scientists explained how alcohol consumption in non-addicts prompts the release of dopamine, creating a pleasurable buzz feeling, but chronic alcohol use causes the brain to adapt and stop releasing so much dopamine. “So when people are addicted to alcohol, they don’t really feel more pleasure in drinking,” Dr Kathleen Grant, a senior co-author of the study, said in a statement. “It seems that they’re drinking more because they feel a need to maintain an intoxicated state.” For their research, Dr Grant and her colleagues used eight rhesus macaque monkeys, who were exposed to increasing concentrations of alcohol over four 30-day “induction” periods. The monkeys then had free access to alcohol and water for 21 hours a day for six months, during which they developed heavy drinking behaviours. This was then followed by a 12-week abstinence phase, with the GDNF treatment performed four weeks in for half of the subjects. The gene therapy was delivered using a a viral vector containing a copy of the human GDNF gene injected directly into the primate’s VTA, according to IFLScience. And the results were truly jaw-dropping. “Drinking went down to almost zero,” Dr Grant said. “For months on end, these animals would choose to drink water and just avoid drinking alcohol altogether. They decreased their drinking to the point that it was so low we didn’t record a blood-alcohol level.” The most exciting aspect of their findings is the suggestion that gene therapy could offer a permanent solution for people with the most severe cases of AUD. This will be a welcome glimmer of hope to many, given that some 29.5 million people were diagnosed with AUD in the US alone in 2021, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Of these 29.5 million sufferers, almost a million (894,000) were aged between 12 and 17. It’ll likely be some time before we know for sure whether the gene therapy can be rolled out in humans, but it’s an important first step in tackling this devastating disorder. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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