PARIS, France (AFP) — The halting of clinical trials for one of the most advanced experimental COVID-19 vaccines shows the importance of safety in developing new medicines despite overwhelming international pressure, experts said Wednesday. Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said Tuesday they were “pausing” trials of the vaccine after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness. AstraZeneca said in a follow-up statement that a participant in Britain had been taken ill during large-scale Phase 3 testing. It called the move to pause the trial “a routine action”, but the setback briefly spooked markets as the world races for…
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump talked privately about the severity of the coronavirus threat even as he was telling the nation the virus was no worse than the seasonal flu and insisting the government had it totally under control, according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward. “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call with Woodward. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.” “This is deadly stuff,” the president repeated for emphasis. His comments…
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…
(BBC) A 13-year-old boy in Glendale, Utah, was shot several times by police officers after his mother called 911 for help with his mental health crisis. Linden Cameron, who has Asperger’s, a form of autism, is now in a serious condition in hospital, his mother said. Golda Barton said she had believed police attending on Friday night would use “the most minimal force possible”. Salt Lake City Police Sgt Keith Horrocks told reporters that the incident was now being investigated. Speaking to local CBS-affiliate KUTV, Ms Barton said she told the 911 operator that her son needed to be taken…
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) is expected tomorrow to file an application for a magisterial recount of the votes cast in Clarendon North Western in the September 3 general election. Party General Secretary Julian Robinson confirmed the decision to file with OBSERVER ONLINE this afternoon. The preliminary vote count showed the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) Phillip Henriques winning the seat, with a total of 6,124 votes. The PNP’s Richard Azan totalled 6,009 votes; while independent candidate Merrick Cohen got 51. The results of the final vote count by the returning officers was completed yesterday. It showed the JLP winning…
BFN -Prime Minister Dr Hon Ralph Gonsalves has moments ago announced that his wife Eloise Gonsalves is facing a potentially debilitating condition. He said that “she can end up in a wheel chair” while speaking on NBC radio St. Vincent and the Grenadines this morning. “We will find out more, but one hopes for the best”. He reported to the nation that there is a cyst on her spine that “they have known for months now”. The family has consulted with a neurosurgeon in Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago and a top American of Indian descent neurosurgeon who works in Boston.…
President Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for helping broker a peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, according to a report. Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian Parliament and chairman to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, submitted the nomination, Fox News reported. “For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Tybring-Gjedde, told Fox News. In his letter to the Nobel Committee, Tybring-Gjedde wrote that the Trump administration has played a key role in the establishment of relations between the two nations.…
The world is getting closer to passing a temperature limit set by global leaders five years ago and may exceed it in the next decade or so, according to a new United Nations report. In the next five years, the world has nearly a 1-in-4 chance of experiencing a year that’s hot enough to put the global temperature at 2.7 degrees (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial times, according to a new science update released Wednesday by the U.N., World Meteorological Organization and other global science groups. That 1.5 degrees Celsius is the more stringent of two limits set in 2015…
Residents of the fishing community of Rose Place will be first in line for jobs if the New Democratic Party (NDP) is elected to government and are able to carry out their ambitious developmental programme. Speaking on the party’s Monday Night Live program, NDP Chairman and Member of Parliament for West Kingstown Daniel Cummings said that his party intends to build a magnificent facility for tourists and locals alike. He told host Colin Graham: “On the first floor, and going up on that building is where we will create quality housing units. So on the ground floor, you have the…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has accepted the overall need for the modernisation of the Kingstown Port but has forewarned that it will put a strain on current public finances. The project is being funded by a USD110 million loan from CDB; a GBP25.6 million (about USD32 million) grant from the CDB-administered United Kingdom Infrastructure Fund, and a USD43 million contribution from the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. People affected by the planned construction will be consulted and compensated. Residents and fisherfolk in Rose Place Community and vendors in Little Tokyo will be offered relocation to safer and…