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MIAMI —The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two systems in the Atlantic, with chances increasing for development into tropical depressions later in the week. The next names in the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season will be Odette and Peter. 1. Showers and thunderstorms associated with a low pressure area located a few hundred miles
Announcement of the death of former President Rawlings pic.twitter.com/7ext0fp4sd
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) November 12, 2020
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Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, indicating the company is on track later this month to file an emergency use application with U.S. regulators.
\t Monday's announcement doesn't mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections recorded so far in a study that has enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the U.S. and five other countries.
\t Pfizer Inc. did not provide any more details about those cases, and cautioned the initial protection rate might change by the time the study ends. Even revealing such early data is highly unusual.
\t ``We're in a position potentially to be able to offer some hope,'' Dr. Bill Gruber, Pfizer's senior vice president of clinical development, told The Associated Press. ``We're very encouraged.''
\t Authorities have stressed it's unlikely any vaccine will arrive much before the end of the year, and limited initial supplies will be rationed.
\t The shots made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are among 10 possible vaccine candidates in late-stage testing around the world _ four of them so far in huge studies in the U.S. Another U.S. company, Moderna Inc., also has said it hopes to be able to file an application with the Food and Drug Administration later this month.
\t Volunteers in the final-stage studies, and the researchers, don't know who received the real vaccine or a dummy shot. But a week after their second required dose, Pfizer's study began counting the number who developed COVID-19 symptoms and were confirmed to have the coronavirus.
\t Because the study hasn't ended, Gruber couldn't say how many in each group had infections. Doing the math, that would mean almost all the infections counted so far had to have occurred in people who got the dummy shots.
\t Pfizer doesn't plan to stop its study until it records 164 infections among all the volunteers, a number that the FDA has agreed is enough to tell how well the vaccine is working. The agency has made clear that any vaccine must be at least 50% effective.
\t No participant so far has become severely ill, Gruber said. Nor could he provide a breakdown of how many of the infections had occurred in older people, who are at highest risk from COVID-19.
Participants were tested only if they developed symptoms, leaving unanswered whether vaccinated people could get infected but show no symptoms and unknowingly spread the virus.
\t FDA has required that U.S. vaccine candidates be studied in at least 30,000 people. In addition to adequate numbers of older adults, those studies must also include other groups at high risk, including minorities and people with chronic health problems.
\t And it told companies they must track half their participants for side effects for at least two months, the time period when problems typically crop up. Pfizer expects to reach that milestone later this month, but said Monday no serious safety concerns have been reported.
\t
By SETH BORENSTEIN, FREIDA FRISARO and KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Just when you thought it should be safe to go back to the water, the record-setting tropics are going crazy. Again. Tropical Storm Eta is parked off the western coast of Cuba, dumping rain. When it finally moves again, computer models and human forecasters are befuddled about where it will go and how strong it will be. Meanwhile, Subtropical Storm Theta — which formed overnight and broke a record as the 29th named Atlantic storm of the season — is chugging east toward Europe on […]
The post Final weeks of historic hurricane season bring new storms appeared first on Black News Channel.
A Desert Locust Storm
Somalia is seeing a desert locust invasion, the latest in the series of these pest storms that have been overwhelming several other East African countries this year. Exacerbating food shortages amid the unprecedented and already challenging covid-19 pandemic. Abdullahi Ahmed, a Somali camel herder, shares his disconcerting experience with the locust infestation, \"Here we are in the Daynile district. This morning, a large number of locusts invaded and since then they have been eating the grass intended for our livestock, forcing us to beat corrugated iron sheets to disperse them, so we are calling the government to help us fight these locusts.\"
Regional Food Insecurity
Mohamed Abubakar Jafar, Commissioner of Mogadishu's Daynile District, is ready to take action, \"We see that the locusts are destroying the farms and we should fight back against them. That is inevitable.\" Massive efforts have already been made in the region to control the infestation with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations also stepping in to alleviate the food crisis.
[Atlantic Council] Recent events in the Tigray region of Ethiopia have made international headlines. Read as Atlantic Council Africa Center experts react, analyzing what the conflict means for the country and its neighbors:
[This Day] A global alliance, championed by the United States, has committed itself to assist Nigeria and other West African countries to combat terrorism.
WITH 19 days to go before the official end of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, head of the Meteorological Service Evan Thompson has said waterlogged Jamaicans must brace for more hurricane-like conditions up to January 2021.
While not announcing a new estimate for flood damage to roads and other infrastructure on the weekend, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on Tuesday that the new bill could surpass the more than $2 billion originally tabulated after the country was...
[Cameroon Tribune] The platform for IT developers and regulators met for two days in Douala recently.
FORMER GHANAIAN President Jerry Rawlings has died aged 73. Though he was a socialist, he...
The post Jerry Rawlings: Ghana's former president has died appeared first on Voice Online.
'The majority of Black, Brown, Indigenous are going to have to continue to make some noise and some demands.'
Source
Dr Henroy Scarlett of the Jamaica Association of Public Health Inspectors (JAPHI) and The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, is now the president-elect of the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH). The JAPHI said the...
[Nairobi News] Instagram sensation Elsa Majimbo is the 2020 winner of the E! People's Choice Awards in the African Social Star category.
[HRW] Angolan police used live bullets, teargas, and dogs to disperse a peaceful anti-government protest, killing one protester, in the capital, Luanda, on November 11, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. Police severely beat the well-known activists Nito Alves and Laurinda Goveia, who are both in critical condition, and arbitrarily arrested a third activist, Luaty Beirao.
[East African] Foreign investors on Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) turned net sellers in October, withdrawing Ksh1.13 billion ($11.3 million) on increased risk aversion due to a surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths, halting two months of net buying.
Lots of Laughter in Cameroon
Young comedians in Cameroon are steadily gaining both strength and popularity — with social media platforms so far being their primary means of comedic expression.
Nevertheless, the value of direct exchange between performers and the audience provided by in-person standup comedy shows is not lost on this growing trend. Leticia Fotso, a comedy spectator, expresses her enjoyment of the art form, \"I usually see a stand up like this in other countries, in Europe in fact it's a pleasure to attend and to take a time to laugh, to be able to forget everything, it's just wonderful.\"
No More Starving Comedians
Stand up comedy shows showcase local talent as well as confirm the craft as a viable and lucrative career path. Valery Ndongo, comedian and organiser of events at Canal Comedy show, shares his industry insight, \"I've been doing this job for more than 15 years, and in 15 years there have been many other young comedians, there's Major Asse, Ulrich Takam, there's Moustik the Charismatic, there's Markus, there's a plethora of young comedians today who make a living from their art, that is to say, that the public follows. And if the public doesn't follow, it doesn't work because nobody can live from their art.\"
New Heights for a New Era of Comedy
Ndongo seeks to revive the Cameroonian comedy tradition from the 60s and 80s and make it not only more contemporary and professional but also more lucrative for the comedic performers so that local comedians can keep the art form in the country alive while also still making a good living. The comedy visionary and businessman is currently casting young Cameroonian talent for a show he is organising in November. Valery Ndongo reflects on the perception of comedians in Cameroon as he outlines his vision for the evolution of the industry, \"Artists were criticised for being like thugs and dressing anyhow, so we had to marry a style that combines all that, that combines quality work and style, so the stand up is a bit like that. So now with this extra, it's more than stand up, it's something that tries to go as far as possible towards the current events.\"
Laughter is the Best Medicine?
Although the Covid-19 pandemic has put a sanitary strain on live comedy shows, many comedians remain positive about the future of comedy in the country. Alain St Baba, a local artist, affirms that laughter might just what Cameroonians need to get through these unprecedented times, \"The disease doesn't prevent you from smiling, it's very good to be in contact with people, every time it's organised here, the public comes in large numbers, it's just that we need to get back to the atmosphere that prevailed before Coronavirus\".
Indeed, talent, professionalism and public support are what foresee a bright future for comedy in Cameroon.
Standup
Many young people are now participating in stand up comedy shows, an art form in full expansion in Cameroon with the aim of making themselves known. Something that makes professionals such as Valery Ndongo, the pione
By FREIDA FRISARO and KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Tropical Storm Eta was squatting off western Cuba on Tuesday after drifting away from South Florida, where it unleashed a deluge that flooded entire neighborhoods and filled some homes with rising water. The 28th named storm of a record hurricane season was the first this year to make landfall in Florida. And now a 29th named storm has formed over the northern Atlantic: Theta took shape Monday night, eclipsing the record set in 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma struck the Gulf Coast. After striking Nicaragua […]
The post Florida cities mop up after deluge from Tropical Storm Eta appeared first on Black News Channel.
