While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 11 edition

Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau mark better Canada ties with climate, trade accords

President Barack Obama and new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday (March 10) ended a frosty period in bilateral ties by agreeing to tackle climate change and strive to settle a long-lasting trade dispute over softwood lumber.

The neighboring countries are traditionally close but relations in recent years soured under former prime minister Stephen Harper, who hectored the White House in a failed bid to push through US approval for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Obama and Trudeau, whose Liberals came to power last November promising much better cooperation with Washington, pledged joint steps to fight global warming, including cutting methane emissions from oil and gas operations.

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More French girls lured by ISIS than boys: Source

In France, more teenage girls than boys are drawn to joining jihadists from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a high-ranking anti-terrorist official told AFP this week.

"Among minors, females are over-represented to a proportion of 55 per cent" of those interested in making the journey, or who have already done so, the French source said on condition of anonymity.

Like young girls across Europe who dream of reaching Syria - and often leave their unsuspecting families shocked when they do run away - these girls are not just dreaming of becoming meek so-called "jihadi brides".

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Zika virus implicated in brain infection in adults: French study

The Zika virus, already linked to brain damage in babies, can also cause a serious brain infection in adult victims, French researchers warned on Thursday (March 10).

Zika virus was found in the spinal fluid of an 81-year-old man who was admitted in January to a hospital near Paris shortly after returning from a month-long cruise.

The man - semi-comatose, with a high fever and partial paralysis - was diagnosed with meningoencephalitis, an inflammation of the brain and its membrane, the team wrote in New England Journal of Medicine.

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Scientists find 'good' cholesterol can sometimes be bad

So-called "good" cholesterol may actually increase heart attack risks in some people, researchers said on Thursday (March 10), a discovery that casts fresh doubt on drugs designed to raise it.

High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is generally associated with reduced heart risks, since it usually offsets the artery-clogging effects of the low density (LDL) form.

But some people have a rare genetic mutation that causes the body to have high levels of HDL and this group, paradoxically, has a higher heart risk, scientists reported in the journal Science.

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Football: Dortmund outclass Tottenham in Europa League

Brilliant Borussia Dortmund have one foot in the quarter-finals of the Europa League after sweeping aside Tottenham Hotspur with a 3-0 win in their last 16, first leg on Thursday (March 10).

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the Bundesliga side ahead in the first half and Marco Reus netted twice in the second half at the Signal Iduna Park to leave Spurs with a mountain to climb in next week's return in north London.

This was a clash between the second-placed team in Germany and the second-placed side in the Premier League, although Tottenham's chances of competing evenly with their formidable opponents were not helped by coach Mauricio Pochettino's decision to rotate his squad.

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