The proposed enrollment of thousands of newborns in a hepatitis B trial is “not going to happen,” Guinea Bissau’s foreign minister has said
Guinea-Bissau has stopped a controversial hepatitis B vaccine study funded by the administration of US President Donald Trump after the World Health Organization (WHO) raised ethical concerns about its design.
On Tuesday, the West African country’s foreign minister, Joao Bernardo Vieira, said the government has shut down the trial in response to the concerns.
“It’s not going to happen, period,” he said in an interview, according to Reuters.
The country’s former health minister, Magda Robalo, was a vocal critic of the project. She told the science journal Nature last month that the trial is “not acceptable and it should not go on.”
The study, backed by a $1.6 million grant from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was designed to enroll about 14,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau, where hepatitis B rates are among the highest in the world.....more below
https://www.rt.com/africa/632833-guinea-bissau-cancels-us-funded-vaccine-study/
US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is preparing to leave the Trump administration after what a new report has described as months of tension with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, potentially triggering another change at the army’s top echelons.
According to the Friday report by The Wall Street Journal, Driscoll is expected to step down before the end of the year and could leave his post earlier. The newspaper cited people familiar with discussions over his departure.
The Journal reported that Driscoll and his family vacated the official residence assigned to the army secretary at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this summer, a move that could indicate he was preparing to leave the position.
The reported departure would come at a time of continuing uncertainty at the top echelons of the army.
Hegseth abruptly removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in April, while Trump has not yet nominated a permanent successo....more below
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) warns the enemies that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic will not go unanswered.
In a statement on Thursday, the IRGC issued a “stern warning” to the enemies after US forces launched strikes against the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Following the US military attack on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas Airport with aerial projectiles, the IRGC carried out new strikes targeting the US air base from which the attack originated in the wee hours of Thursday, it added.
“This response is a serious warning to the enemy that they should know the act of aggression will not go unanswered,” the IRGC emphasized.
The elite military force warned of a “more decisive” response if the enemy repeated any act of aggression.
It also said the responsibility for the consequences of any IRGC response lies with the aggressor.
The statement comes after the IRGC Navy on Thursday forced an American tanker to turn back. The tanker ...