diplomacy

UK drugs giant AstraZeneca announces $15 bn investment in China

  • It also plans to invest $50 billion by 2030 on boosting its US manufacturing and research operations.
  • British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said Thursday that it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand its medicines manufacturing and research, during a trip by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Beijing.
  • It also plans to invest $50 billion by 2030 on boosting its US manufacturing and research operations.
British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca said Thursday that it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand its medicines manufacturing and research, during a trip by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Beijing.
AstraZeneca's chief executive Pascal Soriot was part of a delegation of business leaders accompanying Starmer on his visit. 
"China... has become a critical contributor to scientific innovation, advanced manufacturing, and global public health," Soriot said in a statement.
China is AstraZeneca's second-largest market after the United States, where the company has recently invested heavily under pressure from President Donald Trump. 
"This will be our largest investment in China to date," Soriot said at Beijing's opulent Great Hall of the People, a company spokesperson told AFP.
Starmer's visit to China is the first by a British prime minister since 2018, and follows a slew of Western leaders seeking a rapprochement with Beijing as they pivot away from an increasingly unpredictable United States.
"AstraZeneca's expansion and leadership in China will help the British manufacturer continue to grow -- supporting thousands of UK jobs," Starmer said in the statement shared by AstraZeneca.
"Unlocking opportunities for British businesses across the globe... is always the driving force behind my international engagements," he added.
AstraZeneca last year announced plans to invest $2.5 billion in China over five years to fund a strategic research and development centre. 
That announcement came as Leon Wang, former president of AstraZeneca China, was detained in the country in an investigation into suspected illegal data collection and drug imports by the group.
AstraZeneca has operated in China for more than thirty years.

US efforts

Britain's largest drugmaker has been making a recent shift towards the United States, which it hopes will account for half its global revenue by 2030.
AstraZeneca will start trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in February, while keeping its headquarters in the UK and keeping its primary listing on London's top-tier FTSE 100 index.
It also plans to invest $50 billion by 2030 on boosting its US manufacturing and research operations.
That announcement came after the United States in December exempted British pharmaceuticals from import tariffs under a unique deal that sees the UK increase spending on some drugs, including US treatments, by 25 percent.
Separately, the White House has delayed for three years tariffs for AstraZeneca after it agreed to invest in US manufacturing capacity.
The pharmaceutical industry remains a key target of Trump, with drugs tariffs imposed on other countries as he demands companies switch operations to the US. 
mhc-ajb/bcp/js

politics

'Pesticide cocktails' pollute apples across Europe: study

  • But PAN Europe warned of the "cocktail effect," when consumers are exposed to several pesticides simultaneously in a single product.
  • Environmental groups Thursday raised the alarm after finding toxic "pesticide cocktails" in  apples sold across Europe, in a new study highlighting widespread contamination.
  • But PAN Europe warned of the "cocktail effect," when consumers are exposed to several pesticides simultaneously in a single product.
Environmental groups Thursday raised the alarm after finding toxic "pesticide cocktails" in  apples sold across Europe, in a new study highlighting widespread contamination.
PAN Europe, a coalition of NGOs campaigning against pesticide use, had around 60 apples randomly purchased in 13 European countries -- including France, Spain, Italy and Poland -- analysed for chemical residues.
Eighty‑five percent of the samples contained multiple pesticide residues, the organisations said, with some apples showing traces of up to seven different chemicals.
In 71 percent of cases, PAN Europe detected pesticides classed among the most hazardous in the European Union -- so‑called "candidates for substitution" that the bloc aims to phase out as soon as possible.
The analysis also found that 64 percent of samples contained at least one per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, also known as "forever chemicals", which are found throughout the environment and everyday products.
Pesticide residues are permitted in the EU below certain maximum levels. But PAN Europe warned of the "cocktail effect," when consumers are exposed to several pesticides simultaneously in a single product.
Martin Dermine, a senior official at the coalition, criticised the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for assessing pesticides individually rather than the risk from "multiple exposure" to several substances.
"In this report, we show that 85 percent of the apples have multiple residues, and we don't know if they are safe for consumption or not," he said, pointing to potential links with cancer and infertility.
If the same apples were sold as processed baby food, 93 percent of the samples would be banned, PAN Europe said, as their pesticide residues exceed the stricter limits set for children under three.
EU rules are tougher for baby foods to protect early development. PAN Europe advised consumers to buy organic apples or peel conventionally grown ones before eating them.
Along with bananas, apples rank among Europeans' favourite fruits, and are the most widely grown in the EU, particularly in Poland, Italy and France. 
Apples are also among the most heavily treated fruits, with pesticides used in particular to fight apple scab, the main fungal threat to orchards. More than half of the numerous annual treatments carried out on the fruit -- about 35 on average -- target the disease.
adc/ec/del/yad 

sewage

US capital Washington under fire after massive sewage leak

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • Dean Naujoks of the nonprofit Potomac River Keeper Network said that while it was clear that authorities were doing their best to contain the spill, they had failed to adequately convey public-health risks to the public.
  • A nonprofit says authorities in the US capital Washington have failed to properly warn the public about a massive sewage leak into the Potomac River, thought to be among the largest such spills in the nation's history.
  • Dean Naujoks of the nonprofit Potomac River Keeper Network said that while it was clear that authorities were doing their best to contain the spill, they had failed to adequately convey public-health risks to the public.
A nonprofit says authorities in the US capital Washington have failed to properly warn the public about a massive sewage leak into the Potomac River, thought to be among the largest such spills in the nation's history.
A six-foot-wide rupture in an aging line on January 19 released 40 million gallons of raw effluent until January 24, when DC Water, the city's water utility, activated a bypass that channeled the flow through a canal and back into another section of the line.
Overflow is still entering the river, albeit at a reduced rate, as workers try to plug the gap -- efforts that have been hampered by subzero temperatures and one of the worst snowstorms in years, which has yet to be fully cleared days after it passed.
Dean Naujoks of the nonprofit Potomac River Keeper Network said that while it was clear that authorities were doing their best to contain the spill, they had failed to adequately convey public-health risks to the public.
"I've dealt with a lot of sewage spills, but this is definitely the largest I've ever dealt with," he told AFP, adding his organization estimated that 300 million gallons had now entered the river.
That figure is equivalent to around 450 Olympic-sized swimming pools and higher than a reported 230- million gallon spill along the US-Mexico border in 2017.
Sampling by the group found levels of E. coli bacteria at 12,000 times higher than limits set by authorities for human contact, said Naujoks, who added that he returned to the rupture site again on Wednesday to test for other contaminants.
E. coli is a type of bacteria that resides in mammal guts and is considered a proxy indicator for water quality and pollution levels. 
"It's really concerning and yet, we're the only ones doing the sampling," he added.
Public-health agencies typically issue advisories in summer, when people are more likely to recreate in the water, including paddling and fishing. So far, the state of Maryland has activated a shell fish consumption advisory, but the District of Columbia has not taken similar steps.
The Potomac, which flows along Washington's western edge and past its monuments, is both the capital's defining waterway and a major source of drinking water for the region.
The rupture occurred at Lock 10, just upstream of CIA headquarters in neighboring Virginia, creating a foul stench in the surrounding area.
DC Water says there is no impact on drinking water because the Washington Aqueduct's main intake points are upstream of the break.
In an email to AFP, DC Water spokeswoman Sherri Lewis said: "After the overflow is fully contained and the pipe repaired, work will begin to assess the areas where the overflow occurred," adding that the work would be carried out with relevant partner agencies.
She added that the ruptured line was built in the 1960s and that DC Water had scheduled the section for remediation under a $625 million plan, but work had not yet begun.
ia/iv

AI

Google unveils AI tool probing mysteries of human genome

BY BéNéDICTE SALVETAT REY

  • However the tool still represented a "breakthrough" that would allow scientists to "study and simulate the genetic roots of complex disease", Goldstone added. ber/dl/jj
  • Google unveiled an artificial intelligence tool Wednesday that its scientists said would help unravel the mysteries of the human genome -- and could one day lead to new treatments for diseases.
  • However the tool still represented a "breakthrough" that would allow scientists to "study and simulate the genetic roots of complex disease", Goldstone added. ber/dl/jj
Google unveiled an artificial intelligence tool Wednesday that its scientists said would help unravel the mysteries of the human genome -- and could one day lead to new treatments for diseases.
The deep learning model AlphaGenome was hailed by outside researchers as a "breakthrough" that would let scientists study and even simulate the roots of difficult-to-treat genetic diseases.
While the first complete map of the human genome in 2003 "gave us the book of life, reading it remained a challenge", Pushmeet Kohli, vice president of research at Google DeepMind, told journalists. 
"We have the text," he said, which is a sequence of three billion nucleotide pairs represented by the letters A, T, C and G that make up DNA.
However "understanding the grammar of this genome -- what is encoded in our DNA and how it governs life -- is the next critical frontier for research," said Kohli, co-author of a new study in the journal Nature.
Only around two percent of our DNA contains instructions for making proteins, which are the molecules that build and run the body.
The other 98 percent was long dismissed as "junk DNA" as scientists struggled to understand what it was for.
However this "non-coding DNA" is now believed to act like a conductor, directing how genetic information works in each of our cells.
These sequences also contain many variants that have been associated with diseases. It is these sequences that AlphaGenome is aiming to understand.

A million letters

The project is just one part of Google's AI-powered scientific work, which also includes AlphaFold, the winner of 2024's chemistry Nobel.
AlphaGenome's model was trained on data from public projects that measured non-coding DNA across hundreds of different cell and tissue types in humans and mice.  
The tool is able to analyse long DNA sequences then predict how each nucleotide pair will influence different biological processes within the cell.
This includes whether genes start and stop and how much RNA -- molecules which transmit genetic instructions inside cells -- is produced.
Other models already exist that have a similar aim. However they have to compromise, either by analysing far shorter DNA sequences or decreasing how detailed their predictions are, known as resolution. 
DeepMind scientist and lead study author Ziga Avsec said that long sequences -- up to a million DNA letters long -- were "required to understand the full regulatory environment of a single gene".
And the high resolution of the model allows scientists to study the impact of genetic variants by comparing the differences between mutated and non-mutated sequences.
"AlphaGenome can accelerate our understanding of the genome by helping to map where the functional elements are and what their roles are on a molecular level," study co-author Natasha Latysheva said.
The model has already been tested by 3,000 scientists across 160 countries and is open for anyone to use for non-commercial reasons, Google said.
"We hope researchers will extend it with more data," Kohli added.

'Breakthrough'

Ben Lehner, a researcher at Cambridge University who was not involved in developing AlphaGenome but did test it, said the model "does indeed perform very well".
"Identifying the precise differences in our genomes that make us more or less likely to develop thousands of diseases is a key step towards developing better therapeutics," he explained.
However AlphaGenome "is far from perfect and there is still a lot of work to do", he added.
"AI models are only as good as the data used to train them" and the existing data is not very suitable, he said.
Robert Goldstone, head of genomics at the UK's Francis Crick Institute, cautioned that AlphaGenome was "not a magic bullet for all biological questions".
This was partly because "gene expression is influenced by complex environmental factors that the model cannot see", he said.
However the tool still represented a "breakthrough" that would allow scientists to "study and simulate the genetic roots of complex disease", Goldstone added.
ber/dl/jj

patent

Brazil declares acai a national fruit to ward off 'biopiracy'

BY FRAN BLANDY

  • Cases like these drove the law declaring acai a national fruit, first introduced in 2011 and signed earlier this month.
  • Brazil has declared the acai berry a national fruit, a move to stamp its ownership on the popular "superfood" as concerns grow about foreign companies staking claims to the Amazon's biological riches.
  • Cases like these drove the law declaring acai a national fruit, first introduced in 2011 and signed earlier this month.
Brazil has declared the acai berry a national fruit, a move to stamp its ownership on the popular "superfood" as concerns grow about foreign companies staking claims to the Amazon's biological riches.
Acai has been a savory staple in the Amazon for centuries, eaten as a thick paste alongside fish and manioc flour.
The dark purple berry went global in the early 2000s after it was reinvented as a sweet sorbet, often topped with granola and fruit, and marketed for its antioxidant-rich properties.
Acai's active ingredients piqued the interest of food and cosmetic companies worldwide.
In one case cited in parliamentary debates, a Japanese company trademarked the use of the name acai in 2003. It took Brazil four years to cancel the registration.
Cases like these drove the law declaring acai a national fruit, first introduced in 2011 and signed earlier this month.
Brazil's agriculture ministry told AFP the measure helps showcase acai as a "genuinely Brazilian product" that generates income for thousands of Amazonian families.
However, experts say the law is largely symbolic and aimed at highlighting the challenge of growing international interest in a wide range of fruits native to the Amazon.
Brazil is one of several countries increasingly concerned about so-called "biopiracy," the use of genetic resources without permission or benefit-sharing.
The law "helps prioritize the issue on the public agenda," said Bruno Kato, founder of Horta da Terra, a company that develops and markets Amazonian ingredients.

'Enormous' risk

Sheila de Souza Correa de Melo, an intellectual property analyst at Brazil's Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa, who works in the Amazon, told AFP the law was "primarily symbolic and culturally affirming."
Brazil is one of the most biodiverse nations in the world, and a wide range of fruits with unique properties are at "enormous" risk of being used in new products developed and patented abroad, said de Melo.
Kato cited the "emblematic" case of the creamy fruit, cupuacu, which is related to cocoa and used in desserts and cosmetics.
Cupuacu was registered as a trademark by another Japanese company in the late 1990s, which demanded the payment of $10,000 in royalties for any product mentioning "cupuacu" on the label.
It took two decades to overturn the trademark.
Several patents have been filed abroad for specifically developed uses of acai's active ingredients in food and cosmetics, said de Melo.

'Clear rules'

Ana Costa, vice president of sustainability at Brazilian eco-conscious cosmetics giant Natura -- known for its use of Amazonian ingredients such as acai -- told AFP that the law showed the need for "clear rules that guarantee the fair sharing of benefits."
Brazil is a signatory to the 2014 Nagoya Protocol, an international treaty on sharing benefits from genetic resources.
The treaty has run into a major loophole as genetic data has become digitized, and researchers can now merely download a DNA sequence and use it to develop medicine or cosmetics, without physically collecting plants or seeds.
De Melo said the main challenge for Brazil was that raw materials such as acai pulp were often exported to countries which then carry out the research needed to create high-value products.
She said Brazil should focus on investing in research and technological development in the Amazon to generate wealth locally.
fb/sla/mjw

racism

Kanye West blames bipolar disorder amid outrage over antisemitic rants

  • West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
  • Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior -- which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler -- on his bipolar disorder.
  • West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior -- which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler -- on his bipolar disorder.
The disgraced 48-year-old music star, who has lost fans and business deals in recent years because of his racist or antisemitic outbursts, released his song "Heil Hitler" last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
The song has been banned on major music streaming platforms but is easy to find on the internet. Among other punishment it cost West his visa to travel to Australia.
West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
"You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you're seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you're losing your grip entirely," said West, whose achievements include winning 24 Grammy awards.
In his letter entitled "To Those I've Hurt," he said he sometimes has "disconnected moments" that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior, describing such instances as feeling like an out-of-body experience.
"I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change," West said.
"It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people."
In late 2023 West apologized to Jews for having said "I love Nazis."
In 2022 he caused outrage by wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "White Lives Matter," seen as a racist insult to the Black Lives Matter movement, and by attending a dinner with Donald Trump that included the white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes.
rh/pno/dw/mlm

Health

Ethiopia declares end of Marburg outbreak

  • "Ethiopia has officially declared the end of its first-ever Marburg virus disease outbreak following enhanced surveillance with no new confirmed cases.
  • Ethiopia declared the end of an outbreak of Marburg, a virus in the same family as Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
  • "Ethiopia has officially declared the end of its first-ever Marburg virus disease outbreak following enhanced surveillance with no new confirmed cases.
Ethiopia declared the end of an outbreak of Marburg, a virus in the same family as Ebola, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
It was the first recorded outbreak of the virus in Ethiopia, and had claimed nine lives from 14 cases since first detected in mid-November in the town of Jinka, about 430 kilometres (270 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa.
Marburg causes a highly contagious haemorrhagic fever, and is transmitted to humans by certain species of bats before spreading between people, mostly by bodily fluids. Its mortality rate can reach nearly 90 percent.
"Ethiopia has officially declared the end of its first-ever Marburg virus disease outbreak following enhanced surveillance with no new confirmed cases. The outbreak was contained in less than three months through a government-led response supported by WHO," the UN agency posted on X.
Ethiopia is Africa's second-most populous country, with around 130 million inhabitants.
Several countries on the continent have been affected by Marburg outbreaks in recent years, including Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Tanzania.
There is no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment, but rehydration therapies and treatment of specific symptoms increase the chances of survival.
dyg/ayv/er/rbu/jhb

health

WHO chief says reasons US gave for withdrawing 'untrue'

BY NINA LARSON

  • And in a post on X, he added: "Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue."
  • The head of the UN's health agency on Saturday pushed back against Washington's stated reasons for withdrawing from the World Health Organization, dismissing US criticism of the WHO as "untrue".
  • And in a post on X, he added: "Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue."
The head of the UN's health agency on Saturday pushed back against Washington's stated reasons for withdrawing from the World Health Organization, dismissing US criticism of the WHO as "untrue".
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that US announcement this week that it had formally withdrawn from the WHO "makes both the US and the world less safe".
And in a post on X, he added: "Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue."
He insisted: "WHO has always engaged with the US, and all Member States, with full respect for their sovereignty."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a joint statement Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO.
They accused the agency, of numerous "failures during the Covid-19 pandemic" and of acting "repeatedly against the interests of the United States". 
The WHO has not yet confirmed that the US withdrawal has taken effect.

'Trashed and tarnished'

The two US officials said the WHO had "trashed and tarnished" the United States, and had compromised its independence.
"The reverse is true," the WHO said in a statement.
"As we do with every Member State, WHO has always sought to engage with the United States in good faith."
The agency strenuously rejected the accusation from Rubio and Kennedy that its Covid response had "obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives and then concealed those failures".
Kennedy also suggested in a video posted to X Friday that the WHO was responsible for "the Americans who died alone in nursing homes (and) the small businesses that were destroyed by reckless mandates" to wear masks and get vaccinated.
The US withdrawal, he insisted, was about "protecting American sovereignty, and putting US public health back in the hands of the American people".
Tedros warned on X that the statement "contains inaccurate information".
"Throughout the pandemic, WHO acted quickly, shared all information it had rapidly and transparently with the world, and advised Member States on the basis of the best available evidence," the agency said.
"WHO recommended the use of masks, vaccines and physical distancing, but at no stage recommended mask mandates, vaccine mandates or lockdowns," it added.
"We supported sovereign governments to make decisions they believed were in the best interests of their people, but the decisions were theirs."

Withdrawal 'raises issues'

The row came as Washington struggled to dislodge itself from the WHO, a year after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to that effect.
The one-year withdrawal process reached completion on Thursday, but Kennedy and Rubio regretted in their statement that the UN health agency had "not approved our withdrawal and, in fact, claims that we owe it compensation".
WHO has highlighted that when Washington joined the organisation in 1948, it reserved the right to withdraw, as long as it gave one year's notice and had met "its financial obligations to the organisation in full for the current fiscal year".
But Washington has not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, and is behind around $260 million.
"The notification of withdrawal raises issues," WHO said Saturday, adding that the topic would be examined during WHO's Executive Board meeting next month and by the annual World Health Assembly meeting in May.
"We hope the US will return to active participation in WHO in the future," Tedros said Saturday.
"Meanwhile, WHO remains steadfastly committed to working with all countries in pursuit of its core mission and constitutional mandate: the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right for all people."
nl/jj

recall

France probes deaths of two babies after powdered milk recall

  • The potentially contaminated milk has been "withdrawn" from the market, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said.
  • France's health minister on Friday sought to reassure consumers that all suspicious infant formula had been withdrawn, as an investigation began into the deaths of two babies who drank possibly contaminated powdered milk.
  • The potentially contaminated milk has been "withdrawn" from the market, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said.
France's health minister on Friday sought to reassure consumers that all suspicious infant formula had been withdrawn, as an investigation began into the deaths of two babies who drank possibly contaminated powdered milk.
The infant formula industry has been rocked in recent weeks by several firms recalling batches that could be contaminated with cereulide, a toxin that can cause diarrhoea and vomiting.
The potentially contaminated milk has been "withdrawn" from the market, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said.
In particular, Nestle pulled batches of infant milk in several European countries on January 6.
French investigators are looking into the cause of death of two infants who allegedly consumed Nestle milk.
One was a two-week-old who died on January 8 in Bordeaux, southwest France, after drinking milk from the now-recalled batches, a prosecutor in the city said on Thursday.
The second, aged just 27 days, died on December 23 in the western city ofAngers, the local prosecutor said.
The mother contacted the authorities this week, saying her baby had drunk Nestle milk from one of the lots removed from the market.
At this time, there was no established causal link between the formula and their deaths, according to French authorities.
Nestle told AFP on Friday it would cooperate with the probes, adding there was "no evidence" at this stage linking its products to the infant deaths.
In another recall, Danone on Friday said it would "withdraw from targeted markets a very limited number of specific batches of infant formula" to comply with the latest guidance from local food safety authorities.
A source close to the matter said the move followed changes introduced by authorities, notably in Ireland.
Danone later told AFP in a statement it was voluntarily recalling two batches in France as a precaution "in light of new recommendations from a European authority".
It comes after Singapore authorities on Saturday recalled Dumex baby formula, a brand owned by the French food giant.
French group Lactalis on Wednesday also said it was recalling batches in France and other countries over worries they contained cereulide.
Lactalis did not name the supplier behind the tainted ingredient.
Outside France, countries concerned included Australia, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo-Brazzaville, Ecuador, Spain, Madagascar, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Peru, Georgia, Greece, Kuwait, the Czech Republic and Taiwan, a Lactalis spokesperson told AFP.
burs/jxb/jhb

disease

Final report casts doubt on existence of Canada mystery brain illness

BY BEN SIMON

  • A Journal of the American Medical Association study published last year found no evidence of a common mystery disease, either. 
  • A Canadian medical report published Friday found no evidence linking environmental factors to an unusual set of neurological symptoms affecting hundreds of people, a five-year saga that has shaken a small Atlantic province. 
  • A Journal of the American Medical Association study published last year found no evidence of a common mystery disease, either. 
A Canadian medical report published Friday found no evidence linking environmental factors to an unusual set of neurological symptoms affecting hundreds of people, a five-year saga that has shaken a small Atlantic province. 
In 2021, health officials in New Brunswick launched an investigation involving 48 patients with a range of neurological symptoms but no apparent common illness. These included muscle spasms, memory loss, hallucinations and balance issues.
Some in the province of less than a million people began describing the condition as a mystery brain disease.
Provincial officials said at the time that the patient group could be suffering from a new disease not previously seen in Canada and began using the term "possible neurological syndrome of unknown cause."
But the provincial investigations that followed, including the final report released Friday, dismissed claims that there was anything linking the patients other than a reported set of symptoms -- and a single neurologist, named Alier Marrero.  
The first investigation, which concluded in 2022, "found no evidence of a common illness among these patients."  
But in 2023, Marrero reported additional people complaining of neurological symptoms and the patients' stories continued receiving widespread media coverage. 
Marrero said that while the condition could not be diagnosed, he believed the patients had elevated levels of certain substances -- like herbicides or toxic metals -- in their systems, suggesting an environmental cause for the illness.

'Unanswered questions'

New Brunswick launched a new investigation, this time looking at data from 222 patients, about 75 percent of whom lived in or around the city of Moncton. 
A Journal of the American Medical Association study published last year found no evidence of a common mystery disease, either. 
But New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said in May that her government would do what it could to provide patients "the information they need about what's causing these illnesses." 
"There's too many unanswered questions for us to stop the work," Holt said.  
Investigators studied living patients and analyzed autopsies.
The report released Friday would appear to close the case from the government's perspective. 
"We are able to conclude that our investigation found no evidence of a widespread issue among this patient group," the report said. 
"We do not feel that exposure to these substances is a contributing factor to most patients' illness," it added. 
The report also pointed to concerns with Marrero's work. 
"Patients were reported to (the province) as having an undiagnosed illness; however, our findings suggest that it is possible that many patients do have illnesses that can be diagnosed," it said. 
The report also recommended that before a neurological condition is declared "undiagnosed," a patient must be seen by two specialists. 
bs/dw

Health

Pakistan battles legions of fake doctors

BY SAMEER MANDHRO

  • - Dangerously reusing equipment -  Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, said there are "more than 600,000 fake doctors" operating across Pakistan. 
  • Rusted nails hold used infusion tubes on the wall of a clinic run by one among hundreds of thousands of unqualified doctors operating across Pakistan.
  • - Dangerously reusing equipment -  Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, said there are "more than 600,000 fake doctors" operating across Pakistan. 
Rusted nails hold used infusion tubes on the wall of a clinic run by one among hundreds of thousands of unqualified doctors operating across Pakistan.
Dozens of patients visit the small roadside shop each day in the southern Sindh province, where a few chairs are arranged around wooden tables used to lay patients down. 
"These patients have faith in me. They believe I can treat them well," said Abdul Waheed, who opened the facility a few months ago outside Hyderabad city. 
During the day, the 48-year-old works at a private hospital in Hyderabad. In the evenings, he comes to the village of Tando Saeed Khan to see patients at his clinic, charging 300 rupees ($1) per consultation. 
"I have spent so much time in this field. I have worked with several doctors. Thanks to God, I have confidence to diagnose a patient and treat the disease," Waheed told AFP. 
There is no signboard, no registration number, and he has no legal authorisation to practise as a doctor.
Waheed, who has a diploma in homeopathy and has completed a four-year nursing course, speaks with confidence.
After examining two young children, he insisted that patients come to him willingly and trust his abilities.
"No one has questioned me yet. If someone comes, I will see what to do," he said, reflecting the ease with which unqualified individuals practise medicine in Pakistan.
Such unlicensed clinics are often the first, and sometimes the only, point of care for poor communities.
- Dangerously reusing equipment - 
Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, said there are "more than 600,000 fake doctors" operating across Pakistan. 
This nationwide figure has been confirmed by the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC), based on estimates from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.
Calling the practise a public health epidemic, Shoro said that such practitioners work with doctors, learn a few things there, and then open their own clinics. 
"Unqualified doctors don't know the side effects and exact dosage of medicines. If a disease is not properly diagnosed, it can become dangerous," Shoro said. 
"The instruments they use are not sterilised. They simply wash them with water and continue using them. They reuse syringes, which increases the spread of hepatitis and AIDS." 
As AFP journalists visited Tando Saeed Khan, another unqualified doctor immediately closed his clinic and disappeared.
Outside Waheed's shop, villager Ali Ahmed said there are multiple such clinics in the area.
"None of them have qualified doctors. People aren't educated and can't recognise qualified doctors," the 31-year-old told AFP. 

Lifelong damage

Medical experts say this unchecked practise has a direct impact on Pakistan's already strained healthcare system, with tertiary care hospitals overwhelmed by patients whose conditions worsen after improper treatment. 
Khalid Bukhari, the head of Civil Hospital Karachi, said the facility regularly receives such cases from across the country. 
"They misdiagnose and mistreat patients. Our hospital is overloaded. Most of the cases we receive are those ruined by them," said Bukhari, whose public hospital is one of the largest in the country. 
"These people are playing with the lives of poor citizens. If people go to proper doctors and receive precise treatment, they will not need to come to us." 
Regulatory authorities acknowledge their failure to control the problem.  
"We have limited resources. This practise cannot be eliminated easily. If we shut down 25 outlets, 25 new ones open the very next day," said Ahson Qavi Siddiqi, the head of Sindh HealthCare Commission (SHCC).
The commission recently sealed a bungalow in Karachi that had been operating as a hospital -- complete with intensive care units for children and adults -- because it was unregistered. 
"The law against it is weak. We file cases, but the accused get bail the next day because it is a bailable offence," Siddiqi told AFP. 
The official also described serious security threats faced by inspection teams.
"These people are influential in their areas. In many cases, our teams are taken hostage. We are fired upon. I don't have the force to take strong action," the SHCC head said.
Shoro said the practise also financially destroys families who are left with big hospital bills when something goes wrong. 
"Many people die or become disabled, and their families suffer for the rest of their lives."
sma/rsc/ane/abs

health

Trump bruised hand on table, he says of new photos

  • Speculation has swirled about Trump's fitness given his age -- he is the oldest person to take office as president -- the hand bruising, swelling in his legs, and several apparent moments of dozing off during public events.
  • Photographs of fresh bruising on Donald Trump's hand raised eyebrows on Thursday, but the 79-year-old US president dismissed renewed speculation over his health, saying he had simply hit a table.
  • Speculation has swirled about Trump's fitness given his age -- he is the oldest person to take office as president -- the hand bruising, swelling in his legs, and several apparent moments of dozing off during public events.
Photographs of fresh bruising on Donald Trump's hand raised eyebrows on Thursday, but the 79-year-old US president dismissed renewed speculation over his health, saying he had simply hit a table.
Trump has been seen with frequent bruising on his right hand since returning to the White House last year, often concealing it with bandages and makeup.
The White House has said it is due to a combination of frequent handshaking and the aspirin he takes for his cardiovascular health, which can lead to proneness for bruising.
However, photos on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland showed dark bruises in a similar location -- but this time on Trump's left hand.
The images, taken while Trump was at an inaugural ceremony for his global "Board of Peace" initiative, quickly spread on social media.
"I clipped it on the table," Trump told journalists on Air Force One when asked about the bruising, adding: "I would say, take aspirin if you like your heart, but don't take aspirin if you don't want to have a little bruising."
The White House had earlier downplayed any concerns, giving the same explanation for the bruise.
Photos from early in the "Board of Peace" event and yesterday show no bruising on the left hand.
Speculation has swirled about Trump's fitness given his age -- he is the oldest person to take office as president -- the hand bruising, swelling in his legs, and several apparent moments of dozing off during public events.
The administration disclosed last summer that Trump's leg swelling had been diagnosed as a symptom of chronic venous insufficiency -- a common condition in which faulty vein valves allow blood to pool, causing swelling, cramping and skin changes.
It can be managed with medication or targeted procedures.
An unannounced hospital visit last year added to suspicions of secrecy around his health.
Weeks afterward, Trump's doctor said MRI imaging had shown the president to be in "excellent" cardiovascular health.
des-wd/ksb

technology

Musk's Grok created three million sexualized images, research says

BY ANUJ CHOPRA

  • "The data is clear: Elon Musk's Grok is a factory for the production of sexual abuse material," Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of CCDH. "By deploying AI without safeguards, Musk enabled the creation of an estimated 23,000 sexualized images of children in two weeks, and millions more images of adult women." 
  • Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok generated an estimated three million sexualized images of women and children in a matter of days, researchers said Thursday, revealing the scale of the explicit content that sparked a global outcry.
  • "The data is clear: Elon Musk's Grok is a factory for the production of sexual abuse material," Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of CCDH. "By deploying AI without safeguards, Musk enabled the creation of an estimated 23,000 sexualized images of children in two weeks, and millions more images of adult women." 
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok generated an estimated three million sexualized images of women and children in a matter of days, researchers said Thursday, revealing the scale of the explicit content that sparked a global outcry.
The recent rollout of an editing feature on Grok, developed by Musk's startup xAI and integrated into X, allowed users to alter online images of real people with simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."
A flood of lewd deepfakes exploded online, prompting several countries to ban Grok and drawing outrage from regulators and victims.
"The AI tool Grok is estimated to have generated approximately three million sexualized images, including 23,000 that appear to depict children, after the launch of a new image editing feature powered by the tool on X," said the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit watchdog that researches the harmful effects of online disinformation.
CCDH's report estimated that Grok generated this volume of photorealistic images over an 11-day period -- an average rate of 190 per minute.
The report did not say how many images were created without the consent of the people pictured.
It said public figures identified in Grok's sexualized images included American actress Selena Gomez, singers Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj as well as politicians such as Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch and former US vice president Kamala Harris.
"The data is clear: Elon Musk's Grok is a factory for the production of sexual abuse material," Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of CCDH.
"By deploying AI without safeguards, Musk enabled the creation of an estimated 23,000 sexualized images of children in two weeks, and millions more images of adult women." 
There was no immediate comment about the findings from X. When reached by AFP by email, xAI replied with a terse automated response: "Legacy Media Lies."
Last week, following the global outrage, X announced that it would "geoblock the ability" of all Grok and X users to create images of people in "bikinis, underwear, and similar attire" in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.
It was not immediately clear where the tool would be restricted.
The announcement came after California's attorney general launched an investigation into xAI over the sexually explicit material and several countries opened their own probes.
"Belated fixes cannot undo this harm. We must hold Big Tech accountable for giving abusers the power to victimize women and girls at the click of a button," Ahmed said.
Grok's digital undressing spree comes amid growing concerns among tech campaigners over proliferating AI nudification apps.
Last week, the Philippines became the third country to ban Grok, following Southeast Asian neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia, while Britain and France said they would maintain pressure on the company.
On Wednesday, the Philippines's Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said it was ending the short-lived ban after xAI agreed to modify the tool for the local market and eliminate its ability to create "pornographic content."
ac/dw