GUINEA-BISSAU STOPS VACCINE STUDY FUNDED BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. (PHOTO).

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 Guinea-Bissau stops vaccine study funded by Trump administration Guinea-Bissau's foreign minister has said his government has stopped a study funded by the Trump administration aiming to evaluate side effects of the life-saving hepatitis B vaccine, including any links to autism. The West African country, one of the region's poorest, has high rates of hepatitis B, and the prospective study had drawn an outcry from scientists and international health bodies because only half the newborns in the trial would get the vaccine at birth. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said it was not ethical. Guinea-Bissau last month suspended the trial pending an ethical review. Critics had said it was being used to test theories linking vaccines to autism, long promoted by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr but contradicted by scientific evidence. Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo Vieira said in an interview on Tuesday that the study had been closed, citing concer...

ZAMBIA DEPLOYS MILITARY TO CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGAL MINING IN HOTSPOTS. (PHOTO).


 Zambia deploys military to crack down on illegal mining in hotspots


Zambia has approved the deployment of military personnel to counter illegal mining operations in key hotspots across the country, the government said on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reported.


“Cabinet has observed an increase in illegal mining activities involving gold, manganese, copper, sugilite, tin and lithium, mainly exploited by artisanal and small-scale miners,” government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa told reporters in Lusaka, following a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Hakainde Hichilema.


Mweetwa said illegal mining has fuelled smuggling of minerals, environmental pollution and an influx of foreign nationals into the mineral-rich Southern African country.


Zambia has experienced a surge in unregulated mining, particularly in remote areas, with unregistered tenements being exploited for deposits. In some cases, mine collapses have resulted in death or injury due to unsafe mining practices.


Exploitation of local people


“Illegal exploitation of minerals has also brought about exploitation of local people through lower prices for their mineral commodities as opposed to regulated international market prices,” said Mweetwa, who also serves as information and media minister.


He said the cabinet stressed the need to formalise artisanal and small-scale mining by issuing licenses to local communities and encouraging the formation of mining cooperatives to increase local participation in the mineral value chain.

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