MOMENTS OF JOY CAN DAMAGE HEART

The emotional stress that causes chest pains and breathlessness can occur in moments of joy as well as anger, grief and fear, a Swiss study suggests.
Three-quarters of cases of takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a change in the shape of the heart's left ventricle, which can be fatal, are caused by stress.
The University Hospital Zurich study, in the European Heart Journal, suggests about one in 20 cases is caused by joy.
The condition is normally temporary and people are generally fine afterwards.
In the study of 1,750 patients, researchers discovered heart problems caused by:
a birthday party
a son's wedding
meeting a friend after 50 years
becoming a grandmother
a favourite rugby team winning a game
winning a casino jackpot
a computerised tomography (CT) scan giving the all-clear from another condition
The study also suggested most cases were in post-menopausal women.
Dr Jelena Ghadri, one of the researchers, said: "We have shown that the triggers for takotsubo syndrome can be more varied than previously thought.
"A takotsubo syndrome patient is no longer the classic 'broken-hearted' patient, and the disease can be preceded by positive emotions too.
"Clinicians should be aware of this and also consider that patients who arrive in the emergency department with signs of heart attacks, such as chest pain and breathlessness, but after a happy event or emotion, could be suffering from takotsubo syndrome just as much as a similar patient presenting after a negative emotional event."She said it was likely both sad and happy events shared a common "emotional pathway" leading to the condition.
Prof Peter Weissberg, the medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "Takotsubo syndrome is a rare event.
"This study suggests that in a very few cases, the triggering event may be a happy one.
"Much more research is needed to understand how such emotional events can trigger temporary heart damage in a few susceptible individuals."

NORTH KOREA FIRES PROJECTILES INTO SEA

North Korea has fired several short-range projectiles into the sea, South Korea's defence ministry said.
It comes hours after the UN Security Council unanimously voted to imposesome of its strongest ever sanctions against North Korea.
A South Korean spokesman told the Yonhap news agency the projectiles were fired at about 10:00 local time (01:00 GMT) from Wonsan on the east coast.
He said they were still trying to determine exactly what was fired.
Yonhap quoted officials as saying all the objects fell into the sea.
The new UN measures are a response to North Korea's recent nuclear test and satellite launch, both of which violated existing sanctions.
They will result in all cargo going to and from the country being inspected, while 16 new individuals and 12 organisations have been blacklisted.
The United States and North Korea's long-standing ally China spent seven weeks discussing the new sanctions.US President Barack Obama said the international community was "speaking with one voice" to tell the North it "must abandon these dangerous programmes and choose a better path for its people".
South Korea's President Park Geun-hye welcomed the sanctions, saying she hoped the North "will now abandon its nuclear development programme and embark on a path of change".
North Korea insists its missile programme is purely scientific in nature, but the US, South Korea and even its ally China say such launches like the one which put a satellite in orbit last month are aimed at developing inter-continental ballistic missiles.
The North claimed its January nuclear test - the fourth since 2006 - was a test of its hydrogen bomb technology.

US HAS DENIED VISA APPLICATIONS FOR SEVERAL ALBANIAN JUDGES

The US government has denied entry to the United States of America for several corrupt judges by rejecting or annulling their visa applications.
This surprising news has been announced by the US ambassador to Tirana, Donald Lu, while communicating with the public in social networks.
Mr. Lu was asked as to why US authorities do not make direct interventions knowing that Albanian politicians are corrupt.
“Corruption is a top priority of the US government in Albania. We are taking our measures in cooperation with civil society and Albanian leaders. Last year we saw how political parties removed criminal candidates from their electoral lists. Other corrupt politicians or politicians with a criminal past have been arrested or have resigned. We also support the full application of the decriminalization law. Recently, the US government has denied entry in the United States of America to several corrupt judges by rejecting their visa application or annulling their visas”, Mr. Lu said.
“This is only the start. We have lots of work to do in order to fight corruption”, warned the US ambassador, Donald Lu.
Mr. Lu’s declaration is considered to be another direct intervention in the process of decriminalization that Albanian politics is undertaking.
Lu is known for his declarations such as “corrupt ministers, criminal MPs fear the reform in the judiciary system” or “corrupt judges may end up in prison”.
These declarations are seen as pressure by the international community on Albanian politics to approve the reform in the justice system

EC PRESIDENT MAKES GAFFE AS HE USES TERM MACEDONIA

Amid a drama in the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greece-Macedonia border, the media in Macedonia are reporting on EC President Jean Claude Juncker's "gaffe."
It concerns Juncker "angering the Greeks by using the constitutional name of Macedonia" during a press conference.
For days now, about 10,000 migrants have been stranded at the border, with more people arriving to Greece. Macedonians have been intermittently opening and closing their border with Greece, as the migrant pressure on the Balkan route is growing.

And while Europe is trying to implement mechanisms to reduce the refugee wave and put the solving of the crisis to the forefront, Macedonia's Sitel broadcaster has published a piece of news under the headline, "Jucker angers Greeks by using Macedonia's constitutional name in Brussels."

Speaking about the refugee crisis, Juncker said that European Council President Donald Tusk will be touring countries on the Balkan route, "Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey."

According to the Skopje-based TV station, the fact Jucker said "Macedonia" - instead of "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)" - was "noted by all European media, with Italian Nova agency reporting that the EU leader had made a gaffe," to that effect.

In what has been known as "the name dispute", Greece has been blocking Macedonia's membership in NATO and the EU for years. Skopje became a member of the UN under the name FYROM - until the dispute has been settled.

Greece is also accusing its northern neighbor of appropriating important symbols of Hellenic culture in order to build an identity of the predominantly Slavic country, including the sun symbol used for the flag, and the naming the airport in Skopje after Alexander the Great.

MANJANI ASKS US FOR INFORMATION ON CORRUPTED JUDGES

Albanian minister of Justice says that he’s ready to start a disciplinary procedure for every corrupt judge and that he will request information on each of them.
Ylli Manjani announced today that the ministry that he leads will request information for every corrupt judge including the list of those judges that the USA has denied visas.
“I’m ready to launch any disciplinary procedure for every judge and prosecutor. I will seek information on any judge and prosecutor in the list of the US embassy. I would like to thank the ambassador for the help being offered in the fight against corruption. I will be ready to initiate proceedings”, Manjani said.
The minister made these comments in the framework of a meeting with the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
“We must address organized crime with organized structures”, Mr. Manjani declared. “The reality where we live requires a more modern approach. Nobody can escape tjustice”, Manjani said.
Manjani’s declarations come a day after the announcement of the US ambassador, Donald Lu that the US consulate has denied entry to the United States of America for several Albanian judges, which have been considered to be corrupt.

EU REFERENDUM: FRENCH MINISTER SPARKS CALAIS UK BORDER ROW

A French government minister has sparked a row by suggesting his country could end UK border controls in Calais if Britain leaves the EU.
Emmanuel Macron told the Financial Times his country could also limit access to the single market and try to tempt London's bankers to relocate.
His comments come as David Cameron and Francois Hollande prepare for security and migration talks in France.
Leave campaigners dismissed the comments as "scaremongering".Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin said "propaganda" was "being produced by other European governments at the request of the prime minister to try to scare people away from voting to leave".
He added: "We pay a great deal of money into the EU and it subsidises a great deal of French farming. Surprise surprise, they don't want us to leave the EU.
"But this is a choice for the British people, not for the French government, and actually we're being asked to believe all sorts of ludicrous things."
Conservative MP Peter Bone, of the Grassroots Out campaign, said: "If asylum seekers start arriving at Dover, we will send them straight back. As an independent nation, outside of the EU, we will control our own borders whether the French government likes it or not."
The agreement between France and the UK that allows the UK to conduct border controls on the French side of the Channel is a bilateral treaty that is not connected to Britain's EU membership.
It is meant to stop people from travelling across the Channel without their immigration status being checked - but has led to the establishment of the so-called Jungle camp in Calais, where about 4,000 migrants are thought to be waiting to cross.
On Monday, there were clashes as French demolition teams dismantled huts in the Jungle.
France could opt to end the border treaty any time - but the country's interior minister Bernard Cazenouve has said to do so would be "foolhardy" and cause "a humanitarian disaster".
His colleague, economy minister Emmanuel Macron, gave a different view in his FT interview, saying of Britain's EU membership: "The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais."
It follows hotly disputed claims by Prime Minister David Cameron that migrant camps could move to England if the UK left the EU.
Conservative MP Damian Green, a Remain campaigner, told BBC News "it has been very good of the French to let us to put our border controls in Calais" when "the main benefit comes to this country".
And he said voters should take seriously threats by a French minister to scrap the agreement if Britain "tears up" its EU membership.