AstraZeneca will set up a R&D centre and an AI innovation centre in Shanghai, as well as create a $1bn fund that would invest in healthcare start-ups.

Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of people in Lebanon and northern Gaza on Sunday, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have been discussing the way forward for when Trump takes office in January. The Israeli leader said he has spoken with Trump three times since the U.S. presidential election last week and that they “see eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, and on the dangers they reflect.” Netanyahu said he sees “great opportunities facing Israel, in the area of peace and its expansion,” but did not expand on his statement.   Before the election, Trump, according to Israeli news accounts, told Netanyahu that he wanted Israel to resolve its wars against two Iranian-supported groups, Hamas militants in Gaza and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, before his inauguration as president on January 20. Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday in Washington as the mid-month deadline approaches for Israel to meet a Biden administration ultimatum that it allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza to assist Palestinians or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding. Israeli forces have encircled and largely isolated Jabaliya and the nearby northern Gaza towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun for the past month, allowing in only a trickle of humanitarian aid. Experts from a panel that monitors food security say famine is imminent or may already be happening.   In the Sunday fighting, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people, including seven children, in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah militants have a major presence. Lebanon's health ministry said another six people were wounded. Watch related report by Arash Arabasadi: There was no Israeli evacuation warning and no immediate Israeli comment on the attack. In northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya killed at least 17 people including nine women, according to Dr. Fadel Naim, director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City. The Israeli military, without offering evidence, said it had targeted a site where militants were operating. It said the details of the strike are under review. A separate strike hit a house in Gaza City, killing Wael al-Khour, a minister in the Hamas-run government, as well as his wife and three children, according to the Civil Defense first responders who operate under the government. In Syria, the state news agency SANA said an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, killing seven civilians. The Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, suggested Hezbollah was targeted, but Israel did not offer any immediate comment. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, although about one-third of them are believed to be dead. Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas militants. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press.

Ukraine and Russia barrage each other with dozens of drone attacks

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Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in Pakistan during talks, after a car bombing near Karachi’s airport that was seen as a major security breach, sources said.

Last month’s airport bombing that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of attacks on Beijing’s interests in Pakistan.

The attacks have angered China, which has pushed Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system.

Reuters spoke to five Pakistani security and government sources with direct knowledge of the previously unreported negotiations and demands on condition of anonymity, as the talks are sensitive, and reviewed a written proposal sent by Beijing to Islamabad.

“They (Chinese) want to bring in their own security,” said one official, who sat in on a recent meeting, adding that Pakistan had not so far agreed to such a step.

According to the official, a written proposal sent to Islamabad by Beijing, and forwarded to Pakistani agencies for review, mentioned a clause allowing the dispatching of security agencies and military forces into each others’ territory to assist in counter-terrorism missions and conduct joint strikes.

The dispatching would be done after discussions, but Pakistan was averse to the proposal, one official said.

Neither Beijing nor Islamabad confirmed the talks officially.

Dawn.com has also reached out to the Foreign Office for a comment.

The source, and two other officials, said there was a consensus on setting up a joint security management system, and that Pakistan was amenable to Chinese officials sitting in on security meetings and co-ordination.

But there was no agreement on their participating in security arrangements on the ground.

The first official said Pakistan had asked China for help in improving its intelligence and surveillance capabilities instead of direct involvement.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry told Reuters it was not familiar with talks on a joint security scheme, but added, “China will continue to strengthen co-operation with Pakistan and make joint efforts to do its utmost to maintain the security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions.”

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, declined to comment to Reuters while the interior and planning ministries did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In a statement last week, Pakistan’s interior ministry said both sides agreed to develop a joint strategy to prevent similar incidents in the future.

‘Grave security breach’

The nature of the Karachi bombing has angered Beijing, which is now pushing harder to achieve a long-standing demand to control security arrangements for its citizens.

A pick-up truck rigged with nearly 100 kilogrammes of explosives waited unchecked for about 40 minutes near the outermost security cordon of the heavily guarded airport before its driver rammed it into a vehicle carrying Chinese engineers, officials said.

“It was a grave security breach,” admitted one of the officials investigating the bombing, which came just a week before Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Islamabad, the first such trip in a decade.

The official said investigators believe the attackers had “inside help” in securing details of the itinerary and route of the engineers, who had returned from a month off in Thailand.

They were to be escorted back to a power plant set up as part of plans for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Longtime Pakistan ally China has thousands of nationals working on projects grouped under the CPEC, a $65-billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to expand China’s global reach by road, rail and sea.

‘Chinese frustrations’

Publicly, China has mostly backed Pakistan’s arrangements, even as it calls for enhanced security.

Privately, Beijing has expressed frustration. At one recent meeting, the Chinese side provided evidence that Pakistan had failed to follow security protocols agreed on twice in recent months, three officials said. Such protocols usually feature high standards for the deployment and movement of Chinese officials.

However, earlier this month, China’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong, while speaking at an event, had expressed frustration over the attacks, stating it was “unacceptable” and urging Islamabad to strengthen security measures for Chinese nationals and crack down on anti-China elements.

In response, Foreign Office Spokes­person Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had called the statement “perplexing” and a stark departure from the longstanding diplomatic norms between the two nations.

Chinese nationals have been in the crosshairs of banned outfits who accuse Beijing and Pakistan of exploiting minerals in Balochistan, where China has a strategic port and mining interests.

Thousands of Pakistani security officers from the army, police and a dedicated force called the Special Protection Unit are posted to guard Chinese nationals.

Only China’s embassy in Islamabad and its consulates are allowed Chinese official security personnel, the Pakistani officials said.

Title: Senior Sex: Tips for Senior Citizens
Category: Health and Living
Created: 7/11/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 7/11/2022 12:00:00 AM

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And in the day’s other news: More than 300 people are now confirmed dead after Saturday’s massive truck bombing in Somalia, one of the world’s worst attacks in years.

Nearly 400 more were wounded. The government blamed the al-Qaida-linked Al-Shabaab group. Rescue crews today searched for survivors at the scene of the bombing, a crowded street in the capital, Mogadishu. With dozens still missing, officials say they expect the death toll to rise.

OSMAN LIBAH IBRAHIM, Deputy Minister for Natural Resources, Somalia (through interpreter): More bodies are gradually being found and removed from the rubble. There are other people who are under the rubble. We have heard them as they scream for help. My biggest worry is that even the wounded are succumbing to their injuries.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The attack happened two days after Somalia’s defense minister and army chief resigned for undisclosed reasons.

There’s been yet another shift to the right in European politics; 31-year-old conservative Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s foreign minister, is set to become that country’s next leader. But he’s short of a majority in Parliament and will likely form a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party. It was founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s.

Kurz has called for the European Union to focus more on internal trade and securing borders. He celebrated in Vienna.

SEBASTIAN KURZ, Austrian People’s Party (through interpreter): I have a big request for you. Use today to celebrate. You all have earned it through hard work and dedication. At the same time, I need to tell you that tomorrow the work starts. We didn’t just run to win the elections. We did so to bring Austria back to the top. We ran in this election to achieve real change.

JUDY WOODRUFF: A final result in the election is likely to be decided on Thursday.

Wildfires that broke out over the weekend in Portugal have killed at least 35 people, including a one-month-old infant. Today, more than 5,300 firefighters with some 1,600 vehicles were battling the fires, some of which officials say were started by arsonists. Wildfires have also left at least four people dead in neighboring Spain.

Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl pleaded guilty today to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. He was captured by the Taliban in 2009, after leaving his post in Afghanistan. It prompted an intense search and a prisoner swap. Bergdahl appeared before a military judge in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, today. The 31-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison. He said his actions were very inexcusable, adding he didn’t — quote — “think there’d be any reason to pull off a crucial mission to look for one guy.”

The truck driver in deadly immigrant smuggling run has pleaded guilty in court. San Antonio police found at least 39 immigrants, 10 of whom died, packed into a sweltering semi-trailer last year and died. The driver, James Matthew Bradley Jr., pleaded to conspiracy and transporting immigrants, resulting in death. He faces now up to life in prison.

A New Jersey man has been convicted of planting two pressure-cooker bombs on New York City streets last year. Ahmed Khan Rahimi faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for charges including using a weapon of mass destruction. One of the bombs exploded in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, wounding 30. The second didn’t detonate. Officials said Rahimi was inspired by ISIS and al-Qaida.

JOHN MILLER, Deputy Commissioner, NYPD Intelligence & Counterterrorism: Ahmed Khan Rahimi learned a lesson which we keep reminding people of. This is the wrong place to try and carry out an act of terrorism. Witnesses will come forward, evidence will be developed, arrests will be made, prosecutions will be brought forth, and they will be successful.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Prosecutors said Rahimi also planted a pipe bomb in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, but no one was injured.

Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance against the national football league. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback says that he remains unsigned due to collusion by team owners over his national anthem protests. Kaepernick sparked a debate when he kneeled during the anthem last year, protesting police mistreatment of African-Americans.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 85 points to close at 22957. The Nasdaq rose 18. And the S&P 500 added four.

It was a milestone day in the world of astronomy. For the first time, researchers say they have detected gravitational waves with a flash of light from the same cosmic event. The dual observation supports Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The ripples in space and the light burst were caused by the collision of two neutron stars. They were first detected in August.

The post News Wrap: Dozens missing after deadly Mogadishu truck bombing appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Journalists at CNN, including some of the network’s biggest personalities, are living in fear of “inevitable” layoffs and pay cuts as its new CEO looks to shore up finances amid declining ratings.

That’s according to The Ankler, which reported Wednesday that 77-year-old Chris Wallace—whose already been relegated to a weekend program—is among the network’s most well-known names whose future is in limbo.

Wallace’s $8.5 million contract, signed by the ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker to recruit him away from Fox News three years ago, is reportedly up and he was spotted in CEO Mark Thompson’s office on Tuesday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Several people were rescued on Saturday after a wave damaged their vessel off the coast of Florida, sending some of the boaters into the water.

Nolan has set up his much-awaited ‘Oppenheimer’ follow-up at Universal Pictures, eyeing a mid-2026 IMAX release 

During Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024, HoYoverse had reveals and new information for each of its main games. Genshin Impact …

Continue reading "Gamescom 2024: Zenless Zone Zero, Honkai Star Rail, and Genshin Impact See New Announcements and Trailers"

A year after going private in a $6.5 billion private equity deal, software maker New Relic is into its second round of layoffs this year.

Sacramento-based Zennify, a tech consulting firm for financial service companies, has acquired Terazo, a digital engineering firm based in Richmond, Virginia.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip in the past day, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut's southern suburbs and killed 33 people in the country on Tuesday.

Bill MacDonnell's paintings are on display at the Military Museums in Calgary through Remembrance Day and into 2025.

Results reporting requirements are pretty clear. Maybe critics should re-check their methods?

Ben Goldacre has rather famously described the clinical trial reporting requirements in the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 as a “fake fix” that was being thoroughly “ignored” by the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharma: breaking the law in broad daylight?

He makes this sweeping, unconditional proclamation about the industry and its regulators on the basis of  a single study in the BMJ, blithely ignoring the fact that a) the authors of the study admitted that they could not adequately determine the number of studies that were meeting FDAAA requirements and b) a subsequent FDA review that identified only 15 trials potentially out of compliance, out of a pool of thousands.


Despite the fact that the FDA, which has access to more data, says that only a tiny fraction of studies are potentially noncompliant, Goldacre's frequently repeated claims that the law is being ignored seems to have caught on in the general run of journalistic and academic discussions about FDAAA.

And now there appears to be additional support for the idea that a large percentage of studies are noncompliant with FDAAA results reporting requirements, in the form of a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology: "Public Availability of Results of Trials Assessing Cancer Drugs in the United States" by Thi-Anh-Hoa Nguyen, et al.. In it, the authors report even lower levels of FDAAA compliance – a mere 20% of randomized clinical trials met requirements of posting results on clinicaltrials.gov within one year.

Unsurprisingly, the JCO results were immediately picked up and circulated uncritically by the usual suspects.

I have to admit not knowing much about pure academic and cooperative group trial operations, but I do know a lot about industry-run trials – simply put, I find the data as presented in the JCO study impossible to believe. Everyone I work with in pharma trials is painfully aware of the regulatory environment they work in. FDAAA compliance is a given, a no-brainer: large internal legal and compliance teams are everywhere, ensuring that the letter of the law is followed in clinical trial conduct. If anything, pharma sponsors are twitchily over-compliant with these kinds of regulations (for example, most still adhere to 100% verification of source documentation – sending monitors to physically examine every single record of every single enrolled patient - even after the FDA explicitly told them they didn't have to).

I realize that’s anecdotal evidence, but when such behavior is so pervasive, it’s difficult to buy into data that says it’s not happening at all. The idea that all pharmaceutical companies are ignoring a highly visible law that’s been on the books for 6 years is extraordinary. Are they really so brazenly breaking the rules? And is FDA abetting them by disseminating incorrect information?

Those are extraordinary claims, and would seem to require extraordinary evidence. The BMJ study had clear limitations that make its implications entirely unclear. Is the JCO article any better?

Some Issues

In fact, there appear to be at least two major issues that may have seriously compromised the JCO findings:

1. Studies that were certified as being eligible for delayed reporting requirements, but do not have their certification date listed.

The study authors make what I believe to be a completely unwarranted assumption:

In trials for approval of new drugs or approval for a new indication, a certification [permitting delayed results reporting] should be posted within 1 year and should be publicly available.

It’s unclear to me why the authors think the certifications “should be” publicly available. In re-reading FDAAA section 801, I don’t see any reference to that being a requirement. I suppose I could have missed it, but the authors provide a citation to a page that clearly does not list any such requirement.

But their methodology assumes that all trials that have a certification will have it posted:

If no results were posted at ClinicalTrials.gov, we determined whether the responsible party submitted a certification. In this case, we recorded the date of submission of the certification to ClinicalTrials.gov.

If a sponsor gets approval from FDA to delay reporting (as is routine for all drugs that are either not approved for any indication, or being studied for a new indication – i.e., the overwhelming majority of pharma drug trials), but doesn't post that approval on the registry, the JCO authors deem that trial “noncompliant”. This is not warranted: the company may have simply chosen not to post the certification despite being entirely FDAAA compliant.

2. Studies that were previously certified for delayed reporting and subsequently reported results

It is hard to tell how the authors treated this rather-substantial category of trials. If a trial was certified for delayed results reporting, but then subsequently published results, the certification date becomes difficult to find. Indeed, it appears in the case where there were results, the authors simply looked at the time from study completion to results posting. In effect, this would re-classify almost every single one of these trials from compliant to non-compliant. Consider this example trial:

• Phase 3 trial completes January 2010
• Certification of delayed results obtained December 2010 (compliant)
• FDA approval June 2013
• Results posted July 2013 (compliant)

In looking at the JCO paper's methods section, it really appears that this trial would be classified as reporting results 3.5 years after completion, and therefore be considered noncompliant with FDAAA. In fact, this trial is entirely kosher, and would be extremely typical for many phase 2 and 3 trials in industry.

Time for Some Data Transparency

The above two concerns may, in fact, be non-issues. They certainly appear to be implied in the JCO paper, but the wording isn't terribly detailed and could easily be giving me the wrong impression.

However, if either or both of these issues are real, they may affect the vast majority of "noncompliant" trials in this study. Given the fact that most clinical trials are either looking at new drugs, or looking at new indications for new drugs, these two issues may entirely explain the gap between the JCO study and the unequivocal FDA statements that contradict it.

I hope that, given the importance of transparency in research, the authors will be willing to post their data set publicly so that others can review their assumptions and independently verify their conclusions. It would be more than a bit ironic otherwise.
Thi-Anh-Hoa Nguyen, Agnes Dechartres, Soraya Belgherbi, and Philippe Ravaud (2013). Public Availability of Results of Trials Assessing Cancer Drugs in the United States JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2012.46.9577

ISLAMABAD — Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in the South Asian nation, during talks after a car bombing in Karachi that was seen as a major security breach, sources said. Last month's airport bombing in the southern port city that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest in a string of attacks on Beijing's interests in Pakistan. The attacks, and Islamabad's failure to deter them, have angered China, which has pushed Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system. Reuters spoke to five Pakistani security and government sources with direct knowledge of the previously unreported negotiations and demands on condition of anonymity, as the talks are sensitive, and reviewed a written proposal sent by Beijing to Islamabad. "They (Chinese) want to bring in their own security," said one official, who sat in on a recent meeting, adding that Pakistan had not so far agreed to such a step.

UPDATE NOV. 13, 2024: While Deadline said on X that a previous version of the publication’s article “incorrectly stated Lupita Nyong’o had also joined the cast of Nolan’s next film,” The Hollywood Reporter is now saying that Nyong’o has indeed been tapped to play in undisclosed character in the movie. Original article: Anne Hathaway and Zendaya […]

The post Lupita Nyong’o Joins Anne Hathaway & Zendaya in Cast of Christopher Nolan’s Next Movie appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stirs up false claims of voter fraud ahead of Election Day, we look at the role of an increasingly “partisan” Federal Election Commission with former FEC general counsel Larry Noble, who explains why “voters of a lot of wealth have the ability to influence elections the way that the rest of us don’t.” As the influence of money in politics grows unchecked, he warns, it has the effect of “silencing the voter.” Noble also responds to multibillionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaways to Pennsylvania voters and discusses the lasting impact of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision on campaign finance law.

Season 1's main cast returns, with Atsushi Nigorikawa back to direct

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The Dutch Government has announced that businesses may further delay payment of certain tax dues that were frozen in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Male testis tissue that is cryopreserved can be reimplanted after more than 20 years and will go on to make viable sperm, according to a new study published in the journal iPLOS Biology/i.

Every spring, as the sun rises in the Arctic after months of darkness, life reawakens. Polar bears emerge from their winter dens, arctic terns return

IWMI and CGIAR are among the organizations helping to scale up the Enviro-Champs initiative.

The post Sewage leaks put South Africa’s freshwater at risk: how citizen scientists are helping clean up first appeared on International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Children born through frozen embryo transfer have metabolic profiles similar to those born through fresh embryo transfer, according to a study published

The Group of Ministers (GoM) has agreed to largely exempt the goods and services tax (GST) on term life insurance premiums and health insurance premiums paid by senior citizens.

Abbott 2009 Global Citizenship Report Highlights Company's Progress in 'Redefining Responsibility'

The first frozen oocyte pregnancy in India has been reported from the Chennai-based GG hospital Fertility Research Ce

Citizens from around the world will gather to demonstrate yoga's unifying power across boundaries and divisions as the UN celebrates the 10th medlinkInternational

London-Based drug firm, AstraZeneca has entered into a new field of developing drugs using proteins secreted by the cells called as "Secretome". It has

Zurampic (lesinurad), a drug to treat high levels of uric acid in the blood (hyperuricemia) associated with gout, has been approved by the US Food and

India's Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY (!--ref1--), the largest medlinkhealth insurance/medlink scheme globally, has now extended its benefits to all citizens aged 70 and above.

citizenM - the pioneer of affordable luxury hotels - has launched a new opening campaign for its third property in Miami, providing guests the opportunity to embrace their sunny side. Located steps away from the buzzing retail and restaurants of Lincoln Road, citizenM Miami South Beach is where the positive effects of sun meet the positive effects of citizenM’s sleep experience.

citizenM, a global leader in modern, affordable luxury hotels, has long prioritized offering a premium level of service. For that, they believe in empowering their team, rather than having them hindered by manual processes. This led them to seek a solution that could optimize their workforce capabilities.

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Indhuja Ravichandran has shared her sizzling pictures from her latest photoshoot.

Last week, Kamala's team shared a video in which she was seen dressed in a rainbow flag jacket as part of her campaign. Orry took to the comments section and dropped a vomit emoji. He commented, "You're either a Trump supporter or you hate America."

Netizens have accused Janhvi and Shikhar of trying to replicate a sweet romantic moment between Hollywood love birds Zendaya and Tom Holland.

Numerous Bollywood celebrities have paid tribute to the iconic Rohit Bal after his death by wearing outfits that he had designed, however, netizens definitely did not like Kiara's tribute to the designer

The 12th Fail actor is being heavily criticised for his recent stance on the safety of Muslims in the country. He also referred to India as the most livable country in present times.

A blaze swept through a mental-health clinic in Osaka, Japan, on Friday, leaving 27 feared dead. Police said they are investigating the fire as a case of suspected arson. Photo: Kyodo/Reuters

At the Computex 2024 event in Taipei, Taiwan, AMD showcased its newest Zen 5 CPU architecture and XDNA 2 GPU NPU architecture. These innovations power the AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors for gaming PCs and the third-generation Ryzen AI processors for

ASUS recently launched the new all-in-one (AIO) PC, the M3702. This AIO computer combines a stylish design with a capable processor, aiming to be a functional and attractive solution for both home and office environments. Let's delve into what the M3702