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by Dmitry ZAKS with Patrick GALEY in Paris Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The steroid dexamethasone was shown Tuesday to be the first drug to significantly reduce the risk of death among severe COVID-19 cases, in trial results hailed as a “major breakthrough” in the fight against the disease. Researchers led by a team from the University of Oxford administered the widely available drug to more than 2,000 severely ill COVID-19 patients. Among […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US health officials have approved the first game-based treatment for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, part of a trend toward “digital therapeutics” or software to address certain conditions. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it approved the sale by prescription of the game EndeavorRX from health tech startup Akili Interactive for children aged 8-12 who have been diagnosed with ADHD. The FDA said this was the first digital […]
by Rob Lever WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Electric bikes and scooters, dismissed before the pandemic as a curiosity or nuisance, are getting fresh traction in cities seeking new transportation options as they emerge from lockdowns. Some “micromobility” operators which cut back or shut down during the coronavirus lockdowns are now expanding to meet growing demands. Shared mobility operators Lime, Bird, and Ford-owned Spin report robust growth in cities worldwide, despite a near-shutdown of tourism, […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Limpets — those coin-sized, suction-cup critters with conical caps — have had the experts fooled all along. For more than a century, scientists have assumed that their out-sized ability to clamp onto tide-pool rocks in defiance of bare-handed attempts to pry them off was due mostly to muscle power. Some South African limpets, one study showed, could withstand up to 100 kilos (220 pounds) of force. […]
by Dmitry Zaks with Beiyi Seow in Beijing LONDON, United States (AFP) — Britain will start giving seriously ill coronavirus patients a basic steroid treatment hailed as a breakthough to help reduce the global pandemic’s death toll even as worrying new outbreaks surfaced in China and elsewhere. An “extremely severe” cluster of cases in Beijing cast doubt over efforts to get the virus under control although Tuesday’s news from Britain came as a boost after […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — China was pressed Tuesday to show more transparency over its dam operations on the Mekong River, months after downstream water levels hit record lows and threatened millions of livelihoods. Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam all battled severe drought last year as the tide of the river fell to record lows — exposing rocks, killing fish and threatening millions of livelihoods. But the dams along the waterway in China — where the […]
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Diego the giant Galapagos tortoise whose tireless efforts are credited with almost single-handedly saving his once-threatened species, was put out to pasture Monday on his native island after decades of breeding in captivity, Ecuador’s environment minister said. Diego was shipped out from the Galapagos National Park’s breeding program on Santa Cruz to remote and uninhabited Espanola. “We are closing an important chapter” in the management of the park, said the minister […]
LILLE, France (AFP) — A bust of France’s wartime resistance leader and later president Charles de Gaulle has been vandalised in northern France, local officials said Monday, prompting outrage from right-wing politicians. The bust of de Gaulle in the northern town of Hautmont near the Belgian border was splashed with bright orange paint and the back of its pedestal daubed with the slogan “slaver”. The act comes as statues are being toppled and removed globally […]
by Samir TOUNSI Agence France-Presse KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — Overlooking Kinshasa from the seclusion of a presidential garden, the statue of Belgian King Leopold II stares over the Congo River far from the protests and rage targetting colonial figures elsewhere. The monument to the Belgian monarch, who made the Congo his personal fiefdom, stands next to his successor, Albert I, and a statue of British explorer Henry Stanley who founded the city that would become […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Police in London said they arrested more than 100 people on Saturday after far-right protesters holding a counter-demonstration against anti-racism activists clashed with officers. Thousands of people defied the coronavirus restrictions to assemble in and around Parliament Square, in the centre of the capital. That required “major” policing operation the Metropolitan Police Service said, adding that they had encountered “pockets of violence directed towards our officers”. Television footage showed some […]
BORDEAUX, France (AFP) — As statues of slave traders and colonial figures tumble worldwide in a wave of anger against racism, Bordeaux wants to inform the public with a different tactic. Streets named after slave traders in the southwestern French city, known for its red wine but also one with a colonial past, are getting additional information plaques put up but will not be renamed, a local official said. Protesters against police brutality and racism […]
by Tom BARFIELD Agence France-Presse FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany on Wednesday said it aimed to become the world’s “number one” in green hydrogen technology, betting the fuel produced by renewable energy sources can both reduce carbon emissions and stimulate Europe’s top economy. “For reasons related to our competitiveness but above all to reach our ambitious climate goals”, ministers have agreed to pump nine billion euros ($10.2 billion) of government cash into the technology, Economy […]
