Author: Admin

Four teams, Camdonia- Chelsea, Bequia United, Greiggs and SV United, who campaigned in the Premier Division of the 2020 St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation’s National Club Championships, have been relegated to the First Division. When the Championships concluded last Sunday, the four teams as referenced occupied the last four positions in the points table. However, the relegation of the four was not a foregone decision, as several permutations loomed in the last round of matches on Friday and Saturday. One of Avenues United, Sion Hill, Awesome or SV United could have joined the other three which had already…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The suspension of a huge COVID-19 vaccine study over an illness in a single participant shows there will be “no compromises” on safety in the race to develop the shot, the chief of the National Institutes of Health told Congress on Wednesday. AstraZeneca has put on hold studies of its vaccine candidate in the U.S. and other countries while it investigates whether a British volunteer’s illness is a side effect or a coincidence. “This ought to be reassuring,” NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said before a Senate committee. “When we say we are going to focus first…

In May of this year, Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves told a media conference that the Government had identified sources of funding that would make it possible to purchase a tablet (computer) for each student enrolled in schools here. At the time of making the disclosure, the number of laptops to be purchased was put at 30,000. Gonsalves had said then that among the sources of funding were an unnamed Non-Government Organisation (NGO), the government of India and the World Bank. Readers will recall that Parliament in April, a month or so before Minister Gonsalves’ announcement as referenced, had approved a…

BRAGSA in collaboration with VINLEC has embarked on a project dubbed the ‘Access to Electricity for Students’. Under this project, electricity will be provided to 72 households in St. Vincent, Bequia and Union Island for the school year. It will include the installation of fixtures and fittings for lights and outlets, along with some minor structural works to facilitate installations.

(CNN) Fires continue to rage at high levels through the Amazon in Brazil for the second consecutive year, raising concerns among scientists that the rainforest’s destruction could eventually reach a point of no return. Since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office, governmental measures to curb illegal fires have shown little impact, as flames and deforestation erase vast swathes of the world’s biggest rainforest. NASA satellite photo shows smoke from fires in the Brazilian Amazon on August 1 Most fires in the Amazon are set by land-grabbers and wildcat ranchers, seeking to transform parts of the rainforest into their own lucrative…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reeling from the fallout of another crisis of his own creation, President Donald Trump was trying to move past revelations that he was determined to play down the threat of the coronavirus as he headed for a rally in battleground Michigan Thursday. But the president was facing renewed pushback from local leaders worried that his rallies are growing in size and flouting public health guidelines intended to halt the spread of the virus. This week, the state of Nevada became the first to scuttle Trump’s plans for rallies initially set for Las Vegas and Reno. Michigan’s Democratic…

WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have created a tool that is being made available in Latin America and the Caribbean to maintain contact between patients and doctors by minimising the risk of transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). PAHO said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most in-person health consultations have been postponed, telemedicine is once again coming forward as a way to maintain contact and ensuring the continuity of consultation and treatment for those in need. The tool is being made available in collaboration with other institutions…

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — A huge fire broke out Thursday at the Port of Beirut, the site of last month’s catastrophic explosion that killed nearly 200 people and devastated parts of the capital. The new fire nearly 40 days after the blast triggered widespread panic among traumatized residents of the area. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire at the facility, which was decimated by the August 4 explosion when nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated. The blast triggered a shock wave that blew out windows, doors and walls miles away and was felt as far away as…

LONDON, England (AP) — A woman who received an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed severe neurological symptoms that prompted a pause in testing, a spokesman for drugmaker AstraZeneca said Thursday. The study participant in late-stage testing reported symptoms consistent with transverse myelitis, a rare inflammation of the spinal cord, said company spokesman Matthew Kent. “We don’t know if it is (transverse myelitis),” Kent said. “More tests are being done now as part of the follow-up.” On Tuesday, AstraZeneca said its “standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data.” It did not provide any details other…

LONDON (AP) — Diana Rigg, a commanding British actress whose career stretched from iconic 1960s spy series “The Avengers” to fantasy juggernaut “Game of Thrones,” has died. She was 82. Rigg’s agent, Simon Beresford, said she died Thursday morning at home with her family. Daughter Rachael Stirling said she died of cancer that was diagnosed in March. Rigg “spent her last months joyfully reflecting on her extraordinary life, full of love, laughter and a deep pride in her profession. I will miss her beyond words,” Stirling said. Rigg starred in “The Avengers” as secret agent Emma Peel alongside Patrick Macnee’s…