Live Streaming
Program Highlight
Company Profile
International News (6893)
October
No end in sight to volcanic eruption on Spain's La Palma: Canaries president
Written by nuke
The Cumbre VIeja volcano spews lava and smoke as it continues to erupt on the Canary Island of La Palma, as seen from El Paso, Spain, on Oct 17, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Sergio Perez) -
There is no immediate end in sight to the volcanic eruption that has caused chaos on the Spanish isle of La Palma since it began about a month ago, the president of the Canary Islands said on Sunday (Oct 17).
There were 42 seismic tremors on the island on Sunday, the largest of which measured 4.3, according to the Spanish National Geographical Institute.
"There are no signs that an end of the eruption is imminent even though this is the greatest desire of everyone," President Angel Víctor Torres said at a Socialist party conference in Valencia, citing the view of scientists.
Streams of lava have laid waste to more than 742 hectares of land and destroyed almost 2,000 buildings on La Palma since the volcano started erupting on Sep 19.
About 7,000 people have been evacuated from their homes on the island, which has about 83,000 inhabitants and forms part of the Canary Islands archipelago off northwestern Africa.
All of the 38 flights which were scheduled to arrive or take off from La Palma airport on Sunday were cancelled because of ash from the volcano, state airport operator Aena said, but the airport there remains open//CNA
October
Conservative mayor Marki-Zay wins run-off to challenge Hungary's Orban
Written by nuke
Mayor of Hodmezovasarhely and opposition candidate for prime minister, Peter Marki-Zay addresses participants during a campaign rally during the second round of the Hungarian opposition primaries at Madach Square in Budapest on Oct 10, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Attila Kisbenedek) -
Peter Marki-Zay, a conservative provincial mayor, was chosen as the unified opposition challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at next year's election, after winning a primary vote on Sunday (Oct 17).
Marki-Zay, a practising Catholic and father-of-seven, defeated Klara Dobrev, an MEP with the leftist Democratic Coalition party (DK) by a margin of 57-43 percent in Sunday's second-round run-off.
"We want a new, cleaner, honest Hungary, not just to replace Orban or his party," Marki-Zay told jubiliant supporters in Budapest referring to the nationalist premier's ruling right-wing Fidesz party.
"From now on I support Peter Marki-Zay," Dobrev said during a concession speech, urging opposition unity after a bruising election campaign.
The primary was organised by a six-party opposition alliance formed last year in an effort to combat the mainly first-past-the-post election system that favours Orban and his ruling right-wing Fidesz party.
Hungary's first-ever primary contest, the vote was designed to select just one contender to oppose Orban - as well as single candidates for each constituency to go up against Fidesz in April's elections.
Praising the primary election process, Marki-Zay said it had selected clean candidates nationwide who would be able to get rid of "the most corrupt system in Hungary's thousand-year-old history".
Opinion polls have put the opposition alliance neck-and-neck with Fidesz, and gave Marki-Zay a better chance of defeating Orban than Dobrev.
As a conservative and Catholic "Marki-Zay was the primary winner least wanted by Fidesz," analyst Robert Laszlo told AFP.
"He seems to be capable of attracting new, yet undecided voters without frightening away the liberal-left voter base, Fidesz will be forced now to rewrite their campaign strategy for next year's election," he said.
After the first round of the opposition primaries last month, that saw more than 600,000 people take part, Marki-Zay came third.
But he persuaded the runner-up - liberal Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony, who had been the favourite - to withdraw and endorse him in the run-off against Dobrev.
During the campaign he argued that only he could appeal to both leftist voters and conservatives tired of Orban's often divisive policies, such as anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ drives.
An economist and engineer who lived in the US and Canada for five years, Marki-Zay grabbed national attention in 2018 when he won the mayoralty in the small city of Hodmezovasarhely.
Although the southern city with a population of 44,000 had been a Fidesz stronghold for decades, Marki-Zay rallied cross-party support in what he called the blueprint for opposition success nationwide.
Despite having no party machinery or significant funding, Marki-Zay was also boosted during the primary race by support from younger voters open to his anti-elite and anti-corruption messages.
Dobrev, a vice president of the European Parliament since 2019 who had been hoping to become Hungary's first woman prime minister. She had emphasised her greater experience and accused her rival of "unsuitability" for the top job.
But polls indicated her weakness was her husband. Former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted lying in 2006 during a leaked private speech and has been relentlessly attacked by Orban ever since.
With the backing of DK, Hungary's largest opposition party headed by Gyurcsany, Dobrev, 49, won the primary's first round, but fell short of the outright majority that would have secured her the candidacy without a run-off vote.
Organisers hailed the primaries as an "amazing success", having mobilised over 800,000 voters, almost 10 percent of the electorate in the 9.8 million population EU member.
"That's a lot of people even compared to countries with a long tradition of primaries, unlike Hungary where this has never happened before," Marta V Naszaly, a Budapest district mayor who volunteered to count votes, told AFP Sunday.
"It gives legitimacy. The opposition will have candidates in next year's election who have a chance to change the government," she added//CNA
October
Merck COVID-19 pill sparks calls for access for lower income countries
Written by nuke
An experimental COVID-19 treatment pill called molnupiravir, being developed by Merck & Co and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is seen in this undated handout photo released by Merck & Co. (File photo: Handout via Reuters) -
The plan to roll out Merck & Co's promising antiviral pill to treat COVID-19 risks repeating the inequities of vaccine distribution, potentially leaving the nations with the greatest need once again at the back of the line, international health groups say.
For example, only about 5 per cent of Africa’s population is immunised, creating an urgent need for therapeutics that could keep people out of hospitals. That compares with more than a 70 per cent inoculation rate in most wealthy nations.
Merck on Oct 11 applied for US emergency clearance of the first pill for COVID-19 after it cut hospitalisations and deaths by 50 per cent in a large clinical trial. The medicine, made with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, could gain authorisation as soon as December.
The US drugmaker has taken the unusual pandemic step of licensing several generics of its antiviral molnupiravir before its branded version was even authorised for marketing.
But international health officials said even that is not enough for the medicine to reach many in low- and middle-income countries in large enough numbers, while noting shortcomings and red tape among global organisations that could further slow distribution.
Merck this year plans to produce 10 million treatment courses of the pill, which is taken twice a day for five days, and another 20 million next year.
In addition, its licensing deals with eight Indian drugmakers will allow cheaper generic versions for 109 low- and middle-income countries including in Africa, a move international groups acknowledge is a positive concession.
But as wealthy nations secure molnupiravir supply deals - the United States has already locked up 1.7 million courses with an option for 3.5 million more by January of 2023 at about US$700 per course - concerns grow over who might be left out.
Merck said it has worked on the technology transfer needed to start generic manufacturing, in contrast to vaccine makers who continue to resist calls to waive patents or allow for generic versions to boost supplies.
But a recent report prepared for the United Nations' Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator program tasked with buying COVID-19 therapeutics for poor countries cited concerns that UN agencies were not moving quickly enough to secure adequate volumes of potential new treatments ahead of time, including Merck's drug.
Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a United Nations-backed public health organisation, has 24 companies signed up and willing to make the drug if Merck agrees to expand the licences.
“If you're not in the licence, you're relying on Merck, and it looks to us that that could mean a potential supply shortfall as well as overpricing," said Peter Maybarduk of Public Citizen, who sits on the MPP governance board. He suggested that could lead to wealthy countries outbidding poor nations for the medicine.
It is unclear how many generic pills will be available or when. The licensed Indian manufacturers including Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Hetero Labs, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals declined to provide details on production plans.
In addition, manufacturing for low-income countries in many nations also requires World Health Organization (WHO) approval, a regulatory process that typically takes months.
Merck said it is committed to providing timely access to its drug globally with plans for tiered pricing aligned with a country’s ability to pay. A spokesperson confirmed it is in discussions about expanding licences for generic molnupiravir "to build sufficient global supply of quality-assured product to meet orders globally."
But middle-income countries will be hard pressed to negotiate against the richest nations, another MPP official said.
The governments of Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia said they already had deals or were negotiating supply contracts with Merck. The EU is considering buying the pill after Merck applies for authorisation in Europe.
The eight generic manufacturers chosen by Merck all have WHO pre-qualified facilities to allow them to supply buyers like the Global Fund, according to Paul Schaper, Merck's executive director of global public policy. They will set their pricing and decide how much they plan to manufacture.
“What we are anticipating and hoping for is that they will compete with each other on pricing,” Schaper said//CNA
October
Italy reports 24 new COVID-19 deaths, 2,437 new cases
Written by nuke
A health worker administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a patient in Rome, Italy, on Sep 21, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi) -
Italy reported 24 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday (Oct 17), up from 14 the previous day, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 2,437 from 2,983.
Italy has registered 131,541 deaths linked to COVID-19 since the outbreak in February last year. It has the second highest toll in Europe behind Britain, and the ninth highest in the world.
The number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 2,386 on Sunday, up from 2,371 a day earlier.
The number of patients in intensive care with COVID-19 fell to 349 from 352.
Some 381,051 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the space of 24 hours, compared with a previous 472,535, the health ministry said//CNA
October
UK says it will beef up MPs' security after killing of David Amess
Written by nuke
People hold blue balloons during a vigil for MP David Amess, who was stabbed to death during a meeting with constituents, at the Civic Centre in Southend-on-Sea, Britain, on Oct 16, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Tony O'Brien) -
Britain's interior minister on Sunday (Oct 17) said that security for members of parliament would be beefed up, after a lawmaker was stabbed to death as he held a public meeting with constituents, in the second such attack in five years.
Veteran Conservative MP David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, when he was killed on Friday.
The attack has spread fear among MPs, coming just over five years after the similar killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in the febrile run-up to the Brexit referendum.
Police have said that they are investigating "a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism". The investigation is being led by Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a review of security measures for lawmakers and told Sky News that "we need to close any gaps" in security provision for MPs, whose work includes regular meetings with constituents, called "surgeries".
She said that police and parliamentary authorities were implementing "immediate changes and measures that are actively being put in place, and discussed with MPs".
This includes MPs sharing information on their whereabouts with police. Close protection at surgeries was also "in consideration right now", she added.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that uniformed police were guarding some surgeries following the attack, which prompted calls from some MPs for a pause in face-to-face meetings.
Police said late on Saturday that detectives had until Friday to question the suspected attacker after he was detained under the Terrorism Act, which allowed them to extend his detention.
He has not been charged.
British media, citing unnamed official sources, identified the suspect as Ali Harbi Ali.
Reports said that he was a British national of Somali descent who had been referred to Prevent, the United Kingdom's official counterterrorism scheme for those thought to be at risk of radicalisation.
Ali is not believed to have spent a long time on the programme, which is voluntary, and was never formally a "subject of interest" to MI5, the domestic security agency, said the BBC.
The Prevent programme is currently under independent review.
"We want to ensure (the Prevent programme) is fit for purpose, robust, doing the right thing, but importantly, learning lessons," Patel told Sky News.
Detectives said that they have been carrying out searches at three addresses in the London area in a "fast-paced investigation".
Police and security services believe that the suspected attacker acted alone and was "self-radicalised", the Sunday Times reported, while adding that he may have been inspired by Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in Somalia.
Ali's father, named as Harbi Ali Kullane and said to be a former adviser to the prime minister of Somalia, confirmed to the Sunday Times that his son was in custody, adding: "I'm feeling very traumatised."
Patel nevertheless stressed to the BBC that: "We have the best security and intelligence agencies in the world."
The government stepped up security for MPs following the 2016 murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, 41, who was shot and stabbed outside her constituency meeting near Leeds in northern England.
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle wrote in the Observer that "we need to take stock" and review whether security measures introduced after Cox's murder are "adequate to safeguard members, staff and constituents, especially during surgeries".
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP who tried to save a stabbed police officer during a 2017 terror attack near the Houses of Parliament, on Saturday urged a temporary pause in face-to-face meetings with constituents, until the security review is complete//CNA
October
Pilgrims practise social distancing in the Grand Mosque during the annual Haj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca on Jul 17, 2021. (File photo: Reuters/Saudi Ministry of Media handout) -
The Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia operated at full capacity on Sunday (Oct 17), with worshippers praying shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Workers removed floor markings that guide people to social distance in and around the Grand Mosque, which is built around the Kaaba, the black cubic structure towards which Muslims around the world pray.
"This is in line with the decision to ease precautionary measures and to allow pilgrims and visitors to the Grand Mosque at full capacity," reported the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Pictures and footage on Sunday morning showed people praying side by side, making straight rows of worshippers that are formations revered in performing Muslim prayers, for the first time since the pandemic took hold last year.
While social distancing measures were lifted, the authorities said that visitors must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and must continue to wear masks on mosque grounds.
Also, the Kaaba remained cordoned off and out of reach.
Saudi Arabia announced in August that it will begin accepting vaccinated foreigners wanting to make the umrah pilgrimage.
The umrah can be undertaken at any time and usually draws millions from around the globe, as does the annual Haj, which able-bodied Muslims who have the means must perform at least once in their lifetimes.
In July, only around 60,000 inoculated residents were allowed to take part in a vastly scaled down form of the annual Haj.
The COVID-19 pandemic hugely disrupted both Muslim pilgrimages, which are usually key revenue earners for the kingdom that rake in a combined US$12 billion annually.
Hosting the pilgrimages is a matter of prestige for Saudi rulers, for whom the custodianship of Islam's holiest sites is their most powerful source of political legitimacy.
The once-reclusive kingdom began issuing tourist visas permitting foreign visitors to undertake more than just the pilgrimages for the first time in 2019 as part of an ambitious push to revamp its global image and diversify income.
Between September 2019 and March 2020, it issued 400,000 of them - only for the pandemic to crush that momentum as borders were closed.
But the kingdom is slowly opening up, and has started welcoming vaccinated foreign tourists since Aug 1.
Saudi Arabia also announced that fully inoculated sports fans will from Sunday be allowed to attend events at all stadiums and other sports facilities, reported SPA.
It has also said that masks in most open spaces are no longer mandatory.
Saudi Arabia has registered more than 547,000 COVID-19 cases and 8,760 deaths//CNA
October
The crowds that came out to see actor Gerard Butler in Sparta brought the last torch relay in Greece to a premature end. This time organisers are avoiding the risk -
The Olympic flame will once again be lit in an empty stadium on Monday (Oct 18) as it starts its truncated journey to Beijing for the Winter Games in February.
Like the ceremony in March 2020 to light the flame for Tokyo, and like those Games, which were put back a year, Monday's ceremony is a victim of coronavirus restrictions.
"Due to the situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lighting Ceremony will be held in strict compliance with local health protocols," the Hellenic Olympic Committee announced in September.
The ceremony is conducted at the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia, site of the ancient Greek games from eighth century BC to the fourth century AD.
Clear skies are forecast for 11.30am local time when the flame is due to be lit by the rays of the sun concentrated in a concave.
Priestess Xanthi Georgiou will light the torch from the flames.
Before the pandemic, the flame had been lit behind closed doors once, in 1984, when Greek organisers wanted to protest against the decision of the Los Angeles organisers to accept sponsorship of stretches of the torch relay in the United States.
This time the ceremony will be held in front of an audience limited to the members of the International Olympic Committee, the Greek and Chinese Olympic committees as well as the president of Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and vaccinated members of the media.
While Greek skiers will run the first and last legs, and a Chinese participant will also carry the torch in a brief relay, organisers have decided to skip the usual journey round the country.
"There will be no Torch Relay on Greek soil and following the Lighting Ceremony in Ancient Olympia the Olympic Flame will be transferred to the Acropolis where it will stay overnight," they said on Oct 12.
They said that on the next morning it would be carried to the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, a second-century arena used in both the 1896 and 2004 Games, and handed over to the delegation from Beijing 2022 to be flown to China.
Traditionally, the flame travels hundreds of kilometres round Greece, visiting fifty cities and archaeological sites, relayed by artists and athletes from around the world.
In March 2020, as coronavirus began to spread round Greece, spectators ignored health precautions and flocked to the relay.
It was abandoned on the second day after leaving Olympia in nearby Sparta, where crowds gathered to cheer Greek-American actor Billy Zane, best known for "Titanic", and British actor Gerard Butler, who played King Leonidas of Sparta in the movie "300".
This year the rehearsal on Sunday falls on the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee which is holding ceremonies to celebrate//CNA
October
Czech car sector to make 250,000 fewer vehicles this year due to chip shortage
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: Cars are parked in the courtyard of Skoda Auto's factory in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, as the company restarts production after shutting downdue to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) . Picture taken in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, April 27, 2020. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo -
Czech car makers will produce quarter a million fewer cars than expected this year due to the global shortage of chips and the automotive sector will lose 200 billion crowns (US$9.14 billion) in sales, the Auto Industry Association (AutoSAP) said on Sunday.
AutoSAP said domestic passenger car production dropped by 53.1per cent in September year-on-year, to 56,157 cars.
It said the chip shortage impact would exceed that of pandemic shutdowns last year, and called on the government to activate an aid programme created amid the coronavirus pandemic last year to compensate firms for wages of idled workers.
AutoSAP said production rose 2.9per cent year-on-year cumulatively in the January-September period to 831,653 cars.
"Already since August, production has been significantly affected by output curbs and the September statistic confirms the negative trend," AutoSAP said.
The country's biggest producer, Volkswagen 's Skoda Auto, has said it would significantly limit or shut production at its Czech plants from next week, possibly until the end of the year.
The car sector is the backbone of the highly industrialised Czech economy, employing 180,000 workers, and makes up a quarter of industrial output.
SAP said 120 billion crowns in revenue would be lost at car makers and a further 80 billion at parts suppliers. The 200 billion crowns in revenue equals to about 3.3per cent of the country's expected nominal gross domestic product this year.
The other car makers with assembly plants in the Czech Republic are Hyundai - which has been the least affected by the chip shortage - and Toyota//CNA
October
Pan-African film festival opens in Burkina Faso amid COVID19 and security challenges
Written by nuke
FESPACO, launched in 1969 -
Africa's premier film festival opened in Burkina Faso on Saturday with a colourful ceremony showcasing choreography, and acrobatic and musical acts from some of the continent's biggest names, including Senegalese Grammy nominee Baaba Maal.
The festival initially was planned for February, but was postponed as Burkina Faso battled a surge in coronavirus cases.
"It was important to postpone the festival," Alex Moussa Sawadogo, delegate-general of the festival, said during the opening ceremony, saying it would not have been possible to get the quality of films selected had it been held in February.
Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Kabore, in a post on Twitter, said it was with pride that he gave the opening clap of the 27th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO).
"The holding of this biennial of African cinema, in a dual context of security and health challenges, testifies to the resilience and selflessness of the Burkinabe people," Kabore said.
FESPACO, launched in 1969, is monitored by global industry players who scout the event for new films, productions, talents and ideas.
The 2021 edition will see the participation of the African International Film & TV Market organisation in a dedicated platform aimed at connecting international buyers and outlets with sellers of African contents, promoting transactions and proposing new business models for the sector.
Over 200 films made by Africans and predominantly produced in Africa have been selected from around 1,132 productions for the week-long event.
Seventy films divided into six categories including feature films, short films, documentaries, animated films and school productions are in the official competition.
In the feature films category, 17 are competing, including Nigerian drama "Eyimofe (This is My Desire)," by twin brothers Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, which has received positive reviews and won the 2021 Best Feature Narrative in the Philadelphia BlackStar Film Festival.
Other feature films include Narcise Wandji's "Bendskins" from Cameroon; Mamadou Dia's "Baamum Nafi" from Senegal; Desiree Kahipoko-Meiffret's "The White Line" from Namibia; and Burkina Faso's "The Three Lascars" by Boubakar Diallo.
The festival ends on Oct. 23 with the award of the prestigious Stallion of Yennenga prize for the best film//CNA
October
Melbourne to ease world's longest COVID-19 lockdowns as vaccinations rise
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: People wear protective face masks in the city centre during a lockdown to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sydney, Australia, September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott -
Melbourne, which has spent more time under COVID-19 lockdowns than any other city in the world, is set to lift its stay-at-home orders this week, officials said on Sunday (Oct 17).
By Friday, when some curbs will be lifted, the Australian city of 5 million people will have been under six lockdowns totalling 262 days, or nearly nine months, since March 2020.
Australian and other media say this is the longest in the world, exceeding a 234-day lockdown in Buenos Aires.
While coronavirus cases keep rising in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, the state's double-vaccination rate is set to reach 70 per cent this week, allowing for the ease in restrictions.
"Today is a great day," said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews in announcing the lockdown. "Today is a day when Victorians can be proud of what they have achieved."
When hospitality venues and some businesses reopen, their capacity will remain heavily restricted.
More easing, including the reopening of many retailers, will come once 80 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated - estimated by Nov 5 at the latest.
On Sunday, Victoria recorded 1,838 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths.
Neighbouring New South Wales, which emerged last week from a 100-day lockdown, reported 301 cases and 10 deaths. Eighty percent of the state's people have been fully vaccinated.
Australia, once a champion of a COVID-zero strategy of managing the pandemic, has been moving towards living with the virus through extensive vaccinations, as the Delta variant has proven too transmissible to suppress.
The new strategy makes lockdowns highly unlikely once 80 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. As of the weekend, around 68 per cent of eligible Australians have been fully inoculated.
Australia's health officials said on Sunday that quarantine-free travel from New Zealand's South Island, where there is no outbreak, will resume on Wednesday. The government is also in discussions with Singapore about reopening travel between the two countries for the fully vaccinated.
Despite the rise in cases in recent months, Australia's coronavirus numbers are low compared to many other developed countries, with just over 143,000 cases and 1,530 deaths.
Neighbouring New Zealand, which is also learning to live with COVID-19 by accelerating inoculations, reported 51 new cases on Sunday, 47 of them in the largest city Auckland, which has been in a lockdown since mid-August.
On Saturday, New Zealand vaccinated more than 2.5 per cent of its people as part of a government-led mass vaccination drive//CNA