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Though Russia is the country that invaded its neighbor Ukraine, the Kremlin’s version relentlessly warns social media users across Latin America that the US is the bigger problem, Associated Press reported.

“Never forget who is the real threat to the world,” reads a headline, translated here from Spanish. The article, originally posted in late February on Twitter by RT en Español, is intended for an audience half a world away from the fighting in Kyiv and Mariupol.

As that war rages, Russia is launching falsehoods into the feeds of Spanish-speaking social media users in nations that already have long records of distrusting the US. The aim is to gain support in those countries for the Kremlin’s war and stoke opposition against America’s response.

Though many of the claims have been discredited, they’re spreading widely in Latin America and helping to make Kremlin-controlled outlets some of the top Spanish-language sources for information about the war. Russian outlet RT en Español is now the third most shared site on Twitter for Spanish-language information about Russia’s invasion, according to the Associated Press.

“RT’s success should be concerning to anyone worried about the success of democracy,” said Samuel Woolley, a University of Texas professor who researches disinformation. “RT is geared toward authoritarian control and, depending on the context, nationalism and xenophobia. What we risk is Russia gaining control of an increasingly large market share of eyeballs.”

US-based tech companies have tried to rein in Russian outlets’ ability to spread propaganda following the invasion, by banning apps linked to the outlets, demoting the content and labeling state-run media outlets. The European Union has banned RT and Russian state-owned Sputnik, Associated Press reported.

Yet the content thrives on Spanish-language websites, message boards and social media pages. While Russia also creates propaganda in languages including English, Arabic, French and German, it’s found particular success with Spanish-speaking users, according to recent research by Esteban Ponce de Leon, a Bogota, Colombia-based analyst with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, a Washington think tank that receives funding from the US and other governments.

Russia’s discredited claims about Ukraine and the US include allegations that the invasion was necessary to confront neo-Nazis, or that the US has secretly backed biological warfare research in Ukraine. In fact, the US has long publicly provided funding for biological labs in Ukraine that research pathogens with the hope of curbing dangerous disease outbreaks, according to the Associated Press.

That type of disinformation can easily flow from Latin America into other countries — including the US— that have large Spanish-speaking communities. Sometimes it’s passed between relatives who might be sharing the claims across continents with one another. It’s another potential entry point for Russia, and a reminder of the sophistication of the Russians’ efforts.

’There’s different avenues where RT is actively engaging communities across Latin America and the United States,” said Jacobo Licona, a researcher at the Democratic firm, Equis Labs. “That’s part of the reason RT has been so effective, they’ve been building this network or community ahead of time.”

As one of the world’s most-spoken languages, Spanish is of obvious interest to any government or organization intent on shaping global public opinion. But Russia’s focus on the Spanish language goes further, reflecting the historic and strategic importance of Central and South America during the Cold War, said analyst Ponce de Leon of the Atlantic Council.

For decades, the Soviet Union sought to exploit historic tensions between the US and Latin America by supporting communist factions and larger allies including Cuba. Russia has sought to portray the US as a colonizing empire, even as the Kremlin has worked to strengthen its own ties to the hemisphere, Associated Press reported.

RT’s Spanish language service began in 2009, four years after its English language version. It has rapidly gained ground, and is now far more popular than its English counterpart. RT en Español has more than 16 million followers on its Facebook page, nearly triple the number of its English site.

High profile names in Latin America have in some cases given RT a hand. Ex-Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa began hosting a weekly political talk show for RT in 2018, less than a year after he left office. Since then he’s been convicted of corruption charges that forced him to flee Ecuador for Europe. Authorities in Ecuador have also accused him of trying to destabilize his successor’s government, according to the Associated Press.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned his people early Saturday that retreating Russian forces were creating “a complete disaster” outside the capital as they leave mines across “the whole territory,” including around homes and corpses, Associated Press reported.

He issued the warning as the humanitarian crisis in the encircled city of Mariupol deepened, with Russian forces blocking evacuation operations for the second day in a row. Meanwhile, the Kremlin accused the Ukrainians of launching a helicopter attack on a fuel depot on Russian soil.

Ukraine denied responsibility for the fiery blast, but if Moscow’s claim is confirmed, it would be the war’s first known attack in which Ukrainian aircraft penetrated Russian airspace.

“Certainly, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of the talks,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, five weeks after Moscow began sending upwards of 150,000 of its own troops across Ukraine’s border.

Russia continued withdrawing some of its ground forces from areas around Kyiv after saying earlier this week it would reduce military activity near the Ukrainian capital and the northern city of Chernihiv.

“They are mining the whole territory. They are mining homes, mining equipment, even the bodies of people who were killed,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. “There are a lot of trip wires, a lot of other dangers.”

Ukraine’s military said it had retaken 29 settlements in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, according to the Associated Press.

Still, Ukraine and its allies warned that the Kremlin is not de-escalating to promote trust at the bargaining table, as it claimed, but instead resupplying and shifting its troops to the country’s east. Those movements appear to be preparation for an intensified assault on the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas region in the country’s east, which includes Mariupol.

Zelenskyy warned of difficult battles ahead as Russia redeploys troops. “We are preparing for an even more active defense,” he said.

He did not say anything about the latest round of talks, which took place Friday by video. At a round of talks earlier in the week, Ukraine said it would be willing to abandon a bid to join NATO and declare itself neutral — Moscow’s chief demand — in return for security guarantees from several other countries.

The invasion has left thousands dead and driven more than 4 million refugees from Ukraine, Associated Press reported.

Mariupol, the shattered and besieged southern port city, has seen some of the worst suffering of the war. Its capture would be a major prize for Russian President Vladimir Putin, giving his country an unbroken land bridge to Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.

On Friday, the International Committee for the Red Cross said it was unable to carry out an operation to bring civilians out of Mariupol by bus. City authorities said the Russians were blocking access to the city.

“We do not see a real desire on the part of the Russians and their satellites to provide an opportunity for Mariupol residents to evacuate to territory controlled by Ukraine,” Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

He said Russian forces “are categorically not allowing any humanitarian cargo, even in small amounts, into the city.”

Around 100,000 people are believed to remain in the city, down from a prewar 430,000. Weeks of Russian bombardment and street fighting have caused severe shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine, according to the Associated Press.

Nepali Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party have agreed to maintain a regular dialogue and interactions.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba who is also NC President visited BJP’s central office at the invitation of BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda. According to the press statement issued by BJP, Nada emphasized enhanced party-to-party interactions at every level.

“He specifically proposed exchange of delegations of youth leaders as well as women leaders from both sides. He also narrated his association with Nepal and visit to Nepal by road during his student days,” reads the statement.

According to the BJP statement, Deuba endorsed Nadda’s suggestions that there is a need for regular dialogue between two parties at every level. Deuba’s visit to BJP has drawn criticisms from foreign policy watchers for violating protocol. Deuba who reached New Delhi on April 1 for the three-day visit is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, on April 2. 

Bird flu has been detected in eight different places in Chitwan district. 

Efforts are underway to control and prevent the bird flu outbreak in Chitwan which is considered to be the capital of the poultry business. 

According to Bharatpur-based Veterinary Hospital and Livestock Service Expert Center, bird flu was confirmed at the poultry farms of Kiran Prasad Kandel based in Kharahani municipality-2, Madan Krishna Manandhar at Bharatpur metropolis-8 and Khemlal Bhusal and Chandra Bhusal at Bharatpur-23. 

Likewise, bird flu was detected at Bharatpur metropolis-16-based poultry farm of Abishek Ramdan, Khairahani municipality-10 based farm of Raju Burlakoti, Kharahani-3 based farm of Dhruba Adhikari and a poultry farm of Rajaram Pandit at Khairahani-6. 

According to the Office, a decision was made to monitor the poultry farms of Kandel, Manandhar and Bhusal among others and destroy the birds within the boundary. Six other farms are yet to be monitored, the official source said. RSS

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is on a three-day visit to India, and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a meeting on Friday.

During the meeting, the duo discussed strengthening relations between Nepal and India.

Before holding a meeting with Jaishankar, PM Deuba visited the headquarters of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Bharatiya Janata Party President JP Nadda welcomed him at the headquarters.

During the meeting, they discussed issues of mutual interest and common concerns.

PM Deuba will attend a dinner hosted by the Nepali Embassy in India after some time.

The prime minister and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will hold a meeting at Hyderabad House on Saturday afternoon.

Nepal reported 22 new Covid-19 cases on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 516 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 16 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 319 people underwent antigen tests, of which six were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 75 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 1, 022 active cases in the country.

In 2003, the Human Genome Project made history when it sequenced 92% of the human genome. But for nearly two decades since, scientists have struggled to decipher the remaining 8%. Now, a team of nearly 100 scientists from the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium has unveiled the complete human genome — the first time it’s been sequenced in its entirety, the researchers say, CNN reported.

“Having this complete information will allow us to better understand how we form as an individual organism and how we vary not just between other humans but other species,” Evan Eichler, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Washington and the research leader, said Thursday.

The new research introduces 400 million letters to the previously sequenced DNA — an entire chromosome’s worth. The full genome will allow scientists to analyze how DNA differs between people and whether these genetic variations play a role in disease.

The research, published in the journal Science on Thursday, was previously in preprint, allowing other teams to use the sequence in their own studies, according to CNN.

Until now, it was unclear what these unknown genes coded.

“It turns out that these genes are incredibly important for adaptation,” Eichler said. “They contain immune response genes that help us to adapt and survive infections and plagues and viruses. They contain genes that are … very important in terms of predicting drug response.”

Eichler also said that some of the recently uncovered genes are even responsible for making human brains larger than those of other primates, providing insight into what makes humans unique, according to CNN.

This remaining 8% of the human genome had stumped scientists for years because of its complexities. For one thing, it contained DNA regions with several repetitions, which made it challenging to string the DNA together in the correct order using previous sequencing methods, CNN reported.

The researchers relied on two DNA sequencing technologies that emerged over the past decade to bring this project to fruition: the Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencing method, which can sequence up to 1 million DNA letters at once but with some mistakes, and the PacBio HiFi DNA sequencing method, which can read 20,000 letters with 99.9% accuracy.

Sequencing DNA is like solving a jigsaw puzzle, Eichler said. Scientists must first break the DNA into smaller parts and then use sequencing machines to piece it together in the correct order. Previous sequencing tools could sequence only small sections of DNA at once.

With a 10,000-piece puzzle, it’s hard to correctly arrange small puzzle pieces when they look alike, much like it is to sequence small sections of repetitive DNA. But with a 500-piece puzzle, it’s much easier to arrange larger pieces — or, in this case, longer segments of DNA.

A second challenge was finding cells that contained only one genome.

Standard human cells contain two sets of DNA, a maternal copy and a paternal copy, but this team used DNA from a group of cells called a complete hydatidiform mole, which contains a duplicate of the paternal set of DNA. A complete hydatidiform mole is a rare complication of a pregnancy caused by the abnormal growth of cells that originate from the placenta. This approach simplifies the genome so that scientists need sequence only one set rather than two sets of DNA.

Because the research team used a duplicate set of DNA, the scientists were unable to sequence the Y chromosome originally. According to lead study author Adam Phillippy, the team has managed to sequence the Y chromosome using a different set of cells, according to CNN.

A complete set of 24 sequenced chromosomes is available on the University of Santa Cruz genome browser.

Decoding this gapless sequence has a high price. Phillippy, who is also head of the gene informatics section at the National Human Genome Research Institute, said that altogether, the project cost a few million dollars or more. But that’s a fraction of the almost $450 million that it cost the Human Genome Project to achieve its final sequence in 2003. And with new technology, sequencing is only getting cheaper.

For now, it’s still too costly and time-consuming for everyone to sequence their own genome. But research is underway that uses this genome to identify whether certain genetic differences are linked with specific cancers. Knowing the genetic variations could also allow doctors to better tailor treatments, said Michael Schatz, another researcher on the team and a professor of computer science and biology at Johns Hopkins University, CNN reported.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has left for New Delhi, India on a three-day official visit on Friday.

PM Deuba is accompanied by his wife Arzu Deuba.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota, Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Parshuram Sharma other high-ranking officials bade farewell to the prime minister at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka, Health Minister Birodh Khadka, Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal and Agriculture Minister Mahendra Raya Yadav are also accompanying PM Deuba.

PM Deuba, who is also the President of ruling Nepali Congress, is scheduled to meet Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at 4 pm today.

During the visit, the head of the government is scheduled to hold a meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House on Saturday.

He will pay a courtesy call on Indian Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu at 4 pm tomorrow.

On the third day of the visit, the delegation including the prime minister will leave for Banaras.

He will return home on the same day.