Bad labour practices turn journalism into risky job as Greek outlet sacks 55 – IFJ
The turbulence the media industry plunged into continues since the onset of coronavirus following a decision by Greek Artı TV and online media Artı Gerçek to lay of 55 media workers. This was after their parent company decided to terminate its contract with the two media. Consequently, the International and...
Jailed rapper: Spanish monarchy accused of gagging free speech
A dramatic arrest earlier this week of Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél, who was convicted of criticising the monarchy and supporting a Basque separatist group in his social media posts, has sparked days of protests across Spain and renewed debate over free speech in the country. Thousands of Hasél supporters have...
Cocaine pipeline to Europe grows as drug peddlers target lucrative market
Europe has emerged as the world’s leading illicit drugs market over the past eight years for cocaine and heroin produced in Latin America, a new report by the Global Initiative Against Organised Crime shows. With the traditional market in the Untied States of America having either shrunk due to unending...
A third of Covid patients discharged from hospital are readmitted in five months
A study has found that almost a third of patients who have recovered from Covid-19 are re-admitted to hospital within five months. The research by Leicester University and the Office for National Statistics also found that up to one in eight die of Covid-related complications. It found that out of...
Big relief for scientists as UK, EU sign Brexit trade deal
Researchers reacted with relief to the news that the United Kingdom and the European Union had reached a last-minute trade deal on December 24 – ending more than four years of uncertainty over what their relationship after Brexit would look like. The deal has wide-ranging impacts for scientists — most...
UK court rules out Julian Assange’s extradition to the US, citing suicide risk
Since Wikileaks began releasing massive troves of US military and State Department secrets more than 10 years ago, Julian Assange has maintained that the American government would eventually seek to put him in a US prison. In a surprise twist, he may escape that fate – not because his organisation’s...
CIA bribed, hired Chinese moles; China hit back with mega data theft
In a classic case of the hunter becoming the hunted, Chinese secret service in Africa and Europe turned the tables on United States’ Central Intelligence Agency with the help of stolen data. This was after Chinese spy agency discovered how much Communist country had been infiltrated since 2013, a new...
Billions poured into Covid vaccine facilitated multiple tests at the same time
The slowest part of vaccine development isn’t finding candidate treatments, but testing them. This often takes years, with companies running efficacy and safety tests on animals and then in humans. Human testing requires three phases that involve increasing numbers of people and proportionately escalating costs. The Covid-19 vaccines went through...
Fast quest for coronavirus vaccines and what it means for other diseases
When scientists began seeking a vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in early 2020, they were careful not to promise quick success. The fastest any vaccine had previously been developed, from viral sampling to approval, was four years, for mumps in the 1960s. To hope for one even by the summer...
Coronavirus origin: ‘Without it, we are flying blind’
It is a big ask. Intensified detection of coronavirus in humans might require doing a thorough evaluation of any patient who comes to any hospital or clinic with the kind of symptoms that are usually dismissed. An unexplained fever or the symptoms of a respiratory infection that has no obvious...
