World News Flash
UNITED STATES
The world’s wealthiest man, give or take a bad stock day against Jeff Bezos, has just claimed one of the world’s premiere social media platforms.
On April 25, Tesla and SpaceX magnate Elon Musk brokered a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. At $54.20 a share, the transaction is one of the largest ever to acquire a publicly traded company to take it private.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement.
The deal comes days after the company implemented a “poison pill” tactic to flood the market with enough shares to make buying the company through a hostile takeover highly difficult. However, Musk’s net worth is north of $240 billion, and while he secured over $25 billion in debt financing, that was more of a move to protect the stock prices of SpaceX and Tesla, as investors in those companies do not have to fear the leader losing a bunch of stock in his existing companies.
For what it’s worth, upon the news of Musk buying the company, stock in Twitter went up six percent. However, Tesla stock tumbled $125 billion, costing Musk $30 billion in net worth.
There is no word as to whether or not former President Donald Trump – or whether other banned users – will be allowed back on the platform. Also, there is no word on whether or not Musk will keep the platform free to use, or put it behind a paywall.
WORLD
A NEW TOOL IN THE COVID FIGHT
A highly successful COVID-19 therapy must be made available to more people, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, calling for wider distribution and greater transparency surrounding its pricing.
WHO announced on April 22 in Geneva that it has strongly recommended use of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, sold under the name Paxlovid, for mild and moderate COVID-19 patients at the highest risk of hospital admission.
The oral antiretroviral drug was developed by Pfizer and is “the best therapeutic choice for high-risk patients to date,” the UN agency said.
“However, availability, lack of price transparency in bilateral deals made by the producer, and the need for prompt and accurate testing before administering it, are turning this life-saving medicine into a major challenge for low- and middle-income countries.”
Paxlovid is strongly recommended for patients with non-severe COVID-19 who are at the highest risk of developing severe disease and hospitalization, such as unvaccinated, older, or immunosuppressed persons.
The recommendation is based on new data from two randomized controlled trials involving more than 3,000 patients. Risk of hospitalization was reduced by 85 percent. In a high-risk group, that means 84 fewer hospitalizations per 1,000 patients.
Use for patients at lower risk is not recommended as the benefits were found to be negligible.
One obstacle for low- and middle-income countries is that the medicine can only be administered while the disease is at its early stages, making prompt and accurate testing essential for successful outcomes.
“Improving access to early testing and diagnosis in primary health care settings will be key for the global rollout of this treatment,” WHO said.
The UN agency also feared that when it comes to access, poorer countries “will again be pushed to the end of the queue” as occurred with COVID-19 vaccines.
Several companies, many of which are covered by the licensing agreement, are in discussions with WHO Prequalification but may take some time to comply with international standards so that they can supply the medicine internationally.
WHO has strongly recommended that Pfizer make its pricing and deals more transparent. The pharmaceutical giant was also urged to enlarge the geographical scope of the licensing agreement so that more generic manufacturers can produce the medicine and make it available faster at affordable prices.
In other developments, WHO has also updated its recommendation on another antiviral medicine, remdesivir, suggesting that it can be used in mild or moderate COVID-19 patients who are at risk of hospitalization.
Recommendation for use in patients with severe or critical COVID-19 is under review.
AFRICA
FEARS OF ANOTHER EBOLA OUTBREAK
The health authorities of the African nation declared a new outbreak of Ebola after a case was confirmed in Mbandaka, a city in the north-western Equateur Province, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on April 23.
The infected patient was a 31-year-old man who began experiencing symptoms on April 5 and after more than a week of care at home, sought treatment at a local health facility.
On April 21, he was admitted to an Ebola treatment center for intensive care but died later that day. Having recognized the symptoms, health workers immediately submitted samples to test for Ebola virus disease, WHO explained.
So far, just one case has been confirmed and investigations to determine the source of the outbreak are ongoing.
“Time is not on our side,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up. The positive news is that health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have more experience than anyone else in the world at controlling Ebola outbreaks quickly,” he added.
There have been fourteenth Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1976. The new outbreak is the sixth one since 2018 – the most frequent occurrence in the country’s Ebola history, according to the UN health agency.
Previous outbreaks in Equateur Province were in 2020 and 2018, with 130 and 54 recorded cases respectively.
WHO informed that the deceased patient received a safe and dignified burial, which involves modifying traditional funeral ceremonies to minimize the risk of contagious fluids infecting attendees.
Health authorities are also identifying contacts to monitor their health and disinfected the health facility where the patient was treated.
Moreover, plans to kick off vaccination in the coming days are underway with stockpiles of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine already available in the cities of Goma and Kinshasa.
“Vaccines will be sent to Mbandaka and administered through ‘ring vaccination strategy – where contacts and contacts of contacts are vaccinated to curb the spread of the virus and protect lives”, WHO highlighted.
“Many people in Mbandaka are already vaccinated against Ebola, which should help reduce the impact of the disease,” added Dr. Moeti. “All those who were vaccinated during the 2020 outbreak will be revaccinated.”
EUROPE
BRITS SPARED INSURANCE HIKE
British motorists will be spared a possible £50 annual insurance hike, as the government continues to assist with cost-of-living pressures and uses post-Brexit freedoms to scrap a controversial EU law.
A bill to scrap the EU’s Vnuk motor insurance law has passed through Parliament April 25 and will go on to receive royal assent to confirm changes in the law.
The EU law could have required a wider range of vehicles beyond cars and motorbikes to have motor insurance, such as golf buggies, mobility scooters and quad bikes.
It would have extended to vehicles on private land, meaning even people with a ride-on lawnmower at home would have potentially required motor insurance. However, other insurance options are already available to people who need cover on their private land, such as farmers.
Not implementing the law will prevent an almost £2 billion hike for the country’s insurance industry, which would have translated into a potential increase in individual insurance premiums of around £50 per motorist per year.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Sacking this nonsensical EU rule will protect the pockets of hard-working British people as we continue to help ease cost of living pressures.
“This is another Brexit win and I’m delighted this bill has rightfully passed through Parliament, saving billions of pounds of additional insurance costs and protecting our world-leading motorsports sector.”
The bill was introduced to Parliament by Peter Bone MP, who said: “I am delighted that Brexit has allowed me to promote a bill that could save the average motorist £50 per year.”
Vnuk would have also covered motorsports collisions, potentially involving vehicles from go-karting to Formula One, which would have been treated as regular road traffic incidents requiring insurance.
This could have decimated the motorsports industry due to additional insurance costs of roughly £458 million every single year. Scrapping Vnuk will therefore save the world-leading sector from potential collapse and secure hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.
In addition to the likely financial burden on British road users, the Vnuk rules are considered unnecessary as there are already insurance packages available to Brits that cover certain risks on private land.
Motor insurance will still be required for any vehicles being driven on roads or other public places. However, the removal of Vnuk means insurance for vehicles used on private land is not needed.
