RadioRob

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sara Bareilles, Josh Groban and members of almost every current Broadway company honoured Stephen Sondheim with a special performance in New York’s Times Square on Sunday (28.11.21). The legendary composer – who was behind musicals such as ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Gypsy’ – died on Friday (26.11.2021) at the age of 91 and stars of the stage, as well as fans, got together to celebrate his life with a touching rendition of his song ‘Sunday’ from ‘Sunday in the Park with George.’ ‘Waitress’ star Sara told Variety: “This felt like church. In his remembrance, we did what theatre does best. We sang and raised our voices and came together in community.” During the event, Lin-Manuel offered a speech, by reading out from Sondheim’s annotated anthology ‘Look I Made a Hat’, where he detailed the song that would go on to be sung in his memory. He read: “Once during the writing of each show, I cry at a notion, a word, a chord, a melodic idea, an accompaniment figure. “In [‘Sunday in the Park with George’], it was the word ‘forever’ in ‘Sunday. I was suddenly moved by the contemplation of what these people would have thought if they’d know they were being immortalised.” Following his comments, the ‘Hamilton’ composer and the chorus got to perform the song one final time, joined by actors, directors and crew members from across the Broadway community. Singer Josh – who starred in the musical ‘Chess’ – was among the stars quick to pay tribute to Sondheim and explained the meaning behind the song that has been dedicated to his memory. He said: “Everybody who’s here has a touchstone for why Sondheim’s music has brought them to this place. And whatever part of the entertainment industry we’re in, everybody is here because we were first influenced by Sondheim’s music. To mourn his passing is a crushing blow. ‘Sunday,’ is about capturing moments and holding on to them while we have them, even the ones that might seem ordinary. It’s a song about gratitude, about making sure to hold each other close.” During his lifetime, Sondheim – who also composed other hits such as ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Into the Woods’ – received nine Tony Awards, eight Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English George Clooney thinks the #MeToo movement has stopped people “being a jerk at work”. The ‘Tender Bar’ filmmaker has reflected on the Harvey Weinstein scandal and thinks not only are there now more measures in place to protect women from predatory man in the workplace, there is also a general acceptance that certain behaviours from people in power are no longer acceptable. Asked how much has changed since Weinstein was accused of sexual assault and rape in 2017, kicking off the #MeToo campaign, he said: “It’s changed in this way.. On top of the terrible things Weinstein did, being a jerk at work is now not OK. “Just because you’re a boss, it doesn’t mean you get to s*** on people. I’ve been the boss and the guy being s*** on. You can’t get away with being a d*** any more — you’d get ratted out. “Now there’s sometimes an overcorrection, where everyone points fingers, but that will settle. It always does. “And I can’t imagine some producer having a casting session alone in his hotel room with a young girl any more. It’s moving in the right direction.” Although George – who has twins Alexander and Ella, four, with wife Amal – thinks there are still changes needed in the film industry, he is unsure what until people speak out about wrongdoing. Asked what still needs to happen, he told the Sunday Times Culture magazine: “We’ll know when we see how wrong something else goes. I’m sure there’s more and someone will tell us, then we’ll have to pay attention to it.” The former ‘E.R.’ star turned 60 in May and although it was a “bummer” to hit the milestone, he’s grateful to still be alive and wants to fit in as much as he is able to before he hits 80. He said: “Turning 60 is a bummer. But it’s that or dead… “I said to Amal, knock on wood, I’m healthy. I still play basketball with the younger gang. I feel good. But in 20 years I’m 80 — and 80 is a real number. I said the next 20 years are halcyon and we need to celebrate that, we should focus on the work we do being just the stuff we have to, that we feel in our chest.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK (Reuters) – The number of S&P 500 companies that have either stopped political giving or plan to disclose it hit a record in 2021 after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and recent social justice protests, according to a study viewed by Reuters. According to the study from the Center for Political Accountability, U.S. companies see new risks in political giving in light of the country’s hyper-partisan environment, leading corporations to either halt contributions or disclose them. The center advocates for corporate transparency. “Unrest and angry political conflict have defined the past two years,” according to the study, which cited as examples the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, the two-time impeachment of former President Donald Trump and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “In these explosive times, companies are taking action. “They’ve adopted political spending policies to avoid or mitigate heightened risk,” according to the study. Political spending came under closer scrutiny earlier this year after a raft of major companies suspended contributions to lawmakers who voted against President Joe Biden’s election certification. [L1N2JN2ZQ] At the same time, some companies, such as Delta Air Lines Inc, are becoming outspoken on social and political issues, including voting rights. [L1N2OP2UL] The new study found that 370 companies disclose some or all of their political spending, or ban at least one type of it, such as contributions to trade associations. That figure is up from 332 companies last year. [L1N2H31BW] The Center for Political Accountability considers disclosure or outright banning of political giving a mark of top flight corporate governance policy, said Bruce Freed, the group’s president. The study found that one of the biggest changes over the past six years among companies related to so-called “dark money” groups, which are tax-exempt organizations that influence politics. There was nearly a 100% increase from 2015 to 2021 in the number of companies who prohibit or disclose contributions to those organizations. Intel Corp was highlighted by the study for adopting a corporate political contribution policy stating that the chipmaker reviews recipients’ voting records and public statements, and that it will communicate directly with them. The study also highlighted videogame maker Activision Blizzard Inc and artificial intelligence computing company NVIDIA Corp, among others, for improving their policies by prohibiting payments to the “dark money” groups. (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) View the full article

Published by AFP Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said his company has already begun testing a new vaccine formula specifically targeted at the Omicron variant of Covid-19 New York (AFP) – Pfizer has already started working on a version of its Covid-19 vaccine specifically targeting the Omicron variant in case the current inoculation is not effective against the new strain, the US drugmaker’s CEO Albert Bourla said Monday. Bourla told CNBC that his company on Friday began testing the current vaccine against the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and reignited fears of a global wave of Covid-19 infections. “I don’t think the result will be the vaccines don’t protect,” Bourla said. But the testing could show that existing shots “protect less,” which means “that we need to create a new vaccine,” Bourla said. “Friday we made our first DNA template, which is the first possible inflection of the development process of a new vaccine,” he said. Bourla likened the situation to the scenario earlier this year when Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech developed a vaccine in 95 days when there were concerns the previous formula would not work against Delta, though that version ultimately was not used. The current vaccine is “very effective” against Delta, the executive said, adding that the companies expect to be able to produce four billion vaccine doses in 2022. On Monday, the World Health Organization warned the new Covid-19 Omicron variant poses a “very high” risk globally. Bourla said he was also “very confident” that Pfizer’s recently unveiled antiviral pill would work as a treatment for infections caused by the mutations, including Omicron. Among newly-infected, high risk patients treated within three days of the onset of symptoms, Pfizer’s pill has been shown to cut hospitalization or death by nearly 90 percent. View the full article

Published by AFP Merriam-Webster said that the development of messenger RNA vaccines required the US dictionary to expand its definition of the word 'vaccine' Washington (AFP) – The American dictionary of reference Merriam-Webster on Monday revealed “vaccine” to be its word of the year for 2021, reflecting both the hopes and deep divisions sparked by vaccination as the world wrestled with year two of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The word vaccine was about much more than medicine in 2021,” the dictionary — which based its decision on surging interest in the term’s definition — said in a post on its website. “For many, the word symbolized a possible return to the lives we led before the pandemic. But it was also at the center of debates about personal choice, political affiliation, professional regulations, school safety, healthcare inequality, and so much more.” Merriam-Webster said the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines required it to expand its definition of the word “vaccine,” because the technology triggers an immune response by telling human cells to create antigens, versus classic vaccines, which inject a neutralized form of a virus or antigens. The word “vaccine” saw a 601 percent increase in definition lookups over the year, compared to 2020. But “the prominence of the word vaccine in our lives… becomes even more starkly clear when we compare 2021 to 2019, a period in which lookups for the word increased 1048%,” Merriam-Webster said. Vaccines are back in the spotlight once again after the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant, prompting renewed appeals for people in the developed world to get vaccinated or boosted against the virus — and for vaccines to be made more widely available across the developing world. The World Health Organization has listed the Omicron strain as a “variant of concern,” and countries around the world are now restricting travel from southern Africa, where the new strain was first detected, and taking other new precautions. In the United States, top government scientist Anthony Fauci on Monday urged everyone eligible to get a Covid-19 vaccine to help protect against severe disease. “A variant like this, although there’s a lot we don’t know about it, one thing we do know is that vaccinated people do much, much better than unvaccinated people,” he said. “I would strongly suggest you get boosted now.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) -A jury was selected on Monday morning in the sex-abuse trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls for late financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse. U.S. prosecutors have said that between 1994 and 2004, Maxwell – a former employee and romantic partner of Epstein’s – gained the girls’ trust by taking them to movies, sending them gifts such as lingerie and discussing sexual topics, according to a 2021 indictment. Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of sex trafficking and other crimes, including two counts of perjury that will be tried at a later date. The British socialite, who appeared in court wearing a white face mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic, faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Twelve jurors and six alternates were selected on Monday to hear the case, which is expected to last six weeks. Opening statements are set to begin later Monday. After the group was selected, one juror said their employer would only give them two weeks of paid leave, and another said their spouse had surprised them with a trip that would conflict with a part of the trial. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan said she would speak with the latter juror as well as the former juror’s employer to determine how to move forward. Nathan had earlier excused one prospective juror who said his co-workers had figured out that he might serve on Maxwell’s jury, and had expressed “adamant and passionate” opinions about the case to him. NO FISH LEFT TO FRY Maxwell’s lawyers have said that prosecutors, unable to convict Epstein, are using the daughter of late British media magnate Robert Maxwell, as a scapegoat https://www.reuters.com/world/maxwell-challenge-accusers-seek-distance-epstein-sex-abuse-trial-2021-11-23. Epstein died by suicide at 66 in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex-abuse allegations. “Left with no fish to attempt to fry, the government belatedly turned to Ms. Maxwell,” her lawyers wrote in a Feb. 4 filing. Maxwell’s trial comes in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which has encouraged victims of sexual abuse to speak out against powerful men such as movie producer Harvey Weinstein and R&B singer R. Kelly accused of misconduct. The case against Maxwell stands out in part because she is a woman. Prosecutors say Maxwell encouraged the girls to massage Epstein while the girls were fully or partially nude. In some cases, Epstein or Maxwell would pay them cash or offer to pay for their travel or education, and Epstein sometimes masturbated or touched the girls’ genitals during the massages, prosecutors said. “Victims were made to feel indebted and believed that Maxwell and Epstein were trying to help them,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment. In some instances, Maxwell “was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims,” they said. Maxwell’s lawyers have indicated that they will question the credibility of the four alleged victims by asking why they waited to come forward and arguing that they have financial incentives to lie or exaggerate. “Any accuser who testifies that Ms. Maxwell participated in sex abuse or sex trafficking is not telling the truth,” Maxwell’s lawyers wrote in court papers. One woman was motivated by a “desire for cash,” they said in a separate filing. A defense expert witness – the prominent psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, who testified for the defense in the rape trial of movie producer Harvey Weinstein and the murder trial of real estate heir Robert Durst – is expected to testify about how people can be manipulated into having “false memories.” Some legal experts say the strategy is risky https://www.reuters.com/world/maxwell-challenge-accusers-seek-distance-epstein-sex-abuse-trial-2021-11-23 in the post #MeToo era, and that prosecutors would not have charged Maxwell unless they were confident the accusers’ testimonies would withstand scrutiny. “Victim shaming … doesn’t work especially now in 2021, and it usually hurts you,” said Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a New York defense attorney who specializes in sex crimes cases. (Reporting by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld in New York; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell, Will Dunham and Mark Porter) View the full article

Published by AFP A picture of former US President Donald Trump hangs on a tree in the State Dining room during a press preview of the White House holiday decorations Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump has made it back into the White House — at least in the form of a picture hanging on the Bidens’ Christmas tree unveiled Monday. It’s no exaggeration to say there’s bad blood between the Trumps and Bidens, largely because Trump continues to push his unprecedented attempt to persuade Americans that Joe Biden didn’t really beat him in the 2020 presidential election. But First Lady Jill Biden’s “Gifts from the Heart” theme for this year’s Christmas decorations is delivering seasonal goodwill. A gold-framed photo of Trump and his wife Melania hangs on the tree in the State Dining Room, along with snaps of the Obamas, the families of both presidents Bush, the Reagans and the Carters. Democrats Bill and Hillary Clinton also get a place on the presidential family tree. More photos of former first families, again including Trump, decorate a hallway. Hanging on another wall are framed holiday greetings cards from Biden, Obama and Trump. The Christmas truce of sorts contrasts with the bitter relationship between the Trumps and Bidens. After Biden’s victory, Donald and Melania Trump scratched the longstanding traditional invitation to tea that outgoing presidents and first ladies extend to their replacements. In another disruption to the more genteel customs of the White House, Trump never hosted his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama for an official portrait unveiling. The Republican has also yet to have his own portrait hung up in Biden’s White House. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Marvel’s ‘Blade’ movie is set to start filming in summer 2022. According to the industry magazine Production Weekly, the movie – starring Mahershala Ali – will start shooting in late summer 2022 in Atlanta. Blade first appeared in Marvel comics in 1973. He is a human-vampire hybrid as his mother was bit and killed by the blood-sucking monsters during childbirth. The character was played by Wesley Snipes in three movies between 1998 and 2004 and Marvel boss Kevin Feige previously explained that he had been desperate to revive Blade in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He said: “We have, for years, wanted to find a new way into Blade. We love that character. We love that world. “Now with Doctor Strange and the supernatural elements coming into the MCU, it felt like we could definitely start exploring that. “Mahershala wanted to come in and meet with us, and when Mahershala Ali wants to meet, you take the meeting. “I think he had just come off of his second Academy Award, and we were talking very polite and he was talking about what a fan he is. And then he just cut right to it and was like ‘Blade.’ And we were like, ‘Yes.'” Meanwhile, Bassam Tariq has revealed his ‘Blade’ film isn’t “as boxed in” to the comics as other Marvel movies. The director – who signed up to helm the project in July – hinted about what fans can expect from the movie, and he revealed he is putting “character first”. He said: “What’s so great is it’s not as boxed in as I think people imagine it to be, which I thought it was. “But it’s quite exciting, and I think the reality is there is no ‘Blade’ canon. In some comics, his name is Fred H. Blade, you know, instead of Eric Brooks. “Unfortunately, the runs never lasted that long, and there have been some interesting and exciting waves. But I can say [the new movie is] character first.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Apple is looking to launch an augmented reality (AR) headset next year. The tech giants are reportedly set to release their first AR headset in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a research note from analyst Ming-chi Kuo seen by MacRumors and 9to5Mac. The analyst had previously predicted back in March this year that the headset would be released in 2022, but Kuo now has more technical information on the device. According to Kuo, the headset will have two processors, one with “the same level of computing power as M1” and one lower-end chip to handle input from the various sensors. Kuo says that the headset has “at least 6-8 optical modules to simultaneously provide continuous video see-through AR services”, and the headset is also said to have two 4K OLED microdisplays from Sony. The analyst also states the headset will be a standalone platform, and claimed that being able to work without an iPhone or a Mac to support it will make it a more viable product to consumers. Kuo wrote: “If the AR headset is positioned only as an accessory for the Mac or iPhone, it will not be conducive to the growth of the product. An AR headset that works independently means that it will have its own ecosystem and provide the most complete and flexible user experience.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sir Elton John loves playing board games with his sons at home. The 74-year-old music icon is one of the biggest stars in the world, but his husband David Furnish has said he puts his stardom to one side when he’s at home with their two sons, Zachary, 10, and Elijah, eight. And David says Elton loves nothing more than playing card games and board games with the family. He said: “I think one of the reasons why our sons are so grounded at the moment is that their daddy comes home from being Elton John and he’s just Daddy. “He doesn’t bring that into the household. He wants to know who won the football, he wants to play a game of Uno or snakes and ladders.” David, 59, also gave fans an update on the ‘Tiny Dancer’ hitmaker’s health after his hip replacement last month. He added: “He’s doing really well; it was a big success. He’s feeling better almost immediately in his hip and in himself, and he’s embarked on an ambitious programme of rehab and recovery, which is great, and going very well. “He’s actually really enjoying it and he’s making terrific progress.” The filmmaker said Elton has been spending plenty of time on FaceTime recently contacting his famous pals – and he never tells them when he’s calling. Speaking to Gaby Roslin on her ‘That Gaby Roslin’ podcast, David said: “He’s become obsessed with FaceTime. He just FaceTimes the world all the time. He doesn’t give people the advance notice to say, ‘I’m going to FaceTime you,’ and the look on people’s faces when they randomly get these FaceTime calls from him [is priceless].” Elton John Daddy on Towleroad Far From Meta-verse Apple Looks Keen to Launch Their AR Headset in 2022 As Totally New Product More Tom Ford ‘deeply sad’ after seeing House of Gucci, “Rivals the nighttime soap ‘Dynasty’ for subtlety”; More Lindsay Lohan Announces She’s Engaged To Her Longtime Boyfriend More New Covid variant shuts borders across the globe More Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Son Joseph Baena Is A Dead Ringer For His Father, Flaunts Rock Hard Abs While Filming A Movie More Republican lawmaker Boebert apologizes for anti-Muslim slur More Josephine Baker to be first black woman immortalised in France’s Pantheon More Explainer-How worried should we be about the Omicron variant? More Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim, whose work transformed musical theater, dead at 91 More U.S. issues ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory for eight African countries More President Biden getting updates on Omicron variant -White House More Load More View the full article

House of Gucci Tom Ford on Towleroad Lindsay Lohan Announces She’s Engaged To Her Longtime Boyfriend More New Covid variant shuts borders across the globe More Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Son Joseph Baena Is A Dead Ringer For His Father, Flaunts Rock Hard Abs While Filming A Movie More Republican lawmaker Boebert apologizes for anti-Muslim slur More Josephine Baker to be first black woman immortalised in France’s Pantheon More Explainer-How worried should we be about the Omicron variant? More Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim, whose work transformed musical theater, dead at 91 More U.S. issues ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory for eight African countries More President Biden getting updates on Omicron variant -White House More Tom Daley Knitting Kits Launch Under The Olympian’s Made With Love Brand. Knit a Hat, Vest, Sweater — With or Without Wild Flamingos More Laverne Cox confirms she’s got a boyfriend who she ‘met on Tinder’ More Load More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Lindsay Lohan shared a beautiful post on her Instagram announcing her engagement to longtime boyfriend Bader Shammas. The movie star posted a few adorable pictures of her and her fiancé, as she revealed the exciting news to her 9.7 million followers. MEGA The 35-year-old actress wrote in the caption, “My love. My life. My Family. My Future. @bader.shammas #love” accompanied by the ring emoji. The Sun reported earlier this year the Mean Girls star had fallen madly in love with her boyfriend. An insider told the outlet, “Lindsay’s relationship with Bader (Shammas) is going strong. She has been with him for about two years now.” The source also explained that Shammas is a stable guy with a steady job, and they were likely to tie the knot soon. “He is a legitimate guy,” the informant added. “He’s not an actor. He’s not in the entertainment industry. He manages funds for high-net-worth people at Credit Suisse. They’ll get married at some point. She’s 34. It’s just a matter of time.” Lindsay currently resides in Dubai, although she came back to the US last month after accepting an acting gig with Netflix. Sources shared she had taken her life back on track both personally and professionally. “She’s doing amazing, and this return to acting is great for her,” the source explained. “This will be a launching pad for her career.” MEGA The Parent Trap actress is currently filming a Christmas movie, directed by Janeen Damian and written by Michael Damian, Jeff Bonnett, and Ron Oliver. In the rom-com produced by Netflix, she plays the character of a “newly engaged, spoiled hotel heiress” who gets amnesia in a skiing accident where she “finds herself in the care of a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter in the days leading up to Christmas.” The film is scheduled to be aired during the holiday season next year though Netflix already released the preview of the movie last week. In the first look, she was seen in great spirits while holding hands with co-star Chord Overstreet. MEGA Previously, theHerbie Fully Loaded actress was reportedly engaged to Russian businessman Egor Tarabasov while living in the UK. However, the former couple parted ways after multiple arguments, including a violent altercation caught on camera in Mykonos. At the time, she admitted, “I realize now you can’t stay in a relationship just for love. No woman can be hit and stay with that person if that person isn’t prepared to say sorry.” View the full article

Published by AFP Israel announced some of the strictest curbs, closing the borders to all foreigners The Hague (AFP) – A new, heavily mutated Covid-19 variant spread across the globe on Sunday, shutting borders and renewing curbs as the EU chief said governments faced a “race against time” to understand the strain. Indonesia announced similar entry restrictions on Sunday and Angola became the first southern African country to suspend all flights from its regional neighbours Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. Dubbed Omicron, the strain has cast doubt on global efforts to battle the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past. “We know we are now in a race against time,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, adding that vaccine manufacturers needed two to three weeks “to get a full picture of the quality of the mutations”. Dutch health authorities said they had identified at least 13 cases of Omicron among 61 quarantined passengers who tested positive for coronavirus after arriving from South Africa. “The investigation has not yet been completed. The new variant may be found in more test samples,” the National Institute for Public Health warned. Despite the alarm, in Austria tens of thousands rallied to protest against the government’s introduction of compulsory vaccination — the first EU country to do so. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said it was “a minor interference” compared to the alternative for a country with one of the lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe. With many European nations, including Germany and France, already bringing back curbs to counter surges in infections, Swiss voters firmly backed a proposed Covid pass law in a referendum on Sunday. In Britain, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said new Covid rules will be enforced from Tuesday. Mask-wearing will again be mandatory in shops and on public transport in England. And all arriving passengers will have to take a PCR test and self-isolate until negative. As scientists race to determine the level of threat posed by the new strain — particularly whether it can evade existing vaccines — a South African doctor said dozens of her patients suspected of Omicron infection had only shown mild symptoms such as fatigue. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, who alerted health officials to a “clinical picture that doesn’t fit Delta”, told AFP she had seen 30 patients over the past 10 days who tested positive for Covid-19. They had fully recovered without hospitalisation. Coetzee said it was unfortunate that Omicron had been hyped as “this extremely dangerous virus variant” when its virulency was still unknown. A long list of countries have already imposed travel restrictions on southern Africa, where it was first detected, including key travel hub Qatar, the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Netherlands. Indonesia announced similar entry restrictions on Sunday and Angola became the first southern African country to suspend all flights from its regional neighbours Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. Morocco said it was halting incoming flights for two weeks from Monday. ‘Very dangerous’ Israel announced some of the strictest curbs, closing the borders to all foreigners — just four weeks after reopening to tourists following a prolonged closure due to Covid. “We are raising a red flag,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. Ten million PCR test kits would be ordered to stem the “very dangerous” strain. Israeli citizens will be required to present a negative PCR test and quarantine for three days if they have been vaccinated against the virus and seven days if they have not. But the new strain has already slipped through the net, and has now been found everywhere from the Netherlands to the UK, Hong Kong to Australia, where authorities Sunday said they had detected it for the first time in two passengers from southern Africa who were tested after flying into Sydney. Omicron’s emergence comes just a month after Australia lifted a ban on travelling overseas without permission. Denmark confirmed its first Omicron infections, in two passengers who arrived on a flight from South Africa and Germany added a third case. Blame game The speed at which governments slammed their borders shut took many by surprise, with travellers thronging Johannesburg international airport, desperate to catch the last flights to countries that are imposing sudden travel bans. Scientists in South Africa said they had last week detected the new B.1.1.529 variant with at least 10 mutations, compared with three for Beta or two for Delta — the strain that hit the global recovery hard and sent millions worldwide back into lockdown. The variant has also revived geopolitical fault lines exacerbated by the pandemic, with the US quick to hail South Africa’s openness — a thinly veiled jab at China’s handling of information about the original outbreak. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday “praised … South Africa’s government for its transparency in sharing this information, which should serve as a model for the world”. South Africa had complained it was being unfairly hit with “draconian” air travel bans for having first detected the strain. burs-oho/bp/har View the full article

Published by Radar Online Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s son Joseph Baena showed off his exquisite physique as he revealed he is following in his father’s footsteps and becoming an actor. He posted an announcement on his Instagram about his appearance in a movie calledLava that is set to be filmed in Hawaii. MEGA, @projoe2/Instagram The 24-year-old actor displayed his ripped body in the snap where he was seen standing in the middle of a smoke-filled tropical location. He seemed delighted to be working on the project as he wrote in the caption, “Excited to be filming the movie Lava with the @bitflixnfts team!” The movie is also deemed to be the first film fully financially backed by cryptocurrency. In his previous posts, he also shared the behind-the-scenes shots from the movie that caught the attention of his followers, who immediately noticed the resemblance of his father in him. One Instagram user commented, “Looking like your father’s body double in like all his movies where his shirt is off!” A second user said,” It’s just unreal how much your body resembles Arnold, especially in the third pic of fulness of that upper chest crazy!” Another wrote, “Just like the legend himself @schwarzenegger.” There isn’t much information regarding the movie, including the plot details or the release date, although the project’s development appeared to have begun earlier this month. Throughout the week, Baena worked hard at the gym, building his muscles to play the role for the upcoming movie. In one video, he was seen lifting some equipment to work on his shoulder and back muscles while jamming to the tune of E-40’s Tell Me When To Go. MEGA According to his IMDB page, the influencer already has five movie credits, including Terminator, Chariot, and Encounters. The young actor has always been open about training with his father in the past. Back in May, he posted a picture of himself and his famous 73-year-old dad at the gym with the caption, “You have to go all out and absolutely NO cheating when you train with him, so you know I’m going to be hurting tomorrow.” Baena was born after Arnold had an affair with his mother,Mildred Baena, who worked as a housekeeper for the former Governor. Following the discovery of the scandal, Arnold’s wife, Maria Shriver, filed for divorce from the bodybuilder. The former couple also shared four children, Katherine, Patrick, Christopher, and Christina. MEGA View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Representative Lauren Boebert, a loyal supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, apologized on Friday after suggesting that a liberal Democratic colleague, Representative Ilhan Omar, had been part of a “jihad squad” on Capitol Hill. “I apologize to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Rep. Omar. I have reached out to her office to speak with her directly. There are plenty of policy differences to focus on without this unnecessary distraction,” Boebert said on Twitter. Her apology came after a video surfaced on Twitter of her speaking at an event in her home state of Colorado where she said she was getting into an elevator at the Capitol when she saw a Capitol police officer running toward her. “I see fret all over his face, and he’s reaching, and the door’s shutting, like I can’t open it, like what’s happening. I look to my left, and there she is. Ilhan Omar. And I said, ‘Well, she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine,'” she said. She said it was “not my first ‘jihad squad’ moment.” Boebert is part of a group of Republican House lawmakers who say they are staunch supporters of Trump, and who frequently attack their own Congress colleagues with slurs and insults. She is in her first term in office. Omar said on Twitter the event described by Boebert in the video never happened, and that “Anti-Muslim bigotry isn’t funny & shouldn’t be normalized.” “Saying I am a suicide bomber is no laughing matter,” Omar tweeted. She called on House Republican leader Kevin McCarty and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take “appropriate action.” (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons and Sam Holmes) View the full article

Published by AFP French-American dancer and singer Josephine Baker (pictured two weeks before her death in 1975) will be the first black woman to be immortalised in France's Pantheon mausoleum Paris (AFP) – Josephine Baker, the French-American dancer, singer and actress who mesmerised France with performances mocking colonialism and later joined the French Resistance, will become the first black woman to be immortalised in France’s Pantheon mausoleum Tuesday. Baker will be just the sixth woman to join the around 80 great national figures of French history in the secular temple on Paris’s Left Bank. She will also be the first showbiz figure to be honoured with a symbolic spot in the secular sanctuary, final resting place of a long list of luminaries from the worlds of politics, culture and science, including Victor Hugo, Emile Zola and Marie Curie. The “pantheonisation” of the world’s first black female superstar, who campaigned for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King, caps years of campaigning by her family and a group of intellectuals for her to be given the rare posthumous honour. French President Emmanuel Macron in August finally granted the request “because she’s a woman who was born black and American in a closed society… who became the incarnation of the Enlightenment values of the French Republic throughout her life,” his office explained this week. “She’s a woman whose whole life was dedicated to the twin quest for liberty and justice,” an official at the presidency added. ‘France made me’ Born Freda Josephine McDonald into extreme poverty in Missouri in 1906, Baker left school at 13. After two failed marriages — she took the name Baker from her second husband — she managed to land herself a place in one of the first all-black musicals on Broadway in 1921. Like many black American artists at the time, she moved to France to escape racial segregation back home. The woman nicknamed the “Black Venus” took Paris by storm with her exuberant dance performances, which captured the energy of the Jazz Age. One of the defining moments of her career came when she danced the Charleston at the Folies-Bergere cabaret hall, wearing only a string of pearls and a skirt made of rubber bananas, in a sensational send-up of colonial fantasies about black women. A singer and actress as well as dancer, she adopted France wholeheartedly, taking French nationality upon her marriage to industrialist Jean Lion in 1937. She would go on to divorce him and remarry twice more, adopting 12 children along the way. At the outbreak of World War II, she joined the French Resistance against Nazi Germany, becoming a lieutenant in the Free French air force’s female auxiliary corps. She became a spy for France’s wartime leader-in-exile General Charles de Gaulle and used her people skills and contacts to get information on the plans of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. “France made me who I am,” she said later. “Parisians gave me everything… I am prepared to give them my life.” ‘True anti-racist’ Throughout her life she fought discrimination, adopting children from different ethnic backgrounds to form a “rainbow” family at her chateau in southwest France. Pascal Bruckner, a novelist who campaigned for her to be given a coveted spot under the famous dome of the Pantheon, said Baker “is a symbol of a France that is not racist.” “Josephine Baker is a true anti-racist, a true anti-fascist,” he told AFP in an interview earlier this year. Baker died on April 12, 1975, aged 68, from a brain haemorrhage, days after a final smash-hit cabaret show in Paris celebrating her half-century on the stage. She is the second woman to be inducted by Macron into the Pantheon after former minister Simone Veil, who survived the Holocaust to fight for abortion rights and European unity. Macron’s former mentor and predecessor Francois Hollande had refused calls to immortalise Baker in the former church, which was transformed into a temple to “great men” after the French Revolution. “He thought it was a daft idea,” one of Macron’s advisors confided. In a sign of the affection in which Baker is still held in France, there was no public criticism of the decision to honour her, including from far-right commentators that are generally scathing of anti-racism gestures. A symbolic tomb will be carried into the Pantheon by members of the French air force, a nod to her role in the wartime Free French air force. Baker’s remains will however remain in Monaco, where she is buried. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Deena Beasley (Reuters) – The new Omicron coronavirus variant – identified first in South Africa, but also detected in Europe and Asia – is raising concern worldwide given the number of mutations, which might help it spread or even evade antibodies from prior infection or vaccination. News of the variant prompted countries to announce new travel restrictions on Friday and sent drugmakers scrambling to see if their COVID-19 vaccines remain protective. WHY ARE SCIENTISTS WORRIED? The World Health Organization on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 variant, or Omicron, as a SARS-CoV-2 “variant of concern,” saying it may spread more quickly than other forms of coronavirus. The Delta variant remains dominant worldwide, accounting for 99.9% of U.S. cases, and it is not yet clear whether Omicron will be able to displace Delta, said Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director, infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. But the new variant has over 30 mutations in the part of the virus that current vaccines target. It is also suspected of driving a spike in new infections in South Africa. Omicron’s mutations are likely to render certain COVID-19 treatments – including some manufactured antibodies – ineffective, said Dr. David Ho, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University. Experimental antiviral pills – such as Pfizer Inc’s Paxlovid and Merck & Co Inc’s molnupiravir – target parts of the virus that are not changed in Omicron, and these drugs could become even more important if vaccine-induced and natural immunity are threatened. THE UNKNOWNS Scientists say it could be several more weeks before they can define the type of disease caused by the variant, determine how contagious it is and identify how far it has already spread. Some note that other variants of concern, including Beta, which was also first detected in South Africa, were ultimately replaced by Delta. But the biggest question remains whether protection from COVID-19 vaccines – nearly 8 billion doses have been administered globally – will hold up. And, will people previously infected with the coronavirus be immune from infection with Omicron? Experts also don’t yet know whether Omicron will cause more or less severe COVID-19 compared to other coronavirus strains. BEST RESPONSE? Omicron has not yet been identified in the United States, but it is likely already here, scientists said. Even without the new variant, U.S. COVID-19 rates have increased in recent weeks, mainly in northern states, as people move indoors to avoid winter weather. Some countries have moved to limit travel from southern Africa. Beyond government restrictions, individuals should still assess their own vulnerability to COVID and tolerance for risk as they make travel decisions for the winter holidays, Snyder from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said. He and others said vaccination should remain a priority despite questions about effectiveness against Omicron, because it is likely that they still remain protective to a certain extent. Everyone should also continue to wear masks, avoid crowds, ventilate rooms, and wash hands. “We have all those tools that will work against any variant,” said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California. (Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Sam Holmes) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Alex Dobuzinskis and Steve Gorman (Reuters) -Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who helped American musical theater evolve beyond pure entertainment and reach new artistic heights with such works as “West Side Story,” “Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd,” died early Friday at the age of 91, his publicist said. The musical great died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, spokesperson Kathryn Zuckerman told Reuters by email, saying she had little additional information. The news was reported earlier by the New York Times. Sondheim’s eight Tony Awards for his lyrics and music surpassed the total of any other composer. In 2008 he also won a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He started early, learning the art of musical theater when he was a teenager from his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II, the legendary lyricist behind “The Sound of Music.” “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was in turn mentored by Sondheim, has called him musical theater’s greatest lyricist. Sondheim’s most successful works included “Into the Woods,” which opened on Broadway in 1987 and used children’s fairy tales to untangle adult obsessions; the 1979 thriller “Sweeney Todd,” about a murderous barber in London whose victims are served as meat pies; and 1962’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” a vaudeville-style comedy set in ancient Rome. He also wrote the lyrics to Leonard Bernstein’s score for “West Side Story,” inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and collaborated with fellow composer Jule Styne as lyricist for “Gypsy,” loosely based on the memoirs of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. “I love the theater as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh, making them cry – just making them feel – is paramount to me,” Sondheim said in a 2013 interview with National Public Radio. Several of Sondheim’s hit musicals were turned into movies, including the 2014 film “Into the Woods,” starring Meryl Streep, and the 2007 “Sweeney Todd” with Johnny Depp. A new film version of “West Side Story,” directed by Stephen Spielberg from a screenplay by Tony Kushner, opens next month. During a guest appearance in September on the CBS “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Sondheim said he visited the set of Spielberg’s adaptation, and endorsed the film “as really first rate.” Sondheim’s songs were celebrated for their sharp wit and insight into modern life and for giving voice to complex characters, but few of them made the pop charts. ‘CLOWNS’ HIT He scored a hit, however, and one of three Grammys of his career, with “Send in the Clowns” from his 1973 musical “A Little Night Music.” It was recorded by Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Judy Collins, among others. Sondheim also earned a best-song Academy Award in 1991 for “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man),” sung by Madonna in the “Dick Tracy” movie. In 2015, President Barack Obama presented the lyricist the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony. One of Sondheim’s greatest triumphs was the Pulitzer Prize he shared with composure James Lapine for the 1984 musical “Sunday in the Park with George,” about 19th-century French Neo-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat. The two also collaborated on “Into the Woods.” Actress Bernadette Peters, who played the roles of Dot and Marie in “Sunday in the Park” and the witch of “Into the Woods,” expressed sadness at the loss of a friend, tweeting, Sondheim “gave me so much to sing about.” Fellow actress Anna Kendrick, who starred as Cinderella in the film version of “Into the Woods,” called Sondheim’s death “a devastating loss.” “Performing his work has been among the greatest privileges of my career,” she added on Twitter. As Sondheim collected accolades, New York City’s Broadway theater industry underwent many changes. It had a key role in American culture through the 1950s, with many Broadway songs making the pop charts, but lost significance as rock music gained a hold on the public starting in the 1960s. Increasingly, musicals borrowed material from television and movies, instead of the other way around, composer Mark N. Grant wrote in his book “The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical.” Sondheim shared the view that Broadway had experienced decline, expressing it repeatedly in interviews. “There are so many forms of entertainment, theater is becoming more marginalized,” he told British newspaper The Times in 2012. But Broadway musicals also became more artistic, and Sondheim played a key role in their evolution, critics said. He explored such weighty topics as political violence in “Assassins,” the human need for family and the pull of dysfunctional relationships in “Into the Woods,” social inequality in “Sweeney Todd,” and Western imperialism in “Pacific Overtures.” He developed new methods for presenting a play as well. Instead of telling a story from beginning to end, he would jump backward and forward in time to explore a single theme. It was called the “concept musical.” Broadway audiences were introduced to Sondheim with “West Side Story” in 1957. The story about a love affair between a Puerto Rican girl, Maria, and a white boy, Tony, in working-class Manhattan was turned into an Oscar-winning film in 1961. The central characters expressed their infatuation in the songs “Maria,” “Somewhere” and “Tonight.” CONFLICT WITH MOTHER Sondheim was born March 22, 1930, in New York City to affluent Jewish parents who worked in fashion. He described his early childhood as a lonely one, with servants as his main company. After his parents split up when he was 10 years old, Sondheim moved with his mother to rural Pennsylvania, where she bought a farm. He later said his mother took out her wrath over the divorce on him. He found a surrogate family in the nearby household of Hammerstein and his wife, Dorothy. Hammerstein, who along with composing partner Richard Rodgers created the classic musicals “Oklahoma!” “South Pacific and “The Sound of Music,” taught the teenage Sondheim how to write musical theater. After Sondheim became famous, he mentored others on Broadway. When Miranda began work on a rap musical about American founding father Alexander Hamilton, Sondheim encouraged and critiqued him. The play became a smash hit on Broadway in 2015. In box office success, Sondheim fell short of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the composer behind “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats” with whom Sondheim shared a birthday. Sondheim pushed audiences, which sometimes resulted in box office flops. Some of his least commercially successful plays were lauded by critics. Those included the 1976 “Pacific Overtures,” which depicted Japan during an age of Western colonialism, and his 1990 off-Broadway production “Assassins” about real-life figures who each set out to kill an American president. Sondheim had many fans in the academic world. In 1994, a quarterly magazine called the Sondheim Review was founded to examine his work, five years after Oxford University in England named him a visiting professor of drama. His devotees celebrated the acerbic irony of his lyrics, which they described as commenting on everything from the limits of America’s melting pot to the downside of marriage. These lines from “The Ladies Who Lunch” in his 1970 musical “Company” contained a typical slice of Sondheim’s wit: “Here’s to the girls who play wife/Aren’t they too much?/Keeping house but clutching a copy of ‘LIFE’/Just to keep in touch.” (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Donna Bryson, Bill Trott and Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and State Department on Saturday advised against travel to eight southern African countries after the White House announced new travel restrictions in response to a new COVID-19 variant. The CDC raised its travel recommendation to “Level Four: Very High” for South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana while the State Department issued parallel “Do Not Travel” advisories Saturday. On Monday, the CDC had lowered its COVID-19 travel advisory for South Africa to “Level 1: Low” from “Level 3: High” Of the eight countries, only Botswana was previously listed as “Level 4.” Omicron, dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, is potentially more contagious than previous variants of the disease, although experts do not know yet if it will cause more or less severe COVID-19 compared to other strains. It could take weeks for scientists to fully understand the variant’s mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments are effective against it. The discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of travel bans or curbs and a sell-off on financial markets on Friday as investors worried that Omicron could stall a global recovery from the nearly two-year pandemic. The new variant prompted the White House to announce Friday it would bar nearly all foreign nationals who have been in any of eight countries within the last 14 days from flying to the United States effective Monday at 12:01 a.m. ET (0500 GMT). Travelers on flights that depart before that time will be allowed to land in the United States. But foreign nationals must be vaccinated and have tested negative within three days. Britain detected two cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday, even as Australia and other countries joined nations imposing restrictions on travel from southern Africa in an effort to stop its spread. The variant was first discovered in South Africa and had also since been detected in Belgium, Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong. A U.S. official told Reuters Friday the Biden administration could also add other countries to the travel curb list if the variant spreads. The United States only lifted travel restrictions on South Africa and 32 other countries on Nov. 8. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Diane Craft) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the latest situation regarding the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, the White House said on Saturday, as Britain, Germany and Italy reported detecting cases. “At the same time, senior health officials and the COVID response team have been monitoring the latest updates on Omicron and in regular touch with health officials around the world,” a White House official said in a statement. Omicron was first detected in South Africa this week, leading countries around the globe, including the United States, to impose travel restrictions on the southern African nation and at least seven others in the region. So far, the Omicron variant has not been detected in the United States. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, said on NBC’s “Weekend TODAY” show on Saturday, “I would not be surprised if it is.” “When you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility and you’re already having travel-related cases that they’ve noted in Israel and Belgium and other places, when you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over,” Fauci said. (Reporting Nandita Bose; writing by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

Tom Daley knitting kits site launched today with many choices. Tom Daley Knitting Kits Launch Under The Olympian's Made With Love Brand. Knit a Hat, Vest, Sweater -- With or Without Wild Flamingos 16 Tom Daley Knitting Kits on Towleroad Laverne Cox confirms she’s got a boyfriend who she ‘met on Tinder’ More Merck’s COVID-19 pill significantly less effective in new analysis More U.S. President Biden calls for intellectual property protection waivers on COVID-19 vaccines More Zelenskiy says Ukraine uncovers coup plot involving Russians; Kremlin denies role More Busy Philipps: I received messages from other moms after talking about my kid’s gender identity More Baga Chipz is sick of cancel culture More S.Africa detects new COVID-19 variant, implications not yet clear More Factbox-The charges in the Ahmaud Arbery case More Manhattan DA not planning to charge Trump Organization COO in fraud case -lawyer More GROWING UP GAGA: THE WHOLE STORY More Flash mob thefts terrorize US retailers ahead of Christmas More Load More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Laverne Cox has confirmed she has a boyfriend whom she “met on Tinder”. The ‘Orange is the New Black’ star revealed she used the dating app to find her special someone, and is now “super happy” to be able to delete the app – as well as other dating sites including Hinge – from her phone now that she’s off the market. Laverne announced her relationship status on Twitter after responding to a tweet which slammed Hinge for being a “super toxic” place, as they suggested Laverne had been banned from the app because she is a trans woman. The initial tweet read: “Guess you gotta be a high profile trans woman like @Lavernecox to get a @hinge ban for being trans overturned. (sic)” And Laverne responded to say she had been banned from Hinge a second time before she met her boyfriend on Tinder. She said:” I have a bf now and haven’t been on the apps in over a year. But after being reinstated on @hinge I was banned again. Not sure why. “I wasn’t really meeting guys on Hinge anyway. So I just didn’t bother to to look into it.. Met my bf on Tinder. “Super happy to be off the apps. (sic)” Laverne first spoke about her boyfriend in January this year, when she said she had embarked on a romance with him six months prior. She gushed: “[Found love in 2020] almost sounds like a punchline, but, yeah, Laverne is in love again, it feels amazing. Love is an incredible thing. It’s literally this chemical thing that’s awesome and he is a really great guy and I didn’t expect it. “I thought he was going to be this hot dude I was going to be hanging out with and then it just kind of happened.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Manas Mishra and Michael Erman (Reuters) -Merck & Co said on Friday updated data from its study of its experimental COVID-19 pill showed the drug was significantly less effective in cutting hospitalizations and deaths than previously reported. The drugmaker said its pill showed a 30% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths, based on data from 1,433 patients. In October, its data nL1N2QX0QJ showed a roughly 50% efficacy, based on data from 775 patients. The drug, molnupiravir, was developed with partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. The lower efficacy of Merck’s drug could have big implications in terms of whether countries continue to buy the pill. Interim data from 1,200 participants in Pfizer Inc’s trial for its experimental pill, Paxlovid, showed an 89% reduction in hopsitalizations and deaths. Merck’s shares fell 3.5% to $79.39 in morning trading. Merck released the data before the U.S Food and Drug Administration published a set of documents on Friday intended to brief a panel of outside experts who will meet on Tuesday to discuss whether to recommend authorizing the pill. The agency’s staff did not make their own recommendation as to whether the pill should be authorized. FDA staff asked the panel to discuss whether the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks and whether the population for whom the drug should be authorized should be limited. They also asked the committee to weigh in on concerns over whether the drug could encourage the virus to mutate, and how those concerns could be mitigated. Pills like molnupiravir and Paxlovid could be promising new weapons in the fight against the pandemic, as they can be taken as early at-home treatments to help prevent COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. They could also become important tools in countries and areas with limited access to vaccines or low inoculation rates. EASIER TREATMENT The Merck and Pfizer pills are cheaper to produce and easier to administer than existing treatment options such as antibody therapies from Regeneron and Eli Lilly, which are mostly administered as intravenous infusions. The two experimental drugs have different mechanisms of action. Merck’s is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus. Pfizer’s drug, part of a class known as protease inhibitors, is designed to block an enzyme the coronavirus needs in order to multiply. Merck filed for a U.S. authorization of molnupiravir on Oct. 11, following the interim data, and submitted the updated data to the FDA this week. The molnupiravir arm of the study had a hospitalization and death rate of 6.8%, according to the updated data. The placebo group had a hospitalization and death rate of 9.7%. One patient in the molnupiravir arm died, versus nine in the placebo group. The United Kingdom conditionally approved molnupiravir, branded as Lagevrio, earlier this month. Merck expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of this year, with at least 20 million set to be manufactured in 2022. It has a contract with the U.S. government to supply as many as 5 million courses at a price of $700 per course. Several other countries have already secured millions of courses of the pill. Merck has said data shows molnupiravir is not capable of inducing genetic changes in human cells, but men enrolled in its trials had to abstain from heterosexual intercourse or agree to use contraception. Women of child-bearing age also had to use birth control. Still, the FDA said in its briefing document that there are safety concerns about potential birth defects from the drug and asked the panel to discuss whether the drug should be available to pregnant women. (Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New JerseyEditing by Shounak Dasgupta, Frances Kerry and Emelia Sithole-Matarise) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday called on nations meeting at the World Trade Organization next week to agree to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines in the wake of the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa. “The news about this new variant should make clearer than ever why this pandemic will not end until we have global vaccinations,” Biden said in a statement. “This news today reiterates the importance of moving on this (waiving intellectual property protections) quickly.” (Reporting by Nandita Bose, writing by Lucia Mutikani, editing by Chris Reese) View the full article