NEW YORK ( Al Jazeera) - A patient with leukaemia in the United States has become the first woman and the third person to date to be cured of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant, researchers say. The case, presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunisitic Infections in the U.S. city of Denver, was the first involving umbilical cord blood to treat acute myeloid leukaemia, which starts in blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. Since receiving the cord blood, the middle-aged woman of mixed race has been in remission and free of HIV for 14 months, without the need for potent treatments known as antiretroviral therapy. The donor was naturally resistant to the virus that causes AIDS.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea celebrated the 80th birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il with a concert, fireworks and a rare outdoor ceremony near its border with China, state media reported Wednesday, as the country pushes for greater public support amid pandemic-related hardships. The snowy celebration involving a cheering crowd is likely meant to solidify the leadership of Kim’s son and current leader, Kim Jong Un.

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TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) - A dozen undocumented migrants on Mexico’s southern border sewed their mouths shut in a bid to convince the country’s immigration authority to grant them passage toward the U.S. border. The migrants, mostly Central and South Americans, helped each other seal their lips using needles and plastic threads, leaving a small space to consume liquids and using alcohol to wipe away drops of blood from the stitches, Reuters images show.

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OTTAWA (AFP) - An indigenous community in Canada’s Saskatchewan province announced on Tuesday the discovery of 54 unmarked graves at two former residential schools, adding to a growing tally of such burials that shocked the nation last year.
Ted Quewezance, who is leading the Keeseekoose First Nation’s search for graves using ground-penetrating radar near Fort Pelly and St Philip’s residential schools, disclosed the findings at a press conference.
“Canadians still cannot believe a human being could treat another human being, especially a child, like the way we were treated,” he said, holding back tears.
The two schools were run by the Catholic Church on behalf of the federal government – St Philip’s from 1905 to 1913 and Fort Pelly from 1928 to 1969.

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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Canadian rescuers have located three more bodies from a Spanish fishing ship that sank in rough seas off Newfoundland, raising the death toll to 10. A search operation is still looking for the 11 crew members still missing after the ship went down in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Three members, including the captain, were rescued alive. The 50-meter (164-foot) fishing boat named Villa de Pitanxo, which operated out of northwest Spain’s Galicia region, sank in the dark early Tuesday, tossing its 24 crew members into icy seas 460 kilometers (250 nautical miles) east of Newfoundland.