FDA scientists endorse Moderna coronavirus vaccine
Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration endorsed the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Moderna as safe and efficacious a day after the first doses of a competing vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech were delivered across the United States. The FDA reviewers said that the two-dose vaccine “was highly effective” in...
US coronavirus crisis: One person dies every 36 seconds
More than 303,500 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States. It is the latest sign of a generational tragedy – one still unfolding in every corner of the country – that leaves in its wake an expanse of grief that cannot be captured in a string of statistics....
20,000 activists petition Kenya to reject US plastics export deal
Despite publicly retreating on the push to force Kenya and by extension to allow trade plastics and petrochemical products, American Chemistry Council (ACC) is said to be quietly lobbying Washington to force concessions for exports during ongoing bilateral trade agreement negotiations between the two countries. The push by ACC has...
Biden positions US to retake lead role in climate agenda as he prepares for office
When Joe Biden won the US presidency earlier this month, it seemed like a huge opportunity to restore the country’s position as a leader in the fight against climate change. But whether he’ll be able to deliver on his climate agenda – the most aggressive ever put forth by a...
Senate GOP accepts Biden’s win, seals Trump’s November 3 loss
Senate Republicans are finally starting to recognise Joe Biden as the next president of the United States — even if they waited until the very last minute. When asked on Monday afternoon whether Biden was the president-elect, some GOP senators paused and asked how far along the Electoral College count...
Curtains come down on the life of Charley Pride, country music’s first Black superstar
Charley Pride, a son of sharecroppers who rose to become country music’s first Black superstar on the strength of hits including “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” and “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” died on Saturday in hospice care in Dallas. He was 86. Jeremy Westby, a publicist for Mr...
Children’s immune systems can repulse coronavirus
Young children account for only a small percentage of Covid-19 infections – a trend that has puzzled scientists. Now, a growing body of evidence suggests why – kids’ immune systems seem better equipped to eliminate SARS-CoV-2 than are adults’. “Children are very much adapted to respond – and very well...
Dark side of Big Tech’s funding for Artificial Intelligence research
Last week, prominent Google artificial intelligence researcher Timnit Gebru said she was fired by the company after managers asked her to retract or withdraw her name from a research paper, and she objected. Google maintains that she resigned, and Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said in a company memo on...
Antitrust litigation isn’t enough, Biden will need to go beyond the law
On Wednesday this week, the Federal Trade Commission and 46 states, the District of Columbia and Guam filed parallel antitrust suits against Facebook for the acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, and practices that excluded competitive threats in social networking and messaging. In October, the Department of Justice and 11 states...
Corporate Council on Africa launches US-Africa health resilience initiative
Corporate Council on Africa will launch the US-Africa health security and resilience initiative at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on December 15 formally. The two-year initiative brings together US and African opinion leaders, corporations, multilateral organisations, foundations and other players in the health sector to create strategic...
