Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization warned Friday that growing antimicrobial resistance is every bit as dangerous as the coronavirus pandemic — and threatens to reverse a century of medical progress. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the issue “one of the greatest health threats of our time”. Resistance is when bugs become immune to existing drugs — antibiotic, antiviral or antifungal treatments — rendering minor injuries […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China livestreamed footage of its new manned submersible parked at the bottom of the ocean Friday, the latest foray by the country’s scientists into the Earth’s deepest ocean trench. The vessel “Fendouzhe”, or “Striver”, descended more than 10,000 metres into the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench with three researchers on board, state broadcaster CCTV said. Video footage shot and relayed by a deep-sea camera showed the green-and-white submersible moving through dark water […]
by Agnès PEDRERO Agence France-Presse VERBIER, Switzerland (AFP) — The coronavirus crisis shuttered Switzerland’s ski resorts in the spring, but they are banking on tighter precautions and the Swiss love of the mountains to save them as the winter season kicks off. A cable car ride to the top of the slopes at Verbier, where staff wear plastic face shields, reveals the extent to which the pandemic has impacted even the furthest reaches of the […]
by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — To find out whether experimental Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective, researchers design clinical trials involving thousands of volunteers, divided into groups that receive either the drug under investigation or a placebo. Data from such trials have shown that two vaccines — one developed by Pfizer and BioNtech, the other by Moderna and the US National Institutes of Health — are about 95 […]
by Joe JACKSON Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain will ban petrol and diesel vehicle sales from 2030 as part of a 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” to be unveiled Wednesday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The British premier has earmarked £12 billion (13.4 billion euros, $15.9 billion) for the wide-ranging plans, which he hopes will secure up to 250,000 jobs and help meet a target for the UK to become […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Health authorities say the most widespread anti-Covid weapon — surgical masks — must be thrown away after a single use, but environmental concerns are pushing some scientists to question this recommendation. As the coronavirus continues to spread, masks have in many places become mandatory on public transport, in shops and at work. But cost has become an issue, as has the fact so many disposable plastic masks wind up in […]
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — The three largest glaciers in Greenland — which hold enough frozen water to lift global sea levels some 1.3 metres — could melt faster than even the worst-case warming predictions, research published Tuesday showed. Until 2000, the main driver of sea level rise was melting glaciers and the expansion of ocean water as it warms. But over the last two decades, the world’s ice sheets atop Greenland and […]
by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech firm Moderna on Monday announced its experimental vaccine against Covid-19 was almost 95 percent effective, a result hailed by the country’s top infectious disease scientist as “stunningly impressive.” Moderna’s early results from a clinical trial with more than 30,000 participants marks a second major breakthrough in the quest to end the pandemic. Last week, American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German […]
NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) — A massive oil well fire that raged for more than five months in northeast India has finally been extinguished, officials said Sunday. Oil India engineers had battled the blaze in Assam state since an explosion in June, weeks after the well blew out and began discharging huge quantities of natural gas. Two employees of the state-owned company died in the blast, which sent a wall of flame and massive plumes […]
NEW YORK, New York (AFP) — The Trump administration on Monday invited oil companies to choose proposed drilling territories as it pushes ahead with a controversial Alaska leasing plan in its final days in office. The Bureau of Land Management said it will Tuesday officially open a 30-day period to accept nominations and comment on some 1.6 million acres (650,000 hectares) in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The move aims to open up to development […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The coronavirus vaccine being developed by Sanofi won’t need to be super-cooled and a normal refrigerator will suffice, the Paris-based drugmaker’s France chief Olivier Bogillot said Sunday. His comments came days after American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced that their vaccine had proven 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in ongoing Phase 3 trials involving more than 40,000 people. The companies said they expect to […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Dozens of companies, from biotech start-ups to Big Pharma, are racing to develop a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, both to meet urgent medical need and for the potential payday. Here’s an update on the quest for a magic bullet against the coronavirus that has already killed more than a million people worldwide. How many in the pipeline? The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified 42 “candidate vaccines” at the stage […]
